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
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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) 1, 4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamanobe (2022/0332131) in view of Yasu (US 2015/0056423).
With regard to claim 1, Yamanobe discloses an inkjet image forming apparatus (10) [Para. 0052] comprising:
an image forming part (60) [jetting unit; Para. 0055] which ejects inks of a plurality of colors containing white (CMYKW) on a printing base material (12) [substrate; Para. 0052] conveyed in a predetermined conveyance direction [transport direction; fig. 1], to form an image;
a precoating unit (30) [Para. 0055] which is arranged on an upstream side of the image forming part in the conveyance direction [Fig. 1], and ejects a precoating liquid [aqueous primer; Para. 0067] on the printing base material;
a pre-drying part (34) [Para. 0055] which is arranged on a downstream side of the precoating unit in the conveyance direction [Fig. 1], and pre-dries the precoating liquid ejected on the printing base material before the inks are ejected in the image forming part [Fig. 1]; and
a control part which controls the pre-drying part [Fig. 2]
Yamanobe does not explicitly disclose controlling the pre-drying part to adjust a degree of dryness of the precoating liquid ejected on the printing base material, wherein the control part controls the pre-drying part so that W1<W2, where W1 (g/m2) is an amount of the pre-coating liquid ejected to the printing base material conveyed to the image forming part when a print job for ejecting the white ink is performed, and W2 (g/m2) is an amount of the pre-coating liquid ejected to the printing base material conveyed to the image forming part when a print job for not ejecting the white ink is performed.
However, Yasu teaches controlling a pre-drying part to adjust a degree of dryness of the precoating liquid (20L) [preprocess liquid] ejected on the printing base material. The drying strength and the discharge amount of the post processing liquid (50L) is based on the calculated amount of the preprocess liquid. [Para. 0191, 198, See also 0220; Fig. 11]. Yasu also teaches the preprocess unit (20), the postprocess unit (50) the drying unit (30) are controlled using a type of ink [Para. 0195-196]. The amount of liquid (application amount) of the preprocess liquid determines the drying strength and the discharge amount of the post process liquid [Para. 0220]
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the pre-drying part of Yamanobe to adjust a degree of dryness of a precoating liquid ejected on the printing base material when the postprocess liquid is calculated to discharge at an amount (W1, W2) based on the ink type being white or non-white and the drying strength as taught by Yasu so that W1<W2, for the purpose of obtaining an optimal dried state.
With regard to claim 4, Yamanobe discloses wherein a pigment of the white ink is titanium oxide [Para. 0080].
With regard to claim 6, Yamanobe discloses wherein the printing base material is a plastic film [transparent film substrate; Para. 0053].
With regard to claim 7, Yamanobe discloses a viscosity of white ink include 0.5 centipoise or more and 5.0 centipoise or less and a viscosity of the other color ink include 0.5 centipoise or more and 5.0 centipoise or less.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to set a viscosity of the white ink and the viscosity of the other color ink where pw<pc, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Claim(s) 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamanobe (US 2022/0332131) in view of Yasu (US 2015/0056423) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yamanobe (US 2009/0237442).
With regard to claim 2, Yamanobe discloses wherein the image forming part includes a head unit which ejects the ink (62K, 62C, 62M, 62Y).
Yamanobe does not disclose the precoating unit includes a head unit which ejects the precoating liquid, and both the head units have the same structure.
However, Yamanobe (442) teaches a precoating unit (16) includes a head unit which ejects the precoating liquid, and both the head units have the same structure [Para. 0119].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a precoating unit which ejects the precoating liquid having the same structure as the head which ejects the ink as taught by Yamanobe (442) in view of Yamanobe (131) and Yasu, since it is known in the art that an inkjet head can eject different types of inks, liquids or fluids and it would be a matter of design choice to substitute the roller for an inkjet head for the use of applying ink to a medium.
With regard to claim 3, Yamanobe’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 2.
Yamanobe does not disclose wherein the head unit which ejects the white ink is arranged on the upstream side of the head unit which ejects the other color inks.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to arrange the head unit which ejects the white ink on the upstream side of the head unit, since it has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse, 86 USPQ 70.
Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamanobe (US 2022/0332131) in view of Yasu (US 2015/0056423) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Harada (US 2020/0010702).
With regard to claim 5, Yamanobe’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Yamanobe does not disclose wherein a binder resin of the white ink is polyurethane resin.
However, Harada teaches ink composition of white ink containing a binder resin contains a polyurethane resin [Para. 0021 (1), (6), (7)]
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a white ink with a binder resin is polyurethane resin as taught by Harada in view of Yamanobe and Yasu for the purpose of offering excellent printability characteristics and adhesion property for use on printing base materials.
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamanobe (US 2022/0332131) in view of Yasu (US 2015/0056423) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Irihara (US 2001/0020964).
With regard to claim 8, Yamanobe’s modified apparatus discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Yamanobe does not disclose wherein when an average particle diameter of the white ink is set to Dw (nm) and an average particle diameter of the other color inks is set to Dc (nm), then Dw>Dc.
However, Irihara teaches the size of a dot formed with white ink (W) is set to be slightly larger than the size of the dot formed with black ink (Bk) [Para. 0084; Figs. 11a and 11b].
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to set the diameter of the white ink and set the diameter of the other color ink where Dw>Dc, as taught by Irihara for the purpose of suppressing the spread of the other color ink and improving the resolution of an image.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRACEY M MCMILLION whose telephone number is (571)270-5193. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6AM-2:30PM EST.
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/TRACEY M MCMILLION/ Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/RICARDO I MAGALLANES/ Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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