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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group 1, directed to claims 6-9, with claims 1, 10, and 11 being generic in the reply filed on 08/24/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 5, and 9-11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 11, the recitation of “a first pass area” in “a part of a first pass area subject to the first pass operation in a current recording process” should be “the first pass area” following antecedent basis earlier in each claim.
Regarding claims 5 and 9, each recitation of “the number of nozzles…” should be “a number of nozzles…” for lack of antecedent basis and they each refer to a different number of nozzles.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 10, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sanda (US 20100079527 A1) in view of Kudo (US 20150273893 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 11, Sanda teaches a printing apparatus (inkjet recording apparatus 10; Fig. 1),
a method for controlling the print apparatus (“method”; stating at para. 0079; controlled by system controller 72 and print controller 80; Fig. 6), and
a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium containing computer-executable instructions for controlling of the printing apparatus (image memory 74; Fig. 6; system controller 72 and print controller 80 may use image memory 74 for processing; at para. 0072-0075),
wherein the printing apparatus comprises:
a supply tray configured to supply a printing medium (“magazine for rolled paper (continuous paper) is shown as an example of the paper supply unit 18” and may alternatively use cassettes; at para. 0035; Fig. 1);
a head having an ejection surface including a nozzle range in which a plurality of nozzles configured to eject ink toward the printing medium are arranged (print head 12 with nozzle face; at para. 0035; Fig. 1, 2; heads have plurality of nozzles 51 in array; at para. 0057-0058; Fig. 5);
a moving device configured to move the head in a moving direction (carriage 15 moves head in main scanning direction; at para. 0055; Fig. 2);
a conveying device configured to convey the printing medium along a conveying direction which intersects with the moving direction (suction belt conveyance unit 22; Fig. 1; moves paper in sub-scanning direction; at para. 0042);
a cutter arranged closer to the supply tray with respect to the head, the cutter being configured to cut the printing medium (cutter 28 cuts paper to desired size; at para. 0037; upstream of print head 12 and on supply unit 18 side; Fig. 1); and
a controller, wherein the controller is configured to perform (system controller 72 and print controller 80 control/perform processing; at para. 0072-0075; Fig. 6):
a first printing process of repeatedly executing a recording process (multi-pass and interlacing method; at para. 0080; Fig. 7, 9) including a first pass operation and a first conveyance operation,
the first pass operation (e.g. 100, 102, 104, 106, 108; Fig. 7. 9) being an operation of causing the plurality of nozzles to eject ink to a first pass area (length of 100, 102, 104, 106, 108 in sub-scanning direction, i.e. length of nozzle array; Fig. 7. 9) of the printing medium while causing the moving device to move the head along the moving direction (ejection of passes demonstrated in Fig. 8 and 9; head 12 moves in main scanning direction; at para. 0055; Fig. 2),
the first conveyance operation being an operation of causing the conveying device to convey the printing medium (“conveying the head 50 and the recording paper 16 relatively”; at para. 0080; i.e. paper may be conveyed; paper is conveyed by conveyance unit 22; at para. 0042) by a first conveyance amount (P1, P2, P3, P4; Fig. 7) less than or equal to a dimension of the nozzle range in the conveying direction (P1, P2, P3, P4 each have length less than full nozzle range; Fig. 7),
a part of a first pass area subject to the first pass operation in a current recording process overlapping a part of the first pass area subject to the first pass operation in a previous recording process (interlacing method, passes overlap so as not to produce gaps; at para. 0080; Fig. 8, 9);
a cutting process of cutting the printing medium by the cutter (cutter cuts paper to desired size; at para. 0037); and
a correction process of correcting the first conveyance amount in the first printing process (movement amount P1 may be set (i.e. corrected) such that it is less than other movement amounts P2, P3, P4; Fig. 7) such that downstream end of the first pass area in the conveying direction faces a downstream end of the nozzle range in the conveying direction (as understood by the examiner, this is always true during the printing process as the first pass area is based on the nozzle range).
Further, because the correction process happens for the downstream side (leading end) of the print area (at para. 0096) and the cutter that cuts the printing medium to size is upstream of the print head (cutter 28 cuts the paper to size; at para. 0037), it is understood that the cutter is configured to cut the printing medium after the correction process is performed. In other words, printing medium is brought to the print head, the conveyance corrections/adjustments and printing starts, and then the cutter cuts the upstream/trailing end of the printing medium at a specific length.
