DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 6/22/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claims 1 and 10 recite the limitation "the low power mode". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, “the low power mode” will be interpreted as “the power-saving mode”.
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, 3-5, and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Murison (US 2017/0064997).
Regarding claims 1 and 5, Murison teaches an electronic cigarette vaporizer system (non-combustible aerosol provision system) comprising: an heating unit (aerosol generator) to generate aerosols [0158]; a power source to supply power to the aerosol generator [0171, 0179]; and a Bluetooth connection (transmitter/receiver element) configured to communicably couple the non-combustible aerosol provision system to a smartphone (user device) [0589, 0615]; wherein the non-combustible aerosol provision system is operable in a standard mode and a discrete (power-saving) mode, wherein when the non-combustible aerosol provision system is in the power-saving mode, the power source is configured to supply less power to the aerosol generator than when the non-combustible aerosol provision system is in the standard mode; and wherein the transmitter/receiver element is configured to receive an instruction from the user device, the instruction configured to cause the non-combustible aerosol provision system to enter the power-saving mode [0298-0303].
Regarding claims 3-4 and 7-8, Murison teaches the discrete mode involves reducing the power delivered to the aerosol generator, compared to a normal mode, e.g. by 10% [0302]. This is interpreted as the instruction comprises one or more instructions that write a specific power range for aerosol generator, wherein the specific power range is a specific power value. Since vapor (aerosol) is still generated in the discrete mode, just a decreased amount [0301], a minimum power is necessarily supplied. Thus, the power source is configured to supply, when in the power saving mode, a minimum operational power to the aerosol generator, and a power within a contiguous subset of an overall operational power settings range of the aerosol generator, the subset including a minimum operational power setting.
Regarding claims 9 and 10, Murison teaches the system includes indicator lights which are dimmed in the power-saving mode [0053]. In other words, the power source is configured to supply, when in the power-saving mode, a low operational power level to the one or more indicator lights.
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murison as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hoffman (US 2018/0020727).
Murison does not teach the instruction comprises one or more instructions to operate according to low power mode instructions previously stored by the system. Hoffman teaches an electronic smoking device comprising instructions to operate different modes according to instructions previously stored by the device [0082]. In view of Hoffman, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to configure the system of Murison such that the instruction comprises one or more instructions to operate according to low power mode instructions previously stored by the system. One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the instructions must be conveyed somehow to the system and the results associated with simply previously storing the instructions in the system as suggested by Hoffman would have been predictable to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murison as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bellinger (US 2013/0104916).
Murison teaches the aerosol generator comprises a heater [0302] but does not teach the power source is configured to supply less power to the aerosol generator by reducing a power supply voltage to the heater. Bellinger teaches an electronic vaporizer wherein a power source is configured to control power to the aerosol generator by adjusting a power supply voltage to the heater [0031, 0032, 0036]. As this is a conventional technique known in the art for controlling power, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply the device of Murison such that the power source is configured to supply less power to the aerosol generator by reducing a power supply voltage to the heater to yield predictable results.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murison as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Cameron (US 2017/0135412).
Murison teaches the system includes a processor [0133, 0164] but does not teach a power-saving mode wherein the power source is configured to supply less power to the processor. Cameron teaches an electronic vapor device including a sleep mode which reduces an amount of power consumed by the controller [0047], i.e. by supplying less power to the controller. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in this art to further include such a power-saving sleep mode with the system of Murison, wherein the power source is configured to supply less power to the processor, for the benefit of energy savings.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC YAARY whose telephone number is (571)272-3273. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Philip Louie can be reached at (571)270-1241. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ERIC YAARY/Examiner, Art Unit 1755
Prosecution Insights