DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or 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 .
2. Claims 1-11 are pending in this application.
Priority
3. Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority based on application JP 2023-182703 filed on 10/24/2023 under 35 U.S.C 119(a)-(d).
Drawings
4. The drawing has been filed on 10/04/2024 are acceptable for examination purpose.
Information Disclosure Statement
5. The information disclosure statement filed on10/04/2024 is in compliance with the provision of the 37 CFR 1.97 and therefore has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 3-4, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sawayanagi et al. [hereafter Sawayanagi], US Pub 2010/0231950 in view of Hirasawa, US Pub 2016/0295033.
As to claim 1 [independent], Sawayanagi teaches a recording apparatus comprising [fig. 1, element 1; 0038]:
a recording part [fig. 1, element 13; 0039];
a display [fig. 1, element 13; 0039, 0045];
an operating part [fig. 1, element 13; 0039, 0045] configured to allow a user to operate [0039, 0045]; and
a controller [fig. 1, element 16; 0039, 0044], wherein
the controller [fig. 1, element 16; 0039, 0044] is configured to perform control regarding an additional function which is executed by the recording apparatus after the recording apparatus and an external apparatus are connected and after approval is given by the user [figs. 3-4; 0063-0076 Sawayanagi teaches that the user performed the basic function screen 111 is displayed (e.g., fig. 4a, element 111) when USB memory 25 is attached into the external device 2 before the user has performed the remote access to control the printer 1 to connect the printer 1 & the external device 2, then the user performed the remote access from the external device 2 into the printer 1 to connect the printer 1 the external device 2 and after approval is given by the user to perform additional functions such as selecting printing data (e.g., fig. 4a, element 114) from the attached USB memory 25 to print printing data stored in the USB memory 25], and control regarding a basic function which is executed by the recording apparatus before the recording apparatus and the external apparatus are connected [figs. 3-4; 0063-0076 Sawayanagi teaches that the user performed the basic function screen 111 is displayed (e.g., fig. 4a, element 111) when USB memory 25 is attached into the external device 2 before the user has performed the remote access to control the printer 1 to connect the printer 1 & the external device 2], and
the controller is configured to execute [fig. 1, element 16; 0039, 0044]:
causing the display to display a basic function selecting part which is selected by an operation of the operating part and via which the basic function is selected [figs. 3-4; 0063-0076 Sawayanagi teaches that the user performed the basic function screen 111 is displayed (e.g., fig. 4a, element 111) when USB memory 25 is attached into the external device 2 before the user has performed the remote access to control the printer 1 to connect the printer 1 & the external device 2] and an additional function selecting part which is selected by the operation of the operating part and via which the additional function is selected [figs. 3-4; 0063-0076 Sawayanagi teaches that the user performed the basic function screen 111 is displayed (e.g., fig. 4a, element 111) when USB memory 25 is attached into the external device 2 before the user has performed the remote access to control the printer 1 to connect the printer 1 & the external device 2, then the user performed the remote access from the external device 2 into the printer 1 to connect the printer 1 the external device 2 and after approval is given by the user to perform additional functions such as selecting printing data (e.g., fig. 4a, element 114) from the attached USB memory 25 to print printing data stored in the USB memory 25];
Sawayanagi doesn’t teach in a case where the user has not given the approval, causing the display to display the additional function selecting part in a state that selection for executing the additional function is not ready; and
in a case where the user has given the approval, causing the display to display the additional function selecting part in a state that the selection for executing the additional function is ready.
Hirasawa teaches in a case where the user has not given the approval, causing the display to display the additional function selecting part in a state that selection for executing the additional function is not ready [fig. 7a, element 60; 0069-0071 Hirasawa teaches that the user has not given the approval to store the scanned data to store into the USB memory, and the displayed “store in USB” icon as the additional function isn’t ready to receive the scanned data]; and
in a case where the user has given the approval, causing the display to display the additional function selecting part in a state that the selection for executing the additional function is ready [fig. 7a, element 70; 0069-0071 Hirasawa teaches that the user has given the approval to store the scanned data to store into the USB memory, and the displayed “store in USB” icon as the additional function is ready to receive the scanned data].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hirasawa teaching to display the additional function selecting part in a state that the selection for executing the additional function is ready & not ready to modify Sawayanagi’s teaching when the user has given & not given the approval to store document into USB memory using shortcut menu base on the user approval in case of the printer and client are connected state. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been benefitted to the user to provide reduced menu reducing the number of actions to input through the screens by the user, and thus the operation is easier for the use.
