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 .
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 22 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.
Claim 22 recites “the second component comprises multiple grooves, such that each groove forms part of the at least one airflow channel”. The recitation of “each groove” is recited previously for the first component and without differentiating the grooves of the first component from those of the second, the second recitation of “each groove” is indefinite. Specifically, “each groove” could refer to those of the first and/or second components.
Claims 23 and 25 are rejected for depending from claim 22.
Claim 24 recites the limitation "each consecutive position" in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 25 recites the limitation "each consecutive position" in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 26 recites the limitation "the cavity" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-21 and 27-36 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
With respect to claim 17:
HAWES et al. (US 2020/0154778) discloses an aerosol (Paragraph [0061]) generating device (Abstract) comprising a housing, 121 and 113 (Paragraphs [0066], [0067], [0102]; Figures 2A-3B); and a flow control structure, 250 (e.g., resistance-to-draw modifying element) that enables adjustable control over resistance to draw (Paragraphs [0092], [0093]; Figure 3B). The resistance to draw modifying element comprises a first component, 211-2 (Paragraph [0083]; Figures 2B, annotated below) and a second component, 250. Between these two components is an airflow channel (between items 164 and 260-1…N) (Paragraphs [0093]; Figure 2B) that is formed by their mutual cooperation. The second component is rotatable with respect to the first component (Paragraph [0093]) between at least a first and second position (e.g., each orifice 260-1 to 260-N represents a different position that the second component is movable to; Figure 2C).
Given that the second component is rotatable with respect to the first, the inverse is also implicitly true. Specifically, the second component is able to be held while the first component is rotated by holding the second component and rotating the housing.
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HAWES et al. discloses that openings, 260-1 to 260-N vary in size (Paragraph [0093]) and there is only a single opening, 132. Thus, as the different openings in the second component align with the opening of the first component, the total surface area of the airflow channel would change. However, the sum of the cross-section area would also change between the two aligned opening. Thus, there cannot be a relationship in which the combined surface area changes and the cross-sectional area remains the same. Both must change given the structure of the openings in HAWES et al.
JANG et al. (US 2022/0400741) discloses an aerosol generating device (Abstract; Title) comprising a housing, 10 (Paragraph [0046]; Figure 6) a first component, 2, and a second component, 41 (Paragraphs [0088], [0089]). First and second component are rotatable with respect to each other (Paragraphs [0083], [0084]) and they form an airflow channel between them. The second component is rotated to cover at least one perforation so as to regulate the air volume (Paragraphs [0085]-[0086]).
However, like HAWES et al., once one of the perforations, 3, are covered, the both of the collective surface area of the airflow channel, and the collective cross-sectional area change.
BLICK et al. (US 2013/0139836) and DUBIEF (US 2014/0353856) teach similar airflow control mechanisms to JANG et al. and suffer the same deficiencies.
HEPWORTH et al. (US 2018/0256834) discloses an aerosol provisioning system with variable airflow (Abstract; Title). The airflow is controlled by rotating a structure (Paragraphs [0044]-[0047]; Figure 3-5). As seen in figure 5, specifically, the shapes of the openings are not uniform. Thus, there may be a non-proportional relationship between the combined cross-sectional area and the combined surface area. However, there is no explicit teaching of such, and furthermore, the exact dimensions of the openings are unknown. Without the exact dimensions the cross-sectional area and the surface area cannot be determined in either a first or a second position.
LEADLEY et al. (US 2019/0083720) discloses a vapor provisioning apparatus (Abstract) that comprises channels that are designed with more rotations or a greater number of walls to change the draw resistance (Paragraph [0072] and [0079]). However, these structures are fixed and not rotatable with respect to any other part of the housing.
MOLONEY et al. (US 2021/0015158) discloses a control device for an electronic aerosol provisioning system (Abstract; Title). It is noted that the cross-sectional profile shape, even along its length may change to alter the resistance to draw (Paragraph [0030]). However, like LEADLEY et al., the cross section is a fixed pre-designed structure, and not a relatively rotatable one as is claimed.
It is noted that the cross sectional area would be calculated according to the equation: A=
π
R
2, and does not rely on the length of the length of the channel. The surface area of the channels would be calculated according to the equation: AS=h(2𝞹R), where h is the length of the channel. As seen, the surface area, AS, relies on both the radius of the channel as well as the length of the channel. One possible way to have the cross-sectional area remain the same while having the surface area change is to increase or decrease the length of the channels, while keeping the radius of the channels the same. However, the aforementioned art does not teach such a feature. The cited prior art has either fixed structures that are predesigned with increased or decreased length (e.g., increased or decreased surface area) or increased or decreased cross-section (e.g., increased or decreased fixed cross-sectional area), or variable channels that appear to change both of the surface area and the cross-sectional area. Moreover, there may be other methods by which the surface area may change, but the cross-sectional area of the channel may remain the same. The prior art does not teach any manner in which to perform this claimed feature, per se.
Conclusion
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/ALEX B EFTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1745
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