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 3/12/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-11 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 1-7 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka (European Patent Application 3640737) in view of Hashimoto (US PGP 2021-0294238) further in view of Yayoi (US PGP 2002-0197551) and further in view of Onozaki (US PGP 2020-0166862).
Tanaka teaches a toner comprising a binder resin, a release agent (Abstract) and a surface layer comprising an organosilicon polymer ([0096]). The organosilicon polymer has a structure in which a silicon atom and an oxygen atom are alternately bonded to each other ([0099]). Examples of the organosilicon polymer include many alkyltrialkoxysilanes ([0098]), which are representative of the structure (b) of the instant application. Exemplary Toner 1 contains methyltriethoxysilane as the compound for the organosilicon surface layer ([0166]), representative of formula (b) wherein R1 is an alkyl group having 1 carbon atom. As the methyltriethoxysilane is the only compound used to form the surface layer it would be expected that in a chart obtained by measuring an amount of tetrahydrofuran insoluble matter in the toner particle by 29Si-NMR, a ratio of a peak derived from a silicon atom assigned to a structure represented by formula (b) relative to a total area of peaks derived from all silicon atoms comprised in the organosilicon polymer would be 0.900 to 1.000. Similarly, the value of ST3/ST2 would be expected to fall in the range of 3.0 to 4.5, as the same silicon compound is used. The content of the organosilicon polymer in the toner particle is between 9.5% and 13.1% in the exemplary toners (Table 1). The release agent may preferably be a hydrocarbon wax ([0059]).
Hashimoto teaches the hydrophobicity of organosilicon polymer particles wherein, in a wettability test using a mixed solvent of methanol/water, the concentration of methanol when the transmittance of light with a wavelength of 780 nm is 50% is preferably 45 vol% to 80 vol% ([0021]) line 1-5). This hydrophobicity can be controlled by including a hydrophobic treatment. When the polymer is appropriately hydrophobic it does not easily absorb water, and the charging performance is excellent ([0021] line 12-14). The examples use hexamethyl disilazane (HMDS) as a hydrophobic treatment agent ([0314], Table 4-2). Examples 1-22 and 25-27 also contain methyltrimethoxysilane as the only silane compound (Table 4-1), which is a very similar compound to the methyltriethoxysilane taught by Tanaka for the organosilicon polymer. 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 organosilicon polymer of Tanaka to have included HMDS as a hydrophobic treatment of Hashimoto in order to fulfill the limitations of the wettability test so that the toner has excellent charging performance.
Tanaka and Hashimoto are silent regarding atomic percentages of atoms at the surface of the toner particle. The modified toner of Tanaka and Hashimoto would be expected to satisfy the formulae 40.0 ≤ dC/(dC+dO+dSi)x100 ≤ 60.0 and 10.0 ≤ dSi/(dC+dO+dSi)x100 ≤ 26.0, as the same compounds, methyltriethoxysilane and HDMS, are present at the surface of the toner as in the instant application. Similarly, as the amount of silanol groups measured by a titration method using potassium hydroxide is controlled by type of organosilicon polymer, and amount and type of hydrophobic treatment (Applicant Specification Pg 21-22), it would be expected to fall within 0.010 to 0.075 mmol/g. The ratio of the area of a peak derived from a silicon atom assigned to a structure represented by formula (a) can be controlled by controlling the amount and type of hydrophobic treatment to which the organosilicon polymer is subjected (Applicant Specification Pg 23-24). As the hydrophobic treatment of hexamethyl disilazane is the same, a small amount of structure (a) would be present in a 29Si-NMR chart, and the ratio area of a peak derived from (a) relative to all peaks would be expected to fall within the range of 0.005 to 0.080.
Tanaka and Hashimoto are silent regarding an electrical conductivity of a filtrate obtained after the toner and ion exchanged water are mixed and shaken. Yayoi teaches a toner comprising a coating layer containing a silicon compound (Abstract). This coating layer is formed from the polycondensation of a silane alkoxide ([0025],[0127]). Examples of the compounds include bifunctional or higher silane alkoxides, including methyltriethoxysilane ([0129]), which is the same compound used in Tanaka to form the organosilicon polymer surface layer. The silicon compound may further be treated with a coupling agent ([0142]). The examples of coupling agents include silylating agents, such as hexamethyldisilazane ([0187]), which is the same compound used in Hashimoto. After the hydrolysis reaction on the surface of the toner particles, the toner may be washed with a solvent such as alcohol in order to remove any unreacted silicon compound remaining inside the toner particles ([0114]). 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 Tanaka and Hashimoto to have included a step of washing the toner particles with alcohol in order to remove any unreacted silicon compound.
As discussed on page 12 of the Response, the electrical conductivity of the filtrate obtained by filtering off the toner can be controlled by adjusting the degree of washing of the toner particles, one method of which comprises mixing the toner particles with an alcohol-based organic solvent, followed by washing with ion-exchange water. The addition of the step of washing the toner of Tanaka with an alcohol would therefore produce a toner wherein the filtrate has claimed electrical conductivity.
