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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 1 and 15 contain a typographic error. “smocking article” should be “smoking article”. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1, 3, 6-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JANG et al. (US 2020/0359688) in view of JUMAN et al. (US 2024/0065313).
Jang teaches a smoking article comprising a medium accommodation portion (11A in figure 1A) filled with cut tobacco leaves; a moisturizer accommodation portion (10a) disposed on one side of the medium accommodation portion and comprising an aerosol generating material (para. 0033); and a filter portion (12a in figure 1A) disposed on another side of the medium accommodation portion
Jang is silent to the tobacco leaf make-up of the medium accommodation portion.
Juman teaches a smoking article comprising a medium accommodation portion (3 in figure 7) filled with cut tobacco leaves; and a filter portion (4, 6). Juman teaches in paragraph 0079 that the cut tobacco leaves about 10 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves which falls into the claimed range of about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight and the remaining 90% is a mixture of general cut leaves and reconstituted tobacco sheet. Juman teaches that the remaining 90% may comprise 50%, 60%, or 70% of general cut leaves, which falls into the claimed range of about 50 parts by weight to about 70 parts by weight; and 10%, 20%, or 30% of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet, which falls into the claimed range of about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight (para. 0079).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try the tobacco leaf composition of Juman in the smoking article of Jang because Juman teaches that such tobacco materials have been found to be particularly effective at providing an aerosol-generating material that can be heated quickly to release an aerosol (para. 0081).
Regarding claim 3, Juman teaches the slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet is coated with an aerosol generating material (para. 0071, 0073).
Regarding claim 6, Jang teaches the aerosol generating material comprises at least one of glycerin, propylene glycol, and nicotine (para. 0033).
Regarding claim 7, Juman teaches that the reconstituted tobacco may contain about 5% to about 40% aerosol former (para. 0074), which incorporates the claimed range of about 23 parts by weight to about 27 parts by weight; and Juman teaches that the aerosol former may be glycerin (para. 0045).
Regarding claim 8, Jang teaches the filter portion comprises a first filter portion (4) comprising a cavity; and a second filter portion (6) filled with a filtration material.
Regarding claim 9, Jang teaches at least one of the medium accommodation portion, the moisturizer accommodation portion, and the filter portion is wrapped with a segment wrapper (para. 0032, 0034, 0036, 0041).
Regarding claim 10, Jang teaches: a medium accommodation portion wrapper (para. 0036); and a moisturizer accommodation portion wrapper (para. 0034), a first filter portion wrapper, and a second filter portion wrapper (para. 0041).
Regarding claim 11, Jang teaches the medium accommodation portion wrapper wrapped around the medium accommodation portion is two-ply paper containing aluminum (para. 0070).
Regarding claim 12, Jang teaches the medium accommodation portion, the moisturizer accommodation portion, and the filter portion are wrapped with the segment wrapper, and the segment wrapper is wrapped with a total wrapper (para. 0070).
Regarding claim 13, Jang teaches an aerosol generating device (see figure 2), wherein the aerosol generating device is configured to receive the smoking article (220) and provide an aerosol inhalable by a user by heating the aerosol generating material stored in the smoking article.
Regarding claim 14, Jang teaches an elongated cavity (211) configured to accommodate the smoking article; a heater (212) configured to heat at least a part of each of the medium accommodation portion and the moisturizer accommodation portion of the smoking article; and a controller (213) electrically connected to the heater.
Regarding claim 15, Jang teaches an aerosol generating system (see figure 2) comprising a smoking article (220) comprising a medium accommodation portion (11a in figure 1A) filled with cut tobacco leaves; a moisturizer accommodation portion (10a) disposed on one side of the medium accommodation portion and comprising an aerosol generating material (para. 0033); and a filter portion (12a) disposed on another side of the medium accommodation portion. Jang teaches an aerosol generating device (see figure 2) configured to receive the smoking article and provide an aerosol inhalable by a user by heating the aerosol generating material stored in the smoking article.
wherein the cut tobacco leaves comprise about 50 parts by weight to about 70 parts by weight of general cut leaves, about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves, and about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet;
Jang is silent to the tobacco leaf make-up of the medium accommodation portion.
