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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 18, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2004038363 to Saito in view of US 20150277321 to Nonaka.
Regarding claim 1, Saito discloses a single-sided and double-sided mixed printing method (paragraph 19; “double-sided / single-sided mixed designation” for printing), comprising:
determining a printing mode of a first to-be-printed page currently to be printed (paragraph 19; for “page number designation” it goes to s2 and sets A=0, designated page number is assigned to the K(x); paragraph 20; in s7 first to be printed page is received; paragraph 21; for A=0 mode, the page number variable n is compared with K(x) and if matched in s10 it goes to s12; in s12 when p=0 (front side) it goes to s14 and current page is transferred for printing on the front side and blank page for back side is transferred to printer to output first page as single-sided printout as shown in Fig. 4; paragraph 24; in Fig. 4 pages 3, 6 are designated single-sided and blank page is sent for back side; the printing mode of single-side printing is determined in s10 when n matches with K(x));
wherein the printing mode includes a single-sided printing or a double-sided printing (paragraph 21-22; when in s10 the n matches K(x) this corresponds to single-side printing mode and when n does not match k(x) it goes to step s17->s22 and then to S7 to print the current page and load the next page for printing without sending blank page (double sided printing mode));
when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the single-sided printing (paragraph 20-22; when in s10 the n matches K(x) this corresponds to single-side printing mode for the first to be printed page received in s7), wherein the printing position includes on a front side of a paper (paragraph 24; in Fig. 4 the print position of designated single-side pages 3, 6 are printed on the front side position); and
printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position, wherein the printing out includes a single-sided printout or a double-sided printout (paragraph 21-22, 24-25; when in s10 the n matches K(x) this corresponds to single-side printing mode and when n does not match k(x) it goes to step s17->s22 and then to S7 to print the current page and load the next page for printing without sending blank page (double sided printing mode); in Fig. 4 first to be printed is double sided since designated page is 3, 6 but if user designates page 1 then first to be printed is single-sided; printing position for single-sided is front position).
However Saito does not disclose when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the single-sided printing, determining a printing position of the first to-be-printed page, wherein the printing position includes on a front side of a paper or a back side of the paper, printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position.
Nonaka discloses when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the single-sided printing (paragraph 38; front cover (first to be printed page) is single-sided), determining a printing position of the first to-be-printed page, wherein the printing position includes on a front side of a paper or a back side of the paper, printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position (paragraph 111, 130-134; when printing front cover (first page) it is single-sided since one side is left blank; in s1105 if print side is set to front side (determination of print position) it prints on front side for the first page in s1106 and if print side is set to back side in s1107 it prints on back side for the first page in s1108).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Saito as taught by Nonaka to provide determination of printing side for single-sided pages to be printed.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide option for user select on setting screen whether to print on the front side of the front cover page or back side of cover page as the first page to be printed when user selects saddle stitch binding option for printing (paragraph 133-135; see Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 2, Saito discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the printing mode are determined based on printing parameters of a printing task corresponding to the first to-be-printed page (paragraph 17, 19, 22; “double-sided / single-sided mixed designation” mode and “page number designation” is determined based on print settings (parameter) for print job (task) including pages), and before determining the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page currently to be printed (paragraph 17, 19; before the step of s1 of printing flow chart of Fig. 2 which determines print mode, user sets up the print settings on the driver), the method further comprises:
in response to a printing configuration operation on each to-be-printed page of a target document, determining printing configuration information of each to-be-printed page (paragraph 17; user performs operation (printing configuration operation) on “setting menu” via input device to setup the printing pages for document; user sets up configuration information such as duplex, aggregate, “duplex / single-side mixed designation”, “page number designation” (printing configuration information) for each pages; paragraph 25; “document data” (target)); and further Nonaka discloses
