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 .
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.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/17/2025 has been entered.
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-22 are pending. Claims 15-20 are withdrawn. Claims 1 and 15 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-22 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-8, 10-14, and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Anderson et al. (US 2020/0000143 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Anderson discloses a vaporizer device (“vaporizer device 100”, Fig. 1, ¶ 0230) comprising:
a receptacle for holding material having an active ingredient (“vaporizer cartridge 52”, Fig. 1, ¶ 0241, a “vaporizable material . . . can be provided within [the] cartridge, ¶ 0008, and the vaporizable material comprises “active ingredients”, ¶ 0013);
a heating element for heating the receptacle (“The vaporizer cartridge can include . . . a heating element”, ¶ 0241);
an electronic storage memory (“memory”, ¶ 0265) for storing vapor correlation data (“Information about the . . . vaporizable material held in the cartridge”, ¶ 0265) including instructions configured to correlate dosage of the active ingredient (“the thermal properties of the vaporizable material, etc. may be used to accurately estimate dose”, ¶ 0265) with a vaporizer parameter (the vaporizer parameter being the temperature of the heater, “the vaporizer device and/or the vaporizer system may adjust the temperature of the heater in accordance with the . . . dosage”, ¶ 0296); and
a controller (“controller 24”, Fig. 1, ¶ 0277) configured to:
receive a user-specified requested dose of the active ingredient (“a user may enter a preferred unit dose”, ¶ 0562);
access the vapor correlation data to determine a value of the vaporizer parameter required to achieve the requested dose (“the thermal properties of the vaporizable material, etc. may be used to accurately estimate dose”, ¶ 0265, and “the vaporizer device and/or the vaporizer system may adjust the temperature of the heater in accordance with the . . . dosage”, ¶ 0296); and
control the vaporizer parameter in real time during operation based on the determined value (“to reliably activate the heating element or heat the heating element to a desired temperature, a vaporizer may, in some implementations of the current subject matter, make use of signals from a pressure sensor to determine when a user is inhaling”, ¶ 0239), the control of the vaporizer parameter modifies the operation of the vaporizer device to produce a vapor from heating and emit the requested dose from the vaporizer device (“detection by the computing device of user interaction with one or more user interface elements can cause the computing device to signal the vaporizer device 100 to activate the heating element, either to a full operating temperature for creation of an inhalable dose of vapor/aerosol”, ¶ 0238).
Regarding claim 2, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses a user interface (“user interface”, ¶ 0544) for entering the requested dose of active ingredient (¶ 0544).
Regarding claim 3, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 2, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses communications circuitry (“communications hardware 34”, Fig. 1, ¶ 0255), wherein the user interface is a connected software application on a mobile device that is communicatively coupled to the controller via the communications circuitry (“a computing device used as part of a vaporizer system may include a general-purpose computing device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet, a personal computer, some other portable device such as a smartwatch, or the like) that executes software to produce a user interface for enabling a user of the device to interact with a vaporizer”, ¶ 0236).
Regarding claim 4, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the controller is configured to calculate an available dose of active ingredient using the vapor correlation data (“the quantity of vaporizable material remaining in the cartridge may be determined by at least reading an identifier associated with the cartridge”, ¶ 0040).
Regarding claim 5, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 3, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the connected software application on the mobile device is configured to calculate an available dose of active ingredient using the vapor correlation data (“the quantity of vaporizable material remaining in the cartridge may be determined by at least reading an identifier associated with the cartridge”, ¶ 0040, and “A computing device that is part of a vaporizer system as defined above can be used for any of one or more functions, such as controlling dosing (e.g., dose monitoring, dose setting, dose limiting, user tracking, etc.)”, ¶ 0237).
Regarding claim 6, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses sensors (“sensors 32”, Fig. 1, ¶ 0235) configured to provide vapor production data (“detection of the puff”, ¶ 0235), the sensors comprising a vapor flow rate sensor (“flow sensors of the vaporizer”, ¶ 0235).
Regarding claim 7, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 6, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the controller is configured to calculate an available dose of active ingredient from the vapor correlation data and from the vapor production data from a previous vaporization session using the material (Anderson discloses that the “number of puffs” can be “used to estimate the amount of vaporizable material that has been removed from the cartridge” (i.e., vapor production data from a previous vaporization session), ¶ 0327, which when combined with the vapor correlation data which contained the original amount of vaporizable material in the cartridge, ¶ 0040, allows for a calculation of the “the amount of vaporizable material remaining”, ¶ 0327).
Regarding claim 8, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the vapor correlation data is received from a vaporizer profile management system (“The information retrieved from the pod . . . may be included in a user profile”, ¶ 0279).
Regarding claim 10, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the active ingredient is nicotine (“the vaporizable material a solution of nicotine, cannabis, and/or another active ingredient”, ¶ 0223).
Regarding claim 11, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the vapor correlation data comprises a sample identifier that is associated with a material having the active ingredient (“The method may further include determining the flavor, the concentration, and/or the quantity of vaporizable material remaining in the cartridge by at least reading an identifier associated with the cartridge”, ¶ 0048).
Regarding claim 12, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses communication circuitry (“communications hardware 34”, Fig. 1, ¶ 0255) comprising at least a wireless communication interface (“wireless”, ¶ 0255).
Regarding claim 13, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 12, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the wireless communication interface comprises Bluetooth (“Bluetooth”, ¶ 0255).
Regarding claim 14, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 8, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the vaporizer profile management system is hosted on a remote cloud computing platform (“it may communicate with a remote server that may look up the properties and communicate them to the vaporizer directly or through the smartphone”, ¶ 0261).
Regarding claim 21, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the vaporizer parameter includes a temperature (“temperature of the heater”, ¶ 0296).
Regarding claim 22, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. Anderson further discloses wherein the vaporizer parameter includes a physical property of the receptacle (“temperature of the heater”, ¶ 0296).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Anderson et al. (US 2020/0000143 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Blackley (US 2016/0370337 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Anderson discloses the vaporizer device of claim 1, as discussed above. However, Anderson does not disclose wherein the vapor correlation data is downloaded from a vapor profile management system as a subscription service.
Blackley, in the same field of endeavor, discloses downloading data from a vaporizer profile management system as a subscription service (“the computing device . . . can communicated with the user device . . . for providing data/and or services . . . . The computing device . . . can combine the content from multiple sources and can distribute the content to the user (e.g., subscriber)”, ¶ 0139).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that there was a benefit to configuring the device to download vapor correlation data from a vaporizer profile management system as a subscription service in that it provides additional revenue. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the vapor correlation data be downloaded from a vaporizer profile management system as a subscription service in order to obtain this benefit.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to COURTNEY G CULBERT whose telephone number is (571)270-0874. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-4pm.
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/C.G.C./Examiner, Art Unit 1747
/Michael H. Wilson/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1747
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