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 .
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 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.
In addressing the rejection ground, each claim may not have been separately discussed to the extent the claimed features are the same as or similar to the previously-discussed features; the previous discussion is construed to apply for the other claims in the same or similar way.
In the office action, “/” should be read as and/or as generally understood. For example, “A/B” means A and B, or A or B.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites “and an integrated circuit (IC) including the power supply terminal”. It should be recited as --and an integrated circuit (IC) including a power supply terminal—because the power supply terminal of the IC and the power supply terminal of the controller are not the same.
Claims 2-16 are objected to based on the dependency from claim 1.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 9-12 and 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan Tobacco Inc. (Hereinafter Japan Tobacco, JP 6864140, see IDS; please see US 2024/0315346 for the English translation) in view of Bae. et al. (US 2019/0362922) [or Toyota Motor Corp. (hereinafter Toyota, JP 2014-151720, see IDS)].
Regarding claim 1, Japan Tobacco discloses a power supply apparatus [see at least fig. 4] of an aerosol generation device, comprising: a power supply [e.g. 12]; a first electric connector [e.g. 41] configured to be connected to a heater [e.g. 21] configured to heat an aerosol source by consuming power supplied from the power supply; a controller [e.g. MCU] configured to control supply of power from the power supply to the heater and including a power supply terminal [e.g. VDD] to which power for operation is input; and an integrated circuit (IC) [e.g. 65/15/64/63] including the power supply terminal [e.g. VCC_C] to which the power for operation is input and that is separated from the controller, wherein the power supply terminal of the controller is configured to be supplied with a second system voltage [e.g. from the output of LDO] generated from the power supply, and the power supply terminal of the IC is supplied with a first system voltage [e.g. from the output of charging IC 55/second DC/DC 64] generated from the power supply.
Japan Tobacco does not disclose a restart circuit configured to restart the controller. However, it’s well-known to utilize a restart circuit configured to restart a controller. For example, Bae discloses to utilize a restart circuit [e.g. 17] configured to restart a controller [e.g. 32, see at least fig. 2] (or Toyota discloses to utilize a restart circuit [e.g. 42/34] configured to restart a controller [e.g. 16, see at least para. 0094]), such that the combination discloses the power supply terminal of the controller is configured to be supplied with a second system voltage [e.g. from the output of LDO, Japan Tobacco] generated from the power supply, and the power supply terminal of the IC is supplied with a first system voltage [e.g. from the output of charging IC 55/second DC/DC 64, Japan Tobacco] generated from the power supply even while the controller is restarted by the restart circuit [the first system voltage is irrelevant to the restart of the controller, see at least fig. 4 of Japan Tobacco]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device disclosed by Japan Tobacco in accordance with the teaching of Bae (or Toyota) regarding to restart a controller in order to prevent the controller running in a faulty state [para. 0094].
Regarding claim 2, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second system voltage is generated from the first system voltage [e.g. from the output of charging IC 55 Japan Tobacco].
Regarding claim 4, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 2, further comprising: a switch [e.g. 42 Toyota] including an input terminal; an output terminal connected to a power supply terminal of the controller and configured to output the second system voltage; and a control terminal, wherein the switch is configured to close electrical connection between the input terminal of the switch and the output terminal of the switch, and the first system voltage is input to the input terminal and the control terminal. The combination does not explicitly disclose to when a high-level voltage is input to the control terminal of the switch, and the first system voltage is input to the input terminal and the control terminal. However, it’s notorious well known to utilize a n-type/p-type transistor to receive a logic voltage at the control terminal to turn on/off the switch. The official notice of the forgoing fact is hereby taken. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide a high-level voltage to the control terminal of the switch, and the first system voltage is input to the input terminal and the control terminal.
Regarding claim 5, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 4, wherein the restart circuit [e.g. 34 Toyota] is configured to input a low-level signal to the control terminal of the switch.
Regarding claim 9, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a voltage conversion circuit [e.g. 55/62 Japan Tobacco] configured to generate the first system voltage by converting a voltage supplied from the power supply.
Regarding claim 10, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 9, wherein the voltage conversion circuit includes a step-up/down DC/DC converter [e.g. 62 Japan Tobacco].
