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 claims 1-15, 28 in the reply filed on July 14, 2026 is acknowledged.
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, 7, 12, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2021121047 to Yoshida in view of JP 2019140502 to Fukazawa further in view of US 20030193688 to Namikata.
Regarding claim 1, Yoshida discloses a computer-implemented method for replicating printing output of a source printer (paragraph 30; “color matching between the first printer 10 and the second printer 20” replicating first printer 10 (source) onto second printer by color matching), the method comprising:
receiving a source file of ink values used by the source printer to print a printed product (paragraph 24; in s104, CMYK ink value data are received; CMYK ink values is used by first printer 10 (source) to print product); and
using a destination lab-to-device (B2A) function to convert the values in the device- independent color space to ink values for a destination printer (paragraph 26; B2A table (function) of second printer (destination B2A) is used to convert the L*a*b* values (device- independent color space) to CMYK ink values associated with second printer (destination)).
However Yoshida does not disclose:
measuring at least portions of the printed product to produce measured values of the printed product in a device-independent color space;
computing a source device-to-lab (A2B) function that converts the ink values in the source file to the measured values.
Fukazawa discloses measuring at least portions of the printed product to produce measured values of the printed product in a device-independent color space (paragraph 37, 65, 69; measuring portions PA0 of printed chart Ch0 (printed product) to generate measured values in LAB (device-independent color space) values);
computing a source device-to-lab (A2B) function that converts the ink values in the source file to the measured values (paragraph 69; A2B table 641 is generated (computing) that converts CMYK ink values to LAB value for reference printer 200 (source) based on measured patch PA0; paragraph 32; data D0 (source file) that includes CMYK ink).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Yoshida as taught by Fukazawa to provide generation of A2B function based on measured values.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide correction to a target print device to make it match color wise with a reference printer device based on color difference data (paragraph 9).
However Yoshida does not disclose source printer having an unknown color profile.
Namikata discloses source printer having an unknown color profile (paragraph 69, 75-76; target printer (source printer) that is unknown without managed profile).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Yoshida as taught by Namikata to provide source printers with unknown profile.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide approximate color profile for unknown printer device that is not managed by the system (paragraph 65-67, 73).
Regarding claim 7, Yoshida discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the destination (B2A) function is predetermined based on a known destination printer profile (paragraph 26; B2A table (function) is “preconfigured” (predetermined) based on “color conversion characteristics of the second printer 20” (known destination printer profile) such as measured color results of second printer 20 (destination printer)).
Regarding claim 12, Yoshida discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the device-independent color space is L*a*b*, RGB, or sRGB (paragraph 26; B2A table (function) of second printer (destination B2A) is used to convert the L*a*b* values (device-independent color space)).
Regarding claim 28, Yoshida discloses a computer program product embodied as a non-transitory machine readable medium, comprising computer-readable instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor, perform the steps of the computer-implemented method of claim 1 (paragraph 14; ROM storing program that is executed by CPU for performing the method).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2021121047 to Yoshida in view of JP 2019140502 to Fukazawa further in view of
US 20030193688 to Namikata further in view of US 5506603 to Kawano.
Regarding claim 2, Yoshida does not disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating the A2B function using a neural network.
Kawano discloses further comprising generating the A2B function using a neural network (column 10, lines 33-61; neural network learning the coefficients for generation of conversion from RGB-LAB (A2B)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Yoshida as taught by Kawano to provide A2B function based on neural network learning.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide simplified method for converting device to lab color data by using neural network trained to implement the conversion using matrix by learning the coefficients and further using measured color chips color values and scanned RGB values to generate the conversion function (column 10, lines 27-35, 45-58).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2021121047 to Yoshida in view of JP 2019140502 to Fukazawa further in view of
US 20030193688 to Namikata further in view of US 20080111998 to Edge.
Regarding claim 9, Fukazawa discloses further comprising generating the A2B function (paragraph 69; A2B table 641 is generated (computing) that converts CMYK ink values to LAB value for reference printer 200 (source) based on measured patch PA0). Yoshida does not disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising generating the A2B function using a trainable theoretical overprint model.
Edge discloses further comprising generating the A2B function using a trainable theoretical overprint model (paragraph 50, 113, 146; estimation of L*a*b* from input color (A2B) is determined using model associated with overprinting; training data based on 200 values of TR001 for training the estimation function).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Yoshida as taught by Edge to provide A2B function using trained model.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide accuracy of estimating LAB values resulting in accurate estimation of overprinting using the model (paragraph 22, 134).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2021121047 to Yoshida in view of JP 2019140502 to Fukazawa further in view of
US 20030193688 to Namikata further in view of CN 103144431 to Ding.
Regarding claim 13, Yoshida does not disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the source file comprises a PDF.
Ding discloses wherein the source file comprises a PDF (paragraph 65-66, 69; input PDF file (source) is converted to ink file by Second modular converter 20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Yoshida as taught by Ding to provide PDF type source file.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide efficient print production system by utilizing PDF type files for conversion of ink values (paragraph 5, 7, 10, 68).
Claim(s) 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2021121047 to Yoshida in view of JP 2019140502 to Fukazawa further in view of
US 20030193688 to Namikata further in view of US 20150040785 to Turke.
Regarding claim 14, Yoshida does not disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein measuring the portions of the printed product comprises measuring selected locations at selected coordinates on the printed product with a colorimeter.
Turke discloses wherein measuring the portions of the printed product comprises measuring selected locations at selected coordinates on the printed product with a colorimeter (paragraph 59, 61, 118, 120; spectro-colorimeter used to measure color value at selected locations (location/coordinate) of the printed sample sheet at specific coordinate area of printed sheet (product)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Yoshida as taught by Turke to provide selectable locations for measuring the printed product.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide easier and accurate color measurement of user selected locations of the printed product to allow detailed measurements of any features of the printed product as needed (paragraph 22, 33-35).
Regarding claim 15, Turke discloses the computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the selected locations define scattered points or groups of points, or a line across the printed product or wherein the selected locations are based upon ink values in the source file (paragraph 59, 61, 62; user can select any desired locations on printed sheet for measuring which can include scattered points or line if user selects scattered locations or locations on line).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 8, 10-11, 16-17, 24, 27 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.
Other Prior Art Cited
14. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20170339284 to Van Der Linden discloses color conversion workflow including A2B and B2A transformation.
US 20100165363 to Marcu discloses matching source and destination profile.
CN 109246330 to Wang discloses neural network trained to generate overprint parameters (page 9, lines 12-15, 19-21).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENIYAM MENBERU whose telephone number is (571) 272-7465. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 10:00am-6:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached on (571) 270-3438. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the customer service office whose telephone number is (571) 272-2600. The group receptionist number for TC 2600 is (571) 272-2600.
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.
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.
For more information about the PAIR system, see <http://pair-direct.uspto.gov/>. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
Patent Examiner
Beniyam Menberu
/BENIYAM MENBERU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
09/17/2026
Prosecution Insights