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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 10-9) in the reply filed on 07 April 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 10-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 6-7, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Narita (US 20240272850 A1).
Referring to claim 1:
Narita discloses a method for managing printing operations, the method comprising:
querying a job queue at a digital front end (DFE) of a printing device to determine a number of print jobs within the job queue (par. 29-30, Fig 2: the hardware and programing instructions that acts as the central command or control center for the printer 200 is the DFE; par. 34: the number of print jobs is determined from what is stored in storage device 210 that acts as the job queue);
estimating a production time for each print job of the number of print jobs within the job queue (par. 35: CPU 201 calculates the required time to compete each print job);
scheduling each print job of the number of print jobs within a defined printing schedule at the DFE (par. 57 & 69: printer 200 determines the start time and end time at which the execution of each print job is started and ended, that is, an execution timing of each print job), wherein each print job is completed without interruption (i.e., by avoiding overlap in print job execution time periods); and
determining a gap within the defined printing schedule, further scheduling a first print job of the number of print jobs to be printed within the gap in the defined printing schedule applicable to the printing device (par. 85-86, 89, 95-113: CPU 201 schedules the print job execution time periods (Fig. 8A / S810) on the basis of the determined start or end times of print jobs so as not to overlap (Fig. 8A / S807 – expanded in Figs. 8B & 8C), the result shown for example with Jobs 1-6 in Fig. 7A/7C having an overlap in execution time period where Jobs 1-5 are then scheduled into an available slots or gaps within a defined printing schedule as shown in Fig. 7B/7D).
Referring to claim 2:
Narita discloses the scheduling of a first print job to be printed within the gap of the defined printing schedule includes changing an order (reordering) of which the number of print jobs are to be printed (see Figs. 7A-7D).
Referring to claim 3:
Narita discloses reordering the number of print jobs within the job queue according to the changed order (par. 79: In the printer 200, schedule information about time designation of each print job is stored in the disk device 210).
Referring to claim 6:
Narita discloses determining a second print job cannot be printed within its slot within the defined printing schedule (par. 123: the start of the execution of the print Job 6 may be restricted, and there is a possibility that the printed matter of the print Job 6 cannot be obtained; see Figs. 7B & 7D).
Referring to claim 7:
Narita discloses the first print job replaces a second print job within the defined printing schedule (in Figs. 7B & 7D, print Job 2 is replaced by print Job 1, or other print jobs, in a 15 min time slot where print Job 2 could otherwise be printed).
Referring to claim 9:
Narita discloses generating the defined printing schedule for the printing device, wherein the defined printing schedule includes a first portion identified as at least one time slot for processing print jobs at the printing device (as described above) and a second portion identified as at least one time slot for not processing print jobs at the printing device (par. 123: the start of the execution of the print Job 6 may be restricted, and there is a possibility that the printed matter of the print job 6 cannot be obtained; in Figs. 7B & 7D, a portion is identified as at least one time slot for not processing print jobs is shown).
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 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narita as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Morales (US 20220294910 A1).
Referring to claims 4-5:
While not disclosed in Narita, Morales discloses estimating the production time for a print job that includes adding a production or maintenance penalty, which increases the production time for the print job (par. 38: print job scheduling considers the time required for maintenance when determining the possible time frame in which a print job could be printed). Morales provides the motivation to make such a production time estimate for a print job (par. 38: by scheduling printing device maintenance in the time frame to print a print job, the quality level is increased ahead of print jobs that require a higher level of accuracy, ensuring that such print jobs are printed at the required quality level).
It would have been prima facie obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Narita in view of Morales, for the above reason or motivation taught by Morales, to estimate the production time for each print job that includes adding a production or maintenance penalty to at least one print job of the number of print jobs, the production or maintenance penalty increasing the production time for the at least one print job.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narita as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Soriano (US 8867081 B2).
Referring to claim 8:
While not disclosed in Narita, Soriano discloses splitting a print job to be printed in two slots within the defined printing schedule (abstract: dividing a print job into a plurality of sub-print jobs for printing by a print engine of the image forming apparatus, determining an estimated processing time and delay to print time each of the sub-print jobs, and managing the printing of the sub-print jobs accordingly). Soriano provides the motivation to split print jobs into sub-print jobs printed in different time slots (abstract: managing the printing of sub-print jobs in order to reduce down time of the print engine of the image forming apparatus).
It would have been prima facie obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Narita in view of Soriano, for the above reason or motivation taught by Soriano, to split the second print job to be printed in two slots within the defined printing schedule.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Referring to claim 1, since each print job is already scheduled within a defined printing schedule to be competed without interruption (i.e., no scheduling conflicts or overlaps), then it is unclear why a first print job must be subsequently scheduled (or rescheduled) within and gap in the defined printing schedule.
