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 3/5/2026, with respect to the rejection of claims 1 and 3-13 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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(s) 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, 3-10, 12, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue (US PGP 2019/0271927) in view of Shigeto (JP 2009/216914) and further in view of Niwa (US PGP 2008/0241719) and considered with Merck (Thermal Transitions of Homopolymers: Glass Transition & Melting Point).
Inoue teaches a toner comprising a toner base particles containing a polyester binder resin ([0067]), a wax ([0169]), and a colorant ([0176]). The wax may be a paraffin wax ([0333]). The base particles may include external additives such as fine inorganic particles such as silica ([0186]) and fine particles of polymers ([0195]). The glass transition temperature of the toner at the first heating in DSC (Tg1st) is 45°C to 65°C ([0063]). The Tg1st of the THF insoluble component of the toner is -45°C to 10°C ([0064]). Exemplary toners 1-3, 6-9, and 11 have Tg1st of the THF insoluble matter of -36°C to 5°C (Table 1). The glass transition temperature of the THF soluble component of the toner at the second heating in DSC is 32°C to 55°C (Table 1, toners 1-11).
The polyester binder resin includes a trivalent or tetravalent aliphatic diol ([0077] line 6-7) that preferably has 3 to 10 carbon atoms ([0077] line 9). The diol component has a main chain with 3 to 9 carbon atoms and an alkyl group in a side chain ([0075] general formula 1). The polyester resin includes a urethane bond, a urea bond, or both ([0084] line 1-2).
Inoue teaches an image forming apparatus (Figure 5) comprising an electrostatic latent image bearer (photoreceptor 40Y, 40M, 40C, 40K), an electrostatic latent image forming unit (20) configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor, and a developing unit ([0286] line 5-6) that includes the toner and is configured to develop the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image. The image forming apparatus includes a toner storage unit in which the toner is stored ([0308]).
Inoue is silent regarding the average circularity of the toner. Shigeto teaches a toner having a sharp circularity distribution and uniform shape (Abstract). The circularity of the toner is preferably 0.970 or more and 0.985 or less ([0025]) with a standard deviation of less than 0.018 ([0026]). A circularity in this range prevents a decrease in transferability and cleanability of the toner ([0025]). A standard deviation of greater than 0.025 makes the transferability, particularly transfer scattering, more likely ([0026]). Exemplary toners 6-8 and 10-11 have circularities in the range of 0.973 to 0.978 with standard deviations of 0.015 to 0.018 (Table 5). The comparative examples mostly have circularities of less than 0.970 and standard deviations of greater than 0.026 (Table 5). 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 Inoue to have the circularity of Shigeto in order to ensure good transferability and cleanability of the toner.
Inoue is silent regarding the resin particles having a core-shell structure. Niwa teaches a toner containing external additives such as inorganic fine particles and organic fine resin particles that act as a flowability-improving agent and an abrasive ([0080] line 5-8). Examples of the inorganic fine particles include silica, and examples of the organic fine resin particles include core-shell type particles in which the core is formed by a methacrylic ester polymer, and the shell is formed by a styrene polymer ([0080] line 8-15). The silica particles are preferably hydrophobic ([0081] line 3-4). Niwa teaches that it is preferable to use an inorganic fine particle and an organic fine resin particle in combination ([0081] line 6-11). Niwa does not specify the average particle diameter of the resin particles. However, Inoue teaches that the resin fine particles is in the range of 0.01 to 1 µm, or 10 to 1,000 nm ([0195] line 13-14). As this is a wide range, a person of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to optimize this range through routine experimentation in order to arrive at a diameter in the range of 10 to 40 nm. The amount of external additives is generally 0.1 to 6 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the toner particles ([0081] line 13-14). 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 Inoue to have included the external additives of Niwa to act as flowability agents and abrasives.
Niwa is silent regarding the glass transition temperatures of the core and shell resins of the organic fine resin particles. However, based on the core being formed of a methacrylic ester polymer and the shell being formed of a styrene polymer, the shell resin would be expected to have a glass transition temperature of at least 10°C higher than the glass transition temperature of the core resin. Merck shows the glass transition temperatures of various polymers. The styrene polymers shown include styrene, dimethylstyrene, 4-t-butylstyrene, 4-methoxystyrene having glass transition temperatures between 100°C and 143°C. There are many methacrylic ester polymers shown including dodecyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, ethylhexyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, hexadecyl methacrylate, cyclohexyl methacrylate, which have glass transition temperatures between -65°C to 92°C. Generally, the methacrylic ester polymers tend to have lower glass transition temperatures than the styrene polymers. Niwa does not specify that the resins are homopolymers, so other monomers may also be present, which may change the glass transition temperature. However, if each of the resins contain a majority of the methacrylate/styrene, the styrene-based resin would still have a higher glass transition temperature, as the glass transition temperature tends to change proportionally with the ratio of the monomers.
Claims 1 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shinya (JP 2015/114364) in view of Shigeto (JP 2009/216914) and further in view of Niwa (US PGP 2008/0241719) and in consideration with Merck (Thermal Transitions of Homopolymers: Glass Transition & Melting Point).
