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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maruta (US 20210107284 A1) and further in view of Nakashima (US 20040189737 A1).
With respect to Claim 1, Maruta teaches an inkjet control method for controlling an inkjet recording apparatus (i.e., process of “control unit 110” controlling elements in inkjet recording apparatus” printer 100”; Maruta: ¶0029, ¶0077, & ¶0071; Fig. 1-4) including
a belt conveying device which includes an endless conveying belt (i.e., “endless first conveyor belt 8”; Maruta: ¶0084 & Fig. 3) in which
a plurality of opening portions each constituted of one or more through-holes are formed with intervals in a circumferential direction (i.e., “plurality of opening portion groups 82”; Maruta: ¶0084 & Fig. 8), and
conveys a sheet on the conveying belt by causing the conveying belt to rotate (i.e., paper is conveyed in the “A” direction via belt “8” which is rotated via rollers, such as “6b”; Maruta: ¶0046 & Fig. 8),
a preceding conveying device which conveys the sheet to the belt conveying device (i.e., “registration roller pair 13” which conveys paper in the “A” direction to belt “8”; Maruta: ¶0046 & Fig. 8), and
a nozzle unit which includes
a plurality of nozzles (i.e., “plurality of ink ejection ports 18 (nozzles)” within “line heads 11Y to 11K”; Maruta: ¶0041 & Fig. 2) arranged opposed to a print position on an upper surface of the conveying belt (i.e., line heads 11Y to 11K are opposed to a position of the upper surface of “belt 8” where paper P is conveyed, where they eject ink via nozzles “18” towards the paper P; Maruta: ¶0041 & Fig. 3) and
is capable of executing print processing for forming an image on the sheet by ejecting the ink onto the sheet conveyed on the conveying belt (i.e., line heads 11Y to 11K eject ink via nozzles “18” towards the paper P being conveyed by the belt; Maruta: ¶0041 & Fig. 3),
the inkjet control method (i.e., process of “control unit 110” controlling elements in inkjet recording apparatus “100”; Maruta: ¶0077 & ¶0071; Fig. 1-4) comprising:
setting, by a processor (i.e., “control unit 110”; Maruta: ¶0033 & Fig. 4), for each target sheet that becomes a target to be conveyed by the preceding conveying device, a specific number of 1 or more in accordance with an ink ejection performance of the nozzle unit obtained at a time a previous sheet that is one sheet before the target sheet is conveyed by the belt conveying device (Maruta: ¶0077 & ¶0071; Fig. 3, “11Y to 11K”, “8”, “13”, and Fig. 9, “8”, “82F” & “P”);
causing, by the processor, the nozzle unit to execute opening flushing processing for ejecting the ink toward the specific number of subsequent opening portions that pass through the print position subsequent to the previous sheet out of the plurality of opening portions (Maruta: ¶0077 & ¶0071; Fig. 3, “11Y to 11K”, “8”, “13”, and Fig. 9, “8”, “82F” & “P”);
causing, by the processor, the preceding conveying device to execute processing of conveying the target sheet to the belt conveying device at a timing subsequent to the specific number of the subsequent opening portions (Maruta: ¶0077 & ¶0071; Fig. 3, “11Y to 11K”, “8”, “13”, and Fig. 9, “8”, “82F” & “P”).
Maruta is silent on a nozzle unit which includes
a plurality of piezoelectric elements which pressurize ink to be supplied to the plurality of nozzles to cause the ink to be ejected from the plurality of nozzles, and
Nakashima teaches a nozzle unit which includes
a plurality of piezoelectric elements which pressurize ink to be supplied to the plurality of nozzles to cause the ink to be ejected from the plurality of nozzles (Nakashima: ¶0035 & Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to equip the plurality of nozzles taught by Maruta (i.e., “18”; ¶0041 & Fig. 2) with the piezoelectric elements taught by Nakashima, because piezoelectric-driven inkjet printing is an extremely common technique, as Nakashima teaches: “An ink jet printer widely used among the image formation apparatus forms ink droplets by pressure of piezoelectric elements”.
