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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
¶ 44 of the submitted specification recites “a semiconductor-based integrated temperature sensors,” which should be either “a semiconductor-based integrated temperature sensor” or “semiconductor-based integrated temperature sensors” (without an article).
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.
Claims 1–3 and 14–16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cheng et al. (US Pub. 2019/0053332).
Claim 1: Cheng discloses a cooking appliance (110, 500) comprising:
a cabinet (e.g. 500 shown in fig. 5) forming a cooking chamber (502), the cooking chamber defining a plurality of cooking zones therein (¶ 151, “a first cooking zone,” “a second cooking zone,” “multi-zone cooking”);
a plurality of heating elements (514; ¶ 194, “six heating element [sic] in a cooking chamber”) provided within the cooking chamber (see ¶ 213), each of the plurality of heating elements being independently operated (clearly evident at least from ¶ 151, “simultaneous cooking,” “different temperatures and times”);
a user interface (540, 542; see also figs. 15A–15C) configured to receive inputs; and
a controller (116) operably connected with the plurality of heating elements and the user interface, the controller configured to perform a cooking operation, the cooking operation comprising:
receiving a first temperature request for a first cooking zone of the plurality of cooking zones via the user interface (clearly follows from ¶¶ 151 and 157);
receiving a second temperature request for a second cooking zone of the plurality of cooking zones via the user interface, the second cooking zone being different from the first cooking zone and the second temperature request being different from the first temperature request (clearly suggested by ¶ 151, “Zone cooking technology allows simultaneous cooking of different foods, even if they require different temperatures and times”);
determining a heating pattern of the plurality of heating elements based on the first temperature request, the second temperature request, the first cooking zone, and the second cooking zone (evident from at least ¶ 195, “heating algorithm,” “If the heaters are configured to enable multi-zone cooking, allocation of 100% of the available power to one heater allows the cooking appliance to direct power substantially differently to different cooking zones, allowing the food items in the zone to which the power is being directed to be cooked disproportionately more than the food items in the zone(s) to which power is not being directed, which ultimately enables the cooking appliance to complete the cooking of food items located in different zones at substantially the same time”; see the rest of ¶ 195, ¶ 196 describing the heating algorithm in more detail, as well as ¶¶ 205 and 207); and
directing each of the plurality of heating elements according to the determined heating pattern (ibid.).
Claim 2: Cheng discloses that the cooking operation comprises:
a cook phase during which each of the plurality of heating elements is cycled according to the determined heating pattern (the multi-zone cooking described in at least ¶¶ 151 and 195 plainly qualifies as a cooking operation with a cook phase, with ¶¶ 195 and 196 elaborating on the cycling of the plurality of heating elements).
Claim 3: Cheng discloses that determining the heating pattern comprises:
determining a required power level of each of the plurality of heating elements during the cook phase (¶ 195 describes how power is distributed to each of the plurality of heating elements);
determining a power ratio between the plurality of heating elements during the cook phase (evident from the example in ¶ 195 of “setting one heater to 50% of the total available power may mean that the remaining heaters combined can only consume up to the 50% remaining total power available”); and
directing each of the plurality of heating elements at the required power level and according to the determined power ratio during the cook phase to create a temperature ratio between the plurality of cooking zones within the cooking chamber (following naturally from the multi-zone cooking discussed in ¶¶ 151 and 195).
Claim 14: Cheng discloses a method of operating a cooking appliance (110, 500), the cooking appliance comprising a cooking chamber (502) defining a plurality of cooking zones (¶ 151, “a first cooking zone,” “a second cooking zone,” “multi-zone cooking”), a plurality of heating elements (514; ¶ 194, “six heating element [sic] in a cooking chamber”) provided within the cooking chamber (see ¶ 213), and a user interface (540, 542; see also figs. 15A–15C) configured to receive inputs, the method comprising:
receiving a request to perform a cooking operation (clearly suggested with at least the “instructions” mentioned in ¶ 157);
receiving a first temperature request for a first cooking zone of the plurality of cooking zones via the user interface (clearly follows from ¶¶ 151 and 157);
receiving a second temperature request for a second cooking zone of the plurality of cooking zones via the user interface, the second cooking zone being different from the first cooking zone and the second temperature request being different from the first temperature request (clearly suggested by ¶ 151, “Zone cooking technology allows simultaneous cooking of different foods, even if they require different temperatures and times”);
determining a heating pattern of the plurality of heating elements based on the first temperature request, the second temperature request, the first cooking zone, and the second cooking zone (evident from at least ¶ 195, “heating algorithm,” “If the heaters are configured to enable multi-zone cooking, allocation of 100% of the available power to one heater allows the cooking appliance to direct power substantially differently to different cooking zones, allowing the food items in the zone to which the power is being directed to be cooked disproportionately more than the food items in the zone(s) to which power is not being directed, which ultimately enables the cooking appliance to complete the cooking of food items located in different zones at substantially the same time”; see the rest of ¶ 195, ¶ 196 describing the heating algorithm in more detail, as well as ¶¶ 205 and 207); and
directing each of the plurality of heating elements according to the determined heating pattern (ibid.).
