Patent Application 18183615 - MULTIPLE-TEMPERATURE MONITORING FOR AN AEROSOL - Rejection

Patent Application 18183615 - MULTIPLE-TEMPERATURE MONITORING FOR AN AEROSOL

Title: MULTIPLE-TEMPERATURE MONITORING FOR AN AEROSOL PROVISION SYSTEM

Application Information

• Invention Title: MULTIPLE-TEMPERATURE MONITORING FOR AN AEROSOL PROVISION SYSTEM
• Application Number: 18183615
• Submission Date: 2025-05-16T00:00:00.000Z
• Effective Filing Date: 2023-03-14T00:00:00.000Z
• Filing Date: 2023-03-14T00:00:00.000Z
• National Class: 131
• National Sub-Class: 329000
• Examiner Employee Number: 89203
• Art Unit: 1755
• Tech Center: 1700

Rejection Summary

• 102 Rejections: 1
• 103 Rejections: 3

Cited Patents

The following patents were cited in the rejection:

• US 0008553🔗
• US 0128389🔗
• US 0235767🔗

Office Action Text

    DETAILED ACTION
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.


Claims 9-12 and 23-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA  35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 9-12 and 23-26 recite the limitation "the charging" and “the discharging”.  There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. For examination purposes, these will be interpreted as “charging” and “discharging”. 
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, 2, 4, 6-9, 13-16, 18, 20-23, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by Adair (WO 2022/002938).
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Adair [Fig. 1] teaches an aerosol provision device comprising: a battery 36 (power source) including a first temperature sensor 42 with which a temperature at the power source is measurable [page 9, top paragraph and page 10, 2nd paragraph: “if the heater is switched off, but the temperature of the battery is not dropping off as quick as expected, this might indicate a problem with the battery 36.”]; a heating system (aerosol generator) powered by the power source to generate an aerosol from an aerosol-generating material for delivery to a user [page 8, 3rd paragraph]; controller 28 (processing circuitry) configured to control power to the aerosol generator page 7, bottom paragraph], the processing circuitry 28 including a second temperature sensor 42 with which the temperature at the processing circuitry is measurable page 9, top paragraph], a pressure sensor 32 (use sensor) configured to detect a draw on the device [page 7, 2nd to bottom paragraph], the use sensor 32 including a third temperature sensor 42 with which temperature at the use sensor is measurable [page 9, top paragraph]; the processing circuitry further configured to: measure the temperature at the power source using the first temperature sensor, measure the temperature at the power source using the first temperature sensor, measure the temperature at the processing circuitry using the second temperature sensor, and measure the temperature at the use sensor using the third temperature sensor; determine a temperature of the aerosol provision device based on: the temperature measured by the second temperature sensor, and the temperature measured by the third temperature sensor; and control at least one device function based on the determined temperature of the aerosol provision device, and at least one threshold temperature [pages 9-10]. The method of operating the aerosol provision device thus reads on the claimed method. 
Regarding claims 2 and 16, Adair teaches the determined temperature comprises an internal temperature of the aerosol provision device [page 10, 3rd paragraph]. 
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Adair teaches the processing circuitry includes a microcontroller unit (MCU) 28 configured to control the power to the aerosol generator, and the second temperature sensor 42 is an internal temperature sensor of the MCU 28 [Fig. 1; page 7, bottom paragraph]. 
Regarding claims 6 and 20, Adair teaches the at least one threshold temperature is expressed as at least one threshold temperature range [page 9, 2nd paragraph]. 
Regarding claims 7-9, 13, 21-23, and 27, Adair teaches deactivating the aerosol provision device when the determined temperature is outside the at least one threshold temperature range [page 10, bottom paragraph], i.e. all functions including charging and discharging of the power source and energizing the aerosol generator are disabled when the determined temperature is outside of the threshold range and enabled when within threshold range. 
Regarding claim 14, Adair teaches the aerosol-generating material is contained in a consumable configured to be coupled to the device [page 7, 3rd paragraph]. 
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.

Claims 3 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adair as applied to claim 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Akao (US 2021/0235767).
Adair teaches the power source is a battery but does not teach the first temperature sensor is a thermistor the battery is encased with the thermistor in a battery pack. Akao teaches an aerosol generation device wherein power source includes a battery encased with a thermistor in a battery pack [0156]. As this is a conventional temperature sensor and battery configuration known in the art, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply to the device of Adair to achieve predictable results, e.g. monitoring the temperature of the battery. 
Claims 5 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adair as applied to claim 1 and 15 above, and further in view of Lamb (US 2016/0128389).
Adair teaches the use sensor is a pressure sensor but does not teach a MEMS pressure sensor. Lamb teaches an aerosol delivery device comprising a MEMS pressure sensor [0004]. As this is a conventional pressure sensor known in the art, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use as the pressure sensor of Adair to achieve predictable results, e.g. sensing pressure/use of the device.  
Claims 10-12 and 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adair as applied to claim 9 and 23 above, and further in view of Aoyama (US 2024/0008553).
Adair does not teach the at least one threshold temperature the processing circuitry is configured to control the charging of the power source based on a first threshold temperature, and control the discharging of the power source based on a second threshold temperature. Aoyama teaches an aerosol generation device wherein the processing circuitry is configured to control the charging of the power source based on a first threshold temperature range, and control the discharging of the power source based on a second threshold temperature range [Fig. 5, 0163, 0233-0236]. As Adair teaches the processing circuity may be configured to reduce only some of the functionalities [page 8, 2nd paragraph], one of ordinary skill int the art would have found it obvious to implement the configuration above suggested by Aoyama for the purpose of reducing only some of the functionalities depending on the detected temperature. Thus, in Adair as modified Aoyama, control of the charging includes the processing circuitry configured to enable the charging when the determined temperature of the aerosol provision device is within the first threshold temperature range, and disable the charging when the determined temperature is outside the first threshold temperature range, and wherein control of the discharging includes the processing circuitry configured to enable the discharging when the determined temperature of the aerosol provision device is within the second threshold temperature range, and disable the discharging when the determined temperature is outside the second threshold temperature range. 
Conclusion
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/ERIC YAARY/Examiner, Art Unit 1755