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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited on a Form PTO 1449 have been considered.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections
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 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.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishizawa et al. (US 2020/0230971) in view of Inaba (JP 2003011380).
Nishizawa et al. disclose in Figures 1-4 an inkjet printer comprising:
Regarding a part of claim 1, a liquid feed pump (11) that is provided in a liquid channel between a liquid storage (9, 10) to store liquid (ink) and a droplet ejector (3) to eject liquid, and feeds out the liquid (ink) in the liquid storage (9,10) to the droplet ejector (3) (Figure 2);
a remover (50) that is located in the liquid channel and removes a foreign substance in liquid (ink) (Figure 2); and
a hardware processor (controller, not shown in drawings) that:
sets, using a pressure generator (12), a pressure on an upstream side in a liquid feeding direction of the remover (50) to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side in the liquid feeding direction (Figure 2); and
acquires, from a measure (37, 38), information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in the liquid channel after a pressure difference is formed (Figure 2, paragraphs 0048 and 0058).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the pressure generator (12) is a pump that adjusts a pressure value in the liquid storage (9, 10) (Figure 2, paragraph 0048).
Regarding claim 3, wherein the liquid storage (9, 10) includes an upstream liquid storage provided on the upstream side in the liquid feeding direction of the remover (50), and the pressure generator (12) is an air pressure pump that pressurizes an inside of the upstream liquid storage (9) (Figure 2).
Regarding claim 4, wherein the liquid storage (9, 10) includes a downstream liquid storage (9) provided on the downstream side in the liquid feeding direction of the remover (50), and the pressure generator (12) is a back pressure pump that depressurizes an inside of the downstream liquid storage (9) (Figure 2, paragraph 0048).
Regarding claim 5, wherein the back pressure pump (44) depressurizes a pressure value inside the downstream liquid storage (9) to a value in a range from −1 kPa to −3 kPa (Figure 2, paragraph 0058).
Regarding claim 6, wherein the hardware processor (controller) acquires, from the measure (37, 38), information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in a second channel branched from a downstream side of the remover (50) in a conveyance direction in a first channel, which is the liquid channel passing through the remover (Figure 2, paragraph 0058).
Regarding claim 7, wherein the liquid feed pump (11) is a diaphragm pump (Figure 2, paragraph 0051).
Regarding claim 8, wherein the measure (37, 38) measures a change amount of a liquid level height of the liquid storage (9) (Figure 2).
Regarding claim 9, wherein the measure (37, 38) includes a float (36) that generates a magnetic field in response to rise and fall of a liquid level, and a magnetic sensor (37, 38) that measures a magnetic flux density of the magnetic field (Figure 2, paragraphs 0043-0044).
Regarding claim 10, wherein a magnetic body (36) is provided in vicinity of the magnetic sensor (37, 38) (Figure 2).
Regarding a part of claim 13, a remover deterioration determining method for a droplet ejecting apparatus including: a liquid feed pump (11) that is provided in a liquid channel between a liquid storage (9, 10) to store liquid (ink) and a droplet ejector (3) to eject liquid (ink), and feeds out the liquid in the liquid storage to the droplet ejector; and a remover (50) that is located in the liquid channel and removes a foreign substance in liquid, the method comprising: setting, using a pressure generator (12), a pressure on an upstream side in a liquid feeding direction of the remover (50) to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side in the liquid feeding direction; acquiring, from a measure, information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in the liquid channel after a pressure difference is formed (Figure 2, paragraphs 0048 and 0058).
Regarding a part of claim 14, a non-transitory storage medium storing a computer readable program (controller) for a computer (not shown) in a droplet ejecting apparatus including: a liquid feed pump (11) that is provided in a liquid channel between a liquid storage (9, 10) to store liquid and a droplet ejector (3) to eject liquid (ink), and feeds out the liquid in the liquid storage (9, 10) to the droplet ejector (3); and
a remover (50) that is located in the liquid channel and removes a foreign substance in liquid, the program (controller) causing the computer to perform: setting, using a pressure generator (12), a pressure on an upstream side in a liquid feeding direction of the remover (50) to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side in the liquid feeding direction; acquiring, from a measure (37, 38), information capable of specifying a pressure or a flow rate of liquid in the liquid channel after a pressure difference is formed (Figure 2, paragraphs 0048 and 0058).
However, Nishizawa et al. do not disclose a step of determines deterioration of the remover based on an acquired content; wherein the measure is a flowmeter; a notifier that is caused by the hardware processor to issue a warning in response to determination that the remover is deteriorated; determining deterioration of the remover based on an acquired content.
Inaba discloses in Figures 1-3 an ink jet recording apparatus comprising:
Regarding a part of claims 11 and 13-14, determines deterioration of the remover (14) based on an acquired content (Figure 2, see abstract).
Regarding claim 11, wherein the measure (19) is a flowmeter (Figure 2, see abstract).
Regarding claim 12, a notifier (40) that is caused by the hardware processor (CPU) to issue a warning in response to determination that the remover (14) is deteriorated. (Figures 2-3, see abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Inaba in the Nishizawa et al.’s inkjet printer for the purpose of creating a high quality ink and image.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. These prior art references (US Pub. 2010/0085396; US Pub. 2017/0087864; US Pub. 2017/0259574) cited in the PTO 892 form show an ink jet printer which is deemed to be relevant to the present invention. These references should be reviewed.
CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Anh Vo whose telephone number is (571) 272-2262. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:30 A.M.to 6:00 P.M..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner'ssupervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached on (571) 431-0716. The fax phonenumber for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH T VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853