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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention Group II in the reply filed on July 6, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-6 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 6, 2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS forms filed on December 20, 2023 and June 15, 2026 are hereby acknowledged and have been placed of record. Please find attached a signed copy of the aforementioned IDS forms.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Regarding claim 7, the recitation regarding the processor being “configured to perform: ...determining a property of liquid in the cartridge based on the measured temperature” is not reasonably enabled by the originally filed specification. The above-referenced limitation encompasses a great number of possible “properties” of a liquid, such as, but not limited to, any number of physical and chemical properties, electrical properties, mechanical properties, magnetic properties, acoustic properties, optical properties, thermodynamic properties, etc. However, the originally filed specification merely discloses the capability of determining only a single property of the liquid, i.e., the “composition ratio” of one or more substances constituting the liquid (see specification paragraphs [0009], [0015] and [0133]-[0152). Thus, for a person of ordinary skill in the art, it would require undue experimentation to practice all of the possible situations encompassed by the broad limitation discussed above.
Claims 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Regarding claim 7, with respect to the limitation of the processor being, “configured to perform: ...determining a property of liquid in the cartridge based on the measured temperature”, Applicant has not demonstrated possession of the broad concept encompassed by this limitation, beyond the single disclosed determining of a liquid “composition ratio”, as discussed in (at least) paragraphs [0009], [0015] and [0133]-[0140]. It should also be noted that dependent claim 10 limits “the property of the liquid” as being “a composition ratio of one or more substances constituting the liquid”. Thus, since a dependent claim is required to further limit any claim from which it depends, it can only be assumed that independent claim 7 is intentionally drafted to encompass more than just the “property” specified in claim 10, and thus it is clear that Applicant was not in possession of the scope of claim 7 when the application was filed.
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.
Claim 11 is 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.
Regarding claim 11, on lines 4-5, the introduction of “a memory storing the property information of the liquid at various temperatures of the vibrator” renders the claim unclear. What is the relationship between this “memory” introduced in claim 11, as compared to the “memory...” introduced on lines 2-3 of claim 1?
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 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Alfresa Pharma Corp. et al. (hereinafter “Alfresa”), JP 2005-102899 A.
As to claim 7, Alfresa shows and describes an electronic device (see Figs. 1-5) comprising: a memory (53 / 53a, 53b; see paragraphs [0034] and [0039]) configured to store property information of liquid at various temperatures of a vibrator (6) of a cartridge connected to the electronic device (the described liquid temperature data represents indirect temperature measurements of the vibrator, since heat from the vibrator is directly transferred to the liquid); and a processor (30) configured to perform: measuring a temperature of the vibrator (again, the described liquid temperature data represents indirect temperature measurements of the vibrator, since heat from the vibrator is directly transferred to the liquid); determining a property of liquid in the cartridge based on the measured temperature (see paragraph [0039]); setting a control factor of the vibrator according to the determined property (see paragraph [0051]); and generating an aerosol by controlling the vibrator based on the control factor (see again, paragraph [0051]). It is important to note that paragraph [0002] of Alfresa also expressly states the known concept of directly measuring vibrator temperatures; and, Applicant’s own specification (see the last sentence of paragraph [0130]) expressly states that vibrator temperatures of the instant application device can optionally “be determined by measuring at least one or a temperature of a transfer element or a temperature of a liquid in the cartridge, as an alternative to the measurement of the temperature of the vibrator itself”. Further, at least prior art documents to Reinhart et al. (US 2022/0047818) and Jung et al. (KR-20220013161-A), already made of record in the instant application file, also demonstrate the known concept of directly measuring temperatures of an ultrasonic vibrator of a liquid atomizing device, in order to determine information related to the liquid intended to be atomized by the device.
As to claim 8, Alfresa shows the electronic device of claim 7, and wherein the measuring of the temperature of the vibrator comprises: measuring the temperature of the vibrator using a temperature sensor (13) embedded in the electronic device or the cartridge (see paragraph [0039]).
As to claim 9, Alfresa shows the electronic device of claim 7, and wherein the measuring of the temperature of the vibrator comprises: measuring the temperature of the vibrator after a preset time has elapsed from start of heating of the electronic device (see paragraph [0040]).
As to claim 10, Alfresa shows the electronic device of claim 7, and wherein the property of the liquid is a composition ratio of one or more substances constituting the liquid (see paragraph [0039]).
As to claim 11, Alfresa shows the electronic device of claim 7, and wherein the determining of the property of the liquid in the cartridge based on the measured temperature comprises: obtaining the property of the liquid corresponding to the measured temperature by referring to the memory storing the property information of the liquid at various temperatures of the vibrator; and determining the obtained property of the liquid as the property of the liquid in the cartridge (see paragraph [0039]).
As to claim 12, Alfresa shows the electronic device of claim 7, and wherein the control factor of the vibrator comprises at least one of an initial preheating time, a vibrator driving frequency, a vibrator driving voltage, a vibrator driving current, or a duty cycle of a vibrator driving signal (the controlled operation of the vibrator discussed by Alfresa in at least paragraph [0051] would be recognized as implicitly including one or more of the recited control factors).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Patents to Yamagata et al. and Bentvelsen et al., are cited as of interest.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DARREN W GORMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4901. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:30-4:30.
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, Arthur Hall can be reached at (571)270-1814. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DARREN W GORMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3752
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