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
Foreign priority papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or 35 U.S.C. § 365(a)-(c) are acknowledged.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/03/2026 has been entered. Claim(s) 1-8, 10 and 11 is/are pending in the application. Claim(s) 1, 2, 7, 8, 10 and 11 has/have been amended. Claim(s) 9 is/are canceled.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 103
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.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
1. Claim(s) 1-8, 10 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 20110238704 to Koike et al. (hereinafter “Koike”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 20130229683 to Nakayama (hereinafter “Nakayama”).
With respect to claim 1, Koike discloses a printing system (FIG. 1 - FIG. 12) comprising: a printing material cartridge that accommodates a printing material and has an identification portion on which identification information for identifying the printing material cartridge is recorded (110, 116 FIG. 3); a printing apparatus including a cartridge mounting portion in which the printing material cartridge is mounted, and an apparatus reading portion that is formed inside the cartridge mounting portion and optically reads the identification portion (100, 160 FIG. 2); a compatibility determination portion that determines whether or not the printing material cartridge is compatible with the cartridge mounting portion by using the identification information obtained by reading the identification portion with the apparatus reading portion (150 FIG. 2, S104 Fig. 8);
However, Koike fails to specifically disclose:
and a portable terminal including a terminal display portion that displays the identification information obtained by reading the identification portion wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge.
Nakayama discloses:
and a portable terminal including a terminal display portion that displays the identification information obtained by reading the identification portion (200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2) ([0047], [0055] 180 FIG. 4 FIG. 10) wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge (remaining amount of ink is a precaution for a user, print apparatus model number is a product number [0109] FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 Additionally, [0073] discloses cartridge model number which is a cartridge identification number.).
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the portable terminal and information as disclosed by Nakayama with the method/apparatus of Koike. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the ability to receive the information. (200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 2, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses A printing system (FIG. 1 - FIG. 12) comprising: a printing material cartridge that accommodates a printing material and has an identification portion on which identification information for identifying the printing material cartridge is recorded (110, 116 FIG. 3); and a printing apparatus including a cartridge mounting portion in which the printing material cartridge is mounted, and an apparatus reading portion that is formed inside the cartridge mounting portion and optically reads the identification portion (100, 160 FIG. 2), wherein the printing apparatus further includes an apparatus display portion that displays the identification information obtained by the apparatus reading portion reading the identification portion ([0047], [0055] 180 FIG. 4 FIG. 10) wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge (remaining amount of ink is a precaution for a user, print apparatus model number is a product number [0109] FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 Further, [0073] discloses cartridge model number which is a cartridge identification number. Additionally, Nakayama specifically states that the examples may be changed and that various kinds of information may be written. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include various identification information including the information claimed.).
With respect to claim 3, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses wherein the identification portion is further read by the portable terminal such that the terminal display portion of the portable terminal displays the printing apparatus in which the printing material cartridge is usable (100, 110, 116, 160 FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 of Koike and 200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 4, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses wherein the identification portion of the printing material cartridge, which is determined by the printing apparatus that a remaining amount of the printing material accommodated in the printing material cartridge is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, is read by the portable terminal such that the terminal display portion of the portable terminal displays a storage location of a replaceable printing material cartridge (100, 110, 116, 150, 160 FIG. 2 – FIG. 12 of Koike and 200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 5, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses wherein the identification portion is read by the portable terminal such that the terminal display portion of the portable terminal displays precautions for a user who uses the printing material cartridge (100, 110, 116, 150, 160 FIG. 2 – FIG. 12 of Koike and 200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 6, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses wherein the identification portion is read by the portable terminal such that the terminal display portion of the portable terminal displays a mounting procedure of the printing material cartridge(100, 110, 116, 150, 160 FIG. 2 – FIG. 12 of Koike and 200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 7, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses a terminal reading portion that reads an identification portion of a printing material cartridge that is optically readable by an apparatus reading portion of a printing apparatus; and a terminal display portion that displays identification information obtained by reading the identification portion with the terminal reading portion (100, 110, 116, 150, 160 FIG. 2 – FIG. 12 of Koike and 200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
However, Koike fails to specifically disclose:
wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge.
Nakayama discloses:
wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge (remaining amount of ink is a precaution for a user, print apparatus model number is a product number [0109] FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 Additionally, [0073] discloses cartridge model number which is a cartridge identification number.).
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the portable terminal and information as disclosed by Nakayama with the method/apparatus of Koike. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the ability to receive the information. (200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 8, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses a printing apparatus comprising: a cartridge mounting portion in which a printing material cartridge is mounted; an apparatus reading portion that is formed inside the cartridge mounting portion and optically reads an identification portion of the printing material cartridge that is readable by a terminal reading portion; a compatibility determination portion that determines whether or not the printing material cartridge is compatible with the cartridge mounting portion by using identification information obtained by reading the identification portion with the apparatus reading portion (100, 110, 116, 150, 160, 180 S104 FIG. 2 – FIG. 12 of Koike and 200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama) and an apparatus display portion that displays the identification information obtained by reading the identification portion with the apparatus reading portion,
However, Koike fails to specifically disclose:
of a portable terminal and wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge.
Nakayama discloses:
of a portable terminal and wherein the identification information includes at least one of precautions for a user, a production lot number, a product number and a cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge (remaining amount of ink is a precaution for a user, print apparatus model number is a product number [0109] FIG. 20 and FIG. 21 Additionally, [0073] discloses cartridge model number which is a cartridge identification number.).
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the portable terminal and information as disclosed by Nakayama with the method/apparatus of Koike. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the ability to receive the information. (200 FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Nakayama).
With respect to claim 10, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses wherein the identification information includes at least three of an ink color, a model number, the precautions for the user, the production lot number, the product number and the cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge (FIG. 20, FIG. 21 [0109]-[0117] Nakayama specifically discloses multiple ink color and model number information. Additionally, Nakayama specifically states that the examples may be changed and that various kinds of information may be written. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include various identification information including the information claimed.).
With respect to claim 11, Koike in view of Nakayama discloses wherein the identification information includes all of an ink color, a model number, the precautions for the user, the production lot number, the product number and the cartridge identification number assigned to the printing material cartridge (FIG. 20, FIG. 21 [0109]-[0117] Nakayama specifically discloses multiple ink color and model number information. Additionally, Nakayama specifically states that the examples may be changed and that various kinds of information may be written. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include various identification information including the information claimed.).
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
1. Applicant's arguments filed 03/03/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the claims no longer include the model number included in the information displayed. However, this is not persuasive because the prior art does disclose other types of information such as precautions for a user, product number, and cartridge identification number.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bradley W Thies whose telephone number is (571)270-5667. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:30 am -6:00 pm.
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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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/BRADLEY W THIES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853