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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claim 19 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 07/13/2026.
Claim Objections
Claims 7 and 12 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 7 recites “the cooking appliance with predetermined power” it should be –the cooking appliance with a predetermined power--.
Claim 12 recites “a temperature of the bottom surface” this should be –the temperature of the bottom surface--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 8, 12, and 15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8 recites “configured to change..a magnitude of a certain power.” It is unclear if this “certain power” is the power that the user input, the predetermined power in claim 7, the power that is currently being used to heat the cooking appliance or another power stored in the processor that was predetermined.
Claim 12 recites “a third time period during which the heating operation via the transmission coil is stopped by the at least one processor while the heating operation is performed on the cooking appliance via the transmission coil after a lapse of the second time period.” It is unclear how the heating operation is stopped during the third period while it performed after a lapse of the second period.
Claim 15 recites “transmit certain power to the plurality of cooking zones.” It is unclear what is “certain power” and if the term “certain” is a vague description of the magnitude or something else.
Claim 15 recites “control the output interface to output the identified at least one cooking zone.” It is unclear how the output interface outputs the cooking zone. It will be interpreted as outputting the location of the cooking zone.
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, 10-13, 17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Haaster (WO 2016042123 A1) in view of Patterson (US 2007/0210067 A1) and Bunya (EP 3550933 A1).
Claim 1. Van Haaster discloses a wireless power transmission apparatus (induction cooking hob 20, Fig. 3) comprising:
a wireless power transmitter including a transmission coil configured to transmit power wirelessly (transceiver coil 26, Fig. 3) and an
at least one processor configured to control the inverter circuit (control system 28, Fig. 3); and
a communication interface (secondary transceiver coil element 26a for data transfer, Fig. 3, page 14) configured to communicate with a cooking appliance (cooking pan 1, Fig. 3),
wherein the communication interface is further configured to receive, from the cooking appliance, a temperature of a
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
control the inverter circuit to
determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (temperature sensors are used to detect boil dry scenarios, page 9),
Van Haaster does not disclose a second time period, following the first time period, during which the heating operation via the transmission coil is stopped,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
control the inverter circuit to stop the heating operation via the transmission coil for the second time period,
determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating.
Patterson discloses a water heating system for detecting dry fire conditions wherein the heating element is activated for a short time period, after a period activation the temperature sensors are sampled numerous times to determine if dry heating is occurring (par. 27).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster to incorporate the teachings of Patterson and provide a short activation period then a sampling period. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting empty heating while preventing the heating element from quickly damaging other components (par. 3, Patterson).
Van Haaster in view of Patterson does not disclose an inverter circuit configured to drive the transmission coil, receiving temperature of the bottom of the pan,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the second time period.
Bunya discloses an induction heating cooker wherein an inverter circuits 50 power the coils 11 (Fig. 3) with temperature sensors used to measure the bottom surface of the object being heated (35a-c, Fig. 9) and a temperature sensors for measuring heat in the object (30, Fig. 9) which are used to determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (empty heating is detected, par. 111, Fig. 11), based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the second time period (controller calculates the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and the top surface temperature to determine if empty heating is occurring, Fig. 11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson to incorporate the teachings of Bunya and provide inverters to control the power to the coils, Van Haaster’s sensors on the bottom of the appliance and measure the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and top surface temperature. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting empty heating and preventing degradation of the object being heated (par. 126, Bunya).
Claim 17. Van Haaster discloses a method of preventing empty heating (preventing boil dry scenarios, page 10) in a wireless power transmission apparatus (induction cooking hob, 20, Fig. 3), the method comprising:
heating a cooking appliance (cooking pan 1, Fig. 3) via a transmission coil (transceiver coil 26, Fig. 3) for a first time period (cooking pan is heated by the transceiver coil, page 12);
obtaining a temperature of a 4) for the first time period (measurements are taken during cooking, page 10) and
determining whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (temperature sensors are used to detect boil dry scenarios, page 9)
Van Haaster does not disclose stopping the heating of the cooking appliance via the transmission coil after the first time period has elapsed, obtaining the temperatures for a second time period during which the heating via the transmission coil is stopped.
Patterson discloses a water heating system for detecting dry fire conditions wherein the heating element is activated for a short time period, after a period activation the temperature sensors are sampled numerous times to determine if dry heating is occurring (par. 27).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster to incorporate the teachings of Patterson and provide a short activation period then a sampling period. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting empty heating while preventing the heating element from quickly damaging other components (par. 3, Patterson).
