DETAILED ACTION
The Art Unit location and Patent Examiner assigned to your application in the USPTO have changed. To aid in correlating any papers for this application, all further correspondence regarding this application should be directed to Peter Huntsinger of Art Unit 2682.
Claims 16-22 have been added.
Claims 7 and 15 have been cancelled.
Claims 1-6, 8-14 and 16-22 are currently pending.
The previous objection to the title of the invention is withdrawn due to Applicant’s amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-6, 8-14 and 16-22 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
The indicated allowability of claims 7 and 15 is withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference to Yokoyama et al. US Publication 2022/0141350. Rejections based on the newly cited reference follow.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-14 and 16-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yokoyama et al. US Publication 2022/0141350 (hereafter “Yokoyama”).
Referring to claims 1 and 9, Yokoyama discloses an image reading device comprising:
a first light source to irradiate an object with light in a first wavelength range (paragraph 40, The light source 13 includes a first light source 13a);
a first image sensor to receive light emitted from the first light source to and reflected by the object and output a first image (paragraph 41, The line sensor according to the present embodiment captures an image of the light emitted from the first light source 13a using a first image sensor dedicated to receiving the light of the first light source 13a, and outputs a first image);
a second light source to irradiate the object with light in a second wavelength range different from the first wavelength range of the first light source (paragraph 40, The light source 13 includes a first light source 13a and a second light source 13b);
a second image sensor to receive light emitted from the second light source to and reflected by the object and output a second image (paragraph 41, the line sensor according to the present embodiment captures an image of the light emitted from the second light source 13b using a second image sensor dedicated to receiving the light of the second light source 13b, and outputs a second image); and
processing circuitry configured to:
calculate signal levels of the first image and the second image (paragraph 53, The setting unit 311 acquires the output data from the first image sensor 17a and the second image sensor 17b whenever necessary, and calculates and sets a light intensity value that satisfies a light intensity condition based on the acquired output data);
control light amounts of the first light source and the second light source respectively based on the calculated signal levels (paragraph 52, the CPU 31 also performs various kinds of processes such as light intensity adjustment of the first light source 13a and the second light source 13b);
detect abnormal lighting of one of the first light source and the second light source corresponding to one of the first image sensor and the second image sensor that performs a predetermined operation; and
detect the abnormal lighting of the first light source when only the second image sensor is turned on to perform a reading operation (paragraph 80, in a step S202, the CPU 31 according to the present embodiment obtains an output Do2_1 of the second image sensor 17b when the first light source 13a emits light based on the reference light intensity Po1, and stores the obtained output in the address 1 of the memory 32).
Referring to claims 2 and 10, Yokoyama discloses wherein:
the first wavelength range of the first light source is an invisible wavelength range,
the light received by the first image sensor is an invisible light in the invisible wavelength range (paragraph 40, the first light source 13a is a light source that emits invisible light such as infrared light other than the light in a wavelength range of visible light),
the second wavelength range of the second light source is a visible wavelength range, and
the light received by the second image sensor is a visible light in the visible wavelength range (paragraph 40, the second light source 13b is a light source that emits visible light such as red light in wavelength range of visible light).
Referring to claims 3 and 11, Yokoyama discloses wherein:
the processing circuitry is configured to detect the abnormal lighting of the first light source when an initial adjustment of the second image sensor is performed as the predetermined operation (paragraph 82, The light intensity adjustment of the first light source 13a is completed in these steps up to the step S204).
Referring to claims 4 and 12, Yokoyama discloses wherein;
the processing circuitry is configured to detect the abnormal lighting of the second light source when an initial adjustment of the first image sensor is performed as the predetermined operation (paragraph 83, Then, in a step S206, the CPU 31 calculates a light intensity value P2 that satisfies the light intensity conditions of the second light source 13b, and sets the calculated light intensity value P2 to the second light-intensity setting unit 340b. In the present step, the CPU 31 reads Do2_1 from the memory 32 in order to calculate the light intensity value P2).
Referring to claims 5 and 13, Yokoyama discloses wherein:
the processing circuitry is further configured to detect the abnormal lighting of the first light source when an adjustment of the second image sensor is performed as the predetermined operation (paragraph 70, Then, in a step S103, the CPU 31 according to the present embodiment obtains an output Do2_1 of the second image sensor 17b when the first light source 13a emits light based on the reference light intensity Po1, and stores the obtained output in the address 2 of the memory 32. Do2_1 indicates the degree of color mixture of the first light source 13a with respect to the second image sensor 17b).
Referring to claims 6 and 14, Yokoyama discloses wherein:
the processing circuitry is further configured to compare the signal level of the first image output by the first image sensor with reference dark-time data to detect the abnormal lighting of the first light source (paragraph 134, If the radiation intensity of light of the invisible-light source is too small, the background image on the document tends to be dark, and the difference in luminance or brightness between the background image and the invisible-light image becomes small).
Referring to claim 8 Yokoyama discloses the image reading device according to claim 1 (pargraph 179, The image forming apparatus 2 is provided with an reading device main body 10); and
an image forming device to form an image (paragraph 181, The image forming device 103 prints a document image scanned and read by the reading device main body 10).
Referring to claims 17 and 21, Yokoyama discloses wherein:
the predetermined operation includes an acquisition of black shading data to cancel fixed pattern noise (paragraph 111, Accordingly, the second image 500, which is a document image output from the second image sensor 17b, tends to become a granular image with a lot of noise as a whole, and the image quality and reproducibility of the text 501 and the image 502 deteriorate compared with that of the text 401 and the image 402 of the certificate 400. Accordingly, the second image 500, which is a document image output from the second image sensor 17b, tends to become a granular image with a lot of noise as a whole, and the image quality and reproducibility of the text 501 and the image 502 deteriorate compared with that of the text 401 and the image 402 of the certificate 400).
Referring to claim 18, Yokoyama discloses wherein:
the predetermined operation includes a gain adjustment for adjusting a magnification ratio so that an output level when a reference white plate is read is adjusted to a target value (paragraph 42, A reference white board 12 is used to correct, for example, the changes in radiation intensity of light of the light source 13 or the variations in the pixel array of the line sensor).
Referring to claim 19, Yokoyama discloses an automatic document feeder to convey the object to be read along a conveyance path (paragraph 38, FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of the reading device 1 equipped with an automatic document feeder (ADF)),
wherein the first image sensor and the second image sensor read the object to be read through a reading window (paragraph 45, The scanning window 19 is a slit-shaped scanning window formed on a part of the contact glass 11, and the document 100 is scanned in the sub-scanning direction as the document 100 is automatically conveyed and passes through the scanning window 19).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 16, 20 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokoyama et al. US Publication 2022/0141350 as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of well known prior art.
Referring to claims 16 and 22, Yokoyama discloses detecting abnormal lighting, but does not disclose expressly wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to display an error notification on the operation panel when the abnormal lighting is detected.
Official Notice is taken that it is well known and obvious in the art to play an error notification on the operation panel when the abnormal lighting is detected (See MPEP 2144.03). The motivation for doing so would have been to alert the user of the operating conditions of the image reading device. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine well known prior art with Yokoyama to obtain the invention as specified in claims 16 and 22.
Referring to claim 20, Yokoyama discloses obtaining a read image by a reading operation, but does not disclose expressly executing a process of removing a seal impression on a read image obtained by a reading operation.
Official Notice is taken that it is well known and obvious in the art to remove a seal impression on a read image (See MPEP 2144.03). The motivation for doing so would have been to allow the user to scan an image without including the seal impression. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine well known prior art with Yokoyama to obtain the invention as specified in claim 20.
Conclusion
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/PETER K HUNTSINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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