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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/26/2024is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-11 are pending in this application.
Oath/Declaration
The receipt of Oath/Declaration is acknowledged.
Drawings
6. The receipt of Drawings is acknowledged.
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.
7. 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.
8. The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
9. 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:
a first reception unit configured to receive setting of information about scanning in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0079], Applicant’s Dwg. Figs. 3 and 9B, Collaboration Tool Application 301 of Information Processing Apparatus 110).
a first transmission unit configured to transmit, to the server, scan-job setting information based on the setting of information about scanning, the setting of information about scanning being received by the first reception unit in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0087]-[0088], Applicant’s Dwg. Figs. 3, 13A and 13B, Collaboration Tool Application 301 of Information Processing Apparatus 110).
a first acquisition unit configured to acquire scan data from the server, the scan data being generated through the scanning performed by the image processing apparatus based on the scan-job setting information in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0081], Applicant’s Dwg. Figs. 3, 13A and 13B, Collaboration Tool Application 301 of Information Processing Apparatus 110).
a second acquisition unit configured to acquire the scan-job setting information in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0048] lines 1-4, Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 7, Web Application 701 of Server 130).
a second transmission unit configured to transmit the scan-job setting information to the image processing apparatus in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0041] lines 4-9, Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 7, Event Processing Application 702 of Server 130).
a third acquisition unit configured to acquire the scan data in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0065], Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 7, Web Application 701 of Server 130).
a third transmission unit configured to transmit the scan data to the information processing apparatus in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0067], Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 7, Web Application 701 of Server 130).
a fourth acquisition unit configured to acquire the scan-job setting information in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0057], Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 5, HDD 414 of MFP 120).
an execution unit configured to perform the scanning based on the scan-job setting information in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0058], Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 5, Device Registration Application 503 of MFP 120).
a fourth transmission unit configured to transmit the scan data to the server in claim 11 (See Applicant’s. Spec. Para. [0059], Applicant’s Dwg. Fig. 5, Device Registration Application 503 of MFP 120).
10. 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.
11. 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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Regarding claim 10, “A storage medium" (See line 1) fails to specify the term “non-transitory” prior to the “storage medium”, therefore, the definition does not exclude the possibility of a signal as being one type of “storage medium”. A "storage medium” is defined in the Applicant’s Specification at paragraphs [00188], “Embodiments of the present disclosure can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a 'non-transitory computer-readable storage medium') to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiments and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiments, and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiments and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiments. The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)ᵀM), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.” however, the Applicant’s Specification does not specify that “A storage medium” is explicitly taught as “A non-transitory storage medium”; therefore, the definition, does not exclude the possibility of a signal as one type of medium. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to “A storage medium” includes both forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se in view of the ordinary and customary meaning of computer-readable media. See Subject Matter Eligibility of Computer Readable Medium, Jan. 26, 2010. Since, the Applicant’s specification and claim(s) does not limit “A storage medium” to non-transitory embodiments; Therefore “A storage medium” in claim 11 is broad enough to cover both transitory and non-transitory embodiments. As a result, the claim is not eligible subject matter. It is recommended to amend the claim by adding the limitation/term "non-transitory" prior to "storage medium" (i.e. A non-transitory storage medium”) in order for the claim to cover only statutory embodiments and overcome the 101 rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 is allowed.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kobana (US PG. Pub. 2022/0303400 A1).
Referring to Claim 1, Kobana teaches a control method (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method) for an information processing apparatus (See Kobana, Fig. 1, Client Terminal 102), the information processing apparatus being capable of communicating with a server (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Destination Terminal 103), the server being capable of communicating with an image processing apparatus (See Koban, Fig. 7, MFP 101, Sect. [0058] lines 4-8, FIG. 7 shows a sequence of the scan process method when the MFP 101 transmits the scanned image to the destination terminal 103 in response to an instruction from the client terminal 102), the method comprising:
receiving setting of information about scanning (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Step S702, Sect. [0059] lines 4-8, In S702, the client terminal 102 receives the user's operation for the destination setting, the scan reading setting, and the preview setting on the scan setting screen 400, and performs the setting.);
transmitting, to the server, scan-job setting information based on the received setting of information about scanning (See Kobana, Sect. [0060], In S703, the client terminal 102 detects that the transmission start button 411 has been pressed. The client terminal 102 switches the operations following S704 depending on whether or not a check mark is placed in the preview setting check box 410. This sequence describes the case in which the check mark is placed in the preview setting check box 410, that is, the case in which the setting for displaying a preview screen of the scanned image is received.); and
acquiring scan data from the server, the scan data being generated through the scanning performed by the image processing apparatus based on the scan-job setting information (See Kobana, Sect. [0062] lines 5-9, the client terminal 102 requests the MFP 101 to acquire the scan status of the pull scanning as instructed in S704. In S708, the MFP 101 responds to the request for status acquisition from the client terminal 102 in S707.),
wherein the acquired scan data is displayed in a predetermined area on a display unit of the information processing apparatus (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Sect. [0061] lines1-3, S704 to S708 are the processes that are executed for displaying the preview screen of the scanned image in the client terminal 102.).