Regarding claim 11, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of unit of an aerosol generation device according to claim 10, further comprising: a second electric connector configured to be receptacle electrically connected to an external power supply [see 43, fig. 4 Japan Tobacco], wherein the voltage conversion circuit is configured to convert a voltage supplied from the second electric connector receptacle to generate the first system voltage.
Regarding claim 12, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 1, wherein in response to supply of the second system voltage being stopped, a supply of an operating voltage to a vibration motor [e.g. 47 fig. 4 Japan Tobacco, the supply voltage to 47 is from LDO 62] is stopped.
Regarding claim 14, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 11, wherein in response to a voltage input to the step-up/down DC/DC converter, the first system voltage remains constant based on the step-up/down DC/DC converter selectively executing step-up and step-down [see at least fig. 4 Japan Tobacco].
Regarding claim 15, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first system voltage is input into the input terminal of the switch and an input terminal of the restart circuit [see at least fig. 3 Toyota].
Regarding claim 16, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 15, wherein in a state in which the first system voltage is generated in the step-up/down DC/DC converter, the switch and the restart circuit operate simultaneously.
Claims 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan Tobacco Inc. (Hereinafter Japan Tobacco, JP 6864140) in view of Bae. et al. (US 2019/0362922) [or Toyota Motor Corp. (hereinafter Toyota, JP 2014-151720)] and Olympus Optical CO LTD (hereinafter Olympus, JP H09-192095, see IDS).
Regarding claim 6, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a storage IC [e.g. memory 19, para. 0039, fig. 6] configured to store input information, wherein the IC includes the storage IC. It’s well-known to store input information in a memory. For example, Olympus discloses a memory [e.g. 60 see at least figs. 20, 21] configured to store input information. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device disclosed by Japan Tobacco and Bae (or Toyota) in accordance with the teaching of Olympus regarding a memory in order to utilize well-known memory to store input information.
Regarding claim 7, the combination discussed above discloses the power supply apparatus of claim 6, wherein the controller restarted by the restart circuit is configured to execute a predetermined function based on the information stored in the storage IC [e.g. 60 see at least figs. 20, 21 Olympus].
Claim 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japan Tobacco Inc. (Hereinafter Japan Tobacco, JP 6864140) in view of Toyota Motor Corp. (hereinafter Toyota, JP 2014-151720).
Regarding claim 17, Japan Tobacco discloses a power supply apparatus of an aerosol generation device, comprising: a battery [e.g. 12 fig. 4 Japan Tobacco] configured to supply power to a heater [e.g. 21] to heat an aerosol source; a controller [e.g. MCU] configured to control supply of power from the power supply to the heater and including a power supply terminal [e.g. VDD] to which power for operation is input; and a storage integrated circuit (IC) [e.g. 65/15/64/63] including a power supply terminal [e.g. VCC_C] to which the power for operation is input and that is separated from the controller, wherein the power supply terminal of the controller is configured to be supplied with a second system voltage [e.g. from the output of LDO] generated from the battery, and the power supply terminal of the storage IC is supplied with a first system voltage [e.g. from the output of charging IC 55/second DC/DC 64] generated from the battery even while the controller is restarted by the switch driver. Japan Tobacco does not disclose a switch driver configured to restart the controller. However, Toyota discloses to utilize a switch driver [e.g. 34/42] configured to restart a controller [e.g. 16, see at least para. 0094]), such that the combination discloses the power supply terminal of the controller is configured to be supplied with a second system voltage [e.g. from the output of LDO, Japan Tobacco] generated from the power supply, and the power supply terminal of the IC is supplied with a first system voltage [e.g. from the output of charging IC 55/second DC/DC 64, Japan Tobacco] generated from the power supply even while the controller is restarted by the restart circuit [the first system voltage is irrelevant to the restart of the controller, see at least fig. 4 of Japan Tobacco]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device disclosed by Japan Tobacco in accordance with the teaching of Toyota regarding to restart a controller in order to prevent the controller running in a faulty state [para. 0094]. Please see also rejection of claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 8 and 13 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK C CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7207. The examiner can normally be reached M-F Flexible 9:00-5:30.
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/PATRICK C CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2842