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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 3 contains the trademark/trade name Kovar. Where a trademark or trade name is used in a claim as a limitation to identify or describe a particular material or product, the claim does not comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. See Ex parte Simpson, 218 USPQ 1020 (Bd. App. 1982). The claim scope is uncertain since the trademark or trade name cannot be used properly to identify any particular material or product. A trademark or trade name is used to identify a source of goods, and not the goods themselves. Thus, a trademark or trade name does not identify or describe the goods associated with the trademark or trade name. In the present case, the trademark/trade name is used to identify/describe nickel-cobalt ferrous alloy and, accordingly, the identification/description is indefinite.
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) 1-3, 7-8, 10 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (WO 2021246621 with U.S Pub. No. 20220354184 for citation) in view of Wang et al. (CN103268868).
Regarding claim 1, .Kim discloses a heating apparatus for an aerosol generating device, comprising:
a vacuum insulator having a main longitudinal axis and comprising an inner wall (by reference sign 10, figs. 9-12) and an outer wall (by reference sign 20, figs. 9-12 and 50, figs. 11-12) between which a vacuum is enclosed [0060];
a cavity in which an aerosol forming substance (by reference sign 7, fig. 14) is configured to be received, positioned radially inwardly of the inner wall;
a heater (40c, figs. 9-12) provided inside the vacuum insulator in thermal contact with the inner wall of the vacuum insulator, and configured to heat an aerosol forming substance received in the cavity by thermal conduction to generate an aerosol (see fig. 14 and [0068-0072] ; and
one or more wires (40f, figs. 9-12) configured to connect the heater to a power source, wherein the one or more wires extend through at least one hole (50f, figs. 11) in the outer wall of the vacuum insulator, and
Kim does not expressly disclose the thermal expansion matching of the wire and an insulator. Wang discloses the one or more wires are circumferentially surrounded by an insulator; wherein the insulator comprises glass and the one or more wires are made from a material that has thermal expansion characteristics that substantially match the thermal expansion characteristics of the insulator [0033]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have the wire and the insulator having thermal expansion characteristics that substantially match so that they can expand together.
Regarding claim 2, Kim discloses wherein the one or more wires comprises a first wire that extends through a first hole in the outer wall and a second wire that extends through a second hole in the outer wall (figs. 11-12 and 13A).
Regarding claim 3, Wang discloses wherein the one or more wires comprise Kovar.
Regarding claim 7, Kim discloses wherein the heater is a resistive heater [0054].
Regarding claim 8, Kim discloses the heater comprises an exposed external surface having a material (such as copper) susceptible to an oxidation reaction in the presence of oxygen [0054].
Regarding claim 10, Wang discloses wherein the insulator comprises borosilicate glass.
Regarding claim 13, Kim discloses an aerosol generating device configured to generate an aerosol for inhalation by a user, comprising the heating apparatus of claim 1 (see fig. 14).
Claim(s) 4-6, 9 and 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (WO 2021246621 with U.S Pub. No. 20220354184 for citation) in view of Wang et al. (CN103268868) and further in view Reevell (WO2020074601).
Regarding claim 4, Kim does not expressly disclose a sensor for the heater. Reevell discloses an aerosol generating device comprising a sensor positioned for detecting the temperature of the heater (see fig. 7 and page 23). Wang discloses the one or more wires are circumferentially surrounded by an insulator; wherein the insulator comprises glass and the one or more wires are made from a material that has thermal expansion characteristics that substantially match the thermal expansion characteristics of the insulator [0033]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to add the sensor as taught by Reevell to the device of Kim to detect the temperature of the heater. The combination of Kim, Wang and Reevell taken together as a whole teaches/suggests a sensor positioned within the vacuum insulator and a sensor wire that is connected to the sensor and extends through a further hole in the vacuum insulator, and wherein the sensor wire is circumferentially surrounded by an insulator.
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Kim, Wang and Reevell taken together as a whole teaches/suggests the further hole extends through the outer wall of the vacuum insulator.
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Kim, Wang and Reevell taken together as a whole teaches/suggests wherein the further hole extends between the inner wall and the outer wall of the vacuum insulator.
Regarding claim 9, Kim does not expressly disclose the side wall thickness. Reevell the side wall has a thickness of less than 1mm overlapping with the claimed range (page 2). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to pick the claimed range of thickness for the inner wall of Kim.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Kim, Wang and Reevell taken together as whole teaches/suggests the one or more wires each extend through a different respective hole in the outer wall and each hole contains a corresponding insulator surrounding a corresponding wire (see figs. 11-12 of Kim and fig. 4 of Reevell).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Kim, Wang and Reevell taken together as whole teaches/suggests each respective hole is sized mainly to accommodate the corresponding wire to minimize the amount of insulator in contact with the outer wall (see fig. 4 of Reevell).
Conclusion
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/PHU H NGUYEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 1747
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