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 Species 2A(ii), of which claims 16-31 and 33 currently read in the reply filed on is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the cited art did not provide evidence that the corresponding technical features between groups was a not a special technical feature. This is not found persuasive because the art used in the rejection below would also show that the technical features taught are not special.
It is noted that Applicant also disagreed with the Examiner’s use of the specification to identify species that might come into the claims in the future. This was done for compact prosecution so that a second restriction would not be necessary at a later time.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 16-21, 25, 29, and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Mironov et al. (US 2017/0231276).
Regarding claim 16, Mironov teaches an aerosol-generating system (Mironov para 2), comprising: an aerosol-forming substrate (Mironov para 76); a first electrode and a second electrode spaced apart from the first electrode (Mironov para 66, abs); an aerosol-generating device comprising (Mironov para 31):a power supply (Mironov para 75), and a controller configured to connect to the first electrode and the second electrode (Mironov abs, para 7, 72, 182); and a capacitor comprising the first electrode, the second electrode, and at least a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate (Mironov para 85), wherein the controller is configured to: supply an alternating voltage to the first electrode and the second electrode for dielectrically heating the aerosol-forming substrate (Mironov para 43), measure or determine an electrical property between the first electrode and the second electrode (Mironov para 6, 38, 39), and control heating of the aerosol-forming substrate based on the measured or determined electrical property (Mironov para 162).
Regarding claim 17, Mironov teaches an aerosol generating system as above for claim 16. Mironov further teaches the controller is configured to supply an alternating voltage to the first electrode and the second electrode for measuring or determining the electrical property between the first electrode and the second electrode (Mironov para 79-87).
Regarding claim 18, Mironov teaches the aerosol-generating system according to claim 16. Mironov further teaches that the controller is configured to determine an impedance between the first electrode and the second electrode (Mironov para 80).
Regarding claim 19, Mironov teaches the aerosol-generating system according to claim 17. Mironov further teaches that the controller is further configured to measure an alternating electrical current supplied to the first electrode and the second electrode when the alternating voltage for measuring or determining the electrical property between the first electrode and the second electrode is supplied (Mironov para 83).
Regarding claim 20, Mironov teaches the aerosol-generating system according to claim 19. Mironov further teaches that the controller is configured to control heating of a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate based on the measured alternating current (Mironov para 39, 80, 184).
Regarding claim 21, Mironov teaches the aerosol-generating system according to claim 10. Mironov further teaches the controller is configured to determine an impedance between the first electrode and the second electrode based on the measured alternating current, and wherein the controller is further configured to control heating of the aerosol-forming substrate based on the determined impedance (Mironov para 39, 80, 184).
Regarding claim 25, Mironov teaches the aerosol-generating system according to claim 16. Mironov further teaches that a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate is removably receivable between the first electrode and the second electrode (Mironov para 138), and wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether aerosol-forming substrate is received between the first electrode and the second electrode based on the measured or determined electrical property between the first electrode and the second electrode (Mironov para 136).
Regarding claim 29, Mironov teaches the aerosol-generating system according to claim 16. Mironov further teaches wherein the aerosol-forming substrate is removably receivable between the first electrode and the second electrode, and wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the aerosol-forming substrate received between the first electrode and the second electrode is authentic based on the measured or determined electrical property (Mironov para 136).
Regarding claim 33, Mironov teaches an aerosol-generating device for dielectrically heating an aerosol-forming substrate (Mironov para 38), the aerosol-generating device comprising (Mironov para 38): a first electrode and a second electrode spaced apart from the first electrode (Mironov para 38, 47); a power supply (Mironov para 75); and a controller configured to connect to the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to form a capacitor with a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate to be dielectrically heated (Mironov para 38, 47), and wherein the controller is further configured to: supply an alternating voltage to the first electrode and the second electrode for dielectrically heating a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate, measure or determine an electrical property between the first electrode and the second electrode, and control heating of the aerosol-forming substrate based on the determined electrical property (Mironov para 38, 39, 43,162).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 22-24, 26-28, 30, and 31 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 22-24, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest using a power supply with a DC/AC converter to supply a direct voltage to the converter, convert to it to AC voltage, then configure the controller to control the supply of the alternating voltage to the first and second electrodes, and finally to configure the controller to measure a direct electrical current supplied to the DC/AC converter.
Claims 23 and 24 are allowed for their dependency from claim 22.
Regarding claim 26, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest that the controller is configured to evaluate if an aerosol-forming substrate is present by determining there is no aerosol-forming substrate between the first and second electrodes. Further it does not teach or suggest preventing heating the aerosol-forming substrate is missing.
Regarding claims 27 and 28, while the prior art of record teaches measuring or determining an electrical property between the first and second electrode, it does not teach using that to determine the temperature of the aerosol generating substrate.
Claim 28 is allowed for its dependency from claim 22.
Regarding claim 30, while the prior art of record does teach the controller may be configured to determine authenticity of an aerosol generating substrate (as above for claim 29) it does not teach or suggest the controller preventing heating if the aerosol generating substrate is found to be inauthentic.
Regarding claim 31, the prior art of record does not teach or suggest an inductor arranged between the power supply and the capacitor comprising the first electrode, the second electrode, and at least a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate, wherein the inductor and the capacitor comprising the first electrode, the second electrode, and at least a portion of the aerosol-forming substrate form a resonant circuit having a resonant frequency, and wherein the resonant frequency is dependent on the measured or determined electrical property between the first electrode and the second electrode, and/or wherein the aerosol-generating device further comprises the first electrode and the second electrode.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAURA B FIGG whose telephone number is (571)272-9882. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 9a-6p Mountain.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Frank Vineis can be reached at (571) 270-1547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAURA B FIGG/Examiner, Art Unit 1781 9/30/26
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