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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 08/19/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment and/or arguments submitted on 07/02/2026 is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claims 1-3, 5-20 are pending:
Claims 4 are canceled
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and/or amendments, with respect to 35 USC 103 art rejections by Hale (US 2014/0166644) and Puchinger (US 20180049579) have been fully considered.
Applicant again asserts, page 6, that art rejection of record relies upon hindsight bias and further provides an argument this is due to Hale and Puchinger being conduction based and convection based, respectively, arrangements.
The office respectfully disagrees. As detailed in the rejection of record, Hale internally provides a motivation to modify the internal heating chamber, which would cause one of ordinary skill in the art to look at the prior art for modifications, and Puchinger teaches a working and known in the art alternative internal cooking chamber arrangement. Thus, the art combination rejection of record is not based on hindsight, but rather motivated by the disclosures and teachings of Hale and Puchinger themselves as detailed in the rejection of record.
Applicant asserts, page 6-7, that the substitution of the internal heating chamber of Puchinger into the overall arrangement of Hale would disrupt the principle of operation of the primary reference, due to the change between conduction and convection heating.
The office respectfully disagrees. The principle of operation of Hale is that a vessel with internal water is placed in a microwave and an internal heating chamber within the water heats food, such that the water is heated via radiation from the microwave and then the heated water transfers heat to the heating chamber. The modification arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger does not disrupt the principle of operation of Hale. This is further evidenced that Hale explicitly opens itself to modification (Para65) so that the internal heating chamber “may take any suitable or desirable form” to promote the cooking mode. The openness to “any suitable or desirable form” provides a very high bar to prove that the mode of operation of Hale would be broken by a modification, as long as food is cooked in a microwave via radiated heated water to an internal cooking chamber.
Applicant asserts, page 6-7, that Hale fails to disclose a “convection gap” as the gap 310 of Hale is not disclosed to have the purpose of circulating fluid.
The office respectfully notes that applicant’s assertion is not commensurate in scope to the rejection of record, as the instant assertion is merely a piecemeal analysis of the rejection of record. The rejection of record relies upon Hale to disclose a physical gap there, but not the convection function, but rather relies upon the teachings of Puchinger to teach the fact that heated water convects around/through the taught basket/heating chamber arrangement.
Applicant asserts, page 7-8, that the rejection of record fails to disclose the newly amended claim language of “direct fluid communication” as claimed.
The office agrees, and presents a new grounds of rejection below based on the newly amended claim language.
Claim Interpretation - Language
Language and/or terms in the claims are interpreted as follows:
“about”, Para17, +/-10%
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, 5-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hale (US 2014/0166644) in view of Puchinger (US 20180049579) and Allaire (US 4,739,698).
Claim 1
Hale discloses:
“A microwave oven (Abstract/Para5, microwave oven is the surrounding heating device) defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction (implicit, microwave ovens are three dimension when practiced in the real world), the microwave oven comprising:
a cabinet (Para34, body of microwave oven that surrounds the internal cooking chamber) defining a cooking chamber (Para34, internal cooking chamber);
a door (Para38, microwave door) … mounted to the cabinet for providing selective access to the cooking chamber (Para38, opens and shuts to access internal cooking chamber); and
a … assembly configured for receipt within the cooking chamber, the … assembly comprising (best seen Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C):
a tank (Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, container 200A/200C/as shown) configured for containing a volume of liquid (Para7, microwave-absorbing medium may include water; Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, water 310/210/110);
a basket (Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, internal heating chamber 140/240/as shown) positioned inside the tank (Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C internal cooking region 349 is within the walls of the internal heating chamber 140/240/as shown is positioned inside container 200A/200C/as shown) such that a convection gap is defined between the basket and the tank (best seen Fig3, vertical/horizontal gap between inner heating chamber and outer container holding water 310), the basket comprising a bottom wall (Fig3, bottom wall between reference characters 310/349; Fig6, bottom 631) …;
one or more vertical dividers positioned within the basket and extending along the vertical direction to define a plurality of food chambers (best seen Fig5/6, heating chamber may be formed with a plurality of vertical food chambers positioned by a plurality of vertical dividers 538a/b/539/638), … ; and
a cover (best seen Fig2C/3, lid 240C region corresponding to chamber interface) … , the cover mounted over the one or more vertical dividers (best seen Fig2C/3/5/6, lid 204c is mounted vertically over the vertical dividers 538a/b/539/638 of the cook chamber 635/535/240) and being movable between an open position and a secured closed position to provide selective access to the plurality of food chambers (Para59, lid 204C and body 206C separable from each other to “accommodate the insertion of contents into the internal chamber of the container”).”
