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 .
2. This office action is responsive to the application Nº 18/752,607 filed on June 24th, 2024 in which claims 1-11 are pending and ready for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS have been considered.
Priority
4. 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
5. The examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 06/24/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
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. Claims 1-4, 6-8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori et al. (JP 2003-200581), in view of Umeda (JP 2009-078512).
9. Regarding independent claim 1: Mori et al. disclosed a liquid discharge apparatus ([0014], line 1) comprising:
a holding unit ([0036], lines 1-5; also see Fig. 1, reference 4) configured to hold a discharge head configured to discharge liquid ([0038], lines 1-2; also see Fig. 1, references 5a);
a cap configured to cap a discharge surface of the discharge head ([0054], lines 14-15; also see Fig. 1, reference 8a);
a positioning unit configured to position the discharge head at a cap position where the discharge surface is capped by the cap ([0047], lines 2-4; also see Fig. 1, reference 28a); and
a separation member ([0053] - [0060]; also see Fig. 5, the mechanism comprising the support body 7, the guide pin 13, the guide hole 12, the lock lever 15 and the spring 22 which cooperate to separate the cap from the discharge surface and bring the cap into contact with the discharge surface) configured to separate the cap from the discharge surface positioned at the cap position in a case where the separation member is in a first posture (Fig. 4a) and bring the cap into contact with the discharge surface positioned at the cap position in a case where the separation member is in a second posture (Fig. 4b).
Mori et al. are silent about wherein the separation member changes posture between the first posture and the second posture as the holding unit is displaced relative to the discharge head in a state in which the discharge head is positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit.
Umeda disclosed a liquid discharge apparatus (Fig. 1, reference 1), comprising a holding unit ([0027], lines 1-5; also see Figs. 1 and 9, reference (17a, 17b)), a cap (Fig. 5, reference 13), a separation member ([0063], lines 1-5; also see Fig. 5, reference 20), wherein the separation member changes posture between the first posture and the second posture as the holding unit is displaced relative to the discharge head in a state in which the discharge head is positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit ([0046], lines 1-8; [0047], lines 1-10 and Figs. 9 and 10; the holding unit (17a, 17b) is displaced relative to the discharge head 3 as the separation member 20 changes posture between the first posture and the second posture (as the mechanism 20 moves the cap 13 into contact with the discharge head 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 Umeda with those of Mori et al. by changing the position of the holding unit with respect to the discharge head in the cap position in order to facilitate the evacuation of air bubbles in the nozzles of the ink jet head as disclosed by Umeda in paragraph ([0088]).
10. Regarding claim 2: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the separation member is in the first posture in a case where the discharge head is at a position separated from the cap position (Mori et al. Fig. 4a).
11. Regarding claim 3: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge head moves between the cap position (Umeda Fig. 10) and a position separated from the cap position (Umeda Fig. 9) as the holding unit moves while the position of the discharge head relative to the holding unit is maintained (Umeda Figs. 9 and 10; when the cap 13 is separated from the head 3, the head 3 tilts back in the Z direction while maintaining the position of the holding unit (17a, 17b) in the conveyance direction X).
12. Regarding claim 4: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge head is held by the holding unit such that the holding unit and the discharge head relatively displaces in the same direction as a direction in which the holding unit is displaced (Umeda Fig. 10; the discharge head 3 and the holding unit (17a, 17b) or relatively displaced in the same rotational direction).
13. Regarding claim 6: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:
a first biassing member configured to bias the cap in a direction from a position where the cap is separated from the discharge surface of the discharge head positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit toward a position where the cap is in contact with the discharge surface of the discharge head positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit (Mori et al. [0054], lines 4-8; also see Fig. 5, reference 27); and
a second biassing member configured to bias the separation member in a direction in which the separation member changes posture from the second posture to the first posture (Mori et al. [0060], lines 7-8; also see Fig. 4a, reference 22), wherein
in a case where the discharge head is at a position separated from the cap position, the cap is separated from the discharge surface of the discharge head positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit as biassing force of the second biassing member through the separation member is more strongly exerted on the cap than biassing force of the first biassing member (Mori et al. Figs. 4a and 4b; when the head is separated from the cap position, the position of the cap is lower than that of the cap when the head is located at the cap position, proving that the biasing force of the second member biassing member through the separation member is more strongly exerted on the cap than biassing force of the first biassing member).
14. Regarding claim 7: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 6, wherein in a case where the discharge head is positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit, the cap contacts the discharge surface of the discharge head positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit as the holding unit being displaced relative to the discharge head exerts, on the separation member, force in a direction in which biassing force of the second biassing member is compensated (Mori et al. Fig. 4b; when the separation member is in the second posture, the biasing force of spring 22 is compensated by pin 13 moving up the guide hole 12 when the wall 1 is pushed by the carriage 1).
15. Regarding claim 8: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in a case where the discharge head is at a position separated from the cap position, the cap is separated, by own weight, from the discharge surface of the discharge head positioned at the cap position by the positioning unit (Mori et al. Figs. 4a and 4b, once the lock lever 15 is unhooked from the lock arm 20, the support assemble 7 moves to the separated position by the action of its own weight and rests atop the spring 22).
16. Regarding claim 10: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the positioning unit (Mori et al. [0047], lines 2-4) includes a positioning member provided to the discharge head (Mori et al. Fig. 5, reference 6a), and a positioning member provided to a tray (Mori et al. Fig. 5, reference 28a).
17. Regarding claim 11: The combination of Mori et al. and Umeda disclosed the liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 10, wherein three contact parts are formed at the positioning member provided to the discharge head (Mori e al. Fig. 5, reference 6a, 6b, 6c), three of the positioning members are provided to the tray (Mori e al. Fig. 5, reference 28a, 28b, 28c), and the discharge head is positioned at the cap position as the three contact parts formed at the positioning member provided to the discharge head contact the three positioning members provided to the tray, respectively (Mori et al. [0047], lines 2-4).
Allowable Subject Matter
18. Claims 5 and 9 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.
Conclusion
19. 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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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853