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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-4, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, and 21-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Specification
All amendments made to the specification are accepted and the objection to the specification is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Amendments overcome all previous 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejections and are withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Regarding Applicant’s comments found on page 14 of the Remarks, “Schweig does not disclose that there are two heating elements in one and the same heating zone”. However, Schweig does disclose two heating elements in one and the same heating zone, col. 4, lines 13-15, “FIGS. 5 and 6 are also views corresponding respectively to those of FIGS. 1 and 2, however, with a second cooking region on operating state” and further clarified in col. 4, lines 21-28, “a first individual cooking region Ha, a second individual cooking region Hb, H’b divided by suitable design of the heating elements thereof into two zones, and an intermediate cooking region Hz disposed between the two individual cooking regions Ha and Hb, H’b”.
Applicant further contends in the second paragraph of page 14 of the remarks that Schweig is “directed to changing the area or size of the cooking surface that is heated by providing an independent heating element in each adjacent heating zone”. However, the limitation of claim 1, lines 5-7 state “the second heating zone further having a second electrical heating element for increasing the heating power in this second heating zone”, none of the claim limitations constrain the “heating power” increase to the same surface area of the first heating element, only that the heating power is increased in the heating zone.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The combination of claim limitations found in the last two lines of claim 1: “wherein the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone are arranged in a common plane” and the last two lines of claim 8: “the straight heating coil section of the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone point in different directions” together describe an arrangement not found in the specification. The arrangement described as “pointing in different directions” can only be seen in Fig. 2 of the specification, but requires the two heating elements in a superposed arrangement and not on the same plane.
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 1-3, 11, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”).
Regarding claims 1-2, and 13 Schweig teaches an electric grill with a cooking surface for cooking food (Abstract) comprising:
the cooking surface having at least two adjacent heating zones (Col. 4, lines 21-28: “heating regions”) including at least one first heating zone (Fig. 5, cooking region Ha) and a second heating zone (Fig. 5, cooking region Hb, H’b), each heating zone having a first electrical heating element for heating the cooking surface (Fig. 6, Ra and Rb), with the first heating zone only having the first heating element (Ra), and the second heating zone further having a second electrical heating element (R’b) for increasing the heating power in this second heating zone (Col. 4, lines 53-65: “FIG. 6, there is shown the switch setting for the operation of the second individual cooking region … the heating element Rb as well as the heating element R’b have regulated heating current applied thereto”), and
the grill having a heating element switchover element (Col. 4, lines 29-40: “[s]witches u1-u5 are switchable only jointly”), such that, when the second heating element (R’b) in the second heating zone (Hb, H’b) is switched on (Fig. 6 shows the circuit arrangement for when R’b is energized), a power corresponding to the power consumption of the second heating element is switched off on the first heating element in one or more first heating zones or switching on such power to the first heating element in one or more first heating zones is blocked (Fig. 6 shows the switch positions of u1-u5, which are moved only jointly, blocking current from flowing to Ra and Rz when R'b, the second heating element of the second heating zone, is energized),
PNG
media_image1.png
632
447
media_image1.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image2.png
652
462
media_image2.png
Greyscale
wherein the heating elements are electrical resistance heating elements (Col. 1, lines 5-16), and wherein the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone are arranged in a common plane (Fig. 1 shows all heating elements arranged on a common plane).
Schweig does not expressly disclose wherein the second heating element has a maximum power consumption that at least matches that of the first heating element of the first heating zone, wherein the maximum power consumption of all heating elements exceeds the maximum power consumption of the grill, or the electrical heating elements are provided as tubular heating elements (claim 1), or wherein the maximum power consumption of each heating element is the same (claim 2), or wherein a sum total of the maximum power consumption of the first electrical heating elements corresponds to the maximum power consumption of the grill (claim 13).
