Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/031,278

OSCILLATION UNIT, INDUCTION COOKING APPLIANCE AND METHOD FOR OPERATING AN OSCILLATION UNIT

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Apr 11, 2023
Examiner
LESLIE, MICHAEL S
Art Unit
3745
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
Electrolux Appliances Aktiebolag
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
81%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 5m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 81% — above average
81%
Career Allow Rate
915 granted / 1129 resolved
+11.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
12 currently pending
Career history
1141
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
§103
28.2%
-11.8% vs TC avg
§102
37.7%
-2.3% vs TC avg
§112
27.6%
-12.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1129 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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. Claim Objections Claims 2, 5, 16, & 17 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 2, Line 3, “at further third node” should be -- at a further third node --; Claim 5, Line 4, “as measuring result” should be -- as a measuring result --; Claim 16, Line 11, “generated filed” should be -- generated field --; Claim 17, Line 6, “configured sample” should be -- configured to sample --. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale , or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)( 1)& (a)(2) as being anticipated by Pastore et al ( EP 2525485 B1 ) . Pastore et al disclose an oscillation unit (e.g. Fig. 1) for generating heating power for an induction cooking appliance (e.g. Para. [0002]), the oscillation unit comprising: a resonant tank (e.g. L, R, C resonant) in the form of a resonant circuit configured to generate an electrical and/or magnetic field and/or heating power, the resonant tank connected to a first node, a single switching element (e.g. IGBT) connected to the resonant tank by the first node, and driven with switching signals for oscillating the resonant tank, a measuring unit (e.g. Fig. 2, V C ’ E ’ ) configured to measure a first electrical parameter of the resonant tank, and an estimating unit (e.g. Figs. 8, 9, PID) configured to estimate a second electrical parameter of the resonant tank based on the first electrical parameter. Wherein : the resonant tank comprises a capacitive resonant element (e.g. C resonant) and an inductive resonant element (e.g. L) connected at the first node and/or at further third node, wherein the inductive resonant element is used to generate energy for heating a cooking vessel; the inductive resonant element (e.g. R) comprises a resistance so that a damped oscillation can be obtained, wherein the capacitive resonant element and the inductive resonant element are operated in parallel or in series; the switching element switchably connects the first node and a second node (e.g. DC-bus), and/or comprises a transistor and/or a diode, wherein the switching element is an IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor), and/or wherein the transistor and the diode are operated in parallel, and/or wherein the switching element switches or is switchable between an opened state and a closed state, and/or wherein in the closed state of the switching element, the resonant tank, is/are connected bidirectionally with the first node or the second node, and/or wherein in the opened state of the switching element, the resonant tank is at least partially floating, only connected uni -directionally with the second node, and/or wherein the diode allows current only to flow from the second node to the first node; the measuring unit comprises: a voltage measuring configured to measure voltages of the first node, over the second node, as measuring result or the first electrical parameter (e.g. Fig. 2, V C ’ E ’ ), and/or a dividing means configured to divide the measuring results, so that the measuring results do not exceed a predetermined evaluation range, and/or a sampling unit configured to use a predetermined sampling rate for sampling the measuring result of the first node or the divided values, wherein the sampling rate is at least twice a resonance frequency of the resonant tank; and the estimating unit comprises: a derivation unit configured to obtain a derivative of the first electrical parameter based on a sampling of the first electrical parameter by applying numerical differentiation on the sampled first electrical parameter (e.g. Figs. 8, 9, PID), and/or a first multiplying unit configured to obtain a multiplication result by multiplying the sampled first electrical parameter with the derivative of the first electrical parameter and a constant factor, and/or an averaging means configured to obtain an average value of the multiplication results for a predetermined time an OFF time of the switching element, and/or a second multiplying unit configured to obtain an overall electrical power by multiplying the first electrical parameter and a third electrical parameter, and/or a weighting unit configured to obtain a weighted difference between the overall electrical power and the second electrical parameter, and/or a look up table for correlating the second electrical parameter based on the first electrical parameter, wherein the constant factor is a capacity of the capacitive resonant element, and/or wherein the second electrical parameter is the multiplication result or the average value, and/or wherein the second electrical parameter is an electrical power of the oscillation unit. The oscillation including: a power supply connector configured to receive a bus supply voltage at a further node over a ground voltage at a second node (e.g. DC-bus); a control unit (e.g. Figs. 8, 9) configured to control the resonant tank by determining switching parameters based on the second electrical parameter and/or a requested power, so that power of the inductive resonant element is controlled in a control loop and/or in a closed loop, wherein the control unit comprises: a power determination unit configured to determine the requested power based on a requested power level, and/or a power control unit configured to control the power of the resonant tank based on the requested power and the