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 .
The action is responsive to the following communication: an application filed on 11/14/2024 where:
Claims 1-8 are currently pending.
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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 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.
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.
Claims 1-3, 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamagami et al. (US 2016/0239883, hereinafter Yamagami) in view of Inoue (US 2008/0037059).
Regarding claim 1, Yamagami teaches: A service provision system providing a print service for which a charge is incurred in accordance with an area printed by a printing apparatus (see FIG. 1, a billing system 1000 for the sheet manufacturing apparatus), the service provision system comprising:
a conversion unit configured to convert an area printable by the printing apparatus without incurring an additional charge in the print service into a number of sheets of a first printing medium ([0073], Therefore, in the CPU 301 (the calculation unit), the billing charge is calculated using the charge data corresponding to a manufactured sheet class in the billing table 322, based on the quantity (the area of the sheets Pr) of the manufactured sheets Pr.).
Yamagami does not explicitly teach: a display control unit configured to cause a display unit to display the number of sheets of the first printing medium converted by the conversion unit.
However, Inoue teaches: a display control unit configured to cause a display unit to display the number of sheets of the first printing medium converted by the conversion unit (figs. 10 and 11, [0138], If a replaceable sheet size candidate that can be replaced when the print data shown in FIG. 10 is rotated by 90.degree. is selected, the radio buttons 904A and 904B are displayed.).
Therefore, the Applicant's claimed invention would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Yamagami to include a display control unit configured to cause a display unit to display the number of sheets of the first printing medium converted by the conversion unit as taught by Inoue. The motivation/suggestion would have been to further enhance/improve the service provision system since doing so would allow for displaying the changes of the print area by using different sheet sizes; therefore, allowing the user to see how the image would be printed on the sheet without enlarge or reduce the image and therefore preventing waste of resources.
Regarding claim 2, Yamagami and Inoue teach: The service provision system according to claim 1, wherein the first printing medium is a printing medium compatible with the printing apparatus and used by a user of the printing apparatus in the past (Yamagami, [0082], Subsequently, first operational information is stored (Step S102). Specifically, the first operational information that accompanies the performing of sheet formation job 1 is stored in the storage unit 502. See fig. 6, is sheet type changed?).
Regarding claim 3, Yamagami and Inoue teach: The service provision system according to claim 2, wherein the first printing medium is a printing medium printed most frequently by the printing apparatus (Yamagami, [0082], Subsequently, first operational information is stored (Step S102). Specifically, the first operational information that accompanies the performing of sheet formation job 1 is stored in the storage unit 502. See fig. 6, is sheet type changed?).
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected for reasons similar to claim 1 above
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW H LAM whose telephone number is (571)270-7969 and fax number is 571-270-8969. The examiner can normally be reached on 9AM-5PM.
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.
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/ANDREW H LAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
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