`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 .
Status
This Office Action is responsive to the Arguments and Amendments dated 26 November 2025. Claims 1,2, and 5-13 are pending in the application. No claims are amended, cancelled or added. This is a Final Office Action.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 2, and 6-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guangdong MIDEA Kitchen Appliances (Chinese Patent Publication CN205641033U; in applicant’s IDS, with translation; herein after “Guangdong”) in view of Barritt (U.S. Patent Number 5,648,008) and Gutierrez (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/ 0181304).
Regarding claim 1, Guangdong discloses an induction cooktop (Guangdong, “induction cooker” 100, English translation, ¶¶32-35) comprising: a processing module (30); a power supply module (power comes from within the processing module30, ¶34 “the processing unit 30 is used for…and controlling the operation of the heating unit 10 on which the pot i50 is placed; ¶0065, “the processing unit 30 controls the operation of the heating unit 10…”); and at least one heating module (10+20+40, figs. 1-3), wherein the power supply module is configured to supply power to the at least one heating module; wherein the at least one heating module comprises a heating circuit (10+20+40, figs. 1,2,3) configured to heat a pot (50), and a detection circuit (24) connected to the heating circuit (¶30); and wherein the processing module is configured to acquire a parameter value at a signal collection point in the detection circuit to determine whether the pot is placed on the heating module according to the parameter value(¶¶0046-0049, “the induction cooker can detect whether a pot 50 is placed on the heating unit 10 through a weaker voltage”), and to control the heating circuit to heat the pot in response to determining that the pot is placed on the heating module (¶0050), “in this way, the induction cooker 100 can realize the position detection of the pot, so that the corresponding heating unit 10 can be automatically controlled to work”) , wherein the processing module is configured to collect a voltage value at the signal collection point in the detection circuit (¶¶0046,0048, “through weaker voltage” and this would be one of the “signals” to determine the pot is placed on the heating unit), and to determine whether the pot is placed on the heating module according to the voltage value (id.),
Guangdong, though, does not disclose wherein the voltage value reflects an area of contact surfaces between an object placed on the heating module and the heating module, nor wherein the processing module is configured to determine that a pot is placed on the heating module in response to determining that the voltage value exceeds a first threshold, and to control the heating module to heat the pot. However, Barritt teaches that “to determine that the pot is placed on the heating module in response to determining that the voltage value exceeds a first threshold, and to control the heating module to heat the pot” (Barritt, “The voltage threshold value for pan and no pan is compared with programmed values by the microprocessor 54. If the value indicates that no pan is present near work coil 40, then microprocessor 54 stops power”; column 17, lines 52-54; and the voltage is related to impedance, V=IZ, and the impedance of the control circuit is how the pan is detected, “ The impedance of the LC parallel circuit 18 formed by work coil 40 and capacitor 42 of power inverter circuit 12 substantially depends on the inductive impedance of work coil 40, and the inductive impedance of work coil 40 depends on the magnetic properties of the pan 16 placed near work coil 40” column 19 line 56 to column 20 line 2). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to apply the teaching of Barritt to Guangdong, Guangdong already disclosing using “voltage” (Guangdong, ¶48) and the impedance of the circuit for pan detection, to use a threshold to determine whether the pan is present, so that, for instance, if something else is placed on the cooktop (not a pan), then the heating element would not activate, or it would deactivate quickly upon removal of the pan.
And while Guangdong in view of Barritt teaches all the above limitations, it still does not teach “wherein the voltage value reflects an area of contact surfaces between an object placed on the heating module and the heating module”. However, Gutierrez teaches wherein the voltage value reflects an area of contact surfaces between an object placed on the heating module and the heating module (Gutierrez, ¶¶0053-0067, “According to a third embodiment of the present invention, more than one ferrite bar is provided with a magnetic sensor. For example, assuming that the pan has a circular surface, the minimum number of sensing ferrite bars needed to estimate accurately the pan coordinates is two: coordinates will be calculated respect the two ferrite's axis. Bars have to be under opposite halves of the coil and not in line between them.” ¶0064 ; ¶¶64-67, Fig. 8 shows how the signal can differ depending on the surfaces covered.). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Guangdong in view of Barritt, with the teachings of Gutierrez to have areas of contact surfaces detect the object via a voltage value, in order to know where precisely the pot is placed, to have more surface for the cooking on the hob (in that the heating elements extend evenly spaced over the whole hob and are not just in four or five localized places), but to only turn on the correct heaters (i.e. only the ones that the pot is over) in order to efficiently only heat up the pot that should be heated, and not turn on the other heating elements, to save energy, heat up efficiently, and also to be safer as the turning on of unnecessary heaters (even induction heaters) may cause damage.
