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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/14/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) filed on 05/19/2026 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 04/14/2026. As directed by the amendment, claims 1 and 18 have been amended. As such, claims 1-7 and 11-18 are pending in the instant application.
Applicant has amended claim 18 to address a minor informality; the objection to the claim has been sustained as applicant did not fix the lack of antecedent basis as claim 18 depends on claim 1 and claim 1 does not recite a shutter or a button region.
Applicant has amended claim 1 to address a 112(b) rejection; the 112(b) rejection has been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see pages 6-10 of Remarks, filed 04/14/2026, pertaining to the
newly amended limitations have been noted. However, a new ground(s) of rejection has been
provided below to address the newly added limitations.
The examiner has noted applicant’s arguments in regards to claims 7 and 11 and using Bouchuiguir to teach the sequence of LEDs. Claims 7 and 11 (and its dependents) now rely on Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Sundberg (US 20200029619 A1) wherein Sundberg teaches an error indication to be generated based on the control circuitry 176 controlling the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1, 188-2 and control circuitry 176 can control a supply of electrical power to the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1 and 188-2 according to a control sequence as seen in [0123]-[0124] and [0211].
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 18, line 2, recites “…in response to the shutter being closed before the indication of occurrence of the error on the displays ends, and configured to redisplay the indication of occurrence of the error in response to the button region being depressed …” but should recite “…in response to a shutter being closed before the indication of occurrence of the error on the displays ends, and configured to redisplay the indication of occurrence of the error in response to a button region being depressed …” due to lack of antecedent basis and grammar.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Cohen (US 20110036346 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lord teaches an inhaler device (HT device 201, see Figs. 2A-2E) comprising:
a heater (heater 204 and heating element 223, see Fig. 2E) that heats a substrate with electric power to generate an aerosol (Lord teaches consumable 202 comprising an aerosol forming substrate 213 that is configured to be heated by the device 201 to release a vapor as seen in [0102]-[0103], wherein the heater is powered by an electric power source as seen in [0044] and [0117]), the substrate retaining an aerosol source (consumable 202 comprises an aerosol-forming substrate 213 as seen in [0103]), the electric power being provided from a battery (“A power source, in the form of a rechargeable battery 205 (a lithium ion battery), is located in electronics cavity 224.” See [0115]);
a display comprising a plurality of notification elements configured to notify a state of the inhaler device ([0035] of applicant’s specification recites “The notifier 93 is in the form of, for example, a display including a light-emitting element such as an LED…” Lord teaches a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 211 (taken as display) as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0101]. Lord further teaches flashing one or more of the LEDs for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025], therefore notifying a state of the inhaler device); and
a controller (controller 108/208, see Figs. 1A and [0117]) configured to, in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device, notify an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements (Lord teaches providing distinct alerts for each of an error event and a user misuse event wherein, controller 208 generates a first alert comprising a steady LED 211 when the controller 208 detects a user misuse (taken as first method) and a second alert comprising a flashing LED 211 when the controller detects a device error event (taken as second method) as seen in [0127]. Lord further teaches flashing one or more of the LEDs for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025]).
But does not teach the controller configured to, in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device, notify an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements in a manner that;
causes the plurality of notification elements to display a display pattern for a first predetermined period of time comprising at least one ON period having a first duration and at least one OFF period having a second duration shorter than the first duration; and
separates consecutive repetitions of said display pattern with a third duration, wherein the third duration is longer than the first duration,
wherein the controller is further configured to repeat the display pattern and the third duration for a predetermined number of cycles.
