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
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2010/0144943 (“Sakai”) in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2007/0197684 (“Yamashita”).
Claim 1
Sakai discloses a recording method, comprising: providing an ink set including a reaction liquid containing coagulant (paragraph [0010, 0013-0014], ink set with coagulant), a first ink containing a first color material, and a second ink containing a second color material (Fig. 1, inks cmyk); imparting the reaction liquid of the ink set to a recording medium being a non-absorptive recording medium or a low-absorptive recording medium (paragraph [0190, 0203-0205], resin coated media with treatment liquid); imparting the first ink of the ink set to the area to which the reaction liquid is imparted (paragraph [0196]); imparting the second ink of the ink set to the area to which the first ink is imparted (paragraph [0196]); transporting the recording medium to a downstream side of a feeding direction (paragraph [0195], conveyance system); and drying the reaction liquid imparted to the recording medium, the first ink imparted to the recording medium, and the second ink imparted to the recording medium, by a drying unit (paragraphs [0205-0206], drying units 13 and 15), and the other of the first ink and the second ink is a yellow ink, a magenta ink, or a cyan ink containing the second color material or a black ink containing a black color material as the second color material (paragraph [0223], cmyk), the first ink and the second ink are water-based inks (paragraph [0174], water based), the reaction liquid includes water and is water-based (paragraph [0051]), the coagulant contains at least one of a polyvalent metal salt, an organic acid, and a cationic resin, and the polyvalent metal salt, the organic acid, and the cationic resin are soluble in water and dissolve in the water of the reaction liquid (paragraph [0051-0052]), the imparting of the reaction liquid is conducted by ink jet to discharge the reaction liquid from a first head, the imparting of the first ink and the second ink are each conducted by ink jet to discharge the first ink and the second ink from second and third heads, respectively (Fig. 1), the imparting of the reaction liquid, the first ink, and the second ink is performed to the recording medium supported by a medium supporting unit (Fig. 1), and the drying unit is provided on the downstream side of the feeding direction from the medium supporting unit and is configured to perform the drying by heating (Fig. 1, paragraph [0206], heater).
Sakai does not appear to explicitly disclose wherein one of the first ink and the second ink is a white ink containing a white color material as the first color material or a metallic ink containing a metallic color material as the first color material, the first ink being water based.
Yamashita discloses an ink set including an aqueous white ink (paragraph [0119]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated wherein one of the first ink and the second ink is a white ink containing a white color material as the first color material or a metallic ink containing a metallic color material as the first color material, the first ink being water based, as disclosed by Yamashita, into the method of Sakai, for the purpose of providing a white image or masking a prior image (Yamashita, paragraph [0005]).
Claim 2
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the coagulant contains the polyvalent metal salt (Sakai, paragraph [0053]).
Claim 3
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein a surface tension of the reaction liquid is greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to 35 mN/m at a temperature of 25°C (Sakai, paragraph [0046]).
Claim 4
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein a content of the first color material in the first ink with respect to a total mass of ink is 10 to 15 mass%; and a content of the second color material in the second ink with respect to the total mass of the ink is 2 to 4 mass% (Sakai, paragraph [0090]).
Claim 5
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the first ink and the second ink each contain a resin emulsion (Sakai, paragraph [0130]).
Claim 6
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 5, wherein the resin emulsion contains at least one of a urethane resin, a (meth)acrylic-based resin, and a styrene-(meth)acrylic-acid copolymer-based resin (Sakai, paragraph [0130], methacrylic polymer).
Claim 7
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein before the imparting of the second ink, the reaction liquid and the first ink that are each imparted to the recording medium are heated (Sakai, Fig. 1).
Claim 8
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein before the imparting of the second ink, the reaction liquid and the first ink that are each imparted to the recording medium are heated, and the surface temperature of the recording medium is less than or equal to 50 degrees C in the heating (Sakai, paragraphs [0267-0272]).
Claim 9
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein 10 mg/inch2 or less of the reaction liquid is imparted to the recording medium (Sakai, paragraph [0268]).
Claim 10
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein 5 to 20 mg/inch2 of the first ink is imparted to the recording medium, and 5 to 20 mg/inch2 of the second ink is imparted to the recording medium (Sakai, paragraph [0268]).
Claim 11
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the reaction liquid contains a surfactant (Sakai, paragraph [0043], surfactant).
Claim 12
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein a content of a resin of a resin emulsion contained in the first ink and a content of a resin emulsion contained in the second ink are 3 mass% or more with respect to a total mass of the first ink (Sakai, paragraph [0130], at least 10 mass%).
Claim 13
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the reaction liquid contains a surfactant that includes at least one of an acetylene glycol-based surfactant and a polysiloxane-based surfactant (Sakai, paragraph [0160]).
Claim 14
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses a recording apparatus that performs recording by the recording method according to claim 1 (Sakai, Fig. 1).
Claim 15
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein each of the first head discharging the reaction liquid, the second head discharging the first ink, and the third head discharging the second ink are a line head or a serial head (Sakai, paragraph [0195], serial).
Claim 16
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium has a roll shape (Sakai, paragraph [0216-0218], following curvature of roller).
Claim 17
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the cationic resin is an amine-based resin (Sakai, paragraph [0086]), the polyvalent metal salt is a salt of magnesium or calcium (Sakai, paragraph [0053]), and the organic acid is a carboxylic acid (Sakai, paragraphs [0030-0032]).
Claim 18
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the medium supporting unit is provided with another drying unit other than the drying unit, the another drying unit is configured to dry the reaction liquid imparted to the recording medium, the first ink imparted to the recording medium, and the second ink imparted to the recording medium (Sakai, Fig. 1, two dryer units 13 and 15).
Claim 19
Sakai in view of Yamashita discloses the recording method according to claim 1, wherein the imparting of the reaction liquid, the first ink, and the second ink, is performed by moving the first head, the second head, and the third head, and discharging the reaction liquid, the first ink, and the second ink, cooperatively with the movement (Sakai, paragraph [0195, 0202-0206]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERICA S Y LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7911. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4, TW M,W.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodriguez 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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/ERICA S LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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