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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/31/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s) discussed below.
Reference JP 2015111365 A is a general background reference covering: To provide a mechanism which transmits a file to a server device, according to a print instruction for the file, and generates a paper document with information for acquiring the file from the server device.
SOLUTION: On receipt of a print instruction for a file from a user, an information processing apparatus 101 uploads the file to a cloud server 103. The cloud server 103 transmits a URL of a storage where the uploaded file can be downloaded, to the information processing apparatus 101. The information processing apparatus 101 generates print data including the file and the storage URL, and transmits a print instruction to an image processing apparatus 102. (see abstract).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-18 in the reply filed on 08/18/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that being subjected to substantially the same search. This is not found persuasive because as stated in Election/Restrictions:
Claims 1-9, 16-18 drawn to a sprinting apparatus and printing management server classified in class 358, subclass 1.9.
Claims 10-15 drawn to mobile device classified in class 379.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 1-9, 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizusawa et al. (Mizusawa) (US 2024/0073350 A1) in view of Kikuchi (US 9,405,491 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Mizusawa discloses a printing apparatus comprising:
a reading unit that reads a two-dimensional code including an encoded completion condition for the printing apparatus to satisfy in order to complete printing processing according to a print job stored in a printing management server and an encoded identifier of the print job (e.g., there is provided an information processing system including a server and an information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus including: a code reader that reads a first two-dimensional code displayed on a display device by an instruction from the server or a second two-dimensional code printed using a printer by an instruction from the server, paragraph 7);
Mizusawa does not specifically disclose a settings obtaining unit that obtains behavior settings specifying a behavior of the printing apparatus for a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition; and an executing unit that executes a behavior specified by the behavior settings in a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition.
Kikuchi discloses a settings obtaining unit that obtains behavior settings specifying a behavior of the printing apparatus for a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition; and an executing unit that executes a behavior specified by the behavior settings in a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition (e.g., The printer image processing unit 314 performs processing, such as correction and resolution conversion corresponding to the printer engine 301, on image data to be printed for output. The image edit processing unit 315 performs various types of image processing such as rotation of image data and compression/decompression of image data, paragraph 53).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Mizusawa to include a settings obtaining unit that obtains behavior settings specifying a behavior of the printing apparatus for a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition; and an executing unit that executes a behavior specified by the behavior settings in a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition as taught by Kikuchi. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Mizusawa by the teaching of Kikuchi to use for a particular application.
Regarding claim 2, Kikuchi discloses wherein the behavior settings specify continuing the printing processing, suspending the printing processing, or asking a user whether to continue the printing processing (e.g., The print management server 107 can thus store delivery time information about a sheet (print product) to be printed by the execution of a print job along with the print job. The print management server 107 also has a function of transmitting a print job stored in the HDD to the print server 101 according to a predetermined print schedule, paragraph 27).
Regarding claim 3, Kikuchi discloses further comprising: a job obtaining unit that obtains the print job from the printing management server in a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus satisfies the completion condition (e.g., A user can directly operate the information processing apparatus 104 to check the status of a print job and the statuses of the print server 101, the print management server 107, and the printing apparatus 102. The user can directly or remotely operate the print server 101 to store attribute information about a sheet into, for example, a storage unit (HDD) included in the printing apparatus 102 as a setting value of a sheet holding unit of the printing apparatus 102, paragraph 31).
Regarding claim 4, Mizusawa discloses wherein the behavior settings are also encoded in the two-dimensional code, and the settings obtaining unit obtains the behavior settings from the two-dimensional code (e.g., there is provided an information processing method including: reading a two-dimensional code including processing information indicating processing regarding a sample color; selecting first processing or second processing regarding the sample color based on the processing information, paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 5, Kikuchi discloses further comprising: a storing unit that stores the behavior settings, wherein the settings obtaining unit obtains the behavior settings from the storing unit (e.g., a printing apparatus, capable of communication with a print management server configured to be able to store delivery time information about a print product along with a print job, includes an obtaining unit configured to obtain attribute information about a sheet specified by the print job stored in the print management server according to the delivery time information, paragraph 7).