Van Haaster does not disclose wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the second time period.
Bunya discloses an induction heating cooker wherein an inverter circuits 50 power the coils 11 (Fig. 3) with temperature sensors used to measure the bottom surface of the object being heated (35a-c, Fig. 9) and a temperature sensors for measuring heat in the object (30, Fig. 9) which are used to determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (empty heating is detected, par. 111, Fig. 11), based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the second time period (controller calculates the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and the top surface temperature to determine if empty heating is occurring, Fig. 11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson to incorporate the teachings of Bunya and provide inverters to control the power to the coils, Van Haaster’s sensors on the bottom of the appliance and measure the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and top surface temperature. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting empty heating and preventing degradation of the object being heated (par. 126, Bunya).
Claim 10. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to control the inverter circuit to transmit power for communication to the cooking appliance, based on a heating start input by a user.
Van Haaster discloses that power is transferred to the inductive transceiver to not only provide heat but also to power the pan so that the electronic elements like the sensors will be supplied with operating power.
Bunya further discloses that the user can start the operation to heat the object to a desired heating power (par. 38-39).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Van Haaster and Bunya and begin transmitting power to the cooking appliance so that it can start up the sensors for measuring temperature when the wireless transmission device begins to heat up the object. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting and preventing empty heating.
Claim 11. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya discloses the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when determining that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, notify, via the communication interface, the cooking appliance that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (system notifies the user of boil dry event, page 3).
Claim 12. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya discloses the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication interface is further configured to receive a temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and an internal temperature of the cooking appliance for a third time period during which the heating operation via the transmission coil is stopped by the at least one processor while the heating operation is performed on the cooking appliance via the transmission coil after a lapse of the second time period, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to further determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the third time period (control logic may test again for dry fire condition, par. 25, wherein the process of activating the heating elements, deactivating, then sampling the temperature to measure the temperature differences to determine dry boiling is repeated).
Claim 13. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya discloses the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to further determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, based on a change in the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance as well as the relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the third time period (a rapid increase in temperature of the base member can be indication of dry boiling, page 9, and the controller calculates the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and the top surface temperature to determine if empty heating is occurring, Fig. 11, Bunya).
Claim 20. Van Haaster discloses a least one non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing instructions (control system 28), when executed, perform a method of:
heating a cooking appliance via a transmission coil for a first time period (cooking pan 1 is heated by the transceiver coil, page 12);
obtaining a temperature of a
determining whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (temperature sensors are used to detect boil dry scenarios, page 9)
Van Haaster does not disclose stopping the heating of the cooking appliance via the transmission coil after the first time period has elapsed, obtaining the temperatures for a second time period during which the heating via the transmission coil is stopped.
Patterson discloses a water heating system for detecting dry fire conditions wherein the heating element is activated for a short time period, after a period activation the temperature sensors are sampled numerous times to determine if dry heating is occurring (par. 27).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster to incorporate the teachings of Patterson and provide a short activation period then a sampling period. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting empty heating while preventing the heating element from quickly damaging other components (par. 3, Patterson).
Van Haaster does not disclose wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the second time period.
Bunya discloses an induction heating cooker wherein an inverter circuits 50 power the coils 11 (Fig. 3) with temperature sensors used to measure the bottom surface of the object being heated (35a-c, Fig. 9) and a temperature sensors for measuring heat in the object (30, Fig. 9) which are used to determine whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating (empty heating is detected, par. 111, Fig. 11), based on a relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance and the internal temperature of the cooking appliance for the second time period (controller calculates the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and the top surface temperature to determine if empty heating is occurring, Fig. 11).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson to incorporate the teachings of Bunya and provide inverters to control the power to the coils, Van Haaster’s sensors on the bottom of the appliance and measure the temperature difference between the bottom surface temperature and top surface temperature. Doing so would have the benefit of detecting empty heating and preventing degradation of the object being heated (par. 126, Bunya).
Claim(s) 2-6, 14, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kamiya ().