However, Cohen teaches the controller (circuit board 40, see Fig. 3) configured to, in response to a user inhalation occurring in the inhaler device, notify an indication of inhalation on the notification element (indicator light 20, see Fig. 3 and [0018] and [0037]) in a manner that;
causes the notification elements to display a display pattern for a first predetermined period of time comprising at least one ON period having a first duration and at least one OFF period having a second duration shorter than the first duration (Cohen teaches indicator light 20 to illuminate when a user puffs on inhalation device 10 due to circuit board 40 as seen in [0025] and [0046] which is seen as an ON period. Furthermore, when the user stops puffing, the indicator light 20 will be turned off for an off period. Therefore, the circuit board 40 is capable of having an OFF duration shorter than an ON-illumination duration, depending on the user); and
separates consecutive repetitions of said display pattern with a third duration, wherein the third duration is longer than the first duration,
wherein the controller is further configured to repeat the display pattern and the third duration for a predetermined number of cycles (Cohen teaches indicator light 20 to illuminate when a user puffs on inhalation device 10 due to circuit board 40 as seen in [0025] and [0046] which is seen as an ON period. Furthermore, when the user stops puffing, the indicator light 20 will be turned off for an off period. As such, when a user is repetitively using the inhalation device 10, the indicator light 20 will be turned ON and OFF until the user is done or stops using the inhalation device 10 (taken as third duration). Therefore, the third duration is longer than the first duration and circuit board 40 can repeat the display pattern and third duration when the user chooses to use the inhalation device 10 again until cartridge 16 is depleted (see [0019]).
Both Lord and Cohen teaches an inhalation device with LED used as indicators. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord to include the circuit board of Cohen to have the plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 211 taught by Lord in response to an error event, notify an indication of the error event in a manner as taught by Cohen (with the display pattern and third duration shown above) as Cohen teaches the indicator light is activated at desired times by the control electronics (see [0021] and [0025]). Furthermore, Cohen teaches using the indicator light 20 for providing warnings as seen in [0046] and [0054].
Regarding claim 2, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the device of claim 1, and Lord further teaches wherein the plurality of notification elements are arranged continuously (LEDs 211 are arranged continuously as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0101]).
Regarding claim 3, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the device of claim 1, and Lord further teaches wherein
the plurality of notification elements notifies the state of the inhaler device when the inhaler device is performing an operation (Lord teaches an output means comprising one or more LEDs 211 to convey information to the user about a condition or state indicative of the device/heater as seen in [0048], [0054] and [0129]. Furthermore, controller 208 is to send a signal to one of the LEDs 211 to light up and flash when the user attempts to increase the power supply to the heater but the high temperature mode is currently inaccessible to preserve an acceptably low ambient temperature within the device as seen in [0120]), and
the operation comprises at least one of an operation of heating the substrate, an operation of enabling inhalation of the aerosol, an operation of providing notification of a remaining level of the battery, or an operation of charging the battery (Lord teaches controller 208 is to send a signal to one of the LEDs 211 to light up and flash when the user attempts to increase the power supply to the heater but the high temperature mode is currently inaccessible to preserve an acceptably low ambient temperature within the device as seen in [0120]).
Regarding claim 4, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the device of claim 1, and Lord further teaches wherein the error comprises an error due to a temperature of the inhaler device being outside a predetermined temperature range (Lord teaches an overheating error when a temperature sensor detects the temperature within the device to exceed a predetermined threshold as seen in [0022] and [0120]).
Regarding claim 5, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the device of claim 4, and Lord further teaches wherein the controller is configured to, in response to an action to heat the substrate being performed with the error occurring, notify the indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements (Lord teaches controller 208 detecting the ambient temperature by means of a temperature sensor as seen in [0120]. If the ambient temperature is detected to be above a predetermined threshold and a user attempt to increase the power supply to the heater, the controller 208 will send a signal to LEDs 211 to flash as a sign of error as seen in [0120] and [0096]).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Cohen (US 20110036346 A1), as applied to claim 5, above, and further in view of Lim (US 20200221782 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the inhaler device of claim 5, and Lord further teaches a button 212 to be depressed to control the heater 204 as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0117] but does not teach wherein the action to heat the substrate comprises at least one of an action of opening a shutter for an opening into which the substrate is to be inserted, or an action of depressing a button for heating the substrate.
However, Lim teaches wherein the action to heat the substrate comprises at least one of an action of opening a shutter for an opening into which the substrate is to be inserted, or an action of depressing a button for heating the substrate (Lim teaches a cover 30 mounted on an upper surface of the cap 10 capable of performing sliding movement as seen in Fig. 4 and [0076]. Lim further teaches a first sensor to sense whether the cigarette insertion hole 18 is opened or closed by cover 30 and a second sensor 62 to sense whether a cigarette is inserted as seen in Figs. 6-8 and [0090]-[0091]. In operation, shown in Fig. 11, step 1110 determines whether or not the cigarette insertion hole is opened or closed by cover 30 as seen in [0118]. If it is opened, step 1120 goes to step 1130 in which the aerosol generator device is turned ON mode as seen in [0119]-[0120]. Next, Lim teaches, either through user input received by the button or a signal sensed by the second sensor 62, the control power supply supplies to the heater 52 such that the heater is pre-heated to a predetermined temperature as seen in [0121]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord in view of Cohen to include the cover, first and second sensors and controller taught by Lim to aid preventing unintentional operation of the aerosol device and preventing unnecessary power consumption when a user is not smoking (see [0008]).
