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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1 and 5-17 are pending and are subject to this office action. Claim 1 is amended.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/07/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Examiner acknowledges the Applicant’s response filed on 04/07/2026 containing amendments and remarks to the claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 5-6, filed 04/07/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C 103 over Batista (US 20200375253 A1) in view of Valentine (US 20220007722 A1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Applicant has amended claim 1 to require the recesses have a depth that is less than the thickness of the plate. The claim previously required the metal nanoparticles to be formed on the same surface as the recesses. Applicant has amended claim 1 to require the metal nanoparticles be formed on a surface of the plate but not necessarily the same surface as the recesses. The prior rejection relied on Batista for disclosing pores (264, “recesses”) that extend through the entire thickness of the heating element (18, “plate”, Fig. 1, Fig. 6). Therefore, the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 is withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of a combination of previously applied prior art and newly found prior art.
Therefore, the prior art rejections below are maintained and modified where necessitated by Applicant’s amendment.
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, 5-7, 10-14, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Batista (US 20200375253 A1) in view of Peng (US 20240040668 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Batista discloses an aerosol generating device (10, Fig. 1, [0149]), comprising:
A device cavity (14, “an aerosol forming substrate accommodating portion”) for receiving a solid aerosol forming substrate (16, Fig. 1, [0089, 0149]),
A heating element (18, “a plate”) positioned in the cavity (14, Fig. 1, [0150, 0152]), where a planar heating portion (252) of the heating element (18 in Fig. 1, 244 in Fig. 6) comprises a plurality of pores (264) and a coating layer (262) of metallic nanoparticles on the surface of the heating element (18) facing a light source (20, Fig. 7, Fig. 8, [0150, 0163, 0164]).
Batista discloses the planar heating portion (252) comprises a coating layer (262) disposed on a substrate layer (258, Fig. 8 [0163-0164]), where the substrate layer (258) is formed of any suitable material such as a metal ([0058-0059]).
Batista does not explicitly disclose the metal used for the substrate layer.
However, Peng, directed to an atomizer core substrate (50, Fig. 6A, Fig. 6B, [0058]), discloses:
A substrate (50) comprising perforations (52a) that extend through the substrate (50, [0058-0059]), and blind perforations (54a, 56a, “recesses”) having a depth that is less than the thickness of the substrate (50), where the blind perforations (54a, 56a, “recesses”) may store substrate and condensed residual aerosol (“configured to accommodate an aerosol forming substrate”, Fig. 6B, [0060-0063]).
The substrate (50) may be made of aluminum and the perforations are formed with an anodizing process forming porous anodic alumina ([0010, 0101, 0123-0124, 0128]). Therefore, the anodized aluminum substrate is considered to be a plate of anodic aluminum oxide.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art to modify Batista by using an anodized aluminum substrate having blind perforations/recesses for the substrate of the heating element as taught by Peng because both Batista and Peng are directed to aerosol generating devices, Batista discloses a porous heating element comprising a metal substrate having pores but is silent to the metal used for the substrate, Peng teaches a known porous heating substrate having recesses to store condensed aerosol, and one having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to look to similar heating devices for determining materials of construction and this involves applying a known substrate material to a similar porous heating element to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 5, Batista discloses the plurality of metallic nanoparticles comprises at least one of gold, silver, platinum, copper, palladium, or copper ([0050, 0051]).
Regarding claim 6, Batista discloses the coating layer (262) may comprise a plurality of discrete areas of metallic nanoparticles (“a predetermined pattern”, [0063]).
Regarding claim 7, Batista discloses the coating layer (262) may comprise a plurality of discrete areas of metallic nanoparticles (“a pattern”) which facilitate heating a plurality of discrete portions of an aerosol forming substrate ([0063]).
Batista does not explicitly disclose coated and uncoated regions in the recited arrangement. However, Batista discloses the coating layer (262) may be arranged in discrete areas to heat discrete portions of an aerosol forming substrate. Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to arrange the coating layer in varying patterns to heat different portions of an aerosol generating substrate. The specific pattern recited in claim 7 is a mere design choice, absent evidence to the contrary.
Regarding claim 10, Batista discloses a light source (20) configured to irradiate light towards the cavity (14, “aerosol forming substrate accommodation portion”) where the light source is a light emitting diode (LED, Fig. 1, [0150, 0170]).
Regarding claim 11, Batista discloses the heating element (18, “plate”) is not electrically connected to the power supply which facilitates replacement of the heating element ([0014]) and therefore the plate is considered to be replaceable.
Regarding claim 12, Batista discloses Batista discloses a light source (20) configured to irradiate light towards the cavity (14, “aerosol forming substrate accommodation portion”, Fig. 1, [0150]) where the heating element (18, “plate”) is disposed between the light source (20) and the mouthpiece (upstream end of filter 28) of the aerosol generating device (10, Fig. 1, [0149-0150]).
Regarding claim 13, Batista discloses an embodiment of the aerosol generating device (210) comprising two heating elements (244, 246, “plates”), two light sources (240, 242) and a mouthpiece (216, Fig. 5, Fig. 6, [0159-0160]). The light sources (240, 242) are configured to irradiate light toward the aerosol generating article (228) received in the cavity/aerosol substrate accommodation portion (226, [0158, 0163]).
The limitation, “disposed between the plate and a mouthpiece” is interpreted as the light source being positioned along the space separating the heating element/plate and the mouthpiece and therefore the light source (240, 242) is considered to be disposed between the heating element (244, 246) and the mouthpiece (216, Fig. 5, Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 14, Batista discloses an embodiment of the aerosol generating device (210) comprising two heating elements (244, 246, “plates”) and two light sources (240, 242, Fig. 5, Fig. 6, [0159-0160]), and an embodiment of the aerosol generating device (100) comprising an annular light source (120, Fig. 2, [0154]).
