DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-6 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/12/2026.
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.
Claim(s) 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiraga (2022/0184967).
Regarding claim 7, Hiraga teaches a liquid discharge head comprising:
a nozzle plate (fig. 14, item 301) having a nozzle (fig. 14, item 302) from which a liquid (see fig. 14) is discharged;
a liquid chamber (fig. 14, item 30) communicating with the nozzle;
a valve (fig. 14, item 331) configured to open and close the nozzle (see fig 14);
a piezoelectric body (fig. 14, item 332) configured to move the valve to open and close the nozzle (see fig. 14); and
circuitry configured to drive the piezoelectric body to:
move the valve to a retracted position (fig. 14C) at which the valve is retracted from the nozzle to open the nozzle;
move the valve to a sealed position (fig. 14B) at which the valve contacts the nozzle plate to close the nozzle; and
move the valve to a half position (fig. 14A) between the retracted position and the sealed position, wherein the valve does not close the nozzle at the half position.
Regarding claim 8, Hiraga teaches the liquid discharge head according to claim 7, wherein the circuitry is further configured to drive the piezoelectric body to:
move the valve to the retracted position; reciprocally move the valve from the retracted position to the half position; and move the valve from the retracted position to the sealed position to discharge the liquid from the nozzle (see fig. 14, Note that the movement of the valve is all reciprocal and that the valve moves from every position to every other position repeatedly).
Regarding claim 9, Hiraga teaches the liquid discharge head according to claim 8, wherein the circuitry is further configured to change a number of times of reciprocal movement of the valve from the retracted position to the half position (see fig. 14, Note that this could mean almost anything. Every time the position of the valve is changed changes the number of times the valve is moved from one position to another).
Conclusion
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/ALEJANDRO VALENCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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