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 .
2. This office action is responsive to the application Nº 17/753,519 filed on June 25th, 2024 in which claims 1-13 are pending and ready for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS have been considered.
Priority
4. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Drawings
5. The examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 06/25/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
7. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
8. Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Hirakawa (US Pub. Nº 2006/0071990).
9. Regarding independent claim 11: Hirakawa disclosed an inkjet recording apparatus ([0044], line 2; also see Fig. 1, reference 10) comprising:
an undercoat liquid ([0046], lines 1-2; also see Fig. 1, reference 15);
one or more inkjet inks ([0045], line 1; also see Fig. 1, references K, M, C, Y);
a conveyance section that conveys a recording medium ([0044], lines 9-10; also see Fig. 1, references 22 and 16 respectively);
an undercoat liquid ejection head that ejects the undercoat liquid onto the recording medium ([0044], line 2; also see Fig. 1, reference 11); and
one or more recording heads that are placed downstream of the undercoat liquid ejection head in terms of a conveyance direction of the recording medium and that eject the respective one or more inkjet inks onto at least a part of an area of the recording medium ([0044], lines 4-5; also see Fig. 1, references 12K, 12M, 12C, 12Y), the area being an area of the recoding medium onto which the undercoat liquid has been ejected ([0050], lines 1-4; the one or more inkjet inks are applied on areas where the undercoat liquid is discharged in order to achieve chemical reactions between them).
10. Regarding claim 12: Hirakawa disclosed the inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the undercoat liquid ejection head is a circulation type head ([0046], lines 1-3).
11. Regarding claim 13: Hirakawa disclosed the inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising a drying device that is provided downstream of the one or more recording heads in terms of the conveyance direction of the recording medium and that dries the recording medium ([0070], lines 1-2; also see Fig. 1, reference 42), wherein the conveyance section preheats while conveying the recording medium ([0061], lines 2-3; also see Fig. 1, reference 40 is a heater for preheating the recording medium on the conveyance section 22).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
12. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
13. 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 of this title, 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.
14. Claims 1-6 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okuda et al. (US Pub. Nº 2011/0181646), in view of Yamada et al. (US Pub. Nº 2007/0212539).
15. Regarding independent claim 1: Okuda et al. disclosed an inkjet ink set comprising:
an undercoat liquid ([0122], lines 1-2); and
one or more inkjet inks ([0128], lines 1-2), wherein
the undercoat liquid contains first binder resin particles ([0121], lines 1-2), a first aqueous medium ([0039], line 1), and a first surfactant ([0049], lines 1-3),
the one or more inkjet inks each contain a second pigment, second binder resin particles, a second aqueous medium, and a second surfactant ([0186], lines 3-4).
Okuda et al. are silent about at a temperature of 20ºC, a density ρ1 of the undercoat liquid and a density ρ2 of an inkjet ink of the one or more inkjet ink that has highest density among those of the one or more inkjet inks satisfy a relationship represented by formula (1) below: ρ1 - ρ2 > 0.05 g/cm3 …….. (1).
Yamada et al. disclosed an ink set comprising an undercoat liquid and one or more color inks wherein at room temperature, a first a density ρ1 of the undercoat liquid and a density ρ2 of an inkjet ink of the one or more inkjet ink that has highest density among those of the one or more inkjet inks satisfy a relationship represented by formula (1) below: ρ1 - ρ2 > 0.05 g/cm3 …….. (1) ([0159], lines 1-4; the density ρ1 of the white ink is around 1.40 g/cm3 while the density ρ2 of the print layer is 1.05 g/cm3, which yields ρ1 - ρ2 > 0.05 g/cm3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Yamada et al. with those of Okuda et al. by using an undercoat liquid and colored printing liquids having an appropriate density in order to improve the shrinking characteristics of the printed image as disclosed by Yamada et al. in paragraph [0011].
16. Regarding claim 2: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the first binder resin particles have a volume median diameter of at least 100 nm and no greater than 250 nm (Okuda et al. [0043], lines 1-2).
17. Regarding claim 3: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the undercoat liquid further contains a first pigment ([0023], lines 1-2), a total percentage content of the first pigment and the first binder resin particles being at least 12.0% by mass and no greater than 20.0% by mass in the undercoat liquid ([0025], lines 1-2 and [0044], lines 1-2. The preferred amount of the first pigment is from 5.0% to 10.0% by mass of the white ink and the preferred amount of the first binder resin is from 0.5% to 10.0%; this yields a total amount of first pigment and the first binder resin of from 5.5% to 20.0% by mass of the white ink), or
the undercoat liquid does not contain the first pigment, the first binder resin particles having a percentage content of at least 10.0% by mass and no greater than 18.0% by mass in the undercoat liquid.
18. Regarding claim 4: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the density ρ1 of the undercoat liquid is at least 1.10 g/cm3 and no greater than 1.20 g/cm3 (Yamada et al. [0159], lines 3-4 approximately).
19. Regarding claim 5: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the density ?2 of the inkjet ink of the inkjet inks that has the highest density among those of the one or more inkjet inks is at least 1.00 g/cm3 and no greater than 1.09 g/cm3 (Yamada et al. [0159], lines 1-2).
20. Regarding claim 6: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the first binder resin particles include urethane resin particles (Okuda et al. [0121], lines 1-2).
21. Regarding claim 8: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet ink set is used to print on a non-absorbent recording medium (Okuda et al. [0002], line 3).
22. Regarding claim 9: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet ink set is used in front printing (Okuda et al. [0122], lines 1-2 and [0128], lines 1-2).
23. Regarding claim 10: The combination of Okuda et al. and Yamada et al. disclosed the inkjet ink set according to claim 1, wherein the first surfactant and the second surfactant both include a silicone surfactant (Okuda et al. [0049], lines 1-2).
Allowable Subject Matter
24. Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
25. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
26. U.S. Patent application publication number 2021/0129568 to Miyasa et al. also disclosed a similar invention in paragraph [0074] and in Fig. 1.
27. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YAOVI M. AMEH whose telephone number is (571)272-4578. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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29. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHEN MEIER can be reached at (571)272-2149. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YAOVI M AMEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853