CTNF 18/270,354 CTNF 86565 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15 AIA Claim s 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1) / (a)(2 ) as being anticipated by Tomoya (JP2007042482). An English machine translation of Tomoya (JP2007042482) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892) . With respect to the limitations of claim 28, Tomoya teaches an operating method of an induction cooktop (title, abstract), the induction cooktop including a working coil (Fig 1, induction heating coil 4, 0022) and an upper plate (top glass plate 13, 0023), the operating method comprising: disposing a cooking container (heated cooking pot 6, 0022) on the upper plate (13); heating the cooking container by applying current to the working coil (0024); determining (control means 8, 0022, 0026, microcomputer, DSP) whether the cooking container is in an overheated state based on one of an inductance or an impedance of the cooking container (Abstract, overheating status; 0031); and stopping heating of the cooking container or reducing heating of the cooking container in response to determining that the cooking container is in an overheated state (0026, if the change in impedance continues, the control means 8 controls the high-frequency inverter 1 to stop the heating output; 0027) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. Claims 11, 13, 16-22, 24 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Tomoya (JP2007042482) in view of Shi (CN109100037). An English machine translation of Shi (CN109100037) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892). With respect to the limitations of claim 11, Tomoya teaches an induction cooktop (title, abstract), comprising: an upper plate glass (Fig 1, top glass plate 13, 0023) configured to receive a cooking container (heated cooking pot 6, 0022); a working coil (induction heating coil 4, 0022) configured to generate a magnetic field so as to heat the cooking container (0024); an inverter configured to be driven (frequency inverter 1, 0024) to allow current to flow through the working coil; and a processor (control means 8, 0022, 0026, microcomputer, DSP) configured to: determine an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter (resonant capacitor 5, detection means 7, 0022, detection means 7 that detects a change in impedance of the resonant circuit including the heated object 6, the induction heating coil 4, and the resonant capacitor 5, 0029) of the inverter; and determine whether the cooking container is in an overheated state based on the impedance (Abstract, overheating status; 0031). Tomoya discloses the claimed invention except for the impedance is determined by calculating an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter of the inverter. However, Shi discloses that the impedance is determined by calculating an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter of the inverter (Figs 1-3, 0013-0017, 0047, The temperature measuring coil measures this voltage change. Then, it calculates the impedance value determined by the induced voltage and drive current. After obtaining the impedance value, it finds the temperature value corresponding to the impedance value) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the induction cooktop of Tomoya determining an impedance silent to calculating an impedance with the impedance is determined by calculating an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter of the inverter of Shi for the purpose of using a known impedance calculating method that determines a temperature of the pot on the induction cooker to be measured in real time, accurately and non-contactly, which is convenient and quick (0013, 0047). With respect to the limitations of claim 20, Tomoya teaches an operating method of an induction cooktop (title, abstract), the induction cooktop including an inverter (Fig 1, frequency inverter 1, 0024), a working coil (induction heating coil 4, 0022), and an upper plate (top glass plate 13, 0023), the operating method comprising: disposing a cooking container (heated cooking pot 6, 0022) on the upper plate (13); driving the inverter to allow current to flow through the working coil (0024); heating the cooking container by a magnetic field generated in the working coil (0024); determining (control means 8, 0022, 0026, microcomputer, DSP) an impedance of the cooking container based on one or more parameters of the inverter while the cooking container is heated (resonant capacitor 5, detection means 7, 0022, detection means 7 that detects a change in impedance of the resonant circuit including the heated object 6, the induction heating coil 4, and the resonant capacitor 5, 0029); and determining whether the cooking container is in an overheated state based on the impedance (Abstract, overheating status; 0031). Tomoya discloses the claimed invention except for the impedance is determined by calculating an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter of the inverter. However, Shi discloses that the impedance is determined by calculating an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter of the inverter (Figs 1-3, 0013-0017, 0047, The temperature measuring coil measures this voltage change. Then, it calculates the impedance value determined by the induced voltage and drive current. After obtaining the impedance value, it finds the temperature value corresponding to the impedance value) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the induction cooktop operating method of Tomoya determining an impedance silent to calculating an impedance with the impedance is determined by calculating an impedance of the cooking container based on a parameter of the inverter of Shi for the purpose of using a known impedance calculating method that determines a temperature of the pot on the induction cooker to be measured in real time, accurately and non-contactly, which is convenient and quick (0013, 0047). With respect to the limitations of claims 21 and 22, Tomoya teaches further comprising reducing the magnetic field generated in the working coil or turning off the cooktop, in response to determining the cooking container is in the overheated state (0026, if the change in impedance continues, the control means 8 controls the high-frequency inverter 1 to stop the heating output; 0027); the reducing the magnetic field generated in the working coil includes controlling heating of the cooking container to maintain a constant value (0024, control means 8 performs feedback control to adjust the power to the level set by the user of the induction heating device). Claims 13, 16-19, 24 and 25 are objected to as being dependent upon claims 11 and 20. Claims 12, 23 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Tomoya (JP2007042482) in view of Shi (CN109100037) as applied to claims 11, 20, 21 and 28, further in view of Scott (US 2020/0205246). With respect to the limitations of claim 12, Tomoya in view of Shi discloses the claimed invention except for the processor is further configured to: calculate a slope of the impedance; and determine the overheated state in