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 Species I (claims 1-10) in the reply filed on 05/04/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/04/2026.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2 and 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Platt et al. (US 6,300,602) in view of Dills (US 3,632,983).
Regarding claim 1, Platt et al. discloses “a cooking device” (abstract and figs.1-3), comprising:
“a plurality of modular heaters” (14 pointed at the modular heaters. Col.2 at lines 60-67, i.e., four heating radiant or conduction type elements 14), “each modular heater” (14) includes “a ceramic substrate” (24. Col.3 at line 15-18, i.e., a ceramic body 24) and “an electrically resistive trace” (26) positioned on “the ceramic substrate” (24), “each modular heater” (14) is “configured to generate heat when an electric current is supplied to the electrically resistive trace” (26 col.1 at lines 15-25, i.e., electrical power to the heating element may have been shut off. This suggest that electric current is supplied to the resistive trace. Fig.2, 26 also shows solid resistive heating element); and
“a thermally conductive heating plate” (16), “the plurality of modular heaters” (14) “are positioned adjacent a ceramic plate 16), “the heating plate” (16) includes “a top surface” (16 has a top surface) “positioned to transfer heat provided by the plurality of modular heaters to a cooking vessel for cooking an item held by the cooking vessel” (the heater transfer the heat the heating plate 16 in order to heat the cooking vessel (not shown). Examiner noted that cooking vessel is considered as functional language and it is not part of the apparatus. MPEP 2115.), wherein “the ceramic substrate of each modular heater of the plurality of modular heaters is separate and spaced apart from the ceramic substrate(s) of the other modular heater(s) of the plurality of modular heaters” (Col.2 at lines 60-67, i.e., a cooktop 12 having four heating radiant or conduction type elements 14 below a ceramic panel 16. Fig.1 shows four cooking regions 18, each having a modular heater and the ceramic plate of modular heater 24 is separate and spaced apparat from each other).
Platt et al. is silent regarding the plurality of modular heaters are positioned against a bottom surface of the heating plate.
Dills teaches “the plurality of modular heaters are positioned against a bottom surface of the heating plate” (fig.3 show plurality of modular heaters (44 pointed at the heater) Fig.2 shows example of one of modular heater positioned against a bottom surface of the heating plate 18). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Platt et al. with Dills, by modifying Platt et al.’s modular heater position according to Dills modular heater position in relation to a bottom surface of the heating plate, to transfer heat efficiently through the glass to the cookware.
Regarding claim 2, modified Platt et al. discloses “the electrically resistive trace of each modular heater is positioned on an exterior surface of the ceramic substrate” (Platt et al., 26 is on the ceramic substrate 24).
Regarding claim 4, modified Platt et al. discloses “the plurality of modular heaters” (Dills, 44) directly contact “the bottom surface of the heating plate” (Dills, 18).
Regarding claim 5, modified Platt et al. discloses “each of the plurality of modular heaters includes the same construction” (Platt et al., Col.2 at lines 60-67, i.e., four heating radiant or conduction type elements 14. Col.3 at lines 13-20, i.e., The heater 14 includes a ceramic body 24 carrying radiant heating elements 26).
Regarding claim 6, modified Platt et al. discloses “the electrically resistive trace of each modular heater” (Platt et al., 26) is positioned on “a bottom surface of the ceramic substrate” (Platt et al., 24. Examiner interprets that 26 is on the bottom surface of 24 without directly contact) that faces away from “the bottom surface of the heating plate” (Platt et al., 24).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Platt et al. (US 6,300,602) in view of Dills (US 3,632,983) as applied in claims 1-2 and 4-6 above, and further in view of Gaulard et al. (US 20160219651)
Regarding claim 3, modified Platt et al. discloses the electrically resistive trace of each modular heater on the exterior surface of the ceramic substrate.
Modified Platt et al. is silent regarding an electrical resistor material thick film printed on the exterior surface of the substrate.
