DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more. The flow chart in MPEP 2106, Subject Matter Eligibility Test For Products and Processes, will be referenced to establish that the subject matter is ineligible.
Step 1: claim 1 recites an apparatus, claim 19 recites a system and claim 20 recites a computer-readable medium. Claims 1, 19 and 20 fall under one of the four recognized statutory categories.
Step 2A Prong One: However, claims 1, 19 and 20 are further directed to the abstract idea of having a first and second mode for performing color management setting. See MPEP 2106.04(a)(2). Furthermore, the claims do not preclude the limitations from being performed in the human mind. The limitations are mental processes that can be performed by a human using pen and paper.
Step 2A Prong Two: Additional elements include a color management apparatus and a printing apparatus. It is noted that the recitation to the printing apparatus merely concerns setting color management functions of a printing apparatus, and the claims do not recite any operations performed by the printing apparatus. The color management apparatus is “a terminal apparatus such as a computer or tablet”. See Applicant’s Specification at ¶19. The involvement of a generic computer components does not provide additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the recitations to hardware involve no more than a generic computer performing generic computer functions that are well understood, routine and conventional activities previously known in the industry. That is, other than reciting “by a processor,” nothing in the claim precludes the steps from practically being performed in the human mind. See MPEP 2106.05(d)).
Step 2B: The claims do not provide an inventive concept as they do not provide an improvement to any type of particular machine. Merely automating a manual process using generic computers does not constitute a patentable improvement in computer technology. Credit Acceptance Corp. v. Westlake Services, __ F.3d __, 2017 WL 2485469, case no. 2016-2001 (Fed. Cir. June 9, 2017). The claims do not improve the computer system that is implementing the abstract idea. Merely automating or otherwise making efficient traditional methods do not constitute an inventive concept. Therefore claims 1-20 are non-statutory.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites “wherein a plurality of printing apparatuses including the printing apparatus are present.” It is unclear from the claim limitation where the plurality of printing apparatuses are present because the claim does not specify any location.
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.
Claims 1-13, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Toriyabe US Publication 2019/0260911 (hereafter “Toriyabe”).
Referring to claim 1, Toriyabe discloses a color management apparatus comprising a hardware processor, wherein
the hardware processor includes a first mode executor and a second mode executor (paragraph 76, A CPU 451 deploys a control program stored in a ROM 452 or a hard disk (HDD) 454 into a RAM 453 and executes the deployed program),
the first mode executor executes a first mode to perform color management setting including setting of a plurality of items regarding a color management function of a printing apparatus through a plurality of steps, and perform the color management function (paragraph 166, Buttons 1705 through 1708 are buttons used to edit, delete, create, and save a reference setting, respectively), and
the second mode executor executes a second mode to simplify at least one step among the plurality of steps to perform the color management setting, and perform the color management function (paragraph 161, A check box 1614 is an automatic reference generation check box. The color expert is caused to designate whether or not to automatically calculate a reference for a patch chart newly created by the above-described method).
Referring to claim 2, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor selects the color management setting performed by the first mode executor, changes one or more of the plurality of items included in the selected color management setting, and performs the color management function (paragraph 194, If the automatic reference generation designation check box 1614 is validated, the process advances to step S2505. After that, the process advances to step S2507, and the CPU 401 refers to the designated input profile setting, and obtains input profile data from the printer controller 500).
Referring to claim 3, Toriyabe discloses wherein the color management function includes a plurality of color management functions which include color verification, profile creation (paragraph 129, A color verification profile DB 1200 is a color verification profile DB (database) collecting information that should be set for performing the color management operation), calibration (paragraph 98, Color adjustment processing is a so-called known calibration function), maximum density adjustment (paragraph 135, A maximum 1264 is the maximum value in the difference amounts of all patches), and density balance adjustment (paragraph 135, An average 1263 is the average of the difference amounts of all patches).
Referring to claim 4, Toriyabe discloses wherein a plurality of printing apparatuses including the printing apparatus are present (paragraph 108, Upon receiving an operation of the color expert, the site management terminal 211 transmits an execution request of color verification processing of the specific printing apparatuses 203 and 205).
Referring to claim 5, Toriyabe discloses wherein the first mode executor performs the color management setting for each of the color management functions and the color management setting for each of the printing apparatuses (paragraph 108, Upon receiving an operation of the color expert, the site management terminal 211 transmits an execution request of color verification processing of the specific printing apparatuses 203 and 205).
Referring to claim 6, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor automatically sets a selectable printing apparatus among the plurality of printing apparatuses based on printer restriction data registered in advance (paragraph 147, In an area 1401, the printing apparatus 203 (PRINTER 001) as the target of the environment setting is selectively displayed), and automatically sets a selectable color management function among the plurality of color management functions based on function restriction data registered in advance (paragraph 194, If a value that is valid as the input profile setting is already set in the input profile 1273, the CPU 401 determines that the setting is already done, and advances the process to step S2507).
