DETAILED ACTION
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) 1, 6 and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mabuchi et al. (2016/0176188).
Regarding claims 1 and 9-11, Mabuchi teaches a liquid discharge head comprising:
a nozzle plate having multiple nozzles arrayed at a predetermined pitch (d) corresponding to a recording resolution in a longitudinal direction of the nozzle plate, wherein
the multiple nozzles are divided into a P number of sub-nozzle groups, where P is an integer of one or more,
each of the P number of sub-nozzle groups includes a plurality of nozzles from the multiple nozzles,
each of the P number of sub-nozzle groups includes plural sub-nozzle rows, each sub-nozzle row includes plural nozzles, which are arranged along a first inclination direction inclined relative to the longitudinal direction and a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction,
the plural nozzles in each of the sub-nozzle rows are arranged with a first interval of (d x P) which is an interval along the longitudinal direction between adjacent nozzles in each of the sub-nozzle rows,
a plurality of nozzle rows are arranged along a second inclination direction inclined relative to the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction, each nozzle row of the plurality of nozzle rows includes sub-nozzle rows arranged along the first inclination direction (see illustration),
a first nozzle row of the plurality of nozzle rows consists of an N number of nozzles of the multiple nozzles, and the first nozzle row is in a central region of the nozzle plate in the longitudinal direction,
a second nozzle row of the plurality of nozzle rows consists of an M number of nozzles of the multiple nozzles, no other nozzle is positioned on the nozzle plate along an axis of the second nozzle row, the second nozzle row is at a first end portion of the nozzle plate in the longitudinal direction, and M is less than N, and
a third nozzle row of the plurality of nozzle rows consists of an (N-M) number of nozzles of the multiple nozzles, no other nozzle is positioned on the nozzle plate along an axis of the third nozzle row, and the third nozzle row is at a second end portion opposite to the first end portion of the nozzle plate in the longitudinal direction across the central region in the longitudinal direction (See illustration, Note that while the third row is not shown in the figure, there is necessarily at least one N-M=2 nozzle row on the unillustrated side of the nozzle plate).
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Regarding claim 6, Mabuchi teaches the liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle plate has a nozzle region having a parallelogram shape, the nozzle plate includes multiple nozzle rows and
the first end portion includes one corner of the nozzle region having an acute angle, the first end portion including the second nozzle row having the M number of the multiple sub-nozzles, and
the second end portion includes another comer of the nozzle region having the acute angle, the second end portion including the third nozzle row having the (N-M) number of the multiple sub-nozzles (As stated above, both corners, angles, end portions and nozzle regions are disclosed as the prior art arrangement is identical to that claimed).
Regarding claim 12, Mabuchi teaches the liquid discharge head according to claim 1, wherein the plural nozzles in each of the sub-nozzle row are arranged with a first interval of (d x P) which is an interval along the longitudinal direction between adjacent nozzles in each of the sub-nozzle rows (As stated above, both corners, angles, end portions and nozzle regions are disclosed as the prior art arrangement is identical to that claimed).
Regarding claim 14, Mabuchi teaches the limitations (see illustration).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot in light of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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