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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-14 are pending in this application.
Drawings
The drawings received on 8/14/2024 are accepted for examination purposes.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 2/3/2025, 10/30/2025 and 11/30/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 7-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuura Hiroki (JP-2012-014586A) [hereinafter Hiroki].
As to Claim 1, Hiroko teaches ‘An image processing method, applied to a driver-end device, comprising: obtaining an image-to-be-printed and extracting a text part and an image part from the image-to-be-printed [par 0008-0009, 0015-0017, 0070 – document data including text object (characters) and a graphic object (background) overlapped are separated based on different image processing characteristics]; converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data [par 0017, 0085-0086 – generating and converting raster data containing only graphic objects to be separate page information]; converting the extracted text part into a page description language [par 0017, 0092-0093 – generating raster data containing only text objects to be separate page information and converting the raster data into PDL data]; generating an image instruction based on the first image data and inserting the image instruction into the page description language to form a target page description language [par 0017-0020, 0086, 0093 – converting the raster data of the graphic object into PDL data that can be interpreted by the MFP and sending the raster data for each object or sending all the raster data for an entire page at once (i.e., combining text and graphic objects)]; and sending the target page description language to an image forming device to execute an image forming job [par 0086, 0093 – sending the PDL of text with graphic objects to the MFP]’.
Further, in regards to claim 8, image processing method of claim 1 is fully embodied on the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8.
As to Claims 2 and 9, Hiroki teaches ‘prior to converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data, further comprising: creating a first page and a second page, wherein the first page is configured to describe the text part, and the second page is configured to describe the image part [par 0017, 0020, 0070 – parsing repeats of text objects above graphical objects and separating the different objects from each other to generate separate page information (i.e., separate pages) and rasterizes each page information separately]’.
As to Claims 3 and 10, Hiroki teaches ‘wherein converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data comprises: converting all the extracted image parts into pixel-level image data on the second page [par 0009, 0077-0078 – generating raster data for image processing of graphic objects in units of pixels]’.
As to Claim 7, Hiroki teaches ‘An image processing method, applied to an image forming device, comprising: restoring a page based on a received target page description language to obtain a third page; performing different halftone conversions on an image and text from the third page; and integrating the halftone converted image and text into a raster image, and executing printing based on the raster image [par 0077, 0098-0099, 0101-0109 – MFP receiving PDL data, where the image and graphic objects are subjected image processing including dithering and performs printing of the data]’.
As to Claim 14, Hiroki teaches ‘wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform: sending the target page description language to the image forming device to execute the image forming job by restoring a page based on the target page description language to obtain a third page; performing different halftone conversions on an image and text from the third page; and integrating the halftone converted image and text into a raster image, and executing printing based on the raster image [par 0077, 0098-0099, 0101-0109 – MFP receiving combined PDL data, where the image and graphic objects are subjected image processing including dithering and performs printing of the data]’.
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) 4-6 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiroki in view of Nguyen et al. (US-2002/0039198).
As to Claims 4 and 11, Hiroki teaches all of the claimed elements/features as recited in independent claims 1 and 8, respectively. Hiroki does not disclose expressly ‘prior to converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data, comprising: according to the extracted text part and image part, determining whether there is an overlap between the text part and the image part; when there is no overlap, continuing to execute the step of converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data; when there is an overlap, cancelling subsequent steps, generating one second image instruction based on the text part and the image part, and sending the page description language that comprises the second image instruction to the image forming device to execute the image forming job’, although Hiroki teaches determining if two objects of different types overlap, performing a separate operation for overlapped objects and generating raster data into PDL data to send to MFP for printing [Figs 6, 12 (S40), par 0066-0069].
Nguyen in the proposed combination of Hiroki teaches ‘prior to converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data, comprising: according to the extracted text part and image part, determining whether there is an overlap between the text part and the image part; when there is no overlap, continuing to execute the step of converting all extracted image parts on one page into first image data; when there is an overlap, cancelling subsequent steps, generating one second image instruction based on the text part and the image part, and sending the page description language that comprises the second image instruction to the image forming device to execute the image forming job [par 0009-0010, 0024-0025, 0028-0030 – if it is determined there is no overlap between a text and graphic object, sending each non-overlapped text and/or graphic object directly to printer by driver, however if it is determined there is overlap (i.e., overlap of location of bitmap bounding rectangle) by driver, storing union bitmap location information to output buffer to output data to printer]’.
Hiroki and Nguyen are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely digital image data printing systems. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to include a printer driver generating and storing union bitmap location information of overlapped text and graphic objects, as taught by Nguyen. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhancing performance and greater speed allowing advanced printer functions to be taken advantage of to the greatest extent possible without loss or degradation of printer performance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Nguyen with Hiroki to obtain the invention as specified I claims 4 and 11.
As to Claims 5 and 12, Nguyen teaches ‘wherein determining whether there is the overlap between the text part and the image part comprises: determining an outline area of the image part, and determining whether a pixel position of the text part overlaps with the outline area of the image part [par 0009-0010, 0024-0025, 0028-0030 – if it is determined there is no overlap between a text and graphic object, sending each non-overlapped text and/or graphic object directly to printer by driver, however if it is determined there is overlap (i.e., overlap of location of bitmap bounding rectangle) by driver, storing union bitmap location information to output buffer to output data to printer]’.
Hiroki and Nguyen are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely digital image data printing systems. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to include a printer driver generating and storing union bitmap location information of overlapped text and graphic objects, as taught by Nguyen. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhancing performance and greater speed allowing advanced printer functions to be taken advantage of to the greatest extent possible without loss or degradation of printer performance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Nguyen with Hiroki to obtain the invention as specified I claims 5 and 12.
As to Claim 6 and 13, Nguyen teaches ‘wherein determining the outline area of the image part comprises: determining a minimum coordinate and a maximum coordinate of an image in the image part; and determining an outline area of the image according to a rectangular frame determined by the minimum coordinate and the maximum coordinate [Fig 4 (174, 176, 166), par 0009-0010, 0024-0025, 0028-0031 – if it is determined there is no overlap between a text and graphic object, sending each non-overlapped text and/or graphic object directly to printer by driver, however if it is determined there is overlaps (i.e., overlap of location of bitmap bounding rectangles with different coordinates and sizes of text and graphic objects) by driver, storing union bitmap location information to output buffer to output data to printer]’.
Hiroki and Nguyen are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, namely digital image data printing systems. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to include a printer driver generating and storing union bitmap location information of overlapped text and graphic objects, as taught by Nguyen. The motivation for doing so would have been to enhancing performance and greater speed allowing advanced printer functions to be taken advantage of to the greatest extent possible without loss or degradation of printer performance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Nguyen with Hiroki to obtain the invention as specified I claims 6 and 13.
Conclusion
a. JP Publication No. 2012-014586A
b. US Publication No. 2002/0039198
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
c. US Publication No. 2013/0128313
d. US Publication No. 2009/0284777
e. US Publication No. 2006/0007481
f. US Patent No. 8,279,472
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MIYA J CATO whose telephone number is (571)270-3954. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 830-530.
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/MIYA J CATO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
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