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.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description:
reference numeral 41 in Figure 1
reference numeral 135 in Figure 7
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: d33 direction described in paragraph [0027]. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In paragraphs [0051]-[0052], it is noted that the terms “WA” and “WB,” “HA” and “HB,” and “LA” and “LB” as described in this paragraph seems to be improperly reversed based on what has been illustrated in Figures 2-3. For example, in paragraph [0051], the first sentence states “In the present example, the width WA of the coupling flow channel is set as width WA=70 µm, and the width WB of the pressure chamber 31 is set as width WB=130 µm.” However, when looking at the coupling flow channel 34 and the pressure chamber 31 in Figures 2-3, it appears that reference character WB is illustrating the coupling flow channel width and reference character WA is illustrating the pressure chamber width. Thus, it appears that the first sentence should state “in the present example, the width WB of the coupling flow channel is set as width WB=70 µm, and the width WA of the pressure chamber 31 is set as width WA=130 µm.” Note that the references to height HA, height HB, length LA, length LB in paragraphs [0051]-[0052] are also similarly reversed.
In paragraph [0074], it appears that the term “a support plate 118” in line 2 should be --a support plate 119-- to be consistent with what is shown in Figure 7. Additionally, it appears that the term “the conveyance belt 119” in line 3 should be --the conveyance belt 118-- to be consistent with how the structure has been labeled and is shown in Figure 7. Additionally, it appears that the term “a plurality of belt rollers 118” in line 3 should be --a plurality of belt rollers 120--. Additionally, it appears that the term “the conveyance belt 120” should be --the conveyance belt 118-- to be consistent with how the structure has been labeled in Figure 7.
Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 7 and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With respect to claim 7, it is noted that claim 7 recites “a plurality of nozzles” while claim 1 recites “a nozzle.” It is unclear how these terms are related and if these recitations are intended to be referring to the same structure or different structures.
With respect to claim 13, this claim appears to be duplicate in scope to claim 7.
Appropriate correction and/or clarification is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yokota (JP 2012-11653 A) in view of Nariai et al. (US 2013/0250003 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Yokota teaches a liquid ejection head 10, 172C, 172Y, 172M, 172K (paragraphs [0042], [0104]-[0105), comprising:
a plurality of pressure chambers 14, each pressure chamber 14 connected to a nozzle 12 (paragraph [0043]);
a first-side common liquid chamber 20 on a first side of the plurality of pressure chambers 14 (paragraph [0043]);
a second-side common liquid chamber30 on a second side of the plurality of pressure chambers 14, the plurality of pressure chambers 14 being between the first-side common liquid chamber 20 and the second-side common liquid chamber 30 in a first direction (paragraph [0046]);
a plurality of first coupling flow channels 22, each first coupling flow channel 22 being respectively connected to a first side of one of the pressure chambers 14 and the first-side common liquid chamber 20 (paragraph [0045]); and
a plurality of second coupling flow channels 32, each second coupling flow channel 32 being respectively connected to a second side of one of the pressure chambers 14 and the second-side common liquid chamber 30, wherein the cross-sectional area of the pressure chamber taken perpendicular to the first direction is a predetermined size (see Fig. 1) and the cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling channels is “sufficiently smaller” than the cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber. See, in particular, Figures 1-3 and paragraphs [0042]-[0046] of the English language translation of Yokota.
Yokota is silent with respect to the details of the specific sizes of the pressure chambers and first and second coupling flow channels and whether a cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber in the plurality of pressure chambers taken perpendicular to the first direction is less than or equal to 0.01 mm2, and a cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling flow channels taken perpendicular to the first direction is less than one quarter of the cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber in the plurality of pressure chambers. However, Nariai et al. teaches a liquid ejection head including a pressure chamber having a cross-sectional area less than or equal to 0.01 mm2 and a coupling channel with a cross-sectional area less than one quarter of the cross-sectional area of the pressure chamber. See, for example, the cross-sectional area C1 and cross-sectional area C2 as shown in Figure 4 and the values set forth for printer A3 in Table 3. In view of this teaching, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the pressure chamber and coupling channels of Yokota to have the particular sizes as taught by Nariai et al. to provide improved ink flow characteristics as desired.