Regarding claim 2, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further discloses an induction cooktop wherein the heating circuit comprises a switching element (switching unit 40) and an inductor (L), and wherein the processing module is configured to control the switching element to connect the inductor to the power supply module in response to determining that the pot is placed on the heating module, so that the pot is heated by the inductor.
Regarding claim 6, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 2, as above, and teaches an induction cooktop wherein the heating circuit further comprises a resonance unit (Guangdong, ¶0037, L-C circuit, fig. 2), and the resonance unit comprises a capacitor (C) connected to the inductor (L).
Regarding claim 7, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further teaches a method for controlling the induction cooktop, comprising: acquiring, by the processing module, the parameter value at the signal collection point in the detection circuit (Guangdong, ¶¶41-45), and determining, by the processing module, whether the pot is placed on the heating module according to the parameter value; and controlling, by the processing module, the heating circuit to heat the pot in response to determining that the pot is placed on the heating module.
Regarding claim 8, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 7, as above, and further teaches a method wherein the heating circuit comprises a switching element (Guangdong, 40) and an inductor, wherein controlling the heating circuit to heat the pot comprises: controlling the switching element to connect the inductor to the power supply module, so that the pot is heated by the inductor (Guangdong, ¶0046).
Regarding claim 9, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 7, as above, and further teaches a method, wherein acquiring, by the processing module, the parameter value at the signal collection point in the detection circuit, and determining, by the processing module, whether the pot is placed on the heating module according to the parameter value, comprises: collecting, by the processing module, a voltage value at the signal collection point in the detection circuit, and determining, by the processing module, whether the pot is placed on the heating module according to the voltage value (Guangdong, ¶¶0046,0048, “through weaker voltage” and this would be one of the “signals” to determine the pot is placed on the heating unit).
Regarding claim 10, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 9, as above, but does not further disclose a method wherein the pot is placed on the heating module according to the voltage value comprises: determining that the pot is placed on the heating module in response to determining that the voltage value exceeds a first threshold. However, Barritt teaches that “determining that the pot is placed on the heating module in response to determining that the voltage value exceeds a first threshold” (Barritt, “The voltage threshold value for pan and no pan is compared with programmed values by the microprocessor 54. If the value indicates that no pan is present near work coil 40, then microprocessor 54 stops power”; column 17, lines 52-54; and the voltage is related to impedance, V=IZ, and the impedance of the control circuit is how the pan is detected, “ The impedance of the LC parallel circuit 18 formed by work coil 40 and capacitor 42 of power inverter circuit 12 substantially depends on the inductive impedance of work coil 40, and the inductive impedance of work coil 40 depends on the magnetic properties of the pan 16 placed near work coil 40” column 19 line 56 to column 20 line 2). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to apply the teaching of Barritt to Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez, Guangdong already disclosing using “voltage” (Guangdong, ¶48) and the impedance of the circuit for pan detection, to use a threshold to determine whether the pan is present, so that, for instance, if something else is placed on the cooktop (not a pan), then the heating element would not activate, or it would deactivate quickly upon removal of the pan.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guangdong MIDEA Kitchen Appliances (Chinese Patent Publication CN205641033U; in applicant’s IDS, with translation; herein after “Guangdong”) in view of Barritt (U.S. Patent Number 5,648,008) and Gutierrez (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/ 0181304) and further in view of Cabeza Gozalo (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/ 0261466).
