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 .
Claims 1-16 are pending.
The U.S.C. 112 rejections have been corrected and the rejections are withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 and 12-13 are objected to because of the following informalities: “calculate power consumption till transfer to a different power consumption state” should be written “calculate power consumption until transfer to a different power consumption state” . 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) 1-2 and 9-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujisawa (US 9354830) in view of Megawa (US 20180181189).
Regarding claim 1, Fujisawa teaches
An information processing device having at least two power consumption states, comprising:
circuitry configured to:
after transfer based on a predetermined transfer factor from among a plurality of transfer factors (Fig. 3, col. 6, lines 27-28, “received packet by referring to the proxy response pattern and the WOL pattern”), from a first power consumption state (col. 4, line 53, “a second power saving mode.”) in which power consumption is lowest to a second power consumption state in which power consumption is higher than in the first power consumption power consumption till transfer to a different power consumption state including the first power consumption state due to the predetermined transfer factor; and (Figs. 3-5 and 7, col. 4, lines 50-53, “The information processing apparatus 101 has three power modes, a normal power mode, a first power saving mode, and a second power saving mode.” col. 6, lines 17-19 and 40-46, “the second power saving mode is a power mode in which the information processing apparatus 101 consumes even less power than in the first power saving mode. … If the received packet matches the WOL pattern, the communication unit 220 transmits a shift instruction for shifting to the normal power mode to the power supply control unit 230 via the power supply control unit I/F 226. Then, the information processing apparatus 101 is shifted by the power supply control unit 230 from the second power saving mode to the normal power mode.”)
Fujisawa does not teach but Megawa teaches
display, in a display, a screen including power consumption calculated corresponding to the predetermined transfer factor, and (Fig. 13 and 15 (power consumption history), [0091], “The power consumption calculating unit 103 may generate the recommendation that is displayed on the recommendation display portion e1. For example, the power consumption calculating unit 103 analyzes the calculated power consumption for each power mode and generates recommendation by selecting text that is displayed. The recommendation and the setting screen are together displayed, and thereby the user can easily perform setting optimal to the energy conservation.”)
one or more selecting parts for disabling transfer to the second power consumption state due to the predetermined transfer factor. (Fig. 15, [0095-96], “in a case where the power consumption is high relative to the number of printed pages, a setting in which hold print or private print is forced. The setting, in which hold print or the private print is forced, is displayed, for example, in a touch box. The hold print is a print method in which a document that is to be printed is temporarily accumulated in a multifunction printer, and then printing is performed by designating the accumulated document from the operation unit of the multifunction printer. … thereby it is possible to reduce the number of transitions from the power saving state to the ready state and to achieve reduction in the power consumption” where a hold print prevents the printer from transitioning to a second higher power consumption mode from a lower power mode.)
Fujisawa and Megawa are analogous art. Megawa is cited to teach a similar concept of power management of an electronic device. Megawa teaches displaying power consumption for each power mode over a period of time and selecting to disable a transfer to a second power consumption state. Based on Megawa, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains to have modified Fujisawa to be able to select to disable a transfer to a higher power consumption state such as preventing/delaying printing. Furthermore, being able to reduce the number of transitions to the normal/ready mode improves on Fujisawa by being able to reduce power consumption. To one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the invention it would have been advantageous to make this modification because “it is possible to reduce the number of transitions from the power saving state to the ready state and to achieve reduction in the power consumption.”
Regarding claim 2, Fujisawa teaches wherein each transfer factor among the plurality of transfer factors includes a packet for causing a network protocol of one or more network protocols used by the information processing device, to function, and the circuitry is configured to: (col. 6, lines 48-54, “the packet received via the network I/F 225 is transferred to the main control unit 200 via the expansion I/F 222, and the main control unit 200 performs processing on the transferred packet. As the WOL pattern, for example, a pattern indicating a magic packet or a print job, which is addressed to the own device, is stored in the NVRAM 227.”)
Megawa teaches
start calculating power consumptions for each function among a plurality of functions of the one or more network protocols, at time of transfer from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state; and ([0016], “network I/F 17 controls communication with a computer 3 connected thereto via a network 9 by wired or wireless communication.” And [0049-50], “the power consumption calculating unit 103 acquires a period of operation time for each power mode (ACT23). The periods of operation time for each power mode are totaled for each power mode by the operation time totaling unit 102.” … the power consumption calculating unit 103 calculates the power consumption for each power mode, based on the estimate and the period of operation time”)
end calculation of the power consumptions, at time of transfer from the second power consumption state to the different power consumption state. ([0028], “The operation time totaling unit 102 calculates the period of operation time from a difference between a time point at which each power mode starts and a time point at which the power mode ends.”)