Referring to claim 7, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor automatically sets a selectable color management function among the plurality of color management functions for each of the plurality of printing apparatuses based on the function restriction data (paragraph 194, If a value that is valid as the input profile setting is already set in the input profile 1273, the CPU 401 determines that the setting is already done, and advances the process to step S2507), and automatically sets a selectable printing apparatus among the plurality of printing apparatuses for each of the color management functions (paragraph 147, In an area 1401, the printing apparatus 203 (PRINTER 001) as the target of the environment setting is selectively displayed).
Referring to claim 8, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor is capable of automatically setting a selectable color management function among the plurality of color management functions for each of model numbers of the printing apparatuses and automatically setting a selectable color management function among the plurality of color management functions for each of serial numbers of the printing apparatuses, based on the printer restriction data (paragraph 147, In an area 1401, the printing apparatus 203 (PRINTER 001) as the target of the environment setting is selectively displayed [each printer inherently has a model and serial number, and is set automatically in the displayed list]).
Referring to claim 9, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor automatically sets, based on colorimeter restriction data registered in advance, a selectable colorimeter that performs colorimetry on a printed product output by each of the printing apparatuses (paragraph 118, The operating information of color adjustment processing includes the patch arrangement of an adjustment chart, a colorimetric device, a chart print condition, and the like) (paragraph 152, A color verification setting 1501 selectively displays the list of color verification settings linked with the printing apparatus 203 selected in the screen shown in FIG. 14).
Referring to claim 10, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor automatically sets, for each type of the colorimeter, a selectable color measurement chart and the number of patches of the color measurement chart based on color management setting restriction data registered in advance (paragraph 118, The operating information of color adjustment processing includes the patch arrangement of an adjustment chart, a colorimetric device, a chart print condition, and the like) (paragraph 156, A list 1601 of patch chart settings selectively displays the list of patch chart settings linked with the printing apparatus 203 selected in the screen shown in FIG. 14).
Referring to claim 11, Toriyabe discloses wherein the first mode executor displays a dependency relationship among the color management setting, a setting for the profile creation and the color verification, a setting for the printing apparatus, and a setting for a profile to be used in the profile creation (paragraph 145-148, FIG. 14 depicts a view showing an example of the environment setting screen of the color management application. In an area 1401, the printing apparatus 203 (PRINTER 001) as the target of the environment setting is selectively displayed. Columns 1404 through 1406 display names corresponding to the color verification setting 1204 to the color adjustment setting 1206 in the color verification profile DB 1200, respectively, and saved in the setting DBs).
Referring to claim 12, Toriyabe discloses wherein the color management setting includes settings of an item that affects a color of a printed product output by the printing apparatus and an item that does not affect the printed product (paragraph 132, The color adjustment setting DB 1230 includes an ID 1231 used to identify saved information, a name 1232 to be displayed on a UI to be described later, and following information).
Referring to claim 13, Toriyabe discloses wherein the first mode can be switched to the second mode by a predetermined operation (paragraph 161, A check box 1614 is an automatic reference generation check box. The color expert is caused to designate whether or not to automatically calculate a reference for a patch chart newly created by the above-described method).
Referring to claim 19, Toriyabe discloses a color management system comprising:
a printing apparatus that forms an image on at least one or more recording media (paragraph 60, The site management server 102 is a server that manages printing apparatuses 203 and 205 operating in the print site 105); and a hardware processor (paragraph 76, A CPU 451 deploys a control program stored in a ROM 452 or a hard disk (HDD) 454 into a RAM 453 and executes the deployed program), wherein
the hardware processor includes a first mode executor and a second mode executor,
the first mode executor executes a first mode to perform color management setting including setting of a plurality of items regarding a color management function of the printing apparatus through a plurality of steps, and perform the color management function (paragraph 166, Buttons 1705 through 1708 are buttons used to edit, delete, create, and save a reference setting, respectively), and
the second mode executor executes a second mode to simplify at least one step among the plurality of steps to perform the color management setting, and perform the color management function (paragraph 161, A check box 1614 is an automatic reference generation check box. The color expert is caused to designate whether or not to automatically calculate a reference for a patch chart newly created by the above-described method).
Referring to claim 20, Toriyabe discloses a non-transitory recording medium storing a computer readable color management program for causing a computer to execute:
a first mode to perform color management setting including setting of a plurality of items regarding a color management function of a printing apparatus through a plurality of steps, and perform the color management function (paragraph 166, Buttons 1705 through 1708 are buttons used to edit, delete, create, and save a reference setting, respectively); and
a second mode to simplify at least one step among the plurality of steps to perform the color management setting, and perform the color management function (paragraph 161, A check box 1614 is an automatic reference generation check box. The color expert is caused to designate whether or not to automatically calculate a reference for a patch chart newly created by the above-described method).
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.
Claims 14, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toriyabe US Publication 2019/0260911 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Maruyama US Publication 2023/0065985 (hereafter “Maruyama”).
