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 .
Response to Amendment
Acknowledgement is made of the receipt of Preliminary Amendment filed 08 July 2016.
Priority
The instant claims find support in the provisional application and therefore receive the benefit to the filing date of 01/30/2014.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited on a Form PTO 1449 have been considered.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Okuyama (U.S. 2012/0249637 A1).
Okuyama discloses the following claimed limitations:
Regarding independent Claim 1, a liquid jet head (11, §§0032-0036 and Figs. 1-2) comprising:
a jet unit including a plurality of nozzles (46, §§0036-0037 and Fig. 3) configured to jet a liquid, and a plurality of pressure chambers (43d, §0037 and Figs. 2-3) communicated individually with the nozzles, and each filled with the liquid; and
a drive unit (5, §§0038-0065 and Figs. 4-7) configured to drive the jet unit based on a drive signal having a plurality of pulses in a predetermined print period to thereby jet the liquid which fills an inside of the pressure chamber from the nozzle, wherein
the plurality of pulses in the drive signal includes
one ejection pulse or a plurality of ejection pulses having a pulse width in a range in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle (Figs. 5A-C), and
one heat generation pulse or a plurality of heat generation pulses which has a pulse width in a range in which the liquid is not ejected from the nozzle (Figs. 5A-C), and which is configured to control a heat generation amount generated when the jet unit is driven (§§0021, 0023, 0058).
Regarding Claim 2, wherein one first heat generation pulse or a plurality of first heat generation pulses as the heat generation pulse is disposed between the ejection pulses configured to define the print period (§§0009-0023 and Figs. 5A-C).
Regarding Claim 3, wherein the print period includes a plurality of drive periods defined by the ejection pulse and the first heat generation pulse, and one second heat generation pulse or a plurality of second heat generation pulses as the heat generation pulse is further disposed in at least one of the plurality of drive periods (§§0043-0044, 0055-0057 and Figs. 5A, C).
Regarding Claim 4, wherein the heat generation amount is controlled in accordance with a pulse count of the heat generation pulses included in the print period (§0060).
Regarding Claim 5, wherein the drive signal corresponding to the nozzle corresponding to a non-jet period corresponding to a print content to a recording target medium is set to include the heat generation pulse (§0043).
Regarding Claim 6, wherein when at least one of an ejection frequency when the liquid is ejected from the nozzle and a print ratio to a recording target medium changes, the heat generation amount by the heat generation pulse is controlled so that a fluctuation of ejection speed of the liquid is suppressed (§0063).
Regarding Claim 7, wherein the jet unit further includes a common flow channel (43e, §0037 and Fig. 3) of the liquid which extends along an arrangement direction of the plurality of pressure chambers, and which communicates with the plurality of pressure chambers, and
the heat generation amount by the heat generation pulse is controlled so that a gradient in a thermal distribution among the plurality of pressure chambers along the common flow channel decreases (§§0021, 0023, 0058).
Regarding Claim 10, liquid jet recording apparatus (1, §0032 and Fig. 1) comprising the liquid jet head.
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) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okuyama (U.S. 2012/0249637 A1) as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Hagiwara et al. (U.S. 2023/0173821 A1).
Okuyama discloses the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 9, all limitations of Claim 7 (from which this Claim depends);
wherein the jet unit further includes a liquid supply flow channel configured to supply the pressure chamber with the liquid (§0036).
Okuyama does not disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 9, a liquid recovery flow channel configured to recover the liquid from the pressure chamber.
Hagiwara et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 9, a liquid recovery flow channel configured to recover the liquid from the pressure chamber (118, §0040 and Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to apply the liquid recovery flow channel of Hagiwara et al. to the liquid jet head of Okuyama to counteract ink quality degradation due to drying, air bubbles, and/or particle settling.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claim 8 is the inclusion of the limitations of a liquid jet head including wherein the heat generation amount by the heat generation pulse is controlled so that the heat generation amount gradually increases from a downstream of the liquid in the common flow channel toward an upstream. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV whose telephone number is (571)270-7049. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodrigues 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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/JASON S UHLENHAKE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
Prosecution Insights