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 .
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:
IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM COMPRISING CONTINUING TO PRINT AND NOT CANCEL SECOND IMAGE DATA WITHIN A PLURALITY OF PIECES OF PRINT DATA WHEN AN INSTRUCTION TO CANCEL FIRST IMAGE DATA IS ACCEPTED
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 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) 1-3, 5, 6, 9, 11 and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota (US PUB 2015/0371126) in view of Asaoka (US Pub 20120320392).
Re claim 1: Ota discloses an image forming apparatus comprising:
one or more memories; and one or more processors,
wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors (e.g. the system discloses a processor utilizing memory to perform the functions of the invention, which is taught in ¶ [48].) are configured to:
[0048] Though not illustrated in the drawings, the controller 15 includes a central processing unit (CPU) serving as an arithmetic operation unit, and a main memory and a magnetic disk drive (hard disk drive (HDD)) serving as a memory. Here, the CPU executes various types of software such as an operating system (OS) and an application and realizes the above-mentioned functions. In addition, the main memory is a storage area that stores various types of software and data used in execution thereof. In addition, the magnetic disk drive is a storage area that stores input data for the various types of software and output data from the various types of software.
accept a cancel instruction for at least one piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data during the printing of the print data (e.g. when an error is detected on a page, a cancel instruction is received for that page when the job is printing a particular page, which is taught in ¶ [69]-[71].); and,
[0069] In addition, the process determination button 75 includes information regarding an error avoidance method. In addition, in the illustrated example, the process determination button 75 includes multiple buttons for determining execution of a process in accordance with various different error avoidance methods. In the example, the process determination button 75 includes a first button 751, a second button 752, a third button 753, and a fourth button 754.
[0070] The first button 751 accepts an instruction to perform “ignore error and print” that ignores the occurred error without processing the error, and that executes (prints) the job. The second button 752 accepts an instruction to perform “print except for an error occurrence page” that executes the job except for a page where an error has occurred. The third button 753 accepts an instruction to perform “print an error occurrence page as blank” that executes the job while printing a page where an error has occurred as blank, that is, that replaces a page where an error has occurred with a logical page and performs printing. The fourth button 754 accepts an instruction to perform “delete job” that cancels a print instruction (job) where an error has occurred without reprinting the job.
[0071] When the user selects one of the first button 751 to the fourth button 754 by touching on the UI 13 screen, for example, a reprint instruction is given while specifying an error avoidance method.
in a case where a cancel instruction for first image data included in the plurality of pieces of the image data, is accepted, control the printing of the print data to stop at an end position of second image data included in the plurality of pieces of the image data, in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data, the second image data being image data not to be cancelled and being printed (e.g. when input of the instruction to cancel a page with an error is accepted, the system cancels the page with an error but does not cancel the page of a sheet that is not in error. On a sheet with multiple pages or image data, the first page may be cancelled and the second may continue to print despite the first page or image being cancelled. This is seen in figures 4C (C-2) or (C-3). In the case of C-3, if the last images of E and F do not exist, the printing stops at the D image. This option is discussed in ¶ [80] and [81].).
[0080] Next, in the case where the second button 752 is selected, that is, “print except for an error occurrence page” is specified, the print result becomes one illustrated in part (C-2) of FIG. 4C. Specifically, printing is performed except for the image C including an error. Accordingly, the image D is formed after the image B, and the positions of the images D, E, and F (images subsequent to the image C) formed on the sheets S2 and S3 in part (C-2) of FIG. 4C are different from the positions of the images D, E, and F formed on the sheets S2 and S3 in FIG. 4B. That is, in the case where the second button 752 is selected, the layout of the overall print result changes. The second button 752 is selected in the case where, unlike the illustrated example, for example, an error occurrence page is to be printed again in a print instruction in which the layout of the overall print result does not change.
[0081] Next, in the case where the third button 753 is selected, that is, “print an error occurrence page as blank” is specified, the print result becomes one illustrated in part (C-3) of FIG. 4C. Specifically, a portion where the image C including an error is to be formed is formed as blank. At this time, the positions of the images A, B, D, E, and F formed on the sheets S1 to S3 match the positions of the images A, B, D, E, and F formed on the sheets S1 to S3 in FIG. 4B. Since the third button 753 involves no change in pages including no error, other than an error occurrence page, from the case of a normal output, these pages are easy to reuse when replacing a print result.
