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 Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 4, the phrase "for example" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
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) 1-4 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (CN 209090827 U) in view of Wang (CN 206621252 U) and Lee (KR 20140004347 U).
Claim 1. Li discloses a cooking appliance (Fig. 1) having a lid (120, Fig. 1) and an inner pot forming a cooking space for receiving food material (140, Fig. 1), the lid being arranged over the inner pot and movable between a closed position and an open position (lid can open and close, par. 35), wherein the lid comprises
a heating assembly including a heating device (heat unit 150, Fig. 2, par. 37),
a reflective plate (160, Fig. 2) and a light-transmission plate located below the reflective plate (123B, Fig. 2-3), the reflective plate and the light- transmission plate defining a heating space in which the heating device is arranged (heater 150 is between 160 and 123B, Fig. 2),
the heating device comprising a first heating tube (heating unit 150 is a tube, par. 39)
Wang discloses a baking machine wherein the heating device comprising a first heating tube and a second heating tube, each heating tube presenting a semi-enclosed shape with an opening, the first heating tube being surrounded by the second heating tube and the opening of the first heating tube being arranged to face a body portion of the second heating tube without opening (Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li to incorporate the teachings of Wang and provide a second heating tube. Doing so would have the benefit of improving the cooking process by reducing temperature differences and making the heat distribution more uniform (par. 26, Wang).
Li in view of Wang does not disclose the reflective plate comprising a reflection enhancing zone disposed between the first heating tube and the second heating tube, the reflection enhancing zone being configured to enhance the reflection of radiation for both the first heating tube and the second heating tube.
Lee discloses a cooking appliance wherein the reflecting plate has a curved surface between two infrared heaters (Fig. 3) in order to reflect the radiation back to the food and to prevent far infrared rays from being irradiated beyond the range where the food is placed (par. 31).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li in view of Wang to incorporate the teachings of Lee and provide a reflecting plate with a convex surface between two infrared heaters. Doing so would have the benefit of reflecting the radiation back to the food and preventing far infrared rays from being irradiated beyond the range where the food is placed (par. 31, Lee).
Claim 2. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the first and second heating tubes are far-infrared heating tubes (far-infrared heating elements 150, par. 41).
Claim 3. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the first and second heating tube each presents a C-shape (Fig. 1, Wang).
Claim 4. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the first and second heating tubes are fixed to the reflective plate (infrared heating element is installed through clips, par. 51, Fig. 4), for example via clips.
Claim 6. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the light- transmission plate is made of glass (glass, par. 42).
Claim(s) 8 and 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Wang and Lee as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee ’914 (KR 20090001914 U).
Claim 8. Li in view of Wang and Lee does not disclose the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the reflection enhancing zone comprises two protrusions extending downwards into the heating space and both disposed between the first heating tube and the second heating tube.
Lee ‘914 discloses an infrared heater wherein the reflecting plate has a plurality of honey comb patterns (Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li in view of Wang and Lee to incorporate the teachings of Lee ‘914 and have embossments on the reflectors. Doing so would have the benefit of maximizing the reflection efficiency of the heater and prevent damage from external shocks (abstract, Lee ‘914).
Claim 10. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the reflection enhancing zone comprises a convex surface disposed between the first heating tube and the second heating tube (convex surface between first and second heaters, Fig. 3, Lee),
Li in view of Wang and Lee does not disclose the convex surface further comprising a plurality of embossments.
Lee ‘914 discloses an infrared heater wherein the reflecting plate has a plurality of honey comb patterns (Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li in view of Wang and Lee to incorporate the teachings of Lee ‘914 and have embossments on the reflectors. Doing so would have the benefit of maximizing the reflection efficiency of the heater and prevent damage from external shocks (abstract, Lee ‘914).
Claim 11. Li in view of Wang, Lee, and Lee ‘914 The cooking appliance according to claim 10, wherein the embossments are evenly distributed on the convex surface (Fig. 2 shows that the honey comb patterns are evenly distributed, Lee ‘914).
Claim(s) 5, 7, and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Wang and Lee as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kanaya (CN 1160526 A).
Claim 5. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the
Li in view of Wang and Lee does not disclose the light- transmission plate is sealed with a lower end of the reflective plate.
Kanaya discloses a cooking appliance wherein the glass plate is sealed with a lower end of a reflecting plate 27 (Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li in view of Wang and Lee to incorporate the teachings of Kanaya and have the glass plate be sealed by an lower end of the reflecting plate. Kanaya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would be capable of sealing the end of the glass plate with the reflecting plate.
Claim 7. Li in view of Wang and Lee discloses the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the light- transmission plate comprises an upper surface facing the heating space and a lower surface facing the cooking space (one side of the inner cover 123 faces the heating element 150 and the other faces the inner cavity, par. 53, Fig. 1),
Li in view of Wang and Lee does not disclose
Kanaya discloses a cooking appliance wherein the glass plate is coated with far infrared coating (par. 116, Fig. 26) so that it can absorb the light and evenly heat the soft rice (par. 118).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li in view of Wang and Lee to incorporate the teachings of Kanaya and coat the glass. Doing so would have the benefit of absorbing the light and evenly heating the soft rice (par. 118, Kanaya).
Claim 12. Li in view of Wang and Lee does not disclose the cooking appliance according to claim 1, wherein the lid comprises a steam channel connecting the cooking space and the outside of the cooking appliance,
the reflective plate comprising a mounting hole destinated to receive and position the steam channel,
the mounting hole being disposed to pass through the opening of the first heating tube or the second heating tube.
Kanaya discloses a cooking appliance wherein the lid comprises a steam channel connecting the cooking space and the outside of the cooking appliance (steam pipe 20, par. 65, Fig. 1),
the reflective plate comprising a mounting hole destinated to receive and position the steam channel (reflecting plate 27 with a hole to accommodate the steam pipe, Fig. 2),
the mounting hole being disposed to pass through the opening of the first heating tube or the second heating tube (it is understood by the examiner that the heating tube 65 with an opening in Fig. 18 in combination with Fig. 1 results in a steam channel positioned by the heating tube’s opening).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Li in view of Wang and Lee to incorporate the teachings of Kanaya and have a steam channel. Doing so would have the benefit of releasing steam from the cooking vessel.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMPSON A CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5.
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/SIMPSON A CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/ELIZABETH M KERR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761