Regarding claim 5, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 2, as above, and further teaches an induction cooktop wherein the switching element comprises a relay (Guangdong, 40), and the relay comprises a first port, a second port and a third port (three connections within 40); wherein the first port is connected to the inductor (Fig. 3, 40 connected to L), the second port is connected to the detection circuit (detection chip 22) (¶0035-36, “disconnected disconnect detection element from detection chip when heating 10 is working”), (Guangdong, fig. 2);of the switching element to be connected to the third port. However, Cabeza Gozalo teaches a relay for connecting to the “relay of another heating module” (Cabeza Gozalo, fig. 7, relay 12b, connects to other relays of other heating elements 18b). Thus, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Cabeza Gozalo into the disclosure of Guangdong, in order to connect different heating elements, depending on the arrangement of the heating elements (i.e. this would be beneficial if they were right next to each other Cabeza Gozalo, fig. 1, so that they may be powered together if a pan was put over both of them), and thus it would be obvious to have the first port, connected to the inductor/heating element, be controlled in connection with the third port, in order to have them all work together.
Claim(s) 11,12, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guangdong MIDEA Kitchen Appliances (Chinese Patent Publication CN205641033U; in applicant’s IDS, with translation; herein after “Guangdong”) in view of Barritt (U.S. Patent Number 5,648,008) and Gutierrez (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/ 0181304) and further in view of Gouardo (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/ 0164017)
Regarding claim 11, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above but does not further teach in this combination wherein the processing module is configured to dynamically detect a position of the object on the heating module. However, Gutierrez does teach having multiple elements to determine the position of the object on the heating module (Gutierrez, fig. 4). However, it is unclear how often this detection is taking place. However, Gouardo teaches only to “detect automatically” (i.e. “dynamically detect a position” of the containers placed on the cooking surface in order to activate only the heating means under those containers (Gouardo, ¶0039). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, to look to the teachings of Gouardo and modify Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez, to determine that changing of position in real time in order to only turn on the heating elements below the object, in order to most efficiently use the heating device, not to waste energy and money (paying for the energy).
Regarding claim 12, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez and Gouardo teaches all the limitations of claim 11, as above, and further teaches, in this combination wherein the processing module is configured to determine a change in the position of the object in real time (Gouardo, ¶0039, “detect automatically” i.e. in real time”; this would have been combined in the combination above).
Regarding claim 13, Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, but does not further teach, in this combination wherein the induction cooktop is configured to automatically detect and identify a type and a size of an object on the cooktop. . However, Gutierrez does teach having multiple elements to determine the position of the object on the heating module (Gutierrez, fig. 4). However, Gouardo teaches only to “detect automatically” (Gouardo, ¶0039) and that the containers can be of any type of shape or size (Gouardo, ¶186). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, to look to the teachings of Gouardo and modify Guangdong in view of Barritt and Gutierrez, to determine that changing of position in real time in order to only turn on the heating elements below the object, no matter what type of container (shape or size) in order to most efficiently use the heating device, not to waste energy and money (i.e. paying for the energy).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 26 November 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the references do not teach “wherein the voltage value reflects an area of contact surfaces between an object placed on the heating module and the heating module” (Remarks, p. 5-6). Particularly, applicant points to Gutierrez, Fig. 8 and paragraph ¶56 to propose that “at position B: central output voltage remains unchanged”, and then posits that although perhaps position C, fig. 8 has a slightly lower voltage, positions A and B of fig. 8 have the same value. This mischaracterizes fig. 8. Fig. 8 shows that as different amounts of the coiled heater are covered, the measured voltage varies. As explained explicitly in ¶¶55-57, the voltage output varies depending on how much is covered, looking at both the central and external sensors, and the types of resulting signals are expressly described as different in those paragraphs. As another example, fig. 4 also shows voltages of different values and shapes of signals resulting from different coverage (Gutierrez, fig. 4, ¶0035 “ It is evident that such signal changes both in shape (more sinusoidal when the ferrite is well covered, more squared when the ferrite is slightly covered) and magnitude (peak to peak voltage decreases as the percentage of ferrite surface covered by the pan decreases”).” Thus, Gutierrez does teach this limitation and his inclusion in the combination is proper. The rejections are maintained.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see previously filed forms PTO- 892.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 LAWRENCE H SAMUELS whose telephone number is (571)272-2683. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM M-F.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 on 571-270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAWRENCE H SAMUELS/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761