DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues “As the Examiner has acknowledged, neither Ademe nor Talbot discloses setting a power mode to the high power mode in response to a user input. To supply this missing teaching, the Examiner relies on an embodiment of Ademe in which a push button is configured to actuate what Ademe describes as a "secondary function." Applicant respectfully submits that this reliance is misplaced. The secondary function described in Ademe is expressly not configured for aerosol delivery. Ademe discloses that the secondary function element may be a mechanical element such as a bottle opener, a screwdriver, or a chewable appendage, or an electrical element such as a laser or a flashlight. None of these secondary function elements has any bearing on the aerosol-generating elements of the device, and the push button associated with this secondary function is provided solely to allow a user to access a function that is wholly unrelated to aerosol generation.” This reliance is not misplaced. The Examiner is aware that these secondary functions are not configured for aerosol delivery. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to apply this concept of activating a secondary function of an attachable module to the secondary function (a high power mode) of the attachable power module modified Ademe. “A person of ordinary skill is also a person of ordinary creativity, not an automaton.” KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 421 (2007). In making an obviousness determination one “can take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ.” KSR, 550 U.S. at 418.
Applicant argues “A person of ordinary skill in the art would not seek to repurpose a user control provided for such a secondary function in order to arrive at the limitation that "the power mode is set to the high power mode when the power module is connected to the non-combustible aerosol provision device and responsive to a user input, such that a user input is required to set the power mode to the high power mode." There is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation in Ademe or Talbot to make such a modification. Indeed, there would be no reason to impose any user input requirement at all. In the device of Ademe as modified by Talbot, the amplification in current supplied to the aerosol generator results directly from the connection of the auxiliary power source to the aerosol provision device, and the skilled person would understand that the connection of the power module itself provides the amplification in current. There is therefore no motivation to require an additional, affirmative user input as a precondition to the device operating in the manner taught by the combination of Ademe and Talbot.” The Examiner disagrees. As one of ordinary skill in the art would find evident from Ademe [0050, 0054, 0056], one of ordinary skill in the art may not want a secondary function of an attachable module to automatically be actuated when connected. Thus, user input such as a push button is required to actuate the secondary function. Similarly, one of ordinary skill may not want the high power mode secondary function of the attachable power module of modified Ademe module to automatically be actuated when connected. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the device of modified Ademe such that a power mode is set to the high-power mode responsive to a user input to allow the user to decide when to activate this function.
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.
Claims 1, 2, 4, 7, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ademe (US 2015/0313282) in view of Talbot (US 2022/0211100)
Ademe teaches a non-combustible aerosol provision device comprising: an aerosol generator configured to cause aerosol to be generated from aerosol-generating material [0028]; a first electrical power source for powering the aerosol generator [0030]; the device being connectable to a power module comprising a second electrical power source for supplementing the first electrical power source [0060]. The power module can be attached to the aerosol provision device and forms an electrical connection therewith [0060], i.e. the aerosol provision device comprises a connector for selectively connecting the aerosol provision device to the power module and the connector enables electrical power to be supplied from the power module to the aerosol provision device.
Ademe does not specifically teach the power module powers the aerosol generator and the first and second power modes. Talbot teaches a smoking substitute device wherein an auxiliary power source is configured to supplement the main power supply provided to the vaporizer such that it amplifies the current supplied to the vaporizer by the main power supply and allows the vaporizer to more rapidly increase in temperature than if only the main power supply were provided to the heating element [0024]. In other words, the device is settable in a first power mode when the power module is not connected to the device and is settable in a second power mode different from the first power mode when the power module is connected to the device, wherein the first power mode and the second power mode each determines a supply of electrical power to the aerosol generator, the first power mode is a low power mode and the second power mode is a high power mode, and the high power mode is a mode in which greater electrical power is supplied to the aerosol generator relative to electrical power supplied to the aerosol generator in the low power mode, the power module supplies electrical power to the aerosol generator in the high power mode, and wherein the aerosol generator reaches a higher temperature in the high power mode than in the low power mode. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply this configuration to the power module of Ademe for the benefit of more rapidly increasing the temperature of the aerosol generator as suggested by Talbot.
