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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-15 in the reply filed on 1/14/2026 is acknowledged.
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 9 is 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.
The phrase “a preset height” introduces ambiguity as the spec does not define a specific numerical value, range or standard for “the preset height.” Because “preset height” is an undefined variable, adding an alternative “or greater” further fails to place any clear boundary on an already undefined term in the limitation. As such, removing the phrase “or greater” would result in the same claim scope, as any height can be considered a “preset height.” Accordingly, it is unclear to one of ordinary skill in the art what scope or boundary the phrase “or greater” is intended to limit, rendering the claim indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-5, 8-9 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190104570 A1 in view of Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1, in further view of Yue et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20230168651 A1.
Claim 1. Moon disclose a cooking appliance for controlling a wireless power transmission device for automatic cooking of contents in a cooking vessel, the cooking appliance comprising: (Moon, Fig. 4 shows a communication module 300 in housing 100 which corresponds to the claimed cooking appliance, housing the cooking vessel W which corresponds with the claimed cooking vessel; [0060] “The communication module 300 may receive information on the temperature of the object W, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 250, and may provide information to the induction heating device 1000 (see FIG. 6) through a wireless communication” where the induction heating device 1000 corresponds to the claimed wireless power transmission device; and Fig. 6 shows a schematic view of the control and power flow between the devices in order to heat the cooking vessel W, corresponding to the claimed automation of cooking the contents to be heated in the cooking vessel.)
a […] first temperature sensor arranged in an internal space of the cooking appliance, the internal space being configured to accommodate the cooking vessel; (Moon, Fig. 5 shows the temperature sensor 250 arranged inside the internal space of the housing 100 that accommodates the cooking vessel W.)
a communication interface configured to transmit information to the wireless power transmission device; and (Moon, Fig. 4 shows a communication module 300; and [0060] “The communication module 300 may receive information on the temperature of the object W, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 250, and may provide information to the induction heating device 1000 (see FIG. 6) through a wireless communication” where the communication module corresponds with the claimed communication interface.)
at least one processor configured to: […] transmit power control information, including the power level value, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface. (Moon, [0059]-[0060] “In some implementations, the temperature sensor 250 can provide information on the temperature of the object W to the communication module 300. The communication module 300 may receive information on the temperature of the object W, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 250, and may provide information to the induction heating device 1000 (see FIG. 6) through a wireless communication.”)
Although Moon does not explicitly disclose a processor, communication modules such as those that provide information through wireless communication include a processor such as a microcontroller as part of their design in order to store, receive and send information.
Moon does not explicitly disclose a plurality of first temperature sensors [arranged in an internal space of the cooking appliance]
Egenter discloses a plurality of first temperature sensors (Egenter, [0040] “The temperature probe 35 could also generally have a plurality of temperature sensors for a distributed and better measurement.”)
Moon and Egenter are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Although Moon does not explicitly disclose a plurality of temperature sensors inside an internal space of the cooking appliance, it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art (see MPEP 2144.04 VI B). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Moon’s cooking appliance with multiple temperature sensors taught by Egenter. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to have a more distributed and better measurement of temperature within the cooking appliance, as taught by Egenter.
Moon does not explicitly disclose [at least one processor] configured to: obtain temperature data regarding the cooking vessel that is measured by the plurality of first temperature sensors as the cooking vessel is accommodated in the internal space, based on the temperature data regarding the cooking vessel and recipe information of a dish selected by a user, determine a power level value of the wireless power transmission device.
Yue discloses [at least one processor] configured to: obtain temperature data regarding the cooking vessel that is measured by the plurality of first temperature sensors as the cooking vessel is accommodated in the internal space, based on the temperature data regarding the cooking vessel and recipe information of a dish selected by a user, determine a power level value of the wireless power transmission device, and (Yue, [0220] “… the user may transmit a cooking instruction to instruct the cooking device 230 to execute the cooking operation according to the corresponding electronic recipe to cook the dishes,” the cooking operation refers to cooking times, duration, power, temperature, etc. (see Yue, [0137]) which correspond to the claimed temperature data regarding the cooking vessel and power level value of the wireless power transmission device; and Fig. 2b shows a terminal device 210 where a user selects a recipe for the cooking device 230 to execute which corresponds with the claimed recipe information of a dish selected by a user; and Moon, Fig. 4 shows a communication module 300.)
