DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/10/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 6 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. A new rejection has been made in view of Jaworski (US 20140037273 A1) in view of Meyer (US 20050155985 A1). A full rejection can be found below.
The Office notes that the applicant’s amendments regarding the term “circumferentially wrapped” only requires a partial surround under BRI. Any argument requiring a complete surround would be unnecessarily limiting.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 6 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 6, the limitation of “said flexible heating film is positioned around but spaced from the evaporation surface of said wick to create an air gap therebetween, thereby heating the wick through radiation and convection” is not properly disclosed in the applicant’s filed specifications or drawings. Page 6 of applicant’s remarks filed 04/10/2026 argues that support for the air gap is derived from originally filed claim 6. However, claim 6 of the applicant’s national stage application recites “said evaporation surface is a wick”. Said limitation does not sufficiently provide support that the flexible heating film is positioned around but spaced from the evaporation surface of the wick to create an air gap. Applications specifications filed 01/08/2019 also does not provide any support for an air gap between the heating film and the wick. Furthermore, Figure 3 of the applicant’s drawings 01/08/2019 does not provide sufficient support for an air gap between the flexible heater and the wick. One of ordinary skill in the art would find it unclear whether the wick of Figure 3 is in contact with the flexible heater or not based solely on the figure.
Claims 9-10 are rejected based on their dependency on claim 6.
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) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaworski (US 20140037273 A1) in view of Meyer (US 20050155985 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Jaworski (US 20140037273 A1) teaches a volatile substance evaporation device (Figure 1, volatile material dispenser 50) comprising:
a container (container 52) holding a liquid that includes a volatile substance (Paragraph 35, container 52 with a volatile material inside), the volatile substance being an air freshener (Paragraph 37, volatile material such as air-freshener or deodorizer) or an insecticide (Paragraph 37, volatile material such as insecticide);
a wick having a first portion disposed within the container (lower end of wick 60; Figure 9 Paragraph 35, wick 60 within container 52) to draw the liquid (Paragraph 9, wick in contact with the volatile material; Paragraph 6, volatile material moves through the wick to the heater) and a second portion extending out of the container (Figure 9, upper end of wick 60 extends outside of container 52), said second portion defining an evaporation surface (circumference of wick surrounded by heater; Paragraph 52, gap is disposed between an outer periphery of the wick and an inner periphery of the heater; Paragraph 82, uniform application of heat around the circumference of the wick and increasing volatilization of the volatile material in the wick); and
a heating element comprising a flexible heating film (Paragraph 50, heating cylinder is wrapped with a flexible heating element) positioned and configured to heat said liquid to evaporate said volatile substance (Paragraph 6, wick is positioned adjacent to heater such that volatile material that moves through the wick is volatilized by the heater), wherein said flexible heating film is positioned around (Paragraph 74, heater is disposed around an exposed area of the wick) but spaced from the evaporation surface of said wick to create an air gap therebetween (Paragraph 52, gap is disposed between an outer periphery of the wick and an inner periphery of the hater 200 or cylindrical container 240 that holds heater 200), thereby heating the wick through radiation and convection (Paragraph 83, heat travels through the heat band 554 by conduction creating a ring of heat around the wick through conduction and radiation such as to increase the overall temperature in the wick); wherein
wherein the flexible heating element is circumferentially wrapped as a band around the evaporation surface (Paragraph 50, heating cylinder is wrapped with a flexible heating element; Paragraph 50, ceramic cylinder is coated with a resistive metal film; Figure 17 Paragraph 82, heat band 554 surrounds and heats the wick 60; while Jaworski does not explicitly state that the flexible heating element is a flexible heating film, a “flexible heating element” which “wraps” the ceramic cylinder may reasonably construed as a flexible film as Jaworski does teach that the heater can be a flexible heating element and can be a film).
Jaworski fails to explicitly teach:
the flexible heating element is a flexible heating film
Meyer (US 20050155985 A1) teaches an electrically heated vapor dispensing apparatus, wherein:
the flexible heating element is a flexible heating film (Paragraph 22, film heater used is a flexible thin film heater; Paragraph 30, fragrance 14 is wicked upwardly from the reservoir toward the upper end of the wick wherein the energization of the thin film heater 7 causes volatilization of the fragrance)
It would have thus been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jaworski with Meyer and have the flexible heating element be a flexible heating film. This would have been done to allow the heating element to be fitted into a small volume, to allow for smaller overall volume of the apparatus, and to allow the spatial relationship of the heater and fragrance-bearing element to be easily adjusted in order to maximize thermal efficiency (Meyer Paragraph 22).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaworski (US 20140037273 A1) in view of Meyer (US 20050155985 A1) as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Gasper (US 20160346418 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Jaworski as modified teaches the volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 6.
Jaworski as modified fails to explicitly teach:
said heating film comprises an adhesive layer on at least one of its faces
Gasper (US 20160346418 A1) teaches a low wattage USB powered wax warmer, wherein:
said heating film comprises an adhesive layer on at least one of its faces (Paragraph 32, heater 116 includes a film 120 which is a self-adhesive polyester film which fixes the heater to the bottom surface of the dish).
It would have thus been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Jaworski with Gasper and have the heating film comprise an adhesive layer. This would have been done to affix and secure the flexible heating element (Gasper Paragraph 32).
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jaworski (US 20140037273 A1) in view of Meyer (US 20050155985 A1) as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of BEAUFEREY (EP 0295351 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Jaworski as modified teaches the volatile substance evaporation device according to claim 1.
Jaworski as modified fails to teach:
said heating film comprises an electronic component including a thermistor.
BEAUFEREY (EP 0295351 A1) teaches a flexible heating element and its method of manufacture, wherein:
flexible heating elements are known to consist of two electrically insulting films of polyester type (Paragraph 9)
thermistors are integrated into either the loops of the heating track or glued to the outer surface of the heating element (Paragraph 56)
It would have thus been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to modified Jaworski with Beauferey and have the flexible heating element comprise a thermistor. This would be done for the purpose of controlling the temperature at the heart of the element and/or to control the skin temperature of the heating element (BEAUFEREY Paragraph 56).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANKLIN JEFFERSON WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7782. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-6PM (E.S.T).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ibrahime Abraham can be reached at (571) 270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/F.J.W./Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/WOODY A LEE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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