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 .
Response to Submission
The amendments and remarks filed on 2025 August 29 have been entered. Claims 1, 3-17, and 9 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 19: in the first line, “device comprises” should be “device comprising” or “device that comprises”. Under the subsection “a heater”, “the heating comprising” should be “the heater comprising”.
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.
Claims 1 and 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (CN 208957006 U with reference made to machine translation) in view of Chen (CN 109171023 A with reference made to machine translation) and Song (CN 110141128 A with reference made to machine translation).
Claims 1 and 3: Xu teaches a heater (fig. 3), used to heat solid smoking substances (20), and volatilizing at least an ingredient of the solid smoking substances to form aerosols for inhalation by a user [28], comprising:
a base (elements surrounding 11), a cavity chamber (11) being formed inside the base (elements surrounding 11) and used to receive the solid smoking substances (20) therein, the base (elements surrounding 11) comprising an opened end (13a) and a closed end (14) disposed opposite to each other, the solid smoking substances (20) being received in the cavity chamber (11) or removed from the cavity chamber (11) through the opened end (13a), an end face (face of 14 which abuts 12) being defined at the closed end (14) outside the base (elements surrounding 11) and facing away from the cavity chamber (11);
and an infrared [37] heating assembly (2), used to receive electric power from an electric power source (3) to generate heat [31], and transmitting the generated heat via infrared radiation toward the solid smoking substances (20) received in the cavity chamber (11) from the closed end (14) of the base (elements surrounding 11) in order to generate aerosols for inhaling [31];
wherein the infrared heating assembly (2) comprises an infrared electric-heating layer (22) comprising at least a planar part thereof ([37], #22 is planar), and a first electrode and a second electrode (the heating layer electrically connects to the electric power source) spatially disposed from each other (the electric power source does not short-circuit);
the first electrode and the second electrode are respectively electrically connected with a corresponding one of positive and negative terminals of the electric power source in order to feed the electric power from the electric power source to the infrared electric-heating layer (the heating layer electrically connects to the electric power source);
wherein the generated aerosols are brought away by airflows (ambient air) passing the opened end (13a) of the base (elements surrounding 11).
Xu does not explicitly teach that the infrared electric-heating layer covers a part of the end face, and that each of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises a planar part thereof disposed at the end face of the closed end of the base to cover another part of the end face and electrically connected with the infrared electric-heating layer continuously along a periphery of the infrared electric-heating layer, and that the infrared electric-heating layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
Chen teaches a heater (fig. 2) comprising a planar part (surface of 40 which abuts 21) of an electric-heating layer (40) covering an end face (surface of 21 which abuts 40), such that heat is distributed across a base (20) before reaching a solid smoking substance in order to gradually bake the solid smoking substance [35] which yields a consistent taste and reduces waste [35].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to arrange Xu’s electric-heating layer into covering a part of the end face, because doing so would distribute heat across the base to gradually bake the solid smoking substance which yields a consistent taste and reduces waste.
Song teaches a heater (fig. 1) comprising a first electrode (20), an electric-heating layer (30), and a second electrode (10),
wherein each of the first electrode (20) and the second electrode (10) comprises a planar part thereof covering part of an end face and electrically connected with the electric-heating layer continuously along a periphery of the electric-heating layer [35],
wherein the electric-heating layer (30) is disposed between the first electrode (20) and the second electrode (10),
such that electricity smoothly passes along a uniform path in order to achieve even heating and avoid faults [35].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to arrange Xu’s electrodes such that each of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises a planar part thereof disposed at the end face of the closed end of the base to cover another part of the end face and electrically connected with the infrared electric-heating layer continuously along a periphery of the infrared electric-heating layer, and such that the infrared electric-heating layer is disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, because doing so would achieve even heating and avoid faults.
Song’s heater is planar like Xu’s heater and is agnostic to Song’s intended use to yield expectation to succeed.
Claims 4-5: modified Xu teaches the heater as claimed in claim 3, wherein the end face (fig. 3, surface of #14 which abuts #12) of the closed end of the base (elements surrounding 11) is circular [27].
Modified Xu does not explicitly teach that the first electrode is a circular electrode disposed to cover a circle center of the closed end of the base, the second electrode is a ring-shaped electrode disposed adjacent to the periphery of the closed end of the base.
