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Claims 10 and 20 arre withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected Species B, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 Objections
Claim 4 is objected to because of the following informalities: please change the recitation of “the driving driver unit” to “the driving unit” to correct a minor antecedent basis issue. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-4 and 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takagi (US 2015/0251415 A1) in view of Yamaguchi et al. (JP 200213979A).
Regarding claims 1 and 13:
Takagi discloses an inkjet printing system comprising:
an inkjet head unit (“printer head”: paragraph 84) including a nozzle (210) for ejecting ink (paragraph 62);
a driving unit (at least drive signal generation circuit 12) configured to generate and output a driving voltage (COM) for discharging the ink from the nozzle (paragraph 47); and
a self-sensing circuit (residual vibration detection unit 60) connected to an input terminal of the inkjet head unit (Figs. 6, 8) to receive a self-sensing voltage from the nozzle and determine whether the nozzle is normally operating (paragraph 105 & Fig. 8),
wherein a final self-sensing voltage is generated by the self-sensing circuit based on the self-sensing voltage and a reference voltage (Fig. 8),
wherein the reference voltage is input from the output terminal of the driving unit (via COM selector 61: Fig. 8).
Takagi does not expressly disclose a first impedance adjusting unit disposed between the input terminal of the inkjet head unit and an output terminal of the driving unit and including a pair of diodes.
However, Yamaguchi et al. disclose an ultrasonic sensor comprising a first impedance adjusting unit that is disposed between an input terminal of a driven unit (piezo transducer 2: Fig. 5) and an output terminal of a driving unit (Fig. 5) and including a pair of diodes (23: Fig. 5), wherein a forward direction of the forward diode is a direction from the output terminal of the driving unit to the input of the driven unit (Fig. 5). Yamaguchi et al. teaches that such a configuration minimizes the total impedance of the piezoelectric element to allow maximum current flow through the driving unit (paragraph 35).
Therefore, before the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Takagi’s inkjet printing system to include a first impedance adjusting unit, such as taught by Yamaguchi et al.
Regarding claim 2:
Takagi’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claim 1, and Yamaguchi et al. also disclose that the pair of diodes of the impedance adjusting unit include a forward diode and a reverse diode (Fig. 5).
Regarding claims 3 and 14:
Takagi’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claims 2/13, and Yamaguchi 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. 5).
Regarding claims 4 and 15:
Takagi’s modified system comprises all the limitations of claims 2/13, and Takagi also discloses that the driving unit is provided in plurality (at least for the respective output drive signals COM#A, COM#B: Fig. 6), and the nozzle is provided in plurality (Fig. 6), the inkjet head unit is connected to one of the driving units and includes the plurality of nozzles (Figs. 6, 8), and the inkjet head unit further includes a plurality of switches (46a,b,c) connected to the plurality of nozzles, respectively (Fig. 6).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9 and 11-12 appear to contain allowable subject matter because the prior art of record does not disclose or make obvious an inkjet printing system comprising a self-sensing circuit including “a differential amplifier for receiving the self-sensing voltage from the input terminal of the inkjet head unit, and the differential amplifier further receives the reference voltage and generates the final self-sensing voltage by subtracting the reference voltage from the self-sensing voltage.” It is this limitation, in combination with other features and limitations of claim 5, that indicates allowable subject matter over the prior art of record.
Similarly, claims 16 and 18-19 appear to contain allowable subject matter because the prior art of record does not disclose or make obvious an inkjet printing system comprising a self-sensing circuit including “a differential amplifier for receiving the self-sensing voltage from the input terminal of the inkjet head unit … wherein the differential amplifier further receives the reference voltage and generates the final self-sensing voltage by subtracting the reference voltage from the self-sensing voltage.” It is this limitation, in combination with other features and limitations of claim 16, that indicates allowable subject matter over the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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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