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 .
Status of the Claims
This is a non-final rejection in response to the communication filed 08/21/2025. Claims 1-10 are currently pending.
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 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN109429399 to Liu et al. (Liu, and based on English Machine Translation) in view of CN112714515 to Jiang et al. (Jiang, and based on English Machine Translation).
In Reference to Claim 1
Liu discloses a method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device (abstract, and induction cooker for instance), comprising:
obtaining a sampling current (¶ [0061], instantaneous operating or working current for instance) obtained by a current sampling apparatus (¶ [0097], an acquisition module for instance);
detecting (¶ [0062]-[0063], comparing and determining for instance), according to the sampling current (instantaneous operating or working current for instance) and preset determining data (abstract, previous current data for instance), whether the electromagnetic heating device accommodates a medium (¶ [0063] and [0007], in a dry state and not containing a medium such as water for instance); and
controlling, if the electromagnetic heating device does not accommodate a medium (such as being in a dry state for instance), the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to stop electromagnetic oscillation (¶ [0063], stopping of the induction cooker for instance).
Liu does not explicitly teach “... detecting a main loop in which an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of an electromagnetic heating device is located ....”
Jiang is related to a method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device (abstract), as the claimed invention, and teaches wherein the method includes obtaining a sampling current (¶ [0013], [0016], a measurement parameter of current sampling value for instance) obtained by a current sampling apparatus (¶ [0114], an acquisition module for instance) detecting a main loop in which an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of an electromagnetic heating device is located (abstract and [0010], in a main supply to the system for instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Liu wherein obtaining a sampling current (of Liu) obtained by a current sampling apparatus (of Liu) detecting a main loop in which an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of an electromagnetic heating device is located (as taught by Jiang), so as to use an art known technique (of current sampling in a main loop in the system of an electromagnetic heating device as taught by Jiang for instance) into the system of Liu and predictably obtain current sampling for use in the control of the electromagnetic heating device.
In Reference to Claim 9
Liu discloses an apparatus (¶ [0096], control module for instance) for controlling an electromagnetic heating device (abstract, and induction cooker for instance), comprising:
a data obtaining module (acquisition module for instance) configured to obtain a sampling current (¶ [0061], instantaneous operating or working current for instance) obtained by a current sampling apparatus (¶ [0097], an acquisition module for instance);
a medium detection module (¶ [0096]-[0097], the control module for instance) configured to detect (¶ [0062]-[0063], comparing and determining for instance), according to the sampling current (instantaneous operating or working current for instance) and preset determining data (abstract, previous current data for instance), whether the electromagnetic heating device accommodates a medium (¶ [0063] and [0007], in a dry state and not containing a medium such as water for instance); and
a heating control module (¶ [0096]) configured to control, if the electromagnetic heating device does not accommodate the medium (such as being in a dry state for instance), the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to stop electromagnetic oscillation (¶ [0063], stopping of the induction cooker for instance).
Liu does not explicitly teach “... detecting a main loop in which an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of an electromagnetic heating device is located ....”
Jiang is related to a method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device (abstract), as the claimed invention, and teaches wherein the method includes obtaining a sampling current (¶ [0013], [0016], a measurement parameter of current sampling value for instance) obtained by a current sampling apparatus (¶ [0114], an acquisition module for instance) detecting a main loop in which an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of an electromagnetic heating device is located (abstract and [0010], in a main supply to the system for instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Liu wherein a data obtaining module configured to obtain a sampling current (of Liu) obtained by a current sampling apparatus (of Liu) detecting a main loop in which an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of an electromagnetic heating device is located (as taught by Jiang), so as to use an art known technique (of current sampling in a main loop in the system of an electromagnetic heating device as taught by Jiang for instance) into the system of Liu and predictably obtain current sampling for use in the control of the electromagnetic heating device.
In Reference to Claim 10
Liu, as modified by Jiang, discloses an electromagnetic heating device, comprising:
a control apparatus (Liu ¶ [0096], control module for instance);
a current sampling apparatus (Liu ¶ [0097], an acquisition module for instance); and
an electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit (Liu, circuitry of the system for instance),
wherein the current sampling apparatus (of Liu for instance) is connected to a main loop in which the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit is located (a taught by Jiang, abstract and [0010], in a main supply to the system for instance),
wherein the control apparatus is connected to the current sampling apparatus and the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit (Liu, ¶ [0096]),
wherein the current sampling apparatus is configured to detect the main loop in which the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit is located (as taught by Jiang) to obtain a sampling current (Liu ¶ [0061], instantaneous operating or working current for instance), and send the sampling current to the control apparatus (Liu ¶ [0097]), and
wherein the control apparatus is configured to perform electromagnetic heating control according to the method of claim 1 (Liu ¶ [0097]).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN109429399 to Liu et al. (Liu, and based on English Machine Translation) in view of CN112714515 to Jiang et al. (Jiang, and based on English Machine Translation) as applied to claim1 above, and further in view of CN11101075 to Zhu et al. (Zhu, and based on English Machine Translation).