Shinya teaches a toner including toner base particles containing a polyester binder resin ([0017]), a wax ([0164]), and a colorant ([0154]). The external additives may include inorganic particles, preferably silica ([0186]), and resin fine particles ([0191]). The glass transition temperature of a tetrahydrofuran insoluble component of the toner is from -50°C to 20°C ([0020]), with most exemplary toners having a Tg1st of the THF insoluble component of -38°C to -9°C (Table 4-2). The glass transition temperature of the toner at first heating is from 30°C to 60°C ([0021]). Exemplary toners 2, 4, 12-14, and 27 have a Tg1st ranging between 27°C and 41°C (Table 4-2). A lower Tg1st of the toner allows for better low temperature fixability of the toner ([0021]).
Shinya is silent regarding the average circularity of the toner. Shigeto teaches a toner having a sharp circularity distribution and uniform shape (Abstract). The circularity of the toner is preferably 0.970 or more and 0.985 or less ([0025]) with a standard deviation of less than 0.018 ([0026]). A circularity in this range prevents a decrease in transferability and cleanability of the toner ([0025]). A standard deviation of greater than 0.025 makes the transferability, particularly transfer scattering, more likely ([0026]). Exemplary toners 6-8 and 10-11 have circularities in the range of 0.973 to 0.978 with standard deviations of 0.015 to 0.018 (Table 5). The comparative examples mostly have circularities of less than 0.970 and standard deviations of greater than 0.026 (Table 5). 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 Shinya to have included the circularity of Shigeto in order to ensure good transferability and cleanability of the toner.
Shinya is silent regarding the resin particles having a core-shell structure. Niwa teaches a toner containing external additives such as inorganic fine particles and organic fine resin particles that act as a flowability-improving agent and an abrasive ([0080] line 5-8). Examples of the inorganic fine particles include silica, and examples of the organic fine resin particles include core-shell type particles in which the core is formed by a methacrylic ester polymer, and the shell is formed by a styrene polymer ([0080] line 8-15). The silica particles are preferably hydrophobic ([0081] line 3-4). Niwa teaches that it is preferable to use an inorganic fine particle and an organic fine resin particle in combination ([0081] line 6-11). The amount of external additives is generally 0.1 to 6 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the toner particles ([0081] line 13-14). 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 Shinya to have included the external additives of Niwa to act as flowability agents and abrasives.
Niwa is silent regarding the glass transition temperatures of the core and shell resins of the organic fine resin particles. However, based on the core being formed of a methacrylic ester polymer and the shell being formed of a styrene polymer, the shell resin would be expected to have a glass transition temperature of at least 10°C higher than the glass transition temperature of the core resin. Merck shows the glass transition temperatures of various polymers. The styrene polymers shown include styrene, dimethylstyrene, 4-t-butylstyrene, 4-methoxystyrene having glass transition temperatures between 100°C and 143°C. There are many methacrylic ester polymers shown including dodecyl methacrylate, butyl methacrylate, ethylhexyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, hexadecyl methacrylate, cyclohexyl methacrylate, which have glass transition temperatures between -65°C to 92°C. Generally, the methacrylic ester polymers tend to have lower glass transition temperatures than the styrene polymers. Niwa does not specify that the resins are homopolymers, so other monomers may also be present, which may change the glass transition temperature. However, if each of the resins contain a majority of the methacrylate/styrene, the styrene-based resin would still have a higher glass transition temperature, as the glass transition temperature tends to change proportionally with the ratio of the monomers.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa as applied to claims 1, 3-10, 12, and 15-20 above, and further in view of Takeyama (US PGP 2015/0323878).
The entire discussion of Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa above is included herein. Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa are silent regarding the toner base particles containing an organic modified-layered inorganic mineral. However, Takeyama teaches a toner containing polyester binder resins ([0025]), having similar DSC measurements (Abstract, Table 4), and further containing a charge control agent ([0025]). The charge control agent is a modified layered inorganic mineral ([0112]), which is preferably an organic modified smectite ([0113]). This charge control agent allows for sufficient charging performance without deteriorating fixing ability ([0118]). 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 Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa to have included the organic modified layered inorganic mineral of Takeyama in order to improve the charging performance of the toner.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa as applied to claims 1, 3-10, 12, and 15-20 above, and further in view of Matsui (JP 2021/070810).
The entire discussion of Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa above is included herein. Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa are silent regarding a styrene and methyl methacrylate modified product of polyolefin. Matsui teaches a toner containing a wax or a modified wax having a vinyl polymer chain grafted thereto ([0134] line 1-2). The wax improves the releasability of the toner, and the modified wax improves that heat-resistance storage stability of the toner ([0134] line 3-5). The modified wax is obtained by grafting a vinyl polymer chain to a wax ([0138]). The exemplary modified wax is polyethylene, a polyolefin, modified with a styrene and methyl methacrylate polymer ([0168]). 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 Inoue, Shigeto, and Niwa to have included the styrene and methyl methacrylate modified polyolefin of Matsui in order to improve the storage stability.
Conclusion
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/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 06/02/2026
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