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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7, 13, and 14 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. Reasons for allowance will be provided in the event the application becomes in condition for allowance.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 8, 10-12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHARP (“SHARP Teams Connector Software User Guide”, copy provided, see PTO-892) in view of Devaux et al. (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2024/0370691).
Regarding claim 1, SHARP (“SHARP Teams Connector Software User Guide”, copy provided, see PTO-892) discloses:
An image processing apparatus comprising:
one or more processors and one or more memories (pages 7-10, the computerized processes within imply a processor and memory), cooperating to:
scan an image of a document and generate image data (page 7, “USING Teams Connector”, an original is scanned by the system to produce scanned data);
transmit the generated image data to a destination specified by a user (page 10, the user can select a folder the image data can be saved to);
accept a designation of a channel of a chat service (page 10, the user can additionally specify the team and channel of Microsoft Teams); and
transmit information about the designated channel and the generated image data to a server that provides the chat service, in response to the transmitting of the image data to the destination (pages 7 and 10, the scanned data and Team/Channel specification is sent to the Microsoft Teams cloud, with consists of servers hosting the cloud service)
Even assuming arguendo SHARP does not explicitly disclose:
transmit information about the designated channel and the generated image data to a server
Devaux et al. (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2024/0370691) discloses:
one or more processors and one or more memories (paragraphs [0063], [0069])
transmit information about the designated channel and the generated image data to a server (paragraphs [0056]-[0059], users through client devices interact with chat channels on platforms such as MS Teams hosted on servers through various means including image sharing)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the system of Devaux et al. with the system of SHARP such that the system would have been configured to transmit information about the designated channel and the generated image data to a server as described in Devaux et al. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to implement a system capable of allowing “one or more ways to share information between users” (paragraph [0059] of the Devaux reference).
Regarding claim 3, SHARP additionally discloses:
wherein the one or more processors and the one or more memories further cooperate to:
receive information about a plurality of channels of the chat service (page 10, the user is shown channels that they can tap to select), and
accept the designation of the channel by accepting a selection by a user from the plurality of channels indicated by the received information about the plurality of channels (page 10, the user taps the desired channel)
Regarding claim 4, SHARP additionally discloses:
wherein the one or more processors and the one or more memories further cooperate to: register the information about the designated channel, and register the information about the channel in association with a user of the image processing apparatus (pages 7 and 10, the teams and channels for the specific user are registered in association with the Teams Connector such that the user can browse them as destinations)
Regarding claim 5, SHARP additionally discloses:
wherein the one or more processors and the one or more memories further cooperate to transmit the information about the designated channel and the generated image data to the server, in response to completing the transmission of the image data to the destination (pages 7 and 10, subsequent to the user’s selection of the folder, team, and channel, the scanned data and Team/Channel specification is sent to the Microsoft Teams cloud, with consists of servers hosting the cloud service)
Regarding claim 8, arguments analogous to claim 1 are applicable. The computer readable medium is implicitly taught in SHARP as evidenced by the image forming system executing the computerized Teams Connector processes as described (see pages 3-10). Further, Devaux explicitly discloses embodiment of computerized functions on a computer readable medium (see paragraphs [0028], [0069] of Devaux).
Regarding claim 10, arguments analogous to claim 3 are applicable. The computer readable medium is implicitly taught in SHARP as evidenced by the image forming system executing the computerized Teams Connector processes as described (see pages 3-10). Further, Devaux explicitly discloses embodiment of computerized functions on a computer readable medium (see paragraphs [0028], [0069] of Devaux).
Regarding claim 11, arguments analogous to claim 4 are applicable. The computer readable medium is implicitly taught in SHARP as evidenced by the image forming system executing the computerized Teams Connector processes as described (see pages 3-10). Further, Devaux explicitly discloses embodiment of computerized functions on a computer readable medium (see paragraphs [0028], [0069] of Devaux).
Regarding claim 12, arguments analogous to claim 5 are applicable. The computer readable medium is implicitly taught in SHARP as evidenced by the image forming system executing the computerized Teams Connector processes as described (see pages 3-10). Further, Devaux explicitly discloses embodiment of computerized functions on a computer readable medium (see paragraphs [0028], [0069] of Devaux).
Regarding claim 15, the structural elements of apparatus claim 1 perform all of the steps of method claim 15. Thus, claim 15 is rejected for the same reasons discussed in the rejection of claim 1.
Claim(s) 2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharp in view of Devaux, further in view of Skelton (“Sharp Adds Microsoft Teams Connector and Native Universal Print to Advanced and Essentials Series MFPs”, copy provided, see PTO-892)
Regarding claim 2, SHARP additionally discloses:
wherein the image data is posted to the designated channel as a result of the transmitting of the information about the designated channel and the generated image data to the server (pages 7 and 10, the scanned data and Team/Channel specification is sent to the Microsoft Teams cloud, with consists of servers hosting the cloud service; this posts the image data to the designated channel)
Even assuming arguendo that SHARP does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the image data is posted to the designated channel as a result of the transmitting of the information about the designated channel and the generated image data to the server
Skelton (“Sharp Adds Microsoft Teams Connector and Native Universal Print to Advanced and Essentials Series MFPs”, copy provided, see PTO-892) discloses:
wherein the image data is posted to the designated channel as a result of the transmitting of the information about the designated channel and the generated image data to the server (page 2, the MS teams collaboration allows for easy scanning to Teams channels within the SHARP system)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the system of Skelton with the combination of SHARP and Devaux such that the system would post the image data to the designated channel as a result of the transmitting of the information about the designated channel and the generated image data to the server as described in Skelton. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to implement a system allowing “for greater workflow efficiency” (page 2 of the Skelton reference).
Regarding claim 9, arguments analogous to claim 2 are applicable. The computer readable medium is implicitly taught in SHARP as evidenced by the image forming system executing the computerized Teams Connector processes as described (see pages 3-10). Further, Devaux explicitly discloses embodiment of computerized functions on a computer readable medium (see paragraphs [0028], [0069] of Devaux).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN R WALLACE whose telephone number is (571)270-1577. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benny Tieu can be reached at 571-272-7490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN R WALLACE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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