wherein the printing position is determined based on printing parameters of a printing task (paragraph 111, 130-134; when printing front cover (first page) it is single-sided since one side is left blank; in s1105 if print side is set to front side (determination of print position); paragraph 118-119; front side determination based on parameter set by user in Fig. 8 (see 708) for copy job) and in response to a confirmation for the printing configuration information, generating a to-be-printed task of the target document, and determining printing parameters of the to-be-printed task according to the printing configuration information (paragraph 110, 118-119; on “front cover setting screen 801” of Fig. 9 user inputs configuration information such as print on front side or back side; further on Fig. 8 user inputs configuration for front cover printing 702 and printing on front/back side 708 (printing configuration information); when user selects OK button (confirmation), and user presses start key 506 (paragraph 97, 131) the print job (task) is input (generated) for the document; paragraph 80; target document copied for the job; paragraph 131-132; in step s1103, s1105 print parameters such as “front cover/inserted sheet/back cover”, “print side on front side” are determined based on print configuration confirmed on setting screen of Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 4, Saito discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein, when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the double-sided printing (paragraph 22; in s10 if n does not match with K(x) (double side printing) it goes to step s17), the method further comprises:
determining whether the first to-be-printed page is a first side of the double-sided printing (paragraph 20, 22; in s18 it determines if p=0 or 1; if p=0 this is first side of double side printing);
when the first to-be-printed page is a first side of double-sided printing, determining a printing mode of a second to-be-printed page (Paragraph 22, in s18 if p=0 then it sets p=1 and goes to step s21 followed by s22 and since n not reached num pages it goes to s7 again to fetch the second to-be printed page; after s7, s8 for second page it goes to step s10 again and in s10 it determines whether or not n matches K(x) (determining single or double side printing mode)), wherein the second to-be-printed page is a next to-be-printed page adjacent to the first to-be-printed page (paragraph 22; next page (second page) is adjacent first page to be printed); and
when the printing mode of the second to-be-printed page is not double-sided printing, printing out the first to-be-printed page as the single-sided printing (paragraph 21; for second page to print in s10 if it is determined that n matches with K(x) it goes to s12 wherein since now p=1 it goes to s13, a blank page is sent to printer form the back side of the first page printed and in s14 the second page is sent after the blank page; paragraph 24 see Fig. 5 wherein after double side page P1 followed by single side p2, P1 is set to have blank on back side followed by p2 on next sheet; therefore p1 (first to be printed) is single printed since it only has front side printed).
Regarding claim 5, Saito discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein, when the printing mode of the second to-be-printed page is double-sided printing, the method further comprises (paragraph 22; for second page to-be-printed in s10 if it is determined that n does NOT match with K(x) (double-side printing) it goes to s17):
printing out the first to-be-printed page and the second to-be-printed page as the double-sided printout by using the first to-be-printed page as the first side of double-sided printing and the second to-be-printed page as a second side of double-sided printing (paragraph 22, 24; in s10 when n does not match K(x) it goes to s17 and the second page is sent to printer to print immediately right after the first page was sent to printer in the first iteration of s17; in first iteration in s17 the first page was sent as first side and in second iteration the second page was sent as back side; see Fig. 4 wherein page p1 is front side (First side) and page p2 is back side (second side) of double side printing).
Regarding claim 8, Saito discloses an electronic device (paragraph 15; “terminal device”), comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing program instructions executable by the processor, wherein the processor calls the program instructions to execute a single-sided and double-sided mixed printing method (paragraph 8-9, program stored in medium to be executed by computer in communication with medium; paragraph 19; “double-sided / single-sided mixed designation” for printing), and the method includes:
determining a printing mode of a first to-be-printed page currently to be printed (paragraph 19; for “page number designation” it goes to s2 and sets A=0, designated page number is assigned to the K(x); paragraph 20; in s7 first to be printed page is received; paragraph 21; for A=0 mode, the page number variable n is compared with K(x) and if matched in s10 it goes to s12; in s12 when p=0 (front side) it goes to s14 and current page is transferred for printing on the front side and blank page for back side is transferred to printer to output first page as single-sided printout as shown in Fig. 4; paragraph 24; in Fig. 4 pages 3, 6 are designated single-sided and blank page is sent for back side; the printing mode of single-side printing is determined in s10 when n matches with K(x)),
wherein the printing mode includes a single-sided printing or a double-sided printing (paragraph 21-22; when in s10 the n matches K(x) this corresponds to single-side printing mode and when n does not match k(x) it goes to step s17->s22 and then to S7 to print the current page and load the next page for printing without sending blank page (double sided printing mode));
when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the single-sided printing (paragraph 20-22; when in s10 the n matches K(x) this corresponds to single-side printing mode for the first to be printed page received in s7), wherein the printing position includes on a front side of a paper (paragraph 24; in Fig. 4 the print position of designated single-side pages 3, 6 are printed on the front side position);
printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position, wherein the printing out includes a single-sided printout or a double-sided printout (paragraph 21-22, 24-25; when in s10 the n matches K(x) this corresponds to single-side printing mode and when n does not match k(x) it goes to step s17->s22 and then to S7 to print the current page and load the next page for printing without sending blank page (double sided printing mode); in Fig. 4 first to be printed is double sided since designated page is 3, 6 but if user designates page 1 then first to be printed is single-sided; printing position for single-sided is front position).
