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 § 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, 4 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. 10,857,798 B2 to McConville et al.
McConville et al. discloses, with regards to claim:
A maintenance device comprising:
a cap (112) which is attached on a nozzle surface (118) of the inkjet head;
a supply part (126) which is communicated with the cap, and supplies a humidified air generated using a humidifying medium, to the cap; and
a first heating part (146) which heats the supply part, wherein
the supply part is disposed below the cap (figs. 3 or 4).
2. The maintenance device according to claim 1, wherein the cap includes a supply pipe (fig. 4, 138) communicated with the supply part (126).
4. The maintenance device according to claim 1, comprising:
a frame body which supports the cap (cap housing), wherein the supply part includes a tank (126) in which the humidifying medium is stored, the tank has an opening opened upward, and the frame body closes the opening (fig. 3).
5. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a plurality of the inkjet head; and
the maintenance device according to claim 1 (fig. 1).
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McConville et al. in view of EP 0358487 A2 to Tomii.
McConville et al. does not disclose:
3. The maintenance device according to claim 1, wherein the supply pipe is made of resin.
However, Tomii discloses a resin supply pipe (column 9, lines 47-53).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to have modified the pipe in McConville et al. to be a resin pipe for the purpose of providing corrosion resistance (column 9, line 50).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Julian D Huffman whose telephone number is (571)272-2147. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Group Director Andrea Wellington can be reached at (571)272-4483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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JULIAN D. HUFFMAN
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2859
/JULIAN D HUFFMAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2859
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