DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. Claims 1-17 are pending in this application.
Priority
3. Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on application JP 2023-024931 filed on 02/21/2023 under 35 U.S.C 119(a)-(d).
Drawings
4. The drawing has been filed on 02/16/2024 are acceptable for examination purpose.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The information disclosure statement filed on 02/16/2024 is in compliance with the provision of the 37 CFR 1.97 and therefore has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kurihara et al. [hereafter Kurihara], US Pub 2020/0298601 in view of Takahashi et al. [hereafter Takahashi], US Pub 2021/0245495.
As to claim 1 [independent], Kurihara teaches an ink jet system comprising [fig. 1; 0025]:
a first subsystem [fig. 1; 0035-0036] including at least a first recording apparatus [fig. 1, element 1a; 0035] and a first processing apparatus [fig. 1, element 3a; 0035], the first recording apparatus being equipped with a first head unit that ejects ink and being configured to execute a recording operation on a recording medium [fig. 6; 0051, 0053, 0055 Kurihara teaches that the inkjet (hereafter IJP) printer 1a is equipped with inkjet head print unit to execute a printing operation on sheet based on instruction received from client 3], the first processing apparatus performing data processing for causing the first recording apparatus to execute the recording operation [fig. 6; 0051, 0053, 0055 Kurihara teaches that the IJP printer 1a is equipped with inkjet head print unit to execute a printing operation on sheet based on instruction received from client 3];
a second subsystem [fig. 1; 0035-0036] including at least a second recording apparatus [fig. 1, element 1a or 1b; 0035] and a second processing apparatus [fig. 1, element 3a or 3b; 0035], the second recording apparatus being equipped with a second head unit that ejects ink and being configured to execute a recording operation on a recording medium [fig. 6; 0051, 0053, 0055 Kurihara teaches that in case of the IJP printer 1b which is also equipped with inkjet head print unit to execute a printing operation on sheet based on in case of instruction received from client 3b], the second processing apparatus performing data processing for causing the second recording apparatus to execute the recording operation [fig. 6; 0051, 0053, 0055 Kurihara teaches that in case of the IJP printer 1b which is also equipped with inkjet head print unit to execute a printing operation on sheet based on in case of instruction received from client 3b];
a first server [fig. 1, element 4; 0037] connected to both the first subsystem and the second subsystem [fig. 1, element 4; 0037 Kurihara teaches that the first server 4 are connected to multiple subsystems, as shown in fig. 1, through LAN communication 7 using the Internet communication protocol]; and
Kurihara doesn’t teach a second server connected to the first server.
Takahashi teaches a first server [fig. 1, element 10; 0025] connected to both the first subsystem and the second subsystem [fig. 1, elements 10, 90a-b, 100a-b; 0025-0029 Takahashi teaches that the first server 10 connected to the subsystems 90a-d, 100a-d]; and
a second server [fig. 1, element(s) 11(12-13); 0025] connected to the first server [fig. 1, elements 10, 90a-b, 100a-b; 0025-0029 Takahashi teaches that the first server 10 connected to the second server(s) 11(12-13)].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Takahashi teaching to have a second server connected with the first server to perform data communication to modify Kurihara’s teaching so that server calculates the parametric information of the inkjet printer from the variety of information of the inkjet printer received from the inkjet printer, and the inkjet printer receives the parametric information of the inkjet printer calculated by the server related to running alerting information of the inkjet printer is calculated based on the parametric information such that running alerting information is displayed. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been benefitted to the user to use a technique so that setting data in the inkjet printer are analyzed, the abnormality occurrence time is estimated and warning and alerting are performed. Hence the maintainability is improved.
As to claim 17 [dependent from claim 1], Kurihara teaches a third subsystem [fig. 1; 0035-0036] including at least a third recording apparatus [fig. 1, element 1a or 1b; 0035] and a third processing apparatus [fig. 1, element 3a or 3b; 0035], the third recording apparatus being equipped with a third head unit that ejects ink and being configured to execute a recording operation on a recording medium [fig. 6; 0051, 0053, 0055 Kurihara teaches that in case of one of multiple IJP printer 1b which is also equipped with inkjet head print unit to execute a printing operation on sheet based on in case of instruction received from one of multiple client 3b], the third processing apparatus performing data processing for causing the third recording apparatus to execute the recording operation [fig. 6; 0051, 0053, 0055 Kurihara teaches that in case of one of multiple IJP printer 1b which is also equipped with inkjet head print unit to execute a printing operation on sheet based on in case of instruction received from one of multiple client 3b]; and
Takahashi teaches a third server [fig. 1, element 12; 0025] connected to the third subsystem [fig. 1, elements 12, 90a-b, 100a-b; 0025-0029 Takahashi teaches that the third server 12 is also connected to the subsystems 90a-d, 100a-d], wherein
the second server is further connected to the third server [fig. 1, elements 10, 90a-b, 100a-b; 0025-0029 Takahashi teaches that the second server 11 connected to the third server 11].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Takahashi teaching to have a second server connected with the first server to perform data communication to modify Kurihara’s teaching so that server calculates the parametric information of the inkjet printer from the variety of information of the inkjet printer received from the inkjet printer, and the inkjet printer receives the parametric information of the inkjet printer calculated by the server related to running alerting information of the inkjet printer is calculated based on the parametric information such that running alerting information is displayed. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been benefitted to the user to use a technique so that setting data in the inkjet printer are analyzed, the abnormality occurrence time is estimated and warning and alerting are performed. Hence the maintainability is improved.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 2-16 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.
9. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The dependent claims 2, 5-11 are allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the first subsystem transmits, to the first server, first condition information regarding a usage condition when a recording operation is executed in the first recording apparatus, when the first condition information is received, the first server stores the first condition information, and then transmits the first condition information to the second server, when the first condition information is received, the second server generates first control information for controlling the recording operation of the first recording apparatus based on the first condition information, and then transmits the first control information to the first server, and when the first control information is received, the first server stores the first control information, and then transmits the first control information to the first subsystem., wherein the first subsystem transmits, to the second server, first characteristic information regarding an ejection characteristic of the first head unit when the recording operation of the first recording apparatus is executed based on the first control information., wherein the first subsystem transmits, to the second server, first evaluation information regarding an evaluation of a user of the first subsystem when the recording operation of the first recording apparatus is executed based on the first control information., wherein the first condition information includes information regarding a type of ink ejected by the first head unit., wherein the first condition information includes information regarding a type of recording medium on which the first recording apparatus executes the recording operation., wherein the first condition information includes information regarding a temperature of the first head unit in a usage environment of the first subsystem., wherein the first head unit includes a drive element, and the first control information includes information regarding a drive signal to be applied to the drive element., wherein the first processing apparatus generates recording data to be used for recording by executing image processing on image data as the data processing, and transmits the recording data to the first recording apparatus, the first recording apparatus executes the recording operation based on the recording data, and the first control information includes information regarding the image processing”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claim 3 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the second server is further connected to both the first subsystem and the second subsystem, the first subsystem transmits, to the second server, first condition information regarding a usage condition when a recording operation of the first recording apparatus is executed, when the first condition information is received, the second server generates first control information for controlling the recording operation of the first recording apparatus based on the first condition information, and then transmits, to the first server, the first control information, the first condition information, and first destination information indicating that a destination of the first control information is the first subsystem, and when the first control information, the first condition information, and the first destination information are received, the first server stores the first control information and the first condition information, and then transmits the first control information to the first subsystem indicated by the first destination information”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claim 4 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the second server is further connected to both the first subsystem and the second subsystem, the first subsystem is configured such that a user selects to which of the first server and the second server first condition information regarding a usage condition when a recording operation of the first recording apparatus is executed is to be transmitted, and transmits the first condition information to the selected server, in a case in which the first server is selected, when the first condition information is received from the first subsystem, the first server transmits the first condition information to the second server, when the first condition information is received, the second server generates first control information for controlling the recording operation of the first recording apparatus based on the first condition information, and then transmits the first control information to the first server, and when the first control information is received, the first server stores the first control information, and then transmits the first control information to the first subsystem, and in a case in which the second server is selected, when the first condition information is received, the second server generates the first control information based on the first condition information, and then transmits, to the first server, the first control information, the first condition information, and first destination information indicating that a destination of the first control information is the first subsystem, and when the first control information, the first condition information, and the first destination information are received, the first server stores the first control information and the first condition information, and then transmits the first control information to the first subsystem indicated by the first destination information”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claim 12 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the first server is configured to receive a request from a first user of the first subsystem to refer to data in the first server, and a request from a second user of the second subsystem to refer to data in the first server, and the second server does not receive a request from the first user to refer to data in the second server, and a request from the second user to refer to data in the second server”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed
The dependent claim 13 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the first server is configured to receive a request from a first user of the first subsystem to edit data in the first server, and a request from a second user of the second subsystem to edit data in the first server, and the second server does not receive a request from the first user to edit data in the second server, and a request from the second user to edit data in the second server”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claim 14 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the first server is configured to receive a request from a first user of the first subsystem to add data into the first server, and a request from a second user of the second subsystem to add data into the first server, and the second server is configured to receive a request from the first user to add data into the second server, and a request from the second user to add data into the second server”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claim 15 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the second server is configured to receive a request from an administrator of the ink jet system to update a program of the second server”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claim 16 is allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the first server does not receive a request from an administrator of the ink jet system to update a program of the first server”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed..
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARIS SABAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3917. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday/Friday from 9:00AM to 5:30PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Benny Tieu, can be reached on (571)272-7490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. The Examiner’s personal fax number is (571)270-4917.
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/HARIS SABAH/Examiner, Art Unit 2682