DETAILED ACTION
This is an office action based on a request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114 filed on June 15, 2026.
Claim 11 has been cancelled.
Claims 1, 3-4 and 10 have been amended.
Claims 1-10 are currently pending.
Request for Continued Examination (RCE)
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on June 15, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seto (U.S. Pub. No. 2003/0076532 A1), Yamaguchi et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2003/0002056 A1, hereinafter as “Yamaguchi”), and further in view of Roy et al. (U.S. Pub. 2014.0063514 A1, hereinafter as “Roy”).
With regard to claim 1, the claim is drawn to an information processing apparatus (see Seto, i.e. in fig. 1, 12 and etc., disclose the printing service system) comprising:
a processor (see Seto, i.e. in fig.1, para. 62 and etc., disclose that “[0062] The controller 23 comprises a computer and a printer, and controls and manages the reservation server 20, the order reception server 21, and the digital mini-laboratory 22. An operator at the DPE store 2 operates the controller 23. The controller 23 prints a label KP on which a total printing charge, the name of the user 1, the content of printing, and an order ID corresponding to the order information C are printed. By pasting the label KP on a DP bag containing the prints P, the prints Pare easily classified and the user 1 is easily invoiced…”) configured to:
acquire a specification of print data (see Seto, i.e. in para. 60 and etc., disclose that “[0060] The order reception server 21 stores the image data S and order information C sent from the user terminal 11, as will be explained later. The order reception server 21 is always connected to the network 3…”);
acquire font data of a font used in printing of the print data (see teachings of Yamaguchi supplemented below);
acquire information indicating fonts that each order receiver holds (see teachings of Yamaguchi supplemented below);
determine whether an order receiver holds the font used in printing of the print data based on the font data and the information (see the teachings of Roy supplemented below);
when the order receiver does not hold the font used in printing of the print data, calculate a cost for placing an order for printing the print data for the order receiver based on a fee for transmitting the font data of the font used in printing of the print data from the information processing apparatus to the order receiver; and present the cost (see Seto, i.e. in para. 64, disclose that “[0064] Information representing the reserved deadline is temporarily stored in the controller 23. The printing charges in accordance with the various deadlines are also stored in the controller 23 to be used for calculating the total printing charge…”; also, in fig. 5, par. 20-21 and etc., disclose teachings of displaying a list representing charges for the printed matter; in para. 75, discloses that “[0075] The total printing charge is then calculated according to the printing charges corresponding to the deadline (Step S14). The name of the user, the content of printing processing, the total printing charge, the order ID, and the reservation ID are printed on the label KP (Step S15), and the procedure ends…”; finally, in fig. 9-10 (w. laboratory A, B, C, etc.), further disclose more than one laboratory 6, and further in para. 81 and etc., disclose that “[0081] Each of the laboratories 6 comprises a laboratory server 61 for print order reception, a printer 62 for generating a print or prints P (hereinafter referred to as the prints P) based on the image data S and the order information C sent from the user terminal 11 to the order reception center 5 via a network 3, and a controller 63 for controlling the laboratory server 61 and the printer 62. In the second embodiment, the printer 62 has a function of carrying out image processing on the image data S…”; (see teachings of Yamaguchi and Roy supplemented below).
The teachings of Seto merely lack in explicitly disclosing the aspect(s) relating to “font data of a font used in printing the print data” and etc.
However, Yamaguchi discloses an analogous invention relates to a printing apparatus and pre-printing information estimation method, and more particularly to a printing apparatus and pre-printing information estimation method for printing content represented by means of a markup language stipulated by XML (extensible Markup Language) (see Yamaguchi, i.e. para. 2 and etc.). More specifically, in Yamaguchi ,i.e. in fig. 42, para. 338 and etc., disclose that “[0338] In FIG. 42, the printing apparatus 3300 mainly comprises an interface section 3301, request separation section 3302, separation section 3303, printing XML parser section 3304, print style sheet storage section 3305, layout composition section 3306, font expansion section 3307, font storage section 3308, print image expansion section 3309, printing cost estimation section 3310, paper information storage section 3311, consumable information storage section 3312, and printing section 3313…”. Further, in fig. 44, para. 352-368, disclose that “[0352] In S34020, the printing cost estimation section 3310 calculates the font printing cost from the XML content and font unit printing cost. The font printing cost here indicates the necessary printing cost when printing text according to font type, number of colors, size, and so forth. … [0354] In S34040, the printing cost estimation section 3310 calculates the printing cost from the font printing cost and the image printing cost. … [0356] The operations for calculating the font printing cost will now be described using a flowchart. FIG. 44 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a printing apparatus of this embodiment. … [0358] In S35020, the printing cost estimation section 3310 determines whether or not the printing type of an object subject to font expansion is color. If the printing type of an object subject to font expansion is color, processing proceeds to S35030. If the printing type of an object subject to font expansion is not color, but monochrome, processing proceeds to S35040. [0359] In S35030, the font printing cost is calculated for color printing from costs set by font size and by print type, and the number of objects subject to font expansion. [0360] In S35040, the font printing cost is calculated for monochrome printing from costs set by font size and by print type, and the number of objects subject to font expansion. … [0368] In S36040, the printing cost estimation section 3310 determines whether or not the printing type of an object of font expansion is color. If the printing type of an object of font expansion is color, processing proceeds to S36050. If the printing type of an object of font expansion is not color, but monochrome, processing proceeds to S36060. …”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Seto to include the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Yamaguchi, aspect(s) relating to “print font” as discussed above, as the cited prior arts are at least considered to be analogous arts if not also in the same field of endeavor relating to printing art. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Seto by the teachings of Yamaguchi, and to incorporate the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Yamaguchi, thereby “… to provide a printing apparatus and pre-printing information estimation method that make it possible to provide print image information and print job results information prior to printing” (see Yamaguchi, i.e. para. 10 and etc.).