However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of control the image forming apparatus to perform printing of print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Asaoka. Similar to the primary reference, Asaoka discloses printing images in an orthogonal direction of the feeding or reading direction (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Asaoka discloses control the image forming apparatus to perform printing of print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction (e.g. the invention discloses performing printing the scanned image data in a direction that is orthogonal to the sheet scanning or conveying direction of the sheet, which is taught in ¶ [32] and [54]-[56].).
[0032] The ADF 4 is openably disposed on the upper surface side of the platen 11. The ADF 4 also has a function of putting the document D in close contact with the platen glass 12 by being laid on the document D on the platen glass 12. The ADF 4 includes a document placement tray 17 and a document discharge tray 18. To read the document D placed on the document placement tray 17, the document D is conveyed to a reading position by a document conveyance mechanism 19 including a plurality of rollers. During the conveyance, a portion of the document D at the reading position is irradiated with light from the light source device 13. The image is formed on the image sensor 14 from the reflected light through the mirror group 16 and the imaging lens 15. Then, the image sensor 14 converts the reflected light into the image signal (RGB signal) corresponding to the image on the document D, and outputs the image signal to the control board 42. Then, the document D is discharged onto the document discharge tray 18.
[0054] Next, an example of copying by the MFP 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and other figures. As described above, the light source device 13 and the mirror group 16 move in the longer side direction of the image reader 5 (left-right direction of the main body 2) to read the image on the document D placed on the platen glass 12 of the platen 11. In other words, the sub-scanning direction of the image reader 5 matches the longer side direction of the image reader 5, and the main scanning direction of the image reader 5 matches the shorter side direction of the image reader 5.
[0055] The image reader 5 of the first embodiment allows the document D of A4 size as the maximum size, to be placed on the platen glass 12 of the platen 11 with the longer side direction of the document D aligned with the longer side direction of the image reader 5 (left-right direction of the main body 2). Here, the image signal read by the image reader 5 indicates that the main scanning width is 210 mm and the sub scanning width is 297 mm. The longer side direction of the document D of A4 size placed on the platen glass 12 is orthogonal to the longer side direction of each sheet feed cassette 31 (accommodated recording medium P) and the sheet feed width direction of the image forming unit 6. In other words, the document D of A4 size on the platen glass 12 is turned by 90.degree. from the recording medium P in each sheet feed cassette 31. The main scanning width (corresponding to the maximum sheet feed width) of the image forming unit 6 is set to 297 mm in accordance with the longer side length L of the recording medium P of A4 in landscape.
[0056] Thus, in the first embodiment, when copying the document D of A4 size, which is the maximum size, placed on the platen glass 12 of the platen 11 at the same magnification, the control board 42 replaces the sub scanning direction of the digital image data obtained by reading the document D with the main scanning direction of the image forming unit 6, and replaces the main scanning direction of the digital image data with the sub scanning direction of the image forming unit 6. The image forming unit 6 performs printing based on the replaced digital image data. In other words, the digital image data obtained by reading the document D is turned by 90.degree. and the image forming unit 6 prints the toner image corresponding to the turned digital image data onto the recording medium P of A4 in landscape (see FIG. 5). It is matter of course that the setting on the printing magnification (same magnification, enlarged, reduced, and the like) is received through the operation panel 9 or a network.
Therefore, in view of Asaoka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of control the image forming apparatus to perform printing of print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction, incorporated in the device of Ota, in order to print in a manner that is orthogonal to a feeding direction, which can reduce environmental load of the printing process (as stated in Asaoka ¶ [07]).
Re claim 2: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is a plurality of pieces of the second image data, control the printing of the print data to stop at an end position of one of the pieces of the second image data, the end position being a rearmost end position in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data (e.g. the second image data can be still printed after the initial data before the second data is cancelled in printing. If the second print data is the last image, the printing is printed up to this image, which is taught ¶ [80] and [81] above. The sheets can be scanned in order to input the images, which is taught in ¶ [17] and [28].).
[0017] The image forming apparatus 5 has an image forming function (print function) of forming an image on a medium such as a sheet. For example, a so-called multifunctional apparatus that has an image reading function of reading an image from a medium such as a sheet and a facsimile function, besides an image forming function, may be used as the image forming apparatus 5.