However Saito does not disclose when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the single-sided printing, determining a printing position of the first to-be-printed page,
wherein the printing position includes on a front side of a paper or a back side of the paper; and printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position.
Nonaka discloses when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the single-sided printing (paragraph 38; front cover (first to be printed page) is single-sided), determining a printing position of the first to-be-printed page, wherein the printing position includes on a front side of a paper or a back side of the paper; and printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position (paragraph 111, 130-134; when printing front cover (first page) it is single-sided since one side is left blank; in s1105 if print side is set to front side (determination of print position) it prints on front side for the first page in s1106 and if print side is set to back side in s1107 it prints on back side for the first page in s1108).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Saito as taught by Nonaka to provide determination of printing side for single-sided pages to be printed.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide option for user select on setting screen whether to print on the front side of the front cover page or back side of cover page as the first page to be printed when user selects saddle stitch binding option for printing (paragraph 133-135; see Fig. 8).
Regarding claim 9, see rejection of claim 2.
Regarding claim 11, see rejection of claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, see rejection of claim 5.
Regarding claim 15, see rejection of claim 1. Further Saito discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a computer program that, when being executed, causes at least one processor to implement a single-sided and double-sided mixed printing method (paragraph 8-9, program stored in medium to be executed by computer (“causing a computer”); paragraph 19; “double-sided / single-sided mixed designation” for printing is implemented based on program).
Regarding claim 18, see rejection of claim 4.
Regarding claim 19, see rejection of claim 5.
Claim(s) 3, 10, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2004038363 to Saito (‘363) in view of US 20150277321 to Nonaka further in view of JP 2019162856 to Saito (‘856).
Regarding claim 3, Nonaka discloses wherein printing out the first to-be-printed page based on the printing position (paragraph 38; front cover (first to be printed page); paragraph 111, 130-134; printing front cover (first page) it is single-sided since one side is left blank; in s1105 print side is set to front side (determination of print position)). However Saito (‘363) in view of Nonaka does not disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein printing out the page based on the printing position comprises:
when the printing position of the page is on the front side of the paper, printing out the page as the single-sided printing; or
when the printing position of the page is on the back side of the paper, obtaining a preset filling page, inserting the preset filling page before the page, and printing out the preset filling page and the page as the double-sided printout by using the preset filling page as a first side of double-sided printing and the page as a second side of double-sided printing.
Saito (‘856) discloses wherein printing out the page based on the printing position comprises:
when the printing position of the page is on the front side of the paper, printing out the page as the single-sided printing (paragraph 31; in s707 if print priority mode is OFF it goes to s710 and performs single-side printing on the top surface (Front side) of paper as print position); or
when the printing position of the page is on the back side of the paper, obtaining a preset filling page, inserting the preset filling page before the page, and printing out the preset filling page and the page as the double-sided printout by using the preset filling page as a first side of double-sided printing and the page as a second side of double-sided printing (paragraph 25, 31; if print priority mode is ON in s707 it inserts blank image data (preset filling page) before the current page and performs double-side printing in s709 by printing the blank image on the front side and the current page on the back side (printing position is back side when print priority mode is ON) as shown in Fig. 7d).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Saito ‘363 as taught by Saito ‘856 to provide different processing for printing the first page based on the setting of the print position.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide insertion of blank page data ahead of the first page to be printed in a first mode which gives priority for paper type that are preprinted having first and second side that are different types and second mode which prioritizes speed for normal sheets and wherein user does not have to set the paper in accordance with print mode (paragraph 31-32).
Regarding claim 10, see rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 17, see rejection of claim 3.
Claim(s) 6, 13, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2004038363 to Saito in view of US 20150277321 to Nonaka further in view of JP 2002200829 to Takahashi.
Regarding claim 6, Saito does not disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein, when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the double-sided printing, the method further comprises:
determining whether the first to-be-printed page is a second side of the double-sided printing; and when the first to-be-printed page is the second side of the double-sided printing, printing out the first to-be-printed page as the double-side printing.
Takahashi discloses wherein, when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is the double-sided printing (paragraph 39; in s11 if current page (first to-be-printed page) is set to double sided printing mode), the method further comprises:
determining whether the first to-be-printed page is a second side of the double-sided printing (paragraph 39-40; in s15 it is determined to current page is reverse/back side (second side) of double-side printing); and when the first to-be-printed page is the second side of the double-sided printing, printing out the first to-be-printed page as the double-side printing (paragraph 39-41; if current page is second side it goes to s20 and if small paper it goes to s21 it adds link for this page in queue and transfer page to printer engine; paragraph 61; in fig. 16 the P2 as second side is printed in double-side mode followed by printing P1 on first side of same sheet).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Saito as taught by Takahashi to provide processing based on the first page being the second side of double side printing.