Batista does not explicitly disclose an embodiment having the combination of heating elements (244, 246, Fig. 6) in the form of plates and an annular light source (120, Fig. 2).
However, it would be obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Batista, in view of Peng, by substituting the light sources (240, 242, Fig. 6) in one embodiment with the annular light source (120, Fig. 2) in another embodiment, Batista teaches an embodiment where the light source is the form of a plate (Fig. 5) an embodiment where the light source is an annular (120, Fig. 2) and this involves substituting one known light source for another in a similar aerosol generating device to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 17, Batista discloses an embodiment of the aerosol generating device (210) comprising two heating elements (244, 246, “plates”) and two light sources (240, 242, Fig. 5, Fig. 6, [0159-0160]), where the light sources (240, 242) are configured to irradiate light toward the aerosol generating article (228) received in the cavity/aerosol substrate accommodation portion (226, [0158, 0163]) and where the housing (225) has a first end surface, an opposite second end surface, and an inner side surface connecting the first and second end surface where the light source (240, 242) is disposed on the inner side surface and the heating elements (244, 246, “plate”) face the light source (240, 242, Fig. 6, [0160]).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista (US 20200375253 A1) in view of Peng (US 20240040668 A1) as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Lee (US 20100051815 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Batista discloses a coating layer (262) of metallic nanoparticles (Fig. 8, [0163]).
Batista does not explicitly disclose the thickness of the coating. However, Lee, directed a heat radiating pattern (abstract, 40), discloses:
A heat irradiating pattern comprising a metal pattern (40) on a substrate (60, Fig. 1, [0015]).
The metal is composed of gold, silver, or copper nanoparticles ([0014, 0015]).
A laser (90) can be used to illuminate the surface of the metal pattern (40) to cause surface plasmon resonance of the metal pattern, resulting in heat ([0021]).
The thickness of the metal layer (40) can be 1nm to 200nm ([0015]). The claimed range lies within the range taught by the prior art and is therefore considered prima facie obvious.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art to modify Batista, in view of Peng, by providing the coating layer in a thickness of 1 to 200nm as taught by Lee because both Batista and Lee are directed to heating devices using surface plasmon resonance, Batista is silent to the thickness of the coating layer, Lee teaches known a known range of thicknesses for a metallic nanoparticle coating, and one having ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to look to similar heating devices for workable ranges of metallic nanoparticle coating thickness and this involves applying a known thickness to a similar heating device to yield predictable results.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista (US 20200375253 A1), in view of Peng (US 20240040668 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Schmidlin (US 20210251291 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Batista discloses a heating element (18) positioned in the cavity (14, “aerosol forming substrate accommodation portion”) and a light source (20) for irradiating the heating element (18, Fig. 1, [0150, 0152]) within the cavity (14, “aerosol forming substrate accommodation portion”).
Batista does not explicitly disclose a reflective plate disposed to surround a space between the aerosol forming substrate accommodation portion and the light source.
However, Schmidlin, directed to an electronic cigarette (abstract), discloses:
A light source (14) that irradiates an absorber (10) to vaporize a liquid (Fig. 2, [0058, 0062])
A light guide (16, “a reflective plate”), disposed between the reservoir (8, “aerosol forming substrate accommodating portion”) and the light source (14), where the light guide (16) is configured to reflect light from the light source (14) towards the absorber (10, Fig. 2, [0051, 0060]).
The light guide (16) has an elongate cylindrical shape ([0065]) and therefore surrounds a space between the aerosol forming substrate accommodation portion and the light source.
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art to modify Batista, in view of Peng, by providing a light guide between the light source and cavity as taught by Schmidlin because both Batista and Schmidlin are directed to electronic cigarettes, Schmidlin teaches the light guide reflects light from the light source toward the absorber (i.e. plate) and this involves applying a known reflective structure to a similar device to yield predictable results.
Claims 15-16 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista (US 20200375253 A1) in view of Peng (US 20240040668 A1) as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Crespo (US 20200093184 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Batista discloses a heating element (18, “plate”) which is irradiated by a light source (20) to heat an aerosol generating substrate (16, Fig. 1).
Batista does not explicitly disclose a rotation plate.
However, Crespo, directed to a vaporization device (100, [0052]), discloses:
A multi chamber liquid housing (112) comprising multiple chambers (120a, 120b, 120c) that can rotate around a central axel (110) of the device (100) to provide power to the selected chamber (Fig. 1, Fig. 4, [0004-0005, 0052, 0056, 0067])
The bottom surface of the multi chamber liquid housing (112) is considered to meet the claim limitation of a rotation plate.
The multi-chamber revolver allows the user to smoke multiple smoking products using one device ([0050])
Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would be obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art to modify Batista, in view of Peng, by modifying the aerosol generating device to have multiple chambers that can be rotated to select a chamber, as taught by Crespo because both Batista and Crespo are directed to aerosol generating devices, Crespo teaches the multi-chamber revolver allows the user to smoke multiple smoking products using one device, and this involves applying a known multi-chamber arrangement to a similar device to yield predictable results.
Each chamber comprises an independent aerosol forming substrate, heating element/plate, and light source. Therefore, the rotation plate comprises a plurality of plates disposed around a central axis.
Regarding claim 16, Modified Batista discloses a light source (20) disposed below the heating element (18) in each chamber (Crespo: 120n) that irradiates light on the heating element (Batista: 18, Fig. 1, [0150, 0152]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MORGAN FAITH DEZENDORF whose telephone number is (571)272-0155. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-430pm EST.
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/M.F.D./Examiner, Art Unit 1755
/PHILIP Y LOUIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1755
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