Appeal No. 2005-0970 Page 3
Application No. 09/918,760
Claims 1-8
Narita discloses a printer feed mechanism which feeds print
media in increments of less than 1 mm by controlling the current
to an electromagnetic clutch, rotatably supported on a medium
feed roller drive shaft, so as to cause the clutch to operate
intermittently (col. 1, lines 8-11 and 54-57; col. 8, lines 8-
23).
Nureki discloses a line printer having a control for a motor
that rotates a platen roller that feeds print paper (col. 2,
lines 4-7). The motor control inhibits turbulence with low power
consumption by reversing the motor by a predetermined amount
before turning off the motor to stop printing, and forwardly
rotating the motor by the predetermined amount before printing is
started (abstract; col. 1, line 66 - col. 2, line 3).
The means clauses in the appellants’ claims 1-8 are
interpreted in light of the corresponding structure, material, or
acts described in the appellants’ specification, and equivalents
thereof. See In re Donaldson, 16 F.3d 1189, 1193, 29 USPQ2d
1845, 1848 (Fed. Cir. 1994)(in banc).
The appellants’ specification discloses, in an exemplary
embodiment (page 4, paragraph 12):
If the driven roll 12 has coasted ahead, for example,
M steps, (where M<N) due to system backlash and load
inertia, then the motor 11 will advance M steps until
all the backlash has been cleared from the drive
train 13. Both motor 11 and driven roll 12 will then
advance N-M steps in unison to arrive at the intended
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