DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of the species according to Figure 5 in the reply filed on 1/6/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 8 and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities: “each of the multiple head” is incorrect. 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 8 and 9 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. The claim recites wherein each head of multiple heads has a nozzle that ejects inks of multiple colors, but this does not seem to be the case. That is, a single printhead ejects a single color of ink, and thus to claim that a single printhead has nozzles that eject four or five different colors of ink is incorrect. Clarification is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kynast et al. (2006/0092858) in view of Kojima (2023/0166496).
Regarding claims 1, 17 and 18, Kynast teaches a printing apparatus, method and non-transitory storage medium, comprising:
a main controlling circuit (fig. 7, master);
a sub-controlling circuit group (fig. 7, circuits in S1-S3) including first (fig. 7, S1) - n-th (fig. 7, S3) sub-controlling circuits connected in series, n being integer equal to or more than two (see fig. 7);
a group (fig. 7, S1-S3) configured to be controlled by the sub-controlling circuit group,
a first communication path (fig. 7, solid-line path) configured to connect the main controlling circuit and the first sub controlling circuit (see fig. 1); and
a second communication path (fig. 7, dotted-line path) configured to connect the main controlling circuit and the n-th sub-controlling circuit (see fig. 7),
wherein, when the main controlling circuit transmit first data (fig. 8, M1_out) to the first sub-controlling circuit via the first communication path, the sub-controlling circuit group transfers the first data a forward direction from the first sub-controlling circuit to the n-th controlling circuit (see fig. 7),
wherein, when the main controlling circuit transmit second data (fig. 8, M2_out) to the n-th sub-controlling circuit via the second communication path, the sub-controlling circuit group transfers the second data in a reverse direction from the n-th sub-controlling circuit to the first controlling circuit (see figs. 7, 8), and
wherein the sub-controlling circuit group controls driving of the group based on the first data and the second data (see figs. 7, 8).
Kynast does not teach wherein the first data is print data, the second data is print date and the group is a head group and the head group is in configured to eject liquid. Kojima teaches a head group of daisy chained printheads each receiving print data in series from a main controlling circuit (Kojima, see figs. 3, 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the two-way data transmission structure of Kynast to the head group disclosed by Kojima because doing so would allow for data redundancy in case of a circuit fault while also allowing for quicker data transmission from both ends of the head group, thereby ensuring proper ejecting timing of all heads in the head group.
Regarding claim 2, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first print data includes half of data for one line of data, and wherein the second print data includes remaining half of the data for the one line of data (Kynast, Note that all data is included in both of the first and second data, and thus each data includes both halves).
Regarding claim 3, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the first print data and the second print data is compressed data, and wherein amount of the first data and amount of the second data are equal (Kynast, see figs. 6, 8, Note that the data on rings 1 and 2 is equal).
Regarding claim 4, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the head group includes multiple heads, and wherein data to drive a particular head among the multiple heads is assigned to the first print data and data to drive an other head among the multiple heads is assigned to the second print data in such a manner that difference in data amount between the first print data and second print data is minimized (Kynast, see figs. 6-8, Note that all data is assigned to both of the first and second rings, and both of the first and second rings carry the same amount of data).
Regarding claim 5, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the head group is configured to eject liquid on a printing medium; wherein the printing medium has a first area and a second area wider than the first area, and wherein print data to print on the first area and print data to print on a part of the second area are assigned to the first data, and print data to print on a remaining part of the second area is assigned second data in such a manner that amount of the first data and amount of the second print data are equal (Kynast, fig. 8, Note that all data is assigned to both of the first and second rings. Further, note that the first and second areas can be arbitrarily chosen so that half of the medium is the first area and the part of the second area, and half of the medium is the remainder of the second area).
Regarding claim 6, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first print data and the second data include different color print data (Kynast, Note that, upon combination, the data on both of the first and second rings necessarily includes data for the four colors of print head. Kojima, [0021], Note that the term “different color print data” is being taken to mean that the data includes information about different printing colors. In other words, the claim could also be taken to mean that there is no overlap in the color data in the first and second datas).
Regarding claim 7, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the head group includes multiple heads, wherein each of the multiple heads includes a nozzle configured to eject black ink, a nozzle configured to eject yellow ink, a nozzle configured to eject magenta ink, and a nozzle configured to eject cyan ink, wherein the first print data includes black print data, and wherein the second print data includes yellow print data, magenta print data and cyan print data (Kojima, [0021], Note that the standard printing colors are those claimed). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use four colors, as disclosed by Kojima, in the printer disclosed by Kynast in view of Kojima because all standard printers used the four claimed colors.
