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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/20/2026 has been entered.
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) 6-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gill (CN111432669 with English translation) in view of Jung et al. (WO 2020105896 with English translation) further in view of JP H08511175A (will be referred as JP’175A)
Claim 1, Gill discloses an induction heating-type aerosol generation device comprising:
a housing which has an accommodation space for accommodating an aerosol-generating article (12, fig. 2);
an inductor (16, fig. 2) disposed to surround at least a portion of the aerosol-generating article accommodated in the accommodation space, and configured to inductively heat the accommodated aerosol-generating article.
a controller which applies a predetermined article determining frequency to the inductor, measures changes according to the applied article determining frequency, and performs a determining operation for the accommodated aerosol-generating article based on a result of measurement of the electrical signal (Summary of the invention).
Gill does not expressly discloses measuring of an electrical signal; Jung discloses measures an electrical signal that changes according to the applied article determining frequency (detector 160 may detect a characteristic change of the current flowing through the coil generated by electromagnetic induction; see Tech_Solution section). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to measure the electrical signal that changes as taught by Jung.
JP’175A discloses as thickness of the susceptor is corresponding to its specific excitation frequency dependent immersion and as the thickness of the susceptor increases, the magnetic field cannot penetrate deeply into the material; an undesired increase in the power required to heat the increase mass of the susceptor (page 7 of the translation). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the controller of Gill to estimates a frequency suitable for a desired susceptor element included in the accommodated aerosol-generating article, determines a thickness of the susceptor element based on a relationship between a current penetration depth and the estimated frequency, identifies a type of the accommodated aerosol-generating article based on the thickness of the susceptor since JP’175A discloses the connection between a current penetration depth and the frequency required base on the thickness of the susceptor element.
Gill discloses it is possible to distinguish between a suitable body and an unsuitable body based on monitoring and detecting the relationship between the electric power applied to the heating device and the temperature information distinguish between (Summary of the invention); therefore, taking Gill, Jung and JP’175A together as whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made that the controller can identify an amount of a susceptor element present in the accommodated aerosol-generating article can be identified based on the electrical signal and performs a determining operation for the accommodated aerosol-generating article based on a result of the identification.
Claim 2, Jung discloses the controller performs the determining operation based on the result of measurement (detector 160 may detect a characteristic change of the current flowing through the coil generated by electromagnetic induction) and does not expressly disclose a separate sensor for determining the accommodated aerosol-generating article ( also see Tech_Solution section).
Claim 3, Gill discloses wherein the article determining frequency is a frequency spaced a predetermined distance apart from a resonant frequency of the inductor in a frequency domain (for example 50% of the maximum heating efficiency at either end of the frequency range; Summary of the Invention).
Claim 4, Jung discloses wherein the controller determines suitability of the accommodated aerosol-generating article, and in response to a determined result indicating that the accommodated aerosol- generating article is unsuitable, provides the determined result in a form recognizable by a user (LED display see Mode-for-Invention section).
Regarding claim 5, Gill discloses the controller determines whether the susceptor element is present in the accommodated aerosol generating article (Summary of the Invention).
Regarding claim 6, Gill discloses the controller determines a material of the susceptor element included in the accommodated aerosol-generating article because the susceptors having predetermined resonant frequencies (Summary of the Invention).
Claim 7, Gill discloses the controller applies the predetermined article determining frequency to the inductor while varying the predetermined article determining frequency within a predetermined frequency range and determines a material of the susceptor element included in the accommodated aerosol-generating article (Summary of the Invention).
Regarding claim 8, Gill discloses the controller determines a form of the susceptor element included in the accommodated aerosol-generating article (Summery of the Invention).
Regarding claim 9, Jung discloses the induction heating-type aerosol generation device further comprising a temperature measurer which measures a temperature of the accommodated aerosol-generating article [0113]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made that the controller can determines the form of the susceptor element based on a measurement result of the temperature measurer.
Regarding claim 10, Gill discloses the device comprising a temperature measurer (11, fig. 1)fig. which measures a temperature of the accommodated aerosol generating article,
Since Gill discloses the susceptor element type is associated with resonant frequency, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have the controller applies the predetermined article determining frequency to the inductor while varying the predetermine article determining frequency within a predetermined frequency range, based on a result of temperature measurement according to the varying article determining frequency, estimates a frequency suitable for the susceptor element included in the accommodated aerosol-generating article.
Regarding claim 11, Gill discloses the controller can sets frequency as induction heating frequency of the inductor (Summary of the Invention).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 1/20/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection.
Conclusion
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/PHU H NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1747