Referring to Claim 2, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 1 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method), the process further comprising:
receiving, from a user, a posting instruction to post the scan data to a predetermined posting destination, the scan data being displayed in the predetermined area (See Kobana, Sect. [0050] lines 5-9, FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a scan setting screen 400 in the first embodiment. On the scan setting screen 400, the user sets the transmission destination (address) of the scanned image, the read setting during scan execution, and the display setting of the preview screen.),
wherein the scan data is posted to the predetermined posting destination based on the received posting instruction (See Kobana, Sect. [0051] lines 1-8, A destination field 401 to a password 403 are fields used for setting the transmission destination of the scanned image. Each of the fields shown in FIG. 4 displays the current setting value. The destination field 401 is a field used for setting the transmission destination. The user can select a desired destination from among the destinations registered in the client terminal 102 by pressing the destination field 401.).
Referring to Claim 3, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 2
(See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method), wherein the scan data is displayed in the predetermined area before being posted to the predetermined posting destination (See Kobana, Fig. 5, Sect. [0063] lines 5-11, In S711, the client terminal 102 displays the scanned image acquired from the MFP 101 in S710 on the preview screen. For example, the client terminal 102 displays the preview screen 500 as shown in FIG. 5, and the scanned image acquired from the MFP 101 in S710 is displayed in the preview image region 501 of the preview screen 500.).
Referring to Claim 4, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 3 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method), the process further comprising:
receiving, at the information processing apparatus, an instruction to post the scan data to the predetermined posting destination after the scan data is displayed in the predetermined area (See Kobana, Sect. [0121] lines 10-13, the client terminal 102 may request the destination terminal 103 to acquire the scanned image after the completion of the push scanning, and the acquired scanned image may be displayed on the display unit 306.),
wherein, in response to reception of the instruction in the receiving at the information processing apparatus, the scan data is displayed in the predetermined area before being posted to the predetermined posting destination (See Kobana, Sect. [0058] lines8-14, the client terminal 102 performs a preview display of the image that has been scanned before the image is transmitted to the destination terminal 103. Accordingly, the user who has instructed the scanning can confirm the scanned image before the image is transmitted to the destination terminal 103.).
Referring to Claim 5, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 2 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method), wherein the
predetermined area is a preview display area, and the scan data is displayed in the preview display area before the reception of the posting instruction (See Kobana, Sect. [0054] lines 1-6, A preview setting check box 410 is a check box for setting whether or not to display a preview screen showing the scanned image on the client terminal 102 before the preview screen is transmitted to the destination. To set the preview screen to be displayed, the user presses the preview setting check box 410 to place a check mark).
Referring to Claim 6, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 5 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method),
wherein, when a setting of preview display of the scan data in the preview display area is set, the acquired scan data is displayed in the predetermined area of the display unit of the information processing apparatus (See Kobana, Fig. 5, Sect. [0055], The preview screen 500 is a screen that performs a preview display of the image generated by scanning in the MFP 101. The preview screen 500 is displayed by the client terminal 102 when a check mark is placed in the preview setting check box 410 in the scan setting screen 400 so that a preview display is set.).
Referring to Claim 7, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 5 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method),
wherein, when a setting of preview display of the scan data in the preview display area is not set, the acquired scan data is not displayed in the predetermined area of the display unit of the information processing apparatus, and is posted to a predetermined posting destination (See Kobana, Sect. [0071], In S805, the setting means 322 of the scan app 320 determines whether or not the operation received in S802 is the operation for the destination setting. Specifically, when any one of the destination field 401 to the password 403 is pressed by the user on the scan setting screen 400, the setting means 322 determines that this operation is for destination setting. When the operation received in S802 is the operation for the destination setting, the process proceeds to S806. In contrast, when the operation received in S802 is not the operation for the destination setting, the process proceeds to S807.).
Referring to Claim 8, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 1 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method),
wherein the scan data is transmitted from the image processing apparatus to the
server, and is then temporarily stored in the server (See Kobana, Sect. [0047] lines 2-6, the communication means 311 transmits a scan request to the MFP 101. The storage means 312 controls the storage regions of the ROM 302, the RAM 303, and the storage unit 304 to store the transmitted scan data).
Referring to Claim 9, Kobana teaches the control method according to Claim 2 (See Kobana, Fig. 7, Steps S701-S720, Scan Process Method),
wherein the scan data is posted to the predetermined posting destination by the server transmitting, to an external server, an instruction to post the scan data to the posting destination, the server obtaining, from the information processing apparatus, an instruction based on the received posting instruction, the external server posting the scan data to the posting destination (See Kobana, Sect. [0039] lines 1-6, The communication means 211 communicates with external devices such as the client terminal 102 and the destination terminal 103. For example, the communication means 211 receives requests transmitted from the client terminal 102 and transmits images to the destination terminal 103.).
Referring to Claim 10, arguments analogous to claim 1 are applicable herein. Thus, a storage medium storing a program causing a computer of an information processing apparatus to perform a process of claim 10 is explicitly/inherently taught as evidenced by (See Kobana, Sect. [0123], the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.) and various memories stored therein.
Cited Art
17. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure Osuki et al. (US PG. PUB. No. 2021/0266421 A1) discloses To enable identification of a user who has transmitted image data generated by scanning by an image processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus that communicates with a chat server that performs control, based on received information indicating a talk room of the chat server, to display information indicating received image data and transmission source user information indicating a user who has transmitted the image data on the talk room includes a reading unit configured to read an image of an original document and generate image data based on the image, a designation unit configured to designate a talk room of the chat server; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the image data generated by the reading unit, information indicating the talk room designated by the designation unit and the transmission source user information to the chat server.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARRYL V DOTTIN whose telephone number is (571)270-5471. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached on 571-270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARRYL V DOTTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
/DARRYL V DOTTIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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