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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “the first transistor, the third transistor and the fuse are formed on the same inkjet head chip” (claim 1) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Figures 1A and 1B should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 7-10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 7, line 5, “the corresponding” should be “a corresponding”.
Claim 9, lines 4-5, “the corresponding” should be “a corresponding”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 5 and 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liao et al. (TW 201500230 A)
Regarding claim 1, Liao et al. discloses an inkjet head chip identification circuit 1, comprising: an identification circuit 11 matching with a printer (paragraph [0011], so that the printer provides an inkjet head chip with required information according to a matching result (paragraph [0011]), wherein the identification circuit 11 comprises a plurality of memory units , and the memory units are arranged in an array structure, wherein the plurality of memory units further comprise a third transistor 13 and a fuse 12 or a combination thereof, the third transistor 13 is an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) (paragraph [0013]), wherein a data signal of each memory unit is controlled and read by burning the third transistor 13 and the fuse12 or not, wherein the third transistor 13 and the fuse 12 are formed on the same inkjet head chip (paragraph [0013]).
Regarding claim 5, Liao et al. discloses wherein the fuse 12 is selected from a polycrystalline silicon fuse (poly-fuse) or a metal fuse (metal fuse) (paragraph [0014]).
Regarding claim 11, Liao et al. discloses wherein the information recorded by the identification circuit 11 comprises one selected from the group consisting of an ink cartridge serial number, an identification code, an ink type, an ink capacity, an ink color, a number of nozzles, a manufacturing date, a factory date, an ink cartridge capacity change, a number of used times that the ink cartridge has been used on a machine, and a combination thereof (paragraph [0018]).
Regarding claim 12, Liao et al. discloses wherein the transistor 13 records unchangeable information in the inkjet head chip, and the unchangeable information comprises the ink cartridge serial number, the identification code, the ink type, the ink capacity, the ink color, the number of nozzles, the manufacturing date, the factory date, or a combination thereof (paragraph [0015]).
Regarding claim 13, Liao et al. discloses wherein the third transistor 13 records changeable information in the inkjet head chip, and the changeable information comprises the ink cartridge capacity change, the number of used times that the ink cartridge has been used on the machine, or a combination thereof (paragraph [0018]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 6-10 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SOPHIA S CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2133. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 5 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephanie Bloss can be reached at 571-272-3555. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SOPHIA S CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
Ssc
September 11, 2026
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