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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/23/2025, 10/08/2025 are being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 6, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 6, claim 6 recites “substantially a triangular shape”. It is not exactly clear what shape is considered substantially a triangular shape.
Regarding claim 7, claim 7 is rejected at least for inheriting the above discussed issues of claim 6 due to its dependency.
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.
Claims 1-3, 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ogasawara et al. (US 6,354,015) in view of Ihara (US 2020/0398565).
Regarding claim 1, Ogasawara et al teaches a drying device (drying device in figs.1-5) comprising:
a drying furnace (10 fig.2) into which a medium (P) to be transported enters and
a heating section (14 figs.2-5,7) that heats the medium in the drying furnace, wherein the heating section (figs.7B) has
an upstream heating mechanism (39 fig.7B),
a downstream heating mechanism (43 fig.7B) located downstream from the upstream heating mechanism (39) in a transport direction of the medium, and
an intermediate heating mechanism (41 fig.7B) located between the upstream heating mechanism (39) and the downstream heating mechanism (43) in the transport direction, the upstream heating mechanism (39) has an upstream heating member (39) located so that a distance between the upstream heating member (39) and the medium (p) is a predetermined distance (h1),
the downstream heating mechanism (43 fig.7B) has a downstream heating member (43) located so that a distance (h3) between the downstream heating member (43) and the medium (p) is larger than the predetermined distance (h1),
the intermediate heating mechanism (41 fig.7B) has an intermediate heating member (41) located so that a distance (h2) between the intermediate heating member (41) and the medium (p) is larger than the predetermined distance (h1),
Ogasawara et al further teaches particularly in fig.7B the heat/temperature applied to the medium (P) by the upstream heating member (39) is higher than the heat/temperature applied by the intermediate heating member (41) at least due to the clearance height difference, and the heat/temperature applied to the medium (P) by the downstream heating member (43) is higher than the heat/temperature applied by the intermediate heating member (41) at least due to the clearance height difference. Ogasawara et al further teaches setting temperature of the upstream heating member, intermediate heating member, and downstream heating member at different values such as 150W, 250W, 200W, 300W.
Ogasawara et al does not explicitly teaches a set temperature of the upstream heating member is higher than a set temperature of the intermediate heating member, and a set temperature of the downstream heating member is higher than the set temperature of the intermediate heating member.
Ihara teaches a drying device (fig.2) with heating section (52) including: upstream heating member (52a fig.4), intermediate heating member (52b), and downstream heating member (52c). Ihara further teaches setting temperature of the upstream heating member (52a fig.4) to be higher than a set temperature of the intermediate heating member (52b) (see fig.8 set temperature of heating member 52a/region SA1/ to be higher than heating member 52b/region SA2/), and setting temperature of the downstream heating member (52c fig.4) to be higher than the set temperature of the intermediate heating member (52b) (see fig.8 set temperature of heating member 52c/region SA3/ to be higher than heating member 52b/region SA2/).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to set the temperature /drive/ the heating members of Ogasawara et al as such based on the teachings of Ihara to improve print quality by suppressing occurrence of smears.
Regarding claim 2, Ogasawara et al as modified by Ihara further teaches wherein the set temperature of the upstream heating member (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) is higher than the set temperature of the downstream heating member (43 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52c fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) (see fig.8 of Ihara teaches setting in range of temperatures for instance left most of SA1/ 52a is set to be at higher temperature than for instance the middle/lower portion of SA3/52c).
Regarding claim 3, Ogasawara et al as modified by Ihara further teaches wherein each of the upstream heating member (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above), the downstream heating member, and the intermediate heating member (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52b fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) is an infrared heater (col.6 lines 21-24,30-34, col.9 lines 10-18 of Ogasawara et al).
