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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 2/15/2022. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the 2022-021363 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-8, 10-14, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nonaka (JP2021041549) in view of Nagasawa (JP2014159130)
Regarding claims 1, 16, a printing device comprising: a transport device that transports a long substrate (102) along a transport path and that winds the substrate with a winding device (117) (Figure 11; Paragraphs 0150-0155)
An ink applying device (100) that is disposed in the transport path and that applies an ink to a printing surface of the substrate (Figure 11; Paragraphs 0148, 0164-0173)
A pretreatment liquid applying device (104) that is disposed on an upstream side of the ink applying device in the transport path and that applies a pretreatment liquid to the printing surface of the substrate (Figure 11; Paragraph 0150, 0160)
A first drying device (109) that is disposed on a downstream side of the ink applying device in the transport path and that dries the ink applied to the printing surface of the substrate (Figure 11; Paragraph 0150); at least one processor (200; Paragraph 0089-0090)
Nagasawa discloses stopping transport of the substrate once an end part that is an end of a region of the printing surface of the substrate, to which the pretreatment liquid is applied, reaches between the first drying device and the winding device, in a case of stopping the transport of the substrate (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0049-0064)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Nagasawa into the device of Nonaka, for the purpose of heating a recording medium while inhibiting damages occurring on the recording medium
Regarding claim 2, wherein the first drying device includes a pass roller that comes into contact with the printing surface of the substrate (Figure 11; conveyance path rollers are used with the drying device 109)
Regarding claim 3, a second drying device (113; drum heater) that is disposed on the downstream side of the first drying device in the transport path (Figure 11; Paragraphs 0150-0151, 0177-0178)
Wherein the processor is configured to: set the first drying device to a first temperature and set the second drying device to a second temperature lower than the first temperature (Claim 1)
Regarding claim 7, wherein the pretreatment liquid contains an organic solvent, and a content of the organic solvent is less than 5 percent by mass with respect to a total mass of the pretreatment liquid (Paragraphs 0055, 0203)
Regarding claim 8, Nonaka discloses the claimed invention except for wherein the first drying device performs drying until an organic solvent remaining amount of a surface of the substrate becomes 0.5 gsm or less. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use the first drying device performs drying until an organic solvent remaining amount of a surface of the substrate becomes 0.5 gsm or less, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use first drying device performs drying until an organic solvent remaining amount of a surface of the substrate becomes 0.5 gsm or less, for the purpose of providing a printing device that is less likely to cause deformation or wrinkles in a substrate at printing and excellent in ink drying property (Abstract)
Regarding claim 10, Nonaka discloses the claimed invention except for wherein the pretreatment liquid applying device applies 0.5 gsm or more and 10 gsm or less of the pretreatment liquid to the substrate. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use the pretreatment liquid applying device applies 0.5 gsm or more and 10 gsm or less of the pretreatment liquid to the substrate, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the pretreatment liquid applying device applies 0.5 gsm or more and 10 gsm or less of the pretreatment liquid to the substrate, for the purpose of providing a printing device that is less likely to cause deformation or wrinkles in a substrate at printing and excellent in ink drying property (Abstract)
Regarding claim 11, Nonaka discloses the pretreatment liquid applying device includes a pretreatment liquid drying device (105) that dries the pretreatment liquid applied to the substrate (Figure 11; Paragraph 0150)
Nonaka discloses the claimed invention except for the pretreatment liquid drying device performs drying until a remaining water amount of a surface of the substrate becomes 0.1 gsm or less. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use the pretreatment liquid drying device performs drying until a remaining water amount of a surface of the substrate becomes 0.1 gsm or less, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the pretreatment liquid applying device applies 0.5 gsm or more and 10 gsm or less of the pretreatment liquid to the substrate, for the purpose of providing a printing device that is less likely to cause deformation or wrinkles in a substrate at printing and excellent in ink drying property (Abstract)
Regarding claim 12, wherein the pretreatment liquid applying device includes a pretreatment liquid drying device that dries the pretreatment liquid applied to the substrate (Figure 11; Paragraph 0150)
The pretreatment liquid drying device makes a temperature of the substrate 30°C or more and 90°C or less (Paragraph 0194)
Regarding claim 13, wherein the transport device transports the substrate by applying tension of 20 newtons or more and 200 newtons or less per meter to the substrate in a case of applying the pretreatment liquid (Paragraph 0050)
Regarding claim 14, wherein the transport device transports the substrate by applying tension of 20 newtons or more and 150 newtons or less per meter to the substrate in a case of drying the ink (Paragraph 0050)
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nonaka (JP2021041549) as modified by Nagasawa (JP2014159130) and further in view of Takeuchi (U.S. Pub. 2020/0398600)
Regarding claim 9, Takeuchi discloses a pretreatment liquid does not contain an organic solvent (pretreatment solution contains water as the solvent) (Paragraphs 0110-0111)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Takeuchi into the device of Nonaka as modified by Nagasawa, for the purpose of providing a printed product which is superior in a friction fastness and texture
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nonaka (JP2021041549) as modified by Nagasawa (JP2014159130) and further in view of Miura et al (U.S. Pub. 2009/0047419)
Regarding claim 15, Miura discloses it is known in the art to use an imaging device capture an end edge or position of a substrate (Paragraph 0103)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Miura into the device of Nonaka as modified by Nagasawa, for the purpose of determining the position of the substrate within the conveyance path
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 are 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.
The primary reason for the allowance of claim 4 is the inclusion of the limitation of wherein the pretreatment liquid contains a resin of which a softening temperature is T, and the Ts satisfies a relationship of the first temperature > the Ts > the second temperature. It is this limitation found in each of the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, that has not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for the allowance of claims 5-6 is the inclusion of the limitation of wherein the pretreatment liquid contains a resin of which a softening temperature is Ts, the processor is configured to: set the first drying device to a first temperature in a printing mode in which the substrate is transported and set the first drying device to a third temperature in a printing standby mode in which the transport of the substrate is stopped, and the Ts satisfies a relationship of the first temperature > the Ts > the third temperature. It is this limitation found in each of the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, that has not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON S UHLENHAKE whose telephone number is (571)272-5916. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/JASON S UHLENHAKE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853 January 23, 2026