DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 20-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by JP 2017-57085 (“JP ‘085”).
Regarding claim 20, JP ‘085 disclosed a sheet conveyance apparatus comprising:
a conveyance rotating member pair (12, 13) configured to convey a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction;
a skew correction portion including a contact surface (301a) against which a leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the conveyance rotating member pair abuts to correct a skew of the sheet;
a first guide portion (201) including a first guide surface configured to guide the sheet toward the contact surface (Figure 5); and
a second guide portion (202) including a second guide surface that forms a conveyance path, through which the sheet conveyed by the conveyance rotating member pair passes, together with the first guide surface, with the second guide surface being disposed to face the first guide surface (Figure 5),
wherein, in a case where a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction is defined as a width direction, the contact surface includes a leading edge portion, which is a first end of the contact surface, and a root portion, which is a second end of the contact surface, when viewed in the width direction (see Figure 5),
when viewed in the width direction, the contact surface extends from the root portion toward the conveyance path to the leading edge portion (see Figure 5),
the first guide portion forms a space in which the root portion is disposed (see at least Figures 2 and 5),
when viewed in the width direction, a part of the contact surface intersects the first guide surface (see Figure 5 as member 301 rotates), and when viewed in the width direction, the part of the contact surface is located between the root portion and the leading edge portion (Figure 5).
Regarding claim 21, JP ‘085 disclosed the skew correction portion is supported so as to be swingable about a swing shaft (302), and the swing shaft is disposed on an opposite side to the second guide surface with respect to the first guide surface when viewed in the width direction (see Figure 5).
Regarding claim 22, JP ‘085 disclosed in a case where the contact surface is defined as a first contact surface, the skew correction portion includes a second contact surface (see Figure 4) against which the leading edge of the sheet abuts to correct the skew of the sheet, and the second contact surface is disposed at a position different from the first contact surface in the width direction (Figure 4).
Regarding claim 23, JP ‘085 disclosed the conveyance rotating member pair is defined as a first conveyance rotating member pair (13), the sheet conveyance apparatus further comprises a second conveyance rotating member pair (12) disposed downstream of the first conveyance rotating member pair in the sheet conveyance direction (Figure 1), and the skew correction portion is rotatably supported by a rotation shaft of either one rotating member of the second conveyance rotating member pair (Figures 1 and 5).
Regarding claim 24, JP ‘085 disclosed an image forming apparatus comprising:
the sheet conveyance apparatus according to claim 20 as shown above; and an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance apparatus (Figure 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Gombau et al 6,481,709 teaches a relevant alignment device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOWARD J SANDERS whose telephone number is (571)270-3096. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael McCullough can be reached at (571) 272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HOWARD J SANDERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653
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