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 (IDS) submitted on 10/18/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ajiro Takashi (JP 2000184143 A) in view of Kubo Hiroaki et al (JP 2010074478 A).
Regarding claim 1, Takashi discloses an image reading device (¶ [3]) comprising:
an image reader that reads an image in accordance with setting contents of a plurality of setting items (¶ [3-4]);
an operation acceptor (¶ [32]);
a display (¶ [32]); and
a controller (¶ [28] system control unit), wherein
in a case where first operation of manually changing a setting content of at least one setting item included in the setting contents of the plurality of setting items is performed on the operation acceptor, the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a manually changed setting content (¶ [39]),
in a case where third operation for an operation target, for which second operation of instructing automatic setting of the setting contents of the plurality of setting items is to be performed after the setting of the setting content of at least the one setting item as the manually changed setting content, is performed on the operation acceptor (¶ [41] semi-automatic mode wherein the user may correct a setting by manually changing the setting), and
the controller maintains the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content, and automatically sets setting contents of remaining setting items other than the setting content of at least the one setting item, included in the setting contents of the plurality of setting items (¶ [41-42] correction value detected indicating a manual edit has been maintained while all other settings remain default automatic setting items).
Takashi fails to disclose causing the display to display a screen for asking whether or not a state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained and, in a case, where fourth operation of instructing maintenance of the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is performed on the operation acceptor, maintaining the manually changed setting content.
Hiroaki et al, in the same field of endeavor of an image processing condition setting apparatus which enables selection between an automatic setting input mode and manual setting input mode (¶ [12]), teaches causing the display to display a screen for asking whether or not a state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained (¶ [12] user confirming selection of setting mode) and in a case where fourth operation of instructing maintenance of the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is performed on the operation acceptor, maintaining the manually changed setting content (¶ [59-63] and confirming image displayed based on manual settings ¶ [86-88]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the image reading device as disclosed by Takashi et al comprising an image reader that reads an image in accordance with setting contents of a plurality of setting items, an operation acceptor, a display, and a controller to utilize the teachings of Hiroaki et al which teaches causing the display to display a screen for asking whether or not a state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained and in a case where fourth operation of instructing maintenance of the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is performed on the operation acceptor, maintaining the manually changed setting content to ensure the right image processing settings are applied to achieve a high quality image output.
Regarding claim 2, Takashi et al discloses the image reading device according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
Takashi fails to explicitly disclose wherein the operation target is a button, and the second operation and the third operation are operation of pressing the button.
Hiroaki et al teaches the operation target is a button, and the second operation and the third operation are operation of pressing the button (¶ [88] confirmation button).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the image reading device as disclosed by Takashi comprising an image reader that reads an image in accordance with setting contents of a plurality of setting items, an operation acceptor, a display, and a controller to utilize the teachings of Hiroaki et al which teaches the operation target is a button, and the second operation and the third operation are operation of pressing the button to enable the user to provide tactical feedback as necessary to thereby make the selection and output process more efficient.
Regarding claim 3, Takashi et al discloses the image reading device according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
Takashi et al fails to explicitly disclose wherein in a case where the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set, the controller causes the display to display a screen element indicating that the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set.
Hiroaki et al teaches wherein in a case where the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set (see rejection of claim 1), the controller causes the display to display a screen element indicating that the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set (¶ [93]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the image reading device as disclosed by Takashi comprising an image reader that reads an image in accordance with setting contents of a plurality of setting items, an operation acceptor, a display, and a controller to utilize the teachings of Hiroaki et al which teaches in a case where the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set, the controller causes the display to display a screen element indicating that the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set to validate the appropriate mode is selected to achieve a desired result and provide an opportunity to change or edit settings as needed.
Regarding claim 4, Takashi discloses the image reading device according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), wherein in a case where the state in which the setting content of at least the one setting item is set as the manually changed setting content is maintained, and the setting contents of the remaining setting items are automatically set (see rejection of claim 1).
Takashi fails to explicitly disclose the controller stores the manually changed setting content, and in a case where the second operation is performed on the operation acceptor after the manually changed setting content is stored, the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a stored setting content, and automatically sets the setting contents of the remaining setting items.
Hiroaki et al teaches the controller stores the manually changed setting content, and in a case where the second operation is performed on the operation acceptor after the manually changed setting content is stored, the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a stored setting content, and automatically sets the setting contents of the remaining setting items (¶ [8-9] means for holding setting conditions).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the image reading device as disclosed by Takashi comprising an image reader that reads an image in accordance with setting contents of a plurality of setting items, an operation acceptor, a display, and a controller to utilize the teachings of Hiroaki et al which teaches the controller stores the manually changed setting content, and in a case where the second operation is performed on the operation acceptor after the manually changed setting content is stored, the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a stored setting content, and automatically sets the setting contents of the remaining setting items to enable reuse or previously set image processing conditions to quickly and easily set desired parameters.
Regarding claim 11, Takashi discloses the image reading device according to claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1), wherein at least the one setting item is two or more setting items (¶ [29] two or more parameter values).
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takashi in view of Hiroaki et al as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Sato Yumi et al (JP 2000032203 A).
Regarding claim 5, Takashi discloses the image reading device according to claim 4 (see rejection of claim 4).
Takashi fails to explicitly disclose wherein the controller stores the manually changed setting content in association with a user in storing the manually changed setting content, and the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a setting content stored in association with a user in performing the second operation on the operation acceptor.
Yumi et al, in the same field of endeavor of setting image processing parameters of an image processing apparatus manually (¶ [1]), teaches the controller stores the manually changed setting content in association with a user in storing the manually changed setting content, and the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a setting content stored in association with a user in performing the second operation on the operation acceptor (¶ [40] stored according to user or group).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the invention was effectively filed for the image reading device as disclosed by Takashi comprising an image reader that reads an image in accordance with setting contents of a plurality of setting items, an operation acceptor, a display, and a controller to utilize the teachings of Yumi et al which teaches the controller stores the manually changed setting content in association with a user in storing the manually changed setting content, and the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a setting content stored in association with a user in performing the second operation on the operation acceptor to avoid wasteful time and processing in acquiring unnecessary parameter settings.
Regarding claim 6, Takashi discloses the image reading device according to claim 4 (see rejection of claim 4), wherein the controller stores the manually changed setting content in association with a group to which a user in storing the manually changed setting content belongs, and the controller sets the setting content of at least the one setting item as a setting content stored in association with a group to which a user in performing the second operation on the operation acceptor belongs (see rejection of claim 5 wherein a group or user may be designated for storing the parameters).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-10 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.
Conclusion
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/JAMARES Q WASHINGTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
August 19, 2026
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