Juman teaches a smoking article comprising a medium accommodation portion (3 in figure 7) filled with cut tobacco leaves; and a filter portion (4, 6). Juman teaches in paragraph 0079 that the cut tobacco leaves about 10 parts by weight of expanded tobacco leaves which falls into the claimed range of about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight and the remaining 90% is a mixture of general cut leaves and reconstituted tobacco sheet. Juman teaches that the remaining 90% may comprise 50%, 60%, or 70% of general cut leaves, which falls into the claimed range of about 50 parts by weight to about 70 parts by weight; and 10%, 20%, or 30% of a slurry-type reconstituted tobacco sheet, which falls into the claimed range of about 10 parts by weight to about 30 parts by weight (para. 0079).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try the tobacco leaf composition of Juman in the smoking article of Jang because Juman teaches that such tobacco materials have been found to be particularly effective at providing an aerosol-generating material that can be heated quickly to release an aerosol (para. 0081).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JANG et al. (US 2020/0359688) in view of JUMAN et al. (US 2024/0065313) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of ALDERMAN et al. (US 2020/0146340).
Jang as modified by Juman teaches smoking article comprising a medium accommodation portion (11A in figure 1A) filled with cut tobacco leaves; a moisturizer accommodation portion (10a) disposed on one side of the medium accommodation portion and comprising an aerosol generating material (para. 0033); and a filter portion (12a). Modified Jang is silent to the width of the cut leaves.
Alderman teaches a multi-segment smoking article. Alderman teaches that cut tobacco typically is cut to widths of 1/10 inches to 1/60 inches (para. 0037), or 2.54mm to 0.42 mm which falls into the claimed range of about 0.9 millimeters (mm) to about 1.6 mm. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to cut the leaves of modified Modi to this size range because Alderman teaches that these are typical values (para. 0037).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JANG et al. (US 2020/0359688) in view of JUMAN et al. (US 2024/0065313) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of LIU et al. (WO 2020/154858).
Jang as modified by Juman teaches smoking article comprising a medium accommodation portion (11A in figure 1A) filled with cut tobacco leaves; a moisturizer accommodation portion (10a) disposed on one side of the medium accommodation portion and comprising an aerosol generating material (para. 0033); and a filter portion (12a). Modified Jang is silent to the thickness and basis weight of the reconstituted tobacco.
Liu teaches a smoking article comprising reconstituted tobacco. Liu teaches that the reconstituted tobacco has a thickness of 0.05 mm to 1.0 mm (translation page 3), which incorporates the claimed range of about 180 micrometers (µm) to about 220 µm, and that the reconstituted tobacco sheet has a basis weight of 50 g/m2 to 250 g/m2 (translation page 2), which incorporates the claimed range of about 165 grams per square meter (g/m2) to about 185 g/m2. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try the ranges suggested by Liu in the smoking article of Jang because Liu teaches that this tobacco is heated at low temperatures (translation “Background technique”) and Juman teaches that the reconstituted tobacco is heated at low temperatures (para. 0081).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JANG et al. (US 2020/0359688) in view of JUMAN et al. (US 2024/0065313) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of LI et al. (CN 111480893).
Jang as modified by Juman teaches smoking article comprising a medium accommodation portion (11A in figure 1A) filled with cut tobacco leaves; a moisturizer accommodation portion (10a) disposed on one side of the medium accommodation portion and comprising an aerosol generating material (para. 0033); and a filter portion (12a). Modified Jang is silent to the direction the tobacco leaves are arranged.
Li teaches a tobacco product for producing fragrance. Li teaches the cut tobacco leaves are arranged in a same direction (translation page 3 “wherein preferably, the tobacco leaf is parallel to the axial direction…”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try the leaf direction suggested by Li in the smoking article of modified Jang because Li teaches that this provides airflow into the tobacco part that is similar to a linear air flow (trans. page 6 “In a preferred embodiment, the tobacco leaf 6 parallel to the axial direction…”).
Conclusion
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/CYNTHIA SZEWCZYK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741
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