Moon, Egenter and Yue are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Moon differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not explicitly disclose having a processor that obtains temperature data based on the recipe of a dish selected by the user to determine a power level value of the wireless power transmission device. However, Moon as modified by Egenter, teaches a plurality of temperature devices situated inside the cooking appliance, which is connected to the communication module and the cooking system as a whole through wireless connection. Yue teaches transmitting cooking instructions and cooking operation information, which includes power and temperature data, between the user and the components of the cooking system in order to automate cooking. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the cooking apparatus of Moon with the method of controlling wireless cooking devices of Yue since it has been held that broadly providing a mechanical or automatic means to replace manual activity which has accomplished the same result involves only routine skill in the art. In re Venner, 120 USPQ 192. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination in order to complete automatic cooking procedures with few participation steps, thus making cooking more convenient.
Claim 2. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
wherein the power control information includes information about a duration of maintaining the power level value. (Yue, [0220] “… the user may transmit a cooking instruction to instruct the cooking device 230 to execute the cooking operation according to the corresponding electronic recipe to cook the dishes,” the cooking operation refers to cooking times, duration, power, temperature, etc. (see Yue, [0137]).)
Claim 3. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, from the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, information about the dish selected by the user, and (Yue, Fig. 2b shows the terminal device 210 instructing the cooking device to execute the cooking operation according to an electronic recipe so as to cook a corresponding dish (see Yue, [0220]), in which the terminal device functions similarly to the wireless power transmission device as described in the instant specification in Fig. 1, component 2000 including a user interface terminal that wirelessly connects, sends and receives information via the communication interface of the cooking appliance 1000.)
obtain, from a memory of the cooking appliance, the recipe information. (Yue, [0240] "In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the manner of the cooking device 230 for acquiring the electronic recipe is not limited… under a condition that the cooking device 230 locally stores an electronic recipe, the terminal device 210 may carry identifier information of the electronic recipe in the cooking instruction transmitted to the cooking device 230, and the cooking device 230 may locally acquire an electronic recipe selected by the user according to the identifier information.")
Moon, Egenter and Yue are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Modified Moon differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not explicitly disclose the induction heating device of Moon as modified by Egenter as having the ability to send recipes to the cooking appliance via the communication module. However, Yue discloses a separate terminal device which functions similarly to the claimed invention in that it sends recipes to the cooking appliance via the communication module, though it does not explicitly disclose a similar induction heating device taught by Moon. Although modified Moon does not explicitly disclose the induction heating device, which corresponds to the wireless power transmission device, as the device that sends recipes to the cooking appliance, the terminal device 210 of Yue functions similarly to the claimed wireless power transmission device claimed and reads on the claim language as written. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the terminal device 210 of Yue with the induction heating device of Moon, directly integrating the terminal device into the induction heating device, as each element merely performs the same function as it does separately. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination in order to simplify the system by integrating the user interface into the induction heating device itself.
Claim 4. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determine the power level value of the wireless power transmission device by comparing information about a plurality of cooking stages included in the recipe information, with the temperature data regarding the cooking vessel. (Yue, [0713] "In addition, the automatic cooker operation data may also comprise information such as the cooking temperature corresponding to the current cooking step, the cooking duration at the cooking temperature, an operation state of the pot body corresponding to the current cooking step, a cooking manner in the pot body, etc."; and Moon, [0059]-[0060] “In some implementations, the temperature sensor 250 can provide information on the temperature of the object W to the communication module 300. The communication module 300 may receive information on the temperature of the object W, which is sensed by the temperature sensor 250, and may provide information to the induction heating device 1000 (see FIG. 6) through a wireless communication.”)