However, Schulze teaches a similar electric cooking appliance using electric heating elements with two heating zones (Fig. 1), including a heating element switchover element (Figs. 1-4, col. 3, lines 65-75: “switch 18”), such that, when the second heating element (Fig. 1, heating element 13) in the second heating zone (Col. 2, lines 25-35: “two electric heating units 12 and 13 arranged in the upper portion”) is switched on (Fig. 4), a power corresponding to the power consumption of the second heating element is switched off on the first heating element in one or more first heating zones or switching on such power to the first heating element in one or more first heating zones is blocked (Col. 3, lines 65-75 explaining the 3 positions of the switch, and further explained in col. 4, lines 39-45: “the switch is thrown to its “Broil” position shown in Fig. 4 wherein the two upper heating elements 12 and 13 are electrically connected in parallel to the supply source”, Fig. 4 also illustrates how the power for element 11 is blocked or “switched off” while in this position),
PNG
media_image3.png
1023
1167
media_image3.png
Greyscale
wherein the second heating element has a maximum power consumption that at least matches that of the first heating element of the first heating zone (Col. 3, lines 27-34: “heating element 11 will have a heat generating capacity of approximately 1500 watts, and that each of the elements 12 and 13 in the upper portion of the oven will have a similar capacity”), wherein the maximum power consumption of all heating elements exceeds the maximum power consumption of the grill (Col. 1, lines 47-55: “three heating elements, the capacity of any two of the elements substantially equals the total desirable load of the oven”), and
the electrical heating elements are provided as tubular heating elements (Col. 2, lines 36-50: “heating elements 11, 12, and 13, as shown, are of the sheathed type, such as described and claimed in United States Patent to C. C. Abott No. 1367341 … each element comprises a helical resistance heating element 14 which is encased by a metallic sheath”), and
wherein the maximum power consumption of each heating element is the same (Col. 3, lines 27-34: “heating element 11 will have a heat generating capacity of approximately 1500 watts, and that each of the elements 12 and 13 in the upper portion of the oven will have a similar capacity”), and
wherein a sum total of the maximum power consumption of the first electrical heating elements corresponds to the maximum power consumption of the grill (Col. 3, lines 27-34).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig with the heating element circuit arrangement of Schulze. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include this heating element circuit arrangement and switching configuration in order to prevent user error of an electric cooking device thus improving safety and the user experience.
Regarding claim 3, Schweig further teaches wherein a mechanical switch is provided for heating element switchover (Col. 1, lines 60-68: “a simple switching-element group which is switchable jointly by an actuating member disposed in the control or operating field of the cooking surfaces of the range or cooking plate”). Regarding claim 11, Schweig further teaches wherein the grill has two heating zones (Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 show two separate energized cooking regions, Ha in Fig. 3 and Hb, H’b in Fig. 5).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) above, and further in view of US 2022/0147078 by El Abkari et al. (“Abkari”).
Regarding claim 4, Schweig further teaches the grill further comprising a control circuit (Fig. 2, col. 2, lines 23-30: “[a] control circuit arrangement for the control of the cooking regions”) with one or more control sensors for heating element switchover (Col. 2, lines 66-68 and col. 3, lines 1-13: “the circuit arrangement … has switching contacts, which are arranged in series with the heating elements, and assigned to sensors in the individual cooking regions for limiting the temperature”).
Schweig does not expressly disclose wherein the control circuit activates relays inserted into a power supply to the heating elements for switching the power supply of the heating elements depending on the output signal of the control sensors.
Abkari however teaches an electric grill comprising a control circuit (Fig. 3, control module 15) with one or more control sensors for heating element switchover (Para. [0037]), wherein the control circuit activates relays (Para. [0026]: “control circuitry, relays”) inserted into a power supply (main power supply 14) to the heating elements for switching the power supply of the heating elements depending on the output signal of the control sensors (Para. [0037]: “the grill may be fitted with one or more internal thermostats or temperature sensors or thermocouples 18 that trigger or control heating cycles for one or more electric heating elements 13”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig and Schulze with the control circuitry and relays as taught by Abkari. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include such features in order to improve a user’s experience by providing automatic heating features.
