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 .
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 1-14 are 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. In particular, the term “self-powered” is unclear as the specification describes application of an external heat difference to generate power. Absent a hot and cold surface to contact, it is unclear how the probe remains self powered.
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.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2016/0377490 (“Nivala”) in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2022/0344560 (“Zhao”).
Claim 1
Nivala discloses a self-powered thermal probe for cooking, comprising a fixing cover (cover 228), a mounting shell (mounting shell 216), a probe tube (probe tube 230), a first heat conducting block (inner shell 952), a temperature-difference power generation piece (thermal sensor wiring 942), a second heat conducting block (outer shell 944), a PCB (pcb 120a), a temperature sensor (thermal sensor 136) and a battery (battery 120b), wherein the mounting shell has an end connected to the fixing cover and an end connected to the probe tube (Fig. 10A); the first heat conducting block, the temperature-difference power generation piece and the second heat conducting block are all arranged in the mounting shell (paragraph [0111]), and the PCB is received in the probe tube and partially extends into the mounting shell (Fig. 11E); the PCB located in the mounting shell is arranged between the temperature-difference power generation piece and the second heat conducting block (Fig. 7), and the temperature-difference power generation piece, the temperature sensor and the battery are all electrically connected to the PCB (paragraph [0098], electrically connected).
Nivala does not appear to explicitly disclose the first heat conducting block and the second heat conducting block are respectively arranged on a hot surface and a cold surface of the temperature-difference power generation piece.
Zhao discloses a thermoelectric power generator within a sensor probe including placing a hot and cool conductive sides for power generation (paragraphs [0002-0004]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the first heat conducting block and the second heat conducting block are respectively arranged on a hot surface and a cold surface of the temperature-difference power generation piece, as disclosed by Zhao, into the device of Nivala, for the purpose of providing thermoelectric power to a temperature probe (Zhao, paragraph [0003]).
Claim 2
Nivala in view of Zhao discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 1, wherein the temperature-difference power generation piece is a ceramic power generation piece or a semiconductor power generation piece (Zhao, paragraph [0002]).
Claim 3
Nivala in view of Zhao discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 2, wherein the first heat conducting block and the second heating conducting block are metal parts (Zhao, paragraph [0111], metal).
Claim 4
Nivala in view of Zhao discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 3, wherein the probe tube is a stainless steel part (Nivala, paragraph [0111]).
Claims 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. 2016/0377490 (“Nivala”) in view of U.S. Patent Pub. 2022/0344560 (“Zhao”), further in view of U.S. Patent No. 11,767,932 (“Massie”).
Claim 5
Nivala in view of Zhao discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 4, and the mounting shell is a plastic part (Nivala, paragraph [0075]).
Nivala in view of Zhao discloses a metal spring but does not appear to explicitly disclose an electrically conductive metal screw.
Massie discloses a metal fixing screw for a housing (col. 4, lns 7-13).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated wherein the fixing cover is an electrically conductive metal screw, as disclosed by Massie, into the device of Nivala in view of Zhao, for the purpose of securing device into a measurement apparatus (col. 4, lns 7-13).
Claim 6
Nivala in view of Zhao, further in view of Massie discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 5, wherein the temperature sensor is an NTC temperature sensing element (Zhao, paragraph [0043]), and the battery is farad capacitor or a lithium battery (Nivala, paragraph [0035]).
Claim 7
Nivala in view of Zhao, further in view of Massie discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 6, further comprising fixing elastic pieces for fixing the PCB, wherein the number of the fixing elastic pieces is two, and the two fixing elastic pieces are symmetrically arranged on two sides of the PCB (Nivala, paragraph [0081], push fit pieces 134 and 135).
Claim 8
Nivala in view of Zhao, further in view of Massie discloses the self-powered thermal probe for cooking according to Claim 7, wherein the fixing elastic pieces are made from an elastically conductive metal material (Nivala, paragraph [0081]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERICA S Y LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7911. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-4, TW M,W.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Douglas X Rodriguez can be reached at (571) 431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ERICA S LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853