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 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 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.
Claims 16, 19-21, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi (CN114246365A, US-Pub 2023/0371597 being used as English equivalent)
Regarding claim 16, Qi discloses a heating element for an aerosol-generating device (11, fig 8), the heating element comprising: a first electrically resistive heating filament (122, 123, fig 8); and a heater complex (121, fig 8), the heater complex comprising a first carbon-fibre support layer comprising a carbon-fibre material (par. 0054).
Qi in the embodiment of fig 8 does not explicitly disclose on wherein the first electrically resistive heating filament is provided on the support substrate.
Qi teaches in the embodiment of fig. 1 wherein the electrodes can be directly printed on the heater complex (par. 0044) where it serves as support substrate.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the same electrode printing technique disclosed by Qi in the embodiment of fig 1 on the embodiment of fig 8. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that doing so would provide maximum heat transfer through the thermal contact.
Regarding claim 19, Qi discloses wherein the support substrate further comprises a first ceramic support layer comprising a ceramic material, the first ceramic support layer being in contact with the first carbon-fibre support layer (par. 0054, the carbon-fiber layer is the inner layer and then there’s an outer layer of ceramic).
Regarding claim 20, Qi discloses wherein the first electrically resistive heating filament is provided on the first ceramic support layer (par. 0044, the layer is printed onto the complex 121, which means that since the outer layer of the complex is the ceramic in fig 8, the electric heating filament would be placed on the ceramic layer).
Regarding claim 21, Qi discloses wherein the support substrate further comprises a second ceramic support layer comprising a ceramic material, the second ceramic support layer being in contact with the first carbon-fibre support layer (par. 0054, the ceramic layer wraps the carbon fiber layer, this means that there is a first part of the ceramic material on the first side and a second part of the ceramic material on the second side, in applicants invention as can be seen in fig. 7, the second ceramic layer is merely the same as the first ceramic layer but located on the other side of the carbon fiber support, this means that the first and second layer corresponds to the first and second sides of the ceramic wrap).
Regarding claim 30, Qi discloses an aerosol generating device (10, fig 8) comprising the heating element (121, fig 1) of claim 16, and a power source (13, fig 8) configured to provide electrical power to the first electrically resistive heating filament.
Claims 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi in view of Dumen (WO 2019/234142 A1)
Regarding claim 17, Qi does not disclose a second electrically resistive heating filament.
Dumen teaches a blade shaped aerosol heating element similar to Qi which has a second heating element on an opposing side of a first heating element (pg. 5, lines 4-10, each heating area refers to an individually controllable heat source such as filaments 250, fig 3 heating a separate area, meaning there would need to be at least two separate heat filaments on the bladed heating element).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the heating element disclosed by Qi by having a second heating filament based on the teachings of Dumen. Doing so would allow for greater flexibility with respect to what areas of the aerosol would need to be heated (pg. 1, lines 9-24), as suggested by Dumen.
Regarding claim 18, Qi as modified by Dumen in 17 discloses wherein the first carbon-fibre support layer comprises a first surface and an opposed second surface (par. 0054, Qi the complex is a sheet shape which would have a first and second opposed surface), the first electrically resistive heating filament being provided on the first surface of the first carbon-fibre support layer, and the second electrically resistive heating filament being provided on the second surface of the first carbon-fibre support layer (pg. 5, lines 4-10, Dumen, the second electrically resistive heating element is on the opposite side of the first in one embodiment).
Claims 22, 23, 26, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi in view of Fleischhauer (5591368).
Regarding claim 22, Qi does not disclose wherein the first ceramic support layer comprises silicon.
Fleischhauer teaches a heater for an aerosol generating device wherein the heater is covered in a ceramic mullite layer (col 15, lines 1-8), which contains silicon.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the ceramic layer disclosed by Qi by constructing it from a silicon containing ceramic based on the teachings of Fleischhauer. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that mullite has both excellent thermal stability and good mechanical strength making it an ideal material for heating.
Regarding claim 23, Qi does not disclose wherein the first ceramic support layer has a thickness of between 0.1 millimetres and 0.7 millimetres.
