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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 05/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s Amendment filed on 05/18/2026 regarding claims 1-11 is fully considered. Of the above claims, claim 11 has been newly added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-11 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 4 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, the recitation of “a recording medium” in line 10 refers to a previously recited limitation.
Regarding claim 4, the recitations of “individually controllable units” in lines 2-3 and “a second set” in line 4 refer to previously recited limitations.
Regarding claim 11, the recitation of “a recording medium” in line 10 refers to a previously recited limitation.
Appropriate correction 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 and 5-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kelekar et al. (US 2022/0371339 A1) in view of Rietbergen et al. (US 2019/0134995 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kelekar et al. teach a method for operating a printing apparatus (operating the scanning-type image formation device 600; Figs 7A-7B), the printing apparatus comprising:
at least one printing unit configured to, in operation, deposit a predetermined pattern of a radiation-curable fluid on a recording medium (performing further emission of radiation to further polymerize and/or cure the resin to complete the image formation on the substrate; [0027]; the fluid ejection device 80 is to deposit droplets 81 of ink particles within a non-aqueous fluid carrier onto a substrate 90; [0031]; FIG. 7A), the at least one printing unit comprising a scanning printing unit, the scanning printing unit being configured to, in operation, move in reciprocation in a first direction, the first direction being substantially perpendicular to a direction of relative recording medium transport (a carriage 660 moves in a back-and-forth motion across a width of a substrate 610; [0096]; FIG. 7A);
a recording medium support for supporting the recording medium (support rollers 755, 756; FIG. 8); and
a page-wide curing element, the page-wide curing element being configured to, in operation, irradiate a recording medium provided with the radiation-curable fluid, the page-wide curing element extending in the first direction (the third radiation element 655 acts to further irradiate at least the resins on the substrate; [0098]; FIG. 7A),
wherein the method comprises the step of depositing the radiation-curable fluid onto a recording medium using the scanning printing unit (the fluid ejection device 80 is to deposit droplets 81 of ink particles within a non-aqueous fluid carrier onto a substrate 90; [0031]; FIG. 7A),
wherein the page-wide curing element is controlled such that a time between deposition of the radiation-curable fluid and irradiation of the radiation-curable fluid is essentially the same for different areas of the recording medium (the scanning carriage 660 may move a speed of 2 meters/second in its back and forth motion across the width W1 of the substrate 610 while the droplets 81 are deposited; [0103]; as the substrate is advanced in the substrate advance direction SA, the bulk of the drying of the deposited components on the substrate is performed via drying element 694 at a much lower speed of 1 inch-per-second; [0103]; Figs 7A-7B; due to the much lower speed of the advance of the substrate, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill that the third radiation 655 irradiates the different areas in a scan line at essentially the same time).
Further regarding claim 1, Kelekar et al. do not teach the page-wide curing element comprising a number of individually controllable units, the individually controllable units being arranged along the first direction, the individually controllable units being configured to, in operation, emit radiation onto an area of the recording medium, wherein the individually controllable units are operable in at least two modes, the at least two modes including an Off mode and an On mode,
wherein the method comprises the step of controlling the individually controllable units to be in one of the at least two modes.
Further regarding claim 1, Rietbergen et al. teach a page-wide curing element comprising a number of individually controllable units, the individually controllable units being arranged along a first direction, the individually controllable units being configured to, in operation, emit radiation onto an area of a recording medium, wherein the individually controllable units are operable in at least two modes, the at least two modes including an Off mode and an On mode (the curing system comprises a curing beam 221 extending across the transport path 30 in the transverse direction y and a plurality of UV lamp source 222a-222d mounted onto the curing beam 221; one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d is selected to be activated to emit a curing radiation towards the recording medium 14 for providing a curing zone; [0071]; Figs 5A-5D) for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the page-wide curing element comprising a number of individually controllable units, the individually controllable units being arranged along the first direction, the individually controllable units being configured to, in operation, emit radiation onto an area of the recording medium, wherein the individually controllable units are operable in at least two modes, the at least two modes including an Off mode and an On mode, and wherein the method comprises the step of controlling the individually controllable units to be in one of the at least two modes, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing.
