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 .
Priority
The claim to priority as a 371 filing of PCT/KR2020/018316, filed on December 15, 2020, which claims benefit to KR 10-2020-0134141, filed on October 16, 2020 is acknowledged in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on April 24, 2023, January 23, 2025, June 3, 2025 and November 3, 2025 have been considered by the Examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because in Fig. 1, the reference “1” missing an arrow pointing to the induction heating type cooktop (see reference 20 in Fig. 1 for example). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it utilizes phraseology that can be implied, i.e. “The present disclosure comprises”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(c).
The incorporation by reference of the international patent application KR2020018316 and of the Korean patent application 10-2020-0134141 is ineffective as it was added on the date of entry into the national phase, which is after the filing date of the instant application. The filing date of this national stage application is the filing date of associated PCT, in this case 12/15/2020, see MPEP 1893.03(b). Therefore the specification amendment of 4/14/2023 to include the incorporation by reference is new matter, per MPEP 608.01(p).
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoh et al. (US Pub. 2005/0115958) in view of Hirota et al. (JP 2002-056959).
Regarding claim 11, Hoh et al. discloses a composite cooking apparatus comprising: a case (body 10); an upper plate (11) coupled to an upper end of the case (10) and configured to support an object to be heated (Fig. 2); a working coil (50) disposed inside the case; a thermal insulation material (40) disposed between the upper plate (11) and the working coil (50); a first thin fil film (30) disposed at a bottom surface of the upper plate (11) and configured to be inductively heated by the working coil (50) (Fig. 1-3; Par. 22, 26-27)). Hoh et al. does not disclose a second thin film disposed at the top surface of the upper plate and configured to be in contact with the object. Hirota et al. discloses a thin film (16) disposed at the top surface of the upper plate (14) and configured to be in contact with the object (11) (Fig. 1; Abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize in Hoh, et al., a second thin film disposed at the top surface of the upper plate and configured to be in contact with the object, as taught by Hirota et al., for the purpose of detecting the temperature of the object by the temperature sensor.
Claim(s) 11-14, 16-22 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoh et al. (US Pub. 2005/0115958) in view of Linglin (US Pub. 2019/0059132).
Regarding claim 11, Hoh et al. discloses a composite cooking apparatus comprising: a case (body 10); an upper plate (11) coupled to an upper end of the case (10) and configured to support an object to be heated (Fig. 2); a working coil (50) disposed inside the case; a thermal insulation material (40) disposed between the upper plate (11) and the working coil (50); a first thin fil film (30) disposed at a bottom surface of the upper plate (11) and configured to be inductively heated by the working coil (50) (Fig. 1-3; Par. 22, 26-27). Hoh et al. does not disclose a second thin film disposed at the top surface of the upper plate and configured to be in contact with the object. Hirota et al. discloses a thin film (11) disposed at the top surface of the upper plate and configured to be in contact with the object (2) (Fig. 1-2; Abstract). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize in Hoh, et al., a second thin film disposed at the top surface of the upper plate and configured to be in contact with the object, as taught by Linglin, for the purpose of providing the energy recovery device in order to increase the quantity of energy recovered.
Regarding claim 12, Linglin discloses the second thin film (11) defines at least one circular open loop (14) that has an empty center portion and a disconnected circumference (Fig. 2; Par. 34).
Regarding claim 13, Linglin discloses the second film (11) comprises a ferromagnetic material (Par. 38).
Regarding claim 14, Linglin discloses the second thin film (11) comprises a plurality of circular open loops (14, 21) that car concentric, and wherein each of the plurality of circular open loops has disconnected circumference (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Hoh et al. and Linglin disclose the upper plate (Hoh, 11) is disposed between the first thin film (Hoh, 33) and the second thin film (Linglin 10) in a vertical direction, and wherein the first thin film and the second thin film overlap which each other along the vertical direction (Hoh, Fig. 2-3; Linglin, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Hoh et al. and Linglin disclose the first thin film (Hoh, (33) and the second thin film (Linglin 11) overlap with the working coil (Hoh, 50) along the vertical direction (Hoh, Fig. 2-3; Linglin, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 18, Linglin discloses the second thin film (11) is configured to be detached from the upper plate (Fig. 2; Par. 38).
Regarding claim 19, Linglin discloses the working coil (Par. 35 and 39) is configured to, based on the object (2) being a metal nonmagnetic object in contact with the second thin film (11), heat the metal nonmagnetic object (2) via induction (Par. 35 and 39).
Regarding claim 20, Hoh discloses the first thin film (35) is configured to heat the metal nonmagnetic object via heat convection of heat conduction (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 21, Linglin discloses the plurality of circular open loops (14, 21) comprises: a first open loop (21) that defines a first circumference having a fist disconnected portion; a second loop (14) that is disposed outside the first open loop (21) and defines a second circumference surrounding the first circumference, the second circumference having a second disconnected portion (Fig. 2; Par. 34-36).
Regarding claim 22, Linglin discloses the first disconnected portion and the second disconnected portion extend in a radial direction and face each other (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 29, Hoh/Linglin disclose substantially all features of the claimed invention as set forth above including from Linglin, the plurality of circular open loops (14, 21) comprises: a first open loop (21) that defines a first circumference having a fist disconnected portion; a second loop (14) that is disposed outside the first open loop (21) and defines a second circumference surrounding the first circumference, the second circumference having a second disconnected portion (Fig. 2; Par. 34-36) except the plurality of circular open loops further comprise a third open loop that is disposed radially outside the second open loop and defines a third circumference surrounding the second circumference, the third circumference having a third disconnected portion. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effect filing date of the claimed invention to utilize in Hoh/Linglin, the plurality of circular open loops further comprise a third open loop that is disposed radially outside the second open loop and defines a third circumference surrounding the second circumference, the third circumference having a third disconnected portion, for the purpose of suitable to the user application to accommodating the larger vessel.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15, 23-28 and 30 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7828. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9AM - 9PM.
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/HUNG D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
HUNG D. NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3761