In Reference to Claim 2
Liu, as modified by Jiang, discloses the method for controlling an electromagnetic previously collected working current for instance), and wherein, before the detecting, according to the sampling current and preset determining data (see Liu ¶ [0061] and [0062 for instance), whether the electromagnetic heating device accommodates the medium (Liu ¶ [0062] in a dry state or not for instance), but does not teach “... the method further comprises: determining the determining threshold according to a type of material used for heating a medium ....”
Zhu is related to a method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device (abstract), as the claimed invention, and teaches determining a determining threshold according to a type of material used for heating a medium (¶ [0011], [0017], [0052], determining the type of cookware so as to set a threshold and thus determining what power setting to use to heat medium in a cookware for instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Liu wherein the method (of Liu) further comprises determining the determining threshold according to a type of material used for heating a medium (as taught by Zhu for instance), so as to use an art known technique (of choosing a threshold value for control of an electromagnetic heating device according to a base the of material use for heating as taught by Zhu for instance) into the system of Liu and predictably provide suitable control of the electromagnetic heating device.
Claim(s) 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN109429399 to Liu et al. (Liu, and based on English Machine Translation) in view of CN112714515 to Jiang et al. (Jiang, and based on English Machine Translation) as applied to claim1 above, and further in view of CN106979541 to Zhong et al. (Zhong, and based on English Machine Translation).
In Reference to Claim 7
Liu, as modified by Jiang, discloses the method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device of claim 1, the obtaining the sampling current obtained by the current sampling apparatus (¶ [0061] and [0097] as taught by Liu for instance) detecting the main loop in which the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of the electromagnetic heating device is located (abstract and [0010] as taught by Jiang for instance), but does not teach “... wherein, before ... the method further comprises: controlling, after a key wakeup instruction is received or electromagnetic oscillation is turned off for a set duration, the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to start the electromagnetic oscillation ....”
Zhong is related to a method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device (abstract), as the claimed invention, and teaches wherein electromagnetic oscillation is turned off for a set duration (¶ [0034], [0035], a time limit for instance), the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to start the electromagnetic oscillation (¶ [0035], checking for a medium to prevent misjudgment for instance).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide in the system of Liu wherein, before (as taught by Zhong, the constant checking to make sure there is no misjudgment for instance) the obtaining the sampling current obtained by the current sampling apparatus detecting the main loop in which the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit of the electromagnetic heating device is located (of Liu), the method further comprises: controlling, after a key wakeup instruction is received (this limitation satisfied as being in the alternative) or electromagnetic oscillation is turned off for a set duration (as taught by Zhong), the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to start the electromagnetic oscillation (as taught by Zhong), so as to use an art known technique (of controlling the checking of a medium in an electromagnetic heating device as taught by Zhong for instance) into the system of Liu and predictably prevent misjudgment in checking for a medium or burning in the system.
In Reference to Claim 8
Liu, as modified by Jiang and Zhong, discloses the method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device of claim 7, wherein, after the controlling, if the electromagnetic heating device does not accommodate the medium, the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to stop electromagnetic oscillation (¶ [0063], stopping of the induction cooker for instance), the method further comprises: returning, after delaying for a preset duration, to controlling the electromagnetic oscillation and power output circuit to start electromagnetic oscillation, until a quantity of times of turning off the electromagnetic oscillation reaches a preset quantity of times (as taught by Zhong, ¶ [0035]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 5 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.
Claim 4 would be allowable based on its dependency on claim 3.
Claim 6 would be allowable based on its dependency on claim 5.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: while the prior art teaches (claim 3) the method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device of claim 2, wherein the determining the determining threshold according to the type of material used for heating the medium (as taught n Zhu ¶ [0053] and CA 3096799 to Anderson et al. ¶ [0020]), the prior art alone or in combination, does not teach or make obvious setting, if the material used for heating the medium is a first-type material, the determining threshold to be a direct current less than a current of the electromagnetic heating device in a no-load state, wherein, if the electromagnetic heating device accommodates the medium heated using the first-type material, a direct current of the main loop is less than the direct current in the no-load state of the electromagnetic heating device.
Similarly in claim 5, the prior art teaches the method for controlling an electromagnetic heating device of claim 2, wherein the determining the determining threshold according to the type of material used for heating the medium (as taught n Zhu ¶ [0053] and CA 3096799 to Anderson et al. ¶ [0020]), but the prior art does not teach or make obvious setting, if the material used for heating the medium is a second-type material, the determining threshold to be a direct current greater than a current of the electromagnetic heating device in a no-load state, wherein, if the electromagnetic heating device accommodates the medium heated using the second-type material, a direct current of the main loop is greater than the direct current in the no-load state of the electromagnetic heating device.
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure, as cited in the Notice of References Cited, are cited to show electromagnetic heating devices and control thereof.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE A LAMBERT whose telephone number is (571)270-3516. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9 am - 7 pm.
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, Nathaniel E Wiehe can be reached at (571)272-8648. 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. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/WAYNE A LAMBERT/Examiner, Art Unit 3745
/NATHANIEL E WIEHE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3745