Fleischhauer teaches a heater for an aerosol generating device wherein the heater is covered in a ceramic layer which is between 0.1 and 0.7 mm (col 13, lines 1-15, the thickness is up to 10mils, which is .25mm which falls into the claimed range).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the ceramic layer disclosed by Qi by having it be between .1 and .7mm thick based on the teachings of Fleischhauer. Doing so would reduce undesired hot spots by reducing thermal transfer rates (col 14, lines 60-67), as suggested by Fleischhauer.
Regarding claim 26, Qi discloses a method for forming a heating element for an aerosol-generating device (11, fig 8), the method comprising steps of: providing a carbon-fibre material (par. 0054, fig 1).
Qi in the embodiment of fig 8 does not explicitly disclose on wherein the first electrically resistive heating filament is provided on the support substrate, and cutting a portion from the carbon-fibre material to form a heating element.
Qi teaches in the embodiment of fig. 1 applying a conductive material to a first surface of the carbon-fibre material to form a first electrically resistive heating filament (par. 0044),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used the same electrode printing technique disclosed by Qi in the embodiment of fig 1 on the embodiment of fig 8. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that doing so would provide maximum heat transfer through the thermal contact.
Fleischhauer teaches a method of forming a heating element which includes cutting a shape from a larger material (col 20, lines 40-50).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the method of constructing a heating element disclosed by Qi by cutting out the blade of the heating element based on the teachings of Fleischhauer. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that carbon fiber is often sold in large sheets and will need to be cut to size for use in a heating element.
Regarding claim 29, Qi discloses wherein the step of applying a conductive material to a first surface of the carbon-fibre material involves depositing a conductive material to a first surface of the carbon-fibre material (par. 0044).
Claims 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi in view of Hajaligol (5530225).
Regarding claim 25, Qi does not disclose wherein the first carbon-fibre support layer comprises a non-woven, unidirectional carbon-fibre material.
Hajaligol teaches a heater for an aerosol generating device wherein the carbon-fiber support layer (59, fig 2) is constructed of a non-woven, unidirectional carbon fiber mat (col 8, lines 59-67, non-woven mats are unidirectional as they do not have any overlapping structure)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the carbon fiber support disclosed by Qi by constructing it from a non-woven unidirectional carbon fiber mat based on the teachings of Hajaligol. Doing so would provide thermal stability (col 8, lines 59-67), as suggested by Hajaligol.
Claims 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi as modified by Fleischhauer in claim 23, further in view of Schneider (9674894).
Regarding claim 24, Qi does not disclose a protective coating around at least a portion of the first electrically resistive heating filament and the support substrate.
Schneider teaches a heater for an aerosol generating device (14, fig 2), wherein a protective coating (94, fig 5) is provided around a portion of an electrically resistive heating filament (84, fig 5) and a support substrate (80, fig 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the heating element disclosed by Qi by having a protective coating surround the heating element and support substrate based on the teachings of Schneider. Doing so would protect the heating element from oxidation and corrosion (col 4, lines 22-30), as suggested by Schneider.
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi as modified by Fleischhauer as applied to claim 26 above, and further in view of Dumen.
Regarding claim 27, Qi discloses a step of applying a conductive material to a second surface of the carbon-fibre material to form a second electrically resistive heating filament.
Dumen teaches a method of constructing a blade aerosol heater which includes the step of applying a conductive material on an opposing first and second surface of a heater substrate (col 3, lines 39-45).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the heating element disclosed by Qi by applying a conductive material to a first and second surface based on the teachings of Dumen. Doing so would allow for greater flexibility with respect to what areas of the aerosol would need to be heated (col 1, lines 30-40), as suggested by Dumen.
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qi as modified by Fleischhauer as applied to claim 26 above, and further in view of Schneider.
Regarding claim 28, Qi does not disclose a step of applying a layer of at least one of quartz and glass to the heating element to form a protective coating.
Schneider teaches a method of making a heater for an aerosol generating device (14, fig 2), wherein a protective coating (94, fig 5) of glass (col 4, lines 22-30) is applied around a portion of an electrically resistive heating filament (84, fig 5) and a support substrate (80, fig 5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the heating element disclosed by Qi by having a protective coating surround the heating element and support substrate based on the teachings of Schneider. Doing so would protect the heating element from oxidation and corrosion (col 4, lines 22-30), as suggested by Schneider.
Conclusion
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/SEAN V MEILLER/Examiner, Art Unit 3741
/DEVON C KRAMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3741
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