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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is 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. Reasons for allowance will be provided in the event the application becomes in condition for allowance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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(s) 1-4 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyajima (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2020/0201585) in view of Kitagata et al. (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2017/0109110).
Regarding claim 1, Miyajima (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2020/0201585) discloses:
A cloud print server comprising:
one or more memory devices that store a set of instructions; and one or more processors (see, for example, paragraph [0192]) that execute the set of instructions to:
manage a printing apparatus and device attributes of the printing apparatus, a device type included in the device attribute having information indicating a type of a printing apparatus (paragraph [0090], the cloud server gets capability information regarding the MFP via Get-Printer-Attributes);
display a list of printing apparatuses managed by the cloud print server while not displaying a specific type of printing apparatus or changing a display mode of the specific type of printing apparatus, (Figure 17, paragraph [0183]-[0186],, the system displays only recently used printers – i.e. it does not display non-recently used printers) and accept selection of the printing apparatus list displayed by an administrator (Figure 17, paragraphs [0184]-[0187], the user can select the individually listed printers)
associate the selected printing apparatus to a virtual printer (Figure 13, paragraphs [0071]-[0073], the printer is registered to a virtual printer);
store a print job submit to the virtual printer in the one or more memory in association with the virtual printer (paragraph [0080], the job is stored in association with the virtual printer identifier); and
transmit the print job stored in association with the virtual printer to the associated printing apparatus according to an instruction from a user (paragraphs [0081], [0162], [0178], the MFP can print the job)
Even Miyajima does not explicitly disclose:
accept selection of the printing apparatus list displayed by an administrator
Kitagata et al. (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2017/0109110) discloses:
display a list of printing apparatuses managed by the cloud print server while not displaying a specific type of printing apparatus or changing a display mode of the specific type of printing apparatus, and accept selection of the printing apparatus list displayed by an administrator (Figure 5, paragraph [0057], for each printing service, the display can be changed to expand the list of printers under a particular printing service, while leaving printers of non-expanded services hidden; the user can then select a printer for more information or instructing a print)
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the system of Kitagata et al. with the system of Miyajima such that the system would have been configured in order to display a list of printing apparatuses and accept selection of the printing apparatus list displayed by an administrator as described in Kitagata. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to implement a system capable of avoiding a situation that “confus[es] a user when choosing a printer, consequently reducing user convenience” (paragraph [0006] of the Kitagata reference).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Miyajima and Kitagata discloses the server of the parent claim (claim 1).
Miyajima additionally discloses:
wherein the list display displays a list of information specifying the managed printing apparatus and a type of printing apparatus of the device type (Figure 17, paragraph [0184]-[0185], the information that can be viewed provides the name and detail regarding the printing apparatus)
Kitagata additionally discloses:
wherein the list display displays a list of information specifying the managed printing apparatus and a type of printing apparatus of the device type (Figure 5, paragraph [0057], for each printing service, the display can be changed to expand the list of printers under a particular printing service, while leaving printers of non-expanded services hidden; the user can then select a printer for more information- including of the model type, whether or not the printer is color- or instructing a print)
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Miyajima and Kitagata discloses the server of the parent claim (claim 1).
Miyajima additionally discloses:
wherein the device type includes information indicating whether the printing apparatus is a physical printing apparatus or a virtual printer (Figure 17, paragraphs [0183]-[0186], the list includes a virtual printer and a local printer) and the list display list displays the printing apparatuses managed by the cloud print server while not displaying a printing apparatus that is a virtual printer or changing a display mode of a printing apparatus that is a virtual printer (Figure 17, paragraphs [0183]-[0187], the virtual printer managed by the cloud has its display mode changed when the information icon is clicked, changing its display to a detail view)
Kitagata additionally discloses:
wherein the device type includes information indicating whether the printing apparatus is a physical printing apparatus or a virtual printer (Figure 5, paragraph [0057], both the local printers and virtual printers are displayed as part of the list) and the list display list displays the printing apparatuses managed by the cloud print server while not displaying a printing apparatus that is a virtual printer or changing a display mode of a printing apparatus that is a virtual printer (Figure 5, paragraph [0057], for each printing service, the display can be changed to expand the list of printers, including virtual printers, under a particular printing service, while leaving printers of non-expanded services hidden)
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Miyajima and Kitagata discloses the server of the parent claim (claim 1).
Miyajima additionally discloses:
wherein the device type includes information indicating whether the printing apparatus is a physical printer or a print connector (Figure 17, paragraphs [0183]-[0186], the list includes a virtual printer and a local printer), and the list display list displays the printing apparatuses managed by the cloud print server while not displaying a printing apparatus that is a print connector or changing a display mode of a printing apparatus that is a printer connector (Figure 17, paragraphs [0183]-[0187], the virtual printer managed by the cloud has its display mode changed when the information icon is clicked, changing its display to a detail view)
Kitagata additionally discloses:
wherein the device type includes information indicating whether the printing apparatus is a physical printer or a print connector (Figure 5, paragraph [0057], both the local printers and virtual printers are displayed as part of the list), and the list display list displays the printing apparatuses managed by the cloud print server while not displaying a printing apparatus that is a print connector or changing a display mode of a printing apparatus that is a printer connector (Figure 5, paragraph [0057], for each printing service, the display can be changed to expand the list of printers, including virtual printers, under a particular printing service, while leaving printers of non-expanded services hidden)
Regarding claim 6, arguments analogous to claim 1 are applicable. The systems described in Miyajima and Kitagata disclose the system of claim 6. Further, the printing apparatus of claim 6 is explicitly disclosed by Miyajima (paragraphs [0029], [0040]) and Kitagawa (paragraphs [0029] and [0039]).
Regarding claim 7, the structural elements of apparatus claim 1 perform all of the steps of method claim 7. Thus, claim 7 is rejected for the same reasons discussed in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 8, arguments analogous to claim 1 are applicable. The computer readable medium is explicitly taught as evidenced by paragraph [0192] of Miyajima and paragraph [0101] of Kitagata.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN R WALLACE whose telephone number is (571)270-1577. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benny Tieu can be reached at 571-272-7490. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN R WALLACE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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