In interest of compact prosecution, in response to applicant’s assertion relating to “… there is no determination of whether a separate order receiver holds a font, no fee for transmitting font data from one device to another, and no cost calculation that is conditioned on the result of such a determination…”, examiner further supplements the teachings of Roy as following. Roy disclsoes an analogous invention relates to the systems and methods include presenting to a user a graphical user interface having printing options for printing the document. More specifically, in Roy, i.e. para. 41 and etc., disclose that “[0041] For this purpose, the system intercepts all print jobs, to observe and track users' print behavior, to analyze their evolution over time and to compare them with others in order to identify bad printing habits and possible room for improvements. In this aspect, the system introduces a virtual currency, referred to as Greenpoints (GP), and computes a cost in terms of GPs for each printed document. The system's allocation of GPs to one or more users is intended to correspond to the environmental cost of a user's printing activities. This cost is computed based on the characteristics of the print job, such as length of a document, its content, the selected print settings, the fonts used, and the type and extent of color used, among other variables. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that Greenpoints do not necessarily reflect a true `carbon footprint` calculation or pure CO.sub.2 consumption calculation of a print job. Rather, the virtual currency is intended to be incremented or decremented according to whatever value assessment the organization wishes to assign to various aspects of printing activities which are environmentally significant and which the individual employee can influence. The exemplary system and method are sufficiently flexible to allow a corporation or other entity to devise a virtual green currency motivating its employees to improve their environmental behavior in printing…”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Seto and Yamaguchi to include the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Roy, with the aspect(s) discussed above, as the cited prior arts are at least considered to be analogous arts if not also in the same field of endeavor relating to printing management arts. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Seto and Yamaguchi by the teachings of Roy, and to incorporate the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Roy, thereby having “the systems and methods include presenting to a user a graphical user interface having printing options for printing the document, where the graphical user interface has an input for receiving an indication by the user that the user is willing to share the hard copy of the document; presenting to the user options for defining characteristics of the hard copy of the document in response to receiving the indication; and publishing at least one of the defined characteristics within a profile page of the user” (see Roy, i.e. abstract and etc.).
With regard to claim 2, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to receive an order-receiver selection result and place the order to a selected one of the order receivers (see Seto, i.e. in fig. 10, illustration of selection options corresponding to laboratory A, B, C and etc.).
With regard to claim 3, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to transmit a job data in which the font data is not embedded when the processor determines, based on the information, that the selected one of the order receivers holds the font (see Yamaguchi, i.e. in para. 91-93 and etc., disclose that “[0092] The font expansion section 207 refers the font storage section 208 in accordance with the directive output from the layout composition section 206, and obtains the necessary font data. Then, using the obtained font data, the font expansion section 207 creates font data of the necessary size in accordance with the directive from the layout composition section 206, and outputs this font data to the print image expansion section 209. The font storage section 208 stores the font data. [0093] The print image expansion section 209 creates print image data from the XML source and font data, and outputs this print image data to the output switching section 210. The print image expansion section 209 also outputs size information for the created print image data to the conversion ratio calculation section…”).
With regard to claim 4, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to transmit a job data in which the font data is embedded when the processor determines, based on the information, that the selected one of the order receivers does not hold the font (see Yamaguchi, i.e. in para. 92, etc., disclose that “[0092] The font expansion section 207 refers the font storage section 208 in accordance with the directive output from the layout composition section 206, and obtains the necessary font data. Then, using the obtained font data, the font expansion section 207 creates font data of the necessary size in accordance with the directive from the layout composition section 206, and outputs this font data to the print image expansion section 209. The font storage section 208 stores the font data…”).
