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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/08/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 9-11, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Suzuki Takanobu (JP 2016154355 A).
Regarding claim 1, Takanobu discloses a job execution service system (¶ [28]) comprising:
a cloud side processor (¶ [47] CL server processor) that is connected to each of an information processing apparatus and a job execution apparatus (¶ [66] Cloud server connected to portable terminal and MFP wirelessly), which is installed in a local area as wireless network equipment having a wireless communication function based on a predetermined wireless communication system, via the Internet (¶ [66] wireless LAN) and that is configured to perform relay of a job sent from the information processing apparatus to the job execution apparatus in a case where a cloud service is provided (¶ [66]),
wherein the cloud side processor is configured to:
select relay equipment, which relays the job sent from the information processing apparatus that is an execution request source of the job to the job execution apparatus that is an execution destination of the job in response to an instruction from a user (¶ [44] and ¶ [156] wherein the cloud side utilizes the Access Point (AP) to transmit print data), from among the wireless network equipment by referring to communication relationship information indicating a communicable relationship between the wireless network equipment in the local area (¶ [53] and ¶ [82]);
provide equipment identification information necessary for wireless connection with the relay equipment to the execution request source and the execution destination of the job (¶ [82-83]); and
instruct the relay equipment to perform the relay of the job from the execution request source to the execution destination of the job instead of performing the relay of the job by the cloud side processor (¶ [84]).
Regarding claim 2, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), wherein the cloud side processor is configured to:
acquire, from each of the wireless network equipment, list information of wireless network equipment with which the corresponding wireless network equipment is capable of wireless communication (¶ [57]); and
store the acquired list information as the communication relationship information (¶ [57]).
Regarding claim 3, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 2 (see rejection of claim 2), wherein the cloud side processor is configured to, in a case where the wireless network equipment that is included in both the list information acquired from the execution request source and the execution destination of the job is present (¶ [57]), select the corresponding wireless network equipment as the relay equipment (¶ [57] execution of wireless communication between devices via the relay device/LAN instead of cloud/internet).
Regarding claim 9, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), wherein the cloud service is a cloud printing service, and the job execution apparatus is a printing apparatus (¶ [47]).
Regarding claim 10, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 2 (see rejection of claim 2), wherein the cloud service is a cloud printing service, and the job execution apparatus is a printing apparatus (¶ [47]).
Regarding claim 11, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 3 (see rejection of claim 3), wherein the cloud service is a cloud printing service, and the job execution apparatus is a printing apparatus (¶ [47]).
Regarding claim 17, Takanobu non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program (¶ [42]) causing a computer that is connected to each of an information processing apparatus and a job execution apparatus, which is installed in a local area as wireless network equipment having a wireless communication function based on a predetermined wireless communication system, via the Internet and that is configured to perform relay of a job sent from the information processing apparatus to the job execution apparatus in a case where a cloud service is provided (see rejection of claim 1), to implement:
a function of selecting relay equipment, which relays the job sent from the information processing apparatus that is an execution request source of the job to the job execution apparatus that is an execution destination of the job in response to an instruction from a user, from among the wireless network equipment by referring to communication relationship information indicating a communicable relationship between the wireless network equipment in the local area (see rejection of claim 1);
a function of providing equipment identification information necessary for wireless connection with the relay equipment to the execution request source and the execution destination of the job (see rejection of claim 1); and
a function of instructing the relay equipment to perform the relay of the job from the execution request source to the execution destination of the job instead of performing the relay of the job by the computer (see rejection of claim 1).
Regarding claim 18, discloses a job execution service method (¶ [26]) of, for each of an information processing apparatus and a job execution apparatus, which is installed in a local area as wireless network equipment having a wireless communication function based on a predetermined wireless communication system, performing relay of a job sent from the information processing apparatus to the job execution apparatus in a case where a cloud service is provided (see rejection of claim 1), the job execution service method comprising:
selecting relay equipment, which relays the job sent from the information processing apparatus that is an execution request source of the job to the job execution apparatus that is an execution destination of the job in response to an instruction from a user, from among the wireless network equipment by referring to communication relationship information indicating a communicable relationship between the wireless network equipment in the local area (see rejection of claim 1);
providing equipment identification information necessary for wireless connection with the relay equipment to the execution request source and the execution destination of the job (see rejection of claim 1); and
instructing the relay equipment to perform the relay of the job from the execution request source to the execution destination of the job instead of performing the relay of the job by host equipment (see rejection of claim 1).
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.
Claims 5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Suzuki Takanobu (JP 2016154355 A) in view of Mitsuru Konji (US 20170123739 A).
Regarding claim 5, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
Takanobu fails to explicitly disclose wherein the cloud side processor is configured to, in a case where relay impossible information is acquired from the wireless network equipment, exclude the corresponding wireless network equipment from a selection candidate of the relay equipment.
Konji, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication system including a printing function (¶ [25]), teaches the cloud side processor is configured to, in a case where relay impossible information is acquired from the wireless network equipment, exclude the corresponding wireless network equipment from a selection candidate of the relay equipment (¶ [92-93] list compiled of network devices where relay communication is possible).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the job execution service system as disclosed by Takanobu comprising a cloud side processor that is connected to each of an information processing apparatus and a job execution apparatus, which is installed in a local area as wireless network equipment having a wireless communication function to utilize the teachings of Konji which teaches the cloud side processor is configured to, in a case where relay impossible information is acquired from the wireless network equipment, exclude the corresponding wireless network equipment from a selection candidate of the relay equipment to avoid unnecessary connection changes and make selection and communication by system more efficient.
Regarding claim 13, Takanobu discloses the job execution service system according to claim 5 (see rejection of claim 5), wherein the cloud service is a cloud printing service, and the job execution apparatus is a printing apparatus (¶ [47]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 6-8, 12 and 14-16 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMARES Q WASHINGTON whose telephone number is (571)270-1585. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm.
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/JAMARES Q WASHINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
July 22, 2026
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