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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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 and 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishikawa (US 8804168) in view of Hokiyama (US 20160162281).
Regarding claim 1, Nishikawa teaches a management apparatus (fig. 1) comprising: a memory storing instructions; and a processor executing the instructions causing the management apparatus to:
acquire firmware that has been selected on a selection screen for firmware comprising device information for image processing apparatuses (col.6 Lines:55-65: the management server 2 acquires the versions of the current firmware program from the image processing devices 3);
store the firmware that has been acquired on a designated storage destination (col.6 Lines:55-65: firmware information table 41); receive a first command for an update for firmware of an image processing apparatus (col.6 Lines:55-65: firmware update may be performed); receive a second command for setting a schedule for the update (fig. 11b: scheduled time and col. 14, lines:10-15: scheduled execution time are registered in the scheduled function execution table 72.); receive a setting to automatically acquire latest firmware at a timing of the update in accordance with the schedule when the second command has been received (fig. 11b); and automatically acquire latest firmware that should be distributed to the image processing apparatus based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule (col. 14 lines 65: record including the scheduled execution time.. the execution of which is scheduled)
Nishikawa does not teach wherein the processor is able to acquire firmware that has not yet been stored on the storage destination at the timing of the update according to the schedule.
Hokiyama teaches wherein the processor is able to acquire firmware that has not yet been stored on the storage destination at the timing of the update according to the schedule (claim 1: execute download of the firmware according to presence or absence of the file).
Nishikawa and Hokiyama are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Nishikawa with the teaching of Hokiyama for purpose capable of smoothly updating firmware, as well as a storage medium (p0008).
Regarding claim 7, The structural elements of apparatus claim 1 perform all of the steps of method claim 7. Thus, claim 7 is rejected for the same reasons discussed in the rejection of claim 1.
Claim 8 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 1 and in accordance with Hokiyama’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (p026).
Claim 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Nishikawa’805 (US 20140351805).
Regarding claim 2, Nishikawa teaches the management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor receives a setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware (fig. 11b: scheduled time and col. 14, lines:10-15: scheduled execution time are registered in the scheduled function execution table 7), and
Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama does not teach a setting to delete the latest firmware that was acquired; and the latest firmware that was automatically acquired and stored on the storage destination is deleted after it has been distributed to the image processing apparatus based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule
Nishikawa’805 teaches a setting to delete the latest firmware that was acquired; and the latest firmware that was automatically acquired and stored on the storage destination is deleted after it has been distributed to the image processing apparatus based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule (p0078: whether it is not allowed to automatically suspend publication of the firmware in the market.. the external data processing unit 410 first requests the net storage to delete data and fig. 6 and fig. 12).
Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama and Nishikawa’805 are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Nishikawa with the teaching of Nishikawa’805 for purpose of saving memory space.
Claim 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Oshima (US 20170031675) and Michishita (US 20180267864).
Regarding claim 3, Nishikawa teaches the management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes an instruction causing the management apparatus to: receive a setting for an update to firmware of an image processing apparatus (fig. 11b: scheduled time); and update the firmware by distributing the firmware to the image processing apparatus (col.6 Lines:55-65: firmware update may be performed),
Nishikawa does not teaches wherein, when the setting for the update to the firmware of the image processing apparatus is received, the processor displays a list of image processing apparatuses that are being managed, and receives a selection of an image processing apparatus for which the firmware will be updated, displays firmware corresponding to the image processing apparatus that is stored on the storage destination, and receives a selection of firmware to be distributed to this image processing apparatus; and wherein, based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule, in a case in which the latest firmware that has been automatically acquired exists, the processor distributes the latest firmware to the image processing apparatus, and in a case in which the latest firmware does not exist, the processor distributes firmware that is stored on the storage destination and that has been selected in the setting for the update to the firmware that have been received to the image processing apparatus.
