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 .
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, 6-8 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong, et al. (“Hong”) (U.S. Pub. 2015/0300748) in view of Palifka, et al. (“Palifka”) (U.S. Pub. 2005/0034658).
Regarding claim 1, A pump for dispensing a viscous liquid, the multi-nozzle pump comprising:
a pump unit (100) each including a pump body (10), a lever (30) installed to be rotatable with respect to a hinge shaft (11) installed on the pump body, a valve rod (40) connected to the lever so as to ascend/descend according to a rotation of the lever, and a piezoelectric actuator (51, 52) that is installed in the pump body while being in contact with the lever by an end portion so that, when a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric actuator, a length of the piezoelectric actuator increases and the lever is pressed so that the lever rotates about the hinge shaft (¶ [0011]); and
a valve body (20) including a storage portion (22) in which end portions of the valve rod in the plurality of pump unit are inserted and a liquid is stored, and a nozzle (23) formed to be in communication respectively with the plurality of storage portion so that the liquid in the storage portion is discharged as the plurality of valve rods move back and forth with respect to the storage portion.
Hong does not mention a pump support member to which a plurality of pump units are fixedly coupled to be supported.
Palifka discloses a pump support member (jetting assembly 112) to which a plurality of print heads (105, 106, 107, 108) (¶ [0004]: “Piezoelectric ink-jet printhead modules”) are fixedly coupled to be supported.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of Palifka’s pump support member to which a plurality of Hong’s pump units are fixedly coupled to be supported, while the plurality of pump units are arranged so that, as at least some of the plurality of pump units proceed in a direction in which the valve rods are located, an interval thereof with an adjacent pump unit is reduced to dispense different color ink enabling the system to print full color images on a substrate or eject the same color ink or a combination of inks and/or hot-melt inks. (¶ [0022])
Regarding claim 2, Hong, as modified by Palifka, discloses that the plurality of pump units are arranged at constant angular intervals. (as seen in Figure 1A of Palifka)
Regarding claim 3, Hong, as modified by Palifka, discloses the plurality of pump units are arranged so that intervals between the pump units are reduced toward the valve body, and are coupled to the pump support member. (as seen in Figure 1A of Palifka)
Regarding claim 4, Hong, as modified by Palifka, discloses the valve body has the plurality of Hong’s nozzles arranged in a straight line at constant intervals. (as seen in Figure 1A of Palifka)
Regarding claim 6, Hong discloses that the valve body further includes an inlet (21) formed to supply the liquid to the plurality of storage portions, as modified by Palifka, and an outlet (23) for discharging the liquid from the plurality of storage portions.
Regarding claim 7, Hong discloses an inlet flow path connected to the inlet of the valve body (¶ [0034] from the “liquid supplied from the outside”), but does not mention a pressing pump installed in the inlet flow path.
Palifka discloses a pump (130) which supplies fluid (ink) from ink containers in a remote supply (140) to jetting assembly (110). (¶ [0021]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of a pump installed in the inlet flow path to pump fluid from the fluid supply to the inlet to ensure a reliable flow of fluid. (¶ [0007])
Regarding claim 8, Hong discloses a controller (200) which operates cooling pump (70), piezoelectric actuators (51, 52) and it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use Hong’s controller to control the pump, as modified by Palifka, to automate the pump operation.
Regarding claim 12, the combination discloses that the plurality of pump units operate to discharge the liquid through the plurality of nozzles in a jetting type (Palifka: ¶ [0007]: “The modules can be drop-on-demand ink jet printhead modules (e.g., drop-on-demand ink jet printhead modules including a piezoelectric actuator)” as the plurality of valve rods advance/retract with respect to the plurality of storage portions.
Claim(s) 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong and Palifka as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Aguilar, et al (“Aguilar”) (U.S. Pub 2013/0048759).
Regarding claim 9, the combination is silent in regards to a pressure sensor installed in the inlet flow path.
Aguilar discloses a jetting device with a pressure sensor (162+164) installed in an inlet flow path (20+42) connecting a pressing pump (22) to a valve body (30+52) so as to measure a pressure of the liquid, wherein a controller (99) receives a measurement value from the pressure sensor and controls the operation of the pressing pump (¶ [0026, 0027]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to borrow the teaching of a pressure sensor installed in the inlet flow path of Hong and connected to the controller to control the operation of the pressing pump. (¶ [0026, 0027])
Regarding claim 10, the combination discloses that the valve body discharges the liquid when the plurality of nozzles are individually opened/closed according to advance/retraction of the plurality of valve rods (each valve rod of Hong is individually controlled), and
the controller operates the pressing pump so as to compensate for pressures in the plurality of storage portions according to individual opening/closing of the plurality of nozzles due to individual operations of the plurality of valve rods. (Aguilar: ¶ [0027])
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong and Palifka as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Isogai, et al. (“Isogai”) (U.S. Pub. 2002/0071772).
Regarding claim 11, the combination, as modified by Palifka, discloses a pressing pump but is silent that the pressing pump is provided as a gear pump.
Isogai discloses a similar apparatus and teaches that a pump may be a screw pump or a gear pump. (¶ [0013])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to substitute the combination’s pump with Isogai’s teaching of a gear pump, since doing so would be a mere substitution of one known pump configuration for another known pump configuration with the expected results that the substituted pump would pump liquid (see MPEP 2143 I B).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 13 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 5 requires the valve body is formed so that the plurality of storage portions are in communication with one another. Hong discloses a valve body, as modified by Palifka, with a plurality of storage portions but does not mention that the storage portions are in communication with each other and it would not have been obvious to modify the combination, as required, barring improper hindsight analysis.
Claim 13 requires an outlet flow path connected to the outlet of the valve body and returning the liquid to a storage tank from the plurality of storage portions; and an outlet valve installed in the outlet flow path, wherein the controller controls operation of the outlet valve.
Hong, as modified by Palifka, is considered the closest prior art but does not disclose the required limitations and it would not have been obvious to modify the combination, as required, barring improper hindsight analysis.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form PTO-892, attaached.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J MELARAGNO whose telephone number is (571)270-7735. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri: 8 am - 5 pm +/- flex.
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/MICHAEL J. MELARAGNO/ Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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