With respect to claims 2 and 14, note Yokota teaches wherein the first coupling flow channels 22 have the same length along the first direction as the second coupling flow channels 32, as shown in Figure 1.
With respect to claims 3 and 15, note Yokota illustrates that the first coupling channel 22 and the second coupling channel are identical in length, width, and height as shown in Figures 1-3 and therefore, it would appear that the cross-sectional area of each first coupling flow channel 22 is the same as the cross-sectional area of each second coupling flow channel 32.
With respect to claims 4-5, 9-10 and 16-17, again note Yokota illustrates that the first coupling channel 22 and the second coupling channel are identical in size (i.e., length, width, and height) as shown in Figures 1-3 and therefore, it would appear that each of the first coupling flow channel and the second flow channel have the same cross-sectional area for its full length in the first direction.
With respect to claims 6, 11, and 18, Yokota teaches wherein the cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling flow channel 22, 32 is the minimum cross-sectional area along the full length of the respective first and second coupling flow channel in the first direction, as shown in Figure 1.
With respect to claims 7 and 12, Yokota teaches a liquid ejection head 10, further comprising:
a nozzle plate 11 including a plurality of nozzles 12 at positions corresponding to the plurality of pressure chambers 14 (paragraph [0057]);
a vibration member 42 including a plurality of vibrating regions at positions corresponding to the plurality of pressure chambers 14, the plurality of pressure chambers 14 being between the nozzle plate 11 and the vibration member 42 (paragraph [0050]); and
an actuator unit 16 including a plurality of piezoelectric elements at positions corresponding to the plurality of vibrating regions, the vibration member 42 being between the actuator unit 16 and the plurality of pressure chambers 14, as shown in Figure 1 and described in paragraphs [0049]-[0050] in the English language translation.
With respect to claim 8, Yokota teaches a liquid ejection device (Fig. 7), comprising:
an ink jet head 10, 172C, 172Y, 172M, 172K; and
a controller (note paragraph [0050] and claim 11 of English language translation describes a “drive voltage” and “drive control unit”) configured to cause the ink jet head to eject liquid, wherein
the ink jet head 10, 172C, 172Y, 172M, 172K includes:
a plurality of pressure chambers 14, each pressure chamber 14 connected to a nozzle 12;
a first-side common liquid chamber 20 on a first side of the plurality of pressure chambers 14;
a second-side common liquid chamber30 on a second side of the plurality of pressure chambers 14, the plurality of pressure chambers 14 being between the first-side common liquid chamber 20 and the second-side common liquid chamber 30 in a first direction;
a plurality of first coupling flow channels 22, each first coupling flow channel 22 being respectively connected to a first side of one of the pressure chambers 14 and the first-side common liquid chamber 20; and
a plurality of second coupling flow channels 32, each second coupling flow channel 32 being respectively connected to a second side of one of the pressure chambers 14 and the second-side common liquid chamber 30, wherein the cross-sectional area of the pressure chamber taken perpendicular to the first direction is a predetermined size (see Fig. 1) and the cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling channels is smaller than the cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber. See, in particular, the previous comments with respect to claim 1 above and Figures 1-3 and the English language translation of Yokota.
Yokota is silent with respect to the details of the sizes of the pressure chambers and first and second coupling flow channels and whether a cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber in the plurality of pressure chambers taken perpendicular to the first direction is less than or equal to 0.01 mm2, and a cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling flow channels taken perpendicular to the first direction is less than one quarter of the cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber in the plurality of pressure chambers. However, Nariai et al. teaches a liquid ejection head including a pressure chamber having a cross-sectional area less than or equal to 0.01 mm2 and a coupling channel with a cross-sectional area less than one quarter of the cross-sectional area of the pressure chamber. See, for example, the cross-sectional area C1 and cross-sectional area C2 as shown in Figure 4 and the values set forth for printer A3 in Table 3. In view of this teaching, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the pressure chamber and coupling channels of Yokota to have the particular sizes as taught by Nariai et al. to provide improved ink flow characteristics as desired.
