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. JP2023-164014, filed on 9/26/2023.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fujihara (US PGP 2022-0299894).
Fujihara teaches a method for producing toner comprising: aggregating binder resin particles in a dispersion to form aggregated particles; and fusing the aggregated particles by heating; wherein the stirring speed while agitating the aggregated particles is decreased stepwise or continuously (Abstract, [0019-20]). The temperature in the fusing step is higher than or equal to the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the binder resin, and is preferably higher than the Tg by 10°C to 30°C ([0105]). The change in agitating rotation speed of instant claim 1 is a similar measurement to the change in stirring power of Fujihara, as the stirring power per unit volume may be controlled by changing the rotation speed of the stirring unit ([0025]). Based on the changes in stirring power as shown in Table 1, the decrease proportion of the agitating rotation speed would be 48% or more. Fujihara teaches in the examples that the pH of the dispersion during fusing is 9 ([0182-183]). The proportion of the crystalline polyester resin included in the binder resin of the exemplary toners is 1,500 parts of 7,510 total parts binder resin, or 20% by mass ([0168-171]).
Fujihara is silent regarding an agitating rotation speed per unit volume (rpm/m3) in the agitation of the dispersion. However, the stirring power per unit volume of Fujihara would be expected to result in an agitating rotation speed per unit volume of 0.3 rpm/m3 to 5.0 rpm/m3. Both methods utilize the same disperser and the components mixed to form the aggregated particles are similar (Applicant [0134-135], Fujihara [0166-173]). The particle size after the first aggregation step is 4.0 µm (Applicant [0135], Fujihara [0177]), and the final particle size of the toner is 5.0 µm (Applicant [0139], Fujihara [0183]). Applicant and Fujihara teach that the stirring during the fusing step prevents the generation of coarse toner particles (Applicant [0014], Fujihara [0023]). The amount of coarse particles produced in Applicant’s Example 1 is 0.30% (Table 1) and the amount of coarse particles produced in Fujihara’s Example 1 is 0.2% (Table 1). Therefore, as the method of Fujihara is very close to the method of the instant application and the amount of coarse particles present can be controlled by the stirring speed, the rpm/m3 utilized in Fujihara would be expected to fall in the range of 0.3 rpm/m3 to 5.0 rpm/m3 in order for the percentage of coarse particles to be so close in the exemplary toners. Based on this starting rotation speed per unit volume and the reduction in stirring power as shown in Table 1 of Fujihara, the rotation speed per unit volume after decreasing the rotation speed would be expected to fall in the range of 0.3 rpm/m3 to 2.5 rpm/m3.
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 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fujihara (US PGP 2022-0299894) in view of Masakazu (JP 2016-126158).
The entire discussion of Fujihara above is included herein. Fujihara is silent regarding adding an acidic aqueous solution to the dispersion in the fusing. Masakazu teaches a method for producing a toner comprising: aggregating particles including binder resin particles to form aggregated particles, and fusing the aggregated particles by heating the particles to a temperature between 5°C below the glass transition temperature and 20°C higher than the glass transition temperature (Abstract). This fusing temperature overlaps with the fusing temperature taught by Fujihara. Further, the pH of the dispersion at the beginning of the fusing step taught by Masakazu is preferably at least 6.8 and not more than 10 ([0016]), which encompasses the example of Fujihara. After heating the particles for fusing, acid is added either in two or more steps, or continuously ([0011]). For the continuous addition of acid, the rate of change in pH of the dispersion is 0.001/min to 0.1/min ([0011] line 19-20). The rate of change in pH during each addition in the stepwise method is preferably less than 1.5/min ([0021]). The acid is added gradually in order to obtain a toner excellent in cleanability, dot reproducibility, and charging uniformity ([0015]). 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 method of Fujihara to have included adding an acidic solution to the aggregated particle dispersion in the fusing step as taught by Masakazu in order to obtain the benefits of cleanability, dot reproducibility, and charging uniformity.
Conclusion
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/J.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/PETER L VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 08/27/2026
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