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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
In ¶ 60 of the submitted specification, “processor 510” should be “processor 502.”
In ¶ 74 of the submitted specification, “water reservoir 675” should be “water reservoir 665.”
Claim Objections
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 9, “times duty cycle” should be “timed duty cycle.”
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.
Claims 1–3, 5–9, 12–14, and 16–24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites that “each stage of the plurality of steam heating stages is configured to selectively control the bake heating element and the at least one fan according to a respective preset and timed duty cycle in order to generate steam.” The language renders the claim indefinite because it suggests that the bake heating element and the at least one fan generate the steam. However, a fan would not properly be understood to generate steam. Furthermore, while a bake heating element could theoretically generate steam (by heating a cooking chamber about 100 °C), the disclosure does not disclose that this is a function of the bake heating element. Because of how the claim seems to have been drafted to make it brief and non-limiting, and how that has introduced this indefiniteness issue, it is better handled as an indefiniteness issue rather than a new matter issue. The disclosure suggests that the steam is generated by a “hidden-bake element” that should not be conflated with a bake heating element, although it also suggests that the convection heating system (not in claim 1) could be used to generate steam. At the very least, it’s unclear if something like a hidden-bake element (or other) is implicitly responsible for generating the steam in the claim. For examination purposes, the Office reads the claim, in light of the disclosure, such that either a hidden-bake element or a convection heating element necessarily generates the steam.
Claims 12 and 20 recite a limitation similar to the one in claim 1, and are indefinite for the same reason.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1–3, 5–9, 12–14, and 16–24 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Applicant’s arguments regarding the § 103 rejection in light of the amendments to independent claims 1, 12, and 20 have been fully considered and are substantially persuasive.
Applicant argues that McNerney only discloses applying steam before (not during) its air frying stages (pp. 8–9). This argument is unpersuasive because it is unfounded. ¶¶ 8 and 64 both clearly disclose that steaming and air frying can be done simultaneously. Zhang (US Pub. 2021/0298512, mentioned alongside McNerney in the Advisory Action mailed 25 June 2025) seems to disclose the same.
Nonetheless, neither Swayne nor McNerney nor Zhang disclose a plurality of steam heating stages configured to control both a bake heating element and a fan in order to generate steam and target a respective setpoint temperature that is equal to a user selected temperature plus a stage-specific offset.
Sun et al. (US Pub. 2023/0210146) discloses an apparatus that employs a plurality of steam heating stages involving control of a steam generator, a bake heating element, and a fan (see, in particular, ¶ 21 discussing a preheating stage that involves steam input). Furthermore, Sun discloses that it may be constructed as an air fryer (¶ 24) making it compatible with Swayne in that way. However, Sun is incompatible with the offsets taught by Swayne because Sun is directed to specific ways of cooking meat, and is not amenable to the specific and variable user-set temperatures (with their offsets) of Swayne.
Faraldi et al. (US Pub. 2018/0299138) discloses a good example of a generic oven with a fan and a steam generator. Faraldi also discloses a plurality of steam heating stages (see e.g. ¶ 205 discussing a boost cycle and a cooking cycle, each with their own humidity values). However, Faraldi is ambiguous about how its cavity is heated, saying seemingly nothing more than that its cavity 3 is heatable, and that it may have one or more heating elements. A different reference to Faraldi et al. (US Pub. 2017/0276378) discloses a similar apparatus with a top heating or grill element 22, which would not ordinarily be recognized as a bake heating element by one of ordinary skill in the art since, given how air rises, a top-mounted heating element would not correctly facilitate baking. A further different reference to Faraldi et al. (US Pub. 2015/0354827) discloses another similar apparatus that has heating elements for its cavity and for its steam generator, where the heating elements for the cavity provide less than 10% of the overall heat supplied to the oven cavity (see ¶¶ 48 and 49).
Swayne et al. (US Pub. 2017/0343221) is also relevant.
Overall, it seems less than likely that one of ordinary skill in the art would have combined the prior art of record to arrive at the claimed invention without the benefit of impermissible hindsight.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, this action is made final. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JOHN J NORTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761