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) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sekiguchi et al. (# US 2021/0198509) in view of Yokohama et al. (# US 2020/0354598) and Koase (# US 2012/0075380).
Sekiguchi et al. discloses:
1. An ink set (see Abstract; [0002]; [0068]) comprising:
a pre-processing fluid (processing fluid; [0017]-[0024]) comprising
water ([0062]);
an aggregating agent (flocculant; [0062]); and
a first organic solvent ([0024]; [0062]);
a pigment ink ([0069]-[0092]) comprising:
a second organic solvent ([0071]-[0076]) comprising:
water ([0079]-[0080]);
a coloring material ([0081]-[0091]); and
a glycol ether compound ([0075]-[0076]);
a polyoxyethylene alkyl ether ([0136]-[0143]); and
a resin (urethane resin; [0105]-[0110]),
wherein a content of the aggregating agent in the pre-processing fluid is between 1.0 percent by mass and 20.0 percent by mass (see Examples),
a content of the glycolether compound in the pigment ink is between 10.0 percent by mass and 20.0 percent by mass (10 to 60; [0078]),
a content of the polyoxyethylene alkyl ether in the pigment ink is between 1.0 percent by mass and 5.0 percent by mass (0.05 to 5%; [0156]),
the following Relationship is satisfied: 0.25 ≤ P/R ≤ 3.0 where P represents a content of the coloring material in the pigment ink (0.1 to 15%; [0091]), and R represents a content of the resin in the pigment ink (5 to 20%; [0132]) so i.e. P/R 15/5=3; 15/20=0.75).
3. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the glycol ether compound comprises a glycol ether compound having at least 8 carbon atoms ([0075]).
4. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the first organic solvent and the second organic solvent each are alcohol-based solvents with a boiling point of at most 250 degrees Celsius (250 C or lower; [0074]) .
6. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein a content of the second organic solvent is between 20.0 percent by mass and 40.0 percent by mass (20 to 60%; [0080]).
Sekiguchi et al. explicitly did not discloses:
1. A difference in a mixed SP value between the first organic solvent and the second organic solvent is at least 2.0 (cal/cm3).sup.0.5.
2. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the polyoxyethylene alkyl ether is a compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1,
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where R1, R2, R3, and R4 each, independently, represent hydrogen atoms or alkyl groups having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and n represents an integer of from 4 to 10.
5. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the first organic solvent has a mixed SP value between 13.0 (cal/cm3)0.5 and 15.0 (cal/cm3)0.5 and the second organic solvent has a mixed SP value between 10.0 (cal/cm3)0.5 and 12.0 (cal/cm3)0.5.
7. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the resin comprises a resin having a glass transition temperature Tg of at least 30 degrees Celsius.
8. The ink set according to claim 7, wherein the resin comprises a resin having a glass transition temperature Tg of lower than 0 degrees Celsius.
Yokohama et al. teaches to have the high quality ink set, the ink and preprocessing liquid comprises The first organic solvent has a mixing solubility parameter (SP) A of 10.00 to less than 13.00 and the second organic solvent has a mixing solubility parameter (SP) B of 13.00 to 16.00 ([0125]; [0127]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the organic solvent of Sekiguchi et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Ykohama et al. in order to have the bleed free, high density printed image.
Koase teaches to have the bronzing free superior glossy image,
7. The ink set according to claim 1, wherein the resin comprises a resin having a glass transition temperature Tg of at least 30 degrees Celsius (The glass transition temperature (Tg; measured in accordance with JISK 6900) of the urethane resin is preferably -50 to 200.degree. C., more preferably -50 to 100.degree. C. [0085]).
8. The ink set according to claim 7, wherein the resin comprises a resin having a glass transition temperature Tg of lower than 0 degrees Celsius (The glass transition temperature (Tg; measured in accordance with JISK 6900) of the urethane resin is preferably -50 to 200.degree. C., more preferably -50 to 100.degree. C. [0085]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the resin of Sekiguchi et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Koase in order to have the bronzing free superior glossy image.
With respect to claim 2, However, Sekiguchi et al. discloses exactly same polyoxyethylene alkyl ether as applicant discloses in their own specification. The formula, which is constant to the material. Therefore, the polyoxyethylene alkyl ether discloses by the Sekiguchi et al. obviously have Chemical Formula 1,
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where R1, R2, R3, and R4 each, independently, represent hydrogen atoms or alkyl groups having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and n represents an integer of from 4 to 10.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 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.
9. The ink set according to claim 1, satisfying the following Relationship A,
20°< θ1-θ2< 30° Relationship A
where θ1 represents a contact angle of the pigment ink to a recording medium where the pre-processing fluid is applied, and
θ2 represents a contact angle of the pigment ink to a recording medium where the pre-processing fluid is not applied.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Kobashi et al. (# US 2021/0115285) discloses an ink set contains a pre-processing fluid comprising a multivalent metal ion, a first ink and a second ink, wherein the first ink has a surface tension of 35 mN/m or greater at 25 degrees C. and a life time of 150 ms, wherein the second ink has a surface tension of 35 mN/m or greater at 25 degrees C. and a life time of 150 ms and the second ink is a white ink (see Abstract).
(2) Hamada et al. (# US 2022/0372320) discloses an ink set including an ink containing water, a pigment, a pigment dispersion polymer A, and a water-soluble polymer B, and a treatment liquid containing water and at least one selected from the group consisting of a polyvalent metal salt, an acidic compound, and a cationic polymer, in which the pigment dispersion polymer A contains a specific acid group and an aromatic ring, and the water-soluble polymer B contains a specific acid group and a constitutional unit represented by General Formula (1), and in the ink, a mass ratio of a content concentration of the water-soluble polymer B to a content concentration of the pigment dispersion polymer A in a liberated polymer is 1.6 or more, and an image recording method. R.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a monovalent substituent, Y.sup.1 represents a monovalent substituent, A.sup.1 represents —O—, and L.sup.1 is a divalent linking group (see Abstract).
(3) Sekiguchi et al. (# US 2022/0010158) discloses an ink including water, and an organic solvent, wherein a dried product of the ink has an endothermic peak temperature Tm of 22° C. or higher but 74° C. or lower as measured by differential scanning calorimetry, the differential scanning calorimetry includes first heating, cooling, and second heating, where the first heating is heating the dried product of the ink from −60° C. to 140° C. at a heating rate of 10° C./min, the cooling, which is performed after the first heating, is cooling a heated product obtained in the first heating from 140° C. to −60° C. at a cooling rate of −10° C./min, and the second heating, which is performed after the cooling, is heating a cooled product obtained in the cooling from −60° C. to 140° C. at a heating rate of 10° C./min, and the endothermic peak temperature Tm is an endothermic peak temperature in the second heating (see Abstract).
(4) Urano et al. (# US 2020/0276849) discloses an ink set (see Abstract) comprising: a pre-processing fluid (pretreatment liquid P; [0028]-[0065]) comprising water ([0058]); an aggregating agent (coagulant; [0023]).
(5) Ellis (# US 2007/0067928) discloses a method of inkjet printing on fabric, comprising the steps of pretreatment, printing with a white underprint of substantially the same shape as the colored image and printing an image on the fabric. The preferred digitally printed inks are pigmented inks.
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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