Claim(s) 7 and 11-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Sundberg (US 20200029619 A1).
Regarding claim 7, Lord teaches an inhaler device (HT device 201, see Figs. 2A-2E) comprising:
a housing (body 209, see Figs. 2A-2B) having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape (body 209 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as seen in Figs. 2A-2B);
an opening (opening 221, see Fig. 2D) into which a substrate retaining an aerosol source is inserted (opening 221 and cavity 222 are formed to receive consumable 202 which comprises an aerosol-forming substrate 213 as seen in Figs. 2A and 2D [0103] and [0110]), the opening being provided at a first surface of the housing (opening 22a is provided at a first surface (top) of body 209 as seen in Fig. 2D),
a heater (heater 204 and heating element 223, see Fig. 2E) that heats the substrate with electric power to generate an aerosol (Lord teaches consumable 202 comprising an aerosol forming substrate 213 that is configured to be heated by the device 201 to release a vapor as seen in [0102]-[0103], wherein the heater is powered by an electric power source as seen in [0044] and [0117]), the electric power being provided from a battery (“A power source, in the form of a rechargeable battery 205 (a lithium ion battery), is located in electronics cavity 224.” See [0115]):
a button (button 212, see Fig. 2A) that is operated to heat the substrate by the heater (Lord teaches a button 212 to be depressed to control the heater 204 as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0117]), the button being provided at a second surface that is one of four surfaces adjacent to the first surface of the housing (button 212 is provided at a second surface that is one of the four surfaces adjacent to the top surface of the housing as seen in Figs. 2A-2B);
a display comprising a plurality of notification elements configured to notify a state of the inhaler device ([0035] of applicant’s specification recites “The notifier 93 is in the form of, for example, a display including a light-emitting element such as an LED…” Lord teaches a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 211 (taken as display) as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0101]. Lord further teaches flashing one or more of the LEDs for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025], therefore notifying a state of the inhaler device); and
a controller (controller 108/208, see Figs. 1A and [0117]) configured to, in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device, notify an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements in a manner that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to notify for a predetermined period of time (Lord teaches flashing one or more of the LEDs 211 for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025]. As such, one or more LEDs notify an indication of an error that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to flash/notify for a predetermined period of time)
But does not teach the controller configured to, in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device, notify an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements in a manner that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to notify for a predetermined period of time and then causes another notification element provided at a second position among the plurality of notification elements to notify for a predetermined period of time, the first position being closer to a side of the opening than the button, the second position being different from the first position in the inhaler device.
However, Sundberg a controller (control circuitry 176, see Fig. 1B) configured to, in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device (e-vaping device 100, see Fig. 1A), notify an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements (one or more light-emitting devices 188-1, 188-2, see Fig. 1B) in a manner that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to notify for a predetermined period of time and then causes another notification element provided at a second position among the plurality of notification elements to notify for a predetermined period of time (Sundberg teaches an error indication to be generated based on the control circuitry 176 controlling the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1, 188-2 and/or the light source 177 to emit light having one or more particular properties as seen in [0211]. Sundberg further teaches control circuitry 176 can control a supply of electrical power to the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1 and 188-2 according to a control sequence and further teaches emitting the light for one or more particular periods of time as seen in [0123]-[0124] and [0076]. Therefore, Sundberg teaches an error indication wherein the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1 and 188-2 light up in sequence, each for a particular period of time).
Both Lord and Sundberg teach an aerosol generating device with multiple LEDs used to indicate the user the status of the device. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord to have the LEDs light up in a sequence as taught by Sundberg as a method of notifying or alerting a user of the status of the device using LEDs (see [0123] and [0211]). Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize there are a limited number of ways to light up LEDs 211 in sequence with the most apparent methods are lighting it up from top to bottom or bottom to top. As such, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 211 can light up starting with the top LED (and go downwards in sequence) as seen in Figs. 2A-2B.
