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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/27/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
This non-final office action is responsive to Applicant’s submission filed 02/27/2026. Currently, claims 1-5 and 7-12 are pending. Claims 1 and 9-11 have been amended. Claim 6 has been cancelled. No newly added claim(s).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-5 and 7-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. 2014/0067456 (Kashida) in view of JP 2017107403 (Kaname – see attachment), U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. 2013/0229680 (Kitada et al. – hereinafter Kitada), and further in view of U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. 2016/0259601 (Dalaa et al. – hereinafter Dalaa).
Referring to claim 1, Kashida discloses an information processing system comprising:
a terminal device and an information processing device, wherein [See paragraphs 0027-0029, Fig. 1]
the terminal device includes: [See paragraph 0027]
a print instructor that transmits a print instruction to print a print job, and [See paragraphs 0036-0039]
an information transmitter that transmits predetermined information regarding the printing of the print job to the information processing device, [See paragraphs 0041-0050]
the predetermined information includes:
expense-related information that is information regarding an expense for the printing of the print job. [See paragraphs 0041-0046, 0055-0068]
Kashida does not explicitly disclose the limitations:
an expense management device;
an information transmitter that transmits, at fixed intervals, predetermined information to the information processing device;
the predetermined information includes:
connection-related information that is either one or both of information of a VPN connection and information of a login destination or is information based on at least one of the information of the VPN connection and the information of the login destination; and
at least one of the information of the VPN connection and the information of the login destination are information identifying whether the printing of the print job is private printing or official printing; and
the expense management device is configured to settle the expense based on the information identifying the printing of the print job is the official printing.
Kaname teaches a system with the limitations:
an expense management device; [See page 2, lines 24-33; page 9, line 29-page 10, line 25]
an information transmitter that transmits, at fixed intervals, predetermined information to the information processing device; and [See page 8, lines 36-45 – The usage measurements can be collected and aggregated on a monthly basis.]
the expense management device is configured to settle the expense based on the information identifying the printing of the print job is the official printing. [See page 5, line 42-page 6, line 8, line 1; page 10, lines 9-25 – The associated accountee is charged for the printing job depending on the measurement classification. The employer/company is charged for work/official usage measurements.]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system executing the method of Kashida to have incorporated a print accounting feature as in Kaname with the motivation of accurately charging the appropriate bearer the cost associated with print jobs based on collected information. [See Kashida paragraphs 0008, 0009 and 0026; Kaname page 10, lines 26-35]
Kitada teaches a system with the limitation: the predetermined information includes connection-related information that is either one or both of information of a VPN connection and information of a login destination or is information based on at least one of the information of the VPN connection and the information of the login destination. [See paragraphs 0003, 0021, 0022, 0024, 0027, 0028, 0043]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system executing the method of the combined teachings of Kashida and Kaname to have incorporated a printing connection information feature as in Kitada with the motivation of accurately charging the appropriate bearer the cost of associated with print jobs based on collected information. [See Kashida paragraphs 0008, 0009 and 0026; Katida paragraphs 0003, 0021, 0022, 0024, 0027, 0028, 0043]
Dalaa teaches a system with the limitation: at least one of the information of the VPN connection and the information of the login destination are information identifying whether the printing of the print job is private printing or official printing. [See paragraphs 0003, 0031, 0033, 0040, 0111, 0112, 0122-0124 – The print job information includes IP address and/or network username that can be used to identify a personal printer (private) or organizational printer (official) for printing the print job.]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system executing the method of the combined teachings of Kashida, Kaname and Kitada to have incorporated a cloud printing service feature as in Dalaa with the motivation of accurately assigning, tracking and accounting print jobs associated with a user. [See Kashida paragraphs 0008, 0009 and 0026; Dalaa paragraphs 0003, 0048]
Referring to claim 2, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the expense-related information includes information identifying whether the expense needs to be paid. [See Kashida paragraphs 0029, 0031, 0070, 0081]
Referring to claim 3, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the expense-related information includes information identifying a source that pays the expense. [See Kashida paragraphs 0029, 0031, 0070, 0081]
Referring to claim 4, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the expense-related information includes information identifying a destination to which the expense is paid. [See Kashida paragraphs 0029, 0031, 0070, 0081]
Referring to claim 5, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the expense-related information includes information specifying an amount of a resource used for the printing of the print job. [See Kashida paragraphs 0038, 0045, 0052, 0064, 0066,
Referring to claim 7, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a print controller that causes the print job to be stored in a storage and causes a printing device to print the print job stored in the storage. [See Kashida paragraphs 0040, 0041, 0051]
Referring to claim 8, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 7, further comprising the printing device. [See Kashida paragraph 0028]
Referring to claims 9-11, they recite similar limitations as set forth in claim 1, and therefore are rejected based on similar rationale.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kashida in view of Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa, and further in view of U.S. Patent Appl. Pub. No. 2019/0014011 (Okamoto et al. – hereinafter Okamoto).
Referring to claim 12, the combination of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa discloses the information processing system according to claim 1. The combination does not explicitly disclose the limitation:
wherein the connection-related information includes information which identifies that:
the printing of the print job is the private printing in a case where the VPN connection is established, and
the printing of the print job is the official printing in a case where the VPN connection is not established.
Okamoto teaches a system with the limitation: wherein the connection-related information includes information which identifies that:
the printing of the print job is the private printing in a case where the VPN connection is established, and [See paragraph 0061]
the printing of the print job is the official printing in a case where the VPN connection is not established. [See paragraph 0061]
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the system executing the method of Kashida, Kaname, Kitada and Dalaa to have incorporated a network connection settings feature as in Okamoto with the motivation of switching settings based on a network connection as appropriate. [See Okamoto paragraphs 0061]
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-12 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/OLUSEGUN GOYEA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3627