[0028] Note that the image forming apparatus 5 may include, besides the units illustrated in the drawing, for example, a post-processor (not illustrated) for executing so-called post processing such as punching or binding sheets on which images are formed, an image reading unit (not illustrated) for reading an image from a medium such as a sheet, or a facsimile function unit (not illustrated).
Re claim 3: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is no second image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control the printing of the print data to stop at a position where the cancel instruction is accepted (e.g. if there is not second image data behind the initial image data cancelled, the printing is stopped at the error page, which is explained in ¶ [80] and [81] above.).
Re claim 5: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to:
manage a printing state of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data (e.g. as seen in figure 3A and 3C, the printing state of the pages in the print job is managed, which is taught in ¶ [59]-[63] and [65]-[68].);
[0059] As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the job status screen 50 is a screen indicating a list of executed jobs, that is, a history of jobs. Note that the job status screen 50 is an example of a history display.
[0060] With the job status screen 50, the user is able to understand the completion status of each job. Here, the job status screen 50 includes job information displays 51 to 56 indicating information of jobs that have been completely executed.
[0061] Here, the job information display 53 will be described by way of example. The job information display 53 includes job identification information 531 such as the number of a document (document number) that executes that job, user related information 533 such as a user who has given a print instruction or the details of that job, completion status information 535 regarding the completion status of that job, and page information 537 regarding the number of pages printed by that print instruction. Here, in the illustrated example, “private print” is displayed as the job identification information 531; “USER-A” is displayed as the user related information 533; “completed-error” indicating a job that has been ended since an error has occurred is displayed as the completion status information 535; and “0/0” indicating that there is no printed sheet is displayed as the page information 537.
[0062] When the user selects one of the job information displays 51 to 56 by touching on the UI 13 screen, for example, the screen is switched to another screen, namely, the job status screen 60 (FIG. 3B). The job status screen 60 displays more detailed information regarding each of the jobs than a corresponding one of the job information displays 51 to 56 does.
[0063] Here, the job status screen 60 in the case where the job information display 53 which is a display regarding a job that has been ended since an error has occurred is selected will be described.
[0065] When the user selects the reprint button 67 by touching on the UI 13 screen, for example, the screen is switched to the reprint screen 70 for an ended job (see FIG. 3C).
[0066] The reprint screen 70 includes, as illustrated in FIG. 3C, file information 71 indicating the file name, execution result information 72 indicating the result of executing the job, and time information 73 regarding a date and time at which the job has been completed. In addition, the reprint screen 70 includes error information 74 regarding an error that has occurred in the print instruction, and a process determination button 75 that triggers determination of a process for the print instruction in which an error has occurred and execution of reprinting.
[0067] Note that the file information 71 is an example of an error display, and the process determination button 75 is an example of a process display and an instruction acceptor.
[0068] Here, the error information 74 includes error page information 741 and 742 each indicating an error occurrence page, and error type information 743 and 744 each indicating the type of the occurred error.
in a case where the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, update the printing state of the first image data to a state other than being printed (e.g. if a user selects a button for print except for error occurrence, the error page is changed to a cancelled state. The cancelled page is turned into a blank page or is skipped, which is taught in ¶ [65]-[68], [80] and [81] above.); and
determine a position to stop the printing of the print data at based on a length of image data of which the printing state is being printed in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data (e.g. the system detects the read image data and stops printing the print data based on the length or size of the image data of the second print data that may be after the cancelled first image data. The sheets can be conveyed in a certain direction and printed in this same direction. The conveying of sheets in the ADF is seen in figure 1. The cancelling of the printing of an image is taught in ¶ [80] and [81] above.).
Re claim 6: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to update the printing state of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data based on a distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed, and the length of the image data in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data (e.g. as seen in figure 3A, the third job is considered as not having any of the pages completed in printing based on the detection of printing from a distance of a first page to a last page with print data arranged in a portent length. This is disclosed on ¶ [65]-[68], [80] and [81] above. With the sheet fed in on the ADF, the length of the sheet being scanned is performed, which is taught in ¶ [17] and [28] above.).
Re claim 9: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to generate the print data based on image data given by a user (e.g. a user can send s print instruction to the copier, which is taught in ¶ [22] and [23].).
