DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Newly submitted claims 27-29 directed to an invention that is independent or distinct from the invention originally claimed for the following reasons: the invention is directed to a liquid discharging apparatus with specifics of a waste liquid guide, which is patentably distinct and properly restricted from the originally presented invention, which now requires a flushing process not required by the invention of claims 27-29
Since applicant has received an action on the merits for the originally presented invention, this invention has been constructively elected by original presentation for prosecution on the merits. Accordingly, claims 27-29 are withdrawn from consideration as being directed to a non-elected invention. See 37 CFR 1.142(b) and MPEP § 821.03.
To preserve a right to petition, the reply to this action must distinctly and specifically point out supposed errors in the restriction requirement. Otherwise, the election shall be treated as a final election without traverse. Traversal must be timely. Failure to timely traverse the requirement will result in the loss of right to petition under 37 CFR 1.144. If claims are subsequently added, applicant must indicate which of the subsequently added claims are readable upon the elected invention.
Should applicant traverse on the ground that the inventions are not patentably distinct, applicant should submit evidence or identify such evidence now of record showing the inventions to be obvious variants or clearly admit on the record that this is the case. In either instance, if the examiner finds one of the inventions unpatentable over the prior art, the evidence or admission may be used in a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) of the other invention.
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) 1-3, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17-19, 25 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hirasawa et al. (9,233,543) in view of Nakashima et al. (2019/0248144).
Regarding claim 1, Hirasawa teaches a liquid discharging apparatus, comprising:
a sheet conveyer path (fig. 4, path over item 22);
a liquid discharging head (fig. 4, item 31) including nozzles (fig. 4, items 34) for discharging liquid,
a maintenance unit (fig. 4, item 42/43) configured to suction the liquid from the liquid discharging head (col. 10, lines 4-10);
a waste liquid tank (fig. 4, item 81) demountably mounted in a housing of the liquid discharging apparatus, the waste liquid tank being configured to store the liquid received from the maintenance unit (see figs. 11-20); and
a waste liquid flow path (fig. 4, item 51) for transporting the liquid from the maintenance unit to the waste liquid tank (see fig. 4).
Hirasawa does not teach a flushing process at a flushing position. Nakashima teaches wherein a liquid discharging head performs a flushing process at a flushing position, the flushing position being a different position from the maintenance unit in a horizontal direction, the horizontal direction being parallel to a nozzle surface of the liquid discharge head, wherein the waste liquid tank is configured to store the liquid discharged in a flushing process from the (Nakashima, [0086], fig. 3, Note flushing unit 48 distinct from suction unit 24). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to add a flushing unit at a flushing position across from the maintenance unit, as disclosed by Nakashima in the device disclosed by Hirasawa because doing so would allow for flushing of the nozzles so as to refresh them and prevent drying.
Upon combination of Nakashima with Hirasawa, Nakashima’s dedicated flushing unit 48 would be located at least partly above Hirasawa’s waste liquid container 81 so that, in the horizontal direction, a distance between the waste liquid tank and the flushing position is smaller than a distance between the waste liquid tank and the maintenance unit.
Regarding claim 2, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid tank is located at a position where the waste liquid tank at least partly overlaps the nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head in the direction intersecting orthogonally with the nozzle surface (Hirasawa, see fig. 4).
Regarding claim 3, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1. Hirasawa does not teach a flushing unit. Nakashima teaches a flushing unit, the flushing unit having a waste liquid guide, the waste liquid guide being configured to guide the liquid removed from the liquid discharging head in a flushing process to the waste liquid tank, wherein the waste liquid guide is located at a position, at which the waste liquid guide at least partly overlaps the waste liquid tank in the direction intersecting orthogonally with the nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head (Nakashima, see fig. 3, [0035]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to add the flushing unit disclosed by Nakashima to the device disclosed by Hirasawa because doing so would allow for flushing of the nozzles, thereby keeping the nozzles fresh.
Regarding claim 8, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid flow path extending from the maintenance unit to the waste liquid tank traverses the sheet conveyer path (Hirasawa, see fig. 4).
Regarding claim 10, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sheet storage for storing sheets, wherein the waste liquid tank and the sheet storage are located at positions to at least partly overlap each other in a view along a widthwise direction of the housing, the widthwise direction being parallel to the nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head and intersecting orthogonally with a conveying direction to convey the sheets in the sheet conveyer path (Hirasawa, see fig. 3, Note that the sheet storage is necessarily below the waste liquid tank).
Regarding claim 12, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a platen (Hirasawa, fig. 4, item 22) configured to support a sheet (Hirasawa, see fig. 4), wherein the waste liquid tank and the platen are located at positions to at least partly overlap each other in a view along a widthwise direction of the housing (Hirasawa, see fig. 4), the widthwise direction being parallel to the nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head and intersecting orthogonally with a conveying direction to convey the sheet in the sheet conveyer path (Hirasawa, see fig. 4, 10).
Regarding claim 14, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid tank is located at a position to at least partly overlap the sheet conveyer path in a view along the direction intersecting orthogonally with the nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head (Hirasawa, see fig. 4).
Regarding claim 15, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operation panel (Hirasawa, fig. 2, item 101-103) including an operation device, the operation panel being arranged on an outer face of the housing, wherein the waste liquid flow path is located inside the housing at a position rearward with respect to the operation panel (Hirasawa, see fig. 2, Note that surface on which panel is arranged is being taken as the outer face. Note that “rearward” has not been defined).
Regarding claim 17, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid flow path is located frontward with respect to the liquid discharging head (Hirasawa, see fig. 4, Note that “rearward” and “frontward” have not been defined in the claims, and thus the limitations can be met depending on definition).
Regarding claim 18, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid flow path is located rearward with respect to the liquid discharging head (Hirasawa, see fig. 4, Note that “rearward” and “frontward” have not been defined in the claims, and thus the limitations can be met depending on definition).
Regarding claim 19, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1. Hirasawa does not teach wherein the waste liquid flow path is located to be higher than sheet conveyer path. Nakashima teaches this (Nakashima, see fig. 3, Note portion of tube 51 connected to lowermost flushing box 48 is as high as or higher than the bottom bound of the sheet conveyor path). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to arrange the waste liquid flow path of Hirasawa in the manner disclosed by Nakashima because doing so would amount to a simple substitution of one fluid flow arrangement for another to obtain predictable results.
Regarding claim 25, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flushing position is located opposite to the maintenance unit across the sheet conveyer path in the horizontal direction (see claim 1 rejection).
Regarding claim 26, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste liquid tank at least partly overlaps the flushing position in a direction intersecting orthogonally with the nozzle surface (see claim 1 rejection).
Claim(s) 13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hirasawa In view of Nakashima, and further in view of official notice.
Regarding claim 13, Hirasawa teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1. Hirasawa in view of Nakashima does not teach a reader configured to read an object, wherein the waste liquid tank is located to be lower than the reader. Examiner takes official notice that one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would have found to obvious to add a scanner to the printer disclosed by Hirasawa in view of Nakashima because doing so would allow for the scanning of documents.
Regarding claim 16, Hirasawa in view of Nakashima teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1. Hirasawa in view of Nakashima does not teach a reader configured to scan an object, wherein the waste liquid tank is located to be lower than the reader. Examiner takes official notice that one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention would have found to obvious to add a scanner to the printer disclosed by Hirasawa because doing so would allow for the scanning of documents.
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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEJANDRO VALENCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5473. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RICARDO MAGALLANES can be reached at 571-202-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853