Claim 15: Cheng discloses that determining the heating pattern comprises:
determining a power ratio between the plurality of heating elements during the cooking operation (evident from the example in ¶ 195 of “setting one heater to 50% of the total available power may mean that the remaining heaters combined can only consume up to the 50% remaining total power available”); and
directing each of the plurality of heating elements according to the determined power ratio during the cooking operation to create a temperature ratio between the plurality of cooking zones within the cooking chamber (following naturally from the multi-zone cooking discussed in ¶¶ 151 and 195).
Claim 16: Cheng discloses that determining the heating pattern comprises:
determining a required power level of at least one of the plurality of heating elements to reach the first temperature request during the cooking operation (¶ 195 describes how power is distributed to each of the plurality of heating elements); and
directing the at least one of the plurality of heating elements at the required power level during the cooking operation (following naturally from the multi-zone cooking discussed in ¶¶ 151 and 195).
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.
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.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Bentley (US Pub. 2023/0345585).
Claim 4: Cheng does not disclose that the cooking operation further comprises: a preheat phase during which each of the plurality of heating elements is driven to a predetermined power level, the preheat phase being performed prior to the cook phase.
However, Bentley discloses a similar apparatus with different temperature zones, as well as a cooking operation that comprises a preheat phase (¶ 58, “preheat operation”) during which each of the plurality of heating elements is driven to a predetermined power level (this is necessary and inherent with such a phase), the preheat phase being performed prior to the cook phase (naturally, given “preheat,” and see “cooking operation” also mentioned in ¶ 58).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to add the preheat phase taught by Bentley into the cooking operation of Cheng to provide suitable heater operation until the cooking chamber achieves a nearly stable temperature.
Claim 5: Cheng modified by Bentley discloses that determining the heating pattern comprises:
determining a required power level of each of the plurality of heating elements during the preheat phase (Cheng: ¶ 196, follows naturally from “use this heating algorithm to achieve one or more desired cooking outcomes”);
determining a power ratio between the plurality of heating elements during the preheat phase (Cheng: ¶ 196, “regulate the allocation of system resources”; see this also discussed in ¶ 195); and
directing each of the plurality of heating elements at the required power level and according to the determined power ratio during the preheat phase to create a temperature ratio between the plurality of cooking zones within the cooking chamber (following from Cheng, ¶ 195, “direct power substantially differently to different cooking zones,” in conjunction with the preheat phase taught by Bentley).
Claims 6–8 and 17–19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US Pub. 2021/0080114)
Claims 6 and 17: Cheng does not disclose that the plurality of heating elements comprises: a broil heating element provided at a top of the cooking chamber; and a bake heating element provided at a bottom of the cooking chamber.
However, Liu discloses a similar apparatus with a plurality of heating elements comprising a broil heating element (216-2) provided at a top of the cooking chamber; and a bake heating element (216-1, 216-3) provided at a bottom of the cooking chamber (see fig. 2).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the broil and bake heating elements of Liu as the heating elements of Cheng as a known, effective arrangement, particularly given that Mainwaring also discloses zone heating (see e.g. ¶ 73).
Claims 7 and 18: Neither Cheng nor Liu exactly disclose that determining the heating pattern comprises: determining a location of the first cooking zone with respect to the broil heating element and the bake heating element; determining a location of the second cooking zone with respect to the broil heating element and the bake heating element; and directing each of the broil heating element and the bake heating element according to the location of the first cooking zone, the location of the second cooking zone, the first temperature request of the first cooking zone, and the second temperature request of the second cooking zone.
However, Liu teaches the relevance of determining locations of cooking zones with respect to broil and bake heating elements (see fig. 5 showing different zones with different temperatures based on their distance from heaters), and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ an understanding of how the actual cooking zones would be actually heated by the bake and broil elements of Liu and, and direct the bake and broil elements according to the request and their predicted heating effects.
Claims 8 and 19: It follows naturally from Cheng and Liu to have the broil heating element directed according to a first duty cycle and the bake heating element is directed according to a second duty cycle, given that it’s readily appreciable that the bake and broil elements will have different effects on a cooking zone that would compel different power given to each, and given that controlling heating elements via duty cycles is known in the art, as shown in Cheng (¶ 166, “duty cycle”).
