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 under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/07/24 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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, 5, 6, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwasaki US 20130163036 in view of Kashioka US 20100007928 further in view of Ishihara et al US 20130321861
Regarding claim 1, Iwasaki teaches An image processing apparatus (image forming apparatus 30 (paragraph 0085) comprising:
a user interface that accepts an operation by a user (operation panel 35 is, for example, a touch panel that displays various types of information items and that receives an operation input from a user (paragraph 0090);
a communicator that receives a scan instruction (communication I/F 38 performs transmission and reception of various types of information items among other apparatuses via a network (paragraph 0093);
a scanner that scans a document based on the scan instruction to generate image data, wherein the communicator transmits the generated image data (image reading section 36 reads an image recorded on a recording medium such as a sheet of paper. Here, the image reading section 36 is, for example, a scanner. (paragraph 0091);
one or more controllers including one or more processors and one or more memories (CPU 31 loads, into the RAM 32, (paragraph 0085-0086),
perform registration processing to register the image processing apparats to transmit the generated image data to a cloud server (administrator registers the image forming apparatus 30, which is one of the two or more image forming apparatuses, as a print destination with the cloud print server 50 (paragraph 0023); and
Iwasaki fails to teach the one or more controllers is configured to:
enable a setting requiring the operation by the user to cause the document to be scanned based on the scan instruction;
wherein the user interface displays information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed.
Kashioka teaches the one or more controllers is configured to:
enable a setting requiring the operation by the user to cause the document to be scanned based on the scan instruction (digital multifunction peripheral 20 allows a scan and transmit button 40 to be preset and registered (paragraph 0037);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki to include the one or more controllers is configured to:
enable a setting requiring the operation by the user to cause the document to be scanned based on the scan instruction;
wherein the user interface displays information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed
The reason of doing so would be to a document to be scanned by a desired image processing device.
Iwasaski in view of Kashioka fails to teach wherein the user interface displays information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed.
Ishihara et al teaches wherein the user interface displays information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed (the message displayed on the screen. For registering the printer in the print service 340, a condition is required where the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. Hence, any content may be described in the message 402 so long as the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. "Please accept a setting such that the printer to be registered utilizes the print service 340", "please accept a setting of an encrypted communication" and the like are contemplated other than the content described in the message 402 (paragraph 0049).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki in view of Kashioka to include wherein the user interface displays information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed
The reason of doing so would be notify a user to enable a setting to be used.
Regarding claim 5, Iwasaski in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al teaches wherein the information for urging the user to enable the setting is a message to urge the user to enable the setting (Ishihara et al: the message displayed on the screen. For registering the printer in the print service 340, a condition is required where the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. Hence, any content may be described in the message 402 so long as the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. "Please accept a setting such that the printer to be registered utilizes the print service 340", "please accept a setting of an encrypted communication" and the like are contemplated other than the content described in the message 402 (paragraph 0049).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki in view of Kashioka to include wherein the information for urging the user to enable the setting is a message to urge the user to enable the setting
The reason of doing so would be notify a user to enable a setting to be used.
Regarding claim 6, Iwasaki teaches an image processing method (image forming apparatus 30 (paragraph 0085) comprising:
receiving a scan instruction (operation panel 35 receives an operation input from a user (paragraph 0090);
accepting an operation by a user (operation panel 35 is, for example, a touch panel that displays various types of information items and that receives an operation input from a user (paragraph 0090);
scanning a document based on the scan instruction to generate image data (image reading section 36 reads an image recorded on a recording medium such as a sheet of paper. Here, the image reading section 36 is, for example, a scanner. (paragraph 0091);
transmitting the generated image data (communication I/F 38 performs transmission and reception of various types of information items among other apparatuses via a network (paragraph 0093);
performing registration processing to register the image processing apparats for transmitting the generated image data to a cloud server in the transmitting (administrator registers the image forming apparatus 30, which is one of the two or more image forming apparatuses, as a print destination with the cloud print server 50 (paragraph 0023); and
Iwasaki fails to teach enabling a setting that requires accepting the operation by the user in the accepting for causing the document to be scanned based on the scan instruction in the scanning;
Kashioka teaches enabling a setting that requires accepting the operation by the user in the accepting for causing the document to be scanned based on the scan instruction in the scanning (digital multifunction peripheral 20 allows a scan and transmit button 40 to be preset and registered (paragraph 0037);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki to include enabling a setting that requires accepting the operation by the user in the accepting for causing the document to be scanned based on the scan instruction in the scanning;
The reason of doing so would be to a document to be scanned by a desired image processing device.
Iwasaki in view of Kashioka fails to teach displaying information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed.
Ishihara et al teaches displaying information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed (the message displayed on the screen. For registering the printer in the print service 340, a condition is required where the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. Hence, any content may be described in the message 402 so long as the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. "Please accept a setting such that the printer to be registered utilizes the print service 340", "please accept a setting of an encrypted communication" and the like are contemplated other than the content described in the message 402 (paragraph 0049).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki in view of Kashioka to include displaying information that urges the user to enable the setting when the registration processing is being performed
The reason of doing so would be notify a user to enable a setting to be used.
Regarding claim 10, Iwasaski in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al wherein the information to urge the user to enable the setting is a message to urge the user to enable the setting (Ishihara et al: the message displayed on the screen. For registering the printer in the print service 340, a condition is required where the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. Hence, any content may be described in the message 402 so long as the printer can send printer information to the print service 340. "Please accept a setting such that the printer to be registered utilizes the print service 340", "please accept a setting of an encrypted communication" and the like are contemplated other than the content described in the message 402 (paragraph 0049).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki in view of Kashioka to include wherein the information to urge the user to enable the setting is a message to urge the user to enable the setting
The reason of doing so would be notify a user to enable a setting to be used.
Claim(s) 3 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwasaki US 20130163036 in view of Kashioka US 20100007928 further in view of Ishihara et al US 20130321861 further in view of Tomioka US 20220070310
Iwasaski in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al teaches all of the limitations of claim 1
Iwasaski in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al fails to teach wherein the communicator receives the scan instruction from the cloud server.
Tomioka teaches wherein the communicator receives the scan instruction from the cloud server (a scan instruction is transmitted from the cloud management server 103 to the MFP 105 (paragraph 0057).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al to include wherein the communicator receives the scan instruction from the cloud server
The reason of doing so would be to store and retrieve scan information.
Regarding claim 8, Iwasaski in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al teaches all of the limitations of claim 1
Iwasaski in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al fails to teach wherein the scan instruction is received from the cloud server in the receiving.
Tomioka teaches wherein the scan instruction is received from the cloud server in the receiving (a scan instruction is transmitted from the cloud management server 103 to the MFP 105 (paragraph 0057).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Iwasaki in view of Kashioka further in view of Ishihara et al to include wherein the scan instruction is received from the cloud server in the receiving
The reason of doing so would be to store and retrieve scan information.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 7 and 9 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to Michael Burleson whose telephone number is (571) 272-7460 and fax number is (571) 273-7460. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30p.m. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Akwasi Sarpong can be reached at (571) 270- 3438.
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Michael Burleson
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2681
Michael Burleson
July 10, 2026
/MICHAEL BURLESON/
/AKWASI M SARPONG/SPE, Art Unit 2681 7/20/2026
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