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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-8 and 12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 04/07/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS have been considered.
Priority
4. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
5. The examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 10/15/2023 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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 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.
7. 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 of this title, 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.
8. Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoneyama (US Pub. Nº 2005/0046684), in view of Katsuno et al. (US Pub. Nº 2018/0126747).
9. Regarding independent claim 9: Yoneyama disclosed a printing method ([0002], line 1) comprising:
ejecting droplets of a first ink ([0015], lines 1-2) from a nozzle ([0062], line 2; also see Fig. 1, references 5) of a first head ([0062], line 2; also see Fig. 1, references 4 (any of the color heads CMYK)) onto a print object (Fig. 1, reference P) while moving the first head in a main scanning direction set in advance ([0050], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 1, carriage 2 reciprocates in main direction X); and
ejecting droplets of a second ink ([0017], lines 1-2) from a nozzle of a second head onto the print object ([0062], lines 2-3; also see Fig. 1, references 4 (the color head T)), the second head being arranged side by side with the first head in the main scanning direction and moving integrally with the first head (see Fig. 1), wherein
the droplets of the first ink and the droplets of the second ink are ejected in an overlapping manner so as to correspond one-to-one on target landing positions for the droplets of the first ink on the print object ([0063], lines 1-3).
Yoneyama is silent about the second ink having a higher viscosity than that of the first ink.
Katsuno et al. disclosed a printing method ([0002], line 1) comprising ejecting on a print object (Fig. 5A, reference 5), a first ink ([0033], lines 3-4) from a first head (Fig. 2, any of references 23B, 23Y, 23M, 23C), a second ink ([0033], line 3) from a second head (Fig. 2, reference 21) arranged side by side with the first head and moving integrally with the first head (see Fig. 2) such that the first ink and the second ink overlap with each other (see Fig. 5A), wherein the second ink having a higher viscosity than that of the first ink ([0030], lines 2-3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Katsuno et al. with those of Yoneyama by using a second ink having a higher viscosity than that of the first ink in order to improve the matte state of the second ink as disclosed by Katsuno et al. in paragraph [0030].
10. Regarding claim 10: The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 9, wherein the second ink is at least one ink among an ink of same type of color as the first ink, an ink of same type of color as the print object, and a transparent ink (Yoneyama [0017], line 1; also see Katsuno et al. [0033], line 3).
11. Regarding claim 11: The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 9, wherein the droplets of the second ink are ejected onto the target landing positions and the droplets of the first ink are subsequently ejected so as to overlap the droplets of the second ink, when ejection of the droplets of the second ink is performed before ejection of the droplets of the first ink onto the target landing positions (Katsuno et al. [0024], lines 2-4; when printing on a transparent medium).
12. Claims 13-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoneyama (US Pub. Nº 2005/0046684), in view of Katsuno et al. (US Pub. Nº 2018/0126747) as applied to claims 9-11 above, and further in view of Usuda et al. (US Pub. Nº 2011/0109673).
13. Regarding claim 13: The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 9.
The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. is silent about wherein: in a single main scan of the first head and the second head, the droplets of the first ink and the droplets of the second ink are ejected in an overlapping manner on the target landing positions.
Usuda et al. disclosed a printing method ([0003], line 1) comprising ejecting on a print object ([0025], lines 1-2), a first ink from a first head (Fig. 8, references K, Y, M, C), a second ink from a second head (Fig. 8, reference W) arranged side by side with the first head and moving integrally with the first head (see Fig. 8) such that the first ink and the second ink overlap with each other ([0082], lines 2-5), wherein: in a single main scan of the first head and the second head, the droplets of the first ink and the droplets of the second ink are ejected in an overlapping manner on the target landing positions ([0094], lines 3-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Usuda et al. with those of the combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. by ejecting the first ink and the second ink in a single main scan in order to prevent granularity in the printed image as disclosed by Usuda et al. in paragraph [0094].
14. Regarding claim 14: The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 9.
The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. is silent about wherein the printing method uses the first head and the second head respectively having nozzle rows constituted by same number of nozzles that are arranged in a sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction; for each main scan, an ejection control is performed by the nozzle rows being divided into segments that divide the nozzle rows into N equal parts in the sub scanning direction, wherein N is a natural number; and for each main scan, the nozzles from which ink is ejected from the first head and the second head are nozzles of segments adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction.
