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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-10 are pending and are subject to this Office Action. This is the first Office Action on the merits of the claims.
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.
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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ki et al (Publication No. WO2021167215A1, see provided copy) in view of Sant’Angelo (Publication No. US20150320109A1) and Osawa et al (Publication No. US20210045433A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Ki discloses a smoking article comprising:
a first part (Second segment 12) comprising a medium (i.e., second aerosol generating material) and a wrapper (15) wrapped around the medium (Fig. 1; [10, 52-54]; segments can be wrapped by a plurality of wrappers, such as a second wrapper over the second segment); and
a second part (First segment 11) comprising a multifunctional material (i.e., first aerosol-generating material) (Fig. 1; [10, 32]; the first-aerosol generating material is a crimped sheet impregnated with additives);
and the multifunctional material (i.e., first aerosol-generating material) comprises a moisturizer ([10, 31]; can have a moisturizing agent such as glycol or glycerin).
Ki does not disclose the following:
the multifunctional material has a glass transition temperature higher than 180°C;
the wrapper comprises a combustion improver;
Regarding (I), Sant' Angelo, directed to a smoking article, discloses the use of polyalkylene carbonate polymers as a burning material (Abstract, [0055]). It is disclosed that PAC can be constructed into a variety of forms such as a sheet that can be incorporated into a reconstituted tobacco sheet to mimic tobacco in modern cigarettes [0058]. PAC can also be used as a binder agent in smokable material, where PAC’s properties allow for a cleaner smoking experience [0054]. Furthermore, PAC’s have glass transition temperatures that can be specifically selected for to adjust the ease of handling cigarettes during the manufacturing process [0062-0067], wherein a suggested glass transition temperature range for the selected PAC is between 10°C and 200°C ([0010]; the claimed transition temperature range of more than 180°C is within the disclosed range and therefore considered prima facie obvious, see MPEP § 2144.05.I).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the multifunctional material disclosed by Ki to incorporate or be made of a PAC with a glass transition temperature of more than 180°C as disclosed by Kim, as both are directed to a smoking article, where Kim teaches the advantage of using a PAC smoking material for its clean burning properties and ease of manipulation during manufacturing due to its glass transition temperature [0054-0058].
Regarding (II), Osawa, directed to a wrapping paper for a smoking product, discloses that the wrapping paper having a section which a heat sensitive material (i.e., combustion improver) is added to the surface of said wrapper, wherein the heat sensitive material is selected from a group of organic acids or salts such as acetic acid, potassium acetate, sodium acetate, citric acid, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, tartaric acid, potassium tartrate, sodium tartrate, phosphoric acid, sodium phosphate, and potassium phosphate [0011-0013].
The addition of heat sensitive material in areas that are heated has the benefit of adjusting the color difference before and after heating the wrapper paper, making unpleasant discoloration when the smoking product is used less noticeable [0027]. Furthermore, the addition of heat sensitive material such as citric acid in about 1.2 percent by weight can act as a combustion improver [0101].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the wrapper disclosed by Ki to incorporate a combustion improver such as citric acid, as both are directed to a smoking article, where Osawa teaches the advantage of using a combustion improver such as citric acid for adjusting the color difference before and after heating the wrapper paper, making unpleasant discoloration when the smoking product is used less noticeable [0027].
Regarding Claim 2, Modified Ki further discloses the combustion improver is included in an amount in a range of 0.5 to 3.0 wt% based on the total weight of the wrapper (Osawa, [0101]; discloses addition in the amount of about 1.2 wt% which is within the claimed range).
Regarding Claim 3, Modified Ki further discloses the combustion improver comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of a citric acid-based compound, an acetic acid-based compound, a phosphate-based compound, and a tartaric acid-based compound [0011-0013, 0101].
Regarding Claim 4, Ki further discloses the multifunctional material (i.e., crimped sheet) comprises one or more of a paper sheet and a cellulose filament ([32-33]; discloses the crimped sheet can be made from paper or cellulose acetate).
Regarding Claim 5, Ki further discloses that the second part (11) with the multifunctional material (i.e., crimped paper aerosol-generating sheet) includes at least 30 mg of moisturizing material by weight [10, 32]. Ki does not explicitly disclose the moisturizer is included in an amount in a range of 1 to 10 mg/mm based on the total length of the multifunctional material.
However, it should be noted that the courts have held that, “where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation” (see MPEP § 2144.05.II).
In this case, Ki also discloses that the length of the second part (11) may range from 4 mm to 12 mm, which can subsequently be applied to the multifunctional crimped paper as it is stated to be included with the second part [33-34]. Since the minimum amount of moisturizer (i.e., at least 30 mg) and the length of the part/multifunctional material is known (i.e., about 4 mm to 12 mm), it would be well within the ambit of one ordinarily skilled in the art to routinely experiment with the material length and moisturizer content such that the moisturizer is included in an amount in a range of 1 to 10 mg/mm based on the total length of the multifunctional material.
