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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1-2, 4-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Iwasaki et al. (EP 3546220 A1) (hereinafter Iwasaki et al.).
Regarding Claim 1, Iwasaki et al. teaches a liquid ejection head (102/3, Figs. 1A and 8) comprising: a plurality of printing element substrates (202, Fig. 1B) for ejecting a liquid [Configuration of print head]; a flow path member (210, Fig. 8) having a common flow path (210, Fig. 8) in fluid communication with the plurality of printing element substrates (202) [Description of liquid ejection head configuration]; and a liquid supply unit (220, Fig. 8) that supplies the liquid to the flow path (215, Fig. 7A) of the flow path member (210) [Description of circulation mechanism and Description of liquid ejection head configuration], the liquid supply unit (220) being disposed on an opposite side of the flow path member (210) from the printing element substrates (202) [Description of liquid ejection head configuration, see also Fig. 8], wherein a length of the liquid supply unit (220) in a longitudinal direction is shorter than a length of the flow path member (210) in the longitudinal direction [see Fig. 8], and a center (not shown in Figures) of the liquid supply unit (220) in the longitudinal direction is disposed closer to an upstream side of the common flow path (211, 212, Figs. 7A-7B) than a center of the flow path member (210) [Description of circulation mechanism and Description of liquid ejection head configuration, see also Fig. 8].
Regarding Claim 2, Iwasaki et al. teaches a liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein the length of the liquid supply unit (220) in the longitudinal direction is 1/2 or less of the length of the flow path member (210) in the longitudinal direction [see Fig. 8].
Regarding Claim 4, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein the common flow path (211, 212) includes: a common supply flow path (211) that directly or indirectly supplies the liquid to the plurality of printing element substrates (202) [Description of circulation mechanism]; and a common recovery flow path (212) that directly or indirectly recovers the liquid from the plurality of printing element substrates (202) [Description of circulation mechanism].
Regarding Claim 5, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein a flow direction of the liquid in the common supply flow path (211) and a flow direction of the liquid in the common recovery flow path (212) are the same [see Fig. 7B].
Regarding Claim 6, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein a flow direction of the liquid in the common supply flow path (211) and a flow direction of the liquid in the common recovery flow path (212) are opposite to each other [see Fig. 7A], and the center of the liquid supply unit (220) in the longitudinal direction is disposed closer to an upstream side of the common recovery flow path (212) than the center of the flow path member (210) [see the liquid supply unit (220) on the right side in Fig. 8].
Regarding Claim 7, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), further comprising a negative pressure controlling unit (230) disposed on the opposite side of the flow path member (210) from the printing element substrate (202) [Description of inkjet printing apparatus, Description of circulation mechanism, and Description of liquid ejection head configuration].
Regarding Claim 8, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), further comprising a filter (221, Figs. 7A-7B) disposed on the opposite side of the flow path member (210) from the printing element substrate (202) and an upstream side of the negative pressure controlling unit (230) [Description of liquid ejection head configuration and see also Figs 7a-7B].
Regarding Claim 9, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein a length of the negative pressure controlling unit (230) in the longitudinal direction is substantially half or more of the length of the liquid supply unit (220)) in the longitudinal direction [see Figs. 6 and 8].
Regarding Claim 10, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein each of the printing element substrates (202) includes a pressure generating unit (203, Fig. 1B) [Configuration of printing apparatus and Configuration of print head].
Regarding Claim 11, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein the pressure generating unit (203) is a heating element [Configuration of printing apparatus and Configuration of print head].
Regarding Claim 12, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3), wherein the pressure generating unit (203) is a piezoelectric element, and a drive circuit board (102A, Fig. 2) for driving the piezoelectric element is disposed on a printing element substrate side of the flow path member (210) [Configuration of printing apparatus].
Regarding Claim 13, Iwasaki et al. teaches a liquid ejection apparatus (101, Fig. 1A) comprising: a liquid tank (not shown in Figures) that stores a liquid [Configuration of printing apparatus]; and a liquid ejection head (102/3, Figs. 1a and 8) that is connected to the liquid tank (not shown in Figures) [Configuration of printing apparatus], the liquid ejection head (102/3) including a plurality of printing element substrates (202, Fig. 1B) for ejecting the liquid [Configuration of print head], a flow path member (210, Fig. 8) having a common flow path (211, 212, Figs. 7A-7B) in fluid communication with the plurality of printing element substrates (202) [Description of circulation mechanism], and a liquid supply unit (220, Fig.8) that supplies the liquid to the flow path (215, Figs. 7a-7B) of the flow path member (210) [Description of circulation mechanism and Description of liquid ejection head configuration], the liquid supply unit (220) being disposed on an opposite side of the flow path member (210) from the printing element substrates (202) [Description of circulation mechanism and Description of liquid ejection head configuration], wherein a length of the liquid supply unit (220) in a longitudinal direction is shorter than a length of the flow path member (210) in the longitudinal direction [see Fig. 8], and a center (not shown in Figures) of the liquid supply unit (220) in the longitudinal direction is disposed closer to an upstream side of the common flow path (211, 212) than a center of the flow path member (210) [Description of circulation mechanism].
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iwasaki et al. (EP 3546220 A1) (hereinafter Iwasaki et al.).
Regarding Claim 3, Iwasaki et al. teaches the liquid ejection head (102/3, Figs. 1 and 8) [Configuration of printing apparatus, Configuration of print head, Description of circulation mechanism, and Description of liquid ejection head configuration].
Iwasaki et al. teaches a length of the liquid supply unit (220, Fig. 8) [See Fig. 8]. Iwasaki et al. fails to teach wherein the length of the liquid supply unit in the longitudinal direction is 1/4 or more of the length of the flow path member in the longitudinal direction.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to (insert optimum value limitation), 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 216 (CCPA 1980). The motivation to combine the teachings of Iwasaki et al. and the holdings of In re Boesch is for the purposes of providing a liquid ejection head capable of printing a high-quality image [Iwasaki et al., Summary of the Invention].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LISA SOLOMON whose telephone number is (571)272-1701. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:30am -6pm, EST.
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/LISA SOLOMON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853