Oshima teaches wherein, when the setting for the update to the firmware of the image processing apparatus is received, the processor displays a list of image processing apparatuses that are being managed (fig. 8), and receives a selection of an image processing apparatus for which the firmware will be updated, displays firmware corresponding to the image processing apparatus that is stored on the storage destination (deice id , FW version in fig. 8), and receives a selection of firmware to be distributed to this image processing apparatus (541 in fig. 8); and wherein, based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule, in a case in which the latest firmware that has been automatically acquired exists, the processor distributes the latest firmware to the image processing apparatus (Nishikawa: fig. 11b: scheduled time and col. 14, lines:10-15: scheduled execution time are registered in the scheduled function execution table 72), and
Michishita teaches in a case in which the latest firmware does not exist, the processor distributes firmware that is stored on the storage destination and that has been selected in the setting for the update to the firmware that have been received to the image processing apparatus (p0031: rollback processing module 212 performs rollback processing on the firmware).
Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama and Michishita and Oshima are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama with the teaching of Michishita and Oshima for purpose of capable of automatically rolling back the system to an appropriate state, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium. (Michishita: 0005).
Claims 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (US 20240319981).
Regarding claim 4, Nishikawa teaches the image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes an instruction causing the management apparatus to: receive a setting for an update to firmware of an image processing apparatus; and update the firmware by distributing the firmware to the image processing apparatus (Nishikawa: fig. 11b: scheduled time and col. 14, lines:10-15: scheduled execution time are registered in the scheduled function execution table 72);
Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama does not teach wherein, when the setting for the update to the firmware of the image processing apparatus is received, in a case in which a setting for automatically acquiring the latest firmware is also received, the processor displays a list of image processing apparatuses that are being managed, only receives an indication of an image processing apparatus for which the firmware will be updated, and does not display firmware that is stored on the storage destination;
and wherein, based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule, in a case in which the latest firmware has been automatically acquired, the processor distributes the latest firmware to the image processing apparatus, and in a case in which the latest firmware has not been acquired, does not distribute firmware to the image processing apparatus.
Kim teaches wherein, when the setting for the update to the firmware of the image processing apparatus is received, in a case in which a setting for automatically acquiring the latest firmware is also received, the processor displays a list of image processing apparatuses that are being managed, only receives an indication of an image processing apparatus for which the firmware will be updated, and does not display firmware that is stored on the storage destination (fig. 5); wherein, based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware at the timing of the update according to the schedule, in a case in which the latest firmware has been automatically acquired, the processor distributes the latest firmware to the image processing apparatus, and in a case in which the latest firmware has not been acquired, does not distribute firmware to the image processing apparatus (610 in fig. 5: not available, therefore will not update).
Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama and Kim are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of kiyama with the teaching of Kim for identify a firmware that is to be installed in the image forming device without any incompatibility based on the updated stability table (abstract).
Regarding claim 5, Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama and Kim teaches the management apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processor further executes an instruction causing the management apparatus to: provide a list with this image processing apparatus, in a case in which a setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware is received, in a case in which the processor was not able to acquire the latest firmware that should be distributed to an image processing apparatus (Kim: fig. 5).
The rational applied to the rejection of claim 4 has been incorporated herein.
Claims 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kuhn (US 20100214149).
Regarding claim 6, Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama does not teach the management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor further executes an instruction causing the management apparatus to: receive a setting to automatically acquire latest firmware when a command for an update to firmware in real-time has been received; and automatically acquire firmware that should be distributed to the image processing apparatus in real-time based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware.
Kuhn teaches wherein the processor further executes an instruction causing the management apparatus to: receive a setting to automatically acquire latest firmware when a command for an update to firmware in real-time has been received; and automatically acquire firmware that should be distributed to the image processing apparatus in real-time based on the setting to automatically acquire the latest firmware (p0144:software updates or other types of updates (e.g., firmware upgrades) may be automatically transmitted, in real-time,…software updates or other types of updates (e.g., firmware upgrades) may be automatically transmitted, in real-time).
Nishikawa in view of Hokiyama and Kuhn are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Nishikawa in view of kiyama with the teaching of Kuhn for getting latest firmware.
Conclusion
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HELEN ZONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2683
/HELEN ZONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683