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). It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the JP2024-052908 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/17/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The specification has been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. However, the applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5 and 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mizushima et al. (U.S. 2019/0375225 A1).
Mizushima et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding independent Claim 1, an ink jet printing method comprising:
subjecting a printing medium to corona discharge treatment (e.g. §0056); and
applying an ink containing a pigment dispersed by an action of an anionic group (e.g. §0079) to a surface of the printing medium subjected to the corona discharge treatment,
wherein the corona discharge treatment has a discharge quantity of 3,400 W∙min/m2 or more (e.g. §0014; please see MPEP 2144.05 I, 2131.03 II regarding overlapping ranges), and
wherein the pigment comprises:
a pigment that is dispersed by a resin that has the anionic group (e.g. §§0085, 0094), or
a pigment that has the anionic group bonded to a particle surface of the pigment directly or via another atomic group (e.g. §§0079-0085).
Regarding Claim 2, wherein the discharge quantity is 4,200 W∙min/m2 or more to 25,000 W∙min/m2 or less (e.g. §0014; please see MPEP 2144.05 I, 2131.03 II regarding overlapping ranges).
Regarding Claim 5, wherein a conveyance velocity of the printing medium is 1.5 m/min or more to 4 m/min or less (e.g. §0015; please see MPEP 2144.05 I, 2131.03 II regarding overlapping ranges).
Regarding Claim 7, wherein the ink contains anionic resin particles (e.g. §§0085, 0094).
Regarding Claim 8, wherein the ink contains water, and a content of the water in the ink is 50.0 mass% or more to 95.0 mass% or less (e.g. §0050; please see MPEP 2144.05 I, 2131.03 II regarding overlapping ranges).
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.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizushima et al. (U.S. 2019/0375225 A1).
Mizushima et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 3, all limitations of Claim 1 (from which this Claim depends).
Mizushima et al. do not disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 3, wherein the discharge quantity is 5,700 W∙min/m2 or more to 25,000 W∙min/m2 or less. However, Matsumoto et al. do disclose discharge quantity is 500 W∙min/m2 or more to 5,500 W∙min/m2 or less. Please see MPEP 2144.05 I, 2131.03 III regarding obviousness of overlapping ranges.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mizushima et al. (U.S. 2019/0375225 A1) in view of Saitoh et al. (U.S. 2015/0258813 A1).
Mizushima et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 4, all limitations of Claim 1 (from which this Claim depends).
Mizushima et al. do not disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 4, wherein the discharge quantity of the corona discharge treatment is adjusted by changing an output of the corona discharge treatment and a conveyance velocity of the printing medium.
Saitoh et al. disclose the following claimed limitations:
Regarding Claim 4, wherein the discharge quantity of the corona discharge treatment is adjusted by changing an output of the corona discharge treatment and a conveyance velocity of the printing medium (e.g. §§0066-0067, 0074, 0078, 0090). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to apply the adjustments of Saito et al. to the method of Mizushima et al. to improve the ability of the method to handle various media types and printing speeds.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the primary reason for indicating allowable subject matter of claim 6 is the inclusion of the limitations of an ink jet printing method including wherein an output of the corona discharge treatment is 3000 W or more to 5000 W or less. It is these limitations found in the claims, as it is claimed in the combination of that has not been found, taught or suggested by prior art of record, which makes these claims allowable over the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV whose telephone number is (571)270-7049. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodrigues can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER D SHENDEROV/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/DOUGLAS X RODRIGUEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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