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 .
This is in response to Application filed 2/03/26. Claims 1 – 15 have been examined and are pending.
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- 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over patentable
Kamiya US 20200233616 A1 in view of Pirvu et al. US 20190034196 A1.
Regarding claims 1, 12, and 15 Kamiya discloses and a firmware update method/ A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of an image forming apparatus, the method comprising:
receiving a selection via a menu of whether to automatically update firmware for the image forming apparatus; [0076, ”…. When a “Specify Firmware” tab 803 in the page selection tab area 801 is selected, the instruction generation program 500 displays specification items related to the firmware to be installed in the image forming apparatus ..”];
based on an automatic firmware update menu being selected, generating a command table including an execution order of the measure command based on the command file: and
executing the measure command and updating the firmware based on the execution order of the measure command and a patch file related to the measure command [0121 – 0124, see command execution unit 704].
Although Kamiya discloses in 0118, command execution unit, as well as firmware download and install and firmware specification method.
Kamiya doesn’t expressly disclose receiving a command file comprising a measure command, a patch file, and a firmware file for firmware update.
Pirvu in an analogous art and similar configuration does however disclose in [0004 – 0016], “…at least one update firmware source code file having the patch object, … at least one update firmware source code file and the updated indirection table…”. As well as executing the patchable file.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Kamiya and Pirvu before the invention was filed because it would have allowed making the firmware code patchable rather than updating the whole thing as suggested by Pirvu.
Regarding claims 2 and 13, the firmware update method according to claim 1, wherein the generating the command table comprises generating a command table comprising at least one item of the related patch file, an execution condition, a number of times of execution, an execution time, or an execution location along with an item of the execution order of measure command, based on the command file [0071, see execution order determination unit 706].
Regarding claim 3, the firmware update method according to claim 2, wherein the execution location includes an area of a booter, a kernel, or an application [FIG.3, shows computer system with CPU, memory, ROM, RAM, which by default would house the kernel or area of a booter].
Regarding claim 4, the firmware update method according to claim 2, wherein the executing the measure command and updating the firmware comprises, based on the number of times of execution of the measure command included in the command table being more than one, reducing the number of times of execution of the measure command by one, each time that the measure command is executed, and executing the measure command repeatedly until the number of times of execution of the measure command becomes 0 [0121 - 0123, see command execution unit 704, as well as Table].
Regarding claim 5, the firmware update method according to claim 1, wherein the executing the measure command and updating the firmware comprises, based on the execution of the measure command being completed, deleting the item related to the measure command included in the command table [0129, see delete and command execution unit 704].
Regarding claim 6, the firmware update method according io claim 1, wherein the executing the measure command and updating the firmware comprises, based on the execution of measure command being completed, deleting the patch file related is the measure command [0129].
Regarding claim 7, the firmware update method according to claim 1, wherein the measure command comprises a preliminary measure command to be executed before the firmware update or a post-measure command to be executed after the firmware update [0136, shows executing before].
Regarding claim 8, the firmware update method according to claim 7, wherein the executing the measure command and updating the firmware comprises, based on the preliminary measure command being a database (DB) clear command, performing a DB clear process based on the DB clear command [0099 and 0129 – 0130, shows deleting from memory and shows a management server].
Regarding claim 9, the firmware update method according to claim 7, wherein the executing the measure command and updating the firmware comprises, based on the preliminary measure command being a database (DB)-related patch file update command, updating an existing DB-related patch file based on the DB- related patch file update command and the DB-related patch file [0147, see firmware update, i.e. update file].
Regarding claim 10, the firmware update method according to claim 7, wherein the executing the measure command and updating the firmware comprises, based on the post-measure command being a serial number digit change command, temporarily storing an existing serial number, and storing a new serial number as a serial number of the image forming apparatus [0097, see firmware information and temporarily stores].
Regarding claim 11, the firmware update method according to claim 1, the method further comprising:
based on a general firmware update menu being selected, deleting the measure command and the patch file included in the command file and updating the firmware based on the firmware file [0099 and 0129 – 0130, shows deleting from memory and shows a management server].
Regarding claim 14, the image forming apparatus according the claim 12, further comprising:
a display, wherein the processor is to display a guide user interface (UI) indicating an execution process of the measure command or a process of updating the firmware through the display [FIG 7, 701 for UI control unit and all associated text].
Correspondence Information
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 Chuck Kendall whose telephone number is 571-272-3698. The examiner can normally be reached on 10:00 am - 6:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hyung Sough can be reached on 571-272-6799. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHUCK O KENDALL/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2192