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 Specification has been amended to correct typographical errors in chemical formulae pointed out in the prior office action. Accordingly, the objection to the Specification is withdrawn.
Claim 5 and Claim 6 have been amended to clarify the relation of net intensity ratios as measured by X-ray fluorescence possessed by the silica particles to a structural feature of the silica particles. Accordingly, the rejection of Claim 5, Claim 6, and Claim 15 (which depends on Claim 5) under 35 U.S.C. §112(b) is withdrawn.
Claim 1 has been amended to reflect the limitations of Claim 7, which has been canceled accordingly. No new subject matter has been added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2026-05-03 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues, in essence, that the teachings of Sakai require a dry blending method of treating the silica particles with a quaternary ammonium salt, and that one of ordinary skill in the art following the combined teachings of Kudo, Sakai, and Zenitani would be incapable of arriving at silica particles possessing the properties claimed in the present invention.
However, as detailed in the updated rejection below, Sakai (serving as a secondary reference for the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §103) teaches that the surface treatment method of silica particles may be a liquid phase treatment or a gas phase treatment, and is not particularly limited. Sakai also points out a spray-drying method of surface treatment. In addition, Kudo (serving as a primary reference for the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §103) teaches a liquid phase surface-treatment method wherein a quaternary salt is dissolved in a solvent. Therefore, in spite of Sakai’s teaching of a preference for a mechanical method of surface treatment, the combined teachings of Kudo, Sakai, and Zenitani (also serving as a secondary reference for the rejection under 35 U.S.C. §103) would have made it obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a liquid treatment method to treat hydrophobized silica particles with TP-415. Further, the practitioner of ordinary skill would not have been sufficiently discouraged by Sakai’s stated preference to make a liquid treatment method non-obvious.
For these reasons, the updated rejections below are not withdrawn.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 – 6 and 8 - 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kudo et al (JP 2001-194825) in view of Sakai et al (JP 2005-202132), further in view of Zenitani et al (JP 2021-151944) (machine translations of which referred to henceforth).
Kudo teaches silica fine particles used as an external additive for a toner ([0008]), and a toner bearing the externally added silica particles ([0050], [0061]). Kudo teaches that the silica fine particles comprise hydrophobic silica fine particles treated with an agent selected from a group containing at least quaternary ammonium salts ([0009]). The silica particles may be prepared by the sol-gel method ([0012]), and they may be made hydrophobic by treatment with an alkyltrialkoxysilane (trifunctional silane) ([0012], [0019]). The hydrophobized silica particles may also be treated with a quaternary ammonium salt ([0026]). Kudo teaches a method of surface-treating hydrophobic silica particles with a quaternary ammonium salt wherein the quaternary ammonium salt is dissolved in a solvent and the solution is added to the silica particles ([0045]).
Sakai teaches a toner comprising toner particles comprising at least a binder resin, a colorant, a release agent, and an external additive ([0015]). The external additive includes large-diameter particles which are surface-treated with a charge control agent ([0015]). Sakai teaches that externally added particles surface-treated with a charge control agent stabilize charging, thereby improving the fluidity, charging properties, developability, transferability, cleaning properties, and fixing of the toner ([0020]).
The externally added particles may be inorganic particles, and silica is pointed out as an example ([0025]). Sakai describes a method of pre-treating the particles with an alkoxysilane or polysiloxane before treatment with the charge control agent, resulting in more uniform treatment of the particles with the charge control agent ([0027]). Sakai gives as examples of alkoxysilane treatment agents methyltrichlorosilane, octyltrichlorosilane, and octyltrimethoxysilane ([0030]). It is preferable to add 0.15 – 45 parts by mass of alkoxysilane surface treatment agent relative to 100 parts of inorganic particles to be treated ([0033]).
A charge control agent is then added to the particles that have been treated with the alkoxysilane agent ([0034]). Sakai teaches that the surface treatment method for adding the charge control agent may be a liquid phase treatment method or gas phase treatment method without particular limitation ([0026]). For example, a spray-drying method wherein the charge control agent is dissolved in a solvent, may be used. Sakai points out quaternary ammonium salts as preferable charge control agents ([0035]). The charge control agent is preferably added in an amount of 3 – 30 parts by mass relative to 100 parts of particles to be treated, which ensures a resultant content of 0.1 – 10% by mass of the charge control agent in the treated particles ([0038]). Sakai describes a heating and drying step in which the treated particles are heated at 40 - 150°C, resulting in conversion of the alkoxysilane treatment agent into an organosilane reaction product ([0039]).