Regarding Claim 6, Ki further discloses the second part (11) comprises a first region being in contact with the first part (12) (see annotated Fig. 1A; the second part can be divided into different regions, wherein the first region can be the region in contact with the first part); and
a second region that differs from the first region (see annotated Fig. 1A; the second part can be divided into different regions, wherein the second region is the region downstream the first region and not in contact with the first part); and
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the first region comprises the multifunctional material ([30-32]; the first region will comprise the multifunctional material by virtue of being a region of the second part whose entirety comprises the multifunctional material).
Regarding Claim 7, Ki further discloses the second region comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a cellulose acetate filter and paper ([31-33]; the second region is from the second part 11 and thus would comprise the same cellulose acetate and paper material as the second part; it is implied that the second region can be a filter since it comprises of the same material recited by the Applicant’s claim that is needed for a filter).
It is noted that while Ki does not specify that the crimped paper sheet is tube shaped, it should be noted that the change in form or shape, without any new or unexpected results, is an obvious engineering design (see MPEP § 2144.04.IV.B). In this case, the second part/second region is shown as a tubular component by Ki, who also states that the crimped sheet is not limited thereto (i.e., does not explicitly state it cannot be shaped otherwise).
Therefore, one ordinarily skilled in the art would find it to be an obvious engineering design choice to shape the crimped sheet into a paper tube with a reasonable expectation that the sheet will still predictably result in a segment part that is capable of being impregnated by additives and heated to generate aerosols.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ki et al (Publication No. WO2021167215A1, see provided copy) in view of Sant’Angelo (Publication No. US20150320109A1) and Osawa et al (Publication No. US20210045433A1) as applied to Claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim et al (Publication No. US20220142233A1).
Regarding Claim 8, Modified Ki further discloses an aerosol-generating system comprising:
an aerosol-generating device for heating a smoking article of Claim 1 (Ki, [30]; see Claim 1 rejection for full modification of the smoking article). The aerosol-generating device further comprises a heater configured to heat the first (12) and second (11) parts [66].
Modified Ki does not explicitly disclose the following:
the aerosol-generating device comprises a receiving space therein and a proximal end provided on one end thereof;
the smoking article is configured to be inserted into the receiving space; wherein
the receiving space comprises a first space adjacent to the proximal end and
a second space that differs from the first space;
the first space is filled with the first part and the second space is filled with the second part.
Regarding (I-IV), Kim, directed to an aerosol-generating system, discloses an aerosol-generating article 20000 (i.e., smoking article) coupled to an aerosol-generating device 10000, wherein the aerosol-generating article is a multi-segmented article with a first part (21000) and second part (22000) that is inserted into the aerosol-generating device (Figs. 1-4, 6; [0075]). The device further comprises accommodation space 12 (i.e., receiving space) for accommodating the aerosol-generating article (20000) (see Fig. 6; [0087]).
The first and second part of the aerosol-generating article is shown inserted into the accommodation space (12) said space can be divided into a first and second space corresponding to the first (21000) and second (22000) part that are adjacent to each other, wherein the first space is adjacent to a proximal end of the aerosol-generating device (see annotated Fig. 6; [0087]; the space and parts are arranged such that both parts can be heated, similar to how the device is configured in Ki).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to substitute the aerosol-generating device disclosed by Ki with the aerosol-generating device disclosed by Kim, as both are directed to an aerosol-generating system, where this involves substituting one known aerosol-generating device for a multi-segmented smoking article as disclosed by Ki, with another similar aerosol-generating device disclosed by Kim, to predictably result in an aerosol-generating system comprising an aerosol-generating device that has a receiving space for accommodating a multi-segmented smoking article to heat a first and second part of said smoking article.
Regarding Claim 9, Ki further discloses the aerosol-generating device further comprises a heater configured to heat the first (12) and second (11) parts [66].
Regarding Claim 10, Ki further discloses the second part (11) comprises a first region being in contact with the first part (12) (see annotated Fig. 1A; the second part can be divided into different regions, wherein the first region can be the region in contact with the first part); and
a second region that differs from the first region (see annotated Fig. 1A; the second part can be divided into different regions, wherein the second region is the region downstream the first region and not in contact with the first part); and
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and the aerosol-generating device further comprises a heater configured to heat the first part and the first region ([64-66]; the device is disclosed to have heaters that heat both the first part and the second part; the first region is a part of the first part and thus will naturally be heated along with the first part).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Vu P Pham whose telephone number is (703)756-4515. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th (7:30AM-4:00PM EST).
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/V.P./Examiner, Art Unit 1755 /PHILIP Y LOUIE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1755
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