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 § 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.
Claim(s) 23-24, 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Capoia (WO 2022/079633)
Regarding claim 23, a method comprising: a cutting machine receiving a continuous sheet form a feeder and cutting the sheet to a predetermined length (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
A single pass ink jet printer receiving the cut sheet from the cutting machine, the single pass ink jet printer printing an image on the cut sheet to decorate a box to be formed from the cut sheet (Paragraphs 0030-0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
A box machine receiving the printed sheet from the single pass ink jet printer, the box machine die cutting the printed sheet to an outline of a desired box when the box is flat and unfolded (Paragraphs 0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
Regarding claim 24, a processor receiving in real time instructions for controlling operation of the cutting machine, single pass ink jet printer, and box machine in a coordinated fashion and operation the system in an uninterrupted
Wherein production of the box is performed as a single set of continuous (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0040; 0057-0058, 0068, 0078)
Regarding claim 26, the processor controlling the ink jet printer to print a selected image on each box, where the selected image is customized for the box contents (an image will be formed on the substrate/box; Abstract; Paragraphs 0052-0057)
Regarding claim 27, the processor adding targeted advertisements to the image printed on the box that are personalized to the box recipi8ent and consistent with the box contents (an image will be formed on the substrate/box; Abstract; Paragraphs 0052-0057)
Regarding claim 28, providing a print bed for supporting the sheet during printing, the print bed securing the sheet thereto during (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0061-0064)
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, 16-21, 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Capoia (WO 2022/079633) in view of Pettersson (U.S. Pub. 2021/0171311)
Regarding claim 1, a printing system, comprising:
A printer (Figure 1-2; 17); a pre-printer for sheet feeding (5) and cutting (4) (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0039)
A post printer for die cutting (7), folding (33), and gluing (32) (Paragraphs 0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
A processor configured for receiving in real time instructions for controlling operation of the printer, pre-printer, and post printer in a coordinated fashion and in an uninterrupted sequence (Paragraphs 0057-0058, 0068, 0078)
Wherein production of a box is performed as a single set of continuous operations (Figures 1-2)
Pettersson discloses it is known to use Z-fold (fanfold) for printing operations (Paragraph 0022)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Pettersson into the device of Capoia, for the purpose of providing efficient and cost effective consistent stacking of fanfold material
Regarding claim 16, a box machine configured for die cutting a printed sheet to an outline of a desired box when the box is flat and unfolded, folding the printed sheet into a desired box shape, and gluing the folded sheet to complete the box (Paragraphs 0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
Regarding claim 17, a system comprising: a feeder configured to feed a continuous sheet comprising a continuous web (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0039)
A cutting machine configured to receive the sheet from the feeder and to cut the sheet to a predetermined length (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0039)
A single pass ink jet printer configured to receive the cut sheet from the cutting machine, the single pass ink jet printer configured to print an image on the cut sheet to decorate a box to be formed from the cut sheet (Paragraphs 0030-0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
A box machine configured to receive the printed sheet from the single pass ink jet printer and form the printed sheet into a box (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
Pettersson discloses it is known to use Z-fold (fanfold) for printing operations (Paragraph 0022)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Pettersson into the device of Capoia, for the purpose of providing efficient and cost effective consistent stacking of fanfold material
Regarding claim 18, a processor configured for receiving in real time instructions for controlling operation of the feeder, cutting machine, single pass ink jet printer, and box machine in a coordinated fashion and operation the system in an uninterrupted sequence; wherein production of the box is performed as a single set of continuous operations (Paragraphs 0057-0058, 0068, 0078)
Regarding claim 19, the processor configured for controlling the ink jet printer to print a selected image on each box, where the selected image is customized for the box contents (an image will be formed on the substrate/box; Abstract; Paragraphs 0052-0057)
Regarding claim 20, the processor configured for adding targeted advertisements to the image printed on the box that are personalized to the box recipient and/or complementary to the box (an image will be formed on the substrate/box; Abstract; Paragraphs 0052-0057)
