DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 6-9, 11, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated based on a broadest reasonable interpretation by Dance et al (WO 2012/082121 A1).
Referring to claim 1:
Dance et al disclose an information processing system (fig.1, par.28, "...an automated time-out computing system 10...") comprising:
a processor (fig.1, processor 14) configured to:
output a set value of a shift time (par.20, "...setting a time-outs to reduce, e.g., minimize the expected power consumption of a device, such as a printer, by putting it in sleep mode after the time-outs is reached...") on a basis of a history of processes performed by an apparatus (par.28, "...The system 10 determines a time-out s for a device by minimizing a cost function which takes into account historical data...") and a target value of a ratio of a specific process performed by the apparatus (par. 38, amount a process is performed based on arrival time data represents 'a ratio'), the apparatus having a plurality of modes having different times elapsing until execution of a process is ready (par.21, "...idle mode...a sleep mode...ln the idle mode, the device is ready to perform another job. In the sleep mode, the device is not immediately ready..."), the history including a count of processes performed in each of at least two modes among the plurality of modes (par.32, "...Based on the inter-arrival times for a fixed period, such as a week, as well as stored cost information ... The cost information may include, for example, the respective costs of maintaining the printer in idle mode and sleep mode, the cost of waking the printer up from the sleep mode to the idle mode and returning it to the sleep mode, and the annoyance cost associated with a user having to wait for the printer to be woken up...", par.38, "... if there are 1000 print jobs in 1 week and 40 of those have an inter-arrival time X of 10 minutes or greater...". Hence, D1 discloses a 'count of processes'. In order to calculate the costs for the print jobs in each of the modes as discloses in D1, the presence of information of the mode at arrival time of a print job is implicit), the shift time being a time until the apparatus is shifted to a mode, among the plurality of modes, in which a time until execution of a process is ready is longer than in another mode (par.21, "...idle mode...a sleep mode...ln the idle mode, the device is ready to perform another job. In the sleep mode, the device is not immediately ready...The time-outs can be considered as the time period that a device will wait after completing a job request...before transitioning between a first mode...and...a sleep mode...").
Referring to claims 14-15:
Based on the method and computer program product disclosed in Dance et al (par. 47), the rejection of claim 1 applies, mutatis mutandis, to claims 14 and 15.
Referring to claim 2:
Dance et al disclose the history includes a ratio related to counts of processes performed in the respective at least two modes (par.38 and figure 3: The calculation implying the presence of information of the mode at arrival time of a print job).
Referring to claim 4:
Dance et al disclose the at least two modes include a first mode (idle mode) and a second mode (sleep mode), wherein the first mode is a mode in which the apparatus waits for execution of a process, wherein the second mode is a mode in which a time until execution of a process is ready is longer than in the first mode (par. 21), and wherein the history includes a ratio calculated by using a count of processes performed in the first mode and a count of processes performed in the second mode (as indicated above in claim 1).
Referring to claim 6:
Dance et al disclose the history includes a ratio calculated by using a total count of processes and a count of processes performed at time intervals, each of the time intervals being within the shift time (reads on time-outs, ratio calculated, cost function taking into account historical data, and shift time of modes indicated above).
Referring to claims 7-8:
Dance et al disclose the counts of processes performed in the respective at least two modes are counts, in the respective at least two modes, of operations on a user interface included in the apparatus, wherein, when a count of operations on the user interface is less than or equal to a threshold, the counts of processes performed in the respective at least two modes include counts of processes other than the operations on the user interface (par. 32: the time-out may be manually set by an operator, e.g., using a user input device 36, 38).
Referring to claim 9:
Dance et al disclose the processor using a cumulative exponential distribution function (probability) to calculate the set value of the shift time from the history and the target value (par. 10-11, 25, 51, 71).
Referring to claim 11:
Dance et al disclose the processor estimating a change of an operating environment of the apparatus based on a change of the set value of the shift time (par. 28, 68: optimal time-outs are determined based on operation environment, and respective energy savings).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, 10, and 12-13 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. Referring to these claims, the prior art searched and of record neither anticipates nor suggests the limitations added in the claimed combinations.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed (i.e., a descriptive title that distinguishes the invention and is not a generic or general description). The new title should take into account any amendments to the claims to best indicate the claimed invention.
The title must be as short and specific as possible (see 37 CFR 1.72(a)). Applicant should distill a description of the claimed invention into as few words as possible to capture the essence of the claimed invention. Rather than reciting statutory categories (apparatus, method, product) and some generic descriptor (e.g., information processing), a title that is specific, but characterizes the essence or key aspect(s) of the claimed invention, should be submitted.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 6/20/24, 1/22/25, and 2/13/25 were filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the statements have been considered by the examiner.
Applicant has provided an explanation of relevance of cited document JP 2014-502929 on page 1 of the specification.
The European Search Report and/or Written Opinion from the EPO dated for European Patent Application No. 24180674.4 (of record) and cited document(s) therein have been considered.