Regarding claim 6, Mizusawa discloses wherein first behavior settings are also encoded in the two-dimensional code, the printing apparatus further includes a storing unit that stores second behavior settings, the settings obtaining unit obtains the first behavior settings or the second behavior settings according to settings (e.g., there is provided an information processing apparatus including: a code reader configured to read a two-dimensional code including processing information indicating processing regarding a sample color; a selection section configured to select first processing or second processing regarding the sample color based on the processing information; and a screen controller configured to display a first screen for displaying information regarding the first processing or a second screen for displaying information regarding the second processing in accordance with a result selected by the selection section, paragraph 5), and
the executing unit executes behavior specified by the first behavior settings or the second behavior settings obtained by the settings obtaining unit in a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy the completion condition (e.g., processing information indicating processing regarding a sample color; selecting first processing or second processing regarding the sample color based on the processing information; and displaying a first screen for displaying information regarding the first processing or a second screen for displaying information regarding the second processing in accordance with a selected result, paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 7, Mizusawa discloses wherein the completion condition includes at least one of a condition relating to an amount of a consumable necessary for completing the printing processing, and a condition relating to a function necessary for completing the printing processing (e.g., The user is able to make an adjustment at the time of printing so as to print printed matter in a desired color by using the printer 30. The user is able to print printed matter including the same color as a sample color determined to be a specific color by the printer 30 by using the adjustment function, paragraph 32).
Regarding claim 8, Mizusawa discloses wherein the executing unit suspends the printing processing in a case where an error occurs in the printing apparatus when the reading unit reads the two-dimensional code (e.g., In the example illustrated in FIG. 12, the second two-dimensional code Cd2 is printed on the left of the chart Ch, and the patches Pt1 to Pt3 for three colors are printed to the right of the second two-dimensional code Cd2. Further, in the example illustrated in FIG. 12, each of the patches Pt1 to Pt3 is associated with a number. The colors of these patches Pt1 to Pt3 are correctly specified by respective color measurement values. However, by a color reproduction error due to a change over the years of the printer 30, the color profiles, and the like, the patches Pt1 to Pt3 usually do not match the respective color measurement values, paragraph 94).
Regarding claim 9, claim 9 is a method for controlling a printing apparatus with limitations similar of limitations of claim 1. Therefore, claim 9 is rejected as set forth above as claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, Mizusawa discloses a printing management server comprising: a receiving unit that receives, from a mobile device, an issue code request, the issue code request including target print data of printing processing (e.g., patch information, fig. 2), print settings for the printing processing (e.g., FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the server 10. The server 10 includes a processor 10a, a communication section 10b, and a nonvolatile memory 10c. The processor 10a includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like that are not illustrated in FIG. 2, and is able to execute various programs recorded in the nonvolatile memory 10c so as to control each section of the server 10 and each device coupled to the network, paragraph 37), and
a generating unit that generates a two-dimensional code including an encoded completion condition and an encoded identifier of a print job relating to the printing processing; and a transmitting unit that transmits the two-dimensional code to the mobile device (e.g., FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the processing information included in the two-dimensional code. In FIG. 6, an item of the processing information is illustrated on the left, and the contents of each item are illustrated on the right. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the processing information includes information indicating a processing type. The processing type indicates the processing on a sample color. In the present embodiment, when the processing type is 1, it is regarded that the specification processing of a sample color is to be selected, whereas when the processing type is 2, it is regarded that the color matching on a sample color is to be selected, paragraph 65);
Mizusawa does not specifically disclose behavior settings specifying a behavior of a printing apparatus for a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy a completion condition to be satisfied in order to complete the printing processing.
Kikuchi discloses behavior settings specifying a behavior of a printing apparatus for a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy a completion condition to be satisfied in order to complete the printing processing (e.g., The printer image processing unit 314 performs processing, such as correction and resolution conversion corresponding to the printer engine 301, on image data to be printed for output. The image edit processing unit 315 performs various types of image processing such as rotation of image data and compression/decompression of image data, paragraph 53).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Mizusawa to include behavior settings specifying a behavior of a printing apparatus for a case where it is determined that the printing apparatus does not satisfy a completion condition to be satisfied in order to complete the printing processing as taught by Kikuchi. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have modified Mizusawa by the teaching of Kikuchi to apply for a particular application.
Regarding claim 17, Mizusawa discloses wherein the behavior settings include first behavior settings, and the printing management server further includes a storing unit that stores second behavior settings (e.g., when printed matter includes a sample color, the user is able to specify the sample color and perform color matching on the sample color, and then print the sample color on the printer 30. In the present embodiment, when printed matter includes a sample color, print data includes the Lab values of the sample color and information indicating a pixel to be printed in the sample color, paragraph 61), and a determining unit that determines whether the printing apparatus is to execute a behavior specified in the first behavior settings or the second behavior settings (e.g., further, the print data is associated with correction data 10c3 for printing the sample color as a specified color, and is transmitted from the server 10, paragraph 61).
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 is a method for controlling a printing management server with limitations similar of limitations of claim 16. Therefore claim 18 is rejected as set forth above as claim 16.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG N VO whose telephone number is (571)270-1121. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 7AM-4PM, EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached at 571-270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QUANG N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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