The operation data of the automatic cooker taught by Yue may be sent to the induction heating device of Moon modified with the terminal device of Yue. In order for the automatic cooker to execute the cooking steps of the current recipe, it is necessary for it to have a feedback loop of receiving temperature information of object W to regulate temperature and also to change temperature according to the cooking steps of the recipe. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the terminal device 210 of Yue with the induction heating device of Moon, directly integrating the terminal device into the induction heating device, as each element merely performs the same function as it does separately. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination in order to simplify the system by integrating the user interface into the induction heating device itself.
Claim 5. Modified Moon disclose the cooking appliance of claim 4.
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determine, as a current cooking stage, a first cooking stage among the plurality of cooking stages included in the recipe information, based on the temperature data regarding the cooking vessel, (Yue, Fig. 6a shows the program steps to executing a recipe; and [0702] “… the automatic cooker may analyze the recipe, so as to identify the cooking parameters contained in the recipe. Specifically, the cooking parameters may characterize the various details of the cooking steps of the recipe; and according to the cooking parameters, the corresponding cooking steps may be restored, so as to execute a cooking process of dishes.”)
identify, from the recipe information, a first power level value corresponding to the first cooking stage, and transmit, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, first power control information including the first power level value. (Yue, [0713] “In addition, the automatic cooker operation data may also comprise information such as the cooking temperature corresponding to the current cooking step, the cooking duration at the cooking temperature, an operation state of the pot body corresponding to the current cooking step, a cooking manner in the pot body, etc.”)
Claim 8. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, from a mobile terminal through the wireless power transmission device, new recipe information corresponding to a new dish selected by the user using the mobile terminal, and (Yue, Fig. 2b shows a terminal device 210 being used by the user to generate electronic recipes, which is then sent to the cooking device 230 to execute the cooking operation; and Moon, Fig. 4 shows a communication module 300 which houses the claimed processor.)
store the received new recipe information in a memory of the cooking appliance. (Yue, [0240] "In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the manner of the cooking device 230 for acquiring the electronic recipe is not limited… under a condition that the cooking device 230 locally stores an electronic recipe, the terminal device 210 may carry identifier information of the electronic recipe in the cooking instruction transmitted to the cooking device 230, and the cooking device 230 may locally acquire an electronic recipe selected by the user according to the identifier information.")
Claim 9. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
wherein each of the plurality of first temperature sensors is spaced apart from a bottom surface of the cooking appliance by a preset height or greater. (Moon, [0022] “In some examples, the temperature sensor is arranged at the central region of the housing at a position that defines a minimum distance between the upper surface and the lower surface of the housing” where the minimum distance refers to the lower surface of the housing 100c (see Moon, [0057]) and corresponds with the claimed preset height.)
Claim 14. The cooking appliance of claim 1.
further comprising: a low-power coil to receive, from the wireless power transmission device, power of a preset level to drive the communication interface. (Moon, [0045] “In some implementations, the working coil WC may correspond to a primary coil that transmits a wireless power, and the repeating coil 150 may correspond to a secondary coil that receives a wireless power. In the same or other implementations, the repeating coil 150 can be driven by receiving a power through the magnetic induction or the magnetic resonance with the working coil WC,” where the working coil WC is the coil provided in an induction heating device (see Moon, [0044]).)
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190104570 A1 in view of Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1, in further view of Yue et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20230168651 A1 as evidenced by Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1.
Claim 6. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 5.
Modified Moon does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to: in a case in which a temperature indicated by the temperature data regarding the cooking vessel obtained from at least one of the plurality of first temperature sensors reaches a temperature indicated by first threshold temperature data, determine, as the current cooking stage, a second cooking stage that is subsequent to the first cooking stage, identify, from the recipe information, a second power level value corresponding to the second cooking stage, and transmit, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, second power control information including the second power level value.