Song teaches a heater (fig. 1) comprising a first electrode (20), an electric-heating layer (30), and a second electrode (10),
wherein the first electrode (20) is a circular electrode which covers a circle center of an end face (surface bounded by 10; elements beyond 10 part of the device body as in fig. 2), and each of the first electrode (20), and the second electrode (10) is a ring-shape electrode which covers a periphery of the end face (fig. 1),
such that the electrodes matches the circular shape of the heater in order to maximize contact surface area [34].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to shape Xu’s electrodes such that the first electrode is a circular electrode disposed to cover a circle center of the closed end of the base, the second electrode is a ring-shaped electrode disposed adjacent to the periphery of the closed end of the base, because doing so would make the electrodes match the circular shape of the heater in order to maximize contact surface area.
Song’s end face and Xu’s end face are both circular to yield expectation to succeed.
Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (CN 208957006 U) in view of Chen (CN 109171023 A) and Song (CN 110141128 A) as applied to claim 3 in further view of Lu (CN 207236098 U with reference made to machine translation).
Claims 6-8: modified Xu teaches the heater as claim in claim 3.
Modified Xu does not explicitly teach that the first electrode and the second electrode are each a planar spiral line spinning outwards from a fixed point,
wherein the fixed point is disposed at a symmetrical center of an end face,
wherein each planar spiral line extends to a lateral side of the base so that a part of each planar spiral line electrically connects with an electric power source.
Lu teaches a heater (fig. 2) comprising a first electrode (fig. 7, leftmost instance of #29) and a second electrode (rightmost instance of 29) each of which are a planar spiral line spinning outwards from a fixed point (28),
wherein the fixed point is disposed at a symmetrical center (28) of an end face,
wherein each planar spiral line extends to a lateral side of the base [50] so that a part of each planar spiral line electrically connects with an electric power source (the first electrode and the second electrode can conduct electricity),
such that manufacturing is made easy [21] and visible contact surface area of the heater can be increased [23].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to shape Xu’s electrodes such that the first electrode and the second electrode are each a planar spiral line spinning outwards from a fixed point, wherein the fixed point is disposed at a symmetrical center of an end face, wherein each planar spiral line extends to a lateral side of the base so that a part of each planar spiral line electrically connects with an electric power source, because doing so would make manufacturing easy and would increase visible contact surface area of the heater.
Claims 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (CN 208957006 U) in view of Chen (CN 109171023 A) and Song (CN 110141128 A) as applied to claim 1 in further view of Bilat (US 20190014617 A1).
Claims 9-12: modified Xu teaches the heater as claimed in claim 1.
Modified Xu does not explicitly teach that the first electrode, the electric-heating layer, and the second electrode are sequentially formed at an end face along a longitudinal direction of the base,
wherein the first electrode covers a part of the end face; the electric-heating layer and the second electrode cover a part of the first electrode so that a part of the first electrode not covered by the electric-heating layer and the second electrode extends to a lateral side of the end face and electrically connects with an electric power source,
wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are continuous film layers.
Bilat teaches a first electrode (fig. 4, #12), an electric-heating layer (10), and a second electrode (16) at an end face sequentially formed at an end face, wherein the first electrode (12) covers a part of the end face (fig. 4);
the electric-heating layer (10) and the second electrode (20) cover a part of the first electrode (fig. 4) so that a part (24 as in [80]) of the first electrode (12) not covered by the electric-heating layer (10) and the second electrode (16) extends to a lateral side of the end face (fig. 4) and electrically connects with an electric power source (the first electrode is powered),
wherein the first electrode (12) and the second electrode (16) are continuous film layers ([56], the two electrodes of the electric heater are a sheet; [68], #16 is a sheet), such that voltage can be measured between the various pairs of layered elements of the heater [77-79] in order to have more data for precisely controlling the heater [31].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to arrange Xu’s electrodes such that the first electrode, the electric-heating layer, and the second electrode are sequentially formed at an end face along a longitudinal direction of the base, wherein the first electrode covers a part of the end face; the electric-heating layer and the second electrode cover a part of the first electrode so that a part of the first electrode not covered by the electric-heating layer and the second electrode extends to a lateral side of the end face and electrically connects with an electric power source, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are continuous film layers, because doing so would enable voltage to be measured between the various pairs of layered elements of the heater in order to have more data for precisely controlling the heater.
