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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 7-10 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2017-182919A cited by applicant. Regarding claims 1 and 8, JP 2017-182919A discloses an induction heating cooking appliance of performing wireless communication with a power reception device (see claim 1). A wireless power transmission unit including an induction heating unit (11) including an induction coil and the object (5) to be heated is induction-heated by high frequency magnetic flux generated by the high frequency current (par. 0029 and Figure 2). However, JP 2017-182919A does not clearly disclose a communication unit for communicating with an external device located above an induction coil, wherein the communication unit comprises a communication coil and a relay circuit, and the relay circuit resonates at the frequency of the carrier of the communication coil. JP 2017-182919A also disclosed communication unit (6) for performing wireless communication with a power reception device (60) is provided inside a main body case (7) of an induction heating cooking appliance (100, par. 0021: Figure 1); and the communication unit (6) has therein an antenna unit for transmitting is arranged right under the top plate (4, par. 0045, Figure 1). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to facilitate the transmission and reception of the wireless signal. Regarding claims 2 and 9, JP 2017-182919A discloses the communication unit (6) has therein an antenna unit for transmitting, receiving, or transmitting and receiving a wireless signal, and the antenna unit of the communication unit (6) is arranged right under the top plate (4) to facilitate the transmission and reception of the wireless signal (par. 0045, Figure 1). Regarding claims 3 and 10, JP 2017-182919A discloses the relay circuit is on a surface (14) of a dielectric that is plate-like or sheet-like (par. 0015). Regarding claim 15, it pertains to a computer-readable recording medium in which a computer program for executing the method of claim 15 is recorded.
Claim(s) 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2017-182919A cited by applicant, in view of Lee et al (US 2021/0242717). JP 2017-182919A discloses substantially all features of the claimed invention except the relay circuit includes: a relay coil having an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter of the induction coil. Lee discloses a relay circuit includes: a relay coil (211, Figure 2) having an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter of the induction coil (220, Figure 2). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill before the effective filling date of the invention was made to utilize in JP 2017-182919A the relay circuit includes: a relay coil having an outer diameter greater than an outer diameter of the induction coil as taught by Lee in order to suit user specific application.
Claims 4-6 and 11-13 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.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 June 30, 2026
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