DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shibuya US 9841182 in view of Patella US 20210386233.
As to claim 1, Shibuya teaches “A method of intelligent water shortage detection and management for a cooking appliance (Abstract; Column 1, lines 13-14), wherein, the cooking appliance being configured with a steam generator (Figures 1 and 3, 20), the cooking appliance comprising an air fryer, a steam oven or a steam fryer (Column 17, lines 30-35), the method comprises: performing a preset water shortage management program, and detecting and obtaining a target temperature corresponding to the steam generator after performing the water shortage management program (Column 11, lines 26-32); determining whether the target temperature is lower than a preset first management temperature, and confirming that a water shortage management is completed with respect to the steam generator when it is determined that the target temperature is lower than the first management temperature (Column 12, lines 5-19); and performing a preset standby control program to control a corresponding heating component of the steam generator to stop heating when it is determined that the target temperature is higher than or equal to the first management temperature, and generating water shortage regulatory information with respect to the steam generator to advise the user that the steam generator is currently in a water shortage state and that a mandatory regulatory program to deal with the water shortage state is initiated (Column 12, lines 12-39).” Shibuya teaches the step of generating an alarm, but not at the start of the process.
Patella teaches “outputting a water shortage prompt by controlling an alarm beeping device in accordance with a preset warning program when it is detected that the steam generator satisfies a preset water shortage control condition ([0022]).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Patella with Shibuya. Having an alarm alert the user when a liquid level drops below a threshold is important so that the device can be refilled or the user can begin to process to refill the reservoir. This aids in optimizing the performance of the device.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shibuya US 9841182 in view of Patella US 20210386233 and in further view of Li US 20110265562.
As to claim 18, Shibuya teaches “An apparatus of intelligent water shortage detection and management for a cooking appliance (Abstract), wherein the apparatus comprises: wherein, the cooking appliance being configured with a steam generator (Figures 1 and 3, 20), the cooking appliance comprising an air fryer, a steam oven or a steam fryer (Column 17, lines 30-35), the method comprises: performing a preset water shortage management program (Column 11, lines 26-32), and detecting and obtaining a target temperature corresponding to the steam generator after performing the water shortage management program; determining whether the target temperature is lower than a preset first management temperature (Column 12, lines 5-19), and confirming that a water shortage management is completed with respect to the steam generator when it is determined that the target temperature is lower than the first management temperature; and performing a preset standby control program to control a corresponding heating component of the steam generator to stop heating when it is determined that the target temperature is higher than or equal to the first management temperature, and generating water shortage regulatory information with respect to the steam generator to advise a user that the steam generator is currently in a water shortage state and that a mandatory regulatory program to deal with the water shortage state is initiated (Column 12, lines 12-39).” Shibuya teaches the step of generating an alarm, but not at the start of the process.
Patella teaches “outputting a water shortage prompt by controlling an alarm beeping device in accordance with a preset warning program when it is detected that the steam generator satisfies a preset water shortage control condition ([0022]).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Patella with Shibuya. Having an alarm alert the user when a liquid level drops below a threshold is important so that the device can be refilled or the user can begin to process to refill the reservoir. This aids in optimizing the performance of the device.
The prior arts do not teach a memory.
Li teaches “a memory, memorized with an executable code; and a processor, coupled with the memory, wherein the processor invokes the executable code memorized in the memory to perform a method of intelligent water shortage detection and management for a cooking appliance (Abstract; [0003]).”
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing of the invention to combine the teachings of Li with Patella and Shibuya. Utilizing a memory with instructions is obvious because it allows the system to operate with minimal user effort.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17 is allowed. Claim 17 claims the structures such as water shortage management module, a determining module, a standby control module and a generating module. While the prior arts may consist of these elements, they are not implied or suggested. Claiming the modules themselves as seen in claim 17 differentiates this claim from the prior arts.
Claims 2 and 3 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. As to claim 2, the prior arts do not teach “identifying that the steam generator satisfies the preset water shortage control condition when a detected temperature corresponding to the steam generator reaches a preset temperature threshold” nor does it teach “when a steam content in a steam space corresponding to the cooking appliance is lower than a preset steam threshold, wherein a water tank in the cooking appliance is used to provide water storage for the steam generator; and the steam content in the steam space is data obtained by collecting the steam content in the steam space after it is confirmed that a steam function corresponding to the steam generator has been initiated.” The prior arts do not explicitly teach the relationship between the steam, temperature and water level. As to claim 3, the prior arts do not teach the step of controlling a timer in accordance with a first preset duration nor does it teach a preset pumping-cooling program. Claims 4-16 depend on either claim 2 or 3, therefore these are objected to as well.
Conclusion
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/TARUN SINHA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855