Regarding claim 9, Megawa teaches wherein the circuitry is configured display the screen in the display in response to a user logging into the information processing device using an administrative right. ([0018], “The IC card reading unit 19 is a card reader that reads information of an IC card. For example, the IC card reading unit 19 may read authentication information for authentication of a user from an IC card.” And [0046], “the power consumption output request is issued through an operation of the operation unit 16 when a user wants to display information of the power consumption on the display unit 15”)
Regarding claim 10, Megawa teaches wherein the circuitry is further configured to; receive, with respect to the one or more selecting parts included in the displayed screen, an operation for disabling a function related to each transfer factor among the plurality of transfer factors associated to a selecting part of the one or more selecting parts. (Fig. 15, [0095-96], “in a case where the power consumption is high relative to the number of printed pages, a setting in which hold print or private print is forced. The setting, in which hold print or the private print is forced, is displayed, for example, in a touch box. The hold print is a print method in which a document that is to be printed is temporarily accumulated in a multifunction printer, and then printing is performed by designating the accumulated document from the operation unit of the multifunction printer. … thereby it is possible to reduce the number of transitions from the power saving state to the ready state and to achieve reduction in the power consumption” where a hold print prevents the printer from printing i.e. transitioning to a second, higher power consumption mode from a low power mode where the function disabled is the printer.)
Regarding claim 11, Fujiwara and Megawa teach
An information processing system comprising: the information processing device according to claim 1; and (Fujiwara and Megawa teach these claims according to the reasoning provided in claim 1 above.)
Megawa teaches
a management device (Fig. 2 (computer – 3) capable of communicating with the information processing device via a communication network, wherein ([0012], “a display unit on which power consumption data are to be displayed, a network interface connected to a computing device through which the power consumption data are to be transmitted to the computing device”)
the circuitry is further configured to send, to the management device, power consumption information regarding the power consumption calculated corresponding to the predetermined transfer factor from among the plurality of transfer factors, and ([0012], “a network interface connected to a computing device through which the power consumption data are to be transmitted to the computing device”)
the management device includes circuitry configured to
receive the power consumption information sent by the information processing device; ([0012], “a network interface connected to a computing device through which the power consumption data are to be transmitted to the computing device”)
generate screen information containing power consumption indicated by the received power consumption information, and ([0033], “ The computer includes an acquisition processing unit 301, a power consumption calculation processing unit 302,” and [0034], “The acquisition processing unit 301 acquires information of an estimate and a period of operation time for each power mode from the image forming apparatus 1. For example, the acquisition processing unit 301 requests acquisition of the estimate and the period of operation time for each power mode to the image forming apparatus 1.”)
one or more selecting parts for disabling transfer to the second power consumption state due to the predetermined transfer factor among the plurality of transfer factors; and ([0035-36], “he power consumption calculation processing unit 302 calculates the power consumption for each power mode, based on the estimate and the period of operation time acquired in the acquisition processing unit 301.” … The display processing unit 303 displays the power consumption for each power mode calculated in the power consumption calculation processing unit 302. The display processing unit 303 may display the power consumption for each power mode calculated in the power consumption calculating unit 103 of the image forming apparatus 1.” And [0095], “Recommendation in response to the result obtained by analyzing the power consumption for each power mode and a setting screen corresponding to the recommendation are displayed on a recommendation display portion e3. For example, in a case where the power consumption is high relative to the number of printed pages, a setting in which hold print or private print is forced. The setting, in which hold print or the private print is forced, is displayed, for example, in a touch box.”)
send the generated screen information to the information processing device. ([0095-96], “Recommendation in response to the result obtained by analyzing the power consumption for each power mode and a setting screen corresponding to the recommendation are displayed on a recommendation display portion e3. For example, in a case where the power consumption is high relative to the number of printed pages, a setting in which hold print or private print is forced. The setting, in which hold print or the private print is forced, is displayed, for example, in a touch box. … The hold print is a print method in which a document that is to be printed is temporarily accumulated in a multifunction printer, and then printing is performed by designating the accumulated document from the operation unit of the multifunction printer.”)
Regarding claim 14, Fujiwara teaches wherein:
the plurality of transfer factors includes a first transfer factor and a second transfer factor and (Fig. 3, col. 6, lines 27-28, “received packet by referring to the proxy response pattern and the WOL pattern”)
the circuitry is configured to
after transfer based on the first transfer factor, from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state, calculate power consumption till transfer to a different power consumption state including the first power consumption state due to the first transfer factor; (Figs. 3-5 and 7, col. 4, lines 50-53, “The information processing apparatus 101 has three power modes, a normal power mode, a first power saving mode, and a second power saving mode.” col. 6, lines 17-19 and 40-46, “the second power saving mode is a power mode in which the information processing apparatus 101 consumes even less power than in the first power saving mode. … If the received packet matches the WOL pattern, the communication unit 220 transmits a shift instruction for shifting to the normal power mode to the power supply control unit 230 via the power supply control unit I/F 226. Then, the information processing apparatus 101 is shifted by the power supply control unit 230 from the second power saving mode to the normal power mode.”)
