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
Objection to the title has been withdrawn in view of newly submitted amendment to the title.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 9, and 17 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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) 1-6, 9-14, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishida (US 2021/0377418) in view of Ueno et al. (US 2008/0082914).
(1) regarding claims 1 and 17:
Ishida ‘418 discloses an image forming apparatus (paragraph [0027], image forming apparatus 1), comprising:
a printer configured to print images on media (image forming device 100 in Fig. 1 and paragraph [0027]);
a tag reader-writer configured to communicate with wireless tags on the media (RFID reader and writer 400 and paragraphs [0037] and [0038]);
a communication interface configured to communicate with an external apparatus (communication unit 530 and paragraph [0083]); and
a processor (controller 500 in Fig. 8) configured to:
receive print data via the communication interface from the external apparatus (paragraph [0083] and [0094]-[0095], where image data is received from a personal computer),
control the printer to print an image on a medium according to drawing data in the received print data (paragraph [0105]-[0106], where the printer performs the printing operation based on the obtained data), and
control the tag reader-writer according to the extracted tag reader-writer command to perform an operation on a wireless tag on the medium (paragraph [0106], where the data read from the RFID tag is written into the RFID tag of the printed image).
Ishida ‘418 discloses all the subject matte as described above except analyze the received print data to identify and extract a tag reader-writer command from the received print data,
However, Ueno ‘914 teaches analyze the received print data to identify and extract a tag reader-writer command from the received print data (paragraphs [0057]-[0059], where when the print data is received, tag data is extracted from the print data that will allow for writing into a tag),
Having a system of Ueno ‘914 reference and then given the well-established teaching of Ishida ‘418 reference, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Ishida ‘418 to include the limitations as taught by Ueno ‘914 because it allows for selectively generating or setting efficiently document data only to be printed onto the sheet 3, document data only to be written onto the tag 3A, document data to be printed onto the sheet 3 as well as to be written onto the tag 3A, and those separately inputted data to be printed onto the sheet 3 and to be written onto the tag 3A while being associated with each other (paragraph [0081]).
(2) regarding claim 9:
Ishida ‘418 discloses a multifunctional peripheral device (paragraph [0027], image forming apparatus 1 having multiple units comprising a multifunctional device), comprising:
a scanner configured to scan documents (image reading unit 200 in Fig 1 and paragraph [0027]);
a printer configured to print images on sheets of paper (image forming device 100 in Fig. 1 and paragraph [0027]);
a tag reader-writer configured to communicate with wireless tags on the sheets (RFID reader and writer 400 and paragraphs [0037] and [0038]);
a communication interface configured to communicate with an external apparatus (communication unit 530 and paragraph [0083]); and
a processor (controller 500 in Fig. 8) configured to:
receive print data via the communication interface from the external apparatus (paragraph [0083] and [0094]-[0095], where image data is received from a personal computer),
control the printer to print an image on a sheet according to drawing data in the received print data (paragraph [0105]-[0106], where the printer performs the printing operation based on the obtained data), and
control the tag reader-writer according to the extracted tag reader-writer command to perform an operation on a wireless tag on the sheet (paragraph [0106], where the data read from the RFID tag is written into the RFID tag of the printed image).
Ishida ‘418 discloses all the subject matter as described above except analyze the received print data to identify and extract a tag reader-writer command from the received print data,
However, Ueno ‘914 teaches analyze the received print data to identify and extract a tag reader-writer command from the received print data (paragraphs [0057]-[0059], where when the print data is received, tag data is extracted from the print data that will allow for writing into a tag),
Having a system of Ueno ‘914 reference and then given the well-established teaching of Ishida ‘418 reference, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Ishida ‘418 to include the limitations as taught by Ueno ‘914 because it allows for selectively generating or setting efficiently document data only to be printed onto the sheet 3, document data only to be written onto the tag 3A, document data to be printed onto the sheet 3 as well as to be written onto the tag 3A, and those separately inputted data to be printed onto the sheet 3 and to be written onto the tag 3A while being associated with each other (paragraph [0081]).
(3) regarding claims 2, 10, and 18:
Ishida ‘418 further discloses wherein the tag reader-writer is an RFID tag reader-writer device (RFID reader and writer 400 in Fig. 1).
(4) regarding claims 3, 11, and 19:
Ishida ‘418 further discloses wherein the wireless tag is an RFID tag (RFID tag 300G in Fig. 1).
(5) regarding claims 4, 12, and 20:
Ishida ‘418 further discloses a memory unit for storing data (paragraph [0080], where memories are used to store data), wherein
the media is sheets of paper (paragraph [0027], sheet of paper),
the print data includes drawing data for multiple sheets (paragraph [0083] and [0094]-[0095], where image data is for printing on sheets), and
the processor is configured to store, in the memory unit, drawing data for each sheet in the print data in association with the extracted tag reader-writer command for the sheet (paragraphs [0080]-[0081], where image data for all sheets is stored).
(6) regarding claims 5 and 13:
Ishida ‘418 further discloses wherein the extracted tag reader-writer command is a command to write page-specific data to the wireless tag on the sheet (paragraph [0037], where unique numbers are recorded into the RFID tag to identify different sheets).
(7) regarding claims 6 and 14:
Ishida ‘418 further discloses wherein the extracted tag reader-writer command is a command to write data to the wireless tag on the medium (paragraph [0106], where the data read from the RFID tag is written into the RFID tag of the printed image).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8, and 15-16 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
A. Claims 7 and 15 disclose the unique and distinct limitations of “wherein the tag-reader writer command is encoded in the print data, and the processor is configured to identify the tag reader-writer command in the received print data according to a coding of the tag reader-writer command”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter.
B. Claims 8 and 16 disclose the unique and distinct limitations of “wherein the tag-reader writer command is represented as a character string in the print data, and the processor is configured to identify the tag reader-writer command in the received print data according to detection of the character string in the print data”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter.
Conclusion
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 LENNIN R RODRIGUEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1678. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 9:00am-7:00pm.
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/LENNIN R RODRIGUEZGONZALEZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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