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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 10 and 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected Species B, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/16/2026.
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 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) 1-5 and 11-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murate (US 2015/0367633 A1) in view of Leone et al. (US 2016/0076933 A1).
Regarding claim 1:
Murate discloses an inkjet printing system comprising:
an inkjet head unit (recording head 220) including a nozzle (20) for ejecting ink (Fig. 6);
a driving unit (at least drive control substrate 210) configured to generate and output a driving voltage for discharging the ink from the nozzle (paragraph 69 & Fig. 13);
a self-sensing circuit (at least waveform processing circuit 250) connected to the input terminal of the inkjet head unit to receive a self-sensing voltage from the nozzle and determine whether the nozzle is normally operating (paragraphs 114-117 & Fig. 14).
Murate does not expressly disclose that the system includes a first impedance adjusting unit.
However, Leone et al. disclose a capacitive circuit that enables passage of a driving voltage from a driving unit (3) during a driving phase, and enables deactivation of the driving unit during a receiving phase (paragraphs 61-62), the circuit having a first impedance adjusting unit (disturbance suppression block 12) disposed between an input terminal of a transducer unit (2) and an output terminal (3a) of a driving unit (Fig. 2), the first impedance adjusting unit including a pair of diodes (Fig. 2).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to include such an impedance adjusting unit in Murate’s system, so as to enable passage of the driving voltage from the driving unit during a driving phase, and enables deactivation of the driving unit during a receiving phase.
Regarding claim 2:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 2, and Leone et al. also disclose that the pair of diodes of the first impedance adjusting unit include a forward diode and a reverse diode (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 3:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 2, and Leone et al. also disclose that each of the forward diode and the reverse diode is one of a PN junction diode, a Schottky diode, and a Zener diode (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 4:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 2, and Murate also disclose that the driving driver unit is provided in plurality (e.g. drive control substrate 210 comprises a plurality of parts), and the nozzle is provided in plurality (Fig. 14), the inkjet head unit is connected to one of the driving units (Fig. 14) and includes the plurality of nozzles (Figs. 13-14), and the inkjet head unit further includes a plurality of switches (37) connected to the plurality of nozzles respectively (Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 5:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 2, and Murate also disclose that the self-sensing circuit unit includes a differential amplifier (of waveform processing circuit 250: Fig. 14) for receiving the self-sensing voltage from the input terminal of the inkjet head unit (Figs. 13-14), and the differential amplifier further receives a reference voltage and generates a final self-sensing voltage (as input to 253) by subtracting the reference voltage from the self-sensing voltage (Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 11:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 5, and Murate also disclose that the self-sensing circuit unit further includes a signal processing unit, which uses a filter to improve a signal to noise ratio (paragraph 114 & Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 12:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 11, and also that the self-sensing circuit unit further includes a data determination unit (controller 211) configured to determine a state of the nozzle using the final self-sensing voltage (paragraph 76).
Regarding claim 13:
Murate discloses an inkjet printing system comprising:
an inkjet head unit (recording head 220) including a nozzle (20) for ejecting ink (Fig. 6);
a driving unit (at least drive control substrate 210) configured to generate and output a driving voltage for discharging the ink from the nozzle (paragraph 69 & Fig. 13);
a self-sensing circuit (at least waveform processing circuit 250) connected to the input terminal of the inkjet head unit to receive a self-sensing voltage from the nozzle and determine whether the nozzle is normally operating (paragraphs 114-117 & Fig. 14).
Murate does not expressly disclose that the system includes a first impedance adjusting unit.
However, Leone et al. disclose a capacitive circuit that enables passage of a driving voltage from a driving unit (3) during a driving phase, and enables deactivation of the driving unit during a receiving phase (paragraphs 61-62), the circuit having a first impedance adjusting unit (disturbance suppression block 12) disposed between an input terminal of a transducer unit (2) and an output terminal (3a) of a driving unit (Fig. 2), the first impedance adjusting unit including a forward diode (Fig. 2), wherein a forward direction of the forward diode is a direction from the output terminal of the driving unit to the input terminal of the inkjet head unit (Fig. 2).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to include such an impedance adjusting unit in Murate’s system.
Regarding claim 14:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 13, and Leone et al. also disclose that the forward diode is one of a PN junction diode, a Schottky diode, and a Zener diode (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 15:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 13, and Murate also disclose that the driving driver unit is provided in plurality (e.g. drive control substrate 210 comprises a plurality of parts), the inkjet head unit is connected to one of the driving units (Fig. 14) and includes the plurality of nozzles (Figs. 13-14), and the inkjet head unit further includes a plurality of switches (37) connected to the plurality of nozzles respectively (Fig. 14).
Regarding claim 16:
Murate’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 13, and Murate also disclose that the self-sensing circuit unit comprises:
a differential amplifier (of waveform processing circuit 250) for receiving the self-sensing voltage from the input terminal of the inkjet head unit (Fig. 14);
a signal processing unit (at least filter circuit 251), which improves a signal-to-noise ratio using a filter (paragraph 114); and
a data determination unit (controller 211) for determining the state of the nozzle (paragraph 76),
wherein the differential amplifier further receives a reference voltage and generates a final self-sensing voltage by subtracting the reference voltage from the self-sensing voltage (Fig. 14), and the data determination unit determines a state of the nozzle using the final self-sensing voltage (paragraph 76 & Fig. 14).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 and 17-19 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.
Claims 6-9 appear to contain allowable subject because the prior art of record does not expressly disclose an inkjet printing system comprising a self-sensing circuit including a differential amplifier that receives a reference voltage, wherein “the reference voltage is input from the output terminal of the driving unit.” It is this limitation, in combination with other features and limitations of claim 6, that indicates allowable subject matter over the prior art of record.
Similarly, claims 17-19 appear to contain allowable subject because the prior art of record does not expressly disclose an inkjet printing system comprising a self-sensing circuit including a differential amplifier that receives a reference voltage, wherein “the reference voltage is input from the output terminal of the driving unit.” It is this limitation, in combination with other features and limitations of claim 17, that indicates allowable subject matter over the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Thompson et al. (US 5269189) disclose a relative piezoelectric circuit comprising a driving unit (34), a piezoelectric transducer (36), an impedance adjusting unit comprising antiparallel diodes (38, 40), and an output unit (44, 46: Fig. 5).
Schroeder (US 4566331) disclose a relative piezoelectric circuit comprising a driving unit (74), a piezoelectric transducer (62), an impedance adjusting unit (76) comprising antiparallel diodes (80, 82), and a self-sensing circuit (Figs. 2-3).
Communication with the USPTO
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shelby L Fidler whose telephone number is (571)272-8455. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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SHELBY L. FIDLER
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2853
/SHELBY L FIDLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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