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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 8/7/2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 13, 18-20, and 23-25 remain pending. Claim 1 is amended. Claims 26-27 have been added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/7/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Nakajima does not apply because cooling is performed using a cooling solvent, which becomes a part of the resulting dispersion. Examiner notes the suitable solvents listed by Nakajima include water, which is already present in the dispersion as the dispersion liquid (association liquid), which would still meet claim language such as “consisting of fused particles and a dispersion liquid”.
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 1, 13, 18-20, and 23-27 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.
Claims 1, 13, 18-20, and 23-27 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: a dispersion solvent/liquid.
A dispersion is formed by particles in a solvent or fluid, a “third dispersion consisting of fused particles” using the closed transitional phrase “consisting of” excludes any element or ingredient not specified in the claim, including a dispersion solvent or fluid. However, no intermediate step or removal of solvent from the dispersion is claimed.
Furthermore, a dispersion of solely fused particles is not supported by the Instant Specification, the dispersion is prepared using ion exchange water, resin dispersions A1, and B1, black particle dispersion, release agent dispersion, and anionic surfactant. The method places the materials in a flask, adjusts the pH with nitric acid and adds an aluminum sulfate solution. The mixture is dispersed at 30°C, then heated to 45°C, forming aggregated particles (claimed first dispersion). More polyester resin A1 is added, as the particles grow, followed by addition of nitrilotriacetic acid (claimed second dispersion), adjusting the pH, heating and fusing (claimed third dispersion). The fused particles are then cooled to 20°C at a rate of 20/min, followed by adjusting the pH to 9.5 within 60 min of cooling. After cooling and adjusting the pH, the mixture is filtered, removing the water from the dispersion resulting in toner particles (Instant Application pg 70-72). Further Examples taught in the Instant Specifications are all prepared as in Example 1 (Instant Application pg 72-73).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 13, 18-20, and 23-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taguchi (US RE45970) in view of Jiang (US 20020187415) and Nakajima (JP 2013130633).
Regarding claims 1, 13 and 23-25, assuming arguendo the third dispersion includes a dispersion liquid, not solely the fused particles, Taguchi discloses a process for producing a toner, comprising preparing a resin particle dispersion, adding polyaluminum chloride (an aggregating agent), aggregating the dispersion, heating and coalescing (aka fusing), followed by cooling and adjusting the pH to 9.0 when the temperature reaches 22°C (Col 20 line 56 to Col 21 line 39). Taguchi further discloses the amount of polyaluminum chloride (PAC) used is 4 parts of a 5% nitric acid aqueous solution of PAC (Col 20 line 67 to Col 21 line 4). Taguchi further discloses the dispersion comprises a mix of 70 parts crystalline polyester resin dispersion and 200 parts non-crystalline polyester dispersion (Col 20 line 56-59). Both of the crystalline and non-crystalline polyester resin dispersions are produced using 180 parts resin and 400 parts water, ethyl acetate is also used, but removed after phase inversion emulsification (Col 20 line 11-32). Therefore, the resin dispersions are 180/ (180+400), 31% resin. Therefore, the amount of PAC aggregating agent by mass per 100 parts by mass of resin can be calculated as 4*5% PAC used per 270*31% of resin, or 0.2 parts PAC per 83.7 parts resin, which is equivalent to 0.24 parts PAC per 100 part of resin. Taguchi does not disclose adding a chelating agent.
Jian teaches a similar method of producing a toner using a coagulant (aka aggregating agent) such as PAC, with an organic chelating reagent to prevent or minimize further undesirable growth in the toner particle size at a pH below 3.5([0025]) allowing coalescence to be performed at a lower pH thereby increasing the speed of coalescence ([0027]). Jian further teaches the chelating agent is selected from a group including salicylic acid and 3,4 dihydrobenzoic acid, both of which are oxycarboxylic acids ([0051], [0065]). Jian further teaches the chelating agent is added to the emulsion after aggregating, and before fusion or coalescence ([0029]-[0037]). Jian further teaches the chelating component is selected in an amount of 0.1-5 percent by weight of the toner resin and colorant ([0051], [0065]). Jian also teaches cooling the reactor to room temperature followed by washing the toner at a pH of 11 immediately after cooling after heating and fusing ([0088], [0090], [0092]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use the method of Taguchi to produce a toner, using an oxycarboxylic acid as a chelating agent, to speed up heating and fusing by preventing undesired particle growth at a pH below 3.5.
While Taguchi and Jian do not explicitly state the timing of the pH adjustment after the cooling, it would be obvious to a person of skill in the art that “thereafter” (Taguchi Col 21 line 30-337) and “cooled down to room temperature… and washed” (Jian [0088], [0090], [0092]) would encompass a time within 15 minutes or 10 minutes of cooling.
Nakajima teaches a similar method for producing toner comprising aggregating fusing and then cooling the fused dispersion ([0007]). Nakajima further teaches the dispersion is rapidly cooled at a rate of 0.1-30 °C/min (abstract, [0008], [0012]). Nakajima further teaches cooling in such a quick method, uniform cooling is possible, suppressing deformation of the toner particles, improving heat resistance and storage stability ([0009]). While Nakajima does use a “chilled solvent” to perform the rapid cooling, said solvent is selected from any solvent with a suitable SP value, including water ([0042]-[0049]). Water or an aqueous medium is also the dispersion liquid used by Nakajima ([0024]-[0027]). In other words, if water is used as the cooling solvent, there would not be a new element in the fused particle dispersion, due to the use of an aqueous medium as the dispersion liquid. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to produce toner of Taguchi, using rapid cooling up to 30°C/min, as taught by Nakajima, to prevent toner deformation during cooling, and improve heat resistance and storage stability.
Regarding claim 18, modified Taguchi discloses all limitations as set forth above. Taguchi further discloses the raw material dispersion liquid, which includes the resin dispersions, also includes a release agent dispersion liquid, the raw material dispersion liquid being aggregated after its initial mixing(Col 20 line 56 to Col 21 line 14).
Regarding claim 19, modified Taguchi discloses all limitations as set forth above. Taguchi further discloses the dispersion liquid is adjusted to a pH of 9.0 using sodium hydroxide after cooling (Col 21 line 31-39).
Regarding claim 20, modified Taguchi discloses all limitations as set forth above. Taguchi further discloses a toner produced by the above method (Col 1 line 65 to Col 2 line 4)
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taguchi (US RE45970) in view of Jiang (US 20020187415) and Nakajima (JP 2013130633) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhou (US 20140170551).
Regarding claim 27, modified Taguchi discloses all limitations as set forth above. However, Taguchi does not disclose or teach using nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) or tetrasodium 3-hydroxy-2,2’-iminodisuccinate (HIDS) as the chelating agent.
Zhou teaches using biodegradable aspartic acid derivatives, including HIDS, as the sequestering agents (chelating agents) in preparation of emulsion aggregation toner, to remove excessive metal ions such as aluminum from toners ([0004]). Zhou further teaches using biodegradable aspartic acid derivatives as the chelating agents, instead of non-biodegradable chelators such as EDTA, limits the negative environmental impact, by limiting environmental persistence ([0003], [0007]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to use an aspartic acid based chelator such as HIDS, as taught by Zhou, in the toner production method of Taguchi, to limit the negative environmental impact of production.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/C.C.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1737
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 10/07/2025