Claim 8, is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) above, and further in view of US 2010/0193502 by Je-Hoon Kim et al. (“Kim”).
Regarding claim 8, Schweig further teaches wherein the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone are each provided in the form of a heating coil (Fig. 5). Schweig does not expressly disclose the heating coils are straight heating coil sections interconnected by arches, and the straight heating coil sections of the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone point in different directions.
However, Kim teaches an electric grill with two heating elements in a heating zone (Abstract) wherein the first and second heating elements are each provided in the form of a heating coil with straight heating coil sections interconnected by arches (Fig. 11), and the straight heating coil sections of the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone point in different directions (Fig. 11 shows two heating coils, with straight heating coil sections interconnected by arches and the straight heating coil section point in different directions).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig and Schulze with the electric heating elements as taught by Kim. Different arrangements of heating elements in electric grills are known in the art and would be obvious for a person of ordinary skill to provide one as taught by Kim for the purpose of “when a cooking utensil is placed eccentrically on an upper surface of the base 411, the unit heating elements 425 have a relatively small interface between an area contacting a bottom of the cooking utensil and a non-contact area, thereby having a small temperature increase and preventing damage due to a temperature increase” (Para. [0074]).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) above, and further in view of US 2014/0290498 by Liang Xu (“Xu”).
Regarding claim 15, Schweig does not expressly disclose the grill further comprising a drip plate arranged below the heating elements, wherein the drip plate is inclined within the grill, wherein the drip plate has a collecting channel in an edge area at a deepest end of the drip plate, and wherein the collecting channel is shaded by a side panel from direct IR radiation from the heating elements.
However, Xu teaches a grill comprising a drip plate (Fig. 1, para. [0034]: “roasting plate 3 has slots 19, through which oil and grease drip down into an oil dripping slot 20 at the front board 9”) arranged below the heating elements (Fig. 1), wherein the drip plate is inclined within the grill (Para. [0035]: “the oil and grease in the oil guiding slot 10 flow into the oil collecting box 13 below the side of the oil guiding slot 10 through the oil channel 23 at the certain angle, so as to be collected inside the oil collecting box 13”), wherein the drip plate has a collecting channel in an edge area (oil channel 23) at a deepest end of the drip plate (oil collecting box 13), and wherein the collecting channel is shaded by a side panel from direct IR radiation from the heating elements (Para. [0035]: “reflecting boards 7 and insulating board 8 are able to focus the heat within the grill frame 18 onto the roasting plate 3”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig and Schulze with the drip plate arrangement as taught by Xu. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include such an arrangement in a grill in order to improve safety (Para. [0035]: “improves safety within the supporting body”) and provide energy savings through improved heating efficiencies (Para. [0035]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) above, and further in view of US 2022/0031107 by William Dixon et al. (“Dixon”).
Regarding claim 16, Schweig does not provide detail on the heating elements beyond being an electrical resistance heating elements for an electric grill.
However, Dixon teaches a heating element for an electric grill (Fig. 7D), wherein the heating element is a tubular heating element (Para. [0047]) having several heating element legs connected to one another by curved arched sections (Fig. 7D: “first curved arched sections”);
between two outer heating element legs (Fig. 7D: “outer heating leg”) of the heating element, a heating element section is arranged with two non-parallel heating element legs (Fig. 7D: “non-parallel legs”), which are each connected to a respective one of the two outer heating element legs by a respective one of two first arched sections (Fig. 7D: “first curved arch sections”), and which are connected to one another in the heating element section by a second arched section (Fig. 7D: “second arched section”), and
a distance of the non-parallel heating element legs of the heating element section from one another at a transition into the second arched section (Fig. 7D), which connects the non-parallel heating element legs to one another, is greater than at a transition of the non-parallel heating element legs into the two first arched sections, which connects the heating element section to the two outer heating element legs (Fig. 7D below shows two distances between the non-parallel legs at both transition points with one distance being greater than the other).
