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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: 50. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The subject matter of this application admits of illustration by a drawing to facilitate understanding of the invention. Applicant is required to furnish a drawing under 37 CFR 1.81(c). No new matter may be introduced in the required drawing. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). Paragraph 50 of specification references a figure 10 which is not present in the drawings. Paragraph 64 of specification references figures 11 and 12 which are not present in the drawings.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: the word “includes” should be removed from the specification paragraph 7, line 2, and paragraph 61 mislabels the inlet as 5242 instead of 5422.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 – 10 and 12 – 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong) and further in view of both US 20230363457 A1 (Thomas) and EP 1552916 A1 (Katayama) as evidenced by US 8535472 B2 (Kihara).
Regarding claim 1, Jeong teaches an electronic cigarette (200) (paragraph 2; figures 10 & 13) comprising a heater assembly (100) (paragraph 2; figures 1 – 3) which is formed to have a hollow cylindrical shape of which upper and lower portions are open such that a portion of the cigarette (10) is insertable thereinto (paragraph 46; figure 3). Figures 2 and 3 show a first protrusion (131) below the heater (111) which structurally supports the bottom of the heater (111) and is parallel to the heater lead portions (111d) with the first protrusion reading on the claim limitation of the lower pipe. The first cover member (114) and fixing member (113) together read on the claim limitation of an upper pipe and Jeong teaches that they are sequentially disposed to surround the first heater (111) (paragraph 62; figure 3 - 5). Figures 3, 4 and 5 further show the first cover (114) and fixing member (113) extending downwards to cover the circumference of the heater (111) and figure 3 shows the first cover (114) overlapping a circumference of the lower pipe (131) in a radial direction.
Jeong does not teach a light transmitting portion located on one of the lower pipe or the upper pipe at a position corresponding to the overlap; and a light absorbing portion located on the other one of the lower pipe or the upper pipe at the position corresponding to the overlap and integrally coupled to an inner circumferential surface of the light-transmitting portion. Thomas teaches an aerosol provision device (100) (paragraph 4; figure 1) comprising two pipes, a susceptor (132) and a funnel (140), which form the insertion space (131) along with part of the heater assembly (paragraph 92; figure 3). These pipes are fused together by a laser weld process to form a fluid seal (147) (paragraph 96; figure 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the screw connection of the cover member and first protrusion of Jeong with the laser welding method of joining of Thomas, with reasonable expectation of success, because Thomas indicates that the laser welding allows both a thermally conductive path to be formed between both portions of the heater assembly/insertion space (paragraph 94) and a fluid seal air path can be formed as well to prevent loss of air internally to the vape (paragraph 95).
Jeong modified by Thomas teaches an aerosol generating device with a heater assembly and insertion space comprising an upper and lower pipe fused through laser welding. Jeong modified by Thomas does not teach a light transmitting portion located on one of the lower pipe or the upper pipe at a position corresponding to the overlap; and a light absorbing portion located on the other one of the lower pipe or the upper pipe at the position corresponding to the overlap and integrally coupled to an inner circumferential surface of the light-transmitting portion. Katayama teaches a method of joining pipe-shaped articles comprising a resin member having transparency to laser light (11), with the inner surface of the end part having a tapered joining face, and the end part of a second pipe-shaped article comprising a resin member having absorbency for laser light (12), with the outer surface of the end part having a tapered joining face matching the tapered joining face of the end part of the first pipe-shaped article, are abutted together, and laser light (9) is irradiated from the first pipe-shaped article side, thereby laser-welding the joining faces to each other (figure 9; column 11 lines 22 - 32). Jeong modified by Thomas modifies the screw connections between the first cover (114) and the first protrusion (131) of Jeong with a laser welding method of joining of Thomas. Therefore, it would be obvious to modify the laser welded portion with the light transmitting and absorbing portions of Katayama thus placing the light transmitting and absorbing portions at an overlap and therefore coupled to each other. See figure 1 [AltContent: textbox (Figure 1 – figure 3 from 20200154766 A1 (Jeong) detailing the light absorbing and light transmitting portions of the first cover (upper pipe) and first protrusion (lower pipe). Light transmitting and absorbing portions overlap and are integrally coupled to each other.)]
