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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6, 8-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “a controller that controls the communicator to transmit and receive, in order of priority, a plurality of kinds of information” and “low-priority information” and Claim 2 recites “high-priority information”. The designation of information as “high-priority” or “low-priority” is based on a subjective opinion; therefore, it is unclear what qualifies as “high-priority” versus “low priority”.
Claim 1 recites “wherein the controller controls the communicator to transmit and receive low-priority information at a time not within a time segment from a start to an end of a process of generating the aerosol by using the substrate”. The language is confusing and unclear. It is unclear from the limitation exactly when “low-priority” information is transmitted.
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(s) 1-2, 5, 6, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MOLONEY (US 2023/0248074).
Moloney teaches an inhaler device (figure 1) comprising a communicator that communicates with an other device (para. 0048); a heater (para. 0043) that heats a substrate containing an aerosol source to generate an aerosol; and a controller that controls the communicator to transmit and receive, in order of priority, a plurality of kinds of information to be transmitted and received by the communicator (para. 0063).
Moloney teaches that the controller controls the communicator to limit transmit information into five different categories: the first category having no notifications to minimize interruption of the user, a second category only having critical notifications such as for low battery or low payload, a third category corresponding to a default in which critical and non-critical notifications are provided, a fourth category further including recommendations and/or prompts to engage the user with other features of the user interface, and a fifth category additionally including an audible tone (para. 0260). The third, fourth, and fifth categories include more frequent transmit information including that of lower priority information.
Therefore, since Moloney teaches transmitting all information including lower priority information during the third, fourth, and fifth categories, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to set the controller to control the communicator to transmit and receive low-priority information at a time not within a time segment from a start to an end of a process of generating the aerosol by using the substrate.
Regarding claim 2, Moloney teaches the controller controls the communicator to transmit high-priority information using acquisition thereof as a trigger (para. 0063).
Regarding claim 5, Moloney teaches that high priority information includes user factor data and feedback action data (para. 0063) and teaches that a state of the heater is a type of feedback action data (para. 0260).
Regarding claim 6, Moloney teaches that the controller records when a puff is started (para. 0165) and also that electrical current is supplied to the heater when the start of a puff is detected (para. 0007), which reads on information indicating that heating by the heater has started.
Regarding claim 14, Moloney teaches a memory that stores information such as log information acquired in accordance with use of the inhaler device by a user and stored in the memory (para. 0130).
Claim(s) 3-4, 8, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MOLONEY (US 2023/0248074) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of ONO (EP 4014770).
Moloney teaches an inhaler device (figure 1) comprising a communicator that communicates with an other device (para. 0048); a heater (para. 0043) that heats a substrate containing an aerosol source to generate an aerosol; and a controller that controls the communicator to transmit and receive, in order of priority, a plurality of kinds of information to be transmitted and received by the communicator (para. 0063). Moloney teaches a power supply that stores and supplies electric power for an operation of the inhaler device (para. 0043).
Ono teaches an inhaler device comprising a communicator (108) that communicates with an other device (abstract); a heater (118) that heats a substrate containing an aerosol source to generate an aerosol; and a controller (204) that controls the communicator to transmit and receive, in order of priority, a plurality of kinds of information to be transmitted and received by the communicator (para. 0076). Ono teaches outputting information indicating a state of the power supply (para. 0026) and continually compares the remaining amount of battery to a threshold value (para. 0064). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include battery information as high priority in the device of Moloney because Moloney teaches that the second category includes critical notifications such as for low battery or low payload (para. 0260).
Regarding claim 4, Ono teaches the battery information includes at least either information indicating a remaining amount of the electric power of the power supply (para. 0026).
Regarding claims 8 and 12, Ono teaches transmitting information based on setting information, wherein the setting information includes information indicating whether to permit communication by the communicator (para. 0092).
Claim(s) 9, 13, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MOLONEY (US 2023/0248074) as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of ALARCON et al. (US 2011/0265806).
Moloney teaches an inhaler device (figure 1) comprising a communicator that communicates with an other device (para. 0048); a heater (para. 0043) that heats a substrate containing an aerosol source to generate an aerosol; and a controller that controls the communicator to transmit and receive, in order of priority, a plurality of kinds of information to be transmitted and received by the communicator (para. 0063).
Regarding claim 9, Alarcon teaches the heater operates based on a heating profile defining a time-series transition of a target resistance value, which is a target value of a resistance value of the heater, and the setting information includes information indicating the heating profile (para. 0061-0063).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the control means of Alarcon and designate setting information as low profile in the inhaler device of Moloney because Moloney teaches the fourth category includes recommendations and/or prompts to engage the user with other features of the user interface (para. 0260) and heating profiles read on recommendations.
Regarding claim 13, Alarcon teaches the controller controls the heater to stop heating if a number of times of inhalation performed by a user after a start of heating of the substrate reaches a predetermined upper limit value, and the setting information includes information indicating the predetermined upper limit value (para. 0063-0064).
Regarding claim 15, Moloney teaches a power supply that stores and supplies electric power for an operation of the inhaler device (para. 0043). Moloney teaches logging information indicating an operation history of the inhaler device (para. 0081). Regarding the heater operating based on a heating profile, see the discussion of claim 9 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-19 are allowed.
Claims 10 and 11 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claims 16-19, prior art does not teach or suggest the plurality of kinds of information to be transmitted and received by the communicator include battery information, state information, setting information, and log information, and wherein among the battery information, the state information, the setting information, and the log information, the battery information has a highest priority, the state information has a second highest priority, the setting information has a third highest priority, and the log information has a lowest priority.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art does not teach or suggest in a case where a first lock function is valid, the controller permits heating by the heater if an operation corresponding to an operation pattern set for the first lock function is performed, and prohibits heating by the heater unless the operation corresponding to the operation pattern set for the first lock function is detected, and wherein the setting information includes at least either information indicating whether to validate the first lock function or information indicating the operation pattern.
Regarding claim 11, the prior art does not teach or suggest in a case where a second lock function is valid, the controller permits heating by the heater if the communicator is communicating with the other device, and prohibits heating by the heater unless the communicator is communicating with the other device, and wherein the setting information includes information indicating whether to validate the second lock function.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6 and 7-15 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.
Applicant had argued that Ono did not teach transmitting low-priority information; however, the language “low-priority” is subjective and varies in interpretation from person to person, therefore the claims have now been rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b). Amending claim 1 with a definition of “low-priority information”, such as recited in claims 8 and 14, and amending claim 2 with a definition of “high-priority information”, such as recited in claims 3 and 5, would overcome part of the 112(b) rejection.
Conclusion
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/CYNTHIA SZEWCZYK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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