Hale further discloses (Para65) that the internal heating chamber “may take any suitable or desirable form” to promote the cooking mode.
Hale is silent to the microwave door being “rotatable” mounted to the system.
Door; https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/door; 1) a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened; Accessed 03/12/2026
Hale is further silent to the assembly being used in “sous vide” heat convection cooking as opposed to the disclosed heat conduction cooking arrangement, and thus that there are perforations in the basket bottom wall and in the cover, as claimed.
Hale is further silent to “wherein the bottom wall of the basket provides direct fluid communication from the convection gap and into the plurality of food chambers”.
Puchinger teaches:
“ … the sous vide (best seen Fig6, sous vide cooking system 1; Para20) assembly comprising (features of explicitly disclosed embodiments are combined as disclosed by Para224; Fig6/3):
a tank (Best seen Fig3/6, pot 2) configured for containing a volume of liquid (Fig3/6, water 5);
a basket (best seen Fig3/6, insert 3) positioned inside the tank such that a convection gap is defined between the basket and the tank (best seen Fig6, convection gap between insert 3 and pot 2 best seen by convection flow arrows), the basket (insert 3) comprising a bottom wall (best seen Fig6, bottom 4) defining a plurality of perforations (best seen Fig6, see water flow arrows through bottom 4);
one or more vertical dividers (best seen Fig3/6, internal walls 11 of insert 3) positioned within the basket (best seen Fig3/6, internal walls 11 of insert 3) and extending along the vertical direction to define a plurality of food chambers (best seen Fig3/6, internal walls 11 of insert 3 extend vertically and define vertical food chambers for food 9); and
a cover (best seen Fig5, top 14a) defining a plurality of perforations (best seen Fig5, top 14a; Para67, explicitly discloses that the top 14a may have openings/holes and fluid communication with the foodstuff 9), the cover (top 14a) mounted over the one or more vertical dividers (best seen Fig5, top 14a is vertically over internal walls 11) and …”
Puchinger further teaches (Para92/93/214; Fig8, hinge 15, top element 13) that it is known to use a hinge on the top element 13 in order to open/close the vertical food chamber in order to place food 9 therein.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention:
to select that the door of Hale is rotatably mounted to the microwave oven of Hale, as it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try a rotating door as doors rotate or slide in motion, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have to select between those two modes in order to actually practice the disclosure of; and
to modify the internal heating chamber of Hale directed towards conductive heating via a water bath with the insert of Puchinger directed towards sous vide convection heating via a water bath, as such a modification would merely be combining prior art element according to known methods in order to yield predictable results, in the instant case combining the known water bath heating arrangement as taught by Hale with the known in the art sous vide water convection cooking structure of Puchinger in order to yield the predictable resulting arrangement where the water bath with an internal cooking region is heated in a microwave oven environment as disclosed by Hale while the heated water bath cooks food using the sous vide convection heating insert water flow arrangement as taught by Puchinger; and
the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the microwave oven of Hale with a known in the art alternative cooking method (convection heating relative to Hale’s conductive heating) that uses the known in the art insert of Puchinger that has (as mapped above) a bottom wall and cover with a plurality of perforations, vertical food chambers defined by vertical dividers, a top that rotates between open/closed in order to place food within the vertical food chambers.