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of office action below.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas, with the plastic laser welding method of joining of Katayama because the merits of thermoplastic laser welding include little thermal influence on laser absorbing neighborhood by local heat; no threat of mechanical vibration; feasibility of mutually welding fine parts or workpieces having three-dimensionally complicated structures; excellent reproducibility; feasibility of maintaining sufficient airtightness; excellent welding strength; difficulty of recognizing a boundary line of a welding position by visual observation; and no generation of dust are known in the art (paragraph 5 of Kihara). Additionally, laser welding is capable of achieving equal or more welding strength as compared with prior methods of joining resin parts including clamping by bolt, screw or clip, adhering by an adhesive material, vibration welding, or ultrasonic welding (paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 2, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described by claim 1. Jeong further teaches that the first cover (114) and fixing member (113) surround the first heater (111) (paragraph 62; figures 3 – 5) which reads on the claim limitation of the upper pipe covering an outer circumferential surface of the heating assembly. Additionally, figure 3 shows the first cover (114) covering an outer circumferential surface of the first protrusion (131) which reads on the claim limitation of the upper pipe covering an outer circumferential surface of the lower pipe. Jeong does not teach that the light-absorbing portion is located on the lower pipe, and wherein the light-transmitting portion is located on the upper pipe and surrounds an outer circumferential surface of the light-absorbing portion.
Katayama teaches a method of joining resin pipes using laser welding wherein the inner pipe (12) comprises a resin having absorbency for laser light, and an outer pipe (11) comprising a resin having a transparency to laser light (figure 9; column 12 lines 3 - 6). Figure 1 of office action above further indicates where the light absorbing portion would be located on the first protrusion/lower pipe (131) while the light transmitting portion would be located on the first cover/upper pipe (114).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas with the outer light transmitting and inner light absorbing portions of Katayama, with reasonable expectation of success, because Kihara indicates that merits of thermoplastic laser welding include little thermal influence on laser absorbing neighborhood by local heat; no threat of mechanical vibration; feasibility of mutually welding fine parts or workpieces having three-dimensionally complicated structures; excellent reproducibility; feasibility of maintaining sufficient airtightness; excellent welding strength; difficulty of recognizing a boundary line of a welding position by visual observation; and no generation of dust (paragraph 5).. Additionally, as long as the laser source for welding is outside the aerosol-generating device during manufacture, then the outer portion would need to be able to transmit light and the inner portion would need to absorb the light if the laser is to penetrate, heat, and weld the two pieces together.
Regarding claim 3, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 2. Figure 3 of Jeong teaches that at the screw connection of the first cover member (114) and the first protrusion (131), the thickness of the upper pipe (113/114) decreases compared to above the screw connection as the fixing member (113) does not extend down to the first protrusion (131) thus reducing the thickness of the upper pipe. Additionally, see figure 1 of office action above to see a decrease in the upper pipe thickness at the modified light-transmitting/light absorbing portion.
Jeong does not teach that the light-transmitting portion has a thickness less than a thickness of the circumference of the upper pipe around the light transmitting portion. Katayama teaches a method of joining resin pipes using laser welding wherein the inner pipe (12) comprises a resin having absorbency for laser light, and an outer pipe (11) comprising a resin having a transparency to laser light (figure 9; column 11 lines 22 - 32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas with the light absorbing and transmitting portions of Katayama, with reasonable expectation of success, because Kihara indicates that merits of thermoplastic laser welding include little thermal influence on laser absorbing neighborhood by local heat; no threat of mechanical vibration; feasibility of mutually welding fine parts or workpieces having three-dimensionally complicated structures; excellent reproducibility; feasibility of maintaining sufficient airtightness; excellent welding strength; difficulty of recognizing a boundary line of a welding position by visual observation; and no generation of dust (paragraph 5). When the device of Jeong is modified by Katayama in this way, then the light absorbing portion’s thickness is less than the thickness of the upper pipe, see figure 1 of office action above.
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Regarding claim 4, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 3. Figures 4 and 5 of Jeong further teach the upper pipe portion (first cover 114 and fixing member 113) has a radially inward depression at the top of first cover (114) which is highlighted in the figure below.
[AltContent: textbox (Figure 2 – figure 5 from US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong). The depression surrounding the upper portion of the first cover is indicated and circled in black.)]