PNG
media_image4.png
492
819
media_image4.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the electric grill of Schweig and Schulze with the heating element as taught by Dixon. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include in a grill the varying characteristics of a heating element in order to satisfy a desired heat coverage of a zone on a grill and to also shorten initial warmup time for the grill (Paras. [0004]-[0006]).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and US 2022/0031107 by William Dixon et al. (“Dixon”) above, and further in view of US 2015/0048076 by Hans Mohr (“Mohr”).
Regarding claim 19, Schweig as modified by Schulze and Dixon teaches a heating element for an electric grill with a first heating element according to claim 16 above, further comprising a second heating element, wherein the second heating element is a tubular heating element (See rejection of claim 1 above with teachings of tubular heating elements), and the second heating element is assigned to a heating zone of the first heating element in a plane of the first heating element for increasing the heating power in this heating zone (Schweig teaches two heating elements assigned to the same “heating zone” considered the cooking region Hb + H’b). Schweig does not expressly disclose the second heating element having a heating element geometry matching that of the first heating element, such that the respective heating element legs and the curved arched sections of the first and second heating elements run at a constant distance from one another.
However, Mohr teaches an electric cooking device with multiple heating elements in a single heating zone (Abstract), wherein the second heating element having a heating element geometry matching that of the first heating element (Fig. 3, para. [0010]), such that the respective heating element legs and the curved arched sections (Para. [0011]: “the supports may not be circular in the two abovementioned alternatives, but rather elongate and oval or approximately rectangular”, providing the layout of legs and interconnecting arches) of the first and second heating elements run at a constant distance from one another (Fig. 3 shows the two heating elements with matching geometry and run at a constant distance, para. [0012]: ” distance between the heating elements or between two turns of the heating elements which run next to one another can lie in the region of a few mm, for example 2 mm to 5 mm or even 8 mm. This distance is advantageously substantially equal for the entire heating device”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig and Schulze with the heating element configuration as taught by Mohr. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include such a feature in order to provide a grill that provides the maximum coverage of a heating area using multiple heating elements and allowing additional heating options to a user, “an abovementioned keep-warm mode with a low power and also an additionally increased power in the initial cooking mode can be achieved more easily” (Para. [0008]).
Claims 21-23 and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and EP 3 345 519 B1 by Felix Rennies (“Rennies”). Please see attached machine translation of EP 3 345 519B1 for paragraphs referenced.
Regarding claims 21-22 and 27, Schweig teaches an electric grill with a cooking surface for cooking food (Abstract) comprising:
the cooking surface having at least two adjacent heating zones (Col. 4, lines 21-28: “heating regions”) including at least one first heating zone (Fig. 5, cooking region Ha) and a second heating zone (Fig. 5, cooking region Hb, H’b), each heating zone having a first electrical heating element for heating the cooking surface (Fig. 6, Ra and Rb), with the first heating zone only having the first heating element (Ra), and the second heating zone further having a second electrical heating element (R’b) for increasing the heating power in this second heating zone (Col. 4, lines 53-65: “FIG. 6, there is shown the switch setting for the operation of the second individual cooking region … the heating element Rb as well as the heating element R’b have regulated heating current applied thereto”), and
the grill having a heating element switchover element (Col. 4, lines 29-40: “[s]witches u1-u5 are switchable only jointly”), such that, when the second heating element (R’b) in the second heating zone (Hb, H’b) is switched on (Fig. 6 shows the circuit arrangement for when R’b is energized), a power corresponding to the power consumption of the second heating element is switched off on the first heating element in one or more first heating zones or switching on such power to the first heating element in one or more first heating zones is blocked (Fig. 6 shows the switch positions of u1-u5, which are moved only jointly, blocking current from flowing to Ra and Rz when R'b, the second heating element of the second heating zone, is energized),
wherein the heating elements are electrical resistance heating elements (Col. 1, lines 5-16).
