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 INTERPRETATION
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: “an obtainment unit” in claim 1, “a determination unit” in claim 1, “an estimation unit” in claim 2, “an obtainment unit” in claim 3, “a deriving unit” in claim 3, “a determination unit” in claim 3, “a control unit” in claim 5, “a second control unit” in claim 7, “a control unit” in claim 10, “a control unit” in claim 11, “a transmission unit” in claim 12, “a reception unit” in claim 13, and “a notification unit” in claim 25.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
“an obtainment unit” in claim 1 is read as the media sensor (Fig.3, item 206), “a determination unit” in claim 1 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “an estimation unit” in claim 2 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “an obtainment unit” in claim 3 is read as the media sensor (Fig.3, item 206), “a deriving unit” in claim 3 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “a determination unit” in claim 3 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “a control unit” in claim 5 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “a second control unit” in claim 7 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “a control unit” in claim 10 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “a control unit” in claim 11 is read as the CPU (Fig.3, item 301), “a transmission unit” in claim 12 is read as the USB port (Fig.3, item 304), “a reception unit” in claim 13 is read as the USB port (Fig.3, item 304), and “a notification unit” in claim 25 is read as the USB port (Fig.3, item 102).
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
Claims 1-11, 13-19, 21 and 24-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by
Kasamatsu’835 (US 2020/0276835).
With respect to claim 1, Kasamatsu’835 teaches an information processing apparatus (Fig.1A), comprising:
an obtainment unit [regarding to the optical sensor (Fig.4, item 201) configured to obtain a characteristic value of a fed printing medium (paragraph 45 and Fig.5, step S1010); and
a determination unit (Fig.4, item 401) configured to determine the fed printing medium as an unlearned printing medium in a case where the characteristic value obtained by the obtainment unit does not correspond to any of a plurality of types of printing media determined in advance (Fig.5, step S102 and paragraph 55).
With respect to claim 2, which further limits claim 1, Kasamatsu’835 teaches an estimation unit configured to estimate a type of the printing medium by using the characteristic value obtained by the obtainment unit [as shown in Fig.5, the measured values of printing medium are being compared with the characteristic values stored in a memory to determine the type of printing medium having the desired thickness in step S102. Therefore, an estimation unit is considered being disclosed to determine the type of the type of printing medium having the desired thickness corresponding to the comparison between the measured values of printing medium and the characteristic values stored in a memory],
wherein the determination unit determines the fed printing medium as the unlearned printing medium in a case where the characteristic value obtained by the obtainment unit does not fall within a range of a characteristic associated with the type of the printing medium estimated by the estimation unit (Fig.5, step S104).
With respect to claim 3, Kasamatsu’835 teaches an information processing apparatus (Fig.1A), comprising:
an obtainment unit (Fig.4, item 201) configured to obtain a characteristic value of a fed printing medium (paragraph 45 and Fig.5, step S1010);
an estimation unit (Fig.4, item 401) configured to estimate a type of the fed printing medium out of a plurality of types of printing media determined in advance by using the characteristic value obtained by the obtainment unit (Fig.5, step S102 and paragraph 55);
a deriving unit (Fig.4, item 401) configured to derive a degree of similarity indicating whether the characteristic value obtained by the obtainment unit falls within a range of a characteristic associated with the type of the printing medium estimated by the estimation unit [a type of a printing medium of which a degree to which the characteristic values fall under the characteristics indicated by the measured values is higher than a predetermined degree is extracted (paragraph 55)]; and
a determination unit (Fig.4, item 401) configured to determine the type of the fed printing medium based on a combination of an estimation result from the estimation unit and the degree of similarity (Fig.5, step S102 and paragraph 55).
With respect to claim 4, which further limits claim 3, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein based on that a combination of an estimation result of a printing medium and a degree of similarity that is stored in a storage unit in advance matches the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit and the degree of similarity derived by the deriving unit, the determination unit determines the type of the fed printing medium as a type of a printing medium of the matching estimation result (Fig.5, steps S102-S104 and paragraph 55).
With respect to claim 5, which further limits claim 4, Kasamatsu’835 teaches a control unit configured to perform control to store in the storage unit the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium (paragraph 67 and Fig.5, step S113).
With respect to claim 6, which further limits claim 5, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein in a case where the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity that is stored in the storage unit in advance does not match the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit and the degree of similarity derived by the deriving unit, the control unit stores in the storage unit the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit and the degree of similarity derived by the deriving unit as the additional type of the printing medium (paragraph 67 and Fig.5, step S113).
With respect to claim 7, which further limits claim 4, Kasamatsu’835 teaches a second control unit configured to perform control to store in the storage unit a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result [As shown in Fig.8A, the a lower-level candidate can be displayed through scroll operation (paragraph 137). Therefore, when the displayed lower-level candidate is being selected, the selected lower-level candidate is considered being stored in a memory (Fig.5, step S113)].
