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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the Response, filed 2/9/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1-5, 7-10, 12, and 15-22 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made below.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7-12, 15-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Makabe (US PGP 2018-0181014) in view of Moriya (US PGP 2013-0045442).
Makabe teaches a toner comprising a mother particle and an external additive (Abstract). The mother particle comprises a binder resin ([0055]), a colorant ([0096]), and a release agent ([0093]). The binder resin comprises an amorphous resin, and may also comprise a crystalline resin ([0055]). The content of the crystalline resin is from 5% to 15% by mass of the toner ([0091]) and it has a melting point of 60°C to 80°C ([0086]). The exemplary crystalline polyester resin C is the same as the crystalline polyester resin C of the instant application, and has a melting point of 67°C (Makabe [0208], Applicant Pg 64 line 19 – Pg 65 line 7). The toner further contains an acrylonitrile-modified polyethylene wax ([0232]). The toner is produced by emulsifying or dispersing in an aqueous medium an oil phase that comprises the crystalline polyester resin ([0123]). The aqueous medium comprises a coagulant (aggregating agent) in an amount of 1.2% to 5.0% by mass ([0155]). The average particle diameters of the exemplary toners are 4.79 and 4.87 µm (Table 2).
The toner may be used with a carrier to form a developer ([0162]). The toner is contained in the toner storage unit ([0196]). Makabe teaches an image forming apparatus and image forming method (Fig. 8-10, [0172-195]) comprising an electrostatic latent image bearer 10, a charging unit 20 that charges the image bearer, an exposing unit 30 that exposes the image bearer to form a latent image, a developing unit 45 that develops the latent image to form a toner image, a transfer unit 50 that transfers the toner image to a recording medium, a cleaning unit 60 that removes the remaining toner from the image bearer, and a fixing unit 25 that fixes the toner image to the recording medium.
Makabe is silent regarding the toner containing an inorganic filler and a surface roughness parameter of the toner particle. Moriya teaches a toner containing a layered inorganic mineral that is modified with organic ions, specifically a smectite-based material ([0147]), which includes aluminum in its structure. Specific examples of the inorganic filler include organic-modified montmorillonite ([0151]), which may use the modification agent trimethyl stearyl ammonium ([0148]). The organic filler is used in an amount of 0.05% to 5% by weight ([0150]). Using the inorganic filler in the oil phase allows the toner shape to be controlled ([0150]). The circularity of the toner is preferably 0.97 to 1.0 in view of powder fluidity and melt leveling property ([0143]). The toner has an average surface roughness of 0.01 to 0.8 µm, or 10 to 800 nm from the viewpoint of powder fluidity ([0142]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the toner of Makabe to have controlled the surface roughness and to have included the inorganic filler to control the toner shape in view of powder fluidity and melt leveling property.
Example toner 4 of Makabe is almost identical to Example 1 of the instant application apart from the addition of the inorganic filler to the oil phase. The Ketamine 1 (Makabe [0203], Applicant Pg 63 line 3-8), Amorphous Polyester A (Makabe [0204-205], Applicant Pg 63 line 9 – Pg 64 line 3), Amorphous Polyester B (Makabe [0207], Applicant Pg 64 line 4-18), Crystalline Polyester C (Makabe [0208], Applicant Pg 64 line 19 – Pg 65 line 7), Master Batch 1 (Makabe [0231], Applicant Pg 65 line 9-16), Wax Dispersing Agent 1 (Makabe [0232], Applicant Pg 65 line 17 – Pg 66 line 6), Vinyl Resin Dispersion Liquid 1 (Makabe [0236], Applicant Pg 67 line 6-20) and Aqueous Phase 1 (Makabe [0238], Applicant Pg 69 line 1-5) are all the same. The content of the Oil Phase for each has the same components in similar amounts, but they are not identical (Makabe [0235] & Table 2, Applicant Pg 68 line 12-20). The toner of Makabe modified with the inorganic filler of Moriya would therefore be expected to have the same properties to the toner of the instant application, including an endothermic amount of an endothermic peak from 8.1 J/g to 14.0 J/g, a surface roughness of 300 nm to 400 nm, a circularity between 0.978 and 0.985, and a ratio S2/S1 of 0.30 to 0.70, wherein S1 is an area of the toner base particles, and S2 is a total area of the inorganic filler exposed on surfaces of the toner base particle in a backscattered electron image of the toner base particles.
Conclusion
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/J.K./ Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 04/07/2026
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