Usuda et al. disclosed Usuda et al. disclosed a printing method ([0003], line 1) comprising ejecting on a print object ([0025], lines 1-2), a first ink from a first head (Fig. 8, references K, Y, M, C), a second ink from a second head (Fig. 8, reference W) arranged side by side with the first head and moving integrally with the first head (see Fig. 8) such that the first ink and the second ink overlap with each other ([0082], lines 2-5), wherein the printing method uses the first head and the second head respectively having nozzle rows constituted by same number of nozzles that are arranged in a sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction (Fig. 8, both the color heads and the white/clear head have 180 nozzles arranged in the sub scanning direction); for each main scan, an ejection control is performed by the nozzle rows being divided into segments that divide the nozzle rows into N equal parts in the sub scanning direction, wherein N is a natural number ([0086], lines 1-16; here N = 2); and for each main scan, the nozzles from which ink is ejected from the first head and the second head are nozzles of segments adjacent to each other in the main scanning direction ([0086], lines 1-16; also see Fig. 9, ink is ejected from nozzles 1-4 of the first head (Co) and from nozzles 5-8 of the second head (W) in a single main scan).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Usuda et al. with those of the combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. by dividing the nozzle array into equal parts and moving the “short heads”, in order to suppress blurring of the image as disclosed by Usuda et al. in paragraph [0089].
15. Regarding claim 15: The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 9.
The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. did not specifically disclose wherein a base layer is formed by the droplets of the second ink being ejected in a predetermined region on the print object including the target landing positions in a single main scan of the first head and the second head, and the first ink is subsequently ejected so as to overlap the second ink ejected onto the target landing positions on the base layer in a subsequent main scan continuing from the single main scan of the first head and the second head.
Usuda et al. disclosed a printing method ([0003], line 1) comprising ejecting on a print object ([0025], lines 1-2), a first ink from a first head (Fig. 8, references K, Y, M, C), a second ink from a second head (Fig. 8, reference W) arranged side by side with the first head and moving integrally with the first head (see Fig. 8) such that the first ink and the second ink overlap with each other ([0082], lines 2-5), wherein a base layer is formed by the droplets of the second ink being ejected in a predetermined region on the print object including the target landing positions in a single main scan of the first head and the second head, and the first ink is subsequently ejected so as to overlap the second ink ejected onto the target landing positions on the base layer in a subsequent main scan continuing from the single main scan of the first head and the second head ([0086], lines 1-16; also see Fig. 9, “Front-surface printing mode”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Usuda et al. with those of the combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. by adopting the above disclosed method steps in order to support front-surface printing mode as disclosed by Usuda et al. in Fig. 9.
16. Regarding claim 16: The combination of Yoneyama, Katsuno et al. and Usuda et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 15, wherein the printing method uses the first head and the second head respectively having nozzle rows constituted by same number of nozzles that are arranged in a sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction (Usuda et al. Fig. 8, both the color heads and the white/clear head have 180 nozzles arranged in the sub scanning direction); for each main scan, an ejection control is performed by the nozzle rows being divided into segments that divide the nozzle rows into N equal parts in the sub scanning direction, wherein N is a natural number (Usuda et al. [0086], lines 1-16; here N = 2); in the single main scan, the droplets of the second ink are ejected from the nozzles of a single segment among the segments of N equal parts among the nozzle rows of the second head; the print object is conveyed in the sub scanning direction by a nozzle row length dividing the nozzle rows into N equal parts; and in the subsequent main scan, the first head ejects the droplets of the first ink from the nozzles in the segment continuous with the segment from which the droplets of second ink are ejected from the second head in the sub scanning direction (Usuda et al. [0086], lines 1-16; also see Fig. 9, ink is ejected from nozzles 1-4 of the first head (Co) and from nozzles 5-8 of the second head (W) in a single main scan; also see the intermediate transport by a distance equal to 4D).
17. Regarding claim 17: The combination of Yoneyama and Katsuno et al. disclosed the printing method as set forth in claim 9, wherein at least the droplets of the first ink are ejected onto the target landing positions, and a coating layer is subsequently formed by the second ink being ejected onto a predetermined region on the print object including the target landing position (Yoneyama [0063], lines 1-3; the transparent ink forms a coating layer over the color image).
Conclusion
18. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOVI M. AMEH whose telephone number is (571)272-4578. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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20. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RICARDO MAGALLANES can be reached at (571)272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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