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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki et al. (# US 2011/0234727).
Aoki et al. discloses:
1. An inkjet recording ink (see Abstract), comprising:
a pigment ([0046]-[0054]);
a binder resin particle ([0034]-[0036]; [0067]-[0070]); and
an aqueous medium (water; [0073]-[0074]),
the aqueous medium including glycol ether (glycol diether; [0032]-[0035]), a specific organic solvent ([0032]-[0035]), and water ([0073]-[0074]),
the specific organic solvent being a glycol compound having 3 or more and 6 or less carbon atoms (glycol diether; [0032]-[0035]),
a content ratio of the specific organic solvent being 27.5 mass % or more and 35.5 mass % or less (first solvent W1: 5 to 20%; [0038]; second solvent W2: 3 to 10%; [0041]; third solvent W3: 5 to 15%; [0044]; see Table: 1; Examples 5, 8, 12),
shear viscosity of the inkjet recording ink measured at a temperature of 32° C. and a shear rate of 105 s−1 being 5.5 mPa.s or more and 7.0 mPa.s or less (2 to 10; [0081]).
Aoki et al. explicitly did not discloses:
a drying rate of the inkjet recording ink being 20% or more and 40% or less,
the drying rate being obtained by the following formula (1) on a basis of a volume V0 of an ink droplet of the inkjet recording ink immediately after impact and a volume V1 of the ink droplet 500 ms after the impact when 100 pL or more and 400 pL of the ink droplet are ejected on a measurement stage at a temperature of 25° C.;
Drying rate=100×(volume V0−volume V1)/volume V0 (1).
However, Aoki et al. discloses exactly same inkjet ink composition as applicant discloses in their own specification and claims. The drying rate of the ink is property of the ink composition, which constant to the material. Therefore, the ink composition discloses by the Aoki et al. obviously have a drying rate of the inkjet recording ink being 20% or more and 40% or less, and the drying rate being obtained by the following formula (1) on a basis of a volume V0 of an ink droplet of the inkjet recording ink immediately after impact and a volume V1 of the ink droplet 500 ms after the impact when 100 pL or more and 400 pL of the ink droplet are ejected on a measurement stage at a temperature of 25° C.;
Drying rate=100×(volume V0−volume V1)/volume V0 (1).
2. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 1, wherein the specific organic solvent contains at least one of 1,2-propanediol, 3-methyl-1,3-butanediol, 1,2-pentanediol (see Abstract; [0032]), 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol, 1,3-propanediol ([0043]), dipropylene glycol, 1,5-pentanediol, or 3-methyl-1,5-pentanediol.
3. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 2, wherein the specific organic solvent contains at least one of 1,2-propanediol or 1,3-propanediol ([0043]).
4. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 1, wherein the glycol ether contains at least one of triethylene glycol monobutylether or dipropylene glycol monomethylether ([0013]; [0036]).
5. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 1, wherein the binder resin particle contains a urethane resin (polyurethane latex binder; [0066]).
6. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 1, wherein a content ratio of the glycol ether is 10.0 mass % or more and 20.0 mass % or less (first solvent W1: 5 to 20%; [0038]; second solvent W2: 3 to 10%; [0041]; third solvent W3: 5 to 15%; [0044]; see Table: 1; Examples 5, 8, 12).
7. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 1, wherein a content ratio of the binder resin article is 2.0 mass % or more and 6.0 mass % or less (thermoplastic resin; see Table 1).
8. The inkjet recording ink according to claim 1, wherein a content ratio of the water is 42.0 mass % or more and 50.0 mass % or less (see Table: 1).
9. An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: an ink; and a circulation recording head that ejects the ink, the ink being the inkjet recording ink according to claim 1 ([0091]-[0093]).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aoki et al. (# US 2011/0234727) in view of Nelson et al. (# US 2013/0070031).
Aoki et al. discloses all the limitation of the inkjet recording apparatus except:
10. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a circulation flow rate of the circulation recording head is 40 mL/min or more and 70 mL/min or less (up to 2L/min; [0145]).
Nelson et al. teaches to have high quality printed image.
10. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein a circulation flow rate of the circulation recording head is 40 mL/min or more and 70 mL/min or less (up to 2L/min; [0145]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the inkjet recording apparatus of Aoki et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Nelson et al. in order to have the high quality printed image.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Mukai et al. (# US 2008/0152828) discloses an inkjet recording method for printing by ejecting droplets of a water-based ink composition onto a recording medium having a recording surface which is a plastic film and by causing the droplets to adhere to the recording surface, including: using, as the water-based ink composition, a water-based ink composition including at least colorant, between 0.1 wt % and 1.5 wt % of a silicon-based surfactant, alkanediol, pyrrolidone derivative, thermoplastic resin, and water; and heating the water-based ink composition that has adhered to the recording surface to a temperature of 40.degree. C. or higher (see Abstract).
(2) Ozwa et al. (# US 2020/0108630).discloses an inkjet recording ink (see Abstract), comprising a pigment (see Abstract; [0051]-[0053]);
(3) Asakawa et al.(# US 2022/0325122).discloses an inkjet recording ink (see Abstract), comprising: a pigment (see Abstract; [0051]-[0053]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANISH S SHAH whose telephone number is (571)272-2152. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-4:00pm.
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MANISH S. SHAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2853
/Manish S Shah/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853