Regarding claim 2, Kelekar et al. do not teach wherein, at a first point in time, a first unit of the individually controllable units is controlled to be in a mode not being the Off mode and a second unit is controlled to be in the Off mode, the position of the first unit in the first direction and the position of the second unit in the first direction being adjacent to one another, and at a second point in time, the first unit is controlled to be in the Off mode and the second unit is controlled to be in in a mode not being the Off mode.
Further regarding claim 2, Rietbergen et al. teach at a first point in time, a first unit of the individually controllable units is controlled to be in a mode not being the Off mode and a second unit is controlled to be in the Off mode, the position of the first unit in the first direction and the position of the second unit in the first direction being adjacent to one another, and at a second point in time, the first unit is controlled to be in the Off mode and the second unit is controlled to be in in a mode not being the Off mode (one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d is selected to be activated to emit a curing radiation towards the recording medium 14 for providing a curing zone; [0071]; Figs 5A-5D; when at a current time, one source is selected to be activated, and an adjacent source is selected to be deactivated; when at a later time, the one source is selected to be deactivated, and the adjacent source is selected to be activated) for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing scan lines having rows of ink dots arranged differently.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein, at a first point in time, a first unit of the individually controllable units is controlled to be in a mode not being the Off mode and a second unit is controlled to be in the Off mode, the position of the first unit in the first direction and the position of the second unit in the first direction being adjacent to one another, and at a second point in time, the first unit is controlled to be in the Off mode and the second unit is controlled to be in in a mode not being the Off mode, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing scan lines having rows of ink dots arranged differently.
Regarding claim 3, Kelekar et al. teach wherein the at least two modes further include a Pin mode (the further fixation of the deposited ink particles 134 may sometimes be referred to as a chemical fixation, i.e. chemical pinning of the deposited ink particles 134 relative to the substrate 90; [0084]).
Regarding claim 5, Kelekar et al. do not teach wherein the printing apparatus further comprises an optical element, the optical element being configured to, in operation, receive radiation from at least one of the individually controllable units of the page-wide curing array and to deflect the radiation towards the recording medium.
Further regarding claim 5, Rietbergen et al. teach the printing apparatus further comprises an optical element, the optical element being configured to, in operation, receive radiation from at least one of the individually controllable units of the page-wide curing array and to deflect the radiation towards the recording medium (the curing system further comprises a mirror assembly 322 arranged to direct the UV curing radiation by way of refection towards a curing zone 327 on the recording medium 14; [0060]; Figs 3A-3B) for the purpose of having a more uniform curing when the medium transport speed varies.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein the printing apparatus further comprises an optical element, the optical element being configured to, in operation, receive radiation from at least one of the individually controllable units of the page-wide curing array and to deflect the radiation towards the recording medium, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of having a more uniform curing when the medium transport speed varies.
Regarding claim 6, Kelekar et al. do not teach wherein, in a printing operation, the scanning printing unit is in a position x along the first direction, and an individually controllable unit of the individually controllable units located in the position x along the first direction is in the Off mode and at least one of the individually controllable units not being located in the position x along the first direction is in a mode other than the Off mode.
Further regarding claim 6, Rietbergen et al. teach in a printing operation, the scanning printing unit is in a position x along the first direction, and an individually controllable unit of the individually controllable units located in the position x along the first direction is in the Off mode and at least one of the individually controllable units not being located in the position x along the first direction is in a mode other than the Off mode (one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d is selected to be activated to emit a curing radiation towards the recording medium 14 for providing a curing zone; [0071]; Figs 5A-5D; when there is no ink at a position of the carriage 16, one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d at that position is selected to be deactivated; when there is ink at another position that is not the position, one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d at the another position is selected to be activated) for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing positions of a scan line having ink.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein, in a printing operation, the scanning printing unit is in a position x along the first direction, and an individually controllable unit of the individually controllable units located in the position x along the first direction is in the Off mode and at least one of the individually controllable units not being located in the position x along the first direction is in a mode other than the Off mode, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing positions of a scan line having ink.
Regarding claim 7, Kelekar et al. do not teach wherein all individually controllable units not being located in the position x along the first direction being is in a mode other than the Off mode.
