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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
IDS filed 3/15/24 is acknowledged, the references therein relating to the general background of applicant’s invention.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: “System for compensating for a non-functioning pel forming element in a printer”.
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 4, 16 and 20 recite the limitation "the first local group … the second local group" in lines 1 and 3, respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter as follows. Claims 17-20 are drawn to functional descriptive material recorded on one or more computer readable media. A computer readable medium can be defined as encompassing statutory medium, but it also encompasses non-statutory subject matter such as a signal or carrier wave.
A “signal” embodying functional descriptive material is neither a process nor a product (i.e., a tangible “thing”) and therefore does not fall within one of the four statutory classes of §101. Rather, “signal” is a form of energy, in the absence of any physical structure of tangible material. Paragraph 165 of the publication specifically states that the computer readable medium can be a carrier wave.
Because the full scope of the claim encompasses non-statutory subject matter, the claim as a whole is non-statutory. The examiner suggests amending the claim to "a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded having instructions stored thereon …”. Any amendment to the claim should be commensurate with its corresponding disclosure.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
1) Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. patent 11,636,296 by Stanich et al. (see MPEP 2153.01(a)).
2) Regarding claim 1, Stanich teaches a system comprising: at least one physical memory device to store compensation logic; and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory (figure 23; processor and memory disclosed) device to execute the compensation logic to: generate first and second sets of inverse transfer functions to compensate for a non-functioning pel forming element (column 11, line 50 – column 12, line 20; inverse transfer functions are generated for specific columns [i.e. multiple sets of ITFs]), wherein each set of inverse transfer functions is generated for a corresponding group of functioning pel forming elements based on ink deposition functions associated with the corresponding group (column 12, lines 29-42; ITFs are generated from various ink deposition functions) and a joint target response (figure 7, item 730; column 10, lines 5-18; “large-scale” deposition data is analogous to a “joint response”); wherein the non-functioning pel forming element is located between functioning pel forming elements of the corresponding groups (column 13, lines 3-17; figure 13; defective nozzle is between two columns for which ITFs are generated); and generate compensated halftones based on the first and second sets of inverse transfer functions (figure 10, item 1030; column 12, lines 29-43; compensate halftones are generated from the ITFs).
3) Regarding claim 2, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the compensated halftones are generated by applying the first and second sets of inverse transfer functions to an uncompensated halftone design to modify halftone thresholds of the uncompensated halftone design (figure 10, item 1030; column 12, lines 29-43; compensate halftones are generated from applying the ITFs to uncompensated halftones).
4) Regarding claim 3, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein generating the first and the second sets of inverse transfer functions comprises generating the first set of inverse transfer functions based on first ink deposition functions and third ink deposition functions and generating the second set of inverse transfer functions based on second ink deposition functions and the third ink deposition functions; wherein the first ink deposition functions correspond to a first local group of pel forming elements including first functioning pel forming elements, the second ink deposition functions correspond to a second local group of pel forming elements including second functioning pel forming elements, and the third ink deposition functions correspond to the joint target response (column 10, lines 5-18; local data [of a particular group/column] is combined with large-scale data [i.e. joint response]).
5) Regarding claim 4, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the functioning pel forming elements in the first local group comprise first functioning pel forming elements adjacent to the non-functioning pel forming element and the pel forming elements in the second local group comprise second functioning pel forming elements adjacent to the first functioning pel forming elements (column 18, lines 16-19; 2 adjacent profiles on each side of a gap are boosted).
6) Regarding claim 5, Stanich teaches the system of claim 3, wherein generating the first, second and third ink deposition functions comprises generating a first Gaussian shaped ink deposition profile associated with the first local group, generating a second Gaussian shaped ink deposition profile associated with the second local group of pel forming elements and generating a third Gaussian shaped ink deposition profile associated with the joint target response (column 10, lines 5-18; local gaussian profile data [of a particular group/column] is combined with large-scale data [i.e. joint response]).
7) Regarding claim 6, Stanich teaches the system of claim 5, wherein generating the first, second and third ink deposition functions further comprises combining the first, second and third Gaussian shaped ink deposition profiles (column 10, lines 5-18; deposition data is combined).
8) Regarding claim 7, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein an ink deposition function further comprises a function of a pel forming element position and input digital count (column 20, lines 5-6; ink deposition function represents particular nozzle element and digital count).
9) Regarding claim 8, Stanich teaches the system of claim 4, wherein the compensation logic applies the first and second sets of inverse transfer functions to generate fourth ink deposition functions, verifies whether a difference between the fourth ink deposition functions and large-scale ink deposition functions is within a predetermined threshold and validates an acceptable compensation upon determining that the difference is within the predetermined threshold (column 13, lines 54-65; compensation ink deposition function is validated).
10) Regarding claim 9, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, further comprising a print engine comprising a plurality of pel forming elements (column 21, lines 2-3; plurality of elements).
11) Regarding claim 10, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein inverse transfer functions transform output digital counts, and the ink deposition functions represent output ink amount versus input digital count (column 20, lines 5-7; ITFs represent output ink vs input count).
12) Regarding claim 11, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein each corresponding group has no functioning pel forming element in common (column 11, lines 58-60; ITF groupings apply to a particular column).
13) Regarding claim 12, Stanich teaches the system of claim 1, wherein each set of inverse transfer functions is generated based on weighted contributions to the joint target response (column 8, line 51 – column 9, line 29; location of defective nozzle necessarily weights particular nozzle columns [and their corresponding ITFs] based on the large scale ink deposition formulas).
14) Claims 13-16 are taught in the same manner as described in the rejections of claims 1-4 above, respectively.
15) Claims 17-20 are taught in the same manner as described in the rejections of claims 1-4 above, respectively.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN O DULANEY whose telephone number is (571)272-2874. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached at (571)270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BENJAMIN O. DULANEY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2676
/BENJAMIN O DULANEY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683