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: in a case in which a temperature indicated by the temperature data regarding the cooking vessel obtained from at least one of the plurality of first temperature sensors reaches a temperature indicated by first threshold temperature data, (Yue, [0543] “Therefore, the Internet-of-Things device performs anomaly monitoring and handling based on the anomaly processing information, and corresponding processing may be as follows: the handling information corresponding to the anomaly state information is executed when it is detected that the execution state of the target task meets the target anomaly state information”; and Egenter, [0040] “The temperature probe 35 could also generally have a plurality of temperature sensors for a distributed and better measurement.”)
Although modified Moon does not explicitly disclose comparing temperature sensor measurements to a threshold, Egenter teaches implementing a plurality of temperature sensors for distributed and better measurement. Furthermore, Yue also teaches a known technique to handle anomalous information when data meets a certain anomaly state threshold, implying the comparison of data received by the appliance sensors against data calculated to be anomalous during the execution of the cooking process. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to apply the known technique of handling anomalous information taught by Yue to the automated cooking appliance of modified Moon to similarly verify this even distribution of temperature and confirm the that at least one of the plurality of temperature sensors detects that the cooking vessel has reached a threshold temperature as dictated by the recipe. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination because applying the known technique would improve the cooking appliance of modified Moon in the same way by enabling the cooking appliance’s processor to automatically trigger a state change in response to the anomalous information given by the sensors in order to improve safety and the device’s ability to cook autonomously.
determine, as the current cooking stage, a second cooking stage that is subsequent to the first cooking stage, (Yue, Fig. 6a shows the program steps to executing a recipe; [0702] “… the automatic cooker may analyze the recipe, so as to identify the cooking parameters contained in the recipe. Specifically, the cooking parameters may characterize the various details of the cooking steps of the recipe; and according to the cooking parameters, the corresponding cooking steps may be restored, so as to execute a cooking process of dishes”; and [0713] “In addition, the automatic cooker operation data may also comprise information such as the cooking temperature corresponding to the current cooking step, the cooking duration at the cooking temperature, an operation state of the pot body corresponding to the current cooking step, a cooking manner in the pot body, etc.”)
identify, from the recipe information, a second power level value corresponding to the second cooking stage, and transmit, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, second power control information including the second power level value. (Yue, [0713] “In addition, the automatic cooker operation data may also comprise information such as the cooking temperature corresponding to the current cooking step, the cooking duration at the cooking temperature, an operation state of the pot body corresponding to the current cooking step, a cooking manner in the pot body, etc.”)
Although Yue does not explicitly disclose a second cooking stage, Yue mentions cooking steps with cooking parameters, such as cooking temperature and duration associated with a current cooking step, that characterize the details of each of the different cooking steps of the recipe, which are then used to execute the cooking process of dishes. The operation state of the pot body included in the automatic cooker operation data refers to characterizing the state of the pot body, including but not limited to a heating process and a waiting process, which is monitored by a built-in sensor and corresponds to the cooking steps that is included in the automatic cooker operation data (see Yue, [0348]).
Claim 7. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 6.
wherein the at least one processor is configured to: in a case in which a temperature indicated by individual temperature data obtained from each of the plurality of first temperature sensors is greater than a temperature indicated by second threshold temperature data, and a temperature indicated by average temperature data obtained from the plurality of first temperature sensors is greater than or equal to a temperature indicated by third threshold temperature data, (Yue, [0543] “Therefore, the Internet-of-Things device performs anomaly monitoring and handling based on the anomaly processing information, and corresponding processing may be as follows: the handling information corresponding to the anomaly state information is executed when it is detected that the execution state of the target task meets the target anomaly state information”; and Egenter, [0040] “The temperature probe 35 could also generally have a plurality of temperature sensors for a distributed and better measurement.”)
