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
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 9-14 in the reply filed on February 6, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Li does not teach that the heating sheet is configured to be removed and replaced by a user; however, this is not found persuasive because this is not a shared technical feature. Applicant argues that Blandino does not teach a separate liner which is insertable in an aerosol provision device; however, this is not found persuasive because this is not a shared technical feature. Additionally, LI et al. (US 2017/0280769) teaches the shared technical feature of a liner (210) formable into a first configuration and formable into a second configuration where the second configuration has a diameter greater than the first configuration (see discussion below).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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) 9-11, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over LI et al. (US 2017/0280769).
Li teaches an aerosol provision system comprising a consumable (260 in figure 9A) comprising aerosol-generating material (para. 0081); an aerosol provision device (60) having a chamber (area between gasket 9 and mouth-end insert 8) into which the consumable comprising aerosol-generating material is insertable, and an aerosol generator for generating aerosol from the aerosol-generating material when the consumable is located in the chamber (para. 0081); and a liner (210) for selective insertion into the chamber.
Li teaches that the liner is formable into a first and second configurations (para. 0093-0094). Li teaches that the liner is sized when rolled so that the roll of material fits between the gasket (10) and the mouth-end insert (8) (para. 0098) indicating that the liner must be rolled small enough to fit inside the chamber. Li teaches that the liner is used with an inflexible guide when a specific shape and arrangement is desired (para. 0115) which indicates that the liner will normally expand from a smaller diameter to a larger diameter (i.e. diameter of the chamber).
Alternatively, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to roll the liner into a smaller diameter for insertion to fit into the opening of the mouth-end insert and allowing the liner to naturally expand to the diameter of the chamber so that the liner is successfully inserted on the first try.
Regarding claim 10, Li teaches the aerosol provision device comprises an opening via which the consumable is insertable into the chamber, and the liner is insertable into the chamber via the opening (para. 0081).
Regarding claim 11, Li teaches the aerosol provision system comprises a retainer for selectively retaining the liner in the chamber (para. 0081).
Regarding claim 14, as discussed above, the liner is expandable by at least partial unwinding when inserted into the chamber to move from the first configuration to the second configuration.
Claim(s) 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI et al. (US 2017/0280769) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of ACCONCIA et al. (WO 2020/025746).
Li teaches an aerosol provision system comprising a consumable (260 in figure 9A) comprising aerosol-generating material (para. 0081); an aerosol provision device (60) having a chamber (area between gasket 9 and mouth-end insert 8) into which the consumable comprising aerosol-generating material is insertable, and an aerosol generator for generating aerosol from the aerosol-generating material when the consumable is located in the chamber (para. 0081); and a liner (210) for selective insertion into the chamber. Li teaches the aerosol provision system comprises a retainer for selectively retaining the liner in the chamber (para. 0081).
Li is silent to an adapter to selectively determine a maximum width of consumable.
Acconcia teaches an aerosol provision system comprising a consumable (34 in figure 4) comprising aerosol-generating material; an aerosol provision device (10) having a chamber (18) into which the consumable comprising aerosol-generating material is insertable, and an aerosol generator (20) for generating aerosol from the aerosol-generating material when the consumable is located in the chamber (para. 0081). Acconcia teaches the aerosol provision system comprises an adapter to selectively determine a maximum width of consumable insertable into the chamber via the opening, the adapter to act as the retainer when connected to the aerosol provision device (page 4 line 6 – page 5 line14). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the aerosol provision device of Li to include the adapter of Acconcia because Acconcia teaches that the adapter enables the usage of different aerosol generating articles and reduces air gaps (page 2 line 6 – page 3 line 33).
Regarding claim 13, Acconcia teaches the aerosol provision system comprises a plurality of adapters, each adapter to selectively determine a different maximum width of consumable insertable into the chamber via the opening, each adapter to act as the retainer when connected to the aerosol provision device (page 4 line 6 – page 5 line14).
Conclusion
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/CYNTHIA SZEWCZYK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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