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 Objections
Claims 5 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities: The claims cite “said printer structure” on line 2, “said media support plate” on line 6, and “said media support plate” on line 8 without sufficient antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 16, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LaCaze et al. (US 8926047) in view of Leo et al. (US 10710377) and Coffer et al. (US 2017/0100898).
LaCaze et al. discloses a direct to surface printer, comprising:
a movable printing carriage (FIGs. 4-7, element 2) for holding a single piece of media (FIGs. 4-7, element 8), said printing carriage including means for holding said media at its ends and rotating said media along a longitudinal rotational axis of said media (FIG. 30 shows the carriage 42 holding the medium/object 38 at its ends. FIGs. 12-13 shows the rotating mechanism 7 that rotates the medium/object);
a printing tunnel sized for receiving said media printing carriage while holding said media (FIG. 9 shows the media/object 8 positioned in the print tunnel);
a printing assembly suspended above said printing tunnel, said printing assembly including a positionally reconfigurable bank of inkjet printing heads (FIGs. 18-19: A plurality of printheads 25a-d); and,
wherein said printer includes means for advancing said media through said printing tunnel and wherein printing carriage is positioned below said printing assembly and is moveable so that the surface of said media may be spaced to be in proximity to said bank of printing heads suitable for printing thereon (FIG. 19 shows the media/object 8 moved to face the printheads 25a-d for printing operation).
LaCaze et al. however does not teach wherein the printing assembly including at least one pinning lamp positioned adjacent to said bank of printing heads and a final cure lamp.
Leo et al. discloses a printing apparatus for forming images on a medium/object (FIG. 1, element 116) in a print tunnel, wherein the print tunnel comprises a plurality of printheads (FIGs. 4 and 9, elements 122, 124) for performing printing images on the medium/object and a pinning lamp (FIG. 1, element 126) for performing partially curing the printed image on the medium/object (column 6, lines 11-16).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date to modify the print assembly in LaCaze’s printing apparatus to comprise a pinning lamp for partially curing a printed image during each rotation to ensure the printing quality as taught by Leo et al. (column 6, lines 11-16).
In addition, Coffer et al. discloses a printing apparatus for forming images on a medium/object (FIG. 10A, element 40) by a plurality of printheads (FIG. 10A, elements 102-108), comprising a lamp (FIG. 10A, element 202) positioned adjacent to the plurality of printheads for final curing on the printed images on the medium/object (paragraph [0101]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date to modify the print assembly in LaCaze’s printing apparatus to include a lamp for final curing on a whole printed image including all printed layers after the printing process to ensure the printing quality as taught by Coffer et al. (paragraph [0101]).
Regarding to claim 16: wherein said printing carriage is vertically repositionable while said media advances through said printing tunnel so that said printer may paint over a contoured surface of said media (LaCaze et al., FIG. 19, teaches positioning the plurality of printheads 25a-d so that they can print on the contoured surface of the object 8. It is also conventional that repositioning vertically a printhead along the contour of a print surface in order to print on the contoured surface with high quality. Please see Orr (US 9630396), FIG. 4).
Claim(s) 2, 19, and 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LaCaze et al. (US 8926047) in view of Leo et al. (US 10710377) and Coffer et al. (US 2017/0100898), and further in view of Carlson (US 5831641).
Leo et al., as modified, discloses the claimed invention as discussed above except wherein said printing carriage further comprises at least two support members below said printing carriage, and wherein one of said support members may be differentially raised relative to said other support member such that said printing carriage is tiltable at one end.
Carlson discloses a printing apparatus for forming images on a longitudinal three-dimensional article (FIGs. A-B: element B) carried on two support members at two ends of the article (FIGs. A-B: Support members 5 and 72), wherein one of said support members may be differentially raised relative to the other support member such that the article is tiltable at one end (FIGs. 15A-B: The support member 55 is raised relative to the support member 72 so that the article is tilted as shown).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date to modify LaCaze’s printing apparatus, as modified, so that the carriage/medium is tiltable at one end to enable printing on a medium/object having surface sections that are in different spacing from the printhead surface to ensure the printing quality as taught by Carlson (FIGs. 15A-B).
Claim(s) 3-4, 11, 17, 20, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LaCaze et al. (US 8926047) in view of Leo et al. (US 10710377), Coffer et al. (US 2017/0100898), and Carlson (US 5831641), and further in view of Ylitalo et al. (US 6554414).
Leo et al., as modified, discloses the claim invention as discussed above except wherein said at least one pinning lamp is movable proximally and distally relative to said bank of inkjet printing heads such that said pinning lamp produces a beam field adjustable to cover a user selectable surface area of said media.
Ylitalo et al. discloses a printing apparatus comprising a bank of printheads (FIG. 5, element 20b) for printing images on a print medium (FIG. 5, element 18a) and a curing device (FIG. 5, element 22b) for curing the printed image, wherein the curing device is movable toward/away from the printhead bank to cover different areas on the print medium surface (FIG. 5: The curing device 22a moves along the longitudinal direction of the print medium 18b).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date to modify LaCaze’s printing apparatus, as modified, to have the curing lamp movable to be able to cure the whole printed surface as taught by Ylitalo et al. (FIG. 5).
Regarding to claims 4, 11, 17: wherein each said inkjet printing head in said printing head bank, said at least one pinning lamp, and said final cure lamp are collectively pointing downward so that energy rays emitted by said lamps are less likely to be reflected into said inkjet printing heads (Leo et al.: Column 6, lines 4-10: The curing lamp is positioned above the object to prevent the illumination from the curing lamp reaching the printheads).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 12-15, 21, 22-23 are 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 and the claim objection addressed above is corrected.
Regarding to claims 5, 12, 21-22: The primary reasons for the indication of the allowability of the claims is the inclusions therein, in combination as currently claimed, of the limitation that a vertically support plate slidably supported by said printer structure, a pair of linear actuators affixed to said vertical support plate and supporting said media support plate in spaced relation thereof; and, wherein one of said linear actuators includes a segmented support portion supporting said media support plate such that when said actuators are differentially moved said horizontal media support plate tilts relative to said printing assembly is neither disclosed nor taught by the cited prior art of record, alone or in combination.
Claims 13-15 and 23 are allowed because they depend directly/indirectly on claim 12 or 22.
CONTACT INFORMATION Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAM S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2151.
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/LAM S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853