Regarding claim 11, Lord teaches a display method in an inhaler device (HT device 201, see Figs. 2A-2E) ([0035] of applicant’s specification recites “The notifier 93 is in the form of, for example, a display including a light-emitting element such as an LED…” Lord teaches one or more LEDs used to generate visual feedback for predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in Fig. 3 and [0025]), the inhaler device comprising:
a housing (body 209, see Figs. 2A-2B) having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape (body 209 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as seen in Figs. 2A-2B);
an opening (opening 221, see Fig. 2D) into which a substrate retaining an aerosol source is inserted (opening 221 and cavity 222 are formed to receive consumable 202 which comprises an aerosol-forming substrate 213 as seen in Figs. 2A and 2D [0103] and [0110]), the opening being provided at a first surface of the housing (opening 22a is provided at a first surface (top) of body 209 as seen in Fig. 2D);
a heater (heater 204 and heating element 223, see Fig. 2E) that heats the substrate with electric power to generate an aerosol (Lord teaches consumable 202 comprising an aerosol forming substrate 213 that is configured to be heated by the device 201 to release a vapor as seen in [0102]-[0103], wherein the heater is powered by an electric power as seen in [0044] and [0117]), the electric power being provided from a battery (“A power source, in the form of a rechargeable battery 205 (a lithium ion battery), is located in electronics cavity 224.” See [0115]);
a button (button 212, see Fig. 2A) that is operated to heat the substrate by the heater (Lord teaches a button 212 to be depressed to control the heater 204 as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0117]), the button being provided at a second surface that is one of four surfaces adjacent to the first surface of the housing (button 212 is provided at a second surface that is one of the four surfaces adjacent to the top surface of the housing as seen in Figs. 2A-2B); and
a notifier comprising a plurality of notification elements (Lord teaches a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 211 (taken as display) as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0101]), the display method comprising the steps of:
notifying a state of the inhaler device on the plurality of notification elements (Lord teaches flashing one or more of the LEDs for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025], therefore notifying a state of the inhaler device); and
in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device, notifying an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements in a manner that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to notify for a predetermined period of time (Lord teaches controller 108/208 and flashing one or more of the LEDs 211 for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025]. As such, one or more LEDs notify an indication of an error that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to flash/notify for a predetermined period of time)
But does not teach in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device, notifying an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements in a manner that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to notify for a predetermined period of time and then causes another notification element provided at a second position among the plurality of notification elements to notify for a predetermined period of time, the first position being closer to a side of the opening than the button, the second position being different from the first position in the inhaler device.
However, Sundberg teaches in response to an error occurring in the inhaler device (e-vaping device 100, see Fig. 1A), notifying an indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements (one or more light-emitting devices 188-1, 188-2, see Fig. 1B) in a manner that causes a notification element provided at a first position on the second surface to notify for a predetermined period of time and then causes another notification element provided at a second position among the plurality of notification elements to notify for a predetermined period of time (Sundberg teaches an error indication to be generated based on the control circuitry 176 controlling the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1, 188-2 and/or the light source 177 to emit light having one or more particular properties as seen in [0211]. Sundberg further teaches control circuitry 176 can control a supply of electrical power to the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1 and 188-2 according to a control sequence and further teaches emitting the light for one or more particular periods of time as seen in [0123]-[0124] and [0076]. Therefore, Sundberg teaches an error indication wherein the one or more light-emitting devices 188-1 and 188-2 light up in sequence, each for a particular period of time).
Both Lord and Sundberg teach an aerosol generating device with multiple LEDs used to indicate the user the status of the device. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord to have the LEDs light up in a sequence as taught by Sundberg as a method of notifying or alerting a user of the status of the device using LEDs (see [0123] and [0211]). Furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize there are a limited number of ways to light up LEDs 211 in sequence with the most apparent methods are lighting it up from top to bottom or bottom to top. As such, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize the plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 211 can light up starting with the top LED (and go downwards in sequence) as seen in Figs. 2A-2B.