With respect to claim 8, which further limits claim 7, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein in a case where the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity that is stored in the storage unit in advance does not match the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit and the degree of similarity derived by the deriving unit, the second control unit stores in the storage unit a second degree of similarity newly derived by the deriving unit in association with the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit [As shown in Fig.8A, the a lower-level candidate can be displayed through scroll operation (paragraph 137). Therefore, when the displayed lower-level candidate is being selected, the selected lower-level candidate is considered being stored in a memory (Fig.5, step S113)].
With respect to claim 9, which further limits claim 8, Kasamatsu’835 does not teach wherein in a case where the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity that is stored in the storage unit in advance does not match the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit and the degree of similarity derived by the deriving unit but matches the second degree of similarity associated with the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit, the determination unit determines a printing medium matching the estimation result as the type of the fed printing medium [As shown in FIG. 8A, when not all the candidates for a type of printing medium can be displayed on the operation panel, the input/output unit may be configured such that a lower-level candidate can be displayed through scroll operation (paragraph 64). Therefore, the second degree of similarity associated with the type of the fed printing medium is considered being determined and provided when the degree of similarity associated with the type of the fed printing medium that is stored in the storage unit in advance does not match the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit].
With respect to claim 10, which further limits claim 4, Kasamatsu’835 teaches a control unit configured to selectively perform first control to store in the storage unit the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium and second control to store in the storage unit a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result [as shown in Fig.5, a type of printing medium on the input/output unit is be selected by the user in step S111, and the characteristic values of the type of printing medium are updated with values changed based on the measured values and the changed values are stored in the EEPROM (paragraph 67). Therefore, the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium is considered being stored in the EEPROM according to the user’s selection in step S111 and a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result is considered being stored in the EEPROM according to the user’s selection in step S111], wherein
the control unit switches between performing the first control and the second control according to the degree of similarity [As shown in FIG. 8A, when not all the candidates for a type of printing medium can be displayed on the operation panel, the input/output unit may be configured such that a lower-level candidate can be displayed through scroll operation (paragraph 64), therefore, the operation to store the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium in the EEPROM and the operation to store a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result in the EEPROM is considered being switched according to the user’s selection associated with type of printing medium displayed on the operation panel].
With respect to claim 11, which further limits claim 4, Kasamatsu’835 teaches a control unit configured to selectively perform first control to store in the storage unit the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium and second control to store in the storage unit a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result [as shown in Fig.5, a type of printing medium on the input/output unit is be selected by the user in step S111, and the characteristic values of the type of printing medium are updated with values changed based on the measured values and the changed values are stored in the EEPROM (paragraph 67). Therefore, the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium is considered being stored in the EEPROM according to the user’s selection in step S111 and a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result is considered being stored in the EEPROM according to the user’s selection in step S111], wherein
the control unit switches between performing the first control and the second control according to the characteristic value [As shown in FIG. 8A, when not all the candidates for a type of printing medium can be displayed on the operation panel, the input/output unit may be configured such that a lower-level candidate can be displayed through scroll operation (paragraph 64), therefore, the operation to store the combination of the estimation result of the printing medium and the degree of similarity as an additional type of a printing medium in the EEPROM and the operation to store a second degree of similarity in association with the estimation result in addition to a first degree of similarity combined with the estimation result in the EEPROM is considered being switched according to the user’s selection associated with type of printing medium displayed on the operation panel].
With respect to claim 13, which further limits claim 4, Kasamatsu’835 teaches a reception unit configured to download information stored in the storage unit of another apparatus to the information processing apparatus [History information or characteristic values of printing media may be stored in not a storage medium in the printing apparatus 100 but an external memory, such as a ROM of a host computer and a server (paragraph 4)].
With respect to claim 14, which further limits claim 3, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein in a case where there are a plurality of printing media in which a combination of an estimation result of a printing medium and a degree of similarity that is stored in a storage unit in advance matches the combination of the estimation result estimated by the estimation unit and the degree of similarity derived by the deriving unit, the determination unit determines a printing medium used last time as the type of the fed printing medium (paragraph 90, and Fig.13, step S209 and S210).
With respect to claim 15, which further limits claim 2, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the estimation unit performs the estimation by using a learned model learned based on training data including input data corresponding to a characteristic value of a printing medium and output data indicating a type of a printing medium corresponding to the input data that is out of the plurality of types of printing media determined in advance (Fig.5, step S112 and paragraph 94).
With respect to claim 16, which further limits claim 1, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the determination unit performs the determination based on information related to a characteristic value of each of the plurality of types of printing media determined in advance (paragraph 55 and Fig.5).
With respect to claim 17, which further limits claim 16, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the information includes the maximum value and the minimum value of each characteristic value (paragraph 67), and in a case where the characteristic value obtained by the obtainment unit does not fall within a range from the maximum value to the minimum value, the determination unit determines the fed printing medium as the unlearned printing medium [When the measured values do not fall within the learning ranges of the selected printing medium, the fed print medium is considered as the unlearned printing medium (Fig.13, step S212 and paragraph 96)].