Neither of Kudo or Sakai appears to teach TP-415 as a quaternary ammonium salt to be used in the surface-treatment of silica particles.
Zenitani teaches silica particles which may be used as additives to improve the fluidity of powders ([0002]). The silica particles of Zenitani contain a quaternary ammonium salt ([0008]). Zenitani points out that silica particles tend to have high capacitance, leading to the accumulation of static electricity ([0022]), an effect which can be suppressed by the presence of the quaternary ammonium salt on the surface of the silica particles ([0024]). Zenitani teaches that TP-415 is a preferable quaternary ammonium salt for use as a surface treatment agent for the silica particles ([0041]), the same agent used in the present invention, which contains molybdenum. In addition, the molybdate anion is given as an optional counteranion contained alongside the quaternary ammonium ([0063]). Zenitani teaches that in the step of treating the silica particles with the quaternary ammonium treatment agent, the amount of quaternary ammonium salt is preferably 0.5 – 10% by mass relative to the mass of silica particles ([0087]).
The example silica particles 1 - 9 of the instant application are prepared from 258 parts by mass of TMOS (Specification, [0254] and Table 1), which would convert to roughly 101.8 parts of silica particles.
258
p
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r
t
s
T
M
O
S
*
60
g
m
o
l
S
i
O
2
152
g
m
o
l
T
M
S
O
=
101.8
p
a
r
t
s
S
i
O
2
Those example silica particles are coated with 10 parts by mass of MTMS (Specification, [0255] and Table 1), or roughly 9.8 parts of MTMS per 100 parts of silica particles.
10
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100
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101.8
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=
9.8
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T
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S
/
100
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2
This ratio lies in the range for alkoxysilane treatment amount taught by Sakai.
The example silica particles 1 – 9 of the instant application are also treated with 2.5 – 5.0 parts by mass of TP-415 (Specification, [0256] and Table 1), or roughly 2.45 – 4.91 parts of TP-415 per 100 parts of silica particles.
2.5
p
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t
s
T
P
-
415
*
100
p
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S
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2
101.8
p
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2
=
2.45
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T
P
-
415
/
100
p
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2
5.0
p
a
r
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T
P
-
415
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100
p
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2
101.8
p
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2
=
4.91
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T
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-
415
/
100
p
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2
This range overlaps the range for quaternary ammonium salt treatment amount taught by Sakai.
Example silica particles 1 – 9 of the instant application all possess a value for the abundance ratio of molybdenum lumps of 4.5% or less (Specification, Table 2). These particles also possess values for B/A lying in the range 3.4 – 4.1, and values for B lying in the range 0.94 – 1.2 cm3/g.
In preparing the toner of Kudo, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to improve the fluidity, charging properties, developability, transferability, cleaning properties, and fixing of the toner by first treating the externally added silica particles with a silane coupling agent (alkoxysilane) and then treating the hydrophobized silica particles with a charge control agent (quaternary ammonium salt) as taught by Sakai. In addition, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to reduce the capacitance of the silica particles and suppress the accumulation of static electricity by the silica particles by incorporating the quaternary ammonium salt TP-415 as taught by Zenitani. As taught by both Kudo and Sakai, the quaternary ammonium salt charge control agent may be added to the surface of the hydrophobized silica particles by a liquid phase treatment method wherein the quaternary ammonium salt is dissolved in a solvent.
These silica particles would have a surface bearing the reaction product of a trifunctional silane coupling agent, wherein a nitrogen- and molybdenum-containing compound (TP-415) is adhered to said reaction product. Such silica particles, being produced and surface-treated with the same agents in similar amounts and by similar methods to those used to prepare Example silica particles 1 - 9, would necessarily possess similar values for the abundance ratio of molybdenum lumps, the pore volume B, and the ratio of pore volumes B/A. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to prepare the silica particles of Kudo, surface-treated by the method taught by Sakai, and incorporating the nitrogen- and molybdenum-containing compound of Zenitani, resulting in silica particles having a value satisfying the inequality stated for the ratio of the total area of lumps having a long diameter of 500 nm or more to the total area of a molybdenum element map created by SEM-EDX, and also possessing values for B and the ratio B/A lying inside the ranges stated in Claim 1.
As mentioned above, TP-415 is a quaternary ammonium salt containing a molybdenum element, satisfying Claim 2. TP-415 is the same as the compound with the CAS Registry Number 117342-25-3, satisfying Claim 3.
