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 Species A, claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 09 March 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 § 818.01(a)). Claim 8, drawn to a nonelected species was canceled by applicant on 09 March 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited in the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 28 May 2024 and 12 March 2025, have been considered.
Drawings
The drawings received on 28 May 2024 are accepted.
Specification
The 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.
Examiner’s Note
The examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record in the body of this action for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. Applicant should consider the entire prior art as applicable as to the limitations of the claims. It is respectfully requested from the applicant, in preparing the response, to consider fully the entire references as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, and 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hanabusa (US 5,341,163).
With respect to claim 1, Hanabusa discloses an ink-jet recording apparatus comprising:
a conveying portion (Fig. 1, element 33) that conveys a recording medium (Column 4, lines 56-59);
a recording head (Fig. 1, element 9) that has an ink ejection face (Fig. 1, element 9a) from which ink is ejected (Column 13, lines 47-62), the recording head ejecting the ink from the ink ejection face to the recording medium conveyed by the conveying portion to perform printing (Column 2, line 67 – Column 3, line 2);
a cap member (Fig. 1, element 51) that is removably attached to the ink ejection face (Fig. 1, element 9a), the cap member protecting the ink ejection face (Column 5, lines 8-17);
a cap moving mechanism (Fig. 1, element 61) with which the cap member is movable between a first position (Fig. 6, element A, CAP) at which the cap member is away from the ink ejection face (Column 6, lines 65-67) and a second position (Fig. 6, element B, CAP) at which the cap member is attached to the ink ejection face (Column 7, lines 3-9); and a
control portion (Fig. 7, element 999) that controls the cap moving mechanism (Fig. 7, element 61) so that, at a cap closing timing (Fig. 11, Step S31) that occurs a predetermined time (Fig. 5, element b) after previous ink ejection (Column 6, line 65, i.e. recording operation) from the ink ejection face but before subsequent ink ejection (Column 6, line 65, i.e. next recording operation), the cap member is moved from the first position (Fig. 6, element A) to the second position (Fig. 6, element B: Column 5, lines 8-17),
wherein the ink-jet recording apparatus further includes:
a fault detection portion (Fig. 7, element 65; Column 8, lines 22-24) that can detect occurrence of a movement inhibiting factor (Column 3, lines 44-49, i.e. cut power while printing or head is not covered tightly by the cap) that inhibits movement of the cap member to the second position (Fig. 11, Step S25 – NO); and
a storage portion (Fig. 7, element 1002) that can store fault information including the movement inhibiting factor (Column 8, lines 32-38), and
the control portion (Fig. element 999) can execute a measurement mode (Fig. 11, Step S24) in which, based on a detection result from the fault detection portion (Fig. 11, Step 25 – YES or NO), the fault information is stored (Fig. 7, element 1005) in the storage portion (Column 8, lines 26-38).
The examiner notes to applicant that the limitations concerning the inhibiting factor are broad in scope and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of Hanabusa as applied above.
With respect to claim 2, Hanabusa discloses an input portion (Fig. 16, element 203) on which an instruction to execute (Fig. 11, Step S21) or terminate (Column 3, line 46, i.e. cut off the power) the measurement mode (Fig. 11, Step S24) is entered; and a display portion (Fig. 16, element 202) that displays the fault information, wherein the control portion (Fig. 16, element 201), when an instruction to execute the measurement mode is entered (Fig. 11, Step S21), deletes the fault information stored in the storage portion (Column 6, lines 65-67, i.e. previous printing before the power cut) and stores in the storage portion (Fig. 7, element 1002) the fault information that has occurred during subsequent printing (Fig. 11, Step S25), and when an instruction to terminate the measurement mode is entered, displays the fault information stored in the storage portion (Column 8, lines 26-38, i.e. battery backup).
With respect to claim 4, Hanabusa discloses an apparatus main body (Fig. 17, element 306) that has therein the recording head (Fig. 1, element 9) and the cap moving mechanism (Fig. 1, element 61); an access cover (Fig. 17, element 306, i.e. lid portion) that is provided on the apparatus main body and that exposes and closes an inside of the apparatus main body; and a cover open/closed detection sensor (Fig. 16, element 206) that can detect a state where the access cover is open, wherein when the cover open/closed detection sensor detects that the access cover is open at the cap closing timing (Fig. 6, element B, CAP), the fault detection portion detects a detection result (Fig. 11, Step 25 – YES or NO) from the cover open/closed detection sensor as the movement inhibiting factor (Column 3, lines 44-49, i.e. cut power or head is not covered tightly by the cap).
The examiner notes to applicant that although Hanabusa is silent to a printer cover open/closed detection sensor, printer cover open/closed detection sensors are well known in the inkjet art.
With respect to claim 5, Hanabusa discloses when the movement inhibiting factor (Column 3, lines 44-49, i.e. cut power or head is not covered tightly by the cap) occurs at the cap closing timing (Fig. 6, element B, CAP), the control portion (Fig. 7, element 999) stores in the storage portion (Fig. 7, element 1002) a length of time after the movement inhibiting factor has occurred until the movement inhibiting factor is eliminated (Fig. 11, Step S21) as a cap unmovable time, and the fault information includes the cap unmovable time (Fig. 11, Step S22 – Step S38; Column 10, line 35 – Column 11, line 58).
With respect to claim 6, Hanabusa discloses wherein the control portion (Fig. 7, element 999) stores in the storage portion (Fig. 7, element 1002) a cap closure time (Fig. 11, Step S22) which is a length of time after the cap closing timing (Fig. 11, Step S25 – YES) until the ink is subsequently ejected from the ink ejection face (Fig. 11, Printing Wait State), and calculates and stores in the storage portion a difference value between the cap closure time and the cap unmovable time (Fig. 11, Step S22 – Step S38; Column 10, line 35 – Column 11, line 58), and the fault information (Column 3, lines 44-49, i.e. cut power or head is not covered tightly by the cap) includes the difference value (Fig. 11, Step S23 – YES).
With respect to claim 7, Hanabusa discloses the control portion (Fig. 7, element 999) stores a cap unmovable frequency (Fig. 11, Step S23, Step S35), which is a number of times that the movement inhibiting factor (Column 3, lines 44-49, i.e. cut power or head is not covered tightly by the cap) has occurred (Fig. 11, Step S25 – YES, i.e. zero times) at the cap closing timing (Fig. 6, element B, CAP), and the fault information includes the cap unmovable frequency (Fig. 11, Step S25 – YES).
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claim 3 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 primary reasons for allowance for claim 3 is that applicant’s claimed invention includes an ink-jet recording apparatus having a recording medium detection sensor that can detect presence of the recording medium, the recording medium detection sensor being arranged in the conveying portion, at a facing position where the recording medium faces the ink ejection face, where when the recording medium is at the facing position at the cap closing timing, the fault detection portion detects as the movement inhibiting factor a detection result from the recording medium detection sensor. It is this limitation, expressed in the claimed combination not found, taught, or suggested in the prior art that makes this claim allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
In view of the foregoing, the above claims have failed to patentably distinguish over the applied art.
The remaining references listed on forms 892 and 1449 have been reviewed by the examiner and are considered to be cumulative to or less material than the prior art references relied upon in the rejection above.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Geoffrey Mruk whose telephone number is (571)272-2810. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4:30 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, 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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/GEOFFREY S MRUK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853 05/06/2026
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