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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 4/18/2023 and 8/8/2024 have been considered by the examiner.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (CN 111683425) in view of Bilchinsky et al. (US 2019/0364624).
Regarding claim 1, Wu discloses a microwave treatment device (“microwave cooking appliance 100” [page 14 of attached translation]) comprising:
a heating chamber (“cavity 40” [page 14]) configured to accommodate a heating target;
a microwave generator (“microwave source 10” [page 14]) configured to generate microwaves having a given frequency in a predetermined frequency band (“the microwave cooking appliance is provided with a scanning frequency range, the scanning frequency range comprises a plurality of frequencies” [page 3]);
a power feeder (“antenna 30”) configured to irradiate the heating chamber with the microwaves amplified by the amplifier as a radiated power;
a detector configured to detect the radiated power and a reflected power of the radiated power, the reflected power returning from the heating chamber to the power feeder (“microwave cooking appliance 100 may also include a detector, a forward coupler (or a forward coupler) and a backward coupler (or a reverse coupler). when emitting microwave, the forward coupler transmits the microwave source 10 of the microwave transmission to the antenna 30, the receiving cavity 40 in the reflection microwave, the reflecting microwave cavity 40 through the antenna 30 into the coupler, detector is connected to the coupler and controller 20. The energy of the reflected microwaves within the cavity 40 is input to the controller 20 through the detector, so that the controller 20 obtains the reflected power of the cavity 40” [page 7]); and
a controller configured to control the microwave generator and the amplifier based on information from the detector, to control heating to the heating target (“controller 20 for controlling the microwave source 10 to emit microwave to the cavity 40 to determine the cavity configuration before the load is put into the cavity 40, and after the load is put into the cavity 40 to control the microwave source 10 to emit microwave to the cavity 40 so as to determine the load attribute. and determining the absorption power of the load according to the cavity configuration and the load attribute, and controlling the operation of the microwave source 10 according to the absorption power of the load” [page 6]), wherein:
the controller is configured to select a plurality of frequencies in the predetermined frequency band and to cause the microwave generator to generate microwaves of the selected frequencies “In one example, the scanning frequency range is 2.4GHz-2.5GHz, in the process of determining the cavity configuration and load configuration, the scanning interval can be selected from range 1MHz-5MHz that is to say, in determining the cavity configuration or load configuration process, emitting a microwave every other scanning interval, and determining the reflection power of the corresponding cavity 40. The controller 20 may be provided with a simulation database or other database. in the scanning frequency range, the controller 20 can control the microwave source 10 the load into the cavity 40 before and after parameter scanning to obtain the cavity configuration and load attribute, the cavity configuration and load attribute can be used for comparing operation with the simulation database, so as to obtain the absorption power of the load” [page 7]);
the controller calculates, based on the radiated power and the reflected power, a component related to a housing of the microwave treatment device (“step 1: before the load is placed in the cavity 40, controlling the microwave source 10 to emit microwave to the cavity 40 so as to determine the cavity configuration” [page 14]) and a component obtained during heating (“Step 3: after the load is put into the cavity 40, controlling the microwave source 10 to emit microwave to the cavity 40 so as to determine the load attribute [page 14]), and combines the calculated components together, to calculate a power loss consumed by the heating chamber (“The modification algorithm of the load absorption power of the microwave cooking appliance 100 considering the loss of the cavity 40” is described on pages 13-14); and
the controller is configured to estimate an amount of absorption power absorbed by the heating target based on the power loss (“Step 5: determining the absorption power of the load according to the cavity configuration and the load attribute” [page 14]).
Wu does not expressly disclose an amplifier configured to amplify an output power level of the microwaves generated by the microwave generator, or wherein the controller is configured to cause the amplifier to change the output power level of the microwaves and to supply the microwaves of one of a plurality of output power levels to the heating chamber.
Bilchinsky is directed to a method of heating a load in a cavity, such as in a microwave oven, by transmitting electromagnetic waves to the cavity [Abstract], [0004]. Bilchinsky discloses an amplifier configured to amplify an output power level of the microwaves generated by a microwave generator, and wherein a controller is configured to cause the amplifier to change the output power level of the microwaves and to supply the microwaves of one of a plurality of output power levels to a heating chamber (“the actual transmitted power is selected according to an ability of the amplifier of the system, for example, according to a high efficiency point of the amplifier or according to a time it takes to change amplification. It is possible that actual power will depend on the maximum power at any frequency. Optionally or alternatively, a selection of frequencies to use is made depending on the available amplification” [0209]; “controller 101 may be configured to cause the amplifier to supply no energy at all at these particular frequency, frequencies, MSE or MSEs. At times, a decision may be made to supply energy at a power level substantially equal to a maximum power level of the amplifier only if the amplifier may supply to the object at least a threshold percentage of energy as compared with the uniform transmitted energy level (e.g. 50% or more or even 80% or more). At times, a decision may be made to supply energy at a power level substantially equal to a maximum power level of the amplifier only if the reflected energy is below a predetermined threshold, in order, for example, to protect the apparatus from absorbing excessive power” [0230]; “ Processor 1401 may also regulate the amplification ratio of amplifier 1406, by switching, for example, the transistors in the amplifier” [0255]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include an amplifier configured to amplify an output power level of the microwaves generated by the microwave generator, and wherein the controller is configured to cause the amplifier to change the output power level of the microwaves and to supply the microwaves of one of a plurality of output power levels to the heating chamber. This allows for transmitting a desired amount of power to the load based on a desired protocol, such as a “thawing protocol”, “heating protocol”, or “keep-warm protocol” [0184]-[0188].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not teach, disclose, or suggest wherein: the controller is configured to measure a reflected wave frequency characteristic based on the radiated power and the reflected power; the controller is configured to calculate a linear component of the power loss based on a first coefficient related to the housing of the microwave treatment device; and the controller is configured to calculate a non-linear component of the power loss based on a second coefficient determined by the reflected wave frequency characteristic obtained during heating, as required in claim 2. Claims 3 – 4 and 6 – 9 would also be allowable by virtue of their dependence on claim 2. Additionally, the prior art of record does not teach, disclose, or suggest wherein the controller is configured to multiply the amount of absorption power absorbed by a third coefficient determined according to a temperature rise characteristic indicating a relationship between the amount of absorption power and a temperature rise of the heating target, to estimate the temperature rise, as required in claim 5.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Meo et al. (US 2021/0400778) is directed to a method for the detection of at least one loading parameter in a closed chamber such as a cooking device [0001]-[0002]. Meo states, "an empty closed chamber 14, a suspension rack 18 (i.e. cooking accessories or part introduced into the closed chamber 14) in which racks for items to be cooked can be arranged, as well as different volumes of the object 22 can be ascertained on the basis of the integrated measurand ΣR of the reflected power and the standard deviation σ of the distribution of the reflected power" [0225].
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/ELIZABETH M KERR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761