With respect to Claim 2, Maruta as modified in Claim 1 teaches the inkjet control method according to claim 1, wherein
the processor sets the specific number in accordance with a duration time of an ink non-ejection state of each of the plurality of nozzles from a start time point or middle of the print processing for the previous sheet to an end time point (i.e., processor “110” uses “ink non-ejection period”; Maruta: ¶0120-0122).
With respect to Claim 3, Maruta as modified in Claim 1 teaches the inkjet control method according to claim 2, wherein
when the inkjet recording apparatus includes one or both of an internal temperature sensor which detects an internal temperature and an internal humidity sensor which detects an internal humidity (i.e., “second temperature sensor 42” which detects the temperature of the “recording heads 17a-17c” in “printer 100”; Maruta: ¶0049 & Fig. 4),
Maruta is silent on the processor sets the specific number by correcting a reference time in accordance with a detection result of the one or both of the internal temperature sensor and the internal humidity sensor, and comparing the duration time of the ink non-ejection state and the corrected reference time.
Nakashima teaches the processor sets the specific number by correcting a reference time in accordance with a detection result of the one or both of the internal temperature sensor and the internal humidity sensor, and comparing the duration time of the ink non-ejection state and the corrected reference time (i.e., data gathered from a temperature sensor and processed by “CPU 41”; Nakashima: ¶0041; Fig. 4, “CPU 41”, “61”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to take the temperature data detected by Maruta’s temperature sensor “42” (Maruta: ¶0049 & Fig. 4) in the processor using the method limitations claimed in Claim 3, because temperature can affect the drying time of the ink (e.g., at colder temperatures, the ink will become more viscous/drier faster) and therefore would require adjusted flushing timing (e.g., if the ink gets more viscous faster in the cold, the nozzles would require more flushing; Nakashima: ¶0041).
With respect to Claim 4, Maruta as modified in Claim 1 teaches the inkjet control method according to claim 1, further comprising:
Maruta is silent on
selectively executing, by the processor, for each of the sheets, one of first unit control for causing the nozzle unit to execute sheet flushing processing for ejecting the ink onto a non-drawing area that is an area to be not drawn in the sheet in parallel with the print processing and a second unit control in which the nozzle unit is not caused to execute the sheet flushing processing, wherein
the processor sets the specific number in accordance with whether or not the sheet flushing processing with respect to the previous sheet has been executed.
Nakashima teaches
selectively executing, by the processor, for each of the sheets, one of first unit control for causing the nozzle unit to execute sheet flushing processing for ejecting the ink onto a non-drawing area that is an area to be not drawn in the sheet in parallel with the print processing and a second unit control in which the nozzle unit is not caused to execute the sheet flushing processing (i.e., “image-to-image flushing S10”, “S11” controls “yes” and “no”; Nakashima: ¶0052; Fig. 5, printing process section “S8”-“S17” & Fig. 7A), wherein
the processor sets the specific number in accordance with whether or not the sheet flushing processing with respect to the previous sheet has been executed (i.e., “S8”; Nakashima: ¶0050 Fig. 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to enhance the inkjet control method taught by Maruta by including steps “S8”-“S17” taught by Nakashima as this enables “image-to-image” flushing to occur (aka intra-sheet flushing) (Nakashima: ¶0052; Fig. 5, printing process section “S8”-“S17” & Fig. 7A). Modifying Maruta’s method to be able to flush between sheets (aka inter-sheet flushing) and onto non-drawing areas of a sheet, enables the method to be used when an apparatus is printing long sheets given, during such print jobs, the nozzles may require flushing before the sheet is conveyed off of the belt and therefore would necessitate intra-sheet flushing. Nakashima teaches a method that would enable Maruta’s method to perform intra-sheet flushing without impairing the images being printed on the sheet (Nakashima: ¶0052; Fig. 5, printing process section “S8”-“S17” & Fig. 7A).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHLOMIT CHELST whose telephone number is (571)272-0832. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricardo Magallanes, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-5960. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHLOMIT CHELST/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/ Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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