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 with respect to amended claims 1-6, 8, 9 and new claims 10, 11 have been considered but are moot for the new ground of rejection.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/26/2024, 03/24/2026, 05/21/2026 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-5, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Komano (US 2016/0170688 A1) in view of Nagata (US 8,654,365 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Komano discloses an image processing control system comprising:
a plurality of image processing units configured to execute image processing for performing printing in a printing apparatus (e.g., FIG. 1, the image processing apparatus includes an input interface (I/F) 100, a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a read-only memory (ROM) 102, multiple image processing modules (103 to 107), a memory 108, a sequencer 109, a print head controller 115, and a print head 116, paragraph 16); and
a control unit separate from the plurality of image processing units, connected to the plurality of image processing units via a network, and configured to cause the plurality of image processing units to execute the image processing (e.g., he sequencer 109 having multiple queue management units (110 to 114) notifies each of the image processing modules that the process is to be started. More specifically, the sequencer 109 manages processing statuses of the image processing modules by using the multiple queue management units, and controls execution (start) of the processes of the image processing modules, paragraph 21), wherein
the control unit outputs a preview data generation request of image data to be processed to an image processing unit selected from the plurality of image processing units (e.g., In the first embodiment, the sequencer 109 includes five queue management units, i.e., the queue management unit A 110, the queue management unit B 111, the queue management unit C 112, the queue management unit D 113, and the queue management unit E 114, and each of the queue management units notifies a corresponding one of the image processing modules that the process is to be started, paragraph 21),
the selected image processing unit executes rasterization processing on the image data to generate preview data, and outputs the generated preview data to the control unit (e.g., The image processing apparatus described above receives input data (image data) from an external apparatus via the input I/F 100, and the input data is temporarily stored in the memory 108. After that, each of the image processing module A 103 to the image processing module E 107 activated by the sequencer 109 reads data from the memory 108, performs image processing, and writes data obtained through the image processing in the memory 108 again, paragraph 24).
Komano does not specifically disclose the control unit causes a display unit to display a print preview based on the generated preview data.
Nagata discloses the control unit causes a display unit to display a print preview based on the generated preview data (e.g., the web browser section 22 (i) causes the display section 12b to display an operation screen (UI content) received from the control apparatus 30 and (ii) accepts the user's operation input to the input section 12a, paragraph 36).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano to include the control unit causes a display unit to display a print preview based on the generated preview data as taught by Nagata. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano by the teaching of Nagata to use for particular applications.
Regarding claim 2, Komano does not specifically disclose wherein the control unit outputs control information including the preview data generation request and an output destination of the generated preview data, and the selected image processing unit outputs the generated preview data to the output destination of the preview data indicated in the control information.
Nagata discloses wherein the control unit outputs control information including the preview data generation request and an output destination of the generated preview data, and the selected image processing unit outputs the generated preview data to the output destination of the preview data indicated in the control information (e.g., The screen information storage section 37 stores information on various screens that are displayed by the display section 12b of the multifunction peripheral 10. The control information storage section 38 stores control information for controlling the individual sections of the multifunction peripheral 10. The image processing information storage section 39 stores an image processing information table (image processing function information; image processing list information), paragraph 55).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano to include wherein the control unit outputs control information including the preview data generation request and an output destination of the generated preview data, and the selected image processing unit outputs the generated preview data to the output destination of the preview data indicated in the control information as taught by Nagata. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano by the teaching of Nagata to apply for particular applications.
Regarding claim 3, Komano discloses wherein the control information includes, as an output destination of the preview data, information indicating a storage location associated with the control unit (e.g., the memory 108 is required to operate the CPU 101 or the like. The memory 108 is used as a work area for the CPU 101 or as a temporary storage area for various types of received data, or is used to store various types of setting data. In the first embodiment, as described below, the memory 108 is used to store output results from the image processing modules temporarily. In FIG. 1, paragraph 20),
the selected image processing unit outputs the preview data to the storage location associated with the control unit that is indicated in the control information (e.g., In this example, the DRAM is used to store data which is to be input to an image processing module group and data which is to be output from the image processing module group, that is, data which is to be input to an image processing module A 103 and data which is to be output from an image processing module E, paragraph 20).
Komano does not specifically disclose the control unit displays the print preview based on the preview data stored at the storage location associated with the control unit.
Nataga discloses the control unit displays the print preview based on the preview data stored at the storage location associated with the control unit (e.g., the web browser section 22 (i) causes the display section 12b to display an operation screen (UI content) received from the control apparatus 30 and (ii) accepts the user's operation input to the input section 12a, paragraph 36).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano to include the control unit displays the print preview based on the preview data stored at the storage location associated with the control unit as taught by Nataga. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano by the teaching of Nagata to apply for particular applications.
