DETAILED ACTION
Notice of AIA Status
1. 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 § 103
2. 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 of this title, 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.
3. Claims 1-5 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiohara (US Pub: 2023/0061074) and in further view of Jing (CN Pub: 114546301).
Regarding claim 1, Shiohara teaches: A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium containing computer-executable instructions that are executable by a computer of an information processing device and compatible with a printing device connected with the information processing device [p0028, p0029], the computer-executable instructions realizing a support program supporting a general-purpose print program incorporated in advance in an operating system of the information processing device [p0043-p0045], the support program being configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform: registering a particular file format as a file format that does not generate intermediate data in the general-purpose print program in a case where a print job is to be transmitted to the virtual printing device [p0046, p0050, p0083-p0085 (whether conversion of intermediate data by OS is skipped)]; wherein in a case where execution of a process is required from the general-purpose print program in response to a print instruction which instructs the general-use print program to cause the virtual printing device to print an image and is output by an application program implemented in the information processing device [p0035-p0038], the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform: when the intermediate data is passed from the general-purpose print program, generating print data based on the passed intermediate data [p0037, p0038, p0050, p0058] and transmitting a print job including the generated print data to the virtual printing device [p0038, p0050]; and when image data in the particular file format is passed from the general-purpose print program, transmitting a print job including the passed image data to the virtual printing device [p0056-p0060].
Shiohara does not teach a virtual printer. In the same field of endeavor, Jing teaches: the information processing device being configured to connect to a virtual printing device provided to a server on a network [page 14: p03], the server being configured to receive a print job transmitted to the virtual printing device and store the received print job [page 19: p04; page 20: p01], the server being configured to transmit the stored print job to a printing device based on a request from the printing device connected to the server [page 15: p01; page 18: p07, page 22: p03]; transmitting a print job including the generated print data to the virtual printing device [page 11: p03]; and when image data in the particular file format is passed from the general-purpose print program, transmitting a print job including the passed image data to the virtual printing device [page 19: p04].
Shiohara teaches an extension application that skips conversion of intermediate data based on a skip setting based on whether a printer supports a format like PDF. Jing discloses a cloud print service providing virtual printer that receives print jobs from a client and transmits the jobs to a printer upon request. Therefore, it would have been obvious for an ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of the two to incorporate virtual printer for more job control flexibility and provide a cloud print system that avoids unnecessary conversion to reduce burden on virtual printer.
Regarding claim 2, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Shiohara further teaches: The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein PDF is the particular file format, and the PDF is registered as a file format that does not generate intermediate data in the general-purpose print program in the registering [abstract, p0039, p0058, p0105, p0106].
Regarding claim 3, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Shiohara in view of Jing further teaches: The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform the registering in a case where execution of a process is required from the general-purpose print program in response to the virtual printing device being selected [Shiohara: figs 10, 14, 15 (skip setting is predetermined); Jing: page 11: p03 (selected virtual printer becomes print destination.)].
Regarding claim 4, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Claim 4 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 3. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1. Jing teaches selecting a virtual printer and gives print instructions after a printer job is transmitted from a client terminal to the virtual printer. Shiohara discloses skip process in print flow. Therefore, it would have been obvious to apply Shiohara’s process to Jing’s virtual printer workflow upon selection of a printer or issuing of a print instruction.
Regarding claim 5, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Shiohara further teaches: The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform: setting whether to perform the registering; and restricting performing of the registering in a case where the registering is not set to perform in the setting [p0075-p0077].
Regarding claim 8, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Jing further teaches: The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein, in the transmitting of the print job to the virtual printing device, information indicating print settings is added to the print job subject to be transmitted [page 11: p03].
4. Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiohara (US Pub: 2023/0061074) and Jing (CN Pub: 114546301); and in further view of Inoue (US Pub: 2021/0326087).
Regarding claim 6, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Shiohara obtains printer capability and decides whether to perform skip or register operation based on whether PDF is supported. In the same field of endeavor, Inoue further teaches: The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform: transmitting an obtaining request of capability information indicating capability of the virtual printing device to the virtual printing device, the virtual printing device being configured to transmit, to the information processing device, the capability information with including compatibility information indicating that the virtual printing device is compatible with the particular file format in response to the obtaining request of the capability information from the information processing device in a case where there is a printing device compatible with the particular file format among the printing device connected with the information processing device, the virtual printing device being configured to transmit, to the information processing device, the capability information without including compatibility information in response to the obtaining request of the capability information from the information processing device [Inoue: p0075, p0100, p0006, p0090; Shiohara: p0083, fig. 14: S1404, S1405], in a case where there is not a printing device compatible with the particular file format among the printing device connected with the information processing device; wherein the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to: perform the registering in a case where the capability information obtained as a response to the obtaining request includes the compatibility information; and not perform the registering in a case where the capability information obtained as a response to the obtaining request does not include the compatibility information [Shiohara: fig. 14: S1404-S1407]. Therefore, given Inoue’s prescription on client terminal transmitting printer capability acquisition request to a cloud print service and receives the info in response and Shiohara’s teaching on determining whether PDF is supported and setting skip process, it would have been obvious for an ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of all to obtain capability data such as PDF capability to decide whether to skip operation.
Regarding claim 7, the rationale applied to the rejection of claim 1 has been incorporated herein. Claim 7 has been analyzed and rejected with regard to claim 6 and in accordance with Shiohara and Inoue further teaching: The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform: transmitting an obtaining request of capability information indicating capability of the virtual printing device to the virtual printing device, the virtual printing device being configured to transmit, to the information processing device, the capability information with including format information indicating a file format compatible with a printing device connected to the information processing device in response to the obtaining request of the capability information from the information processing device, wherein the support program is configured to, when executed by the computer, cause the information processing device to perform: the registering a file format indicated by the format information included in the capability information obtained as a response to the obtaining request [Shiohara: claims 7 and 18, fig. 14, S1404, S1405; Inoue: p0071, p0075, p0100].
Contact
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FAN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3751. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9:00-5:00.
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/Fan Zhang/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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