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger is further silent to “wherein the bottom wall of the basket provides direct fluid communication from the convection gap and into the plurality of food chambers”.
Puchinger teaches (Para215) that the internal walls 11 are adjustable in shape and/or length. Puchinger further teaches (Para56) that adding perforations with “specific geometry” will improve fluid circulation. Thus, Puchinger is open to modification of the inner basket to include adding holes.
Allaire teaches (best seen Fig2-4, inner basket 10/28, holes 38/40; Abstract) that it is known in the art to form an inner basket that has a plurality of fluid flow holes to allow cooking fluid to move vertically travel up through the bottom wall of the basket to cook food within inner partitions. The plurality of holes 38/40 as such arranged to solving the same problem of an arrangement that provides an inner basket that can structurally hold inserted components while providing fluid flow paths to allow the flowed fluid to interact with the inserted components.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger to add perforation holes throughout the bottom, as taught by Allaire, of the inner basket as taught by Puchinger, as Allaire teaches that the application of such perforation holes is a working and known in the art structural selection to provide an inner basket that can structurally hold inserted components while providing fluid flow paths to allow the flowed fluid to interact/cook with the inserted components via convection, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger with a working an known application of additional convection fluid flow paths through the inner basket as taught by Allaire for the advantage of increased fluid flow interaction with the inserted food components within each basket partition region due to the added holes in the bottom wall of the basket.
Claim 2
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the tank comprises a solid side wall connected to a solid bottom wall to form a water-tight reservoir (Hale: best seen Fig3, solid connection between side wall and bottom at lower corner to hold water 310).”
Claim 3
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the basket comprises a solid side wall connected to the bottom wall defining an internal volume (Puchinger: best seen Fig6/3, bottom 4 and side wall 14 connect and define internal volume within perimeter of walls 14).”
Claim 5
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the convection gap and the internal volume are in fluid isolation except through the bottom wall and the cover (limitation is within the scope of the combination as discussed in Claim 1. Puchinger: best seen Fig3/6, side walls 14, bottom 4, top 14a are solid expect for the holes in bottom 4 and top 14a; Allaire: holes are only on the basket bottom surface).”
Claim 6
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the convection gap between the basket and the tank defines a plurality of convective flow paths (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, only one explicitly shown via flow arrows, but the structure discloses multiple convection flow paths).”
Claim 7
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the cover is pivotally mounted to the basket (limitation is within the scope of the combination as discussed in Claim 1. Puchinger: Para92/93/214; Fig8, hinge 15, top element 13).”
Claim 8
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, further comprising a selectable latch wherein the cover is selectively secured in the secured closed position (Puchinger: Para94/92-93, hinge arrangement is selectively latched in the closed position due to spacer elements in order to hinder the removal of the food leaving during use).”
Claim 9
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the … defines a target fill line (Puchinger: Para112-114, Fig5, water level indicator 18 on insert 3), and wherein an upper convection gap (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, upper gap between water level 5 and top of insert 3) is defined along the vertical direction between the target fill line and the cover in the secured closed position (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, upper gap between water level 5 and top of insert 3 defined vertically).”
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire is silent to the tank defining a target fill line with an upper gap as claimed.
Puchinger teaches (Para112-114) that it is known to provide an indicator to indicate to a user the level to which water should be added, such as the minimal or maximum fluid level within the outer water container. Puchinger further teaches that the application of a water indicator reduces the risk of the water level being too high/low, and avoids incorrect food cooking due to improper water levels.
MPEP 2144.04.VI.A “Rearrangement of Parts”, teaches that it is an obvious modification to change the placement of a component that does not change the overall operation of the device.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention:
to modify the tank/container 200 of Hale to have the water level indicator 18 as taught by Puchinger, as such a water level indicator reduces the risk of the water level being too high/low and avoids incorrect food cooking due to improper water levels, and such a modification would merely be a rearrangement of parts of moving the water indicator from the insert/basket location to tank location; and
to perform routine optimization to determine the proper minimal and maximum water level within the tank of the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire, as one of ordinary skill in the art would have to make such a determination in order to practice the disclosure of the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire; and
the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire with a known in the art solution to proper water level in the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire during operation by having an indicator that shows the proper minimal and maximum water level for the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire.
