DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 05/13/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 05/13/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
3. Applicant is advised that should claim 5 be found allowable, claim 6 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Blenkiron et al. (WO 0238192 A1, cited in prior office action).
Regarding claim 1, Blenkiron teaches a non-powered insect repellent device (Fig. 1-3), comprising:
a heating element (thermogenic materials in heating zones 5, Fig. 3) comprising a chemical compound configured to generate heating energy via an exothermic reaction (p.15, last paragraph);
a removable cover coupled with a portion of the heating element (bottom seal 8b, Fig. 3), wherein the portion of the heating element is configured to be exposed to air with the removable cover at least partially removed from the heating element (p.15, last paragraph);
an insect repellent element (carrier insert 6, Fig. 3) configured to emanate insect repellent solution (“Volatilizable materials are those which may be completely or partially in a liquid or solid phase at ambient temperature… Suitable volatile or volatilizable materials are those which can act as… insect repellents”, p.6, 3rd to 4th paragraph) in response to the heating energy (“but which can be vaporized by the heat generated by the thermogenic materials”, p.6, 3rd paragraph); and
a housing (cover 1 and base 2, Fig. 1-3) defining a cavity (see Fig. 3, showing hollow fluid conduits), a first opening (16, Fig. 3), and a second opening (15b, Fig. 2 and 3), wherein air flows through the first opening to the heating element (p.15, last paragraph), and wherein the housing (cover 1 and base 2, Fig. 3) is configured to provide vaporized insect repellent solution (volatile material from insert 6, Fig. 3) through the second opening (15b, Fig. 3 and p.15, last paragraph).
Regarding claim 2, Blenkiron teaches wherein the first opening defines a plurality of openings (various inlets 16, Fig. 4) to provide air to the heating element (heating zone 5, Fig. 3) with the removable cover (bottom seal 8b, Fig. 3) at least partially removed (punctured, p.15, last paragraph).
Regarding claim 3, Blenkiron teaches a third opening (15a, Fig. 3) fluidly coupled with the second opening (15b, Fig. 3) to define a conduit (see Fig. 4), the conduit configured to allow air to flow from the third opening to the second opening to provide vaporized insect repellent solution through the second opening (air flows from inlet 15a to volatilization zone 4, then exits through 15b, Fig. 3 and p.15, last paragraph).
Regarding claim 4, Blenkiron teaches wherein the second opening is positioned proximate a top of the housing (opening 15b is on top, Fig. 3), the device further comprising:
a third opening (15a, Fig. 3) fluidly coupled with the second opening (15b, Fig. 3) to define a conduit (see Fig. 4), the conduit configured to allow air to flow from the third opening to the second opening to provide vaporized insect repellent solution through the second opening (air flows from inlet 15a to volatilization zone 4, then exits through 15b, Fig. 3 and p.15, last paragraph).
Regarding claims 5 and 6, Blenkiron teaches a third opening (15a, Fig. 3) fluidly coupled with the second opening (15b, Fig. 3) to define a conduit (see Fig. 4), the conduit configured to allow air to flow from the third opening to the second opening to provide vaporized insect repellent solution through the second opening (air flows from inlet 15a to volatilization zone 4, then exits through 15b, Fig. 3 and p.15, last paragraph); and
a conductive liner positioned within the conduit and adjacent to the heating element (“The volatilization zone, as with the rest of the elements of the dispensing device herein, can be made of any suitable material which provides the requisite rigidity, strength, heat resistance/heat conductivity and compatibility with the materials to be held therein. Typically thermoplastic or thermosetting materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, acrylic resins, and the like, may be utilized to form the volatilization zone, e.g., within the insert.”, p.6, 2nd paragraph), the conductive liner to conduct the heating energy within the conduit (heat conductivity property of the material comprising the conduit/volatilization zone means the heating energy from the heating zone is conducted due to direct adjacency, Fig. 3-4).
