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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 1-2, 6, 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 100863839 B1 (hereinafter “KIM”) in view of CN 102777945 A (hereinafter “KUBO”).
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Regarding Claims 1-2, 6 and 10, KIM discloses a cooking apparatus comprising: a housing (10) defining a cooking chamber (20); a tray retainer (51) protruded from a side of the housing and toward the cooking chamber; a cooking tray (40) which is insertable into the cooking chamber and detachably engageable with the housing at the tray retainer (51), the cooking tray comprising: a plurality of cooking surfaces (see 43; i.e., the cooking tray can be divided into a plurality of cooking surfaces or areas or zones) defined at a first surface (i.e., upper surface) of the cooking tray, and an interference member (42) protruding from a second surface of the cooking tray (40) which is opposite to the first surface; and a plurality of heaters (see the provided English translation: “Generally, an oven is an apparatus which cooks the food thrown in the cavity mainly using the heat of a heater as a heating source. Of course, the oven may be provided with other heating sources as auxiliary, for example, a magnetron may be used to use microwave as a separate heating source.”); wherein the cooking tray (40) is insertable into the cooking chamber (20) in an insertion direction; the cooking tray further comprises a rear side and a front side which is opposite to the rear side along the insertion direction, the interference member (42) being at the front side of the cooking tray (40); and the cooking tray which is inserted into the cooking chamber includes the cooking tray engaged with the tray retainer (51), together with the interference member (42) covering a portion of a front of the tray retainer (51; see Fig. 3); wherein the cooking tray (40) is insertable into the cooking chamber in an insertion direction; the cooking tray further comprises a rear side and a front side which is opposite to the rear side along the insertion direction, the interference member (42) being at the front side of the cooking tray; and reverse insertion of the cooking tray (40) includes the front side of the cooking tray leading the rear side of the cooking tray in the insertion direction, together with the interference member (42) interfering with the tray retainer (51) along the insertion direction to block further insertion of the cooking tray into the cooking chamber (inherent, reversal of the cooking tray via 180° rotation of the cooking tray so that the front side of the cooking tray leads the rear side of the cooking tray in the insertion direction would cause said interference member 42 to interfere with the tray retainer 51 along the insertion direction thus blocking any further insertion of the cooking tray into the cooking chamber); further comprising a tray supporter (53) which is protruded from the side of the housing and faces the tray retainer (51), the tray supporter (53) being closer to the plurality of heaters (as taught by KUBO discussed below, see KUBO, heaters 14a, 14b, 14c) than the tray retainer (51), wherein the cooking tray (40) which is inserted into the cooking chamber (20) includes a portion of the cooking tray between the tray supporter (53) and the tray retainer (51) (see at least Figs. 2 & 3), together with the tray supporter (53) restricting movement of the cooking tray (40) away from the tray retainer (51) and towards the plurality of heaters (as taught by KUBO discussed below, see KUBO, heaters 14a, 14b, 14c).
KIM does not disclose a plurality of heaters which provide heats of different temperatures to the plurality of cooking surfaces of the cooking tray.
KUBO teaches a cooking apparatus comprising: a plurality of heaters (14a, 14b, 14c, 13/23) which provide heats of different temperatures to the plurality of cooking surfaces (40, 41) of the cooking tray (19).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify KIM wherein said plurality of heaters provide heats of different temperatures to the plurality of cooking surfaces of the cooking tray as taught and/or suggested by KUBO, since such a modification would provide a means to concentrate heating in discrete areas of said cooking tray which are supporting an item to be cooked thereby increasing heating efficiency and shortening cooking times (see at least KUBO, para. [0059]).
Regarding Claim 20, KIM in view of KUBO discloses the claimed limitations as is evident from the same or equivalent limitations presented in Claims 1-2, 6 and 10 above. In the interest of brevity, the same or equivalent claim limitations and the obviousness rationale for combining the references, already discussed above, will not be repeated here.
Claims 3-4, 9, 11 and 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIM in view of KUBO as applied to the parent claim above, and further in view of US 2020/0253004 A1 (hereinafter “CARCANO”).
Regarding Claims 3-4 and 9, KIM further discloses and the interference member (42) protruded from the support surface (41).
KUBO further teaches wherein the cooking tray further comprises: a plate (19) defining the plurality of cooking surfaces (40, 41), the plate comprising an edge portion (i.e., the edge portion seated on tray retainer 8a, 8b, 8c) adjacent to the plurality of cooking surfaces (40, 41).
KIM in view of KUBO does not disclose a tray holder removably mountable to the plate at the edge portion of the plate; and the cooking tray which is inserted into the cooking chamber includes the tray holder engaged with the tray retainer; wherein the tray holder comprises: a support surface; and the interference member protruded from the support surface; the tray retainer comprises a holder fastening surface; and front insertion of the cooking tray includes the support surface of the tray holder engaged with the holder fastening surface of the tray retainer, in the cooking chamber; wherein within the cooking tray, the tray holder comprises a material different from a material of the plate.