Regarding claim 21, the single pass inkjet printer further comprising: a print bed configured for supporting the sheet during printing, the print bed securing the sheet thereto during printing (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0061-0064)
Regarding claim 30, a method for printing on a continuous sheet without image quality defect, comprising in sequence and without interruption (Figures 1-2; Abstract)
A processor receiving in real time instructions for controlling operation of a feeder (5), cutting machine (4), single pass ink jet printer, and box machine in a coordinated fashion and operations the feeder, cutting machine, single pass ink jet printer and box machine in an uninterrupted sequence (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0039)
Wherein production of a box is performed by the feeder, cutting machine, single pass ink jet printer, and box machine as single set of continuous operations (Paragraphs 0057-0058, 0068, 0078)
The processor providing instructions to the feeder, cutting machine, single pass ink jet printer, and box machine for feeding material to the cutting machine; cutting the material; receiving the cut material at the single pass ink jet printer; printing on the cut material; providing the cut and printed material to the box machine for die cutting, folding, gluing to form a completed box (Figures 1-2; Paragraphs 0030-0040, 0052, 0073-0076)
Claim(s) 2-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Capoia (WO 2022/079633) as modified by Pettersson (U.S. Pub. 2021/0171311) and in further in view of Harris (U.S. Pub. 2003/0177928)
Regarding claim 2, Harris discloses a print system which is interconnected by a cloud server (network) (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 3, Harris discloses wherein the printer comprises a respective programmable logic controller (PLC) (CPU); wherine the cloud server comprises cloud software and a cloud digital front end (DFE); and wherein the printer PLCs and clous software are all external to the printer (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 4, Harris discloses wherein the printer comprises a raster image processor configured to provide a printer digital front end that is in communication with the cloud DFE (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 5, Harris discloses wherein the printer comprises a video PC (touch screen) configured to provided press software; wherein the press software is in communication with the printer DFE and with a press core (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 6, Harris discloses wherein the press software collectively comprises the DFE for the printer, the press core, a press UI, and a data logger (stores data) (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 7, Harris discloses wherein the press core and data logger are in communication with a printer PLC (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 8, Harris discloses wherein the printer comprises a carriage board configured to receive data from a video board in a video PC; and wherein the carriage board provides operation instructions to one or more electronic boards that operate the one or more print heads (the touch screen is coupled to CPU via bus and display adapter and is used to present user information and receive commands; Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 9, Pettersson discloses communication with an inspection system that comprises a camera and inspection software (Paragraph 0043)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Pettersson into the device of Capoia, for the purpose of providing efficient and cost effective consistent stacking of fanfold material
Regarding claim 10, Harris discloses wherein operation of the printer are coordinated via interaction of the printer PLCs with the printer press core (interaction with the touch screen) (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Regarding claim 11, Harris discloses the production of printed images is effected in coordination with the cloud and printer DFE (Paragraph 0025)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Harris into the device of Capoia as modified by Pettersson, for the purpose of generating print data in response to user inputs and programmed data processing
Claim(s) 12-15, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Capoia (WO 2022/079633) as modified by Pettersson (U.S. Pub. 2021/0171311) and further in view of Okamoto et al (U.S. Pub. 2021/0094305)
Regarding claims 12, 14-15, 25, Okamoto discloses it is known to resize an image based on the direction and size of the print base material (Paragraphs 0024, 0141, 0143)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Okamoto into the device of Capoia, for the purpose of preventing deviation of a print position during print operations
Regarding claim 13, Okamoto discloses it is known to adapt dimensions of print elements appropriate for each print material (Paragraphs 0024, 0141, 0143)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Okamoto into the device of Capoia, for the purpose of preventing deviation of a print position during print operations
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22, 29 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON S UHLENHAKE whose telephone number is (571)272-5916. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X. Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASON S UHLENHAKE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853 September 10, 2026
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