Schweig does not expressly disclose wherein the second heating element has a maximum power consumption that at least matches that of the first heating element of the first heating zone, wherein the maximum power consumption of all heating elements exceeds the maximum power consumption of the grill, or the electrical heating elements are provided as tubular heating elements (claim 21), or wherein the maximum power consumption of each heating element is the same (claim 22), or wherein a sum total of the maximum power consumption of the first electrical heating elements corresponds to the maximum power consumption of the grill (claim 27).
However, Schulze teaches a similar electric cooking appliance using electric heating elements with two heating zones (Fig. 1), including a heating element switchover element (Figs. 1-4, col. 3, lines 65-75: “switch 18”), such that, when the second heating element (Fig. 1, heating element 13) in the second heating zone (Col. 2, lines 25-35: “two electric heating units 12 and 13 arranged in the upper portion”) is switched on (Fig. 4), a power corresponding to the power consumption of the second heating element is switched off on the first heating element in one or more first heating zones or switching on such power to the first heating element in one or more first heating zones is blocked (Col. 3, lines 65-75 explaining the 3 positions of the switch, and further explained in col. 4, lines 39-45: “the switch is thrown to its “Broil” position shown in Fig. 4 wherein the two upper heating elements 12 and 13 are electrically connected in parallel to the supply source”, Fig. 4 also illustrates how the power for element 11 is blocked or “switched off” while in this position),
wherein the second heating element has a maximum power consumption that at least matches that of the first heating element of the first heating zone (Col. 3, lines 27-34: “heating element 11 will have a heat generating capacity of approximately 1500 watts, and that each of the elements 12 and 13 in the upper portion of the oven will have a similar capacity”), wherein the maximum power consumption of all heating elements exceeds the maximum power consumption of the grill (Col. 1, lines 47-55: “three heating elements, the capacity of any two of the elements substantially equals the total desirable load of the oven”), and
the electrical heating elements are provided as tubular heating elements (Col. 2, lines 36-50: “heating elements 11, 12, and 13, as shown, are of the sheathed type, such as described and claimed in United States Patent to C. C. Abott No. 1367341 … each element comprises a helical resistance heating element 14 which is encased by a metallic sheath”), and
wherein the maximum power consumption of each heating element is the same (Col. 3, lines 27-34: “heating element 11 will have a heat generating capacity of approximately 1500 watts, and that each of the elements 12 and 13 in the upper portion of the oven will have a similar capacity”), and
wherein a sum total of the maximum power consumption of the first electrical heating elements corresponds to the maximum power consumption of the grill (Col. 3, lines 27-34).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig with the heating element circuit arrangement of Schulze. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to include this heating element circuit arrangement and switching configuration in order to prevent user error of an electric cooking device thus improving safety and the user experience.
Schweig and Schulze do not expressly disclose wherein the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone are arranged in a superposed arrangement such that the second heating element is below the first heating element in the second heating zone.
However, Rennies teaches an electric grill (Fig. 1) wherein the heating elements are arranged in a superposed arrangement such that the second heating element is below the first heating element in a heating zone with a first and a second heating element (Fig. 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig and Schulze the superposed arrangement of two heating elements as taught by Rennies. One of ordinary skill would be motivated to include this feature in order to create the possibility “of being able to simultaneously prepare different foods, which require different high temperatures for preparation, by means of such an electric grilling device” (Para. [0011]).
Regarding claim 23, Schweig further teaches wherein a mechanical switch is provided for heating element switchover (Col. 1, lines 60-68: “a simple switching-element group which is switchable jointly by an actuating member disposed in the control or operating field of the cooking surfaces of the range or cooking plate”). Regarding claim 26, Schweig further teaches wherein the grill has two heating zones (Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 show two separate energized cooking regions, Ha in Fig. 3 and Hb, H’b in Fig. 5).
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and EP 3 345 519 B1 by Felix Rennies (“Rennies”) above, and further in view of US 2022/0147078 by El Abkari et al. (“Abkari”).