With respect to claim 18, which further limits claim 16, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the information includes a range of a distance between data in a case where at least two characteristic values are combined with each other, and in a case where a distance between data in a case where at least two characteristic values obtained by the obtainment unit are combined with each other does not fall within the range, the determination unit determines the fed printing medium as the unlearned printing medium [When the measured values do not fall within the learning ranges of the selected printing medium, the fed print medium is considered as the unlearned printing medium (Fig.13, step S212 and paragraph 96)]..
With respect to claim 19, which further limits claim 1, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the determination unit performs the determination by using a second learned model learned based on training data including input data corresponding to a combination of at least two characteristic values of a printing medium and output data indicating whether it is a learned printing medium or an unlearned printing medium (Fig.5, step S112 and paragraph 94).
With respect to claim 21, which further limits claim 1, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the obtainment unit obtains a feature amount related to surface information of the printing medium and a feature amount related to cross-section information of the printing medium and obtains the characteristic value based on the obtained feature amount (Fig.5, step S101 and paragraph 54).
With respect to claim 24, which further limits claim 21, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the cross-section information includes information related to at least one of a thickness and a basis weight of the printing medium (paragraph 54).
With respect to claim 25, which further limits claim 1, Kasamatsu’835 teaches a notification unit configured to notify of a result determined by the determination unit [a notification control unit configured to cause a notification unit to provide information indicating the candidate for the type of the printing medium, decided by the decision unit
(claim 6)].
With respect to claim 26, it is a method claim and it is being rejected for the same manner as described in the rejected claim 1.
With respect to claim 27, it is a claim regarding to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing thereon a computer program and it is being rejected for the same manner as described in the rejected claim 1.
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 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kasamatsu’835 (US 2020/0276835), and further in view of Matsipla’663 (US 2005/0024663),
With respect to claim 12, which further limits claim 4, Kasamatsu’835 teaches the storage unit (Fig4, item 404); and
Kasamatsu’835 does not teach a transmission unit configured to transmit information stored in the storage unit to another apparatus.
Matsipla’663 teaches a transmission unit (Fig.5, item 1700) configured to transmit information stored in the storage unit to another apparatus (paragraph 41).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kasamatsu’835 according to the teaching of Matsipla’663 to include a network interface for transmitting the updated sheet information to an external device because this will allow the printer to be used more effectively.
Claims 20 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kasamatsu’835 (US 2020/0276835), and further in view of
Shikagawa’892 (US 2020/0249892).
With respect to claim 20, which further limits claim 19, Kasamatsu’835 teaches in a case where a result outputted by at least one of the plurality of second learned models indicates that it is an unlearned printing medium, the determination unit determines the fed printing medium as an unlearned printing medium (Fig.5, step S112 and paragraph 94).
Kasamatsu’835 does not teach wherein as the second learned model, a plurality of second learned models of the number according to combinations of the characteristic values are prepared
Shikagawa’892 teaches generating the machine-learn model to determine a type of a print medium using at least one of reflectance of the print medium (abstract and Fig.4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kasamatsu’835 according to the teaching Shikagawa’892 to generate multiple machine-learn model with combinations of the characteristic values to determines a type of a print medium using at least one of reflectance of the print medium (wherein as the second learned model, a plurality of second learned models of the number according to combinations of the characteristic values are prepared) because this will allow the type of a print medium to be determined more effectively.
With respect to claim 23, which further limits claim 21, Matsipla’663 does not teach wherein the surface information includes information related to at least one of luminance and irregularities of the printing medium.
Shikagawa’892 teaches wherein the surface information includes information related to at least one of luminance and irregularities of the printing medium (paragraph 28).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kasamatsu’835 according to the teaching Shikagawa’892 to detect the print medium information including the brightness information and the irregularities information because this will allow the type of a print medium to be determined more effectively.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kasamatsu’835 (US 2020/0276835), and further in view of Iwasa’992 (US 2009/0310992).
With respect to claim 22, which further limits claim 21, Kasamatsu’835 teaches wherein the obtainment unit obtains the feature amount related to the surface information from a sensor configured to obtain a surface image of the printing medium and obtains the feature amount related to the cross-section information of the printing medium from a sensor configured to obtain an electric signal transmitted through the printing medium (Fig.5, step S101 and paragraph 54).
Kasamatsu’835 does not teach an electric signal is an ultrasonic wave.
Iwasa’992 teaches an electric signal is an ultrasonic wave (paragraph 2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Kasamatsu’835 according to the teaching of Iwasa’992 to use the ultrasonic wave to detected the paper information because this will allow the paper information to be detected more effectively.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUO LONG CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3759. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9am - 5pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tieu, Benny can be reached on (571) 272-7490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HUO LONG CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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