Referring to claims 6-8, since each print job is already scheduled within a defined printing schedule to be competed without interruption (i.e., no scheduling conflicts or overlaps), then it is unclear how a second print job cannot be printed within its slot within the defined printing schedule
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 27 May 2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner. Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s) summarized below.
Yokoohji (US 10761796 B1) discloses a method, computer product, and system for scheduling print jobs on a plurality of printers that includes collecting job information on each of a plurality of print jobs, assigning each of the plurality of print jobs to one or more printers of the plurality of printers, receiving a new print job, the new job including job product information, calculating a pre-processing time for the new print job, calculating a processing time for the new print job, determining at least one printer of the plurality of printers to execute the new print job, assigning the new print job to the at least one printer of the plurality of printers, and determining if one or more of the plurality of print jobs can be reassigned to another printer of the plurality of printers to minimize a print schedule for the plurality of print jobs.
Ota (US 20050275863 A1) discloses keeping print job start processing and termination processing of a printer to the necessary minimum thereby increasing the efficiency of the printer. Print output is performed in accordance with print settings designated in print information, such as a print style of binding, the number of copies, and paper size, and a file output port, which is a characteristic of the present invention, is used as an output destination. An output print job file is sent to a common folder monitored by a job manager. The job manager executes scheduling operations at the time when the print job file is received in the common folder. The job manager also determines order characteristics, such as priority and quality, of the print job file, rearranges job schedules, and generates a stabilizing processing execution job when stabilizing processing is necessary.
Matoba (US 20060227373 A1) discloses, in order to allow effective utilization of a printing device when operators are absent, such as nighttime and further effective utilization of the printing device in business hours that operators are present, when a received print order is determined to be processable outside predetermined hours, an attribute indicating processability outside the predetermined hours is set to the print order. Thus, the print order to which the attribute is set is allocated to the outside of the business hours when the print order cannot be scheduled to be processed inside the predetermined hours.
Cited Art
The prior art and other references made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nomura et al (US 5327526 A) discloses a print job control system which processes print requests to set an order of priority for printing print jobs. A print job manager checks the print request and determines what print option is selected and manipulates the queue identifiers associated with respective print jobs and enters them into a print queue table. One feature allows changing the print order thereby overriding the designated print option. Another feature allows for increasing the priority of low priority jobs regardless of the designated print option assuring that the low priority jobs will be printed.
Akabori et al (US 5940582 A) disclose a data printing system has a controller which controls the printing of jobs from at least one input unit by a printer. When the controller receives a plurality of jobs, it establishes a sequential order of transmission and generates a display signal indicating the times at which the respective jobs will be printed. That display signal may then generate a display at the input unit(s) or at a display associated with the controller itself. In this way, users are given information about the times of printing. The sequence of printing of the jobs may be established on the basis of a priority associated with the jobs themselves and/or on the amount of material currently available for printing by the printer and/or on the maximum capacity of printed paper. Display may be associated with that amount and/or capacity.
Toriumi et al (US 9292232 B2) disclose a computer running a printing management program that cases the computer to function as a scheduling unit configured to schedule a print job in an image forming apparatus, the print job having a printing capability that matches a printing capability set in the image forming apparatus, and a capability change job generator configured to generate a capability change job having an instruction to change the printing capability set in the image forming apparatus. When the capability change job generated by the capability change job generator is scheduled in the image forming apparatus, the scheduling unit schedules the print job having the printing capability that matches the printing capability changed by the capability change job after the capability change job.
Brahma et al (US 10025544 B1) disclose a system and method for optimizing print job scheduling includes a print job scheduler that determines an optimized print job schedule for a document processing device based on the workload of the document processing device and user scheduled print jobs. The print job scheduler selectively prioritizes print jobs in the print queue of e document processing device in accordance with the optimal print job schedule, for example prioritizing shorter print jobs over longer print jobs, or delaying printing of a larger print job during busy time slots. The print job scheduler uses machine learning to determine busy times slots based on historical usage patterns and optimizes the print job schedule based on the workload of the document processing device, identity of the user, and the size of the print job.
Yamasaki (US 11023188 B2) discloses an information processing apparatus includes a generator and a presenter. The generator generates a schedule of plural print jobs to be processed in a subject printer device. Concerning a print job in which an error or a user intervention will occur, the presenter presents the print job in a different mode from another print job by using the schedule.
