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 .
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 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yonekawa et al. (US PG Pub 2006/0082622).
For claim 1: Yonekawa et al. teaches a liquid ejecting device (see Fig. 20) comprising: a device main body 1 including a liquid ejecting head 133, 134 configured to eject a liquid (see paragraph 113, recording heads 134 ejecting ink) to a medium 30; and a liquid accommodating unit 14, 20k, 20c, 20m, 20y configured to accommodate the liquid to be ejected from the liquid ejecting head 134, wherein the liquid accommodating unit 14 includes a supplying port of the liquid (see Fig. 20, the lines connecting to the ejecting head 134) and an opening and closing cover 16 configured to be switched between a closed state in which the supplying port is covered (see paragraph 53, cover 16 in a closed position) and an open state in which the supplying port is exposed (see Fig. 2), and a light-emitting unit 21k, 21c, 21m, 21y is provided at the opening and closing cover 16, the light-emitting unit being configured to emit, in accordance with a state of the device main body, light emitted by a light source (see paragraph 56).
For claim 3: Yonekawa et al. teaches the liquid ejecting device according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting unit is provided at an upper end portion of the opening and closing cover (see Fig. 2, the lights 21k, 21c, 21m, 21y provided at an upper end portion of the cover 16).
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 2 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yonekawa et al. (US PG Pub 2006/0082622) in view of Katahira (US PG Pub 2020/0406627).
For claim 2: Yonekawa et al. teaches all of the limitations of claim 2 except that the light-emitting unit emits light in accordance with a remaining amount of the liquid accommodated in the liquid accommodating unit. However, Katahira teaches that the light-emitting unit emits light in accordance with a remaining amount of the liquid accommodated in the liquid accommodating unit (see Fig. 8, see paragraph 43, displaying the amount remaining in accordance with the light emitted by the light emitting unit). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of Yonekawa et al. to cause the light emitter to emit light based on the remaining amount in the liquid accommodating unit for the purpose making readily apparent the amount of ink remaining in the accommodating unit.
For claim 8: The combination of Yonekawa et al. and Katahira teaches all of the liquid ejecting device according to claim 2 and Yonekawa et al. teaches that the liquid accommodating unit 14 includes a remaining amount visual recognition portion 21k, 21c, 21m, 21y (see Fig. 2, in particular, the region around the lights being the recognition portion) configured to cause the remaining amount of the liquid to be visually recognized. The combination does not teach that the recognition portion is on a side surface of the liquid accommodating unit and the light-emitting unit is provided at a lower end portion of a side surface of the opening and closing cover, the side surface of the opening and closing cover being located above the remaining amount visual recognition portion. However, this distinction from the prior art can be overcome through a mere rearrangement of the known parts, in particular, arrangement of the door 16 to the top surface of the accommodating unit and arrangement of the lights onto the side portion where the cover is previously provided. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention to provide the opening and closing cover on top surface and the lights on the side surface as a rearrangement of the known parts for the purpose of providing access to the cartridge in a higher elevation.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yonekawa et al. (US PG Pub 2006/0082622).
Yonekawa et al. teaches all of the limitations of claim 11 except that external appearance pattern of a housing forming an outer surface of the liquid accommodating unit has a first color dotted with a second color, the first color serving as a base, the second color being different from the first color in at least one of hue, lightness, or saturation. However, this distinction from the prior art amounts to provision of a logo or any aesthetic design on the outer surface of the accommodating unit. It is well known to provide logos or aesthetic designs of at least two colors onto an exterior surface of a liquid ejecting device for the purpose of increasing recognizability and appeal.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-7, 9 and 10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 4: None of the prior art of record or any obvious combination thereof teaches a liquid ejecting device wherein the light emitting unit has a ring shape along an outer periphery of the opening and closing cover at the upper end portion of the opening and closing cover.
Regarding claim 9: None of the prior art of record or any obvious combination thereof teaches a liquid ejecting device having an opening and closing cover that includes a light guiding member constituting an upper end portion with the light guiding member being a member on which light emitted from the light source is incident and exits to an outside.
Regarding claim 10: None of the prior art of record or any obvious combination thereof teaches a liquid ejecting unit having a reading unit configured to be open and closed at the top of the device main body and to read an image of a document including a notch in a corner portion on the device front side with the liquid accommodating unit inserted into the notch.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID H BANH whose telephone number is (571)270-3851. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 12-8PM.
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/DAVID H BANH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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