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 Status
Claims 1-13 are pending:
Information Disclosure Statement
No information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) was submitted.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao (CN 213721526) in view of Pascal (EP 2 520 201)
Claim 1
Xiao discloses:
“An air fryer with an atmosphere light assembly, characterized in that, comprising at least:
an upper housing assembly (cover plate 20/21, upper half of body 10), wherein the upper housing assembly comprises a ring-shaped upper housing (ring shaped upper chamber housing best seen in Fig2 and in cross-section in Fig7), the upper housing encloses a first chamber (best seen Fig2/7, void of upper chamber), and the upper housing is made of transparent material (cover plate 21 is transparent); and
an atmosphere light assembly, wherein the atmosphere light assembly comprises
a … lightshade located within the first chamber (best seen Fig7, light guide bracket 221 encircles LEDs 2221),
an LED light … wound around a bottom of an outer perimeter of the lightshade (best seen Fig4, LEDs 2221 are at the bottom and on the perimeter of light guide bracket 221), and
a circuit board electrically connected to the LED light strip (best seen Fig4, circuit board 222); and
a plurality of light guiding columns are provided on an upper ring of an outer side wall of the lightshade (best seen Fig4/7, vertical columns of light guide 221).”
Xiao is silent to the lightshade being ring-shaped and is silent to the LEDs being arranged as a strip.
Pascal teaches (best seen Fig4/5) that it is known to form LEDs as a strip and to arrange the LED strip along the perimeter of a cooking device.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the arrangement of Xiao to form the LED arrangement of Xiao to be an LED strip and to locate the strip in a ring around the perimeter of the device of Xiao, as Pascal teaches that it is known in the art to form LEDs as a strip and to arrange the LED strip along the perimeter of a cooking device, and such a modification would provide the advantage of allowing a user to see the light from the LED side of the device as opposed to solely from a top view of the device, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the arrangement of Xiao with a working edge rimed LED lighting arrangement that is known in the art and has improved user visibility.
Claim 2
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 1, characterized in that, wherein the upper housing assembly further comprises a ring-shaped connecting housing provided at a bottom of the upper housing; a mounting slot is provided on an internal of the connecting housing, and the LED light strip is mounted in the mounting slot (LED mounting slot as taught by Pascal Fig4/5 is located at the lower housing connection of Xiao cover 21 to main body 10).”
Claim 3
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 2, characterized in that, further comprises a lower housing assembly (Xiao: best seen Fig7, lower half of device), wherein the lower housing assembly comprises a lower housing provided at a bottom of the connecting housing and encloses a second chamber (Xiao: Fig7, chamber of pan body 11, annotated A), an inner housing provided within the second chamber (Xiao: Fig7, pan body 11), and a mounting bracket provided between the first chamber and the second chamber (Xiao: Fig7, annotated C); and the mounting bracket and the inner housing enclose a cooking chamber (best seen Fig7), and a heating assembly is provided at a top of the cooking chamber (Xiao: Fig7, heating assembly including at least heat coils, annotated B).”
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Claim 4
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 3, characterized in that, wherein the cooking chamber is provided with a heat insulating plate to separate an upper and a lower part of the cooking chamber into a heat dissipation chamber and a heating chamber (Xiao: Fig7, solid wall annotated D); and the heating assembly comprises a motor mounted on the mounting bracket (Xiao: Fig7, motor driving shaft in annotated E region), a first air blade (Xiao: Fig7, first fan annotated F) sleeved on an output shaft of the motor and located in the heat dissipation chamber (Xiao: Fig7, vertical shaft in annotated E region), a second air blade mounted on the output shaft of the motor and located in the heating chamber (Xiao: Fig7, second fan annotated G), and a heating pipe mounted on the heat insulating plate and located below the second air blade (Xiao: Fig7, heat pipe mounting location annotated H).”
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Claim 5
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 4, characterized in that, further comprises an exhaust base penetrating the upper housing and/or the connecting housing and the lightshade (Xiao: exhaust best seen Fig2/7), wherein the exhaust base is connected to the heat dissipation chamber (Xiao: best seen Fig7, exhaust on right side of heat dissipation chamber), and an exhaust window connected to an external area is provided on the exhaust base (Xiao: exhaust best seen Fig2/7).”
Claim 7
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 5, characterized in that, wherein the first air blade is a turbine air blade (Xiao: Fig7, first fan F), and the mounting bracket and the heat insulating plate enclose a turbine air duct (Xiao: Fig7 best shows arrangement of first fan F enclosed by mounting bracket, heat insulating plate, and main body).”