Claim 13: modified Xu teaches the heater as claimed in claim 9.
Modified Xu does not explicitly teach that the first electrode is a non-continuous film layer.
Bilat teaches a heater comprising a heater that is a non-continuous film layer ([56], dense mesh regions), such that planar contact is facilitated between the heater and electrodes [56].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to make Xu’s first electrode a non-continuous film layer, because doing so would facilitate planar contact between the heater and the first electrode.
Bilat discloses a benefit of non-continuous contact between the heater and the electrode without giving express weight to the heater in particular being non-continuous to yield expectation to succeed.
Claims 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (CN 208957006 U) in view of Chen (CN 109171023 A) and Song (CN 110141128 A) as applied to claim 1 in further view of Saleem (US 20150040925 A1).
Claims 14-17: modified Xu teaches the heater as claimed in claim 1.
Modified Xu does not explicitly teach an infrared reflective coating layer formed at a lateral side of the base in order to be used to reflect infrared radiation transmitting through the lateral side of the base,
wherein the infrared reflective coating layer comprises at least one kind of metal or metal oxide,
a thermal insulative film layer formed at a lateral side of the base, the thermal insulative film layer is used to at least partially prevent heat from being thermally conducted from the lateral side of the base along a direction pointing away from the lateral side of the base,
wherein a coefficient of heat conductivity of the thermal insulative film layer is smaller than 0.2 W/(m-K).
Saleem teaches a heater (fig. 2) comprising a base (fig. 11, #19 as in [97]) comprising:
an infrared-reflective coating layer [98] formed at a lateral side of the base to reflect infrared radiation transmitting through the lateral side of the base [98],
wherein the infrared reflective coating layer comprises aluminum [98];
a thermal insulative film layer (18) formed at a lateral side of the base to at least partially prevent heat from being thermally conducted away from the lateral side of the base [98],
wherein a coefficient of heat conductivity of the thermal insulative film layer is smaller than 0.2 W(m-K) [98],
such that heat losses from the heater are minimized while maintaining a small size of the heater [98].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to add Saleem’s infrared reflective coating layer comprising aluminum and Saleem’s thermal insulative film layer having a coefficient of heat conductivity of the thermal insulative film layer smaller than 0.2 W/(m-K) to the lateral side of Xu’s base, because doing so would minimize heat losses from the heater while maintaining a small size of the heater.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (CN 208957006 U with reference made to machine translation) in view of Chen (CN 109171023 A with reference made to machine translation).
Claim 19: Xu teaches a cigarette device (fig. 3 and [31]) comprising:
an electric power source (3);
a heater, configured to heat solid smoking substances (20) via electric power supplied from the electric power source (3), and volatilizing at least an ingredient of the sold smoking substances (20) to form aerosols for inhalation by a user, the heater comprising:
a base (elements which surround 11), a cavity chamber (11) being formed inside the base (elements which surround 11) and used to receive the solid smoking substances (20) therein completely (the substances #20 are securely received), the base (elements which surround 11) comprising an opened end (13a) and a closed end (14) disposed opposite to each other, the solid smoking substances (20) being received in the cavity chamber (11), an end face (rightmost face of 14) being defined at the closed end outside the base (elements which surround 11) and facing away from the cavity chamber (11);
and an infrared heating assembly (2) configured to receive the electric power from the electric power source (3) to generate heat [31], and transmitting the generated heat via infrared radiation toward the solid smoking substances (20) completely received used to heat solid smoking substances (20), and volatilizing at least an ingredient of the solid smoking substances to form aerosols for inhalation by a user [28], comprising:
a base (elements surrounding 11), a cavity chamber (11) being formed inside the base (elements surrounding 11) and used to receive the solid smoking substances (20) therein, the base (elements surrounding 11) comprising an opened end (13a) and a closed end (14) disposed opposite to each other, the solid smoking substances (20) being received in the cavity chamber (11) or removed from the cavity chamber (11) through the opened end (13a), an end face (face of 14 which abuts 12) being defined at the closed end (14) outside the base (elements surrounding 11) and facing away from the cavity chamber (11);
