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 .
Withdrawal of Allowable Subject Matter
Allowable subject matter of claims 24 and 31 is withdrawn (which now in the amended claims 21 and 28) because of a new found art KR 102069582B1. The examiner regrets for any inconveniences. The new rejection is as followed:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 21-23, 25-30 and 32-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al (US 2018/0376543) cited by applicant, in view of KR102069582B1. Regarding claims 21 and 28, Kang discloses induction heating device (par. 0002) comprising the steps of determining whether a container detection start condition is satisfied (par.0049, Figure 6); performing a first container detection operation for a heating area (loaded object has inductive property) when the container detection start condition is determined to be satisfied (par. 0052); performing a second container detection operation for the heating area (temperature sensor 230) when a container is determined to be present in the heating area (loaded object sensor 220) based on a result of the first container detection operation; and driving a working coil (202, 204) corresponding to the heating area when the container is determined to be a heatable container based on a result of the second container detection operation (par. 0053). However, Kang does not disclose the performing of the first container detection operation comprises: providing a sensing current having a predetermined amplitude and size to the working coil; converting a resonance signal, generated based on the sensing current, into a square waveform having a plurality of cycles: and determining whether the container is present in the heating area based on a number of the cycles of the square waveform. KR 102069582B1 discloses the performing of the first container detection operation comprises: providing a sensing current having a predetermined amplitude and size to the working coil (translation pages, paragraph starts with “Referring to FIG. 15, the controller 70…a predetermined period (e.g., 1 second or 5 seconds)”; converting a resonance signal, generated based on the sensing current, into a square waveform having a plurality of cycles: and determining whether the container is present in the heating area based on a number of the cycles of the square waveform (translation pages, starts with “As described so far, the vessel sensor…in the related art”. It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to utilize in Kang the performing of the first container detection operation comprises: providing a sensing current having a predetermined amplitude and size to the working coil as taught by KR 102069582B1 in order to detect the cooking container and also determined the type of the container placed. Regarding claims 22 and 29, Kang discloses the determining whether the container detection start condition is satisfied comprises determining that the container detection start condition is satisfied when a heating start command for the heating area is input (par. 0049). Regarding claims 23 and 30, Kang discloses the determining whether the container detection start condition is satisfied comprises determining that the container detection start condition is satisfied when an output power value of the working coil corresponding to the heating area decreases by at least a predetermined reference ratio ((par. 0053, lines 10-22). Regarding claims 25 and 32, Kang discloses the performing of the second container detection operation comprises: setting a driving frequency for the working coil to a predetermined sensing frequency (par. 0026); and determining whether the container is a heatable container based on at least one of a resonance current value or an input current value determined when the working coil is driven based on the sensing frequency (par. 0053). Regarding claims 26 and 33, Kang discloses the performing of the second container detection operation comprises: determining whether the container is a heatable container based on at least one of a resonance current value and an input current value determined when the working coil is driven (par. 0053). Regarding claims 27 and 34, Kang discloses the step of performing a detection failure notification operation when no container is determined to be present in the heating area or the container is determined to not be a heatable container (par. 0048 and par. 0050).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 21-23, 25-30 and 32-33 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 January 29, 2026