DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities: “the first side-surface” lacks antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The claims recite wherein a single lid includes two distinct and physically separated lids, but this does not seem possible. That is, “a lid…on a side-surface of the housing” cannot be two lids on opposite side surfaces of the housing. Further, because the claimed lid has been defined as being provided on a single side-surface of the housing, to then say that it is also provided on a second side-surface that, by definition, is not the claimed side-surface is indefinite.
Clarification is required.
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, 5, 6, 8-11 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takabayashi et al. (2021/0283918) in view of Wada (2019/0240982).
Regarding claims 1 and 17, Takabayashi teaches a liquid discharging apparatus comprising:
a housing (fig. 3, item 11);
a head (fig. 3, item 37) including a nozzle (fig. 3, item 36) configured to discharge a liquid to a printing medium;
a waste liquid reservoir (fig. 3, item 51) configured to store a waste liquid of the liquid, the waste liquid reservoir being configured to be inserted into and drawn from the housing ([0029]); and
a conveying route (fig. 3, rout from medium cassette 24 to medium discharge tray 32) via which the printing medium (fig. 3, item 23) is to be conveyed in a conveying direction (figs. 3, -Y direction), the conveying direction being a direction from the head toward an opening (fig. 3, opening created by cover 32) of the housing, the printing medium on which an image has been formed by the head being moved out of the housing via the opening (see fig. 3),
wherein, in a state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the
the waste liquid reservoir is arranged in an inside of the housing, and at a position downstream of the head in the conveying direction (see fig. 3) and a bottom surface of the waste liquid reservoir is arranged above a nozzle surface of the head (see fig. 3), and
a top surface of the waste liquid reservoir is arranged above the head (see fig. 3).
Takabayashi teaches wherein the waste liquid reservoir is downstream of the head, not upstream, as claimed. Wada teaches this (Wada, see fig. 3, Note opening 7, head 4 and reservoir 9). It would have been obvious to one of skill in the art at the time of invention to dispose the waste liquid reservoir upstream of the head, as disclosed by Wada, instead of downstream of the head, as disclosed by Takabayashi because doing so would amount to a simple substitution of one known head/reservoir arrangement for another to obtain predictable results. Further, according to MPEP 2144.04, a rearrangement of parts is not patentable if such a rearrangement would not modify the operation of the device. Here, whether the reservoir is upstream or downstream of the head has not effect on how the device functions and thus does not modify the operation of the device.
Further, Wada also teaches and a lid (Wada, fig. 5, item 11) configured to be opened and closed for inserting and drawing the waste liquid reservoir (Wada, fig. 5, item 9) with respect to the housing is provided on a side-surface (Wada, fig. 2, surface of housing on side with cartridges 20 and waste liquid reservoir 9) of the housing; and
the lid includes:
a first lid (Wada, fig. 5, item 11) provided on a side-surface of the housing (Wada, see fig. 5); and
a second lid provided on a second side-surface of the housing, the second side surface being opposite the first side-surface (Wada, fig. 5, see 112 rejection). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add a lid of the type disclosed by Wada to the device of Takabayashi because doing so would allow for the removal and insertion of the waste liquid reservoir without having to open the entirety of the housing.
Regarding claim 2, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, at least a portion of the waste liquid reservoir is arranged at a position that is the same as a position of at least a portion of the head in an up-down direction orthogonal to the nozzle surface of the head (Takabayashi, see figs. 3, Note that waste liquid reservoir, as defined above, overlaps the head, as defined).
Regarding claim 3, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a display panel configured to display information, wherein the display panel is provided at a position downstream of the head in the conveying direction (Takabayashi, see fig. 1, Note operation panel 14).
Regarding claim 5, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a reader (Wada, figs. 1, 2, note unlabeled scanner) configured to read an object as an image, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, the waste liquid reservoir is arranged below the reader. It would have been obvious to add the scanner of Wada to the printer of Takabayashi because doing so would allow for scanning of documents. Upon combination, the scanner would be above all other components in the housing.