after transfer based on the second transfer factor, from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state, calculate power consumption till transfer to a different power consumption state including the first power consumption state due to the second transfer factor; and (Figs. 3-5 and 7, col. 4, lines 50-53, “The information processing apparatus 101 has three power modes, a normal power mode, a first power saving mode, and a second power saving mode.” col. 6, lines 17-19 and 40-46, “the second power saving mode is a power mode in which the information processing apparatus 101 consumes even less power than in the first power saving mode. … If the received packet matches the WOL pattern, the communication unit 220 transmits a shift instruction for shifting to the normal power mode to the power supply control unit 230 via the power supply control unit I/F 226. Then, the information processing apparatus 101 is shifted by the power supply control unit 230 from the second power saving mode to the normal power mode.” Where the second transfer factor is also a WOL pattern)
Megawa teaches
display, in the display, a screen including power consumption calculated corresponding to each of the first transfer factor and the second transfer factor; (Fig. 13 and 15 (power consumption history), [0091], “The power consumption calculating unit 103 may generate the recommendation that is displayed on the recommendation display portion e1. For example, the power consumption calculating unit 103 analyzes the calculated power consumption for each power mode and generates recommendation by selecting text that is displayed. The recommendation and the setting screen are together displayed, and thereby the user can easily perform setting optimal to the energy conservation.”)
a first selecting part for disabling transfer to the second power consumption state due to the first transfer factor; and (Fig. 15, [0095-96], “in a case where the power consumption is high relative to the number of printed pages, a setting in which hold print or private print is forced. The setting, in which hold print or the private print is forced, is displayed, for example, in a touch box. The hold print is a print method in which a document that is to be printed is temporarily accumulated in a multifunction printer, and then printing is performed by designating the accumulated document from the operation unit of the multifunction printer. … thereby it is possible to reduce the number of transitions from the power saving state to the ready state and to achieve reduction in the power consumption” where a hold print prevents the printer from transitioning to a second higher power consumption mode from a lower power mode.)
a second selecting part for disabling transfer to the second power consumption state due to the first transfer factor. (Fig. 15, [0095-96], “in a case where the power consumption is high relative to the number of printed pages, a setting in which hold print or private print is forced. The setting, in which hold print or the private print is forced, is displayed, for example, in a touch box. The hold print is a print method in which a document that is to be printed is temporarily accumulated in a multifunction printer, and then printing is performed by designating the accumulated document from the operation unit of the multifunction printer. … thereby it is possible to reduce the number of transitions from the power saving state to the ready state and to achieve reduction in the power consumption” where a hold print prevents the printer from transitioning to a second higher power consumption mode from a lower power mode and the second selecting part is a selection that is made a second time because the first transfer factor as already disabled the function.)
As to claims 12-13, Fujiwara and Megawa teach these claims according to the reasoning provided in claim 1.
As to claims 15-16, Fujiwara and Megawa teach these claims according to the reasoning provided in claim 14.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujiwara and Megawa as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ikari (US 20120059606.
Regarding claim 3, Megawa teaches wherein the circuitry is configured to calculate for each of the plurality of transfer factors:
a first power consumption during transfer from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state, a second power consumption in the second power consumption state, and a third power consumption during transfer from the second power consumption state to the different power consumption state including the first power consumption state. (Figs. 5-7, [0104-105], “In step S104, the CPU 1201 stores the time at which the image forming apparatus 100 shifts to the sleep mode. The CPU 1201 acquires the current time information and records the time information in a storage unit such as the RAM 1202 and the HDD 1204 which hold information even during the sleep mode. As a result, the time at which the image forming apparatus 100 has shifted to the sleep mode can be acquired after the image forming apparatus 100 recovers from the sleep mode. In step S105, the CPU 1201 performs the process for shifting to the sleep mode.”, [0109], “ In step S106, the portions related to the condition for recovering from the sleep mode (i.e., the operation unit I/F 1206, the network unit 1210, and the modem unit 1211) determine whether the condition for recovering from the sleep mode has been satisfied.”, [0111], “if the condition for recovering from the sleep mode has been satisfied (YES in step S106), the portions related to the condition for recovering from the sleep mode control the power supply control unit 1280 via the control signal line 1285 to switch on the power supply line 1282.”, [0113], “In step S107, the CPU 1201 that has again started to receive the power performs the process for recovering from the sleep mode.” And [0123], “the CPU 1201 acquires by calculation the time that has actually elapsed in the sleep mode. The CPU 1201 executes the estimated power consumption calculation unit 1292 in the power consumption management program 1290 to perform the calculation. More specifically, the CPU 1201 reads the time at which the image forming apparatus 100 has shifted to the sleep mode, stored in the RAM 1202 in step S104 illustrated in FIG. 5. The CPU 1201 then compares the read time with the current time information, and acquires the time that has elapsed in the sleep mode.”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 and 11-13 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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/CHERI L HARRINGTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2176 May 23, 2026
/JAWEED A ABBASZADEH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2176
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