Sanda does not explicitly teach wherein the correction process of correcting the first conveyance amount in the first printing process is in such a manner that a downstream end of the first pass area in the conveying direction faces a downstream end of the nozzle range in the conveying direction when performing the cutting process.
Kudo teaches a printing apparatus wherein conveyance amount may be corrected, and demonstrates further wherein, as understood from at least Fig. 6C, a downstream end of a first pass area in a conveying direction faces a downstream end of the nozzle range in the conveying direction when the cutter is aligned with a cutting position (annotated portion of Fig. 6C below).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the printing apparatus such that the correction process aligns the cutter in a cutting position wherein the downstream end of the first pass area faces the downstream end of the nozzle range for the purpose of accounting for a margin/unprintable area from the print area that may be, for example, used to prevent a jam or the like as demonstrated by Kudo (at para. 0130-131).
Claim(s) 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sanda as modified by Kudo as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ueda et al. (US 20110164079 A1), hereinafter referred to as Ueda.
Regarding claim 6, Sanda further teaches wherein the correction process is executed with respect to the first conveyance amount in at least one of the first conveyance operations included in the first printing operation (e.g. movement amount P1 may be made (i.e. corrected/adjusted to be) shorter than the other movement amounts, P2, P3, P4; Fig. 7).
However, Sanda does not teach the controller as being configured to perform an alignment process of aligning a downstream end of a printing area of the printing medium with an upstream of the nozzle range in the conveyancing direction, wherein the first printing process is executed after the alignment process is executed.
Ueda teaches a printing apparatus (printer 10; Fig. 1) wherein a controller (controller 50; Fig. 1) performs an alignment process of aligning a downstream end of a printing area of the printing medium (downstream edge of printing medium 90; at para. 0043) with an upstream of the nozzle range (upstream nozzle group NU; Fig. 5; preferably position Pd0 of 0th pass; at para. 0043-0044) in the conveyancing direction, wherein a first printing process is executed after the alignment process is executed (1st to 7th passes after alignment in 0th path; starting at para. 0047; Fig. 5)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the printing apparatus to explicitly align a downstream end of a printing area with an upstream of the nozzle range before performing the printing process for the purpose of minimizing erroneous margins and/or white space on the downstream end of the print area and preventing ink from getting on parts that support the medium as taught by Ueda (at para. 0046).
Regarding claim 7, Sanda further teaches wherein the correction process is executed with respect to the first conveyance amount in first execution of the first conveyance operations included in the first printing operation (first movement amount P1 as the first execution of conveyance demonstrated that is “corrected”; P1 is less than P2, P3, P4; Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 8, Sanda further teaches wherein the first conveyance amount subject to the correction process is corrected to a conveyance amount less than the other first conveyance amounts (P1 as the “corrected” conveyance amount; P1 is less than each of P2, P3, P4; Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 9, Sanda further teaches wherein a number of nozzles used in the first pass operation immediately after the first conveyance operation when the first conveyance amount of the first conveyance operation is corrected by the correction process is less than a number of nozzles used in the first pass operation when the first conveyance amount of the first conveyance operation is not corrected (first pass operation, 102, after “corrected” first conveyance of P1, and first pass operation, 104, after “non-corrected” first conveyance of P2; Fig. 7; for example, two nozzles are used for pass 102 while 4 nozzles are used for pass 104 after conveyance amount of P2; at para. 0097-0098; Fig. 7, 9).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. From IDS dated 11/27/2024:
Saito (US 20230173829 A1 and JP 2023081233 A) relevant to at least claims 1, 10, and 11 as it teaches a similar apparatus, method, and recording medium. This reference may be used in a future rejection if the applicant does not perfect priority.
Yamaguchi et al. (US 20220204299 A1 and JP 2022104671 A) is relevant to at least the claims 1, 10, and 11 for teaching a similar apparatus.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYRA M VAN KREUNINGEN whose telephone number is (571)272-9423. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur 9:00am-6:00pm and Fri 9:00am-1:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DOUGLAS X RODRIGUEZ can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYRA MELOR VAN KREUNINGEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/SHELBY L FIDLER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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