As to claim 3 [dependent from claim 1], Sawayanagi teaches wherein the approval is registration, by the user, of his or her own account [figs. 3-4; 0063, 0065 Sawayanagi teaches that the user performed the user Z logs in to the printer 1 via the operation panel 15 of the printer 1].
As to claim 4 [dependent from claim 1], Hirasawa teaches wherein in a case where the additional function selecting part is selected in a state that the user has not given the approval [fig. 7a, element 60; 0069-0071 Hirasawa teaches that the user has not given the approval to store the scanned data to store into the USB memory, and the displayed “store in USB” icon as the additional function isn’t ready to receive the scanned data], the controller is configured to cause the display to display a screen prompting the user to give the approval [fig. 7a, element 70; 0069-0071 Hirasawa teaches that the user has given the approval to store the scanned data to store into the USB memory, and the displayed “store in USB” icon as the additional function is ready to receive the scanned data].
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hirasawa teaching to display the additional function selecting part in a state that the selection for executing the additional function is ready & not ready to modify Sawayanagi’s teaching when the user has given & not given the approval to store document into USB memory using shortcut menu base on the user approval in case of the printer and client are connected state. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been benefitted to the user to provide reduced menu reducing the number of actions to input through the screens by the user, and thus the operation is easier for the use.
As to claim 11 [independent], However, the independent claim 11 essentially claimed same subject matter as claimed in the independent claim 1 for/and/with other claim limitations, and are therefore the independent claim 11 would be rejected based on same rationale as applied to the independent claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 2, 5-10 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.
9. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The dependent claims 2, 7-10 are allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “a communicating part configured to communicate with an external apparatus, wherein the controller is configured to perform transmission of an approval signal to the external apparatus, in response to the approval given by the user, in a state that the recording apparatus is ready for communicating with the external apparatus, and in a case where the controller receives, from the external apparatus, a response signal corresponding to the transmission of the approval signal, the controller is configured to switch the additional function selecting part, which the controller causes the display to display, from the state that the selection for executing the additional function is not ready to the state that the selection for executing the additional function is ready., wherein in a state that the recording apparatus is not ready for communicating with the external apparatus, the controller is configured not to cause the display to display the additional function selecting part, and after the recording apparatus becomes ready for communicating with the external apparatus, the controller is configured to cause the display to display the additional function selecting part., wherein after the recording apparatus becomes ready for communicating with the external apparatus in at least one of the state that the user has given the approval and the state that the user has not given the approval, the controller is configured to execute an updating process of communicating with the external apparatus to update display of the additional function selecting part displayed in the display., wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to display an update selecting part which is selected by the operation of the operating part and which is configured to select whether to execute the updating process after the recording apparatus becomes ready for communicating with the external apparatus., wherein the additional function selecting part includes a first icon configured to indicate whether the recording apparatus is in the state that the recording apparatus is ready for communicating with the external apparatus, and a second icon configured to indicate whether the user has given the approval”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
The dependent claims 4-5 are allowable over the prior arts of record (or cited or listed above) since the cited references taken individually or in combination fails to particularly anticipate or disclose or suggest the claim limitations recited “wherein the additional function selecting part includes a first additional function selecting part via which a first additional function is selected, and a second additional function selecting part via which a second additional function is selected and which is different from the first additional function, and in a case where either the first additional function selecting part or the second additional function selecting part is selected in the state that the user has not given the approval, the controller is configured to cause the display to display the screen for prompting the user to give the approval., wherein the controller is configured to: cause the display to display a first screen including the basic function selecting part and the first additional function selecting part; and cause the display to display, in response to selection of the basic function selecting part, a second screen including a basic setting selecting part via which a setting of the basic function is made, the basic function being selected by the operation of the operating part, and the second additional function selecting part”, in combination with all other limitations as claimed.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARIS SABAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3917. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday/Thursday from 7:00AM to 5:30PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Benny Tieu, 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. The Examiner’s personal fax number is (571)-270-4917.
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//HARIS SABAH/Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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