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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1-2, 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takahashi et al. (JP 2002019100 A) (hereinafter Takahashi et al.).
Regarding Claim 1, Takahashi et al. teaches a droplet ejecting apparatus (see Fig. 9) comprising: a head (600, Figs. 6 and 7) having a nozzle (618, Figs. 6 and 7), a channel (613, Figs. 6 and 7) communicating with the nozzle (618), and an actuator (601, Figs. 6 and 7) configured to apply pressure to a liquid in the channel (613) [Paragraphs 0002-0003]; a driving circuit (21, Fig. 8 ) configured to supply a driving signal to the actuator (601) [Paragraphs 0003-0005 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; a mover (37/100, Figs. 6 and 8) configured to move the head (600) and a recording medium (700, Fig. 9) relative to each other along a moving direction [Paragraphs 0002 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; and a controller (22, Fig. 8), wherein: the controller (22) is configured to execute a moving process of causing the mover (37/100) to move the head (600) and the recording medium (700) relative to each other, and an ejecting process of causing the driving circuit (21) to supply the driving signal to the actuator (601) to cause the actuator (601) to eject a droplet of the liquid from the nozzle (618) [Paragraph 0003-0005 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; the driving signal (not shown in Figures) includes a first driving signal (not shown in Figures) configured to cause the actuator (601) to eject the droplet of a first volume, and a second driving signal (not shown in Figures) configured to cause the actuator (601) to eject the droplet of a second volume different from the first volume, a resolution in the moving direction of the second driving signal (not shown in Figures) being higher than a resolution in the moving direction of the first driving signal (not shown in Figures) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; and the controller (22) is configured to, in the ejecting process based on one recording instruction, cause the driving circuit (21) to selectively supply the first driving signal (not shown in Figures) or the second driving signal (not shown in Figures) to the actuator (601) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments].
Regarding Claim 2, Takahashi et al. teaches the droplet ejecting apparatus (see Fig. 9), wherein the second volume is smaller than the first volume [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments].
Regarding Claim 7, Takahashi et al. teaches a control method of a droplet ejecting apparatus (see Fig. 9) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of Embodiments], the droplet ejecting apparatus (see Fig. 9) including: a head (600, Figs. 6-7) having a nozzle (618, Figs. 6-7), a channel (613, Figs. 6-7) communicating with the nozzle (618), and an actuator (601) configured to apply pressure to a liquid in the channel (613) [Paragraphs 0002-0003]; a driving circuit (21, Fig. 8) configured to supply a driving signal to the actuator (601) [Paragraphs 0003-0005 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; and a mover (37/100, Figs. 6 and 8) configured to move the head (600) and a recording medium (700, Fig. 9) relative to each other along a moving direction [Paragraph 0002 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments], the control method comprising: causing the mover (37/100) to move the head (600) and the recording medium (700) relative to each other [Paragraph 0003-0005 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; and causing the driving circuit (21) to supply the driving signal (not shown in Figures) to the actuator (601) to cause the actuator (601) to eject a droplet of the liquid from the nozzle (618), wherein (not shown in Figures) includes a first driving signal (not shown in Figures) configured to cause the actuator (601) to eject the droplet of a first volume, and a second driving signal (not shown in Figures) configured to cause the actuator (601) to eject the droplet of a second volume different from the first volume, a resolution in the moving direction of the second driving signal (not shown in Figures) being higher than a resolution in the moving direction of the first driving signal (not shown in Figures) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments], the control method comprising, in causing the driving circuit (21) to supply the driving signal (not shown in Figures) to the actuator (601) based on one recording instruction, causing the driving circuit (21) to selectively supply the first driving signal (not shown in Figures) or the second driving signal (not shown in Figures) to the actuator (601) Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments].
Regarding Claim 8, Takahashi et al. teaches A non-transitory and computer-readable medium storing a program executable by a controller (22, Fig. 8) for a droplet ejecting apparatus (see Fig. 9) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments], the droplet ejecting apparatus (see Fig. 9) including: a head (600, Figs. 6 and 7) having a nozzle (618, Figs. 6 and 7), a channel (613, Figs. 6 and 7) communicating with the nozzle (618), and an actuator (601, Figs. 6 and 7) configured to apply pressure to a liquid in the channel (613) [Paragraphs 0002-0003]; a driving circuit (21, Fig. 8 ) configured to supply a driving signal to the actuator (601) [Paragraphs 0003-0005 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; a mover (37/100, Figs. 6 and 8) configured to move the head (600) and a recording medium (700, Fig. 9) relative to each other along a moving direction [Paragraph 0002 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments], wherein: the program is configured to cause the controller (22) to execute: causing the mover (37/100) to move the head (600) and the recording medium (700) relative to each other [Paragraphs 0002 and 0026; and causing the driving circuit to supply the driving signal to the actuator to cause the actuator to eject a droplet of the liquid from the nozzle [Paragraph 0003-0005 and 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; the driving signal (not shown in Figures) includes a first driving signal (not shown in Figures) configured to cause the actuator (601) to eject the droplet of a first volume, and a second driving signal (not shown in Figures) configured to cause the actuator (601) to eject the droplet of a second volume different from the first volume, a resolution in the moving direction of the second driving signal (not shown in Figures) being higher than a resolution in the moving direction of the first driving signal (not shown in Figures) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments]; and the program is configured to cause the controller (22) to, in causing the driving circuit (21) to supply the driving signal (not shown in Figures) to the actuator (601) based on one recording instruction, cause the driving circuit (21) to selectively supply the first driving signal (not shown in Figures) or the second driving signal (not shown in Figures) to the actuator (601) [Paragraph 0026 – Description of the Preferred Embodiments].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The primary reason for the allowance of claim(s) 3 is the inclusion of the limitation of a droplet ejecting apparatus that includes a first waveform signal includes a first pulse wave causing an actuator to eject a droplet at a first timing , and a second pulse wave amplifying residual vibration in a channel after the first pulse wave. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, that has not been found, taught, or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for the allowance of claim(s) 4 is the inclusion of the limitation of a droplet ejecting apparatus that includes a first and second waveform signal includes one pulse or a plurality of pulse waves, and changing a timing of a width of at least one voltage by the one pulse wave or the plurality of pulse waves of the first waveform signal and changing a timing of a width of at least one voltage by the one pulse wave or the plurality of pulse waves of the second waveform signal. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, that has not been found, taught, or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for the allowance of claim(s) 5 is the inclusion of the limitation of a droplet ejecting apparatus that includes a third waveform signal causing an actuator to ejecting a droplet at both a first and second timing, a controller causing the driving circuit to supply the third waveform signal as a second driving signal, and at least a part of a pulse wave of the third waveform signal is different from obtaining a pulse wave from synthesizing a pulse wave of a first waveform signal and a pulse wave of a second waveform signal. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, that has not been found, taught, or suggested by the prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
The primary reason for the allowance of claim(s) 6 is the inclusion of the limitation of a droplet ejecting apparatus that includes a first channel that flows a liquid of a first color and a second channel that flows a second color different from the first color, and a nozzle includes a first nozzle communicating with the first channel, and second nozzle communicating with the second channel. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination, 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 LISA SOLOMON whose telephone number is (571)272-1701. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:30am -6pm, EST.
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/LISA SOLOMON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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