With regard to claim 5, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to further present the cost and a deadline for the order receiver (see Seto, i.e. illustrations in fig. 5, 6, 10 and etc.).
With regard to claim 6, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to perform sorting and presentation by using the order receiver as a filter (Seto, i.e. illustrations of Laboratory name is being sorted, in order of “A, A, B, C”, or alphabetical order) .
With regard to claim 7, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to perform sorting and presentation by using the cost as a filter (see Seto, i.e. in para. 74, disclose that “according to the order information C. In this manner, the prints P are generated. At the same time, the order ID is printed on the backside of each of the prints P, and the prints P are sorted according to the order information C…”).
With regard to claim 8, the claim is drawn to the information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to perform sorting and presentation by using the deadline as a filter (see Seto, i.e. in fig. 5, the deadline column is being sorted, from earliest first 9/20, to 9/30”).
With regard to claim 9, the claim is drawn to an information processing system comprising: the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 (see discussion of claim 1 set forth above, and fig. 1, 9, 12 and etc., including teachings of Yamaguchi, also incorporated by reference herein); and
an information processing terminal that transmits the specification of the print data and the information to the information processing apparatus and that receives the cost calculated for the order receiver (see Seto, i.e. fig. 1, 9, 12 and etc., disclose the user terminal 11, and in para. 60, disclose that “[0060] The order reception server 21 stores the image data S and order information C sent from the user terminal 11, as will be explained later. The order reception server 21 is always connected to the network 3.”; and in para. 69 and etc., disclose that “If the result at Step S28 is affirmative, information for displaying a reservation completion page is sent from the reservation server 20 to the user terminal 11 (Step S29), and the reservation completion page is displayed on the monitor 12 of the user terminal 11 (Step S30)…”).
With regard to claim 10, the claim is drawn to a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for processing information (see Seto, i.e. in claim 19 and etc., disclose that “A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute a print order processing method…”), the process comprising:
acquiring a specification of print data (see Seto, i.e. in para. 60 and etc., disclose that “[0060] The order reception server 21 stores the image data S and order information C sent from the user terminal 11, as will be explained later. The order reception server 21 is always connected to the network 3…”);
acquiring font data of a font used in printing of the print data (see teachings of Yamaguchi supplemented below);
acquiring information indicating fonts that each order receiver hold (see teachings of Yamaguchi supplemented below);
determine whether an order receiver holds the font used in printing of the print data based on the font data and the information (see the teachings of Roy supplemented below);
when the order receiver does not hold the font used in printing of the print data, calculating a cost for placing an order for printing the print data for the order receiver based on a fee for transmitting the font data of the font used in printing of the print data from the computer to the order receiver; and presenting the cost (see Seto, i.e. in para. 64, disclose that “[0064] Information representing the reserved deadline is temporarily stored in the controller 23. The printing charges in accordance with the various deadlines are also stored in the controller 23 to be used for calculating the total printing charge…”; also, in fig. 5, par. 20-21 and etc., disclose teachings of displaying a list representing charges for the printed matter; in para. 75, discloses that “[0075] The total printing charge is then calculated according to the printing charges corresponding to the deadline (Step S14). The name of the user, the content of printing processing, the total printing charge, the order ID, and the reservation ID are printed on the label KP (Step S15), and the procedure ends…”; finally, in fig. 9-10 (w. laboratory A, B, C, etc.), further disclose more than one laboratory 6, and further in para. 81 and etc., disclose that “[0081] Each of the laboratories 6 comprises a laboratory server 61 for print order reception, a printer 62 for generating a print or prints P (hereinafter referred to as the prints P) based on the image data S and the order information C sent from the user terminal 11 to the order reception center 5 via a network 3, and a controller 63 for controlling the laboratory server 61 and the printer 62. In the second embodiment, the printer 62 has a function of carrying out image processing on the image data S…”; (see teachings of Yamaguchi and Roy supplemented below).
The teachings of Seto merely lack in explicitly disclosing the aspect(s) relating to “font data of a font used in printing the print data” and etc.