The Office Action from the JPO dated 28 January 2025 for Japanese Patent Application No. 2024-049185 (of record) and cited document(s) therein have been considered.
Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s) summarized below.
Watabe et al (US 20110279848 A1 / JP 2011237721 A) disclose an image forming apparatus includes an auto pattern updating unit for determining transition time for transition from a normal conduction state to a power saving state of each time of day based on job logs, and a display processing unit for displaying the determined state of transition of each time of day on a display unit on hour-by-hour basis. The display device may be an external PC for management, or an operation display panel of the image forming apparatus. For the time of day of which transition time cannot be determined, the shortest time period is allocated. The hour-by-hour transition time is displayed in color-coded manner. The automatically determined transition time may be changed by a user operation.
JP 2014502929 A discloses systems and methods for supplying timeout values for devices such as printers. The timeout value determines when the device transitions from the high energy mode to the low energy mode if no other jobs to be processed by the device arrive. The method obtains data including a set of arrival interval times for at least one device over a period of one week, etc., and for each timeout candidate value in the set, within the set of arrival interval times Deriving a probability that the arrival interval time is greater than the timeout candidate value. A cost function is calculated based on the derived probability and a robust condition that considers an outlier that is outside the prediction of the histogram. As a result, it is possible to specify a timeout value having a minimum cost function for at least one device.
JP 2006272596 A discloses an image processing device comprises an image inputting section, an image outputting section 2, and a controlling section 10. In this case, the image inputting section 1 takes in the image of a manuscript or image data from the outside. The image outputting section 2 outputs the image to a medium or the image data to the outside. The controlling section 10 controls the switching between the normal mode and the power saving mode as the power source control to the image inputting section 1 and the image outputting section 2. In the image processing device, the controlling section 10 acquires the statistics of idling periods from the completion of one job to the start of a next job, and controls the switching between the normal mode and the power saving mode from the statistics. This allows a user to optimally perform switching between a normal mode and a power saving mode for power control without waste.
Cited Art
The prior art and other references made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ebi et al (US 10523834 B2) disclose an energy saving setting unit controls an image forming apparatus that makes a transition to a power saving state if a transition time passes without any prescribed operation in a normal state, and it includes: a unit for storing specific day information distinguishing a normal operation day and a specific day; an auto pattern updating unit determining the transition time in a normal operation day based on past operational status of the normal operation day of the image forming apparatus; a specific day pattern registering unit receiving and storing setting of the transition time of the specific day; and a switching unit, switching the state of conduction of the image forming apparatus using the transition time determined by the auto pattern updating unit and the stored transition time, on the normal operation day and on the specific day, respectively, based on the specific day information.
Udagawa et al (US 20250306662 A1) disclose an information processing system includes a processor for an apparatus having a plurality of modes having different times until execution of a process is ready, the processor being configured to: determine a mode that is to be recorded in a history as a mode at a time of execution of a process, the determining being performed based on a mode at the time of the apparatus's execution of the process and whether the process is performed based on a human detecting sensor's detection of a user; record the determined mode in the history; and output a set value of a shift time elapsing until the apparatus shifts to a mode in which a time until execution of a process is ready is longer than in another mode among the plurality of modes, the outputting being performed based on a count of processes performed in a specific mode, the count of processes being obtained based on the history.
Udagawa et al (US 20250310445 A1) disclose an information processing system includes a processor for an apparatus having a plurality of modes having different times until execution of a process is ready, the processor being configured to: determine a mode that is to be recorded in a history as a mode at a time of execution of a process, the determining being performed based on a mode at the time of the apparatus's execution of the process, the determining being performed also based on a detected position of a person or a moving time, the detected position being a position at a time when a human detecting sensor detects the person for the first time from a state in which the human detecting sensor does not detect any person, the moving time being a time required for the person to move from the detected position to the apparatus; record the determined mode in the history; and output a set value of a shift time elapsing until the apparatus shifts to a mode in which a time until execution of a process is ready is longer than in another mode among the plurality of modes, the outputting being performed based on a count of processes performed in a specific mode, the count of processes being obtained based on the history.
Narushima et al (US 20250310456 A1) disclose an information processing system includes a processor for an apparatus having an executable mode and one or more types of power saving mode and setting a shift time from the executable mode to the power saving mode, the executable mode being a mode in which execution of a process is ready, the processor being configured to: detect change of a user who operates the apparatus; obtain an index value based on counts of execution of processes in the respective modes in the apparatus, and set the shift time based on the obtained index value; and, in the setting, count, as a single process, a plurality of processes in the count for the mode in which the first process of the plurality of processes is performed, the plurality of processes being performed continuously in a state in which the change is not detected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott Rogers whose telephone number is 571-272-7467. The examiner can normally be reached 8 am to 7 pm flex.
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, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached on 571-270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from the Patent Center. Unpublished application information in the Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in the Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about the Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Scott A Rogers/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
25 July 2026
Prosecution Insights