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 18/753,074 filed on June 25th, 2024 in which claims 1-13 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 06/25/2024 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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kao (US Pub. Nº 2006/0279622), in view of Taniguchi et al. (US Pub. Nº 2016/0229205) and Komuro et al. (US Pub. Nº 2018/0272755).
9. Regarding independent claim 1: Kao disclosed a printing apparatus ([0030], line 3; also see Fig. 2) comprising:
a feeding unit configured to feed a print medium to a first position ([0032], line 1; also see Fig. 2, reference 256);
a conveyance unit capable of conveying, in a first direction, the print medium fed to the first position by the feeding unit (Fig. 2, conveyance rollers 242, 248 and 246);
a printing unit configured to perform printing by applying ink to the print medium ([0030], line 4; also see Fig. 2, reference 220) conveyed in the first direction by the conveyance unit ([0033], line 1; also see Fig. 2, reference P22);
a reversal conveyance path configured to reverse the print medium conveyed in a second direction opposite to the first direction by the conveyance unit after printing using the printing unit ([0030], lines 11-12) to guide the print medium to a position to which the ink can be applied by the printing unit ([0034], lines 1-7); and
a control unit configured to control the conveyance unit and the printing unit to execute printing on a first side and a second side opposite to the first side in a first print medium ([0033], line 1 and [0034], lines 1-7; when double sided printing is performed on a first sheet) and a second print medium subsequent to the first print medium ([0033], line 1 and [0034], lines 1-7; when double-sided printing is performed on subsequent printing sheet).
Kao is silent about wherein in a case of starting printing on the first side of the second print medium in accordance with an application amount of the ink applied to a region that the second print medium being conveyed in the first direction contacts in the first print medium conveyed through the reversal conveyance path and having the first side that has been printed, the control unit keeps the second print medium on standby for predetermined time in the first position.
Taniguchi et al. disclosed a printing apparatus (Fig. 1), comprising a feeding unit (Fig. 1, reference 19), a printing unit (Fig. 1, reference 7) for performing double-sided printing on successive print media ([0169], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 2, references 1-A, 1-B; and Fig. 30 for clarifications) in an overlapped state while adjusting and overlapping amount of the leading end of the second sheet with the trailing end of the first sheet in accordance with an application amount of the ink applied to a region that the second print medium being conveyed in the first direction contacts in the first print medium ([0007], lines 4-9); furthermore, Komuro et al. disclosed in a printing apparatus ([0045], line 1) for performing double-sided printing ([0067], line 1) on a first and a second recording sheet conveyed in an overlapped state (Fig. 7 shows sheet P1 and P2 conveyed in an overlapping sate), wherein the conveyance of the second sheet is put in standby while the conveyance of the first sheet resumes in order to control the overlapping of the two sheets ([0013], lines 2-4).
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 Taniguchi et al. and Komuro et al. with those of Kao by conveying the first and the second sheet in and overlapping state in order to improve the processing speed of the apparatus and by controlling the extent of the overlap in accordance with the ink amount of a region of the sheet to be overlapped by a subsequent sheet in order to prevent cockling of the sheet, as disclosed by Taniguchi et al. in paragraphs [0004] and [0005] respectively.
10. Regarding claim 2: The combination of Kao, Taniguchi et al. and Komuro et al. disclosed the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second print medium is conveyed in the first direction by the control unit while contacting the first print medium after printing on the first side conveyed in the second direction on a downstream side of the printing unit in the first direction (Kao Fig. 2 and Taniguchi et al. [0007], lines 4-9; also see the rejection of claim 1).
11. Regarding claim 3: The combination of Kao, Taniguchi et al. and Komuro et al. disclosed the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further controls the feeding unit so as to feed the second print medium to the first position during printing on the first side of the first print medium (Taniguchi et al. Fig. 2, state ST5).
12. Regarding claim 4: The combination of Kao, Taniguchi et al. and Komuro et al. disclosed the printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises: an acquisition unit configured to acquire the application amount of the ink applied to the region (Taniguchi et al. [0114], lines 1-2); and a determination unit configured to determine the predetermined time in accordance with the application amount acquired by the acquisition unit (Taniguchi et al. [0007], lines 8-9. The overlapping amount as correlated with the standby time; also see the rejection of claim 1).
13. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kao (US Pub. Nº 2006/0279622), in view of Taniguchi et al. (US Pub. Nº 2016/0229205) and Komuro et al. (US Pub. Nº 2018/0272755).
13. Regarding independent claim 13: Kao disclosed a method ([0006], line 1) of controlling a printing apparatus ([0030], line 3; also see Fig. 2) comprising:
a feeding unit configured to feed a print medium to a first position ([0032], line 1; also see Fig. 2, reference 256);
a conveyance unit configured to convey, in a first direction, the print medium fed to the first position by the feeding unit (Fig. 2, conveyance rollers 242, 248 and 246);
a printing unit configured to perform printing by applying ink to the print medium ([0030], line 4; also see Fig. 2, reference 220) conveyed in the first direction by the conveyance unit ([0033], line 1; also see Fig. 2, reference P22); and
a reversal conveyance path configured to reverse the print medium conveyed in a second direction opposite to the first direction by the conveyance unit after printing using the printing unit ([0030], lines 11-12) to guide the print medium to a position to which the ink can be applied by the printing unit ([0034], lines 1-7), wherein printing is executed on a first side and a second side opposite to the first side in a first print medium and a second print medium subsequent to the first print medium ([0033], line 1 and [0034], lines 1-7; when double-sided printing is performed on subsequent printing sheet).
Kao is silent about wherein in a case of starting printing on the first side of the second print medium in accordance with an application amount of the ink applied to a region that the second print medium being conveyed in the first direction contacts in the first print medium conveyed through the reversal conveyance path and having the first side that has been printed, the second print medium is kept on standby for predetermined time in the first position.
Taniguchi et al. disclosed a printing apparatus (Fig. 1), comprising a feeding unit (Fig. 1, reference 19), a printing unit (Fig. 1, reference 7) for performing double-sided printing on successive print media ([0169], lines 1-3; also see Fig. 2, references 1-A, 1-B; and Fig. 30 for clarifications) in an overlapped state while adjusting and overlapping amount of the leading end of the second sheet with the trailing end of the first sheet in accordance with an application amount of the ink applied to a region that the second print medium being conveyed in the first direction contacts in the first print medium ([0007], lines 4-9); furthermore, Komuro et al. disclosed in a printing apparatus ([0045], line 1) for performing double-sided printing ([0067], line 1) on a first and a second recording sheet conveyed in an overlapped state (Fig. 7 shows sheet P1 and P2 conveyed in an overlapping sate), wherein the conveyance of the second sheet is put in standby while the conveyance of the first sheet resumes in order to control the overlapping of the two sheets ([0013], lines 2-4).
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 Taniguchi et al. and Komuro et al. with those of Kao by conveying the first and the second sheet in and overlapping state in order to improve the processing speed of the apparatus and by controlling the extent of the overlap in accordance with the ink amount of a region of the sheet to be overlapped by a subsequent sheet in order to prevent cockling of the sheet, as disclosed by Taniguchi et al. in paragraphs [0004] and [0005] respectively.
Allowable Subject Matter
14. Claims 5-12 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
15. 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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17. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHEN MEIER can be reached at (571)272-2149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853