and an infrared [37] heating assembly (2), used to receive electric power from an electric power source (3) to generate heat [31], and transmitting the generated heat via infrared radiation toward the solid smoking substances (20) completely received in the cavity chamber (11) from the closed end (14) of the base (elements surrounding 11) in order to generate aerosols for inhaling [31];
wherein the infrared heating assembly (2) comprises an infrared electric-heating layer (22), and a first electrode and a second electrode (the heating layer electrically connects to the electric power source) spatially disposed from each other (the electric power source does not short-circuit);
the first electrode and the second electrode are respectively electrically connected with a corresponding one of positive and negative terminals of the electric power source in order to feed the electric power from the electric power source to the infrared electric-heating layer (the heating layer electrically connects to the electric power source);
wherein the cigarette device further comprises an inhaling nozzle (leftmost end of 1 which forms a tube through which aerosols are inhaled) so that the user inhales the aerosols via a vent (opening at 13a) disposed at the inhaling nozzle (leftmost end of 1), and a housing (1) configured to receive the heater and the electric power source (3) therein;
a plurality of air inlets ([27], air must flow through holes in the baffle #14 towards #13a in order to deliver aerosol to a user; [31], #3 and 13 are detachable such that in the detached configuration, air enters the device through #14) are disposed at a lateral wall (14) of the housing;
an inhaling airflow flows into the housing (1) via the plurality of air inlets (holes in 14) and passes across the opened end (13a) of the base (elements which surround 11) of the heater along a transverse direction of the opened end (13a) in order to bring away the generated aerosols from the opened end (13a), the inhaling airflow with the generated aerosols further moves towards the vent (opening at 13a) for inhaling.
“Lateral wall” is interpreted to include the meaning of “wall”, consistent with instant [56] which discloses a lateral wall but does not define a particular position thereof.
Xu does not explicitly teach that the infrared heating assembly is disposed at the end face such that the electric-heating layer is formed at the end face.
Chen teaches a heater (fig. 2) comprising a planar part (surface of 40 which abuts 21) of an electric-heating layer (40) covering an end face (surface of 21 which abuts 40), such that heat is distributed across a base (20) before reaching a solid smoking substance in order to gradually bake the solid smoking substance [35] which yields a consistent taste and reduces waste [35].
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to arrange Xu’s electric-heating layer into covering a part of the end face, because doing so would distribute heat across the base to gradually bake the solid smoking substance which yields a consistent taste and reduces waste.
Response to Arguments
Claim 1: applicant’s arguments of 2025 August 29 have been carefully considered but are not persuasive.
Applicant argues (p. 8, [final paragraph]) limitations which are not claimed, e.g., reducing equivalent resistance and increasing efficiency. However, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
If applicant intends to argue improved properties, the “the fact that appellant has recognized another advantage which would flow naturally from following the suggestion of the prior art cannot be the basis for patentability when the differences would otherwise be obvious.” Ex parte Obiaya, 227 USPQ 58, 60 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1985). See MPEP 2145(II).
Applicant argues (p. 9, [3] – p. 10, [1]) that Chen’s #43 is a wire electrode and not a planar electrode as required by the instant claim. However, the examiner’s proposed modification relies on Song to motivate planar electrodes. Song teaches a heater (fig. 1) comprising a first electrode (20), an electric-heating layer (30), and a second electrode (10), wherein each of the first electrode (20) and the second electrode (10) comprises a planar part thereof covering part of an end face and electrically connected with the electric-heating layer continuously along a periphery of the electric-heating layer [35], such that electricity smoothly passes along a uniform path in order to achieve even heating and avoid faults [35].
Song’s heater is planar like Xu’s heater and is agnostic to Song’s intended use to yield expectation to succeed. One of ordinary skill would look to flatten Xu’s electrodes into a planar configuration for Song’s smoothly-passing electricity benefit and thus arrive at the structure of claim 1.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tobey C. Le whose telephone number is (703)756-5516. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 8:30-18:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael H. Wilson can be reached at 571-270-3882. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TOBEY C LE/Examiner, Art Unit 1747
/Michael H. Wilson/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1747