Regarding claim 24, Schweig further teaches the grill further comprising a control circuit (Fig. 2, col. 2, lines 23-30: “[a] control circuit arrangement for the control of the cooking regions”) with one or more control sensors for heating element switchover (Col. 2, lines 66-68 and col. 3, lines 1-13: “the circuit arrangement … has switching contacts, which are arranged in series with the heating elements, and assigned to sensors in the individual cooking regions for limiting the temperature”).
Schweig does not expressly disclose wherein the control circuit activates relays inserted into a power supply to the heating elements for switching the power supply of the heating elements depending on the output signal of the control sensors.
Abkari however teaches an electric grill comprising a control circuit (Fig. 3, control module 15) with one or more control sensors for heating element switchover (Para. [0037]), wherein the control circuit activates relays (Para. [0026]: “control circuitry, relays”) inserted into a power supply (main power supply 14) to the heating elements for switching the power supply of the heating elements depending on the output signal of the control sensors (Para. [0037]: “the grill may be fitted with one or more internal thermostats or temperature sensors or thermocouples 18 that trigger or control heating cycles for one or more electric heating elements 13”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig, Schulze and Rennies with the control circuitry and relays as taught by Abkari. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include such features in order to improve a user’s experience by providing automatic heating features.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and EP 3 345 519 B1 by Felix Rennies (“Rennies”) above, and further in view of US 2010/0193502 by Je-Hoon Kim et al. (“Kim”).
Regarding claim 25, Schweig further teaches wherein the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone are each provided in the form of a heating coil (Fig. 5). Schweig does not expressly disclose the heating coils are straight heating coil sections interconnected by arches, and the straight heating coil sections of the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone point in different directions.
However, Kim teaches an electric grill with two heating elements in a heating zone (Abstract) wherein the first and second heating elements are each provided in the form of a heating coil with straight heating coil sections interconnected by arches (Fig. 11), and the straight heating coil sections of the first and second heating elements of the second heating zone point in different directions (Fig. 11 shows two heating coils, with straight heating coil sections interconnected by arches and the straight heating coil section point in different directions).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig, Schulze and Rennies with the electric heating elements as taught by Kim. Different arrangements of heating elements in electric grills are known and would be obvious for a person of ordinary skill to provide one as taught by Kim for the purpose of “when a cooking utensil is placed eccentrically on an upper surface of the base 411, the unit heating elements 425 have a relatively small interface between an area contacting a bottom of the cooking utensil and a non-contact area, thereby having a small temperature increase and preventing damage due to a temperature increase” (Para. [0074]).
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and EP 3 345 519 B1 by Felix Rennies (“Rennies”) above, and further in view of US 2014/0290498 by Liang Xu (“Xu”).
Regarding claim 28, Schweig does not expressly disclose the grill further comprising a drip plate arranged below the heating elements, wherein the drip plate is inclined within the grill, wherein the drip plate has a collecting channel in an edge area at a deepest end of the drip plate, and wherein the collecting channel is shaded by a side panel from direct IR radiation from the heating elements.
Xu however teaches a grill comprising a drip plate (Fig. 1, para. [0034]: “roasting plate 3 has slots 19, through which oil and grease drip down into an oil dripping slot 20 at the front board 9”) arranged below the heating elements (Fig. 1), wherein the drip plate is inclined within the grill (Para. [0035]: “the oil and grease in the oil guiding slot 10 flow into the oil collecting box 13 below the side of the oil guiding slot 10 through the oil channel 23 at the certain angle, so as to be collected inside the oil collecting box 13”), wherein the drip plate has a collecting channel in an edge area (oil channel 23) at a deepest end of the drip plate (oil collecting box 13), and wherein the collecting channel is shaded by a side panel from direct IR radiation from the heating elements (Para. [0035]: “reflecting boards 7 and insulating board 8 are able to focus the heat within the grill frame 18 onto the roasting plate 3”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig, Schulze and Rennies with the drip plate arrangement as taught by Xu. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include such an arrangement in a grill in order to improve safety (Para. [0035]: “improves safety within the supporting body”) and provide energy savings through improved heating efficiencies (Para. [0035]).