Regarding to claim 4, Komano discloses wherein when a print instruction is received from a user after the print preview is displayed, the control unit outputs, to a first image processing unit, the control information including information indicating input data to be processed, a second image processing unit that performs following processing on processed output data, and a printing apparatus that performs printing (e.g., Input data (image data) received by the input I/F 100 is input to the image processing module group, and data which is output from the image processing module group is output to the print head controller 115, paragraph 20),
the first image processing unit performs first image processing on the input data based on the control information and outputs the output data to the second image processing unit that performs following processing (e.g., The image processing apparatus described above receives input data (image data) from an external apparatus via the input I/F 100, and the input data is temporarily stored in the memory 108. After that, each of the image processing module A 103 to the image processing module E 107 activated by the sequencer 109 reads data from the memory 108, performs image processing, paragraph 24),
a last image processing unit performs last image processing based on the control information and outputs the output data to a storage location corresponding to the printing apparatus (e.g., Each of the image processing modules receives a notification of start of the process from a corresponding one of the queue management units, whereby the process is started. Data which is obtained through image processing and which is output to the memory 108 by the image processing module E 107 which is the final stage of the image processing modules is transferred to the print head 116 as ejection data by the print head controller 115 which is driven in accordance with a motor driving timing, paragraph 24), and
the printing apparatus performs printing based on the output data stored at the storage location corresponding to the printing apparatus (e.g., The print head 116 ejects ink droplets to a recording medium on the basis of the transferred data obtained through the image processing, whereby an image is formed on the recording medium, paragraph 24).
Regarding to claim 5, Komano discloses wherein the control information includes a print setting, and the second image processing unit performs the image processing for generating print data based on the print setting (e.g., The image processing module group including the image processing module A 103 to the image processing module E 107 performs a series of image processing described below. A conversion of the multi-valued data in 600 dpi for each of at most four colors into binary data in 1200 dpi, and a conversion into data having a certain density or less are performed, paragraph 25).
Regarding claim 10, Komano discloses wherein the control information includes a first path identifying a monitored folder associated with the selected image processing unit (e.g., the image processing module A 103 reads raster data (multi-valued data in 600 dpi) for each color as initial data, packs the data into a unit (in the first embodiment, a 16×16 pixel grid unit) suitable for efficiency in reading data from a DRAM, and outputs the resulting data to the memory 108, paragraph 27).
Claims 6, 7, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Komano (US 2016/0170688 A1) in view of Nagata (US 8,654,365 B2) as applied to claims 1-5 above, and further in view of Iwasa et al. (Iwasa) (US 8,860,997 B2).
Regarding claim 6, Komano in view of Nagata do not specifically disclose wherein when the print setting is changed after the print preview is displayed, the control unit outputs the control information including the changed print setting, the preview data generation request, and an output destination of the generated preview data to the selected image processing unit, the selected image processing unit generates the preview data based on the changed print setting and the image data, and outputs the generated preview data to the output destination of the preview data, and the control unit displays the print preview based on the output preview data.
Iwasa discloses wherein when the print setting is changed after the print preview is displayed (e.g., An image output apparatus can include a preview image generating unit configured to generate a first preview image of image data to be output based on an output setting for outputting the image data, a preview image storing unit configured to store the first preview image in a storage device, a changing unit configured to change the output setting based on a changing request from an operation device, paragraph 9),
the control unit outputs the control information including the changed print setting, the preview data generation request, and an output destination of the generated preview data to the selected image processing unit (e.g., and a control unit configured to send, in response to a first preview request from the operation device, the first preview image to the operation device, paragraph 9),
the selected image processing unit generates the preview data based on the changed print setting and the image data, and outputs the generated preview data to the output destination of the preview data (e.g., determining, in response to a second preview request after displaying the first preview image, whether the output setting is changed, determining, when it is determined the output setting is changed, whether the first preview image is to be regenerated, and generating, when it is determined the first preview image is to be regenerated, a second preview image based on the changed output setting, paragraph 10), and
the control unit displays the print preview based on the output preview data (e.g., the second preview image can be displayed on the display unit when it is determined the first preview image is to be regenerated, paragraph 10).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano in view of Nagata to include wherein when the print setting is changed after the print preview is displayed, the control unit outputs the control information including the changed print setting, the preview data generation request, and an output destination of the generated preview data to the selected image processing unit, the selected image processing unit generates the preview data based on the changed print setting and the image data, and outputs the generated preview data to the output destination of the preview data, and the control unit displays the print preview based on the output preview data as taught by Iwasa. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano in view of Nagata by the teaching of Iwasa to apply for particular applications.