Regarding claim 12, Lord in view of Sundberg teaches the device of claim 7, and Lord further teaches wherein the plurality of notification elements are arranged continuously (LEDs 211 are arranged continuously as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0101]).
Regarding claim 13, Lord in view of Sundberg teaches the device of claim 7, and Lord further teaches wherein
the plurality of notification elements notifies the state of the inhaler device when the inhaler device is performing an operation (Lord teaches an output means comprising one or more LEDs 211 to convey information to the user about a condition or state indicative of the device/heater as seen in [0048], [0054] and [0129]. Furthermore, controller 208 is to send a signal to one of the LEDs 211 to light up and flash when the user attempts to increase the power supply to the heater but the high temperature mode is currently inaccessible to preserve an acceptably low ambient temperature within the device as seen in [0120]), and
the operation comprises at least one of an operation of heating the substrate, an operation of enabling inhalation of the aerosol, an operation of providing notification of a remaining level of the battery, or an operation of charging the battery (Lord teaches controller 208 is to send a signal to one of the LEDs 211 to light up and flash when the user attempts to increase the power supply to the heater but the high temperature mode is currently inaccessible to preserve an acceptably low ambient temperature within the device as seen in [0120]).
Regarding claim 14, Lord in view of Sundberg teaches the device of claim 7, and Lord further teaches wherein the error comprises an error due to a temperature of the inhaler device being outside a predetermined temperature range (Lord teaches an overheating error when a temperature sensor detects the temperature within the device to exceed a predetermined threshold as seen in [0022] and [0120]).
Regarding claim 15, Lord in view of Sundberg teaches the device of claim 14, and Lord further teaches wherein the controller is configured to, in response to an action to heat the substrate being performed with the error occurring, notify the indication of occurrence of the error on the plurality of notification elements (Lord teaches controller 208 detecting the ambient temperature by means of a temperature sensor as seen in [0120]. If the ambient temperature is detected to be above a predetermined threshold and a user attempt to increase the power supply to the heater, the controller 208 will send a signal to LEDs 211 to flash as a sign of error as seen in [0120] and [0096]).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Sundberg (US 20200029619 A1), as applied to claim 15, above, and further in view of Lim (US 20200221782 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Lord in view of Sundberg teaches the device of claim 15, and Lord further teaches a button 212 to be depressed to control the heater 204 as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0117] but does not teach wherein the action to heat the substrate comprises at least one of an action of opening a shutter for an opening into which the substrate is to be inserted, or an action of depressing a button for heating the substrate.
However, Lim teaches wherein the action to heat the substrate comprises at least one of an action of opening a shutter for an opening into which the substrate is to be inserted, or an action of depressing a button for heating the substrate (Lim teaches a cover 30 mounted on an upper surface of the cap 10 capable of performing sliding movement as seen in Fig. 4 and [0076]. Lim further teaches a first sensor to sense whether the cigarette insertion hole 18 is opened or closed by cover 30 and a second sensor 62 to sense whether a cigarette is inserted as seen in Figs. 6-8 and [0090]-[0091]. In operation, shown in Fig. 11, step 1110 determines whether or not the cigarette insertion hole is opened or closed by cover 30 as seen in [0118]. If it is opened, step 1120 goes to step 1130 in which the aerosol generator device is turned ON mode as seen in [0119]-[0120]. Next, Lim teaches, either through user input received by the button or a signal sensed by the second sensor 62, the control power supply supplies to the heater 52 such that the heater is pre-heated to a predetermined temperature as seen in [0121]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord in view of Sundberg to include the cover, first and second sensors and controller taught by Lim to aid preventing unintentional operation of the aerosol device and preventing unnecessary power consumption when a user is not smoking (see [0008]).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Cohen (US 20110036346 A1), as applied to claim 1, above, and further in view of Bouchuiguir (US 20220354183 A1).
Regarding claim 17, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the device of claim 1, but does not teach wherein the plurality of notification elements are arranged continuously and in direct contact with one another, such that the indication of occurrence of the error is a contiguous and unbroken visual indication.
