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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 30-33 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on December 8, 2025.
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.
Claim 6 is 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.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 6 recites the broad recitation “wherein the ratio W/H is at least 2:1”, and the claim also recites “wherein the ratio W/H is at least… 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1, 7:1, 8:1, 9:1, 10:1, 11:1, 12:1, 13:1, 14:1, 15:1, 16:1, 17:1, 18:1, 19:1 or 20:1” which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, 10, 13-14, 16-17, 19, 22-23, 26, and 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by BATISTA et al. (US 2020/0236998).
Batista teaches an aerosol generating device comprising a conically shaped inductor coil (30 in figure 3).
Regarding claim 2, Batista teaches a device housing (34); and a power supply (36) connected to the conically shaped inductor coil (30), the power supply being configured to provide an oscillating current to the conically shaped inductor coil (para. 0001).
Regarding claim 3, figure 3 shows the conically shaped inductor coil has a constant pitch.
Regarding claim 8, figure 3 shows the conically shaped inductor coil (30) comprises a coil of conducting material comprising a projected shape of a circular spiral and the conically shaped inductor coil comprises a conical base and the projected shape is the shape formed from projecting the coil onto the conical base.
Regarding claim 10, figure 3 shows the conically shaped inductor coil has a conical axis and a conical base, wherein the conically shaped inductor coil has a cone apex, and the conical axis is in a straight line passing through the apex and the center of the conical base.
Regarding claim 13, figure 3 shows the conically shaped inductor coil comprises a coil of conducting material, and the coil of conducting material has a thickness that is uniform along the coil.
Regarding claim 14, Batista teaches the conducting material is substantially uniform along the coil (para. 0003, 0021).
Regarding claim 16, figure 3 shows the conically shaped inductor coil is formed around a three-dimensional surface (38).
Regarding claim 17, figure 3 shows the three-dimensional surface (38) comprises a cylinder.
Regarding claim 19, figures 3-4c shows the aerosol generating device comprises a plurality of conically shaped inductor coils.
Regarding claim 22, figures 4a-4c show the device is configured to receive an article (42) for use with a non-combustible aerosol provision device comprising aerosolizable material.
Regarding claim 23, figure 4c shows the aerosol generating device comprises a restraining device (28) configured to restrain the article.
Regarding claim 26, Batista teaches the aerosol generating device comprises one or more susceptors (para. 0003).
Regarding claim 36, Batista teaches an aerosol generating system comprising an aerosol generating device (32) comprising a conically shaped inductor coil (30); and an article (42) for use with the non-combustible aerosol generating device.
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) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(a) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over BATISTA et al. (US 2020/0236998).
Batista teaches an aerosol generating device comprising a conically shaped inductor coil (30 in figure 3). Batista teaches in paragraph 0021 that “Different pitches may be employed in the different coils. The pitch of the coil denotes the spacial distance between individual windings of the coil. These different configurations of the induction coil or coils may be utilized to control the generation of the magnetic field and thereby the heating of the heating element”, wherein “different configurations” implies the conically shaped inductor coil has a varying pitch.
Alternatively, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try a conically shaped inductor coil has a varying pitch from the teaching of Batista regarding “different configurations of the induction coil or coils may be utilized to control the generation of the magnetic field and thereby the heating of the heating element”.
Regarding claim 6, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try a conically shaped inductor coil having a shorter conical height relative to a conical base width due to Batista’s teaching that “different configurations of the induction coil or coils may be utilized to control the generation of the magnetic field and thereby the heating of the heating element” (para. 0021).
Conclusion
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/CYNTHIA SZEWCZYK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741