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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 3/13/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues in pp9-10 of Applicant Remarks the applied prior art i.e. Iwamoto (US 2018/0285034) and Ichihashi (US 2002/0018863) art not analogous art and they should not be combined in a 35 USC 103 rejection.
In response, examiner disagrees. Examiner relies on Iwamoto to disclose the majority of the limitations in Claim 1, see the rejection of Claim 1 below.
However, Iwamoto fails to teach the RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound.
Ichihashi teaches RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound (e.g. the manufacturing of a color filter composed of RGB pixels [0004]-[0008] containing a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound [0019]-[0020]).
Iwamoto and Ichihashi are analogous art because they all pertain to creating/manufacturing a color profile/filter. Therefore, it would have been obvious to people having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Iwamoto with the teachings of Ichihashi to include: the RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound, as suggested by Ichihashi in [0004]-[0008], [0019]-[0020]. The benefit of the modification would be such that a color profile is prepared for each printer piece group dividing the HSV color space based on a printer dependency is stored for each model of printer; and to print with a particular printer on a particular print medium, identifies the appropriate printer piece in the printer piece group dividing the HSV color space dependently on the model of printer by a specific method based on the media properties information of the print medium; and selects and providing the color profile corresponding to the identified printer piece, Iwamoto [0015].
As can be seen, Ichihashi is relied on to teach RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound (e.g. the manufacturing of a color filter composed of RGB pixels [0004]-[0008] containing a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound [0019]-[0020]).
Since both of the applied prior art are dealing with RBG ink composition, Iwamoto seems to have provided the opportunity to combine Iwamoto with Ichihashi to teach RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound (e.g. the manufacturing of a color filter composed of RGB pixels [0004]-[0008] containing a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound [0019]-[0020]).
Because the applied prior art, as a whole, teaches all the limitations as previously presented, examiner maintains his rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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) 1-4, 6-7, 9-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwamoto (US 2018/0285034) in view of Ichihashi (US 2002/0018863).
With respect to claim 1 (similarly method claims 16-17), Iwamoto teaches a color management apparatus (e.g. printing system 2 including control device 5 Figs 1 and 3 [0096]-[0123]) comprising at least one processor (e.g. a control device controller 30, [0098]-[0099]), wherein the processor is configured to:
perform conversion between a first signal value and a first chromaticity value through a color profile (e.g. the control device controller 30 executes a color profile selection process (step SE6) [0276] Fig 14),
the color profile is created using a second chromaticity value of a color chart formed of at least one ink composition containing RGB, and a second signal value (e.g. see the media table 32a Fig 3 [0229]-[0236], [0263]-[0267], media property information Red/Desaturated/Moderately Dark, Orange/Desaturated/Bright, Yellow/Saturated/Dark [0232]-[0234] i.e. ink composition containing RGB as suggested in [0283]), and
each of the second chromaticity value and the second signal value is associated with amounts of the HSU compounds (e.g. each of the second chromaticity value and the second signal value is associated with amounts of the HSU component see Fig 8 [0182]-[0207]).
However, Iwamoto fails to teach the RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound.
Ichihashi teaches RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound (e.g. the manufacturing of a color filter composed of RGB pixels [0004]-[0008] containing a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound [0019]-[0020]).
Iwamoto and Ichihashi are analogous art because they all pertain to creating/manufacturing a color profile/filter. Therefore, it would have been obvious to people having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Iwamoto with the teachings of Ichihashi to include: the RGB ink composition contains a liquid crystal compound and a chiral compound, as suggested by Ichihashi in [0004]-[0008], [0019]-[0020]. The benefit of the modification would be such that a color profile is prepared for each printer piece group dividing the HSV color space based on a printer dependency is stored for each model of printer; and to print with a particular printer on a particular print medium, identifies the appropriate printer piece in the printer piece group dividing the HSV color space dependently on the model of printer by a specific method based on the media properties information of the print medium; and selects and providing the color profile corresponding to the identified printer piece, Iwamoto [0015].
With respect to claim 2, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color profile is created under a condition in which the amounts of the liquid crystal compound and the chiral compound associated with the second chromaticity value and the amounts of the liquid crystal compound and the chiral compound associated with the second signal value are at least partially the same (Iwamoto e.g. the color profile set data KP for one model stores a color profile for every possible combination of hue interval, saturation interval, and value interval [0285]-[0286], which combination includes the amounts of the liquid crystal compound and the chiral compound associated with the second chromaticity value and the amounts of the liquid crystal compound and the chiral compound associated with the second signal value are at least partially the same, as modified by Ichihashi).
With respect to claim 3, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: select one from a plurality of selective color profiles as the color profile (Iwamoto e.g. the control device controller 30 executes a color profile selection process (step SE6) [0276]).
With respect to claim 4, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of selective color profiles include at least two color profiles having color measurement conditions of the second chromaticity value different from each other (Iwamoto e.g. a color profile for every possible combination of hue interval, saturation interval, and value interval [0285]-[0286] suggest the plurality of selective color profiles of Fig 3 include at least two color profiles having color measurement conditions of the second chromaticity value different from each other).
With respect to claim 6, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a background color of the color chart is different between the color measurement conditions (Iwamoto e.g. [0114] discloses a plurality of printing modes wherein a background color of the color chart is different between the color measurement conditions).