Claim 10
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire as discussed in Claim 9 discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 9, wherein the upper convection gap defines an upper gap length (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, upper gap between water level 5 and top of insert 3 defined vertically), the upper gap length being greater than or equal to a gap length of the convection gap (limitation is within the scope of the routine optimization as discussed in Claim 9. Relative dimensions of the drawings are not to scale, and the particularly chosen dimensions due to the routine optimization of the water level account for the correct water in order to have the “sous vide” heat convection cooking function properly.).”
Claim 11
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1 wherein the basket side wall comprises one or more chamber spacers extending from the side wall into the food chamber (Puchinger: best seen Fig3/6, insert 3 has internal walls 11 to define the vertical/horizontal positioning and location of food 9 within the vertical food chambers of insert 3).”
Claim 12
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the one or more vertical dividers maintain lateral and transverse spacing between a content of a food chamber and a content of an adjacent food chamber (Puchinger: best seen Fig3/6, insert 3 has internal walls 11 to define the vertical/horizontal positioning and location of food 9 within the vertical food chambers of insert 3).”
Claim 13
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 12, wherein the one or more vertical dividers comprise chamber spacers extending from the vertical dividers into the food chamber (Puchinger: best seen Fig3/6, insert 3 has internal walls 11 to define the vertical/horizontal positioning and location of food 9 within the vertical food chambers of insert 3).”
Claim 14
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of tank spacers positioned between the basket and the tank to maintain the convection gap (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, vertical tank spacers that hold bottom 4 at a relative gap to the bottom surface of the tank, spacing best seen by water flow arrows).”
Claim 15
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The microwave oven of claim 1, wherein the basket and the tank are joined together (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, insert 3 and surrounding tank are joined together via vertical tank spacers vertically space bottom 4 in the assembled state during operation.) with the convection gap maintained (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, convection gap is maintained and best seen by water flow arrows showing the convection gaps).”
Claim 16
Hale discloses:
“A … assembly (best seen Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, cooking arrangement) for use in a microwave oven (Abstract/Para5, microwave oven is the surrounding heating device), the microwave oven comprising a cabinet (Para34, body of microwave oven that surrounds the internal cooking chamber) defining a cooking chamber (Para34, internal cooking chamber), the … assembly comprising (best seen Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C):
a tank (Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, container 200A/200C/as shown) configured for containing a volume of liquid (Para7, microwave-absorbing medium may include water; Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, water 310/210/110);
a basket (Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C, internal heating chamber 140/240/as shown) positioned inside the tank (Fig1A/2A/2C/3/5C internal cooking region 349 is within the walls of the internal heating chamber 140/240/as shown is positioned inside container 200A/200C/as shown) such that a convection gap is defined between the basket and the tank (best seen Fig3, vertical/horizontal gap between inner heating chamber and outer container holding water 310), the basket comprising a bottom wall (Fig3, bottom wall between reference characters 310/349; Fig6, bottom 631) …;
one or more vertical dividers positioned within the basket and extending along the vertical direction to define a plurality of food chambers (best seen Fig5/6, heating chamber may be formed with a plurality of vertical food chambers positioned by a plurality of vertical dividers 538a/b/539/638); and
a cover (best seen Fig2C/3, lid 240C region corresponding to chamber interface) … , the cover mounted over the one or more vertical dividers (best seen Fig2C/3/5/6, lid 204c is mounted vertically over the vertical dividers 538a/b/539/638 of the cook chamber 635/535/240) and being movable between an open position and a secured closed position to provide selective access to the plurality of food chambers (Para59, lid 204C and body 206C separable from each other to “accommodate the insertion of contents into the internal chamber of the container”).”