Further regarding claim 7, Rietbergen et al. teach all individually controllable units not being located in the position x along the first direction being is in a mode other than the Off mode (one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d is selected to be activated to emit a curing radiation towards the recording medium 14 for providing a curing zone; [0071]; Figs 5A-5D; when there is no ink at a position of the carriage 16, one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d at that position is selected to be deactivated; when there is ink at all other positions that is not the position, all of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d at the other positions are selected to be activated) for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing positions of a scan line having ink.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein all individually controllable units not being located in the position x along the first direction being is in a mode other than the Off mode, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing positions of a scan line having ink.
Regarding claim 8, Kelekar et al. do not teach a printing apparatus comprising: the at least one printing unit; the page-wide curing array; the recording medium support; and a control unit configured to, in operation, control the printing apparatus to perform the method.
Further regarding claim 8, Rietbergen et al. teach a printing apparatus comprising: the at least one printing unit; the page-wide curing array; the recording medium support; and a control unit configured to, in operation, control the printing apparatus to perform the method (control unit 100 of ink jet printer 10; Figs 5A-5C) for the purpose of controlling the different components in a printing system including a page-wide curing array.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate a printing apparatus comprising: the at least one printing unit; the page-wide curing array; the recording medium support; and a control unit configured to, in operation, control the printing apparatus to perform the method, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of controlling the different components in a printing system including a page-wide curing array.
Regarding claim 9, Kelekar et al. do not teach wherein the printing apparatus further comprises an optical element, the optical element being configured to, in operation, receive radiation from at least one of the individually controllable units of the page-wide curing array and to deflect the radiation towards the recording medium.
Further regarding claim 9, Rietbergen et al. teach the printing apparatus further comprises an optical element, the optical element being configured to, in operation, receive radiation from at least one of the individually controllable units of the page-wide curing array and to deflect the radiation towards the recording medium (the curing system further comprises a mirror assembly 322 arranged to direct the UV curing radiation by way of refection towards a curing zone 327 on the recording medium 14; [0060]; Figs 3A-3B) for the purpose of having a more uniform curing when the medium transport speed varies.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein the printing apparatus further comprises an optical element, the optical element being configured to, in operation, receive radiation from at least one of the individually controllable units of the page-wide curing array and to deflect the radiation towards the recording medium, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of having a more uniform curing when the medium transport speed varies.
Regarding claim 10, Kelekar et al. teach a software product comprising program code on a non-transitory machine-readable medium, wherein the program code, when loaded into a controller of the printing apparatus with the at least one printing unit for depositing the radiation-curable fluid, the page-wide curing array and a control unit, causes the controller to perform the method (execution of the machine readable instructions, such as those provided via memory 1110 of control portion 1100 cause the processor to perform the above-identified actions, such as operating controller 1102 to implement the formation of an image; [0130]; FIG. 11B).
Regarding claim 11, Kelekar et al. teach a method for operating a printing apparatus (operating the scanning-type image formation device 600; Figs 7A-7B), the printing apparatus comprising:
at least one printing unit configured to, in operation, deposit a predetermined pattern of a radiation-curable fluid on a recording medium (performing further emission of radiation to further polymerize and/or cure the resin to complete the image formation on the substrate; [0027]; the fluid ejection device 80 is to deposit droplets 81 of ink particles within a non-aqueous fluid carrier onto a substrate 90; [0031]; FIG. 7A), the at least one printing unit comprising a scanning printing unit, the scanning printing unit being configured to, in operation, move in reciprocation in a first direction, the first direction being substantially perpendicular to a direction of relative recording medium transport (a carriage 660 moves in a back-and-forth motion across a width of a substrate 610; [0096]; FIG. 7A);
a recording medium support for supporting the recording medium (support rollers 755, 756; FIG. 8); and
a page-wide curing element, the page-wide curing element being configured to, in operation, irradiate a recording medium provided with the radiation-curable fluid, the page-wide curing element extending in the first direction (the third radiation element 655 acts to further irradiate at least the resins on the substrate; [0098]; FIG. 7A),
wherein the method comprises the step of depositing the radiation-curable fluid onto a recording medium using the scanning printing unit (the fluid ejection device 80 is to deposit droplets 81 of ink particles within a non-aqueous fluid carrier onto a substrate 90; [0031]; FIG. 7A),
wherein the page-wide curing element is controlled such that a time between deposition of the radiation-curable fluid and irradiation of the radiation-curable fluid is essentially the same for different areas of the recording medium (the scanning carriage 660 may move a speed of 2 meters/second in its back and forth motion across the width W1 of the substrate 610 while the droplets 81 are deposited; [0103]; as the substrate is advanced in the substrate advance direction SA, the bulk of the drying of the deposited components on the substrate is performed via drying element 694 at a much lower speed of 1 inch-per-second; [0103]; Figs 7A-7B; due to the much lower speed of the advance of the substrate, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill that the third radiation 655 irradiates the different areas in a scan line at essentially the same time).
