The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office action is in response to communications filed on 5/30/2025.
Claims 1-8 are pending.
DETAILED ACTION
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, 4-5, and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(A)(1) as being anticipated by Kawaguchi (US 20180005104 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kawaguchi discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing an authentication program for causing, in order to perform authentication for using a predetermined function of an image forming apparatus, a computer of a terminal (¶¶[0026]-[0027]) device to:
access an authentication server to request user authentication (¶[0036], "maintenance application 22 calculates a hash value of the obtained IC card identification information and generates a digital signature that includes the hash value (in Step S4), and transmits the digital signature to the authentication server 4 with an authentication request using the wireless communication unit");
receive success information indicating that the user authentication is successful from the authentication server (¶[0037], "determines whether IC card identification information of which a hash value agrees with the extracted has value is registered or not; and if the IC card identification is registered, determines user rank information corresponding to this IC card identification information (in Step S6), and generates a digital signature that includes this user rank information"; ¶[0038], " If IC card identification information of which a hash value agrees with the extracted has value is not registered, then the authentication processing unit 42 generates user rank information that indicates no registration"); and
transmit predetermined information indicating that the user authentication to authenticate a user is successful to the image forming apparatus when receiving the success information (¶[0039], "the authentication processing unit 42 in the authentication server 4 transmits the generated digital signature to the mobile terminal device 1 with a response to the aforementioned authentication request"; ¶[0040], "When receiving the response and the digital signature using the wireless communication unit in the mobile terminal device 1, the maintenance application 22 in the mobile terminal device 1 transmits the received digital signature to the image forming apparatus"; ¶[0041], "When receiving the digital signature using the peripheral device interface 31, the controller 32 in the image forming apparatus 3 extracts the hash value from the received digital signature and determines user rank information corresponding to the extracted hash value (in Step S10), and determines a usage permission range corresponding to the determined user rank information and permits the connected mobile terminal device 1 to use a maintenance function").
Regarding claim 4, Kawaguchi discloses the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein, when the user authentication by the authentication server is not successful, a login to the image forming apparatus is disabled (¶[0043], "If the user rank information determined in Step S10 indicates no registration of the IC card identification information, then the controller 32 in the image forming apparatus 3 prohibits the connected mobile terminal device 1 from using the maintenance function").
Regarding claims 5 and 8, Kawaguchi discloses a terminal device for performing authentication for using a predetermined function of an image forming apparatus, the terminal device comprising a hardware processor (¶¶[0026]-[0027]).
The remaining limitations of claims 5 and 8 are similar in scope to those of claims 1 and 4. Therefore, claims 5 and 8 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claims 1 and 4, above.
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) 2-3 and 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawaguchi (US 20180005104 A1) in view of Toyoaki (JP 2019114112 A).
Regarding claim 2, Kawaguchi discloses the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1.
Kawaguchi does not disclose that the program further causes the computer to: acquire from the image forming apparatus, details of an operation performed at the time of maintenance of the image forming apparatus; and store, as a work log, the acquired details of the operation in association with the user that has been authenticated by the user authentication.
Toyoaki discloses a program causes a computer to: acquire from an image forming apparatus, details of an operation performed at the time of maintenance of the image forming apparatus (page 9, under Supplementary Matter, "the information processing system 100 according to the present invention includes the terminal device 10 and the image forming apparatus 20 connected to the network, and the terminal device 10 can communicate with the image forming apparatus 20. Communication unit 15, a service start instruction unit 11b that receives maintenance work start instructions from a service person and instructs the image forming apparatus 20 to start recording of the maintenance content, and maintenance completion from the service person A service end instruction unit 11c that receives an instruction and instructs the image forming apparatus 20 to end the recording of the maintenance content, and the work report generated by the image forming apparatus 20 and transmitted to the terminal device 10"); and
store, as a work log, the acquired details of the operation in association with the user that has been authenticated by the user authentication (page 9, under Supplementary Matter, "the work report reception unit 11 d present the work report received by the work report reception unit 11 d to the customer, and the customer confirms the work content And a signature adding unit 11e for accepting a signature for signing the work report and adding the signature to the work report" - where the operation is associated with an authenticated user who performed the maintenance operation (see page 3, paragraph 10, "login authentication unit 21 a cooperates with the login operation unit 11 a of the terminal device 10 to accept and authenticate login to the image forming apparatus 20 as a maintenance worker of the service person")).
Therefore, 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 Kawaguchi and Toyoaki to arrive at a system in which the program further causes the computer to: acquire from the image forming apparatus, details of an operation performed at the time of maintenance of the image forming apparatus; and store, as a work log, the acquired details of the operation in association with the user that has been authenticated by the user authentication.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would enable any interested parties to verify the work performed by the maintenance worker.
Regarding claim 3, the combined teachings of Kawaguchi and Toyoaki disclose the invention substantially as applied to claim 2, above, wherein the program further causes the computer to transmit the work log to an external device (Toyoaki, page 5, paragraph 5, "the storage transmitting unit 11g of the image forming apparatus 20 transmits the signed work report to the management server 40 (step S15). The sent signed work report is stored and managed by the management server 40" - note from Figs. 2 and 1, element 11g is located in the user device 10).
Regarding claims 6-7, the combined teachings of Kawaguchi and Toyoaki disclose the invention substantially as applied to claim 5, above.
The remaining limitations of claims 6-7 are similar in scope to those of claims 2-3. Therefore, claims 6-7 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claims 2-3, above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20230291850 A1, which discloses "data center 30 acquires the operation logs at a time of the maintenance work from not only the image forming apparatus 10 but also another image forming apparatus connected to the network 40" (¶[0063]).
US 20190004748 A1, which discloses "The user of the connection terminal 40 can instruct a login to the remote maintenance system 50 by inputting a user ID and a password via the operation unit 41. When accepting the instruction to log in to the remote maintenance system 50, the login unit 45a of the connection terminal 40 notifies the remote maintenance system 50 of the user ID and the password input via the operation unit 41 as illustrated in FIG. 6 to execute a login process to the remote maintenance system 50" (¶[0068]); "The login permission determining unit 55a of the remote maintenance system 50 determines whether the login of the user is permitted or not based on a combination of the user ID and the password notified from the connection terminal 40 when the connection terminal 40 requests the login (Step S102), and replies a determination result to the connection terminal 40" (¶[0069]); and "When being logged in to the remote maintenance system 50, the user of the connection terminal 40 can instruct the remote maintenance of a specific image forming apparatus (hereinafter described as the image forming apparatus 20 in the description of the operation illustrated in FIG. 7) via the remote maintenance system 50" (¶[0072]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BORIS D GRIJALVA LOBOS whose telephone number is (571)272-0767. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:30AM to 6:30PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jorge L Ortiz-Criado can be reached at 571-272-7624. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BORIS D GRIJALVA LOBOS/ Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2496
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