Hale further discloses (Para65) that the internal heating chamber “may take any suitable or desirable form” to promote the cooking mode.
Hale is silent to the microwave door being “rotatable” mounted to the system.
Door; https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/door; 1) a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened; Accessed 03/12/2026
Hale is further silent to the assembly being used in “sous vide” heat convection cooking as opposed to the disclosed heat conduction cooking arrangement, and thus that there are perforations in the basket bottom wall and in the cover, as claimed.
Hale is further silent to “wherein the bottom wall of the basket provides direct fluid communication from the convection gap and into the plurality of food chambers”.
Puchinger teaches:
“A sous vide assembly (best seen Fig6, sous vide cooking system 1; Para20) … , the sous vide assembly comprising (features of explicitly disclosed embodiments are combined as disclosed by Para224; Fig6/3):
a tank (Best seen Fig3/6, pot 2) configured for containing a volume of liquid (Fig3/6, water 5);
a basket (best seen Fig3/6, insert 3) positioned inside the tank such that a convection gap is defined between the basket and the tank (best seen Fig6, convection gap between insert 3 and pot 2 best seen by convection flow arrows), the basket (insert 3) comprising a bottom wall (best seen Fig6, bottom 4) defining a plurality of perforations (best seen Fig6, see water flow arrows through bottom 4);
one or more vertical dividers (best seen Fig3/6, internal walls 11 of insert 3) positioned within the basket (best seen Fig3/6, internal walls 11 of insert 3) and extending along the vertical direction to define a plurality of food chambers (best seen Fig3/6, internal walls 11 of insert 3 extend vertically and define vertical food chambers for food 9); and
a cover (best seen Fig5, top 14a) defining a plurality of perforations (best seen Fig5, top 14a; Para67, explicitly discloses that the top 14a may have openings/holes and fluid communication with the foodstuff 9), the cover (top 14a) mounted over the one or more vertical dividers (best seen Fig5, top 14a is vertically over internal walls 11) and …”
Puchinger further teaches (Para92/93/214; Fig8, hinge 15, top element 13) that it is known to use a hinge on the top element 13 in order to open/close the vertical food chamber in order to place food 9 therein.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention:
to select that the door of Hale is rotatably mounted to the microwave oven of Hale, as it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to try a rotating door as doors rotate or slide in motion, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have to select between those two modes in order to actually practice the disclosure of; and
to modify the internal heating chamber of Hale directed towards conductive heating via a water bath with the insert of Puchinger directed towards sous vide convection heating via a water bath, as such a modification would merely be combining prior art element according to known methods in order to yield predictable results, in the instant case combining the known water bath heating arrangement as taught by Hale with the known in the art sous vide water convection cooking structure of Puchinger in order to yield the predictable resulting arrangement where the water bath with an internal cooking region is heated in a microwave oven environment as disclosed by Hale while the heated water bath cooks food using the sous vide convection heating insert water flow arrangement as taught by Puchinger; and
the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the microwave oven of Hale with a known in the art alternative cooking method (convection heating relative to Hale’s conductive heating) that uses the known in the art insert of Puchinger that has (as mapped above) a bottom wall and cover with a plurality of perforations, vertical food chambers defined by vertical dividers, a top that rotates between open/closed in order to place food within the vertical food chambers.
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger is further silent to “wherein the bottom wall of the basket provides direct fluid communication from the convection gap and into the plurality of food chambers”.
Puchinger teaches (Para215) that the internal walls 11 are adjustable in shape and/or length. Puchinger further teaches (Para56) that adding perforations with “specific geometry” will improve fluid circulation. Thus, Puchinger is open to modification of the inner basket to include adding holes.
