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
Claims 11-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected groups II, III and IV, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/21/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 8/21/2026 is acknowledged.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Frake (WO 2020165450).
Regarding claim 1, Frake discloses an aerosol provision device (110, figs. 1 and 3) for generating an aerosol from aerosol generating material received by the aerosol provision device, the aerosol provision device comprising:
a controller (124, figs. 1 and 3; (Abstract and page 3)) for controlling an amount of power supplied to an aerosol generator to generate aerosol from the aerosol-generating material; and
a sensor (electrodes 128 and 130 for measuring the capacitance of the capacitor; also see pages 3-4) configured to estimate a level of moisture of the aerosol-generating material;
wherein the controller is configured to select an amount of power to supply to the aerosol generator based on the estimated level of moisture (124, figs. 1 and 3; (Abstract and pages 3-4)).
Regarding claim 2, Frake discloses the controller is configured to control the amount of power supplied to the aerosol generator by applying power in accordance with an aerosol generation profile, wherein the controller is configured to select an aerosol generation profile based on the estimated level of moisture (claim 1 and page 6).
Regarding claim 3, Frake discloses wherein the controller is configured to select the aerosol generation profile from a plurality of predetermined aerosol generation profiles (claim 1 and page 6).
Regarding claim 4, Frake discloses wherein the controller is configured to select the aerosol generation profile by generating the aerosol generation profile using the estimated moisture level (claim 1 and page 6).
Regarding claim 5, Frake discloses the aerosol generator is a heater (120, Abstract) and the aerosol generation profile is a heating profile (the power to the heater in accordance with a predetermined power profile corresponding to the claimed a heating profile) (page 6)) .
Regarding claim 6, Frake discloses an aerosol system comprises the aerosol provision of claim 1, and a consumable (by reference sign 142, fig. 3 and Abstract) for use with the aerosol provision device, wherein the consumable comprises the aerosol-generating material (page 18, line 27-31).
Regarding claim 7, Frake discloses the aerosol-generating material comprises a solid aerosol-generating material (page 18, line 27-31).
Regarding claim 8, Frake discloses wherein the consumable comprises a conductive material (when electrodes (128 and 130) move in to contact with the aerosol-generating material (142) upon insertion as seen on fig. 3), wherein the sensor is configured to estimate a level of moisture by measuring an electrical characteristic via the conductive material (Abstract and page 3).
Regarding claim 9, Frake discloses wherein the conductive material is configured to move into contact with the aerosol-generating material upon insertion or attachment of the consumable to the aerosol provision device (see figs. 1-3).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Frake (WO 2020165450) in view of Morimoto (U.S Pub. No. 20040008038).
Regarding claim 10, Frake discloses the conductive material is a conductive plate (figs. 1 and 3 and page 10) but does not expressly disclose conductive ink. Conductive plate and conductive ink are well known equivalent as capacitance electrodes as evidenced by Morimoto [0052]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to use conductive plate and/or conductive ink as the conductive material in Frake as taught by Morimoto.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHU H NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-5931. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/PHU H NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 1747
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