Although modified Moon does not explicitly disclose comparing temperature sensor measurements to a threshold, Egenter teaches implementing a plurality of temperature sensors for distributed and better measurement. Yue also teaches a method to handle anomalous information when data meets a certain anomaly state threshold, implying the comparison of data received by the appliance sensors against data calculated to be anomalous during the execution of the cooking process. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the processor of Yue to similarly verify this even distribution of temperature and confirm the that at least one of the plurality of temperature sensors detects that the cooking vessel has reached a threshold temperature as dictated by the recipe. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification because selecting a given algorithmic method of checking temperature against recipe temperature information would have followed naturally to one of ordinary skill in the art as necessitated by the specific requirements of a given automatic cooking appliance.
determine, as the current cooking stage, a third cooking stage that is subsequent to the second cooking stage, (Yue, [0702] “… the automatic cooker may analyze the recipe, so as to identify the cooking parameters contained in the recipe. Specifically, the cooking parameters may characterize the various details of the cooking steps of the recipe; and according to the cooking parameters, the corresponding cooking steps may be restored, so as to execute a cooking process of dishes.”)
identify, from the recipe information, a third power level value corresponding to the third cooking stage, and transmit, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, third power control information including the third power level value. (Yue, [0713] “In addition, the automatic cooker operation data may also comprise information such as the cooking temperature corresponding to the current cooking step, the cooking duration at the cooking temperature, an operation state of the pot body corresponding to the current cooking step, a cooking manner in the pot body, etc.”)
Claim 10. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
Modified Moon does not explicitly disclose further comprising: a second temperature sensor configured to detect abnormal overheating of the cooking vessel.
Egenter discloses further comprising: a second temperature sensor configured to detect abnormal overheating of the cooking vessel. (Egenter [0040] “The temperature probe 35 could also generally have a plurality of temperature sensors for a distributed and better measurement”; and Yue, [0543] “Therefore, the Internet-of-Things device performs anomaly monitoring and handling based on the anomaly processing information, and corresponding processing may be as follows: the handling information corresponding to the anomaly state information is executed when it is detected that the execution state of the target task meets the target anomaly state information.”)
Moon, Egenter and Yue are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Modified Moon differs from the claimed invention in that it does not explicitly disclose a second temperature sensor to detect abnormal overheating. However, Yue teaches a device that performs anomaly monitoring, and handles the anomaly when a target anomaly state is detected while executing the target task. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the anomaly monitoring taught by Yue with the modified cooking appliance with multiple temperature sensors of Moon as evidenced by Egenter by configuring at least one temperature sensor to monitor for temperature anomalies. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a combination in order to improve the safety of the automated cooking process and allow the handling of anomaly state information during automated execution.
Claim 12. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 10.
further comprising: an output interface configured to output a notification indicating abnormal overheating of the cooking vessel when a temperature indicated by temperature data measured by the second temperature sensor is greater than a temperature indicated by reference temperature data. (Yue, [0628] An example of the embodiment of Yue’s automatic cooking system states “8. In case of a fault during cooking, the automatic cooker may handle the fault based on a preset fault response mechanism. For example, the automatic cooker may perform self-test first and try to repair the fault independently; and in case of failure, the automatic cooker may notify the user in a manner of playing ringtone, flashing lights, etc., and prompt the user to perform related operations in a manner of playing voice or displaying information.”)
Claims 11 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190104570 A1, in view of Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1, in further view of Yue et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20230168651 A1, Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1 and Takikawa et al., WO 2012006674 A1 as evidenced by Hoare WO 2012006674 A1.
Claim 11. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 10.
Modified Moon does not explicitly disclose further comprising: at least one rubber leg on a bottom surface of the cooking appliance to alleviate a shock on the cooking vessel when the cooking vessel is accommodated in the internal space of the cooking appliance, wherein the second temperature sensor is in the at least one rubber leg.