[0022] The communication I/F 11 performs communication with the outside. Specifically, the communication I/F 11 receives a print instruction from the terminal apparatus 3 via the network 7.
[0023] Here, the term “print instruction” refers to an instruction that causes the image forming apparatus 5 to execute printing and includes print data and print settings, in addition to a print execution command.
Re claim 11: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to:
manage a start position and an end position of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data (e.g. the start and end of an image is determined based on the input data rasterized by the MFP, which is taught by ¶ [32] and [33].); and
[0032] The data processor 21 processes a print instruction received by the communication I/F 11. Specifically, the data processor 21 analyzes at least one of print data and print settings in the print instruction. More specifically, the data processor 21 analyzes, for example, print data (an electronic document file in PDL or Portable Document Format (PDF)/Extensible Markup Language (XML) Paper Specification (XPS)) in the print instruction, and performs rasterizing in accordance with the analysis result. Then, the data processor 21 outputs the print instruction including the rasterized print data to the image formation controller 23. In addition, the data processor 21 performs processing to exclude a page where an error has occurred or to replace a page where an error has occurred with another logical page in the print instruction, though details of which will be described later.
[0033] The image formation controller 23 controls the operation of the image forming unit 17. Specifically, the image formation controller 23 receives a print instruction including rasterized print data and print settings from the data processor 21, and controls the image forming unit 17 to form an image in accordance with the print instruction.
control the printing of the print data to stop at the end position of a piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data of which the printing state is being printed in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data (e.g. if a print data contains an error page, the printing can stop before the last page or can end at a last page with leaving a middle error page blank. This is taught in ¶ [80] and [81] above.).
Re claim 14: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to arrange two or more of the plurality of pieces of the image data in the sheet conveyance direction (e.g. in figure 4C, the images are arranged in a sheet conveyance direction with the A4 copier, which is taught in ¶ [35].).
[0035] The error detector 27 detects an error in a print instruction and a reprint instruction. Here, the term “error” refers to an instruction unprocessable by the image forming apparatus 5 or an instruction inappropriate (invalid) for the image forming apparatus 5 to process. The expression “an instruction unprocessable by the image forming apparatus 5” refers to a print instruction that the image forming apparatus 5 is incapable of executing, though the print instruction itself has no problem. Examples of such instructions unprocessable by the image forming apparatus 5 include a duplex printing instruction though the image forming apparatus 5 has no duplex function, a print instruction that specifies a sheet size of A3 though the image forming apparatus 5 is an A4 machine, a print instruction that specifies color printing though the image forming apparatus 5 is a monochrome machine, a print instruction that includes an image process exceeding the memory capacity of the image forming apparatus 5, and a print instruction that specifies font data that the image forming apparatus 5 does not have. In addition, the expression “an instruction invalid for the image forming apparatus 5 to process” refers to a print instruction that has a problem. Examples of such instructions include a print instruction in which an attribute that accompanies a command in the print instruction is invalid, and a print instruction that lacks such an attribute.
However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction and in the sheet conveyance direction.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Asaoka. Similar to the primary reference, Asaoka discloses printing images in an orthogonal direction of the feeding or reading direction (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Asaoka discloses in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction and in the sheet conveyance direction (e.g. the invention discloses performing printing the scanned image data in a direction that is orthogonal to the sheet scanning or conveying direction of the sheet, which is taught in ¶ [32] and [54]-[56] above. This feature combined with the primary reference feature performs the above features of the claims.).
Therefore, in view of Asaoka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction and in the sheet conveyance direction, incorporated in the device of Ota, in order to print in a manner that is orthogonal to a feeding direction, which can reduce environmental load of the printing process (as stated in Asaoka ¶ [07]).
Re claim 15. Ota discloses an image forming method comprising:
accepting a cancel instruction for at least one piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data during the printing of the print data (e.g. when an error is detected on a page, a cancel instruction is received for that page when the job is printing a particular page, which is taught in ¶ [69]-[71] above.); and,
in a case where a cancel instruction for first image data, of the image data, is accepted, the printing of the print data is controlled to stop at an end position of second image data, of the image data, in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data, the second image data being image data not to be cancelled and being printed (e.g. when input of the instruction to cancel a page with an error is accepted, the system cancels the page with an error but does not cancel the page of a sheet that is not in error. On a sheet with multiple pages or image data, the first page may be cancelled and the second may continue to print despite the first page or image being cancelled. This is seen in figures 4C (C-2) or (C-3). In the case of C-3, if the last images of E and F do not exist, the printing stops at the D image. This option is discussed in ¶ [80] and [81] above.).
