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 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 1-4, 9 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kang (US 6018158).
Regarding claim 1, Kang teaches a cooking apparatus comprising:
an outer case (151, fig 4-5) with a lower surface (bottom surface that includes inlet holes 131 shown in fig 5) including a first inlet hole and a second inlet hole (fig 5 shows two inlet holes 131);
an inner case (152, fig 5) accommodated within the outer case and in which a cooking chamber (160, fig 5) is formed;
a fan (see fig 5 and annotated fig 1) disposed adjacent to the first inlet hole (fan 133 is adjacent to or near inlet hole 131 as viewed in fig 5) and configured to suction air introduced into the first inlet hole and the second inlet hole such that the air is suctioned through the first inlet hole and the second inlet hole (See fig 5 for airflow direction); and
a rear flow path (rear portion of 180, fig 5) formed at a rear of the inner case (Col 2 lines 59-62, “The space between the inner casing 152 and the outer casing 151 forms an air duct 180. The air duct 180 is formed through the side portion and the upper portion of the microwave oven 130”. Col 2 lines 65-66, “On the left hand of the cooking chamber 160 in the air duct 180, a ventilator 135 is installed”. A rear portion of air duct 180 is provided at a rear of inner case) in communication with the fan such that air suctioned through the second inlet hole is guided to the fan.
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Regarding claim 2, Kang teaches a sub fan (see fig 5 and annotated fig 1) in communication with one side of the rear flow path and disposed on an upper side (as viewed in fig 4, fans 133 are above inlet holes 131) of the second inlet hole such that air passed through the second inlet hole is introduced into the rear flow path.
Regarding claim 3, Kang teaches the sub fan is disposed at a rear side (See explanation in claim 1) of the inner case to be in communication with the rear flow path.
Regarding claim 4, Kang teaches one end (the space above fan) of the rear flow path is in communication with the fan and the other end (space below sub fan) of the rear flow path is in communication with the sub fan so that air discharged from the sub fan flows to the fan via the rear flow path (air flowing out of sub fan inherently has to flow to the fan).
Regarding claim 9, Kang teaches the fan includes a plurality of inlets, and one of the plurality of inlets (there are inlets to the left side and the right side of the motor shaft that connects motor 134 with fan 133) is in communication with the rear flow path.
Regarding claim 11, Kang teaches the fan is disposed between the outer case and the inner case(see claim 1 explanation) such that air introduced into the outer case is discharged to outside of the cooking apparatus.
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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang (US 6018158) in view of Zhang (US 20190113241).
Regarding claim 10, Kang teaches all the limitations of claim 9.
Kang fails to teach a first filter mounted on a bottom surface of the outer case to cover the first inlet hole and arranged adjacent to the fan so that a portion of the air passing through the first filter is directly suctioned into the fan; and a second filter mounted on a bottom surface of the outer case to cover the second inlet hole and arranged spaced apart from the fan so that a portion of the air passing through the second filter is diverted into the rear flow path and suctioned into the fan.
Zhang teaches a first filter mounted on a bottom surface of the outer case to cover the first inlet hole and arranged adjacent to the fan so that a portion of the air passing through the first filter is directly suctioned into the fan; and a second filter mounted on a bottom surface of the outer case to cover the second inlet hole (See fig 6 and [0050] “left exhaust inlet cover 54 and right exhaust inlet cover 56 comprises a mesh filter for filtering contaminated exhaust air as it is drawn in”) and arranged spaced apart from a fan (See fig 7, fan 66 is spaced apart from the bottom surface)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Kang as taught by Zhang by adding filters to the inlets in order to filter harmful particles in the air and allow clean air to be exhausted out of kitchen.
As modified Kang in view of Zhang teaches the functional limitation “a portion of the air passing through the second filter is directed into the rear flow path and suctioned into the fan.”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8 and 12 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.
Claims 13-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The limitations in independent claims 13 and 19 and dependent claim 5-8, 12 and 20 cannot be met without impermissible hindsight reconstruction.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 13 April 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding applicant’s argument that the first fan is not adjacent to the first inlet hole in Kang’s teaching, examiner respectfully disagree. The fan 133 is adjacent to (or nearby) to inlet holes 131 as shown in fig 5.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KO-WEI LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7675. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-2:30 Eastern Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571)272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KO-WEI LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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