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 § 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, 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cho (WO 2021145570).
Regarding claim 1, Cho discloses an aerosol-generating device (aerosol generating device 400, [76]) comprising:
a heater configured to heat an aerosol-generating substance (heater 420);
a battery configured to supply power to the heater (battery 410, [81]);
a resistance detection sensor configured to provide an output corresponding to resistance of the heater (detection circuit 730 with resistance element 731);
a switching element electrically coupled to the heater and being configured to permit the power to be supplied to the heater and to interrupt the power from being supplied to the heater (Cho discloses that the duty ratio of pulse width modulation PWM control is adjusted [110-111]--thus, a switching element is present to control the on/off duty cycle for PWM control); and
a controller configured to:
control the switching element to permit the power to be supplied to the heater during a first period (power is supplied to heating element during monitoring mode, [101-120]);
determine the resistance of the heater based on the output from the resistance detection sensor during the first period ([109]);
determine a duty ratio based on the determined resistance of the heater (determines duty ratio of PWM control on basis of change in resistance [110]); and
control the switching element to alternatingly cause the power to be supplied to the heater, and to interrupt the power supplied to the heater, in a manner corresponding to the duty ratio during a second period (Cho discloses control duty ratio of PWM control for heating mode, [110-111]--this involves alternating supplying/interrupting power).
Regarding claim 2, the first period and second period are alternately repeated (Fig. 6, 10).
Regarding claim 3, the first time period is shorter than a second time period (see Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 9, Cho discloses a cartridge configured to contain the aerosol generating substance in a liquid state and a heater disposed in the cartridge (see Fig. 5 and [84]).
Regarding claim 10, Cho discloses a method for operating an aerosol-generating device, the method comprising:
turning on a switching element electrically coupled to a heater in a first period in which power from a battery is supplied to the heater to heat an aerosol-generating substance (Cho discloses that the duty ratio of pulse width modulation PWM control is adjusted--thus, a switching element is present to control the on/off cycle for PWM control; power is supplied from battery 410 [76,81,101-120];
determining, in the first period, a duty ratio based on an output from a resistance detection sensor associated with the heater; and switching operation of the switching element to alternatingly cause the power to be supplied to the heater, and interrupt the power supplied to the heater, in a manner corresponding to the duty ratio during a second period ([101-120], Fig. 6, 10).
Regarding claim 11, Cho discloses an aerosol-generating device (aerosol generating device 400, [76]) comprising:
a heater configured to heat an aerosol-generating substance (heater 420);
a battery configured to supply power to the heater (battery 410, [81]);
a sensor configured to provide a value corresponding to resistance of the heater(detection circuit 730 with resistance element 731);
a switch electrically coupled to the heater and having an on state and an off state, wherein the on state permits the power to be supplied to the heater and the off state interrupts the power from being supplied to the heater (Cho discloses that the duty ratio of pulse width modulation PWM control is adjusted [110-111]--thus, a switching element is present to control the on/off duty cycle for PWM control); and
a controller configured to:
control the switch to be in the on state to permit the power to be supplied to the heater during a first period (power is supplied to heating element during monitoring mode, [101-120]);
determine the resistance of the heater based on the value of the sensor during the first period ([109]);
determine a duty ratio based on the determined resistance of the heater (determines duty ratio of PWM control on basis of change in resistance [110]); and
alternatingly control the switch from the on state to the off sate to corresponding cause the power to be supplied to the heater, and to interrupt the power supplied to the heater, according to the duty ratio during a second period (Cho discloses control duty ratio of PWM control for heating mode, [110-111]--this involves alternating supplying/interrupting power).
Regarding claim 12, the sensor is a current sensor ([109]).
Regarding claim 13, the sensor is a voltage sensor ([103-104]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-8 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record is represented by Cho (WO 2021145570), Sun (US 20210030070), and Novak (US 20200154787) which disclose an aerosol generating device comprising a heater, a battery, a resistance detection sensor, and PWM control based on monitoring mode and heating modes. Regarding claims 4 and 8, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest the controller is further configured to determine a time period corresponding to the first period based on the voltage of the battery detected by the voltage sensor. The first period corresponds to the monitoring period in Cho and Cho only discusses a fixed time period ([135]). Butin (US 20210145071) discloses controlling duration of probing pulse time intervals for determining temperature of a heating element ([0042]); however, the intervals are based on the temperature of the heating element. Cho (KR 20210125362) discloses measurement period time intervals for monitoring the voltage value of a heater in order to detect whether the heater operates normally. Cho '362 discusses long and short intervals wherein the measurement period is experimentally determined and stored in advance. Cho '362 does not teach or suggest the controller is further configured to determine a time period corresponding to the first period based on the voltage of the battery detected by the voltage sensor.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT C DYE whose telephone number is (571)270-7059. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EST.
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/ROBERT C DYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
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