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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Asai (US 2006/0132563).
With regard to claim 1, Asai discloses a liquid storage container (10A) [ink cartridge; Para. 0020], comprising:
a plurality of liquid storage portions (13A to 13D) [ink reservoirs; Para. 0021] that store liquids; and
a plurality of outlets (not labeled) [nozzles; Para. 0023; Fig. 1B] through which the liquids are dispensed out of the plurality of liquid storage portions, respectively [Fig. 1B], wherein
on a first surface of the plurality of liquid storage portions including a connection surface connected with the outlets of the liquid storage portions, A/B > 1 is satisfied where an array pitch between midpoints of points where a center line, which is passing through centers of adjacent outlets, intersects sections of the liquid storage portions is A, and an array pitch between the adjacent outlets is B.
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With regard to claim 3, wherein the plurality of liquid storage portions are in a rectangular form [Fig. 1A].
With regard to claim 4, wherein the plurality of liquid storage portions are in the form of a fan [Fig. 1B shows a box fan configuration].
With regard to claim 5, wherein a partition wall is formed between the plurality of outlets, and the partition wall is higher than a height of the plurality of outlets [Fig. 1A].
With regard to claim 6, wherein a member (12) [Fig. 1A] that defines how the plurality of outlets are arranged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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, 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.
Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Asai (US 2006/0132563).
With regard to claim 2, Asai discloses all the limitations of claim 1 but does not explicitly disclose wherein A/B <2 is satisfied with a relationship of the array pitch A and the array pitch B.
However, Asai teaches the dimensions in height (h), width (w) and depth (d) of the ink reservoirs are not identical [Para. 0034].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to satisfy the A/B < 2 with a relationship of the array pitch A and the array pitch B, since the dimensions (h, w, d), as taught by Asai, can be modified and such modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 195)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 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.
Claim 7 is objected to because the prior art does not teach or make obvious “wherein in a case of refiling the plurality of liquid tanks, the liquid storage container refills the liquid tanks with a plurality of liquids by gas-liquid exchange.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Nagaoka (US 2022/0267059) discloses a liquid ejection apparatus (1), comprising a plurality of liquid tanks (12a to 12d); a liquid storage container (2); a liquid ejection head (14) connected to the plurality of liquid of tanks and the tanks are refilled with a plurality of liquids by gas-liquid exchange. The liquid storage container has a single liquid storage portion with a single outlet through which liquid is dispensed and so is not the liquid storage container according to claim 1.
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/TRACEY M MCMILLION/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853