Modified Ademe as applied above teaches a power mode is set to the high-power mode when the power module is connected to the aerosol provision device. It is not taught that it is also responsive to a user input. However, Ademe does teach an embodiment wherein a push button is configured to actuate a secondary function [0050, 0054, 0056], i.e. the secondary function occurs responsive to a user input, wherein the device comprises a user input unit 311 for receiving the user input [0050, Fig. 3] or the user input is received from an accessory housing-side user input unit 620 of an accessory housing [0056, Fig. 6]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the device of modified Ademe such that a power mode is set to the high-power mode responsive to a user input, wherein the device comprises a user input unit for receiving the user input or the user input is received from a module-side user input unit of the power module, to allow the user to decide when to activate this function.
Regarding the limitation of “so as to provide stronger aerosol per puff in the high power mode”, it is noted that the aerosol-generating material is not a positively recited limitation. Claim 1 merely recites “an aerosol generator configured to cause aerosol to be generated from aerosol-generating material. The actual presence of the aerosol-generating material in the aerosol provision device is not required by the claims. Therefore, any claimed result associated with use of the aerosol-generating material, e.g. “stronger aerosol per puff in the high power mode” is considered intended use of the device and does not distinguish the configuration of the device itself from that of Ademe and Talbot. In any case, Talbot teaches when greater electrical power is supplied to the aerosol generator, the aerosol generator more rapidly increases in temperature [0024]. This is considered to inherently provide a stronger aerosol per puff in the high power mode.
Claims 9, 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ademe and Talbot as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu (US 2019/0230987)
Ademe teaches the device comprises control circuitry [0028] but does not teach it is configured to detect whether or not the power module is connected to the aerosol provision device. Wu teaches an electronic cigarette [0006] wherein if the voltage detecting circuit detects a voltage, that means the power supply module is coupled with the exterior power supply, so the voltage detecting circuit sends signals to the control unit sends and the control unit receives that signal [0053]. In other words, control circuitry is configured to detect whether or not the power module is connected based on a signal indicating that the power module is connected to the aerosol generating device, and further comprising a voltage detector for detecting a voltage in relation to the connector, wherein the signal is provided by the voltage detector. As this is a conventional detection mechanism known in the art, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply to the device of modified Ademe to achieve the same, predictable result of detecting whether or not the power module is connected to the aerosol provision device.
Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ademe and Talbot as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Antonopoulos (US 2021/0386124).
Ademe teaches the device comprises control circuitry [0028] but does not teach it is configured to detect whether or not the power module is connected to the aerosol provision device. Antonopoulos teaches an aerosol-generating device wherein control circuitry is configured to detect whether or not a case is connected to the aerosol provision device based on a signal indicating that the power module is connected to the aerosol generating device, wherein a connector enables data communication between the case and the aerosol provision device, and the signal is received from the case via the connector [0035, 0036, 0039]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply this concept to the aerosol provision device and power module (analogous to the case of Antonopoulos) to achieve the same, predictable result of detecting whether or not the power module is connected to the aerosol provision device.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ademe and Talbot as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Bilat (US 2019/0008209).
Modified Ademe is silent to the power level in watts. Bilat teaches an aerosol generating device wherein a power level of greater than 5 Watts and less than 13 Watts may be used [0078]. As this is a conventional range known in the art, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill to use a power level within this range for the modes of modified Ademe, with the high power mode having a higher power level than the lower power mode, to achieve predictable results, e.g. forming an aerosol. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ademe and Talbot as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mishra (US 2016/0120225).
It is noted that the aerosol-generating material is not a positively recited limitation. Claim 1 merely recites “an aerosol generator configured to cause aerosol to be generated from aerosol-generating material. The actual presence of the aerosol-generating material in the aerosol provision device is not required by the claims. In any case, Ademe teaches the aerosol-generating material comprises a gel [0066]. Ademe teaches the aerosol generator comprises a heater [0045] but does not teach an inductive heater. Mishra teaches an e-vaping device wherein an inductive heater is use to heat and vaporize a gel [0119]. As this is a conventional type of heater known in the art, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use an inductive heater in the device of modified Ademe to achieve predictable results, e.g. vaporization and aerosol generation.
Conclusion
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/ERIC YAARY/Examiner, Art Unit 1755
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