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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 09/26/2024 fails to comply with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609 because copies of references JP 2010076424 and JP 2018034984 have not been provided. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered as to the merits. Applicant is advised that the date of any re-submission of any item of information contained in this information disclosure statement or the submission of any missing elements will be the date of submission for purposes of determining compliance with the requirements based on the time of filing the statement, including all certification requirements for statements under 37 CFR 1.97(e). See MPEP § 609.05(a).
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 objected to because of the following informalities:
The phrase “stopping, when, subsequent to the target platen being conveyed to one of the first heater or the second heater, a non-operating heater is present, heating by the non-operating heater, and” should be changed to “when a non-operating heater is present, stopping heating by the non-operating heater, and” because as the claim is originally written it is very unclear which clauses “stopping” and “when” are intended to apply to.
. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 11, 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mizuno et al. (US 20220315349 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Mizuno et al. teaches a conveyor (Fig. 1 element 10 and paragraph [0028]) configured to convey a platen on which a print medium is placed (Fig. 1 element 50 and paragraph [0027]); a first heater and a second heater (Fig. 1 elements 2A and 2B and paragraph [0029]) connected to a printer (Fig. 1 elements 3A to 3D and paragraph [0028]), the printer being configured to perform printing on the print medium on the platen (paragraph [0027] and [0028]), the first heater and the second heater being configured to execute a medium heating operation to heat the print medium on the platen (paragraph [0029]); a processor (Fig. 3 element 101 and paragraph [0060]), and a memory storing computer-readable instructions (Fig. 3 elements 102 and 103) that, when executed by the processor, instruct the processor to perform a process comprising: controlling the conveyor and conveying a target platen to one of the first heater or the second heater (paragraph [0079] and [0085]), the target platen being the platen on which the print medium is placed and being a control target.
Regarding claim 11, Mizuno et al. teaches a conveyance control method of a conveyance control device comprising a conveyor (Fig. 1 element 10 and paragraph [0028]) configured to convey a platen on which a print medium is placed (Fig. 1 element 50 and paragraph [0027]) and a first heater and a second heater (Fig. 1 elements 2A and 2B and paragraph [0029]) connected to a printer (Fig. 1 elements 3A to 3D and paragraph [0028]), the printer being configured to perform printing on the print medium on the platen (paragraph [0027] and [0028]), the first heater and the second heater being configured to execute a medium heating operation to heat the print medium on the platen (paragraph [0029]), the conveyance control method comprising: conveyance processing of controlling the conveyor and conveying a target platen to one of the first heater or the second heater (paragraph [0079] and [0085]), the target platen being the platen on which the print medium is placed and being a control target.
Regarding claim 12, Mizuno et al. teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions (Fig. 3 elements 102 and 103) that, when executed by a computer (Fig. 3 element 101 and paragraph [0060]), instruct the computer to perform a process, the computer controlling a conveyance control device, the conveyance control device comprising a conveyor (Fig. 1 element 10 and paragraph [0028]) configured to convey a platen on which a print medium is placed (Fig. 1 element 50 and paragraph [0027]) and a first heater and a second heater (Fig. 1 elements 2A and 2B and paragraph [0029]) connected to a printer (Fig. 1 elements 3A to 3D and paragraph [0028]), the printer being configured to perform printing on the print medium on the platen (paragraph [0027] an [0028]), the first heater and the second heater being configured to execute a medium heating operation to heat the print medium on the platen (paragraph [0029]), the process comprising: conveyance processing of controlling the conveyor and conveying a target platen to one of the first heater or the second heater (paragraph [0079] and [0085]), the target platen being the platen on which the print medium is placed and being a control target.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed inventions absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizuno et al. (US 20220315349 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Mizuno et al. teaches all the elements of claim 1 as stated above but fails to explicitly teach the computer-readable instructions instruct the processor to perform a process comprising: conveying, when an empty heater is present, the target platen to the empty heater, and the empty heater is a heater, of the first heater and the second heater, that is not currently executing the medium heating operation.
However, Mizuno et al. does teach in paragraph [0079] receiving a signal of the status of a heater and conveying the platen to a heater that isn’t “unable to perform processing”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention that a heater that is unable to perform processing for a particular printing job would be one that is currently busy with another job; therefore, Mizuno et al. renders the present application not novel since it would send its platen to a currently empty heater and not one that is currently in use.
Regarding claim 3, Mizuno et al. teaches all the elements of claim 2 as stated above but fails to explicitly teach the computer-readable instructions instruct the processor to perform a process comprising: conveying, when an empty heater is present, the target platen to the empty heater, and the empty heater is a heater, of the first heater and the second heater, that is not currently executing the medium heating operation and for which an execution reservation is not set.
However, Mizuno et al. does teach in paragraph [0079] receiving a signal of the status of a heater (Fig. 1 element 2A and 2B) and conveying the platen to a heater that isn’t “unable to perform processing”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention that a heater that is unable to perform processing for a particular printing job would be one that is currently busy with another job or is about to start another job, therefore Mizuno et al. renders the present application not novel since it would send its platen to a currently empty heater and not to one that is currently or about to be in use.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-10 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.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; the first start time period is a time period calculated based on a sum of a first processing completion time period and a first transition time period, the second start time period is a time period calculated based on a sum of a second processing completion time period and a second transition time period, conveying, when the first start time period is less than the second start time period, the target platen to the first heater, and conveying, when the second start time period is less than the first start time period, the target platen to the second heater.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; conveying, when a difference between the corresponding set temperature and the first heating temperature is less than a difference between the corresponding set temperature and the second heating temperature, the target platen to the first heater, and conveying, when the difference between the corresponding set temperature and the second heating temperature is less than the difference between the corresponding set temperature and the first heating temperature, the target platen to the second heater.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; conveying, when a low temperature heater is present, the target platen to the low temperature heater, and the low temperature heater is the first heater in which the first heating temperature is less than the corresponding set temperature or the second heater in which the second heating temperature is less than the corresponding set temperature.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; conveying, when a high temperature heater is present, the target platen to the high temperature heater, and the high temperature heater is the first heater in which the first heating temperature exceeds the corresponding set temperature or the second heater in which the second heating temperature exceeds the corresponding set temperature.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; stopping, when, subsequent to the target platen being conveyed to one of the first heater or the second heater, a non-operating heater is present, heating by the non-operating heater.
Regarding claim 9, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; conveying the target platen to one of the first heater or the second heater based on whether the setting received by the receiver is the setting for the productivity mode or is the setting for the energy saving mode.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest a conveyance control device having all the structure as recited in combination with and particularly including; conveying the target platen to the one of the first heater or the second heater until a number of times of execution of the medium heating operation in one of the first heater or the second heater reaches a target number of times of execution of the medium heating operation within a predetermined time period, and maintaining stopping of heating by another of the first heater or the second heater until the number of times of execution of the medium heating operation in the one of the first heater or the second heater reaches the target number of times of execution of the medium heating operation within the predetermined time period.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Watanabe et al. (US 20210303942 A1) and Walker (US 20240217757 A1) are cited as having a structure similar to the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMUEL F BOELITZ whose telephone number is (571)272-3391. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8am-5pm.
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/SAMUEL FREDERICK BOELITZ/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/Manish S Shah/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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