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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 13, 2025 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: line 4 of the claim recites, “each of the of the plurality of the head unit bases is fixed to the carriage by unit of a head unit (emphasis added).” The emphasized portion appears to contain a typographical error.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the one end side" and “the other end side” in lines 8 and 17, respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
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.
Claims 1, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lutz (US 20150165799 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lutz teaches a printing apparatus comprising: a head unit base configured to support a plurality of heads (figs. 1-3; printhead 3, loose end 8, fixed end 9; ¶[0001]-[0002], [0040]-[0044]);
a head unit base holding unit including: a first head unit base holding unit that holds one end of the head unit base in a longitudinal direction of the head unit base (figs. 1-5; adjustment adapter 4, first adapter part 16; ¶[0045]-[0046]); and
a second head unit base holding unit that holds the other end of the head unit base in the longitudinal direction of the head unit base (figs. 1-5; second adapter part 17; ¶[0045], [0047]);
a first fixation member configured to fix the head unit base to the first head unit base holding unit (figs. 1-3; first contact element 12; ¶[0044], [0046]); and
a second fixation member configured to fix the head unit base to the second head unit base holding unit (figs. 1-3; second contact element 13; ¶[0044], [0048]), wherein
the head unit base and the head unit base holding unit are fixed to each other by placing the head unit base on a first upper surface of the first head unit base holding unit and a second upper surface of the second head unit base holding unit and sandwiching the head unit base between the first fixation member and the second fixation member in the longitudinal direction (figs. 1-5; contact faces 11; ¶[0043], [0045]-[0049]).
Regarding claim 8, Lutz teaches the printing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a carriage configured to hold a plurality of the head unit bases, wherein each of the plurality of the head unit bases is fixed to the carriage by unit of a head unit in which the head unit base and the head unit base holding unit are fixed to each other (frame of a printhead module (not depicted), see ¶[0001]-[0002], [0040]-[0044]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include 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:
Regarding claim 2, the prior art of record fails to teach or fairly suggest the printing apparatus of the claim, particularly including and in combination with, a first member being fixed to the first upper surface of the first head unit base holding unit; a second member being arranged between a first side surface and the first member, the first side surface being a side surface of the head unit base and a side surface of the head unit base on the one end side in the longitudinal direction of the head unit base; and a first gap distance change member configured to change a distance between the first member and the second member, the second member is fixed to the first side surface, and the first member and the first side surface are fixed to each other via the second member by reducing a distance between the first member and the second member by the first gap distance change member.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Suzuki (US 20100225694 A1) teaches a printhead mounting system to control for positional misalignment due to thermal expansion of a printhead. Izawa et al. (US 20110181662 A1) teaches an inkjet printer comprising displaceable heads.
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/TRK/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/STEPHEN D MEIER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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