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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species V (claims 10, 12, 14-15 and 17) in the reply filed on 12/4/25 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-9, 11, 13, 16 and 18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. (Applicant identified claims 11 and 16 as reading on the elected species. However no reasonable reading of claim 11 can be tracked to FIG 10, since claim 11 requires the sealing member 34a to contact a first portion of the second part. The “second part” is claimed as the small-diameter part of the needle. But, in FIG 10, the small-diameter part of the needle does not contact the sealing member. Further, the only reasonable reading of claim 16 is on the species of FIG 9B, which is the only embodiment which is disclosed to have, or can be reasonably considered to have an expansion and contraction portion (34b) of the seal.)
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “liquid chamber wall face extending perpendicular to the discharge direction” must be shown (labeled) or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 10 recites “the sealing member deformable in the discharge direction in accordance with a movement of the needle valve”. Although this feature is most clearly present in the non-elected species of FIG 6, it is seen as inherent to the elected species of FIG 1, due simply to flexibility of the sealing member as the needle frictionally engages the sealing member as it slides along the inner periphery thereof. However, this aspect should be at least nominally discussed in the specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 10, 12, 14-15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 10 recites a liquid chamber wall face extending perpendicular to the discharge direction. Because the discharge direction is disclosed as downward, the liquid chamber wall must extend from left to right (or into and out of the page) as shown in elected FIG 10. Claim 10 further recites a sealing member disposed “between the first part of the needle valve and the liquid chamber wall”. (This limitation is most clearly set forth in the non-elected embodiment of Figure 6, where sealing member 34 is located between 311 and 320). Without further explanation in the specification, it is not understood whether the elected embodiment of Figure 10 should be considered to meet this claim limitation, or rather, if the claim should be construed as drawn to an arrangement more akin to that disclosed in FIG 6. For purposes of compact prosecution and applying prior art, it will be assumed that the liquid chamber wall can be tracked to the small, radially-extending shoulder of 170 on which seal 34a sits (see FIG 10). As such, the sealing member 34a could be said to be located “between” this liquid chamber wall and the first (large-diameter) part of the needle (31), at least along a diagonal direction.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claim(s) 10, 12 and 17 as understood is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 and/or 102a2 as being anticipated by Tsukamoto (JP 2023127822, where US 2025/0162317 is used as an English translation), which discloses:
10. A liquid discharge head (10) comprising:
a nozzle plate (15) having a nozzle (14) from which a liquid is dischargeable in a discharge direction (downward, FIG 2);
a needle valve including:
a first part (17) having a first diameter; and
a second part (17a) having a second diameter smaller than the first part (see FIG 2b), the second part extending in a direction (to the left and right, FIG 2b) perpendicular to the discharge direction and having a leading end (the bottom of 17a) contactable with the nozzle to close the nozzle (in the position shown at FIG 2b),
the needle valve movable in the discharge direction between:
a separation position at which the needle valve is separated from the nozzle to open the nozzle (e.g., the open position of FIG 4); and
a contact position at which the leading end of the second part of the needle valve contacts the nozzle to close the nozzle (the closed position of FIG 3);
a mover (18) to move the needle valve in the discharge direction (“Inside the housing 11, a needle valve 17 for opening and closing the nozzle 14 and a piezoelectric element 18 for driving the needle valve 17 are provided”);
a housing (11) having:
a container (23, 23b, 23c) containing the mover inside the housing; and
a liquid chamber (12, 16, the space in which 21 is fitted) communicating with the nozzle, the liquid chamber having a liquid chamber wall face extending perpendicular to the discharge direction (as understood, the shoulder of 11 against which 21 is fitted, see the top of FIG 2b); and
a sealing member (21) disposed between the first part of the needle valve and the liquid chamber wall face to seal the container from the liquid chamber (see FIG 2b, it is “between” these two parts in a diagonal direction), the sealing member deformable in the discharge direction in accordance with a movement of the needle valve (due to the inherent flexibility of 22).
12. The liquid discharge head according to claim 10, wherein a portion at which the sealing member and the needle valve contact each other is closer to the nozzle than a portion at which the sealing member and the liquid chamber wall face contact each other (the bottom of o-ring 22 contacts the needle valve substantially directly above the needle valve, whereas the center of o-ring 22 contacts the liquid chamber wall at a point which is radially outward of a location that is directly above the nozzle; see FIG 2b).
17. A liquid discharge apparatus comprising: the liquid discharge head according to claim 10; and a support (100) supporting the liquid discharge head (see FIG 1, where 100 supports liquid discharge head 10).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 14-15 as understood is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsukamoto in view of Seiko (EP 1 604 832 A2).
Tsukamoto discloses the invention as claimed with exception to the details of the sealing member. However, Seiko teaches that it was known in the art before the effective filing date to use a sealing member (157, e.g. FIG 21) which has a tubular shape as claimed. To create a larger seal that covers more surface area in Tsukamoto’s valve, it would have been obvious to use a tubular seal therein (instead of Tsukamoto’s o-ring), as similarly taught by Seiko.
Accordingly, and regarding claim 14, the tubular-shaped sealing member would connect the first part of the needle valve and a vertical wall portion extending from the liquid chamber wall face along to the discharge direction. Also, the needle valve (at the first part thereof) would contact an inner peripheral surface of the sealing member to seal a portion between the container and the liquid chamber in a radial direction of the needle valve, and the vertical wall portion would an inner peripheral surface of the sealing member in the radial direction of the sealing member to seal a portion between the container and the liquid chamber. Regarding claim 15, a portion at which the sealing member and the needle valve contact each other would also be closer to the nozzle than a portion at which the sealing member and the liquid chamber wall face contact each other (at least when the valve is closed, such that the seal could stay in tact as the valve moves upward toward the open position).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 9,878,552 discloses a similar ink jet nozzle and valve (e.g., FIG 10) including a tubular seal 86 that slides with the needle valve.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM M MCCALISTER whose telephone number is (571)270-1869. The examiner can normally be reached M-F from 7am to 6pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, CRAIG SCHNEIDER, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-3607, or Kenneth Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIAM M MCCALISTER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
4/10/26
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