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 .
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.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Japan on 1/10/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JP2024-001856 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-2, and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamaguchi et al. (US 2021/0064301).
(1) regarding claims 1, 17, and 18:
Yamaguchi ‘301 discloses a printing apparatus that performs regular cleaning processing on a print mechanism of a roll paper (paragraph [0028] and [0049], where the printing apparatus uses roll paper and the replacement schedule is being interpreted as the cleaning or maintenance process), the printing apparatus comprising:
a storage unit configured to store an inputted print job (paragraphs [0115]-[0125], where an inputted job is clearly being stored in memory in order to update the printing apparatus schedule and being able to perform the printing operations thereafter); and
a control unit configured to control execution of the print job stored in the storage unit in a predetermined period (Fig. 11 and paragraphs [0115]-[0131], where the jobs on the schedule list are being processed to be executed), wherein
in a case where a plurality of the print jobs are stored in the predetermined period, the control unit determines the print job to be preferentially executed based on a remaining time to start of the regular cleaning processing and a total print time taken to execute one or more of the print jobs in which a type of roll paper set in the print mechanism is designated as a type of roll paper to be used among the plurality of print jobs (paragraphs [0176]-[0179], where based on the time left for a paper roll replacement and the total time it will take for certain jobs to be executed, the controller makes a determination as to which print job would be executed so as to keep the flow of execution and no paper gets wasted).
(2) regarding claim 2:
Yamaguchi ‘301 further discloses wherein, in a case where the total print time is longer than the remaining time and one or more of the print jobs whose printing is completable within the remaining time are present, the control unit determines the one or more of the print jobs whose printing is completable within the remaining time as the print job to be preferentially executed (paragraphs [0176]-[0179], where when it is determined that a print job has a time that will fit within the amount of time left for the changing of the paper roll, then that print job is prioritized for execution).
(3) regarding claim 15:
Yamaguchi ‘301 further discloses wherein, in the case where there is no remaining time, the control unit performs control to start the regular cleaning processing (paragraph [0071]-[0072], and [0113]-[0114], where if it is not possible to finish a scheduled print job, the system ends the time in order to execute the paper roll replacement).
(4) regarding claim 16:
Yamaguchi ‘301 further discloses wherein the storage unit stores each of the print jobs, the type of roll paper (paragraph [0050]), a print time taken to execute the print job (paragraph [0047]), and a print amount in a case where the print job is executed, in link with one another (paragraph [0092]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 3 discloses the unique and distinct limitations of “wherein, in a case where the regular cleaning processing is completed after execution of the one or more of the print jobs whose printing is completable within the remaining time, the control unit obtains one or more of the print jobs whose printing is incompletable within the remaining time among the one or more of the print jobs in which the type of roll paper set in the print mechanism is designated, as the print job to be preferentially executed”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter.
Claim 4 discloses the unique and distinct limitations of “wherein, in a case where printing on the roll paper set in the print mechanism is possible without replenishment of the roll paper based on all of the print jobs whose printing is completable within the remaining time, the control unit registers one or more of the print jobs whose printing is incompletable within the remaining time, as resume data used in the printing resumed after completion of the regular cleaning processing”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter. Claim 5 depends on claim 4, therefore a similar analysis applies.
Claim 6 discloses the unique and distinct limitations of “a notification unit configured to give notification of information, wherein in a case where printing on the roll paper set in the print mechanism is impossible without replenishment of the roll paper based on all of the print jobs whose printing is completable within the remaining time and a print amount of the roll paper set in the print mechanism is the largest among total print amounts of the respective types of roll papers designated in the plurality of print jobs, the notification unit gives notification of information indicating that the roll paper needs to be replenished”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter. Claims 7-9 depend either directly or indirectly on claim 6, therefore a similar analysis applies.
Claim 10 discloses the unique and distinct limitations of “a notification unit configured to give notification of information, wherein in a case where printing on the roll paper set in the print mechanism is impossible without replenishment of the roll paper based on all of the print jobs whose printing is completable within the remaining time and a print amount of the roll paper set in the print mechanism is not the largest among total print amounts of the respective types of roll papers designated in the plurality of print jobs, the notification unit gives notification of information indicating that the roll paper needs to be replaced”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter. Claim 11 depends on claim 10, therefore a similar analysis applies.
Claim 12 discloses the unique and distinct limitations of “wherein, in a case where the total print time is longer than the remaining time and the print job whose printing is completable within the remaining time is absent, the control unit determines a page whose printing is completable within the remaining time”, either alone or in combination, the applied prior art does not teach the claimed subject matter. Claims 13-14 depend either directly or indirectly on claim 12, therefore a similar analysis applies.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LENNIN R RODRIGUEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-1678. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 9:00am-7:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached at 571-270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LENNIN R RODRIGUEZGONZALEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
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