The motivation to combine the references is to increase the throughput of double-side printing by printing all the first side of pages first and sending the printed first side pages for inversion for printing the second side to provide continuous printing of the pages (paragraph 3-4).
Regarding claim 13, see rejection of claim 6.
Regarding claim 20, see rejection of claim 6.
Claim(s) 7, 14, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2004038363 to Saito in view of US 20150277321 to Nonaka further in view of JP 2015202664 to Morishita.
Regarding claim 7, Saito does not disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein the printing mode further includes “do not print”, and when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is “do not print”, the method further comprises:
preventing printing out the first to-be-printed page.
Morishita discloses wherein the printing mode further includes “do not print”, and when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is “do not print” (paragraph 39, 43, 51, 65-66; if user specifies string settings under automatic print range determination the print mode is set for excluding certain pages from printing (do not print); paragraph 67; in s1408 if first to print page has exclusion flag it is set then it is “do not print”), the method further comprises:
preventing printing out the first to-be-printed page (paragraph 67; if first to print page has exclusion flag it is not printed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Saito (‘363) as taught by Morishita to provide option to set page to be not printing page.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide setting for the user to specify on page basis whether to print the page based on strings related to confidential words being present on the page which thereby provides security for confidential pages from being printed out and leaked to the outside (paragraph 3, 4).
Regarding claim 14, see rejection of claim 7.
Regarding claim 16, Saito discloses the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the printing mode are determined based on printing parameters of a printing task corresponding to the first to-be-printed page (paragraph 17, 19; “double-sided / single-sided mixed designation” mode and “page number designation” is determined based on print settings (parameter) for print job of pages), and before determining the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page currently to be printed (paragraph 17; before the printing flow chart of Fig. 2 user sets up the print settings on the driver), the at least one processor is further caused to (paragraph 9; computer implements program) implement:
in response to a printing configuration operation on each to-be-printed page of a target document, determining printing configuration information of each to-be-printed page (paragraph 17; user performs operation (printing configuration operation) on “setting menu” via input device to setup the printing pages for document; user sets up configuration information such as duplex, aggregate, “duplex / single-side mixed designation”, “page number designation” for each pages). Further Nonaka discloses wherein the printing position is determined based on printing parameters of a printing task (paragraph 111, 130-134; when printing front cover (first page) it is single-sided since one side is left blank; in s1105 if print side is set to front side (determination of print position); paragraph 118-119; front side determination based on parameter set by user in Fig. 8 (see 708) for copy job); in response to a confirmation for the printing configuration information, generating a to-be-printed task of the target document, and determining printing parameters of the to-be-printed task according to the printing configuration information(paragraph 110, 118-119; on “front cover setting screen 801” of Fig. 9 user inputs configuration information such as print on front side or back side; further on Fig. 8 user inputs configuration for front cover printing 702 and printing on front/back side 708; when user selects OK button (confirmation), the print job (task) is generated for the document; paragraph 131-132; in step s1103, s1105 print parameters such as “front cover/inserted sheet/back cover”, “print side on front side” are determined based on configuration). However Saito in view of Nonaka does not disclose the printing mode further includes “do not print”, and when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is “do not print”, the at least one processor is further caused to implement:
preventing printing out the first to-be-printed page.
Morishita discloses the printing mode further includes “do not print”, and when the printing mode of the first to-be-printed page is “do not print” (paragraph 39, 43, 51, 65-66; if user specifies string settings under automatic print range determination the print mode is set for excluding certain pages from printing (do not print); paragraph 67; in s1408 if first to print page has exclusion flag it is set then it is “do not print”), the at least one processor is further caused to implement: preventing printing out the first to-be-printed page (paragraph 67; if first to print page has exclusion flag it is not printed).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the system of Saito (‘363) as taught by Morishita to provide option to set page to be not printing page.
The motivation to combine the references is to provide setting for the user to specify on page basis whether to print the page based on strings related to confidential words being present on the page which thereby provides security for confidential pages from being printed out and leaked to the outside (paragraph 3, 4).
Other Prior Art Cited
14. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
JP 2014153853 to Fujioka discloses printing system that can set exception pages within a job that has different settings than the other pages of job such as front cover page set to print on front or back side (paragraph 3-4, 19).
Conclusion
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Patent Examiner
Beniyam Menberu
/BENIYAM MENBERU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681
09/30/2026
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