Sakai teaches alkyl(methoxy)silanes as hydrophobic treatment agents for the silica particles ([0030]), and Kudo teaches methyl(trimethoxy)silane among other alkyl(trialkoxy)silanes as surface-treatment agents for silica particles ([0019]), satisfying Claim 4.
Example silica particles 1 – 9 of the instant application possess values for NMo/NSi lying in the range 0.21 – 0.44 (Specification, Table 2). The silica particles of Kudo, surface-treated by the method taught by Sakai, and incorporating the nitrogen- and molybdenum-containing compound of Zenitani, being produced and surface-treated with the same agents in similar amounts and by similar methods to those used to prepare Example silica particles 1 – 9 (see discussion above), would inherently possess similar values for the ratio NMo/NSi, lying in the range stated in Claim 5.
The example silica particles 1 – 9 of the instant application are also treated with 2.5 – 3.8 parts by mass of TP-415 (Specification, [0256] and Table 1), or roughly 2.45 – 3.73 parts of TP-415 per 100 parts of silica particles.
2.5
p
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t
s
T
P
-
415
*
100
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2
101.8
p
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=
2.45
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T
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-
415
/
100
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2
3.8
p
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t
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P
-
415
*
100
p
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S
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O
2
101.8
p
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2
=
3.73
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415
/
100
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2
These example silica particles also possess values for NMo/NSi lying in the range 0.21 – 0.33 (Specification, Table 2). This range overlaps the range for quaternary ammonium salt treatment amount taught by Sakai. Therefore, the silica particles of Kudo, surface-treated by the method taught by Sakai, and incorporating the nitrogen- and molybdenum-containing compound of Zenitani, being produced and surface-treated with the same agents in similar amounts and by similar methods to those used to prepare Example silica particles 1 – 5 (see discussion above), would inherently possess similar values for the ratio NMo/NSi, overlapping the range stated in Claim 6.
Kudo teaches a preferred particle size of the inorganic fine particles of 10 – 5,000 nm ([0025]), and Zenitani teaches a preferred average particle diameter for the silica particles of 5 – 300 nm ([0053]), each of which encompass the range stated in Claim 8.
Example silica particles 1 – 9 of the instant application possess values for the particle size distribution index in the range of 1.10 – 1.18 (Specification, Table 2). The silica particles of Kudo, surface-treated by the method taught by Sakai, and incorporating the nitrogen- and molybdenum-containing compound of Zenitani, being produced and surface-treated with the same agents in similar amounts and by similar methods to those used to prepare Example silica particles 1 – 9 (see discussion above), would inherently possess similar values for the particle size distribution index, lying inside the range stated in Claim 9.
Zenitani teaches a preferred average circularity of silica particles of 0.65 – 0.90, overlapping the range stated in Claim 10.
As mentioned above, Kudo teaches a toner comprising externally added silica particles, satisfying Claims 11 – 15.
Kudo teaches that the toner described above may be used as a one-component developer, or may be mixed with a carrier for use as a two-component developer, satisfying Claim 16.
Claims 17 - 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kudo et al (JP 2001-194825) in view of Sakai et al (JP 2005-202132), further in view of Zenitani et al (JP 2021-151944), further in view of Tanabe et al (JP 2018-159864) (machine translations of which referred to henceforth).
The above discussions of Kudo, Sakai, and Zenitani are incorporated herein. None of Kudo, Sakai, or Zenitani appear to teach a toner cartridge, a process cartridge, or an image forming apparatus.
Tanabe discloses a developer, which may be a one-component or two-component developer ([0114]), and a toner cartridge, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus ([0001]) which may be used with the toner or developer.
Tanabe teaches a toner cartridge which contains the toner, and which is detachable from an image forming apparatus ([0142]). In the absence of an apparatus taught by Kudo, Sakai, or Zenitani, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to use the toner of Kudo having silica particles surface-treated by the method taught by Sakai, and incorporating the nitrogen- and molybdenum-containing compound of Zenitani, with the toner cartridge of Tanabe, satisfying Claim 17.
Tanabe teaches a process cartridge which contains the developer; which comprises a developing unit which develops an electrostatic image formed on an electrostatic image holding member; and which is detachable from an image forming apparatus ([0138]), satisfying Claim 18.
Tanabe describes an image forming apparatus comprising an image holding member, a charging unit, an electrostatic charge image forming unit, a developing unit which contains the developer and develops an electrostatic image held on the image holding member, a transfer unit, a cleaning unit, and a fixing unit ([0120]), satisfying Claim 19.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Grant S Seiler whose telephone number is (571)272-3015. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 5:30 Pacific.
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/GRANT STEVEN SEILER/ Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 05/27/2026
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