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 .
Acknowledgement is made of application #18/280,185 filed on 09/01/2023 in which claims 1-15 have been presented for prosecution in a first action on the merits.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/02/2025 and 04/15/2025 have been considered and put on record. Initialed copies are attached herewith.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4,9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over USPAT 11,382,360 to Jae Lee(same as KR-20200111579 A) in view of KR 10-2015-0050215 A(Machine Translation) to Jong Lee (all cited by applicants).
Regarding claims 1 and 9: Jae at least discloses and shows Figs. 1-6: An aerosol-generating device(1)(see Fig. 1)(col. 3, lines 63-col. 4, line 3) comprising: a heater(13) configured to heat an aerosol-generating substance(2)(col. 4, lines 25-29); a battery(11) configured to supply electric power to the heater(13)(col. 4, lines 34-38); and a controller(12).
Jae does not teach the limitations of
the controller configured to: update a number of times of charging/discharging of the battery based on at least a result of performing an operation related to charging or a result of performing an operation related to discharging, and based on the number of times of charging/discharging being less than a preset reference number, maintain a reference voltage preset in relation to charging of the battery, and based on the number of times of charging/discharging being greater than or equal to the preset reference number, change the reference voltage preset in relation to charging of the battery to a second voltage level which is lower than a currently set first voltage level.
However, Jong teaches factual evidence of, the controller(included in battery management apparatus 100; i.e. the counting unit 110 and the voltage adjusting unit 120; see [0026]) configured to: update a number of times of charging/discharging of the battery based on at least a result of performing an operation related to charging or a result of performing an operation related to discharging, and based on the number of times of charging/discharging being less than a preset reference number(N1), maintain a reference voltage preset(Vo) in relation to charging of the battery(10)(see [0036],[0046]), and based on the number of times of charging/discharging being greater than or equal to the preset reference number(N1)([0036]), change the reference voltage preset in relation to charging of the battery to a second voltage level(V2) which is lower than a currently set first voltage level(see [0026]-[0046] and claims 1-9).
Jae and Jong are battery life estimating devices analogous art. Therefore it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Jong into Jae’s device by having the controller as included into the battery management apparatus of Jong to be configured to: update a number of times of charging/discharging of the battery based on at least a result of performing an operation related to charging or a result of performing an operation related to discharging, and based on the number of times of charging/discharging being less than a preset reference number, maintain a reference voltage preset in relation to charging of the battery, and based on the number of times of charging/discharging being greater than or equal to the preset reference number, change the reference voltage preset in relation to charging of the battery to a second voltage level which is lower than a currently set first voltage level, as recited, for the advantages of extending the life of the secondary battery, as per the teachings of Jong ([0001],[0006]).
Accordingly claims 1 and 9 would have been obvious.
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Jae in view of Jong discloses all the claimed invention as set forth and discussed above in claims 1 and 9 respectively. Jong further discloses, wherein the controller is configured to: based on a voltage of the battery being less than the reference voltage when charging the battery, perform control to charge the battery such that a current flowing through the battery is maintained at a predetermined current level, and based on the voltage of the battery being greater than or equal to the reference voltage when charging the battery, perform control to charge the battery such that the voltage of the battery is maintained at the reference voltage(see Jong; [0036],[0046] and claims 1-9).
Regarding claim 3, Jae in view of Jong discloses all the claimed invention as set forth and discussed above in claim 1. Jong further discloses, wherein a ratio of a difference between the first voltage level(V1) and the second voltage level(V2) to the first voltage level decreases as a number of changes of the reference voltage increases(see [0010]-[0011],[0028],[0036],[0038]).
Regarding claim 4, Jae in view of Jong discloses all the claimed invention as set forth and discussed above in claim 1. Modified Jae discloses, further comprising: a memory(670)(see Fig. 6 of Jae)(or element 130 of Fig. 1 of Jong) configured to store at least one of data regarding charging or data regarding discharging, wherein the controller(included in battery management unit 100 of Jong) is configured to update the number of times of charging or discharging based on data stored in the memory(130)(see Jong; [0028],[0036],[0038],[0046],[0053]).
Regarding claim 11, Jae in view of Jong discloses all the claimed invention as set forth and discussed above in claim 9. Jong further discloses, wherein the updating the number of times of charging/discharging is performed based on at least one of data regarding charging or data regarding discharging stored in a memory of the aerosol-generating device([0036]-[0046] and claims 1-9).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8,12-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Citation of Prior art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
USPAT 9,968,137 B2 to Xiang discloses the general state of the art regarding an electronic cigarette and charging method therefor.
US 2009/0295331 A1 to Kao discloses a charging device.
USPAT 11,641,882 B2 to Dendy et al., (Dendy) discloses an electronic vaping device, battery section and charger.
USPAT 11,696,600 B2 to Lim et al., (Lim) discloses an aerosol generating device having heater.
Conclusion
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M'BAYE DIAO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2859
/M BAYE DIAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2859 September 1, 2026
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