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng in view of Liu as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Stockley (US Pat. 6,114,663).
Cheng discloses that the plurality of heating elements further comprises: a convection heating assembly (¶ 136, The cooking appliance can further be configured to provide airflow of heated air to cook the food as an impingement convection oven”), the convection heating assembly comprising a convection fan (necessary and inherent for an impingement convection oven).
Cheng is silent regarding the convection heating assembly being provided at a rear of the cooking chamber.
However, such an arrangement is well-known, as shown in Stockley (see 77 and 23 in fig. 2).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a convection heating assembly at the rear of the cooking chamber, as taught by Stockley, as a known suitable location for such an element, particularly given that Stockley also discloses a kind of zone cooking (see claim 12).
Claims 11–13 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of Abellanas Sanchez (DE 102020203762 A1).
Claim 11: Cheng does not disclose that the cooking operation further comprises: determining one or more attributes of a cookware item within the cooking chamber.
However, Abellanas Sanchez teaches a cooking operation that comprises determining one or more attributes of a cookware item within the cooking chamber (“For example, the cookware parameter could alternatively or additionally in particular at least one type of cookware and / or a weight of the cookware and / or a manufacturer of the cookware and / or a brand of the cookware and / or a product identifier of the cookware and / or an order number of the cookware and / or have a serial number of the cookware and / or at least one cookware identifier for the cookware”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the cookware item attribute determination taught by Abellanas Sanchez in the cooking operation of Cheng as a means of more accurately determining the temperature of the cooking utensil (see the abstract of Abellanas Sanchez).
Comment: Since Abellanas Sanchez is directed to cooktops, Anderson et al. (US Pub. 2010/0147823) is relevant for teaching that temperature determination based on cookware item attribute also matters for ovens (see ¶ 31).
Claim 12: Cheng discloses a sensor configured to sense one or more attributes of the cooking chamber, wherein the sensor is an optical sensor (214, described in numerous places, including ¶ 37).
Claim 13: Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to the heating pattern of Cheng by directing each of the plurality of heating elements based at least in part on the one or more determined attributes of the cookware item as taught by Abellanas Sanchez, given what that information could be used for to understand the temperature at a cooking item.
Claim 20: Cheng does not disclose that the cooking appliance further comprises a camera provided in the cooking chamber, the method further comprising: capturing, via the camera, an image of the cooking chamber; determining one or more attributes of a cookware item within the cooking chamber via the captured image; and directing each of the plurality of heating elements based at least in part on the one or more determined attributes of the cookware item.
However, Abellanas Sanchez discloses a cooking appliance that further comprises a camera (necessary and inherent from “at least one image of the cookware”); determining one or more attributes of a cookware item via the captured image (““For example, the cookware parameter could alternatively or additionally in particular at least one type of cookware and / or a weight of the cookware and / or a manufacturer of the cookware and / or a brand of the cookware and / or a product identifier of the cookware and / or an order number of the cookware and / or have a serial number of the cookware and / or at least one cookware identifier for the cookware”).
Abellanas Sanchez concerns a cooktop, and uses a camera on a mobile device. However, Cheng already discloses a camera (214) provided in the cooking chamber and capturing an image thereof (see at least ¶ 37).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the cookware item attribute determination taught by Abellanas Sanchez into the method of Cheng as a means of more accurately determining the temperature of the cooking utensil (see the abstract of Abellanas Sanchez), and to use the camera of Cheng instead of the camera of Abellanas Sanchez given its suitability for an oven chamber.
Comment: Since Abellanas Sanchez is directed to cooktops, Anderson et al. (US Pub. 2010/0147823) is relevant for teaching that temperature determination based on cookware item attribute also matters for ovens (see ¶ 31).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 10, although convection heating assemblies are well-known in the art, the prior art does not disclose or render obvious determining an effective speed and rotational direction for a convection fan for the type of multi-zone cooking claimed. This is particularly the case given that a convection fan will usually make the heating in an oven more, rather than less, uniform, which goes against the idea of multi-zone cooking.
Nelson (US Pub. 2024/0027073) is an example of a reference with zone control and a fan with controllable rotational direction and speed, but its fan is intentionally used to achieve a homogeneous temperature distribution among its zones, and therefore works counter to first and second zone temperature requests.
Bentley (US Pub. 2023/0345585) broadly teaches that zone energy transmission could be applicable to a convection oven (¶ 30), but nothing more.
Conclusion
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/JOHN J NORTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761