Takikawa discloses further comprising: at least one rubber leg on a bottom surface of the cooking appliance to alleviate a shock on the cooking vessel when the cooking vessel is accommodated in the internal space of the cooking appliance, wherein the second temperature sensor is in the at least one rubber leg. (Takikawa, Fig. 23 shows an enlarged view of the contact 420, which is pressed upward by springs 425 and 426 and attached to the pot base 424 which receives cooking pot 407, and also includes a heat sensor 421 built inside the contact (see Takikawa, col 17 line 40).)
Moon, Yue, Egenter, Takikawa and Hoare are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Modified Moon differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not have at least one rubber leg on the bottom surface of the cooking appliance with a temperature sensor to alleviate shock. Takikawa teaches a contact situated at the bottom of the base and includes a heat sensor, which monitors the temperature of the cooking pot 407 as it is heated by the induction heat coil 406 (see Takikawa, col. 18 line 23), and also maintains the cooking pot at a horizontal position higher than the pot base 424 (see Takikawa, col. 18 line 1). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the cooking appliance taught by modified Moon with the contact taught by Takikawa. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to better support the cooking pot against the pot base (see Takikawa col. 18, line 1).
Although Takikawa does not explicitly disclose the contact being made of rubber, the contact is pressed upwards by springs 425 and 426 so they can be adapted to move with the pot, embodiments of the contact include “flexible contact” materials to improve contact performance as taught by Takikawa (see Takikawa, col. 19 line 14) and as evidenced by Hoare teaching elastomer elements such as rubber may be sealably coupled to the contact element while acting as a resilient coupling element to help engage the contact in an upward biased orientation against the pot (see Hoare, Fig. 17E elastomer element 266 and page 20 paragraphs 1-2). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to simply substitute the springs taught by Takikawa with a material similarly known for flexible contact such as rubber. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a substitution in order to simultaneously protect the temperature sensor and the pot from any unwanted impact during pot placement or detachment by having flexible contact with the pot in order to “allow temperature measurements at the point of contact… be free of wear and higher in thermal linkage” (see Takikawa, col. 19 line 14).
Claim 13. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 1.
wherein each of the plurality of first temperature sensors is coupled to an elastic member, and the elastic member is compressed and deformed when the cooking vessel is accommodated in the internal space of the cooking appliance. (Takikawa, Fig. 23 shows an enlarged view of the contact 420, which is pressed upward by springs 425 and 426 and attached to the pot base 424 which receives cooking pot 407.)
Moon, Yue, Egenter, Takikawa and Hoare are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Modified Moon differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not have at least one rubber leg on the bottom surface of the cooking appliance with a temperature sensor to alleviate shock. Takikawa teaches a contact situated at the bottom of the base, where the contact is pressed upwards by springs 425 and 426 when the pot is placed inside the base, and maintains the cooking pot at a horizontal position higher than the pot base 424 (see Takikawa, col. 18 line 1). The contact is pressed upwards by springs 425 and 426 so the contact can be adapted to move with the pot, embodiments of the contact include “flexible contact” materials to improve contact performance as taught by Takikawa (see Takikawa, col. 19 line 14) and as evidenced by Hoare teaching elastomer elements such as rubber may be sealably coupled to the contact element while acting as a resilient coupling element to help engage the contact in an upward biased orientation against the pot (see Hoare, Fig. 17E elastomer element 266 and page 20 paragraphs 1-2). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the cooking appliance taught by modified Moon with the contact taught by Takikawa. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to better support the cooking pot against the pot base (see Takikawa col. 18, line 1).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190104570 A1 in view of Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1, in further view of Yue et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20230168651 A1, Egenter et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20190154266 A1 and Blum et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 10788220 B2.
Claim 15. Modified Moon discloses the cooking appliance of claim 14.
Modified Moon does not explicitly disclose wherein the at least one processor is configured to: detect a first power transmission pattern from among a plurality of power transmission patterns, which are transmitted by the wireless power transmission device through a plurality of cooking zones, identify, among the plurality of cooking zones, a first cooking zone corresponding to the first power transmission pattern, and transmit, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, information about the first cooking zone and identification information of the cooking appliance.