second electrical parameter, the controlling of the power being by adjusting an ON time and/or an OFF time, wherein, for controlling of the resonant tank, the ON time of the switching element is adjusted, and/or wherein, for controlling the OFF time, a resonance frequency and a corresponding period of the resonant tank are determined, and/or wherein, the OFF time is determined based on a voltage at the switching element and/or wherein, the OFF time is based on detecting a zero crossing of the voltage at the switching element, wherein, the ON time defines, during a switching period, how long the switching element is in a closed state and the OFF time defines during the same switching period, how long the switching element is in an opened state, and/or wherein, the requested power is a nominal or set value of the control loop and wherein the second electrical parameter is an actual value of the control loop; wherein the first node is a switchable node and/or wherein the second node is a ground node and/or wherein a third node is a power supply node (e.g. IGBT). An induction cooking appliance, comprising: the oscillation unit according to claim 1, a user interface configured for requesting a power for the oscillation unit, and/or at least one voltage supply unit configured to supply voltage to a power supply connector of the oscillation unit (e.g. Para. [0002]); wherein the at least one voltage supply unit comprises a bridge rectifier and/or a bus capacitor (e.g. Paras. [0003] -[ 0004]); and a supply measuring unit configured to measure an input current of the at least one voltage supply unit (e.g. Para. [0005]). A method for operating the oscillation unit for generating heating power for an induction cooking appliance, the method comprising: generating, by the resonant tank an electrical and/or magnetic field and/or heating power, driving the single switching element connected to the resonant tank by the first node, with switching signals for oscillating the resonant tank, measuring, by the measuring unit, said first electrical parameter of the oscillation unit, said first electrical parameter being a voltage node voltage of the first node, and estimating, by the estimating unit, said second electrical parameter based on the first electrical parameter (e.g. operating the unit of Fig. 1). The method further comprising: deriving (e.g. Figs. 8, 9), by a derivation unit, the first electrical parameter based on a sampling of the first electrical parameter for obtaining a derivative, by applying numerical differentiation on the sampled first electrical parameter and/or multiplying, by a multiplying unit, the sampled first electrical parameter with the derivative of the first electrical parameter and a constant factor to obtain a multiplication result, and/or averaging, by an averaging means, the multiplication result for obtaining an average value for a predetermined time, during an OFF time of the switching element, and/or multiplying the first electrical parameter and a third electrical parameter for obtaining an overall electrical power, and/or computing a weighted difference between the overall electrical power and the second electrical parameter, and/or obtaining, by a look up table, the second electrical parameter based on the first electrical parameter, wherein the constant factor is a capacity of the capacitive resonant element and/or wherein the second electrical parameter is the multiplication result or the average value, and/or wherein the second electrical parameter is an electrical power of the oscillation unit and/or an indicator for an electrical power of the oscillation unit; and controlling (e.g. Figs. 8, 9), by a control unit, the resonant tank by determining switching parameters for the switching signal based on the second electrical parameter and/or a requested power, so that the power of the inductive resonant element and/or the resonant tank is controlled in a control loop and/or in a closed loop, wherein the controlling by the control unit comprises: determining, by a power determination unit, a requested power based on a requested power level, and/or controlling, by a power control unit, the power of the resonant tank based on the requested power and the second electrical parameter, and/or wherein the requested power is a nominal or set value, and/or wherein the second electrical parameter is an actual value of the control loop, and/or wherein the resonant tank is controlled by adjusting an ON time and/or an OFF time, wherein the ON time defines, during a switching period, how long the switching element is in a closed state and/or the OFF time defines, during the same switching period, how long the switching element is in an opened state, and/or wherein, for controlling of the resonant tank, the ON time is adjusted and/or wherein, for controlling the OFF time, a resonance frequency and a corresponding period of the resonant tank are determined, whereas the OFF time is determined based on detecting a zero crossing of a voltage at the switching element Allowable Subject Matter Claims 17-18 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. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Additional references listed on form PTO-892 are cited for their relevance to the disclosed invention and demonstration of the state of the art . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT MICHAEL LESLIE whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-4819 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT M - F 8 am - 4-30pm . 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, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Nathaniel Wiehe can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-8648 . 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. /MICHAEL LESLIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 January 30, 2026
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Prosecution Timeline

Apr 11, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 30, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
81%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+14.3%)
2y 5m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1129 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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