DETAILED ACTION
3Notice 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 .
2. This office action is responsive to the application Nº 19/193,690 filed on April 29th, 2025 in which claims 1-11 are pending and ready for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS have been considered.
Priority
4. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
5. The examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 04/29/2025 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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 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.
7. 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 of this title, 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.
8. Claims 1-5, 8 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawate et al. (US Pub. Nº 2022/0009239), in view of Burger (US Pat. Nº 5,187,498).
9. Regarding independent claim 1: Kawate et al. disclosed an ink replenishing container for replenishing ink ([0020], line 1; also see Fig. 3, reference 300) to a recording apparatus that performs recording by discharging ink ([0020], line 2; also see Fig. 1, reference 100) onto a recording medium (Fig. 1, reference P), comprising:
a bag-shaped ink storage member capable of storing ink ([0029], line 1; also see Fig. 6, reference 310), the ink storage member having an opening capable of spouting ink to be stored ([0025], line 2; also see Fig. 6, reference 415);
a container body capable of storing the ink storage member ([0025], line 1; also see Fig. 6, reference 300); and
a cap attachable to and detachable from the container body, the cap being capable of sealing the opening of the ink storage member stored in the container body ([0025], lines 2-3; also see Fig. 6, reference 600. Fig. 3 also shows the cap sealing the spout 400).
Kawate et al. are silent about wherein a recessed portion that is recessed toward an inside of the ink storage member from an outer peripheral surface is provided in a region closest to at least an inner peripheral surface of the container body in the outer peripheral surface of the ink storage member, and wherein the recessed portion does not come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the container body.
Burger disclosed an ink replenishing container (Fig. 2, reference 10) for replenishing ink to a recording apparatus (Fig. 1, reference 56), comprising a container body (Fig. 2, reference 34), a bag shaped ink storage member (Fig. 2, reference 20), and a cap (Fig. 2, reference 28), wherein a recessed portion that is recessed toward an inside of the ink storage member from an outer peripheral surface is provided in a region closest to at least an inner peripheral surface of the container body in the outer peripheral surface of the ink storage member (Fig. 2, the recessed portions of bellows 12), and wherein the recessed portion does not come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the container body (Figs. 2 and 3 show that the recessed portions of bellows 12 do not come into contact with the inner peripheral surface of container 34 regardless of whether the ink chamber 20 is filled or empty).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Burger with those of Kawate et al. by providing recessed portions on the outer peripheral surface of the bag-shaped ink storage member (in the shape of a bellows), in order to facilitate the extrusion of the ink from the bag as disclosed by Burger in Col. 2, lines 44-48.
10. Regarding claim 2: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the ink replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein a part where the recessed portion is not provided in the region closest to the inner peripheral surface of the container body adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the container body (Kawate et al. Fig. 3, also see Burger Figs. 2 and 3, the convex portions of bellows 12).
11. Regarding claim 3: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the ink replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein the recessed portion provided in the region closest to the inner peripheral surface of the container body is annularly provided around an axial direction of the container body (Burger Fig. 2).
12. Regarding claim 4: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the ink replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the recessed portions is provided with a gap therebetween along an axial direction of the container body (Burger Fig. 2).
13. Regarding claim 5: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the ink replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein the ink replenishing container includes a spout portion provided at an end portion on a side opposite to a bottom portion of the container body (Kawate et al. Fig. 3, reference 400), the spout portion having an opening and a diameter smaller than that of the container body (Kawate et al. see Fig. 3), and wherein the recessed portion is also provided in a region closest to an inner peripheral surface of the spout portion in the outer peripheral surface of the ink storage member (Burger Fig. 2, recess portions 12 are also provided in a region closest to an inner peripheral surface of the outlet portion 24; also see the rejection of claim 1).
14. Regarding claim 8: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the ink replenishing container according to claim 1, wherein the ink storage member is deformable into a shape that can be attached to and detached from the container body in a state where ink is not stored (Kawate et al. [0037], lines 1-4; also see Figs. 6 – Fig. 8).
15. Regarding claim 10: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed a method for remanufacturing the ink replenishing container according to claim 1, comprising: peeling off, in the ink replenishing container which is used, the outer peripheral surface of the used ink storage member from the inner peripheral surface of the container body (Kawate et al. [0012], line 1; also see Fig. 7); taking out the used ink storage member from the container body (Kawate et al. [0013], line 1; also see Fig. 8); attaching the ink storage member which is new to the container body (Kawate et al. [0014], line 1; also see Fig. 9); and filling the new ink storage member with ink (Kawate et al. [0023], lines 1-4).
16. Regarding claim 11: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the method according to claim 10, wherein the peeling includes blowing air between the inner peripheral surface of the container body and the outer peripheral surface of the used ink storage member (Kawate et al. [0039], lines 1-2).
17. Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawate et al. (US Pub. Nº 2022/0009239), in view of Burger (US Pat. Nº 5,187,498) as applied to claims 1-5, 8 and 10-11 above, and further in view of Nanjo et al. (US Pub. Nº 2013/0222491).
18. Regarding claims 6 and 7: The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger disclosed the ink replenishing container according to claim 5.
The combination of Kawate et al. and Burger is silent about wherein the recessed portion provided in a region closest to the inner peripheral surface of the spout portion is linearly provided along an axial direction of the spout portion, wherein a plurality of the recessed portions is provided with a gap therebetween around an axial direction of the spout portion.
Nanjo et al. disclosed a bag-shaped ink storage member (Fig. 12, reference 2), to be accommodated inside a container body (Fig. 12, reference 1), wherein a recessed portion is provided in a region closest to the inner peripheral surface of the spout portion and is linearly provided along an axial direction of the spout portion (see annotated Fig. 11 below; also see Fig. 12 for clarifications about the orientation), wherein a plurality of the recessed portions is provided with a gap therebetween around an axial direction of the spout portion (see annotated Fig. 11 below; also see Fig. 12 for clarifications about the orientation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nanjo et al. with those of the combination of Kawate et al. and Burger by providing recessed portions around the spout in order to facilitate the releasing of air from the bag-shaped ink storage member during refilling of the ink.
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Allowable Subject Matter
19. Claim 9 is 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
20. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOVI M. AMEH whose telephone number is (571)272-4578. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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