Allaire teaches (best seen Fig2-4, inner basket 10/28, holes 38/40; Abstract) that it is known in the art to form an inner basket that has a plurality of fluid flow holes to allow cooking fluid to move vertically travel up through the bottom wall of the basket to cook food within inner partitions. The plurality of holes 38/40 as such arranged to solving the same problem of an arrangement that provides an inner basket that can structurally hold inserted components while providing fluid flow paths to allow the flowed fluid to interact with the inserted components.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger to add perforation holes throughout the bottom, as taught by Allaire, of the inner basket as taught by Puchinger, as Allaire teaches that the application of such perforation holes is a working and known in the art structural selection to provide an inner basket that can structurally hold inserted components while providing fluid flow paths to allow the flowed fluid to interact/cook with the inserted components via convection, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger with a working an known application of additional convection fluid flow paths through the inner basket as taught by Allaire for the advantage of increased fluid flow interaction with the inserted food components within each basket partition region due to the added holes in the bottom wall of the basket.
Claim 17
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The sous vide assembly of claim 16, wherein the tank comprises a solid side wall connected to a solid bottom wall to form a water-tight reservoir (Hale: best seen Fig3, solid connection between side wall and bottom at lower corner to hold water 310); and wherein the basket comprises a solid side wall connected to the bottom wall defining an internal volume (Puchinger: best seen Fig6/3, bottom 4 and side wall 14 connect and define internal volume within perimeter of walls 14).”
Claim 18
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The sous vide assembly of claim 16, wherein the convection gap defines a gap length (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, convection gap between insert 3 and pot 2 best seen by convection flow arrows inherently has a gap length when practiced in the real world), the gap length being about 20 millimeters (Puchinger: Para66, preferred gap length is “about 2 cm”)”
Claim 19
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses: “The sous vide assembly of claim 16, wherein the … defines a target fill line (Puchinger: Para112-114, Fig5, water level indicator 18 on insert 3), and wherein an upper convection gap (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, upper gap between water level 5 and top of insert 3) is defined along the vertical direction between the target fill line and the cover in the secured closed position (Puchinger: best seen Fig6, upper gap between water level 5 and top of insert 3 defined vertically).”
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire is silent to the tank defining a target fill line with an upper gap as claimed.
Puchinger teaches (Para112-114) that it is known to provide an indicator to indicate to a user the level to which water should be added, such as the minimal or maximum fluid level within the outer water container. Puchinger further teaches that the application of a water indicator reduces the risk of the water level being too high/low, and avoids incorrect food cooking due to improper water levels.
MPEP 2144.04.VI.A “Rearrangement of Parts”, teaches that it is an obvious modification to change the placement of a component that does not change the overall operation of the device.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention:
to modify the tank/container 200 of Hale to have the water level indicator 18 as taught by Puchinger, as such a water level indicator reduces the risk of the water level being too high/low and avoids incorrect food cooking due to improper water levels, and such a modification would merely be a rearrangement of parts of moving the water indicator from the insert/basket location to tank location; and
to perform routine optimization to determine the proper minimal and maximum water level within the tank of the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire, as one of ordinary skill in the art would have to make such a determination in order to practice the disclosure of the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire; and
the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire with a known in the art solution to proper water level in the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire during operation by having an indicator that shows the proper minimal and maximum water level for the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire.
Claim 20
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire discloses the arrangement of Claim 16.
The modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire does not explicitly disclose that the internal walls 11 are perforated as claimed.
Puchinger teaches (Para215) that the internal walls 11 are adjustable in shape and/or length. Puchinger further teaches (Para56) that adding perforations with “specific geometry” will improve fluid circulation.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the internal wall 11 of insert 3 of the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire to include additional perforations with specific/designed geometry, as such a modification provides the advantage of improving fluid circulation between the vertical food chambers of the insert 3, and the resulting arrangement has the reasonable expectation of successfully providing the modified arrangement of Hale by the teachings of Puchinger and Allaire with improved cooking function due to improved water convection circulation within the insert 3 internal walls 11 due to the additional perforations with specific/designed geometry.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN HUNTER JR whose telephone number is (571)272-5093. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-18.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ibrahime Abraham can be reached at (571) 270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN S HUNTER, JR/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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