Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/774,394

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jul 16, 2024
Priority
Dec 27, 2019 — JP 2019-239036 +2 more
Examiner
ZONG, HELEN
Art Unit
2683
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Canon Inc.
OA Round
2 (Final)
79%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 79% — above average
79%
Career Allowance Rate
581 granted / 734 resolved
+17.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+8.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
755
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.2%
-34.8% vs TC avg
§103
69.6%
+29.6% vs TC avg
§102
11.6%
-28.4% vs TC avg
§112
9.5%
-30.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 734 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 § 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. Claims 1-5, 7-11 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a)(1) as being unpatentable over Kujirai (US 7002707) in view of Mori (US 20160253128) and Uchida (US 9280309). Regarding claim 13, Kujirai teaches an information processing apparatus comprising a controller configured to: receive a user selection of a display item for connecting a plurality of print jobs (fig. 18: s305: treat selected jobs as one job); display a screen which shows a list of print jobs and an image of a printing result of a first print job (col.10, line: 5-10: in a case where preview of a certain individual job or combined job has been designated on the window screen (FIG. 16) of the spool file manager 304, the previewer 306 is loaded and the previewer 306 is instructed to execute processing for previewing the job), the first print job being to be transmitted to a printing apparatus, the screen provided by the extension application; and add a second print job to the list, the second print job being to be transmitted to the printing apparatus (fig. 18: s303). Kujirai does not teach the first print job being to be transmitted to a printing apparatus, the screen provided by the extension application; The display item provided by extension application for extending a printer driver function (p0199). Mori teaches the first print job being to be transmitted to a printing apparatus, (p0199: The proxy print button 2026 is a button for displaying print job information that can be printed by the login user as a proxy user); The display item provided by extension application for extending a printer driver function (p0199); Kujirai and Mori are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Kujirai with the teaching of Mori for purpose of providing an output system, a terminal device and an output method that substantially obviate one or more problems caused by the limitations and disadvantages of the related art (p0006). Kujirai in view of Mori does not teach extension application is for printer driver. Uchida teaches extension application is for printer driver (Col. 8, lines 40-50: The window shown in FIG. 12 is a setting window displayed by the printer driver extension unit 720). Kujirai in view of Mori and Uchida are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Kujirai in view of Mori with the teaching of Uchida for purpose of realizing to impose print function limitations even on a resetting process after print job input to a print control apparatus, thereby limiting the print function like upon print job input. Regarding claim 7, The structural elements of apparatus claim 13 perform all of the steps of method claim 7. Thus, claim 7 is rejected for the same reasons discussed in the rejection of claim 13. Claim 1 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 13 and in accordance with Kujirai’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (fig. 2). Regarding claim 8, Kujirai teaches the control method according to claim 7, further comprising updating the image of the printing result corresponding to the user selection with the first print job and the second print job selected (col. 8 line: 35-40: to combine print jobs, to perform editing such as page substitution and to preview data). Claim 2 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 8 and in accordance with Kujirai’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (fig. 2). Regarding claim 9, Kujirai teaches the control method according to claim 7, wherein the user selection is able to be performed in a case where another user selection for displaying the image of the printing result has been received (fig. 16: preview). Claim 3 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 9 and in accordance with Kujirai’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (fig. 2). Regarding claim 10, Kujirai teaches the control method according to claim 7, wherein the displaying of the image of the printing result is executed after a user instruction to perform printing is issued (fig. 16 and col. 9-10: limes 50-5: there are 11 types of operations available when a job has been selected, user can select print first and preview after printing). Claim 4 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 10 and in accordance with Kujirai’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (fig. 2). Regarding claim 11, Kujirai teaches the control method according to claim 7, further comprising generating a single piece of intermediate data based on pieces of intermediate data of the first print job and the second print job (col. 9, lines 50-65: COMBINE, in which a plurality of jobs of spool files of intermediate code are combined into a single job). Claim 5 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 11 and in accordance with Kujirai’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (fig. 2). Claims 6 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kujirai in view of Mori and Uchida as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of KAKITSUBA (US 20200249890). Regarding claim 12, Kujirai in view of Mori and Uchida does not teach the control method according to claim 11, wherein the intermediate data is XPS format data. KAKITSUBA teaches wherein the intermediate data is XPS format data (p0036). Kujirai in view of Mori and Uchida and KAKITSUBA are combinable because they both deal with management servers with a printing apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to combine the teachings of Kujirai with the teaching of KAKITSUBA for purpose of a status of a process based on a print instruction can be recognized in detail through an application program to which the print instruction is input(p0006) Claim 6 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 12 and in accordance with Kujirai’s further teaching on: A computer-readable memory that contains instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a method (fig. 2). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELEN Q ZONG whose telephone number is (571)270-1600. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9-6. 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, Merouan, Abderrahim 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 Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about 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. HELEN ZONG Primary Examiner Art Unit 26833 /HELEN ZONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 16, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 22, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 01, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 16, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
79%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+8.6%)
2y 2m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 734 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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