With respect to claim 7, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second chromaticity value includes chromaticity values of color charts formed of at least two ink compositions forming the color charts having maximum reflection wavelengths different from each other (Iwamoto e.g. the color profile set data KP for one model stores a color profile for every possible combination of hue interval, saturation interval, and value interval [0285]-[0286] suggest the second chromaticity value includes chromaticity values of color charts formed of at least two ink compositions forming the color charts having maximum reflection wavelengths different from each other).
With respect to claim 9, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second chromaticity value is determined through simulation (Iwamoto e.g. the print manager program 32c providing the functions of the control device controller 30 receives model identifier and media properties information input, and comprises an algorithm for correcting the reference color profile of the corresponding printer model based on the input information, and outputting the corrected color profile [0356] suggest the second chromaticity value is determined through simulation/algorithm).
With respect to claim 10, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color profile defines a color hue circle consisting of the second chromaticity value of the color chart, and the color hue circle does not include an achromatic region (Iwamoto e.g. the media properties information registration screen G12 has a field A12a related to hue. A color palette image KP12a is displayed in the field A12a. The color palette image KP12a has multiple hue selection buttons BB12a disposed along the hue circle [0184]).
With respect to claim 11, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color profile is a look-up table (Iwamoto e.g. The control device storage 32 stores a media table 32a and a color profile management table 32b [0101]).
With respect to claim 12, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: perform conversion from a signal value of image data to a signal value of a device via first conversion which is the conversion between the first signal value and the first chromaticity value (Iwamoto e.g. [0283]-[0284] suggest to perform conversion from a signal value of image data to a signal value of a device via first conversion which is the conversion between the first signal value and the first chromaticity value).
With respect to claim 13, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the device is a monitor (the device is a display, as suggested in [0004]-[0008] of Ichihashi), the first signal value is the signal value of the image data (Iwamoto e.g. raster data [0283]), and the processor is configured to: perform the first conversion which is conversion from the signal value of the image data to the first chromaticity value through the color profile (Iwamoto e.g. [0283]); and perform second conversion which is conversion from the first chromaticity value to an RGB signal value of the monitor through a monitor profile of the monitor (Iwamoto e.g. [0284] suggest perform second conversion which is conversion from the first chromaticity value to an RGB signal value of the monitor through a monitor profile of the monitor, as modified by Ichihashi in [0004]-[0008]).
With respect to claim 14, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the device is an ink jet printer (Iwamoto e.g. printer 3 is an inkjet printer [0103], [0400]), the first chromaticity value is a signal value of the ink jet printer (Iwamoto e.g. [0283] suggest the first chromaticity value is a signal value of the ink jet printer), and the processor is configured to: perform third conversion which is conversion from the signal value of the image data to the first chromaticity value through another color profile other than the color profile (Iwamoto Fig 3 [0283]-[0284] suggest perform third conversion which is conversion from the signal value of the image data to the first chromaticity value through another color profile other than the color profile); and perform the first conversion which is conversion from the first chromaticity value to the signal value of the ink jet printer through the color profile (Iwamoto [0283]-[0284] suggest perform the first conversion which is conversion from the first chromaticity value to the signal value of the ink jet printer through the color profile).
With respect to claim 15, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to: remove an achromatic color component from the image data before performing the third conversion (e.g. the color filter of Ichihashi blocks/removes an achromatic color component from the image data before performing the third conversion of [0283]-[0284]).
Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwamoto (US 2018/0285034) in view of Ichihashi (US 2002/0018863) and further in view of Perez (US 2008/0130023).
With respect to claim 5, Iwamoto in view of Ichihashi teaches the color management apparatus according to claim 4.
However, Iwamoto fails to teach wherein at least one of an incidence angle of color measurement light or a light-receiving angle of reflected light is different between the color measurement conditions.
Perez teaches wherein at least one of an incidence angle of color measurement light or a light-receiving angle of reflected light is different between the color measurement conditions (e.g. The measurement of the different color patches 8 may be made by subsequently directing the optical sensors 10.sub.t,10.sub.r to the respective color patch 8. Of course, the transmission and reflection measurements may also be made by only using one and the same optical measurement device 10 for both the transmission and reflection measurements. The angles between the illuminating light ray and the transmitted and reflected light rays going to the optical detectors 10.sub.t and 10.sub.r are denoted by .alpha..sub.t and .alpha..sub.r in FIG. 7. They are chosen in a way to correspond to the average angle in which observers typically view transparency adhered to windows. For example, .alpha..sub.r may be chosen at 45.degree., whereas .alpha..sub.t may be smaller, e.g. 15.degree Fig 7 [0098]).
Iwamoto and Perez are analogous art because they all pertain to color measurement. Therefore, it would have been obvious to people having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Iwamoto with the teachings of Perez to include: wherein at least one of an incidence angle of color measurement light or a light-receiving angle of reflected light is different between the color measurement conditions, as suggested by Perez in Fig 7 [0098]. The benefit of the modification would be to combining the transmission and reflection color values into combined transmission-reflection color values and creating a combined transmission-reflection profile mapping color values from a device-dependent color space to the device-independent color space, Perez Abstract.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IBRAHIM SIDDO whose telephone number is (571)272-4508. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:30PM.
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, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached at 5712703438. 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.
/IBRAHIM SIDDO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681