DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1, 4-7, and 9-17 in the reply filed on 8/7/2026 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)(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, 4, 6, and 9-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Potter (US 2014/0261486).
Regarding claim 1, Potter teaches a mouthpiece 630 for an aerosol provision system 510 [Fig. 4A-4B; 0080], the mouthpiece comprising an aerosol outlet channel 610 for delivering an aerosol to a user of the mouthpiece [0081], wherein the mouthpiece comprises a portion whose appearance is configured to change in response to a predetermined event [0084].
Regarding claim 4, Potter teaches the housing 630, whose appearance is configured to change [0084], at least partially surrounds the aerosol outlet channel 610 [Fig. 4A-4B
Regarding claim 6, Potter teaches the portion is configured to change colour in response to the predetermined event [0084].
Regarding claims 9-12, Potter teaches an electrically-powered indicia [0084]. Such an indicia is configured to change in response to a signal received from the aerosol provision system. The predetermined event is dependent on the determination and signal provided from the aerosol provision system, which is not a positively recited limitation. The mouthpiece of Potter is thereby interpreted as configured to operate as claimed.
Regarding claim 13, Potter teaches in response to the predetermined event, the appearance of the portion is configured to change by way of the portion displaying at least one indicia [0084].
Regarding claim 14-15, Potter teaches the portion whose appearance is configured to change in response to a predetermined event comprises: the appearance of the portion being configured to change in response a first predetermined event; and the appearance of the portion being configured to change in response a second predetermined event which is different from the first predetermined event, wherein the appearance of the portion is configured to change to a first appearance in response to the first predetermined event; and wherein the appearance of the portion is configured to change to a second appearance in response to the second predetermined event [0084].
Regarding claim 16, the combination of cartridge body 505 and housing 630 [Fig 4A-4B] may be interpreted as the mouthpiece. In this case, portion 630, whose appearance is configured to change in response to a predetermined event [0084], is configured to be releasably attached to the mouthpiece [0083].
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Potter as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Talon (US 2014/0345633).
Potter does not teach the mouthpiece comprises an electrically-powered flashing light [0084] but does not teach a display, and the portion comprises a user interface from the display. Talon teaches an aerosol generating system wherein information is conveyed to a user via LED lights or a display user interface [0086]. As it is prima facie obvious to substitute art recognize equivalents for the same purpose, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide with the mouthpiece of Potter a display, and the portion comprises a user interface from the display, to achieve predictable results, e.g. conveying information to a user.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Potter as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li (US 2016/0227841).
Potter teaches the color of the filter material within the mouthpiece may change color [0084] but does not specify how this color change is viewed by a user. Li teaches an electronic cigarette comprising an observation window to allow a user to view the interior of the device [0027]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the mouthpiece of Potter to comprise a window that at least partly covers the portion for allowing the portion to be observed through the window, to order to allow a user to view a color change of the filter.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Potter as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Talon and Yun (US 2021/0050557).
Potter does not teach the mouthpiece comprises an electrically-powered flashing light [0084] but does not teach a display, and the portion comprises a user interface from the display. Talon teaches an aerosol generating system wherein information is conveyed to a user via LED lights or a display user interface [0086]. As it is prima facie obvious to substitute art recognize equivalents for the same purpose, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide with the mouthpiece of Potter a display, and the portion comprises a user interface from the display, to achieve predictable results, e.g. conveying information to a user.
Modified Potter does not teach a polarised portion at least partly covering the portion. Yun teaches a display device comprising a polarizing layer to increase visibility of images displayed by reducing reflections and glare due to external light [0097]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include in the mouthpiece of modified Potter a polarised portion at least partly covering the portion for the reasons above suggested by Yun.
Conclusion
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/ERIC YAARY/Examiner, Art Unit 1755
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