CARCANO teaches a cooking tray (710, 720) comprising: a tray holder (720) removably mountable to the plate (710) at the edge portion of the plate; and the cooking tray which is inserted into the cooking chamber includes the tray holder engaged with the tray retainer (700); wherein the tray holder comprises: a support surface (726); the tray retainer comprises a holder fastening surface (704); and front insertion of the cooking tray includes the support surface (726) of the tray holder (720) engaged with the holder fastening surface (704) of the tray retainer (700), in the cooking chamber (102); wherein within the cooking tray, the tray holder (720) comprises a material different from a material of the plate (710; see para. [0062]: “The rack 710 is defined by a metallic mesh of wires or rods that extend substantially perpendicular to each other in longitudinal and transverse directions.”, and para. [0065]: “In an example embodiment, the rack insulator 720 may be formed of Polyether ether ketone (PEEK).”).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify KIM in view of KUBO to comprise a tray holder removably mountable to the plate at the edge portion of the plate; and the cooking tray which is inserted into the cooking chamber includes the tray holder engaged with the tray retainer; wherein the tray holder comprises: a support surface; and the interference member protruded from the support surface; the tray retainer comprises a holder fastening surface; and front insertion of the cooking tray includes the support surface of the tray holder engaged with the holder fastening surface of the tray retainer, in the cooking chamber; wherein within the cooking tray, the tray holder comprises a material different from a material of the plate as taught and/or suggested by CARCANO, since CARCANO states at para. [0023] that such a modification would “provide structures that can effectively insulate metallic components within the cooking chamber. In this regard, for example, some embodiments may provide a structure that effectively insulates a metallic oven rack so that the metallic oven rack can be used in connection with RF cooking with significantly reduced likelihood of arcing. By using an example embodiment, the advantages of using a metallic oven rack that are experienced in connection with conventional ovens that employ convection cooking can be retained in an oven that also uses microwave or other RF energy to facilitate faster and more efficient cooking without facing the disadvantages that are otherwise commonly expected in connection with using metallic parts in an oven that cooks with RF.”
Regarding Claims 11 and 15-19, KIM further discloses the interference member (42) protruded in a direction away from the bottom surface (i.e., from the bottom surface of the cooking tray 40).
KUBO further teaches a magnetron (23) which generates frequencies, wherein the cooking chamber (2) includes a bottom surface (9); within the cooking chamber, the magnetron (23) is closer to the bottom surface (9) than the plurality of heaters (14a, 14b, 14c); and the cooking tray (19) further comprises a heat generating layer (7) which absorbs the frequencies generated by the magnetron, the heat generating layer (7) extended along the second surface (i.e., a bottom surface) of the cooking tray (19); wherein the cooking tray (19) is removably mountable on the bottom surface of the cooking chamber (i.e., the cooking tray 19 can be removed from the cooking chamber 2 and reinserted into the cooking chamber wherein said cooking tray is mounted on the bottom surface 9 or the cooking chamber 2); wherein the bottom surface (9) of the cooking chamber is defined by a glass member between the magnetron (23) and the plurality of heaters (14a, 14b, 14c); further comprising a magnetron (23) which generates frequencies, wherein the cooking tray (19) further comprises a heat generating layer (7) which absorbs the frequencies generated by the magnetron (23), the heat generating layer (7) extended along the second surface (i.e., a bottom surface) of the cooking tray (19); and the cooking tray (19) which is inserted into the cooking chamber (2) includes the first surface (i.e., the upper surface) of the cooking tray facing the plurality of heaters (14a, 14b, 14c) together with the second surface (7) facing the magnetron (23); wherein the cooking tray (19) which is inserted into the cooking chamber (2) defines an upper portion of the cooking chamber between the cooking tray (19) and the plurality of heaters (14a, 14b, 14c), together with a lower portion of the cooking chamber (2) between the cooking tray (19) and the magnetron (23); and the upper portion and the lower portion of the cooking chamber (2) are heated simultaneously with each other.
KIM in view of KUBO does not disclose wherein the cooking tray further comprises a plurality of separation members protruding from the first surface of the cooking tray; the cooking tray which is mounted on the bottom surface of the cooking chamber includes the plurality of separation members protruded towards the bottom surface together with the interference member protruded in a direction away from the bottom surface.
CARCANO teaches a cooking tray (710) wherein the cooking tray further comprises a plurality of separation members (724) protruding from the first surface (i.e., an upper surface) of the cooking tray (710); the cooking tray (710) which is mounted on the bottom surface of the cooking chamber (102; i.e., the cooking tray 710 is mountable on the bottom surface of the cooking chamber 102) includes the plurality of separation members (724) protruded towards the bottom surface (i.e., the cooking tray 710 together with the separation members 724 can be positioned on the bottom surface of the cooking chamber 102 such that the plurality of separation members 724 protrude towards the bottom surface; in other words, the cooking tray 710 can be placed on the bottom surface in an inverted position relative to its normal orientation such that the plurality of separation members 724 protrude towards the bottom surface).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to further modify KIM in view of KUBO wherein the cooking tray further comprises a plurality of separation members protruding from the first surface of the cooking tray; the cooking tray which is mounted on the bottom surface of the cooking chamber includes the plurality of separation members protruded towards the bottom surface together with the interference member protruded in a direction away from the bottom surface as taught and/or suggested by CARCANO, since CARCANO states at para. [0023] that such a modification would “provide structures that can effectively insulate metallic components within the cooking chamber. In this regard, for example, some embodiments may provide a structure that effectively insulates a metallic oven rack so that the metallic oven rack can be used in connection with RF cooking with significantly reduced likelihood of arcing. By using an example embodiment, the advantages of using a metallic oven rack that are experienced in connection with conventional ovens that employ convection cooking can be retained in an oven that also uses microwave or other RF energy to facilitate faster and more efficient cooking without facing the disadvantages that are otherwise commonly expected in connection with using metallic parts in an oven that cooks with RF.”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7-8 and 12-14 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure because the references are either in the same field of endeavor or are reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the applicant was concerned. Please see form PTO-892 (Notice of References Cited) attached to, or included with, this Office Action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE A PEREIRO whose telephone number is (571)270-3932 and whose fax number is (571) 270-4932. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 - 5:00 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven B. McAllister can be reached at (571) 272-6785. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JORGE A PEREIRO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799