[AltContent: textbox (Figure 3 - figure 5 from US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong). Flange protruding radially inward from inner circumferential surface of upper pipe is indicated by arrows. Flange found above heater (111) and is part of upper pipe structure (114/113).)]Regarding claim 5, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 2. Figure 5 of Jeong further teaches a flange found above the heater (111) protruding radially inward from the inner surfaced of the upper pipe (113/114) supporting the upper portion of the heater (111). See figure 3 of office action below.
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Regarding claim 6, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 5. Figure 3 of Jeong further teaches that a top portion of the first protrusion (131) supports a bottom surface of the heater (111) reading on the claim limitation of the lower pipe having an upper surface supporting the lower end of the heating assembly. See figure 4 of office action below.
[AltContent: textbox (Figure 4 – figure 3 of US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong). Upper surface of first protrusion (131) supports the bottom of the heater (111). Heater and first protrusion connection is circled and indicated with arrow)]
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Regarding claim 7, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described by claim 2. Figure 3 of Jeong further teaches a cigarette insertion space in the heater assembly which can be divided into two portions, one for the upper pipe (113/114) and one for the lower pipe or first protrusion (131). The lower insertion portion defined by the first protrusion (131) extends down from the upper insertion portion defined by the upper pipe (113/114) and is also in
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[AltContent: textbox (Figure 5 - figure 3 of US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong). Insertion portion of heater assembly can be divided into upper and lower portions corresponding to the upper pipe (113/114) and the lower pipe/first protrusion (131). The upper or first insertion space is highlighted in the solid black line, while the second insertion space is highlighted in the dotted black line. The second (lower) insertion space is in communication with the first insertion space and extends downward from the first insertion space.)]communication with the upper insertion portion. See figure 5 of office action below.
Regarding claim 8, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 7. Figure 3 of Jeong further teaches a stick supporter covering a portion of the lower end of the second insertion space. See figure 6 of office action below.
[AltContent: textbox (Figure 6 - figure 3 of US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong). The stick support portion is highlighted with the black line and is the bottom of the lower end of the second insertion space.)]
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Regarding claim 9, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 8. Jeong further teaches a movement passage (133) which is formed inside the supporting part (130), and the movement passage (133) connects the inside of the first protrusion (131) and the inside of the second protrusion (132) (paragraph 122; figure 3). Figure 3 further shows the movement passage is surround by the stick supporter where it connects with the insertion space, and it allows the insertion space to communicate with a space of the heating assembly outside the first protrusion/lower pipe (131).
Regarding claim 10, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 2. Figure 3 of Jeong further teaches that the first cover (114) and the first protrusion (131) overlap and support each other in a vertical direction. Figure 3 shows the bottom of the first cover comes to rest on a top surface of the first protrusion, and their overlapping portions interact to further secure the heater assembly.
Regarding claim 12, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described in claim 1. Katayama further teaches that when laser light is irradiated, the laser light is transmitted through the first pipe-shaped article comprising a resin member having transparency to laser light, the laser light transmitted reaches the surface of the second pipe-shaped article comprising a resin member having absorbency for laser light, and the laser light as absorbed on the joining face, whereby the second pipe-shaped article and the first pipe-shaped article abutted are melted and joined (column 11 lines 52 – 58 through column 12 lines 1 – 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas with the thermoplastic laser fusion method of joining of Katayama, with reasonable expectation of success, because Kihara indicates that this method of laser welding laser welding is capable of achieving equal or more welding strength as compared with prior methods of joining resin parts including clamping by bolt, screw or clip, adhering by an adhesive material, vibration welding, ultrasonic welding (paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 13, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol generating device as described by claim 12. Katayama further teaches a tapered joining face of the end part of the first pipe-shaped article (11) and the tapered joining face of the end part of the second pipe-shaped article (12) are abutted together and laser light (9) is irradiated from the first pipe-shaped article side, thereby laser-welding the joining faces to each other (column 11 lines 45 – 51; figure 9).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas with the thermoplastic laser fusion method of joining of Katayama, with reasonable expectation of success, because Kihara indicates that merits of thermoplastic laser welding include little thermal influence on laser absorbing neighborhood by local heat; no threat of mechanical vibration; feasibility of mutually welding fine parts or workpieces having three-dimensionally complicated structures; excellent reproducibility; feasibility of maintaining sufficient airtightness; excellent welding strength; difficulty of recognizing a boundary line of a welding position by visual observation; and no generation of dust (paragraph 5).
