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) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watanabe et al. (# US 2021/0062027) in view of Tousi et al. (# US 2009/0195579).
Watanabe et al. discloses:
1. An ink set (see Abstract) comprising:
a color ink composition (non-white ink; [0051]-[0061]); and
a clear ink composition (treatment liquid; [0025]-[0033]),
the ink set being used for a recording method in which the color ink composition and the clear ink composition are laminated and adhered to a recording medium by an ink jet method ([0104]-[0106]),
wherein the color ink composition is an aqueous composition containing a colorant ([0053]-[0058]), and
the clear ink composition is an aqueous composition containing a resin ([0042]-[0045]) and a silicone-based surfactant ([0046]) which has a dissolution amount of 1.0 to 3.0 parts (0.1 to 1.5%; [0050]) by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of.
2. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein a content of the silicone-based surfactant with respect to a total mass of the clear ink composition is 0.3 percent by mass or less (0.1 to 1.5%; [0050]).
4. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the clear ink composition further contains an amine having a standard boiling point of 250° C. or more (The alkanolamine in the treatment liquid may have a normal boiling point of 350° C. or less [0013]; [0034]-[0037]).
5. The ink set according to claim 4, wherein a content of the amine with respect to a total mass of the clear ink composition is 0.4 percent by mass or less (0.1 to 2%; [0037]).
6. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the resin contained in the clear ink composition has a glass transition temperature Tg of 60° C. or more (75 °C; [0166]).
9. A recording method using the ink set according to claim 1, comprising: adhering the color ink composition to a recording medium by an ink jet method; and adhering the clear ink composition to the recording medium by an ink jet method, wherein the color ink composition and the clear ink composition are laminated (the clear ink coating is formed at least over the superimposed region in which the non-white ink coating, the white ink coating, and the treatment liquid coating lie one on top of another. [0126]) and adhered to the recording medium ([0104]-[0106]).
10. The recording method according to claim 9, further comprising: adhering the clear ink composition to a region of the recording medium to which the color ink composition is not adhered ([0104]-[0106]).
11. The recording method according to claim 10, wherein an adhesion amount of the clear ink composition in the region of the recording medium to which the color ink composition is not adhered and the clear ink composition is adhered is equal to or less than an adhesion amount of the clear ink composition in a region of the recording medium to which the color ink composition and the clear ink composition are laminated and adhered ([0104]-[0106]; [0111]-[0127]).
12. The recording method according to claim 9, further comprising: a heating step of heating the recording medium to which the color ink composition and the clear ink composition are adhered so that the recording medium has a surface temperature of 60° C. or more (60 to 100 °C; [0118]).
Watanabe et al. explicitly did not discloses:
1. A 1,2-hexanediol aqueous solution at a concentration of 3 percent by mass.
3. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a polyolefin-based film substrate having a surface with a surface roughness Sa of 0.3 μm or more to which the ink is to be adhered.
7. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the colorant contained in the color ink composition is a quinacridone-based pigment.
8. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the silicone-based surfactant is a silicone-based surfactant in which in a molecular weight distribution by a gel permeation chromatography, the maximum peak in a molecular weight range of 300 or more is located in a molecular weight range of 1,000 to 3,000.
Tousi et al. teaches to have the high quality, glossy bleed free printed image,
1. A 1,2-hexanediol aqueous solution at a concentration of 3 percent by mass ([0036]).
3. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a polyolefin-based film substrate ([0085]) having a surface with a surface roughness Sa of 0.3 μm or more to which the ink is to be adhered (0.5 μm or lower; [0085]).
7. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the colorant contained in the color ink composition is a quinacridone-based pigment ([0038]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the ink set of Watanabe et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Tousi et al. in order to have glossy bleed free high quality printed image.
With respect to claim 8, However, Watanabe et al. discloses exactly same silicone based surfactant as applicant discloses in their own specification. The molecular weight is property of the material, which constant to the material. Therefore, the silicone based surfactant discloses by the Watanabe et al. obviously have molecular weight distribution by a gel permeation chromatography, the maximum peak in a molecular weight range of 300 or more is located in a molecular weight range of 1,000 to 3,000.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Ohmoto (# US 2013/0187998) discloses an image forming method capable of obtaining an image which has superior adhesion with a recording substrate having ink non-absorbency or low ink-absorbency and has superior scratch resistance.
The ink forming method includes an ink application step of applying a water-based ink containing polymer particles, an amine compound having at least one hydroxyl group, a colorant, and water, onto a recording substrate having ink non-absorbency or low ink-absorbency (see Abstract).
(2) Okada et al. (# US 2022/0033666) discloses a treatment liquid composition for ink jet pigment printing is a treatment liquid composition which is used to be adhered to a cloth and which includes a block isocyanate compound, a hydroxyethyl cellulose, and a cationic compound (see Abstract).
(3) Yamada et al. (# US 2022/0033667) discloses a treatment liquid composition for ink jet pigment printing is a treatment liquid composition which is used to be adhered to a cloth and which includes resin particles containing a polyester-based resin and a cationic compound (see Abstract).
(4) Takahashi et al. (# US 2022/0389258) discloses a clear ink includes resin particles and water, wherein a volume average particle diameter of the resin particles is 50 nm or less, and wherein a dried film of the clear ink has glass transition temperatures (Tg) at 50 degrees C. or higher and at lower than 0 degrees C (see Abstract).
(5) Okuda (# US 2017/0232763) discloses a recording method includes applying a white ink containing a white material and a first resin onto a predetermined region of a recording medium, and applying a reaction liquid containing a reaction agent onto at least the predetermined region. Further, the recording method includes applying a clear ink containing a second resin onto at least the predetermined region, and the application of the white ink and the clear ink are performed while the white ink and the clear ink are both wet; and/or the white ink further contains the second resin. When either the first resin and water, or the second resin and water, is mixed with an aqueous solution of magnesium sulfate, the average particle size of the first resin increases more than the second resin (see Abstract).
(6) Okuda et al. (# US 2019/0264056) discloses an ink jet recording method is provided for a low or non-absorbable recording medium using a solution containing a colored ink, a clear ink, and an aggregating agent for aggregating constituents in the colored ink. The method includes: causing the solution containing the aggregating agent to adhere to the recording medium; and a main scanning in which the colored and the clear inks are ejected while relative positions of an ink jet head and the recording medium are changed to a main scanning direction, and a sub-scanning in which the relative positions of the ink jet head and the recording medium are changed to a sub-scanning direction. The main scanning involves a region where a recording region in which the colored ink is ejected in the main scanning and a recording region in which the clear ink is ejected in the main scanning overlap one another (see Abstract).
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
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