However, Yamaguchi discloses an analogous invention relates to a printing apparatus and pre-printing information estimation method, and more particularly to a printing apparatus and pre-printing information estimation method for printing content represented by means of a markup language stipulated by XML (extensible Markup Language) (see Yamaguchi, i.e. para. 2 and etc.). More specifically, in Yamaguchi ,i.e. in fig. 42, para. 338 and etc., disclose that “[0338] In FIG. 42, the printing apparatus 3300 mainly comprises an interface section 3301, request separation section 3302, separation section 3303, printing XML parser section 3304, print style sheet storage section 3305, layout composition section 3306, font expansion section 3307, font storage section 3308, print image expansion section 3309, printing cost estimation section 3310, paper information storage section 3311, consumable information storage section 3312, and printing section 3313…”. Further, in fig. 44, para. 352-368, disclose that “[0352] In S34020, the printing cost estimation section 3310 calculates the font printing cost from the XML content and font unit printing cost. The font printing cost here indicates the necessary printing cost when printing text according to font type, number of colors, size, and so forth. … [0354] In S34040, the printing cost estimation section 3310 calculates the printing cost from the font printing cost and the image printing cost. … [0356] The operations for calculating the font printing cost will now be described using a flowchart. FIG. 44 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of a printing apparatus of this embodiment. … [0358] In S35020, the printing cost estimation section 3310 determines whether or not the printing type of an object subject to font expansion is color. If the printing type of an object subject to font expansion is color, processing proceeds to S35030. If the printing type of an object subject to font expansion is not color, but monochrome, processing proceeds to S35040. [0359] In S35030, the font printing cost is calculated for color printing from costs set by font size and by print type, and the number of objects subject to font expansion. [0360] In S35040, the font printing cost is calculated for monochrome printing from costs set by font size and by print type, and the number of objects subject to font expansion. … [0368] In S36040, the printing cost estimation section 3310 determines whether or not the printing type of an object of font expansion is color. If the printing type of an object of font expansion is color, processing proceeds to S36050. If the printing type of an object of font expansion is not color, but monochrome, processing proceeds to S36060. …”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Seto to include the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Yamaguchi, aspect(s) relating to “print font” as discussed above, as the cited prior arts are at least considered to be analogous arts if not also in the same field of endeavor relating to printing art. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Seto by the teachings of Yamaguchi, and to incorporate the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Yamaguchi, thereby “… to provide a printing apparatus and pre-printing information estimation method that make it possible to provide print image information and print job results information prior to printing” (see Yamaguchi, i.e. para. 10 and etc.).
In interest of compact prosecution, in response to applicant’s assertion relating to “… there is no determination of whether a separate order receiver holds a font, no fee for transmitting font data from one device to another, and no cost calculation that is conditioned on the result of such a determination…”, examiner further supplements the teachings of Roy as following. Roy disclsoes an analogous invention relates to the systems and methods include presenting to a user a graphical user interface having printing options for printing the document. More specifically, in Roy, i.e. para. 41 and etc., disclose that “[0041] For this purpose, the system intercepts all print jobs, to observe and track users' print behavior, to analyze their evolution over time and to compare them with others in order to identify bad printing habits and possible room for improvements. In this aspect, the system introduces a virtual currency, referred to as Greenpoints (GP), and computes a cost in terms of GPs for each printed document. The system's allocation of GPs to one or more users is intended to correspond to the environmental cost of a user's printing activities. This cost is computed based on the characteristics of the print job, such as length of a document, its content, the selected print settings, the fonts used, and the type and extent of color used, among other variables. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that Greenpoints do not necessarily reflect a true `carbon footprint` calculation or pure CO.sub.2 consumption calculation of a print job. Rather, the virtual currency is intended to be incremented or decremented according to whatever value assessment the organization wishes to assign to various aspects of printing activities which are environmentally significant and which the individual employee can influence. The exemplary system and method are sufficiently flexible to allow a corporation or other entity to devise a virtual green currency motivating its employees to improve their environmental behavior in printing…”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Seto and Yamaguchi to include the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Roy, with the aspect(s) discussed above, as the cited prior arts are at least considered to be analogous arts if not also in the same field of endeavor relating to printing management arts. Further, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Seto and Yamaguchi by the teachings of Roy, and to incorporate the limitation(s) discussed and also taught by Roy, thereby having “the systems and methods include presenting to a user a graphical user interface having printing options for printing the document, where the graphical user interface has an input for receiving an indication by the user that the user is willing to share the hard copy of the document; presenting to the user options for defining characteristics of the hard copy of the document in response to receiving the indication; and publishing at least one of the defined characteristics within a profile page of the user” (see Roy, i.e. abstract and etc.).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments (i.e. on pg. 5-7, submitted on June 15, 2026) with respect to claims 1-10 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Mori (U.S. Pat/Pub No. 2010/0259785 A1) disclose an invention relates to an information processing apparatus for performing processing order determination control when a job ticket is converted among a plurality of printing systems, a control method, and a computer-readable storage medium (i.e. abstract and etc.); however, Mori lacks in explicitly disclose the teachings of fee and/or cost relating to font used during the printing process.
The Art Unit (or Workgroup) location of your application in the USPTO has changed. To aid in correlating any papers for this application, all further correspondence regarding this application should be directed to Art Unit 2681.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jacky X. Zheng whose telephone number is (571) 270-1122. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, alt. Friday Off.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached on (571) 272-3438. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JACKY X ZHENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
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