Regarding claim 7, Blenkiron teaches a third opening (15a, Fig. 3) fluidly coupled with the second opening (15b, Fig. 3) to define a conduit (see Fig. 4), the conduit configured to allow air to flow from the third opening to the second opening to provide vaporized insect repellent solution through the second opening (air flows from inlet 15a to volatilization zone 4, then exits through 15b, Fig. 3 and p.15, last paragraph); and
a conductive liner positioned within the conduit and adjacent to the heating element (“The volatilization zone, as with the rest of the elements of the dispensing device herein, can be made of any suitable material which provides the requisite rigidity, strength, heat resistance/heat conductivity and compatibility with the materials to be held therein. Typically thermoplastic or thermosetting materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, acrylic resins, and the like, may be utilized to form the volatilization zone, e.g., within the insert.”, p.6, 2nd paragraph), the conductive liner to conduct the heating energy within the conduit (heat conductivity property of the material comprising the conduit/volatilization zone means the heating energy from the heating zone is conducted due to direct adjacency, Fig. 3-4),
wherein the insect repellent element (insert 6, Fig. 3) comprises a wicking material at least partially saturated with insect repellent solution (“Any material which will absorb, adsorb, or otherwise hold or carry the volatile or volatilizable material until the volatilization zone is exposed to the atmosphere can be employed as carrier or carrier substrate. Especially suitable carriers can include solid absorbent materials such as felt or cellulosics including cotton” (p.7, 2nd paragraph), the wicking material positioned within the conductive liner (heat-conductive materials in the volatilization zone 4 surrounding the carrier insert 6, Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, Blenkiron teaches wherein the housing (cover 1 and base 2, Fig. 3) comprises a thermally insulative material (“The holder may also preferably be constructed of thermochromic material such that at least a portion of the outside surface of the holder changes color upon heating”, p.12, 1st paragraph, where a thermochromic material has a conductivity value and thus has an insulation value (i.e., has a thermally insulative property).
Regarding claim 9, Blenkiron teaches wherein the exothermic reaction does not occur with the removable cover positioned over the first opening (p.10, 1st paragraph).
Regarding claim 10, Blenkiron teaches the heating element (thermogenic materials in heating zone 5, Fig. 3) further comprising a thermal material (“30% to 80% by weight of the combination of iron powder, from 3% to 25% by weight of the combination of carbon particles, from 0.5% to 10% by weight of the combination of a metal salt such as alkali metal or alkaline earth metal salts”, p.8, 2nd paragraph) and a hydrogel material (instant Specification [0036] describes the hydrogel material as “beads that include polymeric materials such as superabsorbent polymers” that are saturated with moisture as the water component of the thermogenic material, to which Blenkiron mentions (“thermogenic material combinations may also contain an additional water-holding particles (e.g., porous silicates) present to the extent of from 0.1% to 30% by weight of the combination”, p.8, 2nd paragraph).
The limitation of “the hydrogel material configured to increase a maximum temperature of the exothermic reaction” is directed to the function of the hydrogel material. All the structural limitations of the claim has been disclosed by Blenkiron and the hydrogel material is fully capable of increasing a maximum temperature of the exothermic reaction. As such, it is deemed that the claimed apparatus is not differentiated from the applicant' s invention (see MPEP §2114).
NOTE: this is a recitation of intended use / functional language, and so long as the prior art structure reads on the instant claimed structure, this limitation would be met because the same structure would be capable of the same function; in this case, the function of the hydrogel material increasing a maximum temperature of the exothermic reaction appears to be an intrinsic material property of the water-containing component within a thermogenic-material based exothermic reaction. While porous silicate particles containing water do not actively generate heat by themselves, it is the combination of the water in the porous silicate particles, the airflow, and the thermal material within the reaction described by both Blenkiron and the Applicant that facilitates the “increase of a maximum temperature of the exothermic reaction”.
Per MPEP 2114,II, claims cover what a device is, not what a device does. A claim containing a recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Aham Lee whose telephone number is (703)756-5622. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday, 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM EST.
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/Aham Lee/Examiner, Art Unit 1758
/MARIS R KESSEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1758
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