Claim 2. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating when a value obtained by subtracting the internal temperature of the cooking appliance from the temperature of the bottom surface increases for the second time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the change in temperature difference is rising between the periods of time and it exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim 3. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the cooking appliance does not undergo empty heating when a value obtained by subtracting the internal temperature of the cooking appliance from the temperature of the bottom surface decreases for the second time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the change in temperature difference is rising between the periods of time that exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16). However, if the change in temperature difference is below the threshold or negative then the control determines that there is no abnormality (page 16).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim 4. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating when a slope corresponding to a value obtained by subtracting the internal temperature of the cooking appliance from the temperature of the bottom surface has a positive value for the second time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the temperature difference is rising between the periods of time that exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred, wherein the threshold is positive (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16). Kamiya does not explicitly state that this is slope however it would have been simple for one of ordinary skill in the art to convert the change in temperature difference into a slope based on the 1 second interval between each measurement (page 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference over a period of time. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference over a period of time can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim 5. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating when a slope corresponding to a value obtained by subtracting the internal temperature of the cooking appliance from the temperature of the bottom surface is greater than a predetermined value for the second time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the temperature difference is rising between the periods of time that exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16). Kamiya does not explicitly state that this is slope however it would have been simple for one of ordinary skill in the art to convert the change in temperature difference into a slope based on the 1 second interval between each measurement (page 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference over a period of time. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference over a period of time can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim 6. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating when the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance increases for the second time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the temperature difference is rising between the periods of time that exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16). Kamiya does not explicitly state that this is slope however it would have been simple for one of ordinary skill in the art to convert the change in temperature difference into a slope based on the 1 second interval between each measurement (page 13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference over a period of time. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference over a period of time can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim 14. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating when the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking appliance increases and a value obtained by subtracting the internal temperature of the cooking appliance from the temperature of the bottom surface increases for the third time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the change in temperature difference is rising between the periods of time and it exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim 18. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the method of claim 17, wherein the determining of whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating based on the relationship between the temperature of the bottom surface, and wherein the internal temperature of the cooking appliance comprises determining that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating when a value obtained by subtracting the internal temperature of the cooking appliance from the temperature of the bottom surface increases for the second time period.
Kamiya discloses an induction cooking device wherein the temperature difference between two regions are taken at different times and if the temperature difference is rising between the periods of time that exceeds a threshold then it is determined that an abnormality such as dry heating has occurred (step S52, Fig. 4, page 16).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson, Bunya, and Kim to incorporate the teachings of Kamiya and look at the change in temperature difference. Kamiya demonstrates that one of ordinary skill in the art would know that looking at the change in temperature difference can also be used to determine dry heating.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Heo (US 2020/0022228 A1).
Claim 15. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
an output interface; and
a plurality of cooking zones,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify, from among the plurality of cooking zones, at least one cooking zone where the cooking appliance is located according to a change in load by controlling the inverter circuit to transmit certain power to the plurality of cooking zones, and
when determining that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating according to determination as to whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, control the output interface to output the identified at least one cooking zone and information indicating whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating.
Bunya further discloses an output interface (display unit 41, Fig. 1); and
a plurality of cooking zones (multiple heating zone, Fig. 1),
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
identify, from among the plurality of cooking zones, at least one cooking zone where the cooking appliance is located according to a change in load by controlling the inverter circuit to transmit certain power to the plurality of cooking zones (the controller executes load determination to determine if an object was placed a coil, par. 156, wherein the inverter provides power to the coil during the process, par. 156-158), and
when determining that the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating according to determination as to whether the cooking appliance undergoes empty heating, control the output interface to output the
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Bunya and provide a display unit to show that empty heating was detected. Doing so would warn the user of an abnormality (par. 66, Bunya).
Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose that information of the identified cooking zone with empty heating is displayed.
Heo discloses an induction cooker with a plurality of heating regions (Fig. 6) may display on the display unit the heating region in which the abnormal container is seated (par. 166).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Heo and display the heating region with abnormal behavior. Doing so would warn the user (par. 166, Heo).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kim (US 2020/0085225 A1).
Claim 16. Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya does not disclose the wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the bottom surface is a temperature of a heater of the cooking appliance, and wherein a first temperature sensor is configured to measure the temperature of the heater of the cooking appliance.
Kim discloses a cooker 1 that has a heater 14 at the bottom of the cooker (par. 69, Fig. 3) and a sensor 11 at the base with the heater (Fig. 3), wherein the heater is powered by the working coil 2 (par. 81-83).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Van Haaster in view of Patterson and Bunya to incorporate the teachings of Kim and provide an appliance with a heater and temperature sensor measuring the heater. Kim demonstrates an appliance which can have a heater and temperature sensor attached to the heater is known in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9 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 disclose the at least one processor is further configured to control the inverter circuit to heat, for the first time period, the cooking appliance with predetermined power for determining empty heating, instead of power corresponding to a user input.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMPSON A CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5.
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/SIMPSON A CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/ELIZABETH M KERR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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