With respect to claim 13, Yokota teaches a liquid ejection head 10, 172C, 172Y, 172M, 172K (paragraphs [0042], [0104]-[0105), comprising:
a plurality of pressure chambers 14, each pressure chamber 14 connected to a nozzle 12 (paragraph [0043]);
a nozzle plate 11 including a plurality of nozzles 12 at positions corresponding to the plurality of pressure chambers 14 (paragraph [0057]), each pressure chamber 14 being respectively connected to a nozzle 12 in the plurality of nozzles;
a vibration member 42 including a plurality of vibrating regions at positions corresponding to the plurality of pressure chambers 14, the plurality of pressure chambers 14 being between the nozzle plate 11 and the vibration member 42 (paragraph [0050]);
an actuator unit 16 including a plurality of piezoelectric elements at positions corresponding to the plurality of vibrating regions, the vibration member 42 being between the actuator unit 16 and the plurality of pressure chambers 14 (Figure 1, paragraphs [0049]-[0050]);
a first-side common liquid chamber 20 on a first side of the plurality of pressure chambers 14 (paragraph [0043]);
a second-side common liquid chamber30 on a second side of the plurality of pressure chambers 14, the plurality of pressure chambers 14 being between the first-side common liquid chamber 20 and the second-side common liquid chamber 30 in a first direction (paragraph [0046]);
a plurality of first coupling flow channels 22, each first coupling flow channel 22 being respectively connected to a first side of one of the pressure chambers 14 and the first-side common liquid chamber 20 (paragraph [0045]); and
a plurality of second coupling flow channels 32, each second coupling flow channel 32 being respectively connected to a second side of one of the pressure chambers 14 and the second-side common liquid chamber 30, wherein the cross-sectional area of the pressure chamber taken perpendicular to the first direction is a predetermined size (see Fig. 1) and the cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling channels is “sufficiently smaller” than the cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber. See, in particular, Figures 1-3 and paragraphs [0042]-[0046] of the English language translation of Yokota.
Yokota is silent with respect to the details of the specific sizes of the pressure chambers and first and second coupling flow channels and whether a cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber in the plurality of pressure chambers taken perpendicular to the first direction is less than or equal to 0.01 mm2, and a cross-sectional area of each of the first and second coupling flow channels taken perpendicular to the first direction is less than one quarter of the cross-sectional area of each pressure chamber in the plurality of pressure chambers. However, Nariai et al. teaches a liquid ejection head including a pressure chamber having a cross-sectional area less than or equal to 0.01 mm2 and a coupling channel with a cross-sectional area less than one quarter of the cross-sectional area of the pressure chamber. See, for example, the cross-sectional area C1 and cross-sectional area C2 as shown in Figure 4 and the values set forth for printer A3 in Table 3. In view of this teaching, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the pressure chamber and coupling channels of Yokota to have the particular sizes as taught by Nariai et al. to provide improved ink flow characteristics as desired.
With respect to claim 19, Yokota teaches a liquid ejection device (Fig. 7), comprising:
a controller (note paragraph [0050] and claim 11 of English language translation describes a “drive voltage” and “drive control unit”), the controller configured to cause the liquid ejection head to eject liquid. Furthermore, Yokota as modified by Nariai et al. renders obvious a liquid ejection head according to claim 18 (see the comments with respect to claim 18 above). Thus, the liquid ejection device of claim 19 is obvious in view of Yokota as modified by Nariai et al.
With respect to claim 20, Yokota teaches a liquid ejection device (Fig. 7), comprising:
a controller (note paragraph [0050] and claim 11 of English language translation describes a “drive voltage” and “drive control unit”), the controller configured to cause the liquid ejection head to eject liquid. Furthermore, Yokota as modified by Nariai et al. renders obvious a liquid ejection head according to claim 13 (see the comments with respect to claim 18 above). Thus, the liquid ejection device of claim 20 is obvious in view of Yokota as modified by Nariai et al.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Arimoto (US 2013/0208059 A1), Suzuki et al. (US 2009/0225135 A1), and Hamano (US 11,390,078 B2) each teach a liquid ejection head including pressure chambers, common liquid chambers, and coupling flow channels having similarities to the claimed subject matter that are readily apparent.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LESLIE J THOMPSON whose telephone number is (571) 272-2161. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-6:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Stephen D Meier can be reached at 571-272-7149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Leslie J Thompson/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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