Regarding claim 14, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described by claim 1. Katayama further teaches that the resin having absorbency for laser light is not particularly limited as long as it has thermoplasticity, can be shaped into a pipe-shaped article such as gas pipe or into a fitting or flange, and exhibits sufficiently high absorbency for laser light. Examples thereof include those obtained by mixing a colorant having absorbency for laser light in a resin such as polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, polyamide, polyolefin (e.g., polyethylene, polypropylene, a copolymer of ethylene, propylene or the like, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polymethyl methacrylate, a copolymer of styrene, vinyl chloride, methyl methacrylate, vinylidene chloride or the like, and condensed-system engineering plastic (e.g., polycarbonate, polyamide, polyester, polyether, polyether ketone, polyether ether ketone, polysulfone, polyimide) (column 14 lines 3 – 18). Similar plastics are also taught for light transmitting plastics except they are not mixed with colorants having absorbency for laser light (column 15 lines 34 – 47).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas with the thermoplastic laser fusion method of joining of Katayama, with reasonable expectation of success, because Kihara indicates that merits of thermoplastic laser welding include little thermal influence on laser absorbing neighborhood by local heat; no threat of mechanical vibration; feasibility of mutually welding fine parts or workpieces having three-dimensionally complicated structures; excellent reproducibility; feasibility of maintaining sufficient airtightness; excellent welding strength; difficulty of recognizing a boundary line of a welding position by visual observation; and no generation of dust (paragraph 5).
Regarding claim 15, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol-generating device as described by claim 1. Katayama further teaches that a resin member having weak absorbency for laser light can be used as the resin member having transparency to laser light (column 16 lines 13 – 19). In particular, an additive having a transmittance of 40-90% for laser light is preferred (column 16 lines 40 – 42).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the laser welding method of joining the upper and lower pipes of the insertion space of Jeong modified by Thomas with the thermoplastic laser fusion method of joining plastics of Katayama, with reasonable expectation of success, because Kihara indicates that merits of thermoplastic laser welding include little thermal influence on laser absorbing neighborhood by local heat; no threat of mechanical vibration; feasibility of mutually welding fine parts or workpieces having three-dimensionally complicated structures; excellent reproducibility; feasibility of maintaining sufficient airtightness; excellent welding strength; difficulty of recognizing a boundary line of a welding position by visual observation; and no generation of dust (paragraph 5).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200154766 A1 (Jeong), US 20230363457 A1 (Thomas) and EP 1552916 A1 (Katayama) as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of US 20200015521 A1 (Kleizo).
Regarding claim 11, Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama teaches an aerosol generating device as described by claim 10. Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama does not teach that the lower pipe comprises a first support rib protruding along a radially outward direction from the outer circumferential surface of the lower pipe to be oriented in an upward direction, and that the upper pipe comprises a second support rib protruding along a radially inward direction from an inner circumferential surface of the upper pipe to be oriented in a downward direction and to be coupled to the first support rib. Kleizo teaches an annular or cylindrical sleeve (98’) which has a top shoulder (102’) that engages an upper circumferential ridge (104’) of the bottom housing member (42’) and catches the lower end of the upper circumferential ridge or collar (60’) of the battery contact cup (48’) at a location to prevent the lower end of the battery contact cup from engaging the bottom housing member (42’) while leaving an air space for battery gas venting and other purposes (paragraph 39; figure 12). The cylindrical sleeve (98’) reads on the claim limitation of a lower pipe while the housing member (42’) reads on the claim limitation of an upper pipe. The cylindrical sleeve has a small projection or rib (102’) protruding radially outward from the outer circumferential surface that engages with a rib that protrudes inward from the housing oriented in a downward direction. Annotated figure below.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the upper and lower pipes of Jeong modified by Thomas and Katayama with the first and second ribs of Kleizo because the ribs allow for improved fit of the upper and lower pipes ensuring they are properly aligned during the welding steps.
[AltContent: textbox (Figure 7 – figure 12 of US 20200015521 A1 (Kleizo). The upper and lower pipes are indicated with arrows along with the first and second ribs.)]
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Brendon Juengst whose telephone number is (571)272-8750. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Katelyn Smith can be reached at 571-270-5545. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRENDON THOMAS JUENGST/ Examiner, Art Unit 1749
/KATELYN W SMITH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1749
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