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 of CLAIMS 1-5 and 13 in the reply filed on 04 May 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a)). Claims 6-12, and 14-30 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected INVENTION, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy of Japan Application No. 2023-088068, 2023-099544, and 2024-026908 was each received on 16 July 2024 as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited in the information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 28 May 2024 and 24 February 2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 28 May 2024 are accepted.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 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.
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 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamanobe (US PGPub 2018/0001657 A1).
With regard to Claim 1, Yamanobe discloses an image forming apparatus (Title) comprising:
a deciding unit configured to decide a discharge amount of a reaction liquid (¶0219) based on a timing at which the reaction liquid is discharged onto a print medium by the image forming apparatus (Figs. 20-22; ¶0229-0235, reaction liquid amount discharged to each image region), a timing at which each of inks of not less than two colors is discharged onto the print medium next to the reaction liquid (Figs. 20-22; ¶0229-0235, reaction liquid amount discharged to each image region with the ink image; 0282-0285, regions are jetted according to the movement and timing of the ejection head and paper movement, see Fig. 24, ¶0309+), and a discharge amount of each of the inks of the not less than two colors by the image forming apparatus (¶0235); and
a controlling unit (Fig. 23; controller 302; ¶0237-0242) configured to control discharge of the reaction liquid and the inks of the not less than two colors (Fig. 23; controller 302; ¶0237-0242).
With regard to Claim 13, Yamanobe further discloses wherein the controlling unit controls discharge of the reaction liquid and the inks of the not less than two colors by a full line type printhead having a width not less than a width of the print medium (¶0084).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reasons for allowability for Claim 2 is that applicants claimed invention includes an image forming apparatus wherein the deciding unit decides the discharge amount of the reaction liquid based on a weight coefficient set based on the timing at which the reaction liquid is discharged onto the print medium, the timing at which each of the inks of the not less than two colors is discharged onto the print medium next to the reaction liquid, and the discharge amount of each of the inks of the not less than two colors by the image forming apparatus. It is this limitation, expressed in the claim combination not found, taught, or suggested in the prior art that makes this claim allowable over the prior art.
Claims 3-5 are allowable because they depend from Claim 2.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCOTT A. RICHMOND whose telephone number is (313)446-6547. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-6:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached on 571-431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SCOTT A RICHMOND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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