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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention V in the reply filed on 3/13/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 3-6, 12-14, and 16-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/13/26.
Priority
Regarding JAPAN 2024-108398, receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 07/20/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JAPAN 2023-118513 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 19-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: “discharge head” should read “discharging head.” Appropriate correction is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-2,7-10,15,19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshio et al. (US 2007/0035592 A1) in view of Yamada et al. (US 2020/0207101 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Oshio discloses A liquid discharge apparatus comprising:
a discharging head including a nozzle configured to discharge a liquid (inherent in Oshio, see title);
a circulation pump (Inherent in fig. 14-15, para 104-113. Otherwise, circulation cannot be performed.) provided in the discharging head (Oshio does not appear to explicitly disclose the location of the circulation pump. However, locating the circulation pump in the discharge head would be obvious in light of Yamada. See below.) and configured to supply the liquid to the nozzle, the pump being configured to circulate the liquid (see fig. 14-15, para 104-113); and
a control unit configured to control driving of the circulation pump (see fig. 12 and para 104-113),
wherein the control unit is configured to switch a driving condition of the circulation pump to change a flow velocity of the liquid during a circulation period of the liquid (see fig. 14-15 and para 108).
Oshio does not appear to explicitly disclose that the circulation pump is provided in the discharge head.
However, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, discloses that the circulation pump is provided in the discharge head (see Yamada fig. 5, para 42-43).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Oshio with the teachings of Yamada, for the purpose of utilizing a cost-effective design for a circulation pump.
Regarding claim 2, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, further discloses The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving condition includes a first driving condition and a second driving condition, and the first driving condition is a driving condition for making the flow velocity higher than the second driving condition (see Oshio’s para 107-108 and fig. 15).
Regarding claim 7, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, further discloses The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to drive the circulation pump during the circulation period in accordance with a drive pattern selected from a plurality of drive patterns (see Oshio’s para 107-108 and fig. 14-15).
Regarding claim 8, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, further discloses The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the control unit is configured to select the drive pattern based on a circulation stop time from a preceding circulation period to a current circulation period (see Oshio’s para 106-108 and fig. 14-15).
Regarding claim 9, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, further discloses The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a temperature sensor, wherein the control unit is configured to select the drive pattern based on the circulation stop time and a temperature detection result of the temperature sensor (see Oshio’s fig. 18, para 118-119: "the optimum preliminary circulation sequence may be configured to be determined based both on the lapse of time after the previous preliminary circulation, and on the temperature of the device").
Regarding claim 10, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, further discloses The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the temperature sensor detects an environmental temperature around the liquid discharge apparatus (see Oshio’s fig. 18, para 118-119).
Regarding claim 15, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, further discloses The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid discharge apparatus is a printing apparatus configured to discharge ink as the liquid from the nozzle to a print medium (inherent in Oshio).
Regarding claims 19-20, please note the rejection as set forth above with respect to claim 1. Claims 19-20 are rejected for similar reasons as claim 1; detailed discussion is omitted for brevity.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oshio et al. (US 2007/0035592 A1) in view of Yamada et al. (US 2020/0207101 A1) and further in view of Shibata et al. (US 2011/0074841 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Oshio, as modified by Yamada discloses all the limitations in parent claims 1 and 7-9.
Oshio, as modified by Yamada, does not appear to disclose The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the temperature sensor is provided in the discharging head.
However, Oshio, as modified by Yamada, and further modified by Shibata, discloses The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the temperature sensor is provided in the discharging head (see Shibata fig. 6, para 102).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify Oshio, as modified by Yamada, with the teachings of Shibata, for the purpose of utilizing a cost-effective design for a temperature sensor.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN SEO whose telephone number is (571)270-1327. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
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/JUSTIN SEO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
May 10, 2026
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