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
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited on a Form PTO 1449 have been considered.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 11-13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hosaka (US Pub. 2023/0226815).
Note: The method steps are inherently taught in the apparatus device/limitations in the rejections as follow:
Hosaka discloses in Figures 1-3 an ink jet printer comprising:
Regarding claim 1, a conveyor (101) that conveys a recording medium (108) (Figure 1, paragraph 0037);
an image former (100) that forms an image on the recording medium (108) (Figure 1, paragraph 0019); and
a detector (152) that detects a state of the recording medium (108), wherein, the image former (100) includes, a first ejection head (118) that ejects a first liquid (pretreatment liquid) onto the recording medium (108), and a second ejection head (118) that ejects a second liquid onto the recording medium (108), and the detector (151) detects a state of the recording medium (108) after the first liquid is ejected by the first ejection head (118) and before the second liquid is ejected by the second ejection head (118) (Figures 1 and 4, paragraph 0021-0022, 0027, 0042 and 0080).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the first liquid is a pretreatment liquid and the second liquid is ink (Figure 1, paragraph 0080);
Regarding claim 3, wherein the first liquid is ink and the second liquid is a post-processing liquid (Figure 4, paragraph 0040);
Regarding claim 5, the inkjet recording apparatus (100) comprising a carriage (110) that conveys the first ejection head (118) and the second ejection head (118) in a width direction
orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the recording medium (108) (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 11, wherein, the first ejection head (118) is mounted on an upstream side of the second ejection head (118) in a conveyance direction of the recording medium (108), and the detector (152) is provided on a downstream side of the first ejection head (118) in the conveyance direction (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 12, wherein, the first ejection head (118) and the second ejection head (118) are mounted substantially parallel to the width direction of the carriage (110), and the detector (152) is provided on a straight line parallel to a nozzle row of the second ejection head (118) (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 13, wherein the recording medium (108) is a cloth (Figure 1, paragraph 0003);
Regarding claim 16, an inkjet recording method of an inkjet recording apparatus (100), the inkjet recording apparatus including, a first ejection head (118) that ejects a first liquid (pretreatment liquid) onto a recording medium (108), and a second ejection head(118) that ejects a second liquid (ink) onto the recording medium (108), the inkjet recording method comprising:
* conveying the recording medium (108) (Figure 1, paragraph 0037);
* forming an image on the recording medium (Figure 1, paragraph 0019); and
* detecting a state of the recording medium (108), wherein in the detecting, a state of the recording medium (108) after the first liquid (pretreatment liquid) is ejected by the first ejection head (118) and before the second liquid (ink) is ejected by the second ejection head (118) is detected (Figures 1 and 4, paragraph 0021-0022, 0027, 0042 and 0080).
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 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.
Claims 4 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosaka (US Pub. 2023/0226815) in view of Otsuka et al. (US 2018/0056678).
Hosaka discloses the basic features of claimed invention as stated above but does not disclose the detector that detects lifting of the recording medium from a reference surface; wherein the detector includes a hardware processor that detects the lifting of the recording medium after the recording medium is conveyed by the conveyor, and causes the image former to form the image in a case in which the lifting does not exceed a predetermined threshold value; and wherein the predetermined threshold value is a distance between the second ejection head and the reference surface.
Otsuka et al. disclose in Figures 1-3 a recording apparatus comprising:
Regarding claim 4, wherein the detector (40) detects lifting of the recording medium (M) from a reference surface (H2) (Figure 1).
Regarding claim 14, wherein the detector (40) includes a hardware processor (42, 50) that detects the lifting of the recording medium (M) after the recording medium (M) is conveyed by the conveyor (20), and causes the image former (31) to form the image in a case in which the lifting does not exceed a predetermined threshold value (H2) (Figures 1-2, paragraph 0079).
Regarding claim 15, wherein the predetermined threshold value (H2) is a distance between the second ejection head (31) and the reference surface (H2) (Figure 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Otsuka et al. in the Hosaka’s ink jet printer for the purpose of performing recording with respect to a medium at a prescribed distance.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. These prior art references (US Pat. 9,321,921; US Pat. 6,899,417; US Pub. 2020/0247148; US Pub. 2020/0391533; US Pub. 0291551) cited in the PTO 892 form show an ink jet printer which is deemed to be relevant to the present invention. These references should be reviewed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. These claims would be allowable because the prior art references of record fail to teach or suggest an inkjet recording apparatus comprising a detector that is a light interruption sensor, the light interruption sensor includes a light emitter and a light receiver on each outer side of a conveyor in a width direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of a recording medium, and the light emitter and the light receiver have optical axes arranged in the width direction, and detect lifting of the recording medium from the reference surface in the combination as claimed.
Claims 8 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. This claim would be allowable because the prior art references of record fail to teach or suggest an inkjet recording apparatus comprising a detector that is a distance meter, the distance meter is provided on each of both side surfaces of a carriage in the width direction, and the distance meter measures a distance between a recording medium and a second ejection head to detect the lifting of the recording medium from the reference surface in the combination as claimed.
Claims 9-10 would be allowable if rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. These claims would be allowable because the prior art references of record fail to teach or suggest an inkjet recording apparatus comprising a notifier that notifies a warning, and a hardware processor that, in a case in which a detector detects the lifting of a recording medium from a reference surface, causes an image former to stop forming the image and causes the notifier to notify the warning in the combination as claimed.
CONCLUSION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Anh Vo whose telephone number is (571) 272-2262. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:30 A.M.to 6:00 P.M..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner'ssupervisor, Douglas Rodriguez can be reached on (571) 431-0716. The fax phonenumber for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH T VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853