Blum discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to: detect a first power transmission pattern from among a plurality of power transmission patterns, which are transmitted by the wireless power transmission device through a plurality of cooking zones, (Blum, col. 4 line 19 “the cookware temperature sensor 28 may be in contact with, attached to, or integrated into the cooking utensil 18 and configured to sense a temperature of, e.g., a bottom surface of the cooking utensil 18 or bottom wall of the cooking utensil 18”; and col. 4 line 47 “For example, one or both of the cookware temperature sensor 28 and the food temperature sensor 30 may utilize one or more thermocouples, thermistors, optical temperature sensors, infrared temperature sensors, resistance temperature detectors (RTD), etc.”; and col. 4 line 65 “In at least some exemplary embodiments, one or both of the cookware temperature sensor 28 and the food temperature sensor 30 may include wireless transmitting capabilities…”)
identify, among the plurality of cooking zones, a first cooking zone corresponding to the first power transmission pattern, and (Blum, col. 7 line 9 “In some embodiments, the controller 52 may be configured to receive a signal from a temperature sensor associated with the first cooking utensil 18A when the first cooking utensil 18A is located on one of the first heating element 16A and the second heating element 16B… In order to confirm that the first cooking utensil 18A is located on the first heating element 16A, the controller 52 may further be configured to determine the location of the first cooking utensil 18A based on the temperature response measured via the temperature sensor(s) 28 and/or 30.”)
transmit, to the wireless power transmission device through the communication interface, information about the first cooking zone and identification information of the cooking appliance. (Blum, col. 4 line 65 “In at least some exemplary embodiments, one or both of the cookware temperature sensor 28 and the food temperature sensor 30 may include wireless transmitting capabilities…”; col. 5 line 9 “… the cooktop appliance 12 includes a receiver 34 associated with one or more of the heating elements 16, for example a plurality of receivers 34 each associated with a respective heating element 16. For the embodiment depicted, each receiver 34 is positioned directly below a center portion of a respective heating element 16. Moreover, for the embodiment depicted, each receiver 34 is configured as a wireless receiver 34 configured to receive one or more wireless signals”; and col. 5 line 16 “… for the exemplary control system 50 depicted, both of the cookware temperature sensor 28 and the food temperature sensor 30 are configured as wireless sensors in wireless communication with the wireless receiver 34 via a wireless communications network 54” where the wireless transmitters exemplified in col. 5 line 17 use unique identifier information to interface with unique hardware, corresponding to the claimed identification information of the cooking appliance, the claimed identification information is described in the instant specification page 10 paragraph 3 as “at least one of a media access control (MAC) address, a model name, device type information (e.g., an IH type identifier (ID), a heater type ID, a motor type ID, or a small appliance type ID), manufacturer information (e.g., a manufacturer ID), a serial number, or time-of-manufacture information (e.g., date and time of manufacture), but is not limited thereto.”)
Moon, Egenter, Yue and Blum are analogous art because they are related to the control of a cooking appliance for cooking in a cooking vessel. Modified Moon differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not explicitly disclose utilizing the induction heating device of Moon to also receive information about the different cooking zones and using that information to identify a cooking appliance. Blum teaches the cooktop appliance 12, which is similar to the induction heating device of Moon, as having different heating elements with receivers configured to identify cookware information using an associated wireless transmitter. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the cooking appliance, wireless power transmission device, and automation methods of Moon modified by Yue with the wireless communication network data transmission taught by Blum. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to accurately locate the cooking utensil on the stove top, allow the use and identification of a second cooking utensil, and setting temperatures of the correct heating elements corresponding with multiple cooking utensils in order to enhance the cooking performance of the cooktop appliance (see Blum, col. 1 line 38).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Park, US 11445579 B2 directed to a plurality of temperature sensors.
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/K.B.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/JUSTIN C DODSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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