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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. JP2023-043908, filed on 3/20/2023.
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 1-4, 8-13, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sekiguchi (US PGP 2014-0255840) in view of Ishii (JP 2004-333968) and further in view of Kinoshita (US PGP 2012-0115078).
Sekiguchi teaches a toner comprising a binder resin wherein the storage modulus of the toner at 90°C is less than 1.0x105 and the storage modulus at 180°C is greater than 1.0x103 (Figure 1, [0023], Abstract). The toner includes an external additive ([0204]). Sekiguchi further teaches that the toner comprises a crystalline polyester resin ([0048]]) in an amount from 1 to 15 parts by weight ([0100]). In addition to the crystalline polyester resin the toner further comprises a non-crystalline polyester resin ([0141]). The toner has a loss tangent of 1.0 to 2.5 ([0067]). Figures 1 and 2 demonstrate that the loss tangent is within this range at both 90°C and 150°C. Additionally, Sekiguchi teaches that the THF soluble component of the toner has a number average molecular weight of 1,000 to 10,000 ([0018]). Sekiguchi teaches an image forming apparatus comprising a toner cartridge and a process cartridge that read on claims 10-13 and 17-19 and which are capable of performing the image forming method recited in claim 20 ([0210-231]). While Sekiguchi teaches the above loss tangent properties of the toner, Sekiguchi is silent regarding the strain applied during the measurement of the properties. Additionally, the toner is taught to be paired with magnetic carrier particles, but is silent regarding a true specific gravity of the particles.
Ishii teaches a toner comprising a binder resin with specific viscoelastic properties (Abstract). Ishii teaches that the storage modulus and loss tangent with regard to strain is a result effective variable that may be used to optimize high-temperature offset resistance ([0030-32]). Regarding the relationship between the storage modulus and strain, Figure 16 shows that the difference in storage modulus at strain levels of approximately 1% to 10% is relatively unchanged and that a slight decrease in storage modulus is encountered at a strain level of 50%. Such a relationship would be expected to give ratios of loss tangent values at strain values of 1% and 50% at different temperatures within the ranges taught in pending claim 1. 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 Sekiguchi to have optimized the relationship between loss tangent values at different strain values in the toner as taught by Ishii in order to optimize high-temperature offset resistance.
Kinoshita teaches a magnetic carrier comprising composite core particles comprising ferromagnetic iron oxide particles and a cured phenol resin, a melamine resin coating layer on the core particles (Abstract). This carrier is capable of maintaining a suitable electric resistance value upon development, exhibiting good durability, obtaining a good reproducibility of uniform solid images having a high image density, and keeping high-quality images having an excellent gradation for a ling period of time ([0001]). The carrier further comprises a resin coating layer on the outer surface of the melamine resin layer ([0029]). The true specific gravity of the toner is preferably 3.0 to 4.0 g/cm3 ([0052]). A true specific gravity in this range tends to reduce the energy upon impingement between the toner and the carrier, thereby avoiding the occurrence of spent toner ([0014]). The content of the ferromagnetic iron oxide fine particles in the carrier is preferably 80 to 99% by weight in order to produce a particle that is not too coarse, while maintaining sufficient strength of the particle ([0056]). 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 Kinoshita with the modified toner of Sekiguchi and Ishii in order to obtain the above benefits. Furthermore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to have optimized the loss tangent at 90°C and the true specific gravity in order to perfect the result effective variables associated with each.
Claims 5-7 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sekiguchi, Ishii, and Kinoshita as applied to claims 1-4, 8-13, and 17-20 above, and further in view of Tomohiro (JP 2017-044864).
The entire discussion of Sekiguchi, Ishii, and Kinoshita above in included herein. Sekiguchi does not teach the inclusion of crosslinked resin particles in the toner particles. Tomohiro teaches a toner that contains specific resin particles ([0029]). The specific resin particle dispersion 6 contains styrene and n-butyl acrylate along with a crosslinking agent ([0133]) to produce crosslinked styrene-acrylic resin particles. (Meth)acrylics are preferable for their affinity with polyester resins and their electrical properties ([0034]). These specific resin particles impart the benefits of a decrease in likelihood of the external additive easily separating from the toner particle, causing contamination of the carrier and changing the image density, and good low temperature fixability ([0030]). 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 Sekiguchi and Ishii to have included the specific resin particles of Tomohiro in order to gain the benefits of the resin particles as listed above.
Conclusion
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/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737
02/24/2026