Regarding claim 7, Komano discloses wherein the control unit requests different image processing units in parallel to perform the image processing for generating the preview data and the image processing for generating the print data (e.g., The image processing apparatus described above receives input data (image data) from an external apparatus via the input I/F 100, and the input data is temporarily stored in the memory 108. After that, each of the image processing module A 103 to the image processing module E 107 activated by the sequencer 109 reads data from the memory 108, performs image processing, and writes data obtained through the image processing in the memory 108 again. Each of the image processing modules receives a notification of start of the process from a corresponding one of the queue management units, whereby the process is started. Data which is obtained through image processing and which is output to the memory 108 by the image processing module E 107 which is the final stage of the image processing modules is transferred to the print head 116 as ejection data by the print head controller 115, paragraph 24).
Regarding claim 11, Komano in view of Nagata do not specifically disclose wherein the control information includes a second path identifying a monitored folder associated with the control unit as an output destination of the generated preview data.
Iwasa discloses wherein the control information includes a second path identifying a monitored folder associated with the control unit as an output destination of the generated preview data (e.g., the control unit can be configured to determine, in response to a second preview request from the operation device after sending the first preview image, whether the first preview image is to be regenerated, and can be configured to send the first preview image stored in the storage device to the external apparatus when the control unit determines the first preview image is not to be regenerated, paragraph 9).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano to include wherein the control information includes a second path identifying a monitored folder associated with the control unit as an output destination of the generated preview data as taught by Iwasa. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Komano by the teaching of Iwasa to apply for particular applications.
Claims 8, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwasa et al. (Iwasa) (US 8,860,997 B2) in view of Komano (US 2016/0170688 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Iwasa discloses a control apparatus comprising:
a control unit configured to output a preview data generation (e.g., An image output apparatus can include a preview image generating unit, paragraph 9), and cause a display unit to display a print preview based on preview data generated by the selected image processing unit executing rasterization processing on the image data (e.g., The control unit can be configured to determine, in response to a second preview request from the operation device after sending the first preview image, whether the first preview image is to be regenerated, and can be configured to send the first preview image stored in the storage device to the external apparatus when the control unit determines the first preview image is not to be regenerated, paragraph 9),
Iwasa does not specifically disclose request of image data to be processed to an image processing apparatus in a plurality of image processing apparatuses, which are separate from the control unit and connected to the control unit via a network, the image processing apparatus including an image processing unit selected from a plurality of image processing units by the control unit.
Komano discloses request of image data to be processed to an image processing apparatus in a plurality of image processing apparatuses, which are separate from the control unit and connected to the control unit via a network, the image processing apparatus including an image processing unit selected from a plurality of image processing units by the control unit (e.g., The image processing module A 103 to the image processing module E 107, each of which performs different image processing, will be described in detail below. Thus, the image processing apparatus includes the multiple image processing modules which perform image processing. In the first embodiment, the multiple image processing modules included in the image processing apparatus are collectively called an image processing module group, paragraph 22, figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Iwasa to include request of image data to be processed to an image processing apparatus in a plurality of image processing apparatuses, which are separate from the control unit and connected to the control unit via a network, the image processing apparatus including an image processing unit selected from a plurality of image processing units by the control unit as taught by Komano. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Iwasa by the teaching of Komano to apply for particular applications.
Regarding claim 9, Iwasa discloses an image processing apparatus (e.g., an image output apparatus can include a preview image generating unit, paragraph 9) comprising: an image processing unit configured to perform rasterization processing on image data transmitted from a control apparatus in a network to generate preview data and output the preview data to the control apparatus (e.g., The control unit can be configured to determine, in response to a second preview request from the operation device after sending the first preview image, whether the first preview image is to be regenerated, and can be configured to send the first preview image stored in the storage device to the external apparatus when the control unit determines the first preview image is not to be regenerated, paragraph 9),
Iwasa does not specifically disclose the control apparatus is separate from the image processing unit of a plurality of image processing units and connected to the plurality of image processing unit via the network, and the image processing unit is selected by the control unit.
Komano discloses the control apparatus (e.g., CPU 101, input I/F 100, figure 1) is separate from the image processing unit of a plurality of image processing units and connected to the plurality of image processing unit via the network, and the image processing unit is selected by the control unit (e.g., In this example, the DRAM is used to store data which is to be input to an image processing module group and data which is to be output from the image processing module group, that is, data which is to be input to an image processing module A 103 and data which is to be output from an image processing module E. Input data (image data) received by the input I/F 100 is input to the image processing module group, and data which is output from the image processing module group is output to the print head controller 115. The SRAM is used as an intermediate buffer which stores data that is input/output between modules of the image processing module group (data which is output from the image processing module A 103 to data which is input to the image processing module E 107), paragraph 20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Iwasa to include the control apparatus is separate from the image processing unit of a plurality of image processing units and connected to the plurality of image processing unit via the network, and the image processing unit is selected by the control unit as taught by Komano. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Iwasa by the teaching of Komano to apply for particular applications.
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 QUANG N VO whose telephone number is (571)270-1121. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7AM-4PM, EST.
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/QUANG N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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