Tanaka is silent regarding an appropriate carrier for use with the toner particle. Onozaki teaches a magnetic carrier comprising a magnetic core particle and a resin coat layer formed on the surface of the core (Abstract). This magnetic carrier allows for excellent durable stability of image density, whereby fogging and density non-uniformity within the image plane can be controlled ([0011]). The resin coat layer contains a resin A ([0095]), wherein resin A contains a (meth)acrylic acid ester monomer having an alicyclic hydrocarbon group ([0098]) and a polymer portion including a polymer of at least one of methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, butyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, and 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate ([0100]). The resin A makes the surface of the carrier smooth, which helps to suppress attachment of the toner to the carrier, and prevents loss of charging performance, and it also improves adhesiveness with the carrier core particle and improves image density stability ([0114]). The magnetic carrier core particle is preferably a porous magnetic core particle containing resin in the pore in order to reduce the load on the toner, thereby reducing image quality deterioration, even during long term use ([0135] line 5-9). 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 used the carrier of Onozaki with the toner of Tanaka to achieve the above listed benefits.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka, Hashimoto, Yayoi, and Onozaki as applied to claims 1-7 and 11 above, and further in view of Chimoto (US PGP 2021-0063921).
The entire discussion of Tanaka, Hashimoto, Yayoi, and Onozaki above is included herein. Tanaka teaches that the release agent for the toner may preferably be a hydrocarbon wax ([0059]), but is silent regarding an FT-IR spectrum obtained by measuring the toner particle using an ATR method. Chimoto teaches a toner including a hydrocarbon wax, and having a specific surface wax index A (Abstract). By controlling the wax within the toner, the printed matter exhibits excellent low-temperature separation performance during the toner image formation step ([0008]). The surface wax index A is calculated from the FT-IR spectrum obtained by measuring the toner particles using the ATR method and using Ge as the ATR crystal and at an infrared incident angle of 45° ([0020]). The surface wax index A=Pa/Pb, wherein Pa is the value yielded by subtracting the average value of the absorption intensities at 3050 cm-1 and 2600 cm-1 from the maximum value of the absorption peak intensity in the range from 2820 cm-1 to 2875 cm-1, and Pb is the value yielded by subtracting the average value of the absorption intensities at 1800 cm-1 and 1650 cm-1 from the maximum value of the absorption peak intensity in the range from 1715 cm-1 to 1790 cm-1 ([0021]). The value of Pa/Pb is from 0.05 to 0.43 ([0019]). 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 Tanaka, Hashimoto, and Yayoi to have included the surface wax index A=Pa/Pb of between 0.05 and 0.43 in order to produce a toner with excellent low-temperature separation performance.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tanaka, Hashimoto, Yayoi, and Onozaki as applied to claims 1-7 and 11 above, and further in view of Honda (Japanese Patent Application 2021-189435).
The entire discussion of Tanaka, Hashimoto, Yayoi, and Onozaki above is included herein. Tanaka teaches that the binder resin preferably includes styrene-acrylic resins and polyester resins ([0037]), which may be either amorphous or crystalline. Exemplary polyester resin 1 is an amorphous polyester resin, containing terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, 2 mol propylene oxide adduct of bisphenol A and 2 mol propylene adduct of bisphenol A ([0160]). The toner contains a crystalline carboxy group containing styrene resin which may contain stearyl (meth)acrylate or behenyl (meth)acrylate ([0092]), but they are only included in the resin in a small amount.
Honda teaches a binder resin that is excellent in hot offset resistance, fixing width, charge retention rate, image strength and durability while maintaining low-temperature fixability and heat-resistant storage stability ([0010]). The binder resin contains an amorphous vinyl polymer (A) and a crystalline vinyl polymer (B), wherein the crystalline resin contains a monomer (a), a (meth)acrylate having 21 to 40 carbon atoms (Abstract). Examples of the monomer (a) include (meth)acrylates having a linear alkyl group (the number of carbon atoms of the alkyl group is 18 to 36) ([0027]). These compound are representative of formula (x) of the instant application. A (meth)acrylate having a linear alkyl group with 18 to 36 carbon atoms is preferable from the viewpoint of low-temperature fixability and heat-resistant storage stability ([0028]). The weight ratio of monomer (a) in the resin is from 30 to 93 weight% from the same viewpoint ([0036]). 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 binder resin of Tanaka to contain an amorphous resin and a crystalline resin, wherein the crystalline resin contains 30 to 93 mass% of a monomer represented by formula (x) in order for the toner to have good low-temperature fixability and heat-resistant storage stability.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jenna Kuipers whose telephone number is (571)272-0161. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30 - 5:30 PT.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Johnson can be reached at 571-272-1177. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 06/17/2026
Prosecution Insights