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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nagai et al. (# US 2014/0192111) in view of Szajewski et al. (# US 2007/0132822).
Nagai et al. discloses:
1. An ink jet ink composition being an aqueous composition (see Abstract; [0048]) comprising:
a pigment formed of a self-dispersing pigment A containing a phosphorus-containing group (first pigment containing phosphonic acid group; see Abstract; [0014]; [0025]-[0031]), and
a self-dispersing pigment B containing a functional group other than the phosphorus-containing group (anionic group other than phosphonic acid group; see Abstract; [0014]; [0032]-[0039]).
2. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet ink composition is used for an ink jet recording device that includes an ink tank having an ink filling hole ([0076]).
4. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein a mass ratio (A/B) of the self-dispersing pigment A to the self-dispersing pigment B is 0.4 or greater and 2.5 or less (see Example 1-3, 5; Table 1, i.e. 18/12=1.5; 9/21=0.43).
5. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein a total content of the self-dispersing pigment A and the self-dispersing pigment B is 4% by mass or greater and 8% by mass or less with respect to a total mass of the ink jet ink composition (1 to 10%; [0023]).
9. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet ink composition is used for recording on an absorbing recording medium (plain paper ; [0076]; [0044]).
10. A recording method comprising: jetting the ink jet ink composition according to claim 1 from an ink jet head to make the ink jet ink composition adhere to a recording medium ([0053]).
Nagai et al. explicitly did not discloses:
1. A pigment formed of a self-dispersing pigment A having a volume average particle diameter D50 of 150 nm or less; a self-dispersing pigment B having a volume average particle diameter D50 of 90 nm or greater and 150 nm or less.
3. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the self-dispersing pigment A has a volume average particle diameter D50 of 70 nm or greater and 150 nm or less.
6. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, further comprising: betaines.
7. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 6, wherein a content of the betaines is 38 by mass or greater and 10% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink jet ink composition.
8. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the volume average particle diameter D50 of the self-dispersing pigment A is greater than the volume average particle diameter D50 of the self-dispersing pigment B.
Szajewski et al. teaches the inks have improved print density on plain paper, good text quality, improved print durability such as waterfastness and excellent jetting performance over an extended printing period. They further provide good print uniformity over a wide variety of ink jet receivers.
1. A pigment formed of a self-dispersing pigment A having a volume average particle diameter D50 of 150 nm or less; a self-dispersing pigment B having a volume average particle diameter D50 of 90 nm or greater and 150 nm or less (less than 200 nm; [0020]).
3. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, wherein the self-dispersing pigment A has a volume average particle diameter D50 of 70 nm or greater and 150 nm or less (less than 200 nm; [0020]).
6. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 1, further comprising: betaines (surfactant includes betaines; [0024]).
7. The ink jet ink composition according to claim 6, wherein a content of the betaines is 38 by mass or greater and 10% by mass or less with respect to the total mass of the ink jet ink composition (0.01 to 6%; [0023]-[0025]).
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 composition of Nagai et al. by the aforementioned teaching of Szajewski et al. in order to have the inks with improved print density on plain paper, good text quality, improved print durability such as waterfastness and excellent jetting performance over an extended printing period. They further provide good print uniformity over a wide variety of ink jet receivers.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(1) Nagashima et al. (# US 2018/0346746) discloses an aqueous ink that can record an image excellent in color developability and is excellent in sticking recovery property. The aqueous ink for ink jet includes: a pigment; and a surfactant, wherein the pigment includes a self-dispersible pigment in which at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of (i) an anionic group and (ii) a group in which another atomic group and an anionic group are bonded to each other is bonded to a surface of a particle of carbon black and a density of the functional group is 0.10 μmol/m.sup.2 or more to 0.48 μmol/m.sup.2 or less and wherein the surfactant includes an amino acid type surfactant in which a nitrogen atom capable of becoming a cation has a structure of a secondary amine or a tertiary amine (see Abstract).
(2) Masada et al. (# US 2018/0112091) discloses an ink including a first pigment, a second pigment, and water. The first pigment satisfies condition 1, the second pigment satisfies condition 2, and the content (% by mass) of the first pigment relative to the content (% by mass) of the second pigment based on a total mass of the ink is 1.7 times or more to 8.0 times or less in terms of mass ratio. Condition 1: When, to a pigment dispersion liquid containing the first pigment, calcium chloride is added so as to give a predetermined concentration, the particle diameter increase rate of the solid content is 2.0 nm/second or more. Condition 2: When, to a pigment dispersion liquid containing the second pigment, hydrochloric acid is added so as to give a predetermined concentration, the particle diameter increase rate of the solid content is 0.5 nm/second or less (see Abstract).
(3) Deardurff et al. (# US 2019/0249023) discloses an ink composition including an aqueous liquid vehicle, from 2 wt % to 7 wt % self-dispersed pigment dispersed in the aqueous liquid vehicle, and from 0.5 wt % to 5 wt % acidic polymeric binder particles having an acid number from 30 to 200 and a particle size from 1 nm to 100 nm dispersed in the aqueous liquid vehicle. The ink composition can also include from 0.1 wt % to 0.75 wt % monovalent salt solubilized in the aqueous liquid vehicle. The self-dispersed pigment to monovalent salt weight ratio in the ink composition can be from 3:1 to 50:1, for example (see Abstract).
(4) Aotani et al. (# US 2017/0210917) discloses an ink including a self-dispersible pigment, acrylic resin particles, a water-soluble organic solvent, and water. The self-dispersible pigment includes a phosphonic-acid-based self-dispersible pigment having a phosphonic acid group bonded directly or via another atomic group to a surface of particles of the pigment. The acrylic resin particles are formed of an acrylic resin containing a constituent unit derived from an ester-bond-containing monomer. The content of the constituent unit derived from the ester-bond-containing monomer in the acrylic resin is 60 mol % or more based on the total of the acrylic resin (see Abstract).
(5) Saito (# US 2012/0026240) discloses an ink composition includes: first pigment particles selected from self-dispersing carbon black and a carbon black of which at least a part is covered with a water-insoluble resin, in an amount of from 1% by mass to 5% by mass relative to the entire mass of the ink composition; second pigment particles formed by a cyan pigment of which at least a part is covered with a water-insoluble resin, in an amount of from 1% by mass to 50% by mass relative to the first pigment particles; water-insoluble resin particles A; and water (see Abstract).
(6) Fujioka et al. (# US 2015/0002576) discloses an ink for ink jet including a first pigment and a second pigment. Each of the first pigment and the second pigment comprises a self-dispersible carbon black in which a functional group containing two phosphonic acid groups is bonded to a particle surface. The average particle size of the first pigment is smaller than the average particle size of the second pigment. The introduced amount of the functional group of the first pigment is higher than the introduced amount of the functional group of the second pigment (see Abstract).
(7) Nakano et al. (# US 2015/0049147) an ink container, adapted to supply an ink composition to an ink jet recording apparatus including a recording head for discharging the ink composition, includes an ink chamber containing the ink composition, the ink chamber including a wall defining the ink chamber and a support connected to an inside of the wall to support the wall; and an ink pouring port through which the ink composition is poured into the ink chamber, in which, in a use state of the ink container, in a case where the ink chamber is filled with the ink up to 50% of the volume thereof, an area of the support in contact with the ink composition is larger than an area of the support in contact with atmosphere (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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