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 .
Examiner’s Note
1. In light of the Information Disclosure Statement, filed 6/11/2025, the Notice of Allowance filed on 3/17/2026 is hereby withdrawn and prosecution has been re-opened (see the Notice of Withdrawal filed on 7/7/2026). A new ground(s) of rejection is set forth as shown below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1,2,9,11,12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shinozaki JP 2018-123007 A.
Shinozaki discloses, regarding claim 1, An information processing apparatus comprising:
a processor (CPU 70) configured to:
acquire factor information (type of paper), which is information on a factor that influences an amount of volatilization of moisture supplied to each of recording media to be bound from the recording medium; and
set an amount of moisture to be supplied (via pump 63) to the recording medium on a basis of the factor information (see ¶0032).
Regarding claim 2, wherein: the processor is configured to:
acquire, as the factor information, elapsed period information, which is information on an elapsed period from supply of moisture to the recording medium to a time of binding of the recording medium; and
set an amount of moisture to be supplied to the recording medium on a basis of the elapsed period information (the amount of water supplied is adjusted by changing the amount of water sprayed per unit time, as disclosed in ¶0032).
Regarding claim 9, wherein: the processor is configured to:
acquire, as the factor information, type information, which is information on a type of each of the recording media to be bound; and
set an amount of moisture to be supplied to the recording medium on a basis of the type information (¶0032).
Regarding claim 11, A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process (fig.7, ¶0029), the process comprising:
acquiring factor information (type of paper), which is information on a factor that influences an amount of volatilization of moisture supplied to each of recording media to be bound from the recording medium; and
setting an amount of moisture to be supplied (via pump 63) to the recording medium on a basis of the factor information (see ¶0032).
Regarding claim 12, A recording medium processing apparatus comprising:
a binding unit (40) that binds a recording medium; and
an information processing apparatus that sets an amount of moisture to be supplied to the recording medium to be bound by the binding unit (see ¶0032),
wherein the information processing apparatus includes the information processing apparatus according to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shinozaki JP 2018-123007 A in view of Nobe JP 2016-185873 A.
Shinozaki discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above), but does not expressly disclose the limitations of claims 4-7.
Nobe teaches [regarding claim 4] wherein: the processor is configured to acquire the elapsed period information for each of the recording media on a basis of a position where the recording medium is situated in an order of stacking in which the recording media to be bound are sequentially stacked (time period from when the media reaches the postprocessing device until the process is performed, and amount of droplets controlled depending on order in the stack, as discussed in ¶0070), and [regarding claim 5] wherein: the processor is configured to acquire, as the elapsed period information for a recording medium that is situated late in the order of stacking, elapsed period information indicative of a shorter period than a period specified by the elapsed period information acquired for a recording medium that is situated early in the order of stacking (¶0070), [regarding claim 6] wherein: the processor is configured to: acquire, as the factor information, stacking order information, which is information on a position where a recording medium is situated in an order of stacking in which the recording media to be bound are sequentially stacked; and set an amount of moisture to be supplied to each of the recording media on a basis of the stacking order information (¶0070), and [regarding claim 7] wherein: the processor is configured to set a smaller amount of moisture as an amount of moisture to be supplied to a recording medium whose position in the order of stacking specified by the stacking order information is late than an amount of moisture to be supplied to a recording medium whose position in the order of stacking specified by the stacking order information is early (¶0070).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure the processor to acquire the elapsed period information for each of the recording media on a basis of a position where the recording medium is situated in an order of stacking in which the recording media to be bound are sequentially stacked, and configure the processor to acquire, as the elapsed period information for a recording medium that is situated late in the order of stacking, elapsed period information indicative of a shorter period than a period specified by the elapsed period information acquired for a recording medium that is situated early in the order of stacking, and configure the processor to acquire, as the factor information, stacking order information, which is information on a position where a recording medium is situated in an order of stacking in which the recording media to be bound are sequentially stacked; and set an amount of moisture to be supplied to each of the recording media on a basis of the stacking order information, and configure the processor to set a smaller amount of moisture as an amount of moisture to be supplied to a recording medium whose position in the order of stacking specified by the stacking order information is late than an amount of moisture to be supplied to a recording medium whose position in the order of stacking specified by the stacking order information is early, as taught by Nobe, in the device of Shinozaki, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of improving postprocessing accuracy (¶0006).
7. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shinozaki JP 2018-123007 A in view of Sakagami et al. USP 11,685,174.
Shinozaki discloses substantially all the limitations of the claims (see ¶4 above), but does not expressly disclose the limitations of claim 8.
Sakagami teaches the processor is configured to: acquire, as the factor information, atmosphere information, which is information on an atmosphere in a place where the recording media are bound; and set an amount of moisture to be supplied to each of the recording media on a basis of the atmosphere information (C16/L12-24, C27/L9-32).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to configure the processor to acquire, as the factor information, atmosphere information, which is information on an atmosphere in a place where the recording media are bound; and set an amount of moisture to be supplied to each of the recording media on a basis of the atmosphere information, as taught by Sakagami, in the device of Shinozaki, with a reasonable expectation of success, for the purpose of predicting the rigidity and ease of postprocessing of the medium so as to properly handle the medium (C27/L20-32).
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 3,10 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.
Conclusion
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESLIE A. NICHOLSON III whose telephone number is (571)272-5487. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael C McCullough can be reached at 571-272-7805. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LESLIE A NICHOLSON III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3653 7/7/2026
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