Regarding claim 8, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the head group includes multiple heads, wherein each of the multiple head includes a nozzle configured to eject white ink, a nozzle configured to eject black ink, a nozzle configured to eject yellow ink, a nozzle configured to eject magenta ink, and a nozzle configured to eject cyan ink, wherein the first print data includes white print data, and wherein the second print data includes black print data, yellow print data, magenta print data and cyan print data (Kojima, [0021], Note that, upon combination, both of the first and second rings of data include all data, see 112 rejection). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use five colors, as disclosed by Kojima, in the printer disclosed by Kynast in view of Kojima because all standard printers used the five claimed colors.
Regarding claim 9, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the head group includes multiple heads, wherein each of the multiple head includes a nozzle configured to eject ink of a first color, a nozzle configured to eject ink a second color, a nozzle configured to eject ink of a third color, and a nozzle configured to eject ink of a fourth color, wherein the first print data includes print data for the first color and print data for the second color, and wherein the second print data includes print data for the third color and print data for the fourth has direction color (Kojima, [0021], see 112 rejection, Note that, upon combination, both of the first and second rings of data include all data). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use four colors, as disclosed by Kojima, in the printer disclosed by Kynast in view of Kojima because all standard printers used the four claimed colors.
Regarding claim 16, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first print data includes plurality of pieces of data associated with the first - n-th sub-controlling circuits, respectively, wherein the second print data includes plurality of pieces of data associated with the first sub-controlling circuits, respectively, wherein, when receiving data from upstream in the forward direction, each sub-controlling circuit of the first - (n-1)-th sub-controlling circuits is configured to obtain data associated with the each sub-controlling circuit from the received data from upstream in the forward direction, delete the obtained data associated with the each sub-controlling circuit from the received data, and transfer received data with the obtained data deleted to downstream in the forward direction, wherein, when receiving data from upstream in the forward direction, the n-th sub-controlling circuit is configured to obtain data associated with the n-th sub-controlling circuit, wherein, when receiving data from upstream in the reverse direction, each sub-controlling circuit of the n-th - second sub-controlling circuits is configured to obtain data associated with the sub-controlling circuit from the received data from upstream in the reverse direction, wherein, after obtaining the data associated with the each sub-controlling circuit of the n-th second sub-controlling circuits from the received data from upstream in the reverse direction, the sub-controlling circuit of the n-th - second sub-controlling circuits is configured to delete the obtained data associated with the each sub-controlling circuit from the received data, wherein, after deleting the obtained data associated with the each sub-controlling circuit from the received data, the each sub-controlling circuit of the n-th - second sub-controlling circuits is configured to transfer the received data with the obtained data deleted to downstream in the reverse direction, and wherein, when receiving data from upstream in the reverse direction, the first sub-controlling circuit is configured to obtain data associated with the first sub-controlling circuit (Kojima, see figs. 4-6, Note that transmission data is deleted after transmission. Kynast, see figs. 6-8, Note that, upon combination of Kynast’s double ring structure with the data transmission/deletion technique of Kojima, the claimed limitations would be met).
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kynast in view of Kojima as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Harter et al. (2007/0274208).
Regarding claim 10, Kynast in view of Kojima teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 6. Kynast in view of Kojima does not teach wherein the main controlling circuit is configured to perform: determining whether transferring of the first print data in the forward direction has been completed; and determining whether transferring of the second print data in the reverse direction has been completed, wherein, when determining that transferring of the first print data in the forward direction has been completed and determining that transferring of the second print data in the reverse direction not been completed: the main controlling circuit is configured to transmit the second print data to the sub controlling circuit group via the first communication path; and the sub-controlling circuit group is configured to transfer the second data in the forward direction, and wherein, when determining that transferring of the first print data in the forward direction has not been completed and determining that transferring of the second print data in the reverse has been completed: the main controlling circuit is configured to transmit the first print data to the sub-controlling circuit group via the second communication path; and the sub-controlling circuit group is configured to transfer the first data in the reverse direction. Harter teaches a two-ring data transmission scheme whereby data transmission is tracked, and if there is a fault anywhere in the series of connected circuits, data is rerouted forward or backward depending on where in the chain the fault is so that all members of the group receive their required data (Harter, fig. 2, [0023]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the data rerouting/fault remediation technique disclosed by Harter to the device disclosed by Kynast in view of Kojima because doing so would ensure all data was received by all heads in the head group at all times, thereby ensuring proper printing. Upon combination of the references, the claimed limitations would be met. That is, the controller would determine whether the first and second data transmissions had been completed, and if either had not, that data of that transmission would be rerouted in the opposite direction than initially attempted.
Conclusion
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853