response to the slope of the impedance being greater than a threshold slope. However, the processor is further configured to: calculate a slope of the impedance; and determine the overheated state in response to the slope of the impedance being greater than a threshold slope is known in the art. Scott, for example, discloses the system controller monitoring a rate of change in the electrical impedance (equivalent to slope) and comparing the rate of change of impedance to a threshold to determine if the heating process should continue (0033, 0037). It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the induction cooktop of Tomoya in view of Shi determining an impedance silent to the recited impedance slope with the processor is further configured to: calculate a slope of the impedance; and determine the overheated state in response to the slope of the impedance being greater than a threshold slope of Scott for the purpose of determining if a heating process should continue based on an impedance slope comparison to a threshold (0033, 0037). Claims 23 and 29 are similarly rejected as set forth in the rejection of claim 12 above. Claims 14, 15 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Tomoya (JP2007042482) in view of Shi (CN109100037) as applied to claims 11 and 20, further in view of Takeo (JP2003083543). An English machine translation of Takeo (JP2003083543) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892). With respect to the limitations of claim 14, Tomoya teaches the processor is further configured to: determine the overheated state in response to the impedance of the cooking container being greater than a predetermined impedance corresponding to the cooking container (Abstract, overheating status; 0031). Tomoya in view of Shi discloses the claimed invention except for the processor is further configured to: detect a material of the cooking container. However, Takeo discloses the processor is further configured to: detect a material of the cooking container (Fig 2, material determination circuit 32, 0013) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the induction cooktop of Tomoya in view of Shi determining an impedance silent to detecting a container material with the processor is further configured to: detect a material of the cooking container for the purpose of allowing the determination circuit to accurately detect the overheat of the container regardless of the material of the container by selecting the specific threshold value stored for each material of the container (0006-0007). With respect to the limitations of claim 15, Tomoya in view of Shi and Takeo discloses further comprising non- transitory memory (Tomoya, control means 8, 0022, 0026, microcomputer, DSP having non-transitory memory) configured to store data in which an impedance (Tomoya, Abstract, overheating status; 0031) for distinguishing an overheated state for each predetermined material of the cooking container is mapped (Takeo, 0006, 0007); Claim 26 is similarly rejected as set forth in the rejection of claim 14 above. Claim 27 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Tomoya (JP2007042482) in view of Shi (CN109100037) as applied to claim 20, further in view of Barker (US 2010/0147832). With respect to the limitations of claim 27, Tomoya teaches controlling the heating of the cooking container based on the determined material to maintain the cooking container at a consistent temperature (0024, control means 8 performs feedback control to adjust the power to the level set by the user of the induction heating device). Tomoya in view of Shi discloses the claimed invention except for further comprising: determining a material of the cooking container based on the impedance of the cooking container immediately upon starting the heating of the cooking container. However, Barker discloses further comprising: determining a material of the cooking container based on the impedance of the cooking container immediately upon starting the heating of the cooking container (Fig 3, cookware identifier circuitry 8, 0003, 0024) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the induction cooktop operating method of Tomoya in view of Shi determining an impedance silent to determining a material of the cooking container based on impedance with the further comprising: determining a material of the cooking container based on the impedance of the cooking container immediately upon starting the heating of the cooking container of Baker for the purpose of using a known method for detecting a cooking container material based on impedance changes of the cooking container during heating (0024). Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Tomoya (JP2007042482) as applied to claim 28, further in view of Barker (US 2010/0147832). With respect to the limitations of claim 30, Tomoya discloses the claimed invention except for further comprising: determining a material of the cooking container based on the inductance of the cooking container immediately upon starting the heating of the cooking container; and controlling the heating of the cooking container based on the determined material. However, Barker discloses further comprising: determining a material of the cooking container based on the inductance of the cooking container immediately upon starting the heating of the cooking container; and controlling the heating of the cooking container based on the determined material (Fig 5A, 0032-0033, inductance 48 represents the inductance of the target material of the cookware 16) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the induction cooktop operating method of Tomoya silent to determining a material of the cooking container based on inductance with the further comprising: determining a material of the cooking container based on the inductance of the cooking container immediately upon starting the heating of the cooking container of Barker for the purpose of using a known method for detecting a cooking container material based on inductance changes of the cooking container during heating. Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 13, 16-19, 24 and 25 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 THIEN S TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7745. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday [8:00-4:00]. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Crabb can be reached at 571-270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 2/23/2026 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 2 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 3 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 4 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 5 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 6 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 7 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 8 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 9 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 10 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 11 Art Unit: 3761 Application/Control Number: 18/270,354 Page 12 Art Unit: 3761