DETAILED ACTION
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
Claims 9-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5/1/26.
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 1-8 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 1 recites “determining an attribute for a first paper of a plurality of papers available to print at a printing device, wherein the first paper includes a calibration having calibration source data as a printing resource”. The claim limitation require that the first paper can be both printed at a printing device (such as a physical sheet of paper), and include calibration source data (such as a data file). Thus, it is unclear whether the first paper in claim 1 is a physical sheet or a data file.
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 3-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. US Publication 2023/0071492 (hereafter “Chang”) and Morales US Patent 11,323,593 (hereafter “Morales”).
Referring to claim 1, Chang discloses a method for managing printing operations, the method comprising:
determining an attribute for a first paper of a plurality of papers available to print at a printing device (paragraph 96, FIG. 6A depicts an entry 602 within paper catalog 124 as represented by paper catalog map 514 in GUI 512 according to the disclosed embodiments), wherein the first paper includes a calibration having calibration source data as a printing resource (paragraph 98, Thus, halftone 6062 includes calibration data symbol 6062A for the calibration data within paper catalog 124 for print condition 606);
determining the first paper is in a peer calibration group based on the calibration (paragraph 106, FIG. 7 depicts a block diagram of a paper group 700 having multiple paper types according to the disclosed embodiments), wherein a plurality of papers in the peer calibration group use a plurality of calibrations having the calibration source data (paragraph 106, Paper type identification 702 may correspond to a primary paper type within paper group 700 as a graphic indicates that all calibration data and ICC profiles are available for the print conditions and respective halftones for the paper type);
updating the plurality of papers within the peer calibration group with the feature (paragraph 105, During raster image processing, system 100 will automatically retrieve the calibration data and the ICC profiles required, whether these are from a primary paper itself or, for a member of the paper group, borrowed from the primary paper).
Chang does not disclose expressly editing a feature of the first paper of the peer calibration group using a user interface.
Morales discloses editing a feature of the first paper of the peer calibration group using a user interface (col. 8, lines 36-45, An operator may edit TRC settings 308, such as calibration settings 302, after printing test chart 116);
updating the peer calibration group with the edited feature (col. 9, lines 1-10, Color management server 106 may identify calibration TRCs 156 among the printing devices that share measurement data 122. For each TRC 156, color management server 106 retrieves TRC settings 308 and generates new calibration TRCs 314, as disclosed above, using updated measurement data 402 captured during recalibration).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to edit a feature of the peer calibration group. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure that calibration data is accurate and the calibration data does not drift over time. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Morales with Chang to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Referring to claim 3, Chang discloses an existing calibration for a selected paper within the peer calibration (paragraph 98, Thus, halftone 6062 includes calibration data symbol 6062A for the calibration data within paper catalog 124 for print condition 606), but does not disclose expressly deleting an existing calibration for a selected paper within the peer calibration group.
Morales discloses deleting an existing calibration for a selected paper within the peer calibration group (col. 14, lines 4-10, Step 624 executes by updating calibration TRCs with the edited TRC settings to generate new TRCs 314); and
providing a notification within the peer calibration group that the existing calibration is deleted (col. 14, lines 11-22, Step 626 executes by sending new, or updated, TRC or TRCs 314 to printing device 104. As noted above, a plurality of TRCs 156 may be associated with measurement data 122 and identified to be updated with edited TRC settings 308. All of these TRCs are updated to generate new TRCs 314. The new TRC replaces the older, or original, TRC 156).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to delete a calibration. The motivation for doing so would have been to replace the calibration with updated data that is more accurate. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Morales with Chang to obtain the invention as specified in claim 3.
Referring to claim 4, Chang discloses an ICC profile associated with the existing calibration for the selected paper, but does not disclose expressly updating a status to invalid.
Morales discloses updating a status for an ICC profile associated with the existing calibration for the selected paper that the ICC profile is invalid (col. 12, lines 27-40, Similarly, if match calibration or recalibration fails, then all calibrations that match the failed calibration also are evaluated to determine whether which of the calibrations pass and fail) (col. 12, lines 41-49, An alert may be sent for associated ICC profile 157 when calibration or recalibration fails).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to update a status of an ICC profile to invalid. The motivation for doing so would have been to alert a user that a print job is likely to be defective in order to reduce wasting resources. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Morales with Chang to obtain the invention as specified in claim 4.
Referring to claim 5, Chang discloses the calibration for the first paper, but does not disclose expressly performing a recalibration.
Morales discloses performing a recalibration for the first paper (col. 8, lines 56-67, In printing systems, recalibration may occur after initial calibration on printing devices. If the recalibration is successful, system 100 will use the new measurement data and generate a TRC per typical calibration behavior).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to perform a recalibration. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow the user to replace data that they deem inaccurate. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Morales with Chang to obtain the invention as specified in claim 5.
Referring to claim 6, Morales discloses replacing at least one peer calibration for at least one paper of the plurality of papers of the peer calibration group based on the recalibration (col. 8, lines 56-67, In printing systems, recalibration may occur after initial calibration on printing devices. If the recalibration is successful, system 100 will use the new measurement data and generate a TRC per typical calibration behavior).
Referring to claim 7, Morales discloses wherein the feature of the first paper is another attribute (col. 8, lines 8-14, Calibration settings 302 may be defined for measurement data 122. Calibration settings 302 include end point targets 304 and aims 306. End point targets 304 relate to the specified maximum densities for colors in printing to a paper media. Aims 306 relate to the dot gain to achieve desired colors for color printing).
Referring to claim 8, Chang discloses aggregating a set of papers of the plurality of papers within the peer calibration group based on the attribute (paragraph 110, Connections 720 and 722 may illustrate these relationships. According to the disclosed embodiments, if paper type identification 710 is selected for a print job and print condition 712 is applied, then, depending on the appropriate halftone, calibration data and the ICC profile may be “borrowed” or dynamically shared from print condition 708).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al. US Publication 2023/0071492 and Morales US Patent 11,323,593 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Nakajima US Patent 6,950,197 (hereafter “Nakajima”)
Referring to claim 2, Chang discloses the calibration for the first paper and an ICC profile associated with the calibration, but does not disclose expressly deleting the calibration and ICC profile.
Nakajima discloses deleting the calibration for the first paper (col. 9, lines 51-57, Further, when on the main display displayed at step S901, the "Delete downloaded data" is selected and the "Next" button is pressed, the processing proceed to step S904 to delete the calibration data stored in the calibration data storage section 21 in the printer 2); and
deleting an ICC profile associated with the calibration (col. 5, lines 6-22, The printer 2 can execute a γ transformation of image data by means of the calibration table, which is specifically a γ correction table, to generate print data) (col. 13, lines 14-16, The header 178 is generated at the same time that the calibration table 179 is generated, and they are related to each other).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to delete calibration data and an ICC profile. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow the user to remove data that they deem inaccurate. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Nakajima with Chang to obtain the invention as specified in claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER K HUNTSINGER whose telephone number is (571)272-7435. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:00.
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/PETER K HUNTSINGER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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