Regarding claim 6, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a carriage (Takabayashi, fig. 3, item 38) configured to move in a scanning direction (Takabayashi, fig. 3, X direction), the head being mounted on the carriage (Takabayashi, see fig. 3); and a guide rail (Takabayashi, see fig. 3, note that carriage 38 is necessarily attached to a guide rail) extending along the scanning direction (Takabayashi, see fig. 3), the carriage being supported by the guide rail (Takabayashi, see fig. 3), wherein the waste liquid reservoir is arranged upstream of the guide rail in the conveying direction (Takabayashi, see fig. 3, Note that this is necessarily the case).
Regarding claim 8, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a back-surface feeder (Takabayashi, fig. 3, note that a sheet being fed from sheet cassette 24, through a conveyance path, and out toward the discharge tray 32 necessarily has a sheet-direction-reversing back -surface feeder) provided in a back-surface-side-area of the housing (Takabayashi, see fig. 3), the back-surface feeder being configured to feed the printing medium to the conveying route, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, the waste liquid reservoir is arranged downstream of the back-surface feeder in the conveying direction (Takabayashi, see fig. 3, Note that such a back-surface feeder is necessarily along the rear wall of the housing so that the reservoir is downstream of the back-surface feeder)
Regarding claim 9, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: a maintenance unit (Takabayashi, fig. 3, item 50) configured to perform maintenance for the head, and a tube (Takabayashi, fig. 3, note that a tube is necessarily present) connecting the waste liquid reservoir and the maintenance unit (Takabayashi, see fig. 3), wherein the tube is arranged along a side-surface of a main body of the housing (Takabayashi, see fig. 3).
Regarding claim 10, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, the waste liquid reservoir is arranged in one of a rightside-area and a left-side-area of the housing (Takabayashi, see fig. 3), and the maintenance unit is arranged in one of the right side-area and the left-side-area of the housing same as the one of the right-side-area and the left-side area of the housing in which the waste liquid reservoir is arranged, in a left-right direction parallel with the nozzle surface of the head and orthogonal to the conveying direction (Takabayashi, see fig. 3).
Regarding claim 11, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a conveying motor (col. 5, line 57) configured to convey the printing medium in the conveying route, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, the waste liquid reservoir is arranged in one of a right-side-area and a left-side-area of the housing, and the conveying motor is arranged in remaining one of the right-side-area and the left-side-area of the housing, in a leftright direction parallel with the nozzle surface of the head and orthogonal to the conveying direction (Takabayashi, see fig. 3, Note that all shown conveying rollers are necessarily driven by a motor).
Regarding claim 16, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the waste liquid reservoir includes a container (Takabayashi, fig. 10, item 51), and an absorbing foam (Takabayashi, [0003]) configured to be arranged in an inside of the container, the absorbing foam being configured to absorb the waste liquid (Takabayashi, see fig. 3).
Claim(s) 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takabayashi in view of Wada as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Segawa (2016/0031234).
Regarding claim 4, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3. Takabayashi in view of Wada does not teach a reverse conveying route configured to be used for performing a double-sided printing to the printing medium, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, the waste liquid reservoir is arranged above the reverse conveying route. Segawa teaches this (Segawa, [0010]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to add a reversing route of the type disclosed by Segawa to the device disclosed by Takabayashi in view of Wada because doing so would allow for reversing of print media, thereby facilitating double-sided printing.
Claim(s) 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takabayashi in view of Wada as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Murata et al. (2021/0229474).
Regarding claim 12, Takabayashi in view of Wada teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 3. Takabayashi in view of Wada does not teach a control board, wherein, in the state that the waste liquid reservoir is inserted in the housing, the waste liquid reservoir is arranged below the control board. Murata teaches this (Murata, see fig. 3, Note control board 54, waste liquid tank 80 an relative positioning). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to arrange control board and waste liquid tank disclosed by Takabayashi in view of Wada in the manner disclosed by Murata because doing so would prevent the control board from encountering waste ink.
Regarding claim 13, Takabayashi in view of Wada in view of Murata teaches the liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a support (Murata, fig. 3, item 66) which is arranged between the waste liquid reservoir and the control board, which has a shield configured to shield the waste liquid reservoir, and which supports the control board (Murata, see fig. 3).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The claims have been amended to further specify the structure of the device, but the amendments fail to distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. The rejections above have been updated to reflect the changes to the claims. The standing prior art rejection is maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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