However, Bouchuiguir teaches wherein the plurality of notification elements (indicator 11, see Fig. 2) are arranged continuously and in direct contact with one another, such that the indication of a status is a contiguous and unbroken visual indication (Bouchuiguir teaches indicator 11 which is a linearly extending display that comprises a line of a plurality of illumination devices such as LEDs as seen in Fig. 2 and [0075] that is arranged continuously and in direct contact with one another. Furthermore, Bouchuiguir teaches the LEDs to light up in sequence to indicate a status of the device, therefore showing a contiguous and unbroken visual indication as seen in [0033] and [0101]).
Bouchuiguir teaches a device 1 with different examples of indicators of 11-14 as seen in Figs. 2-6. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord in view of Cohen to have the plurality of notification elements be arranged continuously and in direct contact with one another as an alternative design taught by Bouchuiguir as it does not affect the function of the device. Modified Lord teaches the indication of occurrence of the error is a contiguous and unbroken visual indication (Lord teaches flashing one or more of the LEDs for a predetermined period of time to alert the user to the error event or the event of user misuse as seen in [0025]. Bouchuiguir teaches the LEDs to be a line of a plurality of LEDs as seen in Fig. 2 and [0075]. As such, modified Bouchuiguir teaches the LEDs to light up in an occurrence of an error event in a contiguous and unbroken visual indication).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lord (EP 3711502 A1) in view of Cohen (US 20110036346 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lim (US 20200221782 A1) and Levine (US 5226411 A).
Regarding claim 18, Lord in view of Cohen teaches the device of claim 1, and Lord further teaches a button 212 to be depressed to control the heater 204 as seen in Figs. 2A-2B and [0117] but does not teach wherein the controller is configured to discontinue the display in response to the shutter being closed before the indication of occurrence of the error on the displays ends, and configured to redisplay the indication of occurrence of the error in response to the button region being depressed after the indication of occurrence of the error on the displays ends with the shutter remaining open.
However, Lim teaches wherein the controller is configured to discontinue the display in response to the shutter being closed before the indication of occurrence of the error on the displays ends (Lim teaches a cover 30 mounted on an upper surface of the cap 10 capable of performing sliding movement as seen in Fig. 4 and [0076]. Lim further teaches a first sensor to sense whether the cigarette insertion hole 18 is opened or closed by cover 30 and a second sensor 62 to sense whether a cigarette is inserted as seen in Figs. 6-8 and [0090]-[0091]. In operation, shown in Fig. 11, step 1110 determines whether or not the cigarette insertion hole is opened or closed by cover 30 as seen in [0118]. If it is closed, step 1120 goes to step 1135 in which the aerosol generator device is in an OFF mode as seen in [0122]. As such, Lim teaches the operational mode of the device to be OFF when the cigarette insertion hole is closed (see [0122]), leading to no indication of error on the display).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by Lord in view of Cohen to include the cover, first and second sensors and controller taught by Lim to aid preventing unintentional operation of the aerosol device and preventing unnecessary power consumption when a user is not smoking (see [0008]).
However, Levine teaches an aerosol nebulizer heater 10 as shown in Figs. 1-3 and 5 and Col. 3, lines 9-17. Levine further teaches a warning means for indicating where the temperature served by said sensing means is outside specified limits (see claim 24) to prevent both underheating and overheating (see Col. 9, lines 25-29 and 41-49).
Lord teaches an error when of the LEDs flashing when the temperature is above a predetermined threshold as seen in [0120]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the inhaler device taught by modified Lord to have a warning when the temperature sensed is outside specified limits (more specifically, below the specified limits) as taught by Levine to deliver heated aerosol to the patient within a specified temperature range to provide the therapeutic benefits of heated aerosols (see Col. 1, lines 46-55 and 60-67). Modified Lord teaches wherein the controller is configured to redisplay the indication of occurrence of the error in response to the button region being depressed after the indication of occurrence of the error on the displays ends with the shutter remaining open (Levine teaches a warning means for indicating when the temperature is outside of specified limits. Lord teaches an error when of the LEDs flashing when the temperature is above a predetermined threshold as seen in [0120]. As such, modified Lord teaches an error of the LEDs flashing when the temperature is both above and below a predetermined threshold. As such, when the cover 30 of Lim is opened and the button is depressed, there is an error being displayed since the temperature is not at the predetermined threshold, and the user cannot yet start inhalation).
Conclusion
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/TINA ZHANG/Examiner, Art Unit 3785
/BRANDY S LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3785
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