Further regarding claim 11, Kelekar et al. do not teach the page-wide curing element comprising a number of individually controllable units, the individually controllable units being arranged along the first direction, the individually controllable units being configured to, in operation, emit radiation onto an area of the recording medium, wherein the individually controllable units are operable in at least two modes, the at least two modes including an Off mode and an On mode,
wherein the method comprises the step of controlling the individually controllable units to be in one of the at least two modes; and
wherein the time between deposition of the radiation-curable fluid and irradiation of the radiation-curable fluid may be selected.
Further regarding claim 11, Rietbergen et al. teach a page-wide curing element comprising a number of individually controllable units, the individually controllable units being arranged along a first direction, the individually controllable units being configured to, in operation, emit radiation onto an area of a recording medium,
wherein the individually controllable units are operable in at least two modes, the at least two modes including an Off mode and an On mode (the curing system comprises a curing beam 221 extending across the transport path 30 in the transverse direction y and a plurality of UV lamp source 222a-222d mounted onto the curing beam 221; one of the UV lamp sources 222a-222d is selected to be activated to emit a curing radiation towards the recording medium 14 for providing a curing zone; [0071]; Figs 5A-5D); and
wherein the time between deposition of the radiation-curable fluid and irradiation of the radiation-curable fluid may be selected (the time to select to activate the UV lamp sources 222a-222d is the time to irradiate the ink) for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing at predetermined times.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the page-wide curing element comprising a number of individually controllable units, the individually controllable units being arranged along the first direction, the individually controllable units being configured to, in operation, emit radiation onto an area of the recording medium, wherein the individually controllable units are operable in at least two modes, the at least two modes including an Off mode and an On mode, wherein the method comprises the step of controlling the individually controllable units to be in one of the at least two modes; and wherein the time between deposition of the radiation-curable fluid and irradiation of the radiation-curable fluid may be selected, as taught by Rietbergen et al., into Kelekar et al. for the purpose of conserving energy by activating only the lamp sources needed for curing at predetermined times.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kelekar et al. (US 2022/0371339 A1) as modified by Rietbergen et al. (US 2019/0134995 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Condello et al. (US 10,882,337 B1).
Regarding claim 4, Kelekar et al. as modified by Rietbergen et al. do not teach wherein the page-wide curing array comprises a first set of the individually controllable units and a second set of individually controllable units, wherein the first set of individually controllable units is configured to, in operation, emit a first type of radiation and a second set of individually controllable units is configured to, in operation, emit a second type of radiation.
Further regarding claim 4, Condello et al. teach a page-wide curing array comprises a first set of individually controllable units and a second set of individually controllable units, wherein the first set of individually controllable units is configured to, in operation, emit a first type of radiation and a second set of individually controllable units is configured to, in operation, emit a second type of radiation (the web W continues past a pair of UV radiation sources 34, 38, each of which emits UV radiation at a wavelength that is different than the wavelength of the UV emission of the other UV radiation source; column 3, lines 23-65; each one of the UV radiation sources 66A, 66B, 66C, and 66D is an array of small UV emitters; column 6, line 50 to column 7, line 19; FIG. 4) for the purpose of uniformly curing both the lower and upper layers of an ink image.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate wherein the page-wide curing array comprises a first set of the individually controllable units and a second set of individually controllable units, wherein the first set of individually controllable units is configured to, in operation, emit a first type of radiation and a second set of individually controllable units is configured to, in operation, emit a second type of radiation, as taught by Condello et al., into Kelekar et al. as modified by Rietbergen et al. for the purpose of uniformly curing both the lower and upper layers of an ink image.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENDRICK X LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3798. The examiner can normally be reached MWFSa 10am-8pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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14 June 2026
/KENDRICK X LIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/DOUGLAS X RODRIGUEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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