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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 114-124) in the reply filed on 12/08/2025 is acknowledged. Non-elected claims 125-133 are withdrawn from consideration. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 114 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2020/043900A1. Regarding claim 114, WO 2020/043900A1 discloses an aerosol generating device (abstract) comprising an inductive heating arrangement and a power source configured to provide power to the inductive heating arrangement (page 10, lines 9-12, Figures 1, 2), and the method comprising: performing, during a first heating phase during user operation of the aerosol- generating device for producing an aerosol (page 34, line 25 to page 35, line 8 and in particular page 35, lines 3-5), a calibration process comprising measuring one or more calibration values associated with a susceptor inductively coupled to the inductive heating arrangement (page 33, line 19 to page 34, line 14, Figure 5, wherein the calibration process consist on choosing one of the curves T/r), wherein the susceptor is configured to heat an aerosol-forming substrate (page 11, lines 4-22); and during a second heating phase during the user operation of the aerosol-generating device for producing the aerosol, controlling power provided to the inductive heating arrangement such that a temperature of the susceptor is adjusted based on the one or more calibration values (page 31, line 26 to page 32, line 25, wherein the temperature is determined based on the curve chosen during the calibration).
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 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) 115-118 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/043900A1, in view of WO 2020/064685A1. Regarding claims 115-118, over WO 2020/043900A1 discloses substantially all features of the claimed invention except interrupting provision of power to the inductive heating arrangement when the current value reaches a maximum, wherein the current value at the maximum corresponds to a second calibration temperature of the susceptor, and(iv) monitoring the current value associated with the susceptor until the current value reaches a minimum, wherein the current value at the minimum corresponds to a first calibration temperature of the susceptor. WO 2020/064685A1 discloses the steps of interrupting provision of power to the inductive heating arrangement when the current value reaches a maximum, wherein the current value at the maximum corresponds to a second calibration temperature of the susceptor, and(iv) monitoring the current value associated with the susceptor until the current value reaches a minimum, wherein the current value at the minimum corresponds to a first calibration temperature of the susceptor (page 29, line 1 through page 30, line 29, Figure 4). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to utilize in WO 2020/043900A1 the steps of interrupting provision of power to the inductive heating arrangement when the current value reaches a maximum, wherein the current value at the maximum corresponds to a second calibration temperature of the susceptor, and(iv) monitoring the current value associated with the susceptor until the current value reaches a minimum, wherein the current value at the minimum corresponds to a first calibration temperature of the susceptor as taught by WO 2020/064685A1 in order to optimum detect the temperature of the substrate. Regarding claims 119-122, WO 2020/064685A1 discloses during the first heating phase, performing a pre-heating process, wherein the pre-heating process is performed before the calibration process, and wherein the pre-heating process has a predetermined duration, wherein the pre-heating process comprises the steps of: i) controlling the power provided to the inductive heating arrangement to cause an increase of the temperature of the susceptor, ii) monitoring at least a current value associated with the susceptor, and iii) interrupting provision of power to the inductive heating arrangement when the current value reaches a minimum (page 18, lines 15-25). Regarding claim 123, WO 2020/043900A1 discloses the aerosol-generating device (100) is configured to receive the aerosol-generating article (116), wherein the aerosol-generating article comprises the susceptor (110) and the aerosol-forming substrate (page 25, line 31), and wherein the pre-heating process is performed in response to detecting a presence of the aerosol-generating article (page 24, line 5 through page 25, line 4). Regarding claim 124, WO 2020/043900A1 discloses the controlling the power provided to the inductive heating arrangement (150) during the second heating phase comprises controlling the power to the inductive heating arrangement (150) to cause a step-wise increase of a temperature of the susceptor from a first operating temperature to a second operating temperature (page 30, line 16 through page 31, line 7).
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 March 6, 2026