Claim 6
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 4, characterized in that, wherein the first air blade is a turbine air blade (Xiao: Fig7, first fan F), and the mounting bracket and the heat insulating plate enclose a turbine air duct (Xiao: Fig7 best shows arrangement of exhaust path enclosed by mounting bracket, heat insulating plate, and main body).”
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao (CN 213721526) in view of Pascal (EP 2 520 201), and in further view of Sladecek (US 10,842,316)
Claim 8
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses the arrangement of Claim 4.
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal is silent to the application of a humidity assembly.
Sladecek teaches: “… a humidifying assembly, wherein the humidifying assembly comprises a water tank (best seen Fig1, reservoir 52, tank 53) mounted on the upper housing (schematic mounting best seen Fig1), a water pump (Fig1, pump 57) and a nozzle (Fig1, nozzle 51) mounted on the mounting bracket (Fig1, location schematical taught for the purpose of combination); and the water tank is connected to the water pump through an inlet tube (Fig1, fluid connection schematically shown), and the nozzle is connected to the water pump through an outlet tube (Fig1, fluid connection schematically shown) and is provided in the heating chamber (Fig1, nozzle 51 in heating chamber).”
Sladecek further teaches (abstract) that a humidity assembly provides the advantage of “results in superior quality food in terms of taste, texture, and aesthetics and increases the versatility of the air-based flyer.”
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the arrangement of the modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal to add the humidity assembly as taught by Sladecek as mapped above, as such a combination would provide the modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal with the advantage of superior quality food in terms of taste, texture, and aesthetics and increases the versatility of the air-based flyer, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing a working humidity assembly to the arrangement for improved usage of the resulting device.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao (CN 213721526) in view of Pascal (EP 2 520 201), and in further view of Zhou (CN 213 129 206)
Claim 12
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal discloses: “The air fryer according to claim 4, characterized in that, further comprises a fryer (Xiao: Fig1/7, pan body 11), a first opening connected to the heating chamber is provided on a rear side of the inner housing (Xiao: Fig1/7, pan body 11 opening in main body 10), and the fryer is detachably provided in the heating chamber through the first opening (Xiao: Fig1/7, pan body 11 is detachably located in main body 10); wherein the fryer comprises a fryer body and a handle provided on the fryer body (Xiao: Fig1/7, pan body 11 body, pan body 11 handle); and an accommodating chamber for placing food is formed inside the fryer body (Xiao: Fig1/7, pan body 11 void for food placement), …”
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal is silent to “a second opening connected to the accommodating chamber is provided on a rear side of the fryer body, a viewing cover is provided at the second opening to seal the second opening, and the viewing cover is made of transparent material.”
Zhou teaches: “… (best seen embodiment of Fig4-6) a second opening connected to the accommodating chamber is provided on a rear side of the fryer body (viewing port 33), a viewing cover is provided at the second opening to seal the second opening (transparent window 34), and the viewing cover is made of transparent material (transparent window 34).”
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the arrangement of the modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal to modify the cook basket of Xiao to add the viewing port/transparent window arrangement as taught by Zhou, as such a modification would merely be a simple substitution of one known in the art basket for another, and such a modification provides the advantage of allowing a user to view the food during the cooking process without opening the device, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing a known working basket arrangement with improved usability to the arrangement for improved usage of the resulting device.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao (CN 213721526) in view of Pascal (EP 2 520 201) and Zhou (CN 213 129 206), and in further view of Popeil (US 11,045,047)
Claim 13
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal and Zhou discloses the arrangement of Claim 12.
The modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal and Zhou is silent to the application of an oven light.
Popeil teaches (Fig48, interior light 246, heat rods 248) that it is known to pass an interior cooking light assembly 246 through the heat insulating plate towards the interior cooking region of heat rods 248 in order to illuminate the interior cooking region.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the arrangement of the modified arrangement of Xiao by the teachings of Pascal and Zhou to add an interior cooking light assembly as taught by Popeil and as mapped above, as such a modification would provides the advantage of improved illumination of the interior cooking region, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing a known working lighting arrangement for the resulting device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9-11 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.
Claim 9
The prior art of record fails to anticipate or render obvious the limitations of the claim, and in particular the limitations recited in claim 9 in combination with the intervening claims of which the instant claim depends.
Claims 10-11 would be allowable based on dependency.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN HUNTER JR whose telephone number is (571)272-5093. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-18.
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/JOHN S HUNTER, JR/Examiner, Art Unit 3745