Regarding claim 6, Ogasawara et al as modified by Ihara further teaches each of the upstream heating member (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above), the downstream heating member (43 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52c fig.4 of Ihara as applied above), and the intermediate heating member (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52b fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) extends in a width direction, which is a direction different from the transport direction (figs.1,3,13 of Ogasawara et al; figs.2,4 of Ihara) and when viewed from the width direction, has substantially a triangular shape with a bottom surface, and the bottom surface is located to face the medium (as best understood interpreting “substantially triangular shape”, Ogasawara et al in figs.2-5 the shape formed by elements 32+31, and in fig.13 the shape formed by 106+102 or shape formed by 112 substantially resembles triangular in shape).
Regarding claim 7, Ogasawara et al as modified by Ihara further teaches wherein the upstream heating member (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) is located so that the bottom surface of the upstream heating member is directed downstream in the transport direction.
Regarding claim 8, Ogasawara et al as modified by Ihara further teaches wherein a capacity of the intermediate heating member (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52b fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) is smaller than a capacity of the upstream heating member (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) and smaller than a capacity of the downstream heating member (43 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52c fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) (fig.8, paragraphs 0071,0081,0117, of Ihara teaches the intermediate heating member 52b in region 48B/SA2 fig.8 of Ihara has smaller drying/heating capacity compared to the heating members 52a/48A/SA1 and 52c/48C/SA3).
Regarding claim 9, Ogasawara et al as modified by Ihara further teaches a printing system (figs.1,2,4,5 of Ogasawara et al; figs.1,2 of Ihara), comprising:
a printing device (12 figs.1,2,4,5 of Ogasawara et al; 40 figs.1,2 of Ihara) for printing an image on a medium, and
a drying device (drying portion of figs.1,2,4,5 of Ogasawara et al; fig.4 of Ihara) that dries a printed medium (P),
wherein the printing device has
a housing (housing of 12 figs.1,2,4,5 of Ogasawara et al; housing of figs.1,2 of Ihara) and
a printing section (bottom printhead section of 12 figs.1,2,4,5 of Ogasawara et al; 41 fig.2 of Ihara) configured to print an image on the medium within the housing,
the drying device has
a drying furnace (drying elements configured to dry the medium P in figs.2-5 of Ogasawara et al; drying elements configured to dry the medium S in fig.4 of Ihara) into which the medium transported from the printing device enters and
a heating section (14 figs.2-5,7 of Ogasawara et al; 52 fig.2 of Ihara) that heats the medium in the drying furnace, the heating section has
an upstream heating mechanism (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above),
a downstream heating mechanism (43 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52c fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) located downstream from the upstream heating mechanism in a transport direction of the medium, and
an intermediate heating mechanism (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52b fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) located between the upstream heating mechanism (39 of Ogasawara et al) and the downstream heating mechanism (43 of Ogasawara et al) in the transport direction, the upstream heating mechanism has an upstream heating member located so that a distance between the upstream heating member and the medium is a predetermined distance (h1 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al),
the downstream heating mechanism has a downstream heating member (43 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al) located so that a distance (h3 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al) between the downstream heating member and the medium is larger than the predetermined distance (h1),
the intermediate heating mechanism has an intermediate heating member (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al) located so that a distance (h2 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al) between the intermediate heating member and the medium is larger than the predetermined distance (h1),
a set temperature of the upstream heating member (39 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52a fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) is higher than a set temperature of the intermediate heating member (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52b fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) (see fig.8 of Ihara set temperature of heating member 52a/region SA1/ to be higher than heating member 52b/region SA2/), and
a set temperature of the downstream heating member (43 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52c fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) is higher than the set temperature of the intermediate heating member (41 fig.7B of Ogasawara et al as modified; 52b fig.4 of Ihara as applied above) (see fig.8 of Ihara set temperature of heating member 52c/region SA3/ to be higher than heating member 52b/region SA2/).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4,5 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENOK D LEGESSE whose telephone number is (571)270-1615. The examiner can normally be reached General Schedule 9:00 am- 5:00 pm, IFP.
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/HENOK D LEGESSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
