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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on 4/15/25, the requirements 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) are met.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited on a Form PTO 1449 have been considered.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mitsuzawa (U.S. 2004/0263550 A1).
Mitsuzawa discloses the following claimed limitations:
Regarding independent Claim 1, a printing apparatus (20, §§0116-0117 and Figs. 1-2) that forms a print image corresponding to an input image on a medium, the printing apparatus comprising:
a recording head (36, §§0117 and Figs. 1-2, 4) including a nozzle row configured to eject a liquid onto the medium;
a control unit (54, §§0144-0146 and Fig. 5) configured to
control main scanning in which a relative positional relationship between the recording head and the medium is changed along a main scanning direction (§0154 and Fig. 5)
control sub-scanning in which a relative positional relationship between the medium and the recording head is changed along a sub-scanning direction intersecting the main scanning direction (§§0154, 0156 and Fig. 5),
control ejection of the liquid from the recording head (§0155 and Fig. 5), and
complete recording of the print image through a plurality of passes of the main scanning (§0281); and
a detection unit (CCD camera, §§0024, 0051) configured to detect a state of the liquid landed on the medium, wherein
the control unit performs control to form an intermediate image on the medium, the intermediate image including a mark portion detectable by the detection unit, and the intermediate image being formed by a given pass among the plurality of passes, based on the input image, and performs control to form, on the medium, a remaining image being the print image excluding the intermediate image, the remaining image being formed in a pass subsequent to the given pass (e.g. the image formed on the forward pass and that formed on the return pass, §§0275-0287 and Figs. 18-21)
the detection unit detects a state of the mark portion (§0117), and
the control unit is configured to execute processing based on the state of the mark portion detected by the detection unit (e.g. §§0164-0167, 0189-0191).
Regarding Claim 2, wherein the plurality of passes include a first pass and a second pass (e.g. forward pass and return pass, §0281).
Regarding Claim 3, wherein the plurality of passes include a first pass and a second pass (e.g. forward pass and return pass, §0281).
Regarding Claim 4, wherein the plurality of passes include a first pass and a second pass (e.g. forward pass and return pass, §0281).
Regarding Claim 5, wherein the plurality of passes include a first pass, and a second pass in which a movement direction of the recording head is opposite to that in the first pass (e.g. forward pass and return pass, §0281).
Mitsuzawa does not disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 2, wherein the control unit controls formation of the print image to cause an overlapping region to be generated between an image recording region in the first pass and an image recording region in the second pass, and controls formation of the mark portion in the overlapping region in one of the passes.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Regarding Claim 3, wherein the control unit controls formation of the print image to cause an overlapping region to be generated between an image recording region in the first pass and an image recording region in the second pass, and when the sub-scanning direction is a relative movement direction of the recording head with respect to the medium, the control unit performs control to form the mark portion in the overlapping region by ejecting the liquid from a downstream nozzle arranged on the most downstream side in the sub-scanning direction, among a combination of a plurality of nozzles that eject the liquid onto a raster line along the main scanning direction in the overlapping region.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Regarding Claim 4, wherein the control unit controls formation of the print image to cause an overlapping region to be generated between an image recording region in the first pass and an image recording region in the second pass, and when the sub-scanning direction is a relative movement direction of the recording head with respect to the medium, the control unit performs control to form the mark portion in the overlapping region by ejecting the liquid from a nozzle arranged on the most downstream side in the sub-scanning direction, among a plurality of nozzles that eject the liquid onto the overlapping region.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Regarding Claim 5, wherein the control unit performs control to form the intermediate image on the medium in the first pass, and performs control to form a portion of the remaining image on the medium in the second pass, the portion being at least on the same raster line as the mark portion, and the raster line extending along the main scanning direction.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Regarding Claim 6, wherein the control unit completes the recording to cause a first multi-pass region and a second multi-pass region to be present in the sub-scanning direction, the first multi-pass region being a region in which the recording is completed by a predetermined number of passes equal to or greater than two, and the second multi-pass region being a region in which the recording is completed by a number of passes greater than the predetermined number of passes, and performs control to form the mark portion in the first multi-pass region.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Regarding Claim 7, wherein when the mark portion is formed in the given pass, the control unit does not cause the recording head to eject the liquid onto a landing position adjacent to the mark portion on the medium.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Regarding Claim 8, wherein the mark portion is an intersecting pattern formed by a pattern of the liquid landed on the medium in which a main scanning line along the main scanning direction and a sub- scanning line along the sub-scanning direction intersect each other, on the intermediate image, the main scanning line has a higher density of dots of the liquid than that of a landing position that is adjacent to the main scanning line in the sub- scanning direction, and on the intermediate image, the sub-scanning line has a higher density of dots of the liquid than that of a landing position that is adjacent to the sub-scanning line in the main scanning direction.
However, these limitations amounts to a manner of operating the device. A manner of operating the device does not differentiate apparatus claim from the prior art. Please see MPEP §2141 II.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is allowed. The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the primary reason for allowance of claim 9 is the inclusion of the limitations of a method including an intermediate image formation step of forming an intermediate image on the medium, the intermediate image including a mark portion detectable by a detection unit configured to detect a state of the liquid landed on the medium, and the intermediate image being formed by a given pass among the plurality passes, based on the input image; a detection step of detecting a state of the mark portion by the detection unit; a remaining image formation step of forming, on the medium, a remaining image being the print image excluding the intermediate image, the remaining image being formed in a pass subsequent to the given pass; and a processing step of performing processing based on the state of the mark portion detected by the detection unit. It is these limitations found in the claims, as they are 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 ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV whose telephone number is (571)270-7049. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodrigues 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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/ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/JASON S UHLENHAKE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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