DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1, 10, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Batista (US 2020/0236998).
Regarding claim 1, Batista teaches an apparatus for use with a capsule that contains a smoking material containing one or more active agents [0027, 0032], the apparatus comprising: a smoking device comprising: a coil having an elliptical (non-circular) cross-sectional shape and configured to receive at least a portion of the capsule [0009]; and a power source configured to vaporize one or more of the active agents from within the smoking material by heating the smoking material via magnetic induction, by driving a current into the coil [0005, 0021]. As a result of having the same non-circular cross-sectional shape as claimed, a magnetic flux density generated within the coil being greater than that generated within a coil having a similar perimeter and a circular shape is interpreted to inherently occur in the apparatus of Batista.
Regarding claims 10 and 12, Batista teaches a conically shaped cavity configured to flatten at least part of a portion of the capsule that contains the smoking material upon the capsule being inserted into the smoking device [0022-0023], i.e. a funnel mechanical element.
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.
Claims 13-16 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 Batista.
The degree to which the capsule is flattened, resulting in a specific ratio between sides of the capsule, is dependent on the size and configuration of the capsule itself, which is not a positively recited limitation. Thus, the smoking device of Batista is interpreted as capable of (“configured to”) being used in the claimed manner. In the alternative, one of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to select the appropriate ratio in accordance with the desired degree to which the capsule is pressed [0022-0023]. In Gardner v. TEC Systems, Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984), the Federal Circuit held that, where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Rado (US 2018/0271147).
Batista teaches a control component [0042] but does not teach the claimed configuration. Rado teaches a vaporizing apparatus comprising a control component configured to: receive an indication from a user indicating whether they wish to smoke the active agents in a first mode or a second mode; in response to receiving an indication that the user wishes to smoke the active agents in the first mode, heat the smoking material to a vaporization temperature of the one or more active agents for a predefined period of time; and in response to receiving an indication that the user wishes to smoke the active agents in the second mode, only heat the smoking material to the vaporization temperature while receiving an active input from the user that they wish for the smoking material to be heated [0068-0071]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply this configuration to the control component of Batista to provide the user with more options for their vaporizing experience.
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista and Rado as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Lim (US 2020/0093185).
Modified Batista does not teach the claimed configuration. Lin teaches an aerosol generation device comprising a control component is configured to preheat the smoking material to a temperature that is below the vaporization temperature of the one or more active agents, prior to receiving the indication from the user indicating whether they wish to smoke the active agents in the first mode or the second mode, wherein the control component is configured to preheat the smoking material to the temperature that is below the vaporization temperature of the one or more active agents automatically, in response to the capsule being inserted into the smoking device [0095-0097]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply this configuration to the control component of modified Batista to speed up the heating process.
Claims 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista and Rado as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Habicht (US 2019/0037924).
Modified Batista does not teach the claimed configuration. Habicht teaches a vaporizer comprising a pre-heat setting. Selection of the pre-heat setting by a user may cause controller to cause application of less than about 2V to heat conductor. The pre-heat setting may allow a user to heat, but not vaporize, plant materials, extracts, or oils disposed in cup. The pre-heat setting may facilitate or improve a user's ability to clean the cup [0037]. In other words, the control component is configured to preheat the smoking material to a temperature that is below the vaporization temperature of the one or more active agents, prior to receiving the indication from the user indicating whether they wish to smoke the active agents in the first mode or the second mode, in response to an input from the user. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply this configuration to the controller of Modified Batista from the reasons above suggested by Habicht.
Claims 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista.
Batista does not teach the claimed ratio. However, Batista does discuss the various effects that the shape of the coil has on the heating and smoking process [0009-0010]. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to optimize the shape of the coil, including the ratio between sides, as a matter of routine experimentation to achieve the desired effects.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Monticone (US 2025/0176625).
Batista does not teach the smoking device comprises roller wheels configured to flatten at least part of the portion of the capsule that contains the smoking material upon the capsule being inserted into the smoking device. Monticone teaches an aerosol generating device comprising rotatable compression rollers (roller wheels) configured to compress (flatten) at least part of the portion of the capsule that contains the smoking material upon the capsule being inserted into the smoking device [0047-0048]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply this configuration to the device of Batista to improve heat transfer as suggested by Monticone [0034].
Claims 17-18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Batista as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fuisz (US 2022/0218023).
Batista teaches the smoking device is configured to receive a cylindrically-shaped elongate capsule [0008] but is silent to a length. Fuisz teaches the smoking device is configured to receive a cylindrically-shaped elongate capsule having a length of 83 mm [0087]. As this is a conventional capsule length known in the art, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the device of Batista to receive such a capsule length to achieve predictable results.
Conclusion
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/ERIC YAARY/Examiner, Art Unit 1755