However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of printing print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Asaoka. Similar to the primary reference, Asaoka discloses printing images in an orthogonal direction of the feeding or reading direction (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Asaoka discloses printing print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction (e.g. the invention discloses performing printing the scanned image data in a direction that is orthogonal to the sheet scanning or conveying direction of the sheet, which is taught in ¶ [32] and [54]-[56] above.).
Therefore, in view of Asaoka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of printing print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction, incorporated in the device of Ota, in order to print in a manner that is orthogonal to a feeding direction, which can reduce environmental load of the printing process (as stated in Asaoka ¶ [07]).
Re claim 16: Ota discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that (e.g. the system discloses a processor utilizing memory to perform the functions of the invention, which is taught in ¶ [48] above.), when executed by an image forming apparatus, cause the image forming apparatus to execute an image forming method, the image forming method comprising:
accepting a cancel instruction for at least one piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data during the printing of the print data (e.g. when an error is detected on a page, a cancel instruction is received for that page when the job is printing a particular page, which is taught in ¶ [69]-[71] above.); and,
in a case where a cancel instruction for first image data, of the image data, is accepted, the printing of the print data is controlled to stop at an end position of second image data, of the image data, in the sheet conveyance direction of the print data, the second image data being image data not to be cancelled and being printed (e.g. when input of the instruction to cancel a page with an error is accepted, the system cancels the page with an error but does not cancel the page of a sheet that is not in error. On a sheet with multiple pages or image data, the first page may be cancelled and the second may continue to print despite the first page or image being cancelled. This is seen in figures 4C (C-2) or (C-3). In the case of C-3, if the last images of E and F do not exist, the printing stops at the D image. This option is discussed in ¶ [80] and [81] above.).
However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of printing print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Asaoka. Similar to the primary reference, Asaoka discloses printing images in an orthogonal direction of the feeding or reading direction (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Asaoka discloses printing print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction (e.g. the invention discloses performing printing the scanned image data in a direction that is orthogonal to the sheet scanning or conveying direction of the sheet, which is taught in ¶ [32] and [54]-[56] above.).
Therefore, in view of Asaoka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of printing print data including a plurality of pieces of image data arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction, incorporated in the device of Ota, in order to print in a manner that is orthogonal to a feeding direction, which can reduce environmental load of the printing process (as stated in Asaoka ¶ [07]).
Claim(s) 7 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota, as modified by Asaoka, as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Conventional nature of Printing job states within the Printing environment (Official Notice).
Re claim 7: Ota discloses the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to manage the printing state of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data as on standby, being printed, and printed (e.g. the system discloses completed status, which is equivalent to the printed status. This is seen in figure 3A and taught in ¶ [59]-[63] above.).
However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of printing state of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data as on standby, being printed, and printed.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Printing job states. Similar to the primary reference, Printing job states discloses states of different print jobs (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Print job states discloses printing state of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data as on standby, being printed, and printed (e.g. it is conventional to contain job states for standby or waiting for printing, and printing. This feature combined with the primary reference is used to indicate the progress of a job to a user. Moreover, if a job starts to print, its state is changed from standby to printing. If a job reaches its completion, it changes from printing to printed or completed.).
Therefore, in view of Print job states, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of printing state of each piece of the plurality of pieces of the image data as on standby, being printed, and printed, incorporated in the device of Ota, in order to change the states of a job within the printing process, which improves the operation of the output system by providing indication of job states to a user to alert the user of an error or job progression.
Re claim 12: However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of the image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where a distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed reaches or exceeds the start position of the image data, update the printing state of the image data from on standby to being printed, and
in a case where the distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed reaches or exceeds the end position of the image data, update the printing state of the image data from being printed to printed.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Printing job states. Similar to the primary reference, Printing job states discloses states of different print jobs (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Print job states discloses wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where a distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed reaches or exceeds the start position of the image data, update the printing state of the image data from on standby to being printed, and
in a case where the distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed reaches or exceeds the end position of the image data, update the printing state of the image data from being printed to printed (e.g. it is conventional to contain job states for standby or waiting for printing, and printing. This feature combined with the primary reference is used to indicate the progress of a job to a user. Moreover, if a job starts to print, its state is changed from standby to printing once the job starts to print. If a job reaches its completion, it changes from printing to printed or job completion. These states are updated for the pages of a job to be shown to a user.).