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and EP 3 345 519 B1 by Felix Rennies (“Rennies”) above, and further in view of US 2022/0031107 by William Dixon et al. (“Dixon”).
Regarding claim 29, Schweig does not provide detail on the heating elements beyond being an electrical resistance heating elements for an electric grill.
However, Dixon teaches a heating element for an electric grill (Fig. 7D), wherein the heating element is a tubular heating element (Para. [0047]) having several heating element legs connected to one another by curved arched sections (Fig. 7D: “first curved arched sections”);
between two outer heating element legs (Fig. 7D: “outer heating leg”) of the heating element, a heating element section is arranged with two non-parallel heating element legs (Fig. 7D: “non-parallel legs”), which are each connected to a respective one of the two outer heating element legs by a respective one of two first arched sections (Fig. 7D: “first curved arch sections”), and which are connected to one another in the heating element section by a second arched section (Fig. 7D: “second arched section”), and
a distance of the non-parallel heating element legs of the heating element section from one another at a transition into the second arched section (Fig. 7D), which connects the non-parallel heating element legs to one another, is greater than at a transition of the non-parallel heating element legs into the two first arched sections, which connects the heating element section to the two outer heating element legs (Fig. 7D below shows two distances between the non-parallel legs at both transition points with one distance being greater than the other).
PNG
media_image4.png
492
819
media_image4.png
Greyscale
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the electric grill of Schweig, Schulze and Rennies with the heating element as taught by Dixon. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include in a grill the varying characteristics of a heating element in order to satisfy a desired heat coverage of a zone on a grill and to also shorten initial warmup time for the grill (Paras. [0004]-[0006]).
Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 4482800 by Dieter Schweig (“Schweig”) in view of US Patent 2035767 by Herman Schulze (“Schulze”) and EP 3 345 519 B1 by Felix Rennies (“Rennies”) and US 2022/0031107 by William Dixon et al. (“Dixon”) above, and further in view of US 2015/0048076 by Hans Mohr (“Mohr”).
Regarding claim 30, Schweig as modified by Schulze and Dixon teaches a heating element for an electric grill with a first heating element according to claim 16 above, further comprising a second heating element, wherein the second heating element is a tubular heating element (See rejection of claim 1 above with teachings of tubular heating elements), and the second heating element is assigned to a heating zone of the first heating element in a plane of the first heating element for increasing the heating power in this heating zone (Schweig teaches two heating elements assigned to the same “heating zone” considered the cooking region Hb + H’b). Schweig does not expressly disclose the second heating element having a heating element geometry matching that of the first heating element, such that the respective heating element legs and the curved arched sections of the first and second heating elements run at a constant distance from one another.
However, Mohr teaches an electric cooking device with multiple heating elements in a single heating zone (Abstract), wherein the second heating element having a heating element geometry matching that of the first heating element (Fig. 3, para. [0010]), such that the respective heating element legs and the curved arched sections (Para. [0011]: “the supports may not be circular in the two abovementioned alternatives, but rather elongate and oval or approximately rectangular”, providing the layout of legs and interconnecting arches) of the first and second heating elements run at a constant distance from one another (Fig. 3 shows the two heating elements with matching geometry and run at a constant distance, para. [0012]: ”distance between the heating elements or between two turns of the heating elements which run next to one another can lie in the region of a few mm, for example 2 mm to 5 mm or even 8 mm. This distance is advantageously substantially equal for the entire heating device”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include in the electric grill of Schweig, Schulze, Rennies and Dixon with the heating element configuration as taught by Mohr. One of ordinary skill would have been motivated to include such a feature in order to provide a grill that provides the maximum coverage of a heating area using multiple heating elements and allowing additional heating options to a user, “an abovementioned keep-warm mode with a low power and also an additionally increased power in the initial cooking mode can be achieved more easily” (Para. [0008]).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL W HATTEN whose telephone number is (703)756-1362. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5 (EST).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ibrahime Abraham can be reached at (571)270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DANIEL WARD HATTEN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761