Referring to claim 14, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode can be switched to the first mode by a predetermined operation (paragraph 161, A check box 1614 is an automatic reference generation check box. The color expert is caused to designate whether or not to automatically calculate a reference for a patch chart newly created by the above-described method), but does not disclose expressly wherein the second mode can be switched to the first mode by a predetermined operation when the switching is permitted by the first mode.
Maruyama discloses wherein the second mode can be switched to the first mode by a predetermined operation when the switching is permitted by the first mode (paragraph 165, When it is determined in step S44 that the instruction for the permission has been input (in a case where a determination in step S44 is YES), the printer color tracking management information management part 107 grants the user account added in step S41 the execution authority of the operation related to the printer color tracking management information (step S45)).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to authenticate whether a user can use a color management mode. The motivation for doing so would have been to only allow desired users to use certain functions of the system to prevent misuse. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Maruyama with Toriyabe to obtain the invention as specified in claim 14.
Referring to claim 16, Toriyabe discloses wherein, when an error occurs during execution of the color management function, the second mode executor notifies a detail of the error when an error occurs (paragraph 204, In step S2707, the CPU 401 determines that the color state of the image printed by the printing apparatus 203 is not improved from the inappropriate state although all the preset color adjustment processes are executed. The CPU 401 then notifies the user that the color state of the image printed by the printing apparatus 203 is inappropriate, and advances to step S2709).
Toriyabe does not disclose expressly setting a notification method in the first mode.
Maruyama discloses a notification method set in the first mode (paragraph 150, Next, the printer color tracking management information management part 107 determines whether there is printer color tracking management information that has not been acquired and has been granted the execution authority (step S43)).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to authenticate whether a user is notified of color management. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow an administrator enable whether users can track management information. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Maruyama with Toriyabe to obtain the invention as specified in claim 16.
Referring to claim 17, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor notifies completion of execution of the color management function in accordance with a notification method in a case where the color management function is executed, and notifies non-execution of the color management function in accordance with the notification method in a case where the color management function is not executed (paragraph 204, Next, the process advances to step S2705, and the CPU 401 determines whether or not the result of determination in step S2703 is NG).
Toriyabe does not disclose expressly setting a notification method in the first mode or executing the color management function in accordance with a predetermined schedule.
Maruyama discloses wherein the second mode executor notifies completion of execution of the color management function in accordance with a notification method set in the first mode (paragraph 150, Next, the printer color tracking management information management part 107 determines whether there is printer color tracking management information that has not been acquired and has been granted the execution authority (step S43)) in a case where the color management function is executed in accordance with a predetermined schedule, and notifies non-execution of the color management function in accordance with the notification method in a case where the color management function is not executed in accordance with the schedule (paragraph 178, Then, the printer color tracking management information management part 107 sends the tendency notification message to the email address of the user account in which the tendency notification flag is on at any timing before the start of the operation on a day of the week on which the tendency notification should be performed).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to authenticate whether a user is notified of color management, and to execute color management in accordance with a predetermined schedule. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow an administrator enable whether users can track management information, and to routinely calibrate printing devices to ensure accurate settings. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Maruyama with Toriyabe to obtain the invention as specified in claim 17.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toriyabe US Publication 2019/0260911 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Uruma US Publication 2016/0041865 (hereafter “Uruma”).
Referring to claim 15, Toriyabe discloses wherein, when the second mode is switched to the first mode, the second mode executor notifies the switching of the mode (paragraph 161, A check box 1614 is an automatic reference generation check box. The color expert is caused to designate whether or not to automatically calculate a reference for a patch chart newly created by the above-described method), but does not disclose expressly that the notification method is set in the first mode.
Okayama discloses notifying the switching of the mode in accordance with a notification method set in the first mode (paragraph 35, Table 3 illustrates examples of the function logs 302 for a user authentication function).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to provide notification of user logon activity. The motivation for doing so would have been to allow an administrator to track user activity. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Maruyama with Okayama to obtain the invention as specified in claim 15.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Toriyabe US Publication 2019/0260911 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of well known prior art.
Referring to claim 18, Toriyabe discloses wherein the second mode executor changes in accordance with a shortcut for activating each of the color management function, the setting for the printing apparatus, and the color management setting (paragraph 85, A UI (user interface) control module 623 mainly executes processing concerning UI screen display of the centralized management application and acceptance of an input operation of the user).
Toriyabe does not disclose expressly a background color of each activated setting screen to a different color.
Official Notice is taken that it is well known and obvious in the art to change a background color of each activated setting screen (See MPEP 2144.03). The motivation for doing so would have been to provide simple notification for the user to determine which setting screen the interface is currently using. Furthermore, changing the color of a setting screen is a matter of design choice. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine well known prior art with Toriyabe to obtain the invention as provided in claim 18.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER K HUNTSINGER whose telephone number is (571)272-7435. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benny Q 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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/PETER K HUNTSINGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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