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(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.
Claims 1, 3-4 and 9-10 are 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 1 is indefinite because it is unclear to examiner how the control unit acquires an available amount for flushing and a predicted usage amount.
Claim 1 recites the limitation “ reference feed amount per unit” in lines 20-21 and 24-25. It is unclear to Examiner what the per unit measurement is referring to. It is broad enough to refer to time, area or length.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the available amount " in line 26. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the changed feed amount" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the available amount" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "change frequency" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the available amount" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "the calculated feed amount " in line 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the calculated feed amount " in line 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 9 recites the limitation "the available amount" in line 6 and line 9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the available amount" in line 2 and line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "predicted usage amount" in lines 2-3 and lines 5-6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the extension operation of changing the reference feed amount per unit" in lines 2-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the available amount " in line 19. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Dependent claims 2-10 inherit the profiled of independent claim 1 and therefore are also rejected.
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) 1, 7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi (US 2011/0199429) and further in view of Hirose (JP 2022149194A).
With regard to claim 1, Hayashi discloses a printing apparatus (1) [Para. 0044] comprising:
a liquid ejection unit (2) [head unit; Para. 0044] configured to perform printing on a medium [printing sheet/medium; Para. 0044] by ejecting a liquid (ink)[Para. 0042];
a liquid accommodation unit (11) [flushing unit; Para. 0054] configured to accommodate the liquid ejected in flushing regardless of the printing by the liquid ejection unit; and
a control unit [Para. 0023], wherein
the liquid accommodation unit includes:
an accommodation member (12) [absorbing member; Para. 0059] configured to accommodate the liquid;
a feeding unit (16) [delivery reel; Para. 0080] having the accommodation member set therein; and
a winding unit (17) [winding reel; Para. 0080] configured to wind up the accommodation member, and
the control unit
acquires an available amount of the accommodation member available for flushing and a predicted usage amount of the accommodation member predicted to be used in the flushing in the print job when the accommodation member is sent at a reference feed amount per unit when the control unit receives a start signal for a print job [Para. 0026], and
Hayashi does not disclose performs an extension operation of executing the print job by changing the reference feed amount per unit to a feed amount smaller than the reference feed amount per unit when the available amount is smaller than the predicted usage amount.
Hirose teaches the supply reel (SR) and the recovery reel (CR) adjust the amount of protective sheet ( C) that is fed out by 3 cm so that the portion of the protective sheet to which foreign matter is attached is removed from the support surface of the back (61). [Para. 0059, 0061]
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform an extension operation as taught by Hayashi for the purpose of detecting usage amount across the surface of the protective sheet.
With regard to claim 7, Hayashi does not disclose wherein the extension operation is executed when the extension operation is enabled.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the extension operation to be enabled when executed since it is known in the art that execution doesn’t happen without enablement.
With regard to claim 11, Hayashi discloses a control method for a printing apparatus (1) [Para. 0044] including a liquid ejection unit (2) [head unit; Para. 0044] configured to perform printing on a medium [printing sheet/medium; Para. 0044] by ejecting a liquid (ink)[Para. 0042], and a liquid accommodation unit (11) [flushing unit; Para. 0054] configured to accommodate the liquid ejected in flushing regardless of the printing by the liquid ejection unit, the liquid accommodation unit including an accommodation member (12) [absorbing member; Para. 0059] configured to accommodate the liquid, a feeding unit (16) [delivery reel; Para. 0080] having the accommodation member set therein, and a winding unit (17) [winding reel; Para. 0080] configured to wind up the accommodation member, the control method comprising:
acquiring an available amount of the accommodation member used for flushing and a predicted usage amount of the accommodation member predicted to be used in the flushing in the print job when the accommodation member is sent at a reference feed amount per unit when a start signal for a print job is received [Para. 0026].
Hayashi does not disclose performs an extension operation of executing the print job by changing the reference feed amount per unit to a feed amount smaller than the reference feed amount per unit when the available amount is smaller than the predicted usage amount.
Hirose teaches the supply reel (SR) and the recovery reel (CR) adjust the amount of protective sheet ( C) that is fed out by 3 cm so that the portion of the protective sheet to which foreign matter is attached is removed from the support surface of the back (61). [Para. 0059, 0061]
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform an extension operation as taught by Hayashi for the purpose of detecting usage amount across the surface of the protective sheet.
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi US 2011/0199429) further in view of Hirose (JP 2022149194A) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sekine (EP 3311262).
With regard to claim 8, Hayashi does not disclose comprising: a selection unit configured to select whether to execute the extension operation, wherein the control unit enables the extension operation when execution of the extension operation is selected in the selection unit.
However, Sekine teaches a selection unit [function; Para. 0004] configured to select whether to execute the extension operation [extension process; Para. 0004].
It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a selection unit to select the extension operation as taught by Sekine for the purpose of transmitting the information to the controller.
In addition, it would be obvious to utilize the control unit of Hayashi to enable the extension operation when execution of the extension operation is selected in the selection unit as taught by Sekine, since it is known in the art that printing apparatus include controller(s) to operate the apparatus.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 9-10 and 12 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 primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claims 2 and 4-6 is the inclusion of the limitations of the reference feed amount per unit is a reference frequency that is a frequency at which the feeding operation of feeding the accommodation member at the reference feed amount per unit is performed once, and when the available amount is smaller than the predicted usage amount, the extension operation of executing the print job after changing the reference frequency to a feed amount smaller than the reference feed amount is performed. It is this limitation(s) found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claims 3 is the inclusion of the limitations of wherein the changed feed amount per unit is calculated so that the available amount becomes a replacement setting value when replacement of the accommodation member is prompted, at a time when the print job is completed. It is this limitation(s) found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claims 9 is the inclusion of the limitations of when the available amount is smaller than the predicted usage amount and there is an interruption operation, the reference feed amount per unit is changed to a feed amount per unit calculated so that the available amount until the execution of the print job is interrupted by the interruption operation reaches a replacement setting value at which replacement of the accommodation member is prompted, and the print job is executed. It is this limitation(s) found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claims 10 is the inclusion of the limitations of when the available amount is smaller than the predicted usage amount, the extension operation of changing the reference feed amount per unit to the feed amount smaller than the reference feed amount and executing the plurality of print jobs is performed. It is this limitation(s) found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claims 12 is the inclusion of the limitations of calculating the changed feed amount per unit so that the available amount becomes a replacement setting value when replacement of the accommodation member is prompted, at a time when the print job is completed. It is this limitation(s) found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by the 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 TRACEY M MCMILLION whose telephone number is (571)270-5193. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6AM-2:30PM EST.
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, Ricardo Magallanes can be reached at 571-272-5960. 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.
/TRACEY M MCMILLION/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
Prosecution Insights