Gaulard et al. teaches “an electrical resistor material thick film printed on the exterior surface of the substrate” ([0015] The use of thick layer heating is advantageous for rapid and effective heating. In this application, thick layer heating element is understood to be a heating element comprising a substrate upon which is deposited, generally by screen printing, a resistive layer forming a relatively thick heating layer. Fig.1 shows the resistor thick film 26 is on the substrate 24). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to further modify Platt et al. with Gaulard et al., by replacing Platt et al.’s heating element with Gaulard et al.’s heating element, to provide rapid and effective heating [0015] as taught by Gaulard et al.
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Platt et al. (US 6,300,602) in view of Dills (US 3,632,983) as applied in claims 1-2 and 4-6 above, and further in view of Lin et al. (US 2007/0251938) and Luongo et al. (US 2014/0048293).
Regarding claim 7, modified Platt et al. discloses “at least one of the plurality of modular heaters” (Platt et al., one of 14) includes a temperature sensor” (Platt et al., a temperature sensitive switch 30) positioned indirectly Platt et al., 24) and
Modified Platt et al. is silent regarding a temperature sensor comprises a thermistor directly on the substrate and in electrical communication with control circuitry of the modular heater for providing feedback regarding a temperature of the modular heater to the control circuitry of the modular heater.
Lin et al. teaches “a thermistor” ([0026] The thermocouple 16) directly on “the substrate” ([0026] the ceramic substrate 12) and in electrical communication with “control circuitry of the modular heater” ([0027], i.e., the thermocouple 16 includes proximal ends 28 adapted for connection to a controller or other temperature processing device/circuit (not shown)) “for providing feedback regarding a temperature of the modular heater to the control circuitry of the modular heater” ([0026] it might be preferable to have multiple thermocouples 16 corresponding to the multiple heating zones in order to individually measure and control the multiple heating zones. [0027], i.e., the thermocouple 16 includes proximal ends 28 adapted for connection to a controller or other temperature processing device/circuit (not shown)). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Platt et al. with Lin et al., by adding Lin et al.’s temperature sensor and control algorithm to Platt et al.’s cooking system, to control the temperature at a proper level.
Luongo et al. teaches “the temperature sensor comprises a thermistor” ([0044], i.e., The pan-bottom temperature sensor 20 may include a thermistor or a thin film RTD sensor enclosed in a metal housing 22). One skilled in the art would have found it obvious to substitute Platt et al. with Luongo et al. are both recognized by the art for the same purpose of measuring the temperature. MPEP 2144.06.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Platt et al. (US 6,300,602) in view of Dills (US 3,632,983) as applied in claims 1-2 and 4-6 above, and further in view of Smolenski et al. (US 7,307,246).
Regarding claim 10, modified Platt et al. discloses a heating system comprises the plurality of modular heaters.
Modified Platt et al. teaches all the features of claim limitations as set froth above except for a thermistor positioned directly on the heating plate and in electrical communication with control circuitry of the plurality of modular heaters for providing feedback regarding a temperature of the heating plate to the control circuitry of the heating system.
Smolenski et al. teaches “a thermistor” (the temperature detector 22 comprises a thermistor.) positioned directly on “the heating plate” (12) and in electrical communication with “control circuitry of the heating system for providing feedback regarding a temperature of the heating plate to the control circuitry of heating system” (col.2-col.3, i.e., the temperature detector 22 and the radiant heating element 18 have connection leads 26 which couple the temperature detector 22 and the radiant heating element 18 to a controller 28 for active control of the cooktop 12 based upon the measured temperature via the temperature detector 22. The controller 28 comprises of a processor 30, an interface 32 and references 34 that will be described in detail hereinafter. Additionally, the controller 28 is coupled to a display 36 to make the different options indicating the status of the cooktop control available to a user of the system 10). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Platt et al. with Smolenski et al., by adding Smolenski et al.’s thermistor to the Platt et al.’s heating system, to provide properly control for cooking temperature (col.3) as taught by Smolenski et al.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-9 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 JIMMY CHOU whose telephone number is (571)270-7107. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Friday.
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/JIMMY CHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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