Han (US 20040165213 A1) disclose a printing system including a first memory unit storing a printer operating system and at least two interpreters, a second memory unit having an operating area for the printer operating system, an operating area and a heap area for each interpreter of the first memory unit, and at least two reception buffers temporarily storing incoming print job data, a printing control unit controlling operation of the printing system based on the printer operating system, controlling the interpreters of the first memory unit to interpret the print job data, and transmitting the interpreted print job data to a printer engine, and a print job scheduling unit providing a first scheduling procedure regarding initiation of the interpreters for multiple print jobs and a second scheduling procedure regarding interpretation of the multiple print jobs that have been initiated, the printer control unit using the first scheduling procedure and the second scheduling procedure to control the operation of the interpreters. A schedule for multiple print jobs, which are requested in sequential order, can be flexibly changed based on the first and second scheduling procedures established according to printing urgency and/or user priority and interpreter run time. As a result, a smaller document can be printed sooner than a larger document without waiting for the larger document to finish printing.
Matoba (US 20060227373 A1) discloses effective utilization of a printing device when operators are absent, such as nighttime and further effective utilization of the printing device in business hours when operators are present. When a received print order is determined to be processable outside predetermined hours, an attribute indicating processability outside the predetermined hours is set to the print order. Thus, the print order to which the attribute is set is allocated to the outside of the business hours when the print order cannot be scheduled to be processed inside the predetermined hours.
Greene et al (US 20100171976 A1) disclose a method that includes a print application determining if capacity is available at a print server to receive print jobs in a print job queue, analyzing the characteristics of the print jobs in the print job queue if there is no capacity available at the print server to receive the print jobs and automatically prioritizing the print jobs in the print job queue based upon the characteristics.
Verduin et al (US 20160350032 A1) disclose a method is provided for printing a print job on a printing system configured by means of printing system settings. The printer includes a print engine and a control unit including a scheduler for scheduling the print job in time. The print job has a plurality of print job settings. The method includes receiving a print job, determining a range of possible print job durations for the print job based on at least one group of settings out of the group of printing system settings, the group of the print job settings and the group of settings for a change-over time between print jobs of a pair of subsequent print jobs, determining a minimum of the range to be an optimistic print job duration for the print job, determining a maximum of the range to be a pessimistic print job duration for the print job, selecting a print job duration for the print job out of the optimistic print job duration and the pessimistic print job duration, based on a selection criterion, scheduling the print job by the scheduler in a scheduling scheme according to the selected print job duration, and printing the print job according to the scheduling scheme.
Kurahashi (JP 2017164976 A) discloses a print control device and print control method which can easily create an operation schedule of a printer. A print control device 20 includes print management unit 23, which creates an operation schedule in a prescribed period of a printer 11. The print management unit 23 includes a job management unit 24, a schedule creation unit 25, and a display output unit 26. The job management unit 24 manages print jobs 1 to 3 from the external devices 15A to 15C in order to create an operation schedule. The schedule creation unit 25 creates an operation schedule within a predetermined period of the printing apparatus 11 based on the print jobs 1 to 3 managed by the job management unit 24. The display output unit 26 outputs the operation schedule created by the schedule creation unit 25 to the display panel 19 through the communication line 12. The job management unit 24 includes a reception unit 24a, a print queue 24b, and a setting change unit 24c. The accepting unit 24a accepts information from outside the print control apparatus 20 such as print jobs 1 to 3 and restriction information from the external devices 15A to 15C. The print queue 24b rearranges the print jobs 1 to 3 from the external devices 15A to 15C based on a predetermined condition. Note that the predetermined conditions include the time when the print jobs 1 to 3 from the external devices 15A to 15C are received and the time limit for completing the printing in the print jobs 1 to 3. The setting changing unit 24c sets the print setting value of the print setting item that affects the print time in the print job (print jobs 1 to 3) to be incorporated into the operation schedule of the printing apparatus 11 based on the restriction information. If the print jobs 1 to 3) cannot complete printing within a predetermined period, the print job is changed to a preset value so that printing can be completed within the predetermined period. In the present embodiment, the setting changing unit 24c changes the print job (print jobs 1 to 3) so as to shorten the print time based on the restriction information. Print setting items that affect the printing time include the resolution of characters and images and the number of passes for printing characters and images. In the following description, a print setting item that affects the print time may be referred to as a “print setting item related to the print time”. In the present embodiment, the print jobs scheduled to be incorporated into the operation schedule are the print jobs 1 to 3 received by the print control apparatus 20 from the external devices 15A to 15C.
Asano et al (JP 10269047 A) disclose a printing system (control apparatus) that easily manages an operation schedule and performs printing based on that operation schedule. The system detects addition of a new print job to the existing time schedule (operation schedule) of the printing apparatus, the added job is automatically placed in an empty space (time) in the existing time schedule, or the time schedule is modified.
Motysiak et al (US 20250362854 A1, US 20250362855 A1, & US 20250370680 A1) are all by the same inventor, commonly assigned, and effectively filed on the same day or a day later than the instant application. These are closely related disclosures.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott Rogers whose telephone number is 571-272-7467. The examiner can normally be reached 8 am to 7 pm flex.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached on 571-270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Scott A Rogers/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
30 May 2026
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