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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because figs. 14, 16 and 17 use the arrows A11 to indicate the forward path printing direction. However, in the figures, the reaction head 33RCT does not appear to be downstream of the 33K printhead when A11 is the forward path printing direction? Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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, 9 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishikawa et al. (U.S. 20050083363 A1).
Ishikawa et al. discloses, with regards to claim:
1. A printing apparatus (fig. 1) comprising:
a printhead ( [0045], 1010), including a first nozzle array (KCMY for ejecting any one of the color inks) and a second nozzle array (S, for the reaction liquid, fig. 2); and
a print control unit (fig. 3) configured to perform printing on a print medium by driving the printhead while reciprocally moving the printhead as a serial head (fig. 1), wherein
the first nozzle array is configured to discharge a color ink,
the second nozzle array is configured to discharge a reaction liquid that reacts with the color ink and fixes the color ink on the print medium (fig. 2), and
when a moving direction of the printhead in which the second nozzle array is located on a downstream side with respect to the first nozzle array is defined as a forward path, and an opposite direction is defined as a backward path (Fig. 2, forward direction),
the print control unit executes first drive control of driving the printhead such that
for each of the forward path and the backward path of the printhead, an adjustment pattern that is configured to adjust a discharge position (the printed pattern is capable of being used to adjust a discharge position and therefore it is configured to adjust a discharge position, the claim does not require that the discharge position is actually adjusted based on the pattern, nor does it link the functional language to the structure that actually performs the adjustment) and is formed by overlaying a pattern of the reaction liquid and a pattern of the color ink is formed (fig. 4), and
when forming the adjustment pattern in the backward path of the printhead, an underlying pattern is further formed by the second nozzle array in a preceding forward path ( [0064] “The reacting liquid is applied to the print medium during a forward scan by scanning the print head 1010.”, [0066] “When the print head 1010 moves to b in FIG. 4 in the step 1, the print head 1010, in the present step, is scanned in the backward direction to apply the coloring inks to the reacting liquid applied to the print medium in the step 1.”).
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the print control unit can further execute second drive control of driving the printhead such that
in the forward path of the printhead, the adjustment pattern is formed [0068], and
in the backward path of the printhead, the pattern of the reaction liquid,
which is a part of the adjustment pattern, is formed (fig. 4, step 2, [0066], “At the same time, the reacting liquid is applied to an area which precedes by one band the area in which the coloring inks are printed.“), and in a next forward path, the pattern of the color ink, which is another part of the adjustment pattern, is formed [0068].
9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
if a region through which the first nozzle array and the second nozzle array pass by reciprocal movement of the printhead is divided into a first region and a second region in a direction crossing a direction of the reciprocal movement,
the print control unit
executes the first drive control such that,
for the first region, the adjustment pattern is formed in the forward path of the printhead (fig. 4, step 1), and
for the second region, the adjustment pattern is formed in the backward path of the printhead (step 2).
Claim 10 is rejected for similar reasons as claim 1, discussed above.
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 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishikawa et al.
Ishikawa et al. does not expressly disclose:
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a specifying unit configured to specify a type of the print medium,
wherein the print control unit selectively performs the first drive control and the second drive control based on a specifying result of the specifying unit.
However, the Examiner takes Official Notice that a specifying unit specifying media type, such as size, and controlling printing based on the specifying result so that the printout fits the page dimensions, was well known at the time of the invention.
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 Ishikawa et al. to include the claimed specifying unit for the purpose of ensuring that the printed image is sized to the dimensions of the print media loaded into the printer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 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.
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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