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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-3 and 5-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Seki et al. (JP 2023-030480 A).
Regarding claim 1, Seki et al. discloses a stiffness measurement apparatus (70; fig. 1) comprising: a presser (713) that presses a sheet material (S); a reaction force measurer (712) that is attached to the presser (713) and measures a reaction force that the presser (713) receives when the presser presses the sheet material (load cell 712 measures a reaction force that blade 713 receives from paper S; Espacenet Machine Translation, ¶ [0070]); and a hardware processor (50) that obtains a stiffness (rigidity) of the sheet material (S) based on the reaction force measured by the reaction force measurer (control unit 50 obtains a rigidity of paper S based on the reaction force measured by load cell 712; ¶ [0070), wherein the presser (713) has a notch at a position corresponding to the reaction force measurer (blade 713 has a notch at and portion of plates 731 and 732; see annotated fig. 3 below).
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Regarding claim 2, Seki et al. discloses wherein the reaction force measurer (712) includes a strain gauge part (723) that detects a strain (¶ [0088]), and wherein the notch is formed at least at a position corresponding to the strain gauge part (the notch and strain gauge portion 723 are both formed at a lower end of blade 713).
Regarding claim 3, Seki et al. discloses wherein the reaction force measurer (712) includes a first attachment part (721) that is attached to the presser (713), and wherein the presser (713) is in contact with the reaction force measurer (712) only at the first attachment part (blade 713 is attached to first mounting portion 721 and is only in contact with load cell 712 at first mounting portion 721).
Regarding claim 5, Seki et al. discloses wherein the presser (713) is formed to be elongated along a width direction of the sheet material (S) that is pressed by the presser (713), and wherein the reaction force measurer (712) is disposed at a center of the presser (713) in a longitudinal direction (load cell 712 is disposed at a center portion of blade 713 in a longitudinal direction; fig. 3).
Regarding claim 6, Seki et al. discloses wherein a conveyance direction of the sheet material (P) is a vertical direction (at least a portion of transport route 39 is in a vertical direction from paper feeding unit 30; fig. 1), and wherein the presser (713) presses the sheet material (S) in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction (blade 713 presses paper S in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction; fig. 3).
Regarding claim 7, Seki et al. discloses wherein, of the presser (713), a portion that presses the sheet material (S) is longer than a maximum width (Ls) of the sheet material (upper portion 730 of blade 713 that presses paper S is longer than maximum width Ls of paper S; ¶ [0073]).
Regarding claim 8, Seki et al. discloses wherein the reaction force measurer (712) is disposed on a side opposite to, via the presser (712), the sheet material (S) that is pressed by the presser (load cell 712 is disposed on an opposite side of blade 712 than paper S; figs. 2 and 3).
Regarding claims 9 and 10, Seki et al. discloses a moving mechanism (72, 73) that moves the presser (713), wherein the moving mechanism (72, 73) moves the presser (713) perpendicularly to the sheet material (motor 72 and force conversion unit 73 move blade 713 up and down, perpendicularly to paper S; fig. 3 and ¶ [0065]); wherein the reaction force measurer (712) includes a second attachment part (722) that is attached to the moving mechanism (second mounting portion 722 of load cell 712 is attached to force conversion unit 73; fig. 3).
Regarding claim 11, Seki et al. discloses wherein the presser (713) presses an end of the sheet material (blade 713 presses a length of paper S, including end portions; fig. 3).
Regarding claim 12, Seki et al. discloses a holder (35; fig. 2) capable of stopping and holding the sheet material (S) being conveyed, wherein the presser (713) presses the sheet material (S) held by the holder (transport roller pair 35 stops and holds paper S while blade 713 presses paper S; ¶ [0068]).
Regarding claim 13, Seki et al. discloses an image forming system (1; fig. 1) comprising: an image forming apparatus (20); a sheet feed device (30) that feeds the sheet material (P) to the image forming apparatus (20); and the stiffness measurement apparatus (70), wherein the stiffness measurement apparatus (70) is disposed on a conveyance route (39) of the sheet material (P) provided between the sheet feed device (30) and the image forming apparatus (paper deflection generating unit 70 is disposed on transport path 39 between paper feeding unit 30 and image forming unit 20; fig. 1 and ¶ [0059]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art does not disclose or suggest “wherein the reaction force measurer includes a first attachment part that is attached to the presser and a second attachment part that is attached to another member, wherein the first attachment part and the second attachment part are disposed next to one another along a longitudinal direction of the presser, wherein the first attachment part is attached to, of the presser, a portion where the notch is not present, and wherein the second attachment part is disposed at a position corresponding to the notch of the presser” in combination with the remaining claim elements as recited in claim 4.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kawasaki et al. (US 7,380,451 B2) is cited for disclosing a stiffness measurement apparatus (fig. 1) with a presser (3) that includes a notch (4).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erika J. Villaluna whose telephone number is (571)272-8348. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at (571) 272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERIKA J. VILLALUNA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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