DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This office action is in response to Applicant's arguments dated 06/23/2026. Claim(s) 1-17 is/are pending in the application. Claim(s) 1-5, 7-12, 16 and 17 has/have been amended.
Examiner's Note
Examiner has cited particular columns and line numbers or figures in the references as applied to the claims below 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. It is respectfully requested from the Applicant, in preparing the responses, to fully consider the references in entirety 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. Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicants' definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims. In re Tanaka et aI., 193 USPQ 139, (CCPA) 1977.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
1. Claim(s) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over JP. Patent Publication No. 2017159493 to Shimoda (hereinafter “Shimoda”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 20200050907 to Ishii et al. (hereinafter “Ishii”).
With respect to claim 1, Shimoda discloses an image processing apparatus comprising one or more processors functioning by executing instructions stored in one or more memories as the following units (inkjet printing apparatus 1): an obtaining unit (80, 81, image reading unit [0054]) that obtains a read image obtained by reading a pattern for a colored material (80, 81, image reading unit [0054], Additionally, Ishii also discloses 15E, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20) formed on a print medium by print heads (110, 112, 114); and a determination unit that determines an adjustment value for adjusting misalignment between printing positions of the print heads by performing a recognition process of the pattern in an image (81 [0056] of Shimoda, Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20), wherein the determination unit determines the adjustment value by performing, based on at least one of (1) a result of a previous recognition process of the pattern in the read image or (2) print medium information indicating a type of the print medium ([0056]) the recognition process of the pattern in an inverted image generated by inverting a density of the read image (213 [0050] of Shimoda).
However, Shimoda fails to specifically disclose:
and a colorless material.
Ishii discloses:
and a colorless material ([0087], [0213]-[0219]).
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the colorless material as disclosed by Ishii with the method/apparatus of Shimoda. The motivation for doing so would have been to add post processing options to the printer. ([0087] of Ishii). Additionally, printing with colorless fluid was common practice at the time of the invention and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
With respect to claim 2, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein the determination unit determines the adjustment value by based on the result of a previous recognition process ([0050] of Shimoda and [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii). of the pattern in the read image, (1) generating the inverted image and (2) performing the recognition process of the pattern in the inverted image ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii).
With respect to claim 3, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where the pattern in the read image is not recognizable, the determination unit (1) generates the inverted image and (2) determines the adjustment value by performing the recognition process of the pattern in the generated inverted image ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 4, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where the pattern in the inverted image is not recognizable the determination unit does not update the adjustment value ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 5, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where the pattern in the read image is recognizable, the determination unit determines the adjustment value based on the recognition process of the pattern in the read image ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 6, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein the determination unit determines the adjustment value by generating the inverted image based on the print medium information ([0050], [0056] of Shimoda and [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii).
With respect to claim 7, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where the print medium information indicates that the print medium is a film, the determination unit (1) generates the inverted image, and (2) determines the adjustment value by performing the recognition process of the pattern in the generated inverted image ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 8, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where the pattern in the inverted image is not recognizable, the determination unit does not update the adjustment value ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 9, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where (1) the print medium information indicates that the print medium is paper and (2) the pattern in the read image is not recognizable, the determination unit generates the inverted image and determines the adjustment value by performing the recognition process of the pattern in the generated inverted image ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 10, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where the pattern in the inverted image is not recognizable, the determination unit does not update the adjustment value ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 11, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein in a case where (1) the print medium information indicates that the print medium is paper and (2) the pattern in the read image is recognizable, the determination unit determines the adjustment value based on the recognition process of the pattern in the read image ([0050]-[0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii Also Ishii discloses a determination unit, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20).
With respect to claim 12, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein the read image is an image obtained by (1) forming the pattern with the colorless material ejected from one of the print heads, (2) covering the pattern with the colored material ejected from another one of the print head, and (3) then reading the pattern ([0050], [0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii).
With respect to claim 13, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein the colorless material is intended to fix the colored material to the print medium ([0050], [0056] of Shimoda and [0043], [0087], [0213]-[0258] of Ishii).
With respect to claim 14, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein the print heads are inkjet print heads (110, 112, and 114 of Shimoda and 30 FIG. 1 of Ishii).
With respect to claim 15, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses wherein the print heads are full-line print heads in each of which ejection ports through which to eject an ink are arrayed over a length equivalent to a width of the print medium (110, 112, and 114 of Shimoda and 30 FIG. 1 of Ishii).
With respect to claim 16, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses An image processing method (inkjet printing apparatus 1 FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) comprising: obtaining a read image (80, 81, image reading unit [0054]) obtained by reading a pattern for a colored material (80, 81, image reading unit [0054], Additionally, Ishii also discloses 15E, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20) formed on a print medium by print heads (110, 112, 114); and determining an adjustment value for adjusting misalignment between printing positions of the print heads by performing a recognition process of the pattern in an image, wherein the determining determines the adjustment value by performing, based on at least one of (1) a result of a previous recognition process of the pattern in the read image or (2) print medium information indicating a type of the print medium ([0056]) the recognition process of the pattern in an inverted image generated by inverting a density of the read image (213 [0050] of Shimoda).
However, Shimoda fails to specifically disclose:
and a colorless material.
Ishii discloses:
and a colorless material ([0087], [0213]-[0219]).
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the colorless material as disclosed by Ishii with the method/apparatus of Shimoda. The motivation for doing so would have been to add post processing options to the printer. ([0087] of Ishii). Additionally, printing with colorless fluid was common practice at the time of the invention and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
With respect to claim 17, Shimoda in view of Ishii discloses A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform an image processing method (inkjet printing apparatus 1 FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) the image processing method comprising: obtaining a read image (80, 81, image reading unit [0054], Additionally, Ishii also discloses 15E, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20) obtained by reading a pattern for a colored material (80, 81, image reading unit [0054], Additionally, Ishii also discloses 15E, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20) formed on a print medium by print heads(110, 112, 114); and determining an adjustment value for adjusting misalignment between printing positions of the print heads by performing a recognition process of the pattern in an image, wherein the determining determines the adjustment value by performing based on at least one of (1) a result of a previous recognition process of the pattern in the read image or (2) print medium information indicating a type of the print medium ([0056]). the recognition process of the pattern in an inverted image generated by inverting a density of the read image (213 [0050] of Shimoda).
However, Shimoda fails to specifically disclose:
and a colorless material.
Ishii discloses:
and a colorless material([0087], [0213]-[0219]).
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the colorless material as disclosed by Ishii with the method/apparatus of Shimoda. The motivation for doing so would have been to add post processing options to the printer. ([0087] of Ishii). Additionally, printing with colorless fluid was common practice at the time of the invention and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
RESPONSE TO ARGUMENTS
1. The objections dated 04/06/2026 are withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments.
2. Applicant's arguments filed 06/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Shimoda doesn’t disclose performing a recognition process of the pattern in an inverted image. However, both Shimoda and Ishii disclose performing a recognition process of the pattern in an inverted image. See 80, 81, image reading unit [0054], Additionally, Ishii also discloses 15E, steps 301- 305 Fig. 20
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bradley W Thies whose telephone number is (571)270-5667. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am -6:00 pm.
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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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/BRADLEY W THIES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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