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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/22/2026 has been entered.
Priority
3. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
4. The examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 05/29/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant’s arguments, see the remarks, filed on 06/22/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1 and 6 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Matsushima (US Pub. Nº 2005/0179725).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. 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 of this title, 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.
8. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niekawa (JP 2005-144749), in view of Yoshikawa (US Pub. Nº 2022/0016910) and Matsushima (US Pub. Nº 2005/0179725).
9. Regarding independent claim 1: Niekawa disclosed a printing apparatus ([0071], line 3; also see Fig. 6, reference 20) comprising:
a transport unit configured to transport a medium in a first direction ([0048], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 6, reference 11 conveys medium 5 in first direction Y);
a carriage configured to move in a second direction intersecting the first direction ([0041], lines 4-5; also see Fig. 6, reference 3 reciprocates in second direction X);
a first printing unit held by the carriage ([0042], lines 3-4; also see Fig. 4, reference 6); and
a second printing unit held by the carriage, the second printing unit being arranged at at least one of a position further upstream and a position further downstream than a position of the first printing unit ([0042], lines 4-8; also see Fig. 4, references 7 and 8), wherein
a length of the second printing unit in the first direction is shorter than a length of the first printing unit in the first direction ([0011], lines 5-7; also see Fig. 4, the lengths of printing units 7 and 8 are shorter than that of printing unit 6 in the Y direction), and
the second printing unit is caused to be available in a multi-pass mode ([0063], lines 1-9; second printing unit 7 and/or 8 is caused to be available in overlapped printing mode which requires multiple passes of the carriage 3), and
a plurality of the second printing units are arranged in the second direction (Fig. 4 shows a plurality of second printing units 7 and 8 arranged in the second direction X).
Niekawa is silent about the second printing unit reduces an ejection amount for one ejection pass of the second printing unit as a number of scanning passes of election of the first printing unit increases, the election amount being in proportion to the number of scanning passes of election of the first printing unit.
Yoshikawa disclosed in a printing apparatus (Fig. 1, reference 1), a printing unit (Fig. 1, reference 24) configured to reduce an ejection amount for one ejection pass of the printing unit as a number of scanning passes of ejection of the printing unit increases, the election amount being in proportion to the number of scanning passes of ejection of said printing unit ([0090], lines 1-3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yoshikawa with those of Niekawa by reducing an ejection amount for each pass as the number of scanning passes increases in order to suppress gloss irregularity as disclosed by Yoshikawa in paragraph [0091].
The combination of Niekawa and Yoshikawa is silent about the plurality of the second printing units ejecting two different functional liquids from each other.
Matsushima disclosed a printing apparatus (Fig. 1, reference 1), comprising a carriage (Fig. 3, reference 5), comprising a first printing unit (Fig. 3, references 22-29), a second printing unit held by the carriage, the second printing unit being arranged at at least one of a position further upstream and a position further downstream than a position of the first printing unit (Fig. 3, references 21 and 30), wherein a plurality of the second printing units are arranged in the second direction (see Fig. 3), and wherein the plurality of the second printing units ejects two different functional liquids from each other ([0089], lines 5-6 and [0091], line 4; the upstream second printing units eject white ink while the downstream second printing units eject a clear/transparent liquid).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsushima with those of the combination of Niekawa and Yoshikawa by discharging different functional liquids from the upstream and downstream second printing units in order to support back-printing as disclosed by Matsushima in paragraph [0002].
10. Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niekawa (JP 2005-144749), in view of Yoshikawa (US Pub. Nº 2022/0016910) and Matsushima (US Pub. Nº 2005/0179725) as applied to independent claim 1 above, and further in view of Kubo et al. (JP 2020-156460).
11. Regarding claim 2: The combination of Niekawa, Yoshikawa and Matsushima disclosed the printing apparatus according to claim 1.
The combination of Niekawa, Yoshikawa and Matsushima is silent about wherein the second printing unit includes a solenoid valve type of an ejecting head including a plurality of solenoid valves.
Kubo et al. disclosed a printing apparatus ([0005], line 1) comprising a solenoid valve type of an ejecting head ([0063], lines 1-6 and [0271], line 12; also see Fig. 1, reference 12) including a plurality of solenoid valves ([0024], lines 1-5; the plurality of solenoid valves corresponding to each nozzle 111a (not shown)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Kubo et al. with those of the combination of Niekawa, Yoshikawa and Matsushima by using a solenoid valve type of an ejecting head as the second printing unit in order to reduce production cost by using commercially available ejecting heads as disclosed by Kubo et al. in paragraph [0063].
