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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7 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. Reasons for allowance will be provided in the event the application becomes in condition for allowance.
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, 6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Urushidani (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2018/0297359) in view of Sasaki (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2022/0404758).
Regarding claim 1, Urushidani (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2018/0297359) discloses:
A printing system comprising:
a printing apparatus including a recording head and configured to form a test pattern used to adjust printing characteristics on a medium (paragraph [0035], system with print head printing test pattern and device adjustment);
an imaging section configured to image the medium (paragraph [0035], camera images an image area on the medium); and
a control section configured to cause the imaging section to image an imaging target region including the test pattern (Figures 7, 8, paragraphs [0035], [0076]-[0081], the imaging area including the test pattern M1/M12 is imaged),
wherein the printing apparatus is configured to form multiple blur sensing regions used to sense a shake of the imaging section on the medium, the multiple blur sensing regions including a first blur sensing region and a second blur sensing region (paragraphs [0054], [0068], the two M2/M22 test patterns detect skew/deviation of the printed image),
the multiple blur sensing regions are included in the imaging target region of the medium (Figures 7, 8, paragraphs [0035], [0054], [0068], [0076]-[0081], the M22 test patterns are in the S2 imaging area),
the first and second blur sensing regions are located at positions where the two blur sensing region sandwich at least one of a straight line passing through a center of the imaging target region and the test pattern (Figure 8, paragraphs [0035], [0054], [0068], [0076]-[0081], the two M2 test patterns are disposed on the side of the page such that a straight line could be drawn in between the targeting region with the M12 pattern), and
the control section is configured to acquire an image of the imaging target region from the imaging section, sense whether the first blur sensing region included in the image is blurred and whether the second blur sensing region included in the image is blurred, and determine that the test pattern included in the image is not blurred when the control section senses that none of the first and second blur sensing regions is blurred (paragraph [0068], the two M22 regions are used to determine if the image including the test pattern is skewed/deviated through the skew/deviation of the two M22 regions)
Even assuming arguendo that Urushidani does not explicitly disclose:
Wherein the system detects a blur defect using a blur sensing region;
Sasaki (U.S.P.G. Pub. No. 2022/0404758) discloses:
Wherein the system detects a blur defect using a blur sensing region (paragraphs [0135]-[0137], [0164]-[0166], the linear blur caused by the drum damage is detected through the use of the line pattern);
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the system of Sasaki with the system of Urushidani such that the system would detect a blur defect using a blur sensing region as described in Sasaki. The suggestion/motivation would have been in order to implement a system capable of “detect[ing]…blur locally generated in the main scanning direction and remov[ing] a…product that has caused the…blur” (paragraph [0025] of the Sasaki reference).
Regarding claim 6, arguments analogous to claim 1 are applicable. The computer readable medium is explicitly taught as evidenced by the controller/CPU executing the processes according to the program described in paragraphs [0037]-[0039] of Urushidani.
Regarding claim 8, the structural elements of apparatus claim 1 generally perform the steps of method claim 8. Thus, claim 8 is rejected for the same reasons discussed in the rejection of claim 1. However, Urushidani additionally discloses a third step of determining an adjustment value used to adjust the printing characteristics based on the test pattern included in the captured image (paragraphs [0076], [0079]) and a fourth step of adjusting the printing characteristic based on the adjustment value (paragraphs [0077], [0080]-[0081])
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN R WALLACE whose telephone number is (571)270-1577. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 8:30-5 PM.
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/JOHN R WALLACE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2682