Therefore, in view of Print job states, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where a distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed reaches or exceeds the start position of the image data, update the printing state of the image data from on standby to being printed, and in a case where the distance up to which the printing of the print data is completed reaches or exceeds the end position of the image data, update the printing state of the image data from being printed to printed, incorporated in the device of Ota, in order to change the states of a job within the printing process, which improves the operation of the output system by providing indication of job states to a user to alert the user of an error or job progression.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota, as modified by Asaoka, as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Otsuka (US Pub 2013/0100493).
Re claim 10: However, Ota fails to specifically teach the features of the image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is the second image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control notification to a user that has given the second image data that a cancel instruction is issued for other image data included in the print data.
However, this is well known in the art as evidenced by Otsuka. Similar to the primary reference, Otsuka discloses notifies a user of a cancellation status (same field of endeavor or reasonably pertinent to the problem).
Otsuka discloses wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is the second image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control notification to a user that has given the second image data that a cancel instruction is issued for other image data included in the print data (e.g. the invention discloses detecting an error on a page that prevents the page from printing. However, the subsequent pages are continued in printing. The printer updates the server and the eventual terminal that submits the job to the printer of the status of the job. The explanation of printing and notification of the error page is taught in ¶ [87], [170], [174] and [175].).
[0087] The printer 103 notifies the upper system of the job status information. At this time, the job status information contains error detail information of a cancel job (step S407). The error information can therefore be shared throughout the upper to lower systems. If there is no error detail information of the cancel job, the print management system 102 and order management system 101 can only determine that the printer 103 has canceled the job at the upper levels. In this case, the print management system 102 and order management system 101 recognize that the printer 103 has performed merely "job cancellation", and display "job cancellation" on UIs corresponding to the printer 103.
[0170] The print management system 102 notifies the order management system 101 at an upper level of the error event (step S1612). The print management system 102 displays the page number and cancel reason ("job error on the nth page" in this case) on the UI of the print management system 102 (step S1613). Then, the processing sequence ends.
[0174] If it is detected that an error exists in the content data (YES in step S1704), the printer 103 determines whether the setting can continue printing (step S1705). If the setting can continue printing without any problem (YES in step S1705), the printer 103 notifies the print management system 102 at an upper level of an error event representing that the error has occurred in the target page (step S1706). The printer 103 displays the cancel reason ("data error on the nth page" in this case) on the UI of the printer 103 (step S1707). The process returns to step S1702, and the printer 103 continues image processing for subsequent pages.
[0175] If printing cannot continue (NO in step S1705), the printer 103 deletes the received print job (step S1708). The printer 103 notifies the print management system 102 at an upper level of an error event representing that the data error has occurred (step S1709). The printer 103 displays the cancel reason ("data error on the nth page" in this case) on the UI of the printer 103 (step S1710). Thereafter, the processing sequence ends.
Therefore, in view of Otsuka, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to have the feature of wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is the second image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control notification to a user that has given the second image data that a cancel instruction is issued for other image data included in the print data, incorporated in the device of Ota, as modified by Asaoka, in order to share the cancellation of a page to a user, which improves the operability of the system for the user (as stated in Otsuka ¶ [07]-[10]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8 and 13 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: The underlined aspects of the claims below were not found within the applied and/or cited prior art.
Re claim 4: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is third image data along with the second image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control printing of the third image data to not be performed, the third image data being image data not to be cancelled and on standby.
Re claim 8: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to, in a case where there is the second image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control notification to a user that has issued the cancel instruction that the printing will not be immediately stopped.
Re claim 13: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more memories and the one or more processors are further configured to generate the print data based on image data given by a user; and,
in a case where there is third image data when the cancel instruction for the first image data is accepted, control notification to a user that has given the third image data that the third image data will not be printed in the print data in progress, the third image data being image data not to be cancelled and on standby.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Uruma discloses job states.
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/CHAD DICKERSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683