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 .
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) 15-18, 26 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharma et al (US 2016/0354140) cited by applicant , in view of Fawal et al (US 5,801,602). Regarding claim 15, Sharma discloses induction-based micro-volume heating system comprising a closed loop ferrite core (ferromagnetic core 4903, Figures 49L, 49M; par. 0811); a wire configured to carry electric current coiled around a first portion of the closed loop ferrite core and at least partially surrounded by the closed loop ferrite core (Figure 49L: induction coil 4904; pr. 0811, par. 0813); a fluid tube configured to carry a fluid coiled around a second portion of the closed loop ferrite core and at least partially surrounded by the closed loop ferrite core (Figure 49L: grooves 4915 and 4998- which are channels formed for water or steam to flow around the ferromagnetic core; par. 0813); wherein the electric current in the wire generates a magnetizing inductance to inductively heat the fluid tube (par. 0089, par. 0142). However, Sharma does not disclose the closed loop ferrite core comprising two or more separable ferrite pieces. Fawal discloses a closed loop ferrite core comprising two or more separable ferrite pieces (col. 5, 25-32). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to utilize in Sharma the closed loop ferrite core comprising two or more separable ferrite pieces as taught by Fawal in order to suit user specific application. Regarding claims 16-18, Sharma discloses (Figure 49L and 49M: ferrite core 4903) and Fawal discloses ferrite core (450) comprising, figure 4, a ferrite side, a ferrite top, a ferrite bottom, and a ferrite center, and wherein the ferrite top (452) is separable from the ferrite bottom (454). Regarding claims 26, 30, Fawal discloses two or more separable ferrite pieces (452, 454) couple to one another to form a ferrite box (Figure 4).
Claims 19-25, 27-29 and 31-34 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Alley et al (US 4,764,744) discloses overload relay having adjustably gapped current transformers.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 October 6, 2025