12. Regarding claim 3: The combination of Niekawa, Yoshikawa, Matsushima and Kubo et al. disclosed the printing apparatus according to claim 2.
In the embodiment of Fig. 4, Niekawa is silent about wherein the ejecting head is arranged in an inclined manner with respect to the second direction.
In the embodiment of Fig. 6, Niekawa disclosed wherein the ejecting head is arranged in an inclined manner with respect to the second direction ([0015], line 1; also see Fig. 6, references 21 and 22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of the combination of Niekawa, Yoshikawa, Matsushima and Kubo et al. with those of the embodiment of Fig. 6 of Niekawa by arranging the ejecting head of the second printing unit in an inclined manner with respect to the second direction in order to reduce the length of the second printing unit in the sub-scanning direction and to reduce the number of scans as disclosed by Niekawa in [0015].
13. Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niekawa (JP 2005-144749), in view of Yoshikawa (US Pub. Nº 2022/0016910) and Matsushima (US Pub. Nº 2005/0179725).
14. Regarding independent claim 6: Niekawa disclosed a printing method ([0049], lines 3-4) by using a printing apparatus ([0071], line 3; also see Fig. 6, reference 20), the printing apparatus including
a control unit ([0050], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 2, reference 13),
a transport unit configured to transport a medium in a first direction ([0048], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 6, reference 11 conveys medium 5 in first direction Y),
a carriage configured to move in a second direction intersecting the first direction ([0041], lines 4-5; also see Fig. 6, reference 3 reciprocates in second direction X),
a first printing unit held by the carriage ([0042], lines 3-4; also see Fig. 4, reference 6), and
a second printing unit held by the carriage, the second printing unit being arranged at at least one of a position further upstream and a position further downstream than a position of the first printing unit ([0042], lines 4-8; also see Fig. 4, references 7 and 8), wherein
a length of the second printing unit in the first direction is shorter than a length of the first printing unit in the first direction ([0011], lines 5-7; also see Fig. 4, the lengths of printing units 7 and 8 are shorter than that of printing unit 6 in the Y direction), and
the control unit causes the second printing unit to be available when a printing mode of the printing apparatus is a multi-pass mode ([0063], lines 1-9; second printing unit 7 and/or 8 is caused to be available in overlapped printing mode which requires multiple passes of the carriage 3), and
a plurality of the second printing units are arranged in the second direction (Fig. 4 shows a plurality of second printing units 7 and 8 arranged in the second direction X).
Niekawa is silent about the control unit reduces an ejection amount for one ejection pass of the second printing unit as a number of scanning passes of election of the first printing unit increases, the election amount being in proportion to the number of scanning passes of election of the first printing unit.
Yoshikawa disclosed in a printing apparatus (Fig. 1, reference 1), a printing unit (Fig. 1, reference 24) configured to reduce an ejection amount for one ejection pass of the printing unit as a number of scanning passes of ejection of the printing unit increases, the election amount being in proportion to the number of scanning passes of ejection of said printing unit ([0090], lines 1-3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yoshikawa with those of Niekawa by reducing an ejection amount for each pass as the number of scanning passes increases in order to suppress gloss irregularity as disclosed by Yoshikawa in paragraph [0091].
The combination of Niekawa and Yoshikawa is silent about the plurality of the second printing units ejecting two different functional liquids from each other.
Matsushima disclosed a printing apparatus (Fig. 1, reference 1), comprising a carriage (Fig. 3, reference 5), comprising a first printing unit (Fig. 3, references 22-29), a second printing unit held by the carriage, the second printing unit being arranged at at least one of a position further upstream and a position further downstream than a position of the first printing unit (Fig. 3, references 21 and 30), wherein a plurality of the second printing units are arranged in the second direction (see Fig. 3), and wherein the plurality of the second printing units ejects two different functional liquids from each other ([0089], lines 5-6 and [0091], line 4; the upstream second printing units eject white ink while the downstream second printing units eject a clear/transparent liquid).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Matsushima with those of the combination of Niekawa and Yoshikawa by discharging different functional liquids from the upstream and downstream second printing units in order to support back-printing as disclosed by Matsushima in paragraph [0002].
Conclusion
15. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOVI M. AMEH whose telephone number is (571)272-4578. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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17. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RICARDO MAGALLANES can be reached at (571)272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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