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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 5, 6, 19, and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 5, line 8, should be amended to recite “the two or more intervening temperature bands” to recognize the antecedent basis for the limitation provided earlier in the claim.
Claim 6, line 7, should be amended to recite “the less than two intervening temperature bands” to recognize the antecedent basis for the limitation provided earlier in the claim.
Claim 19, lines 8–9, should be amended to recite “the two or more intervening temperature bands” to recognize the antecedent basis for the limitation provided earlier in the claim.
Claim 20, line 8, should be amended to recite “the less than two intervening temperature bands” to recognize the antecedent basis for the limitation provided earlier in the claim.
Claim Rejections — 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bach (US Pub. 2018/0010805).
Claim 9: Bach discloses a method of operating a cooktop appliance (10), the cooktop appliance comprising a user interface (18), a heating element (22) positioned at a cooking surface (20) of the cooktop appliance, and a controller (30) in communication with a temperature sensor (26) configured to measure a temperature at a utensil (12, 11) heated by the heating element, the method comprising:
receiving a precision cooking mode initiation signal and a setpoint temperature (¶ 32, “controller 30 may control the power provided to heating source 24 to regulate or modulate the heat output of heating source assembly 22, e.g., to a heat output level or desired cooking temperature selected by the user by means of user control 18 or to keep the temperature of cooking utensil 12 below a predetermined maximum temperature”);
initiating the precision cooking mode in response to the precision cooking mode initiation signal, wherein the precision cooking mode comprises activating the heating element positioned at the cooking surface at a first power level (see ¶ 40 discussing “first control mode M1” and “PHS”), the first power level based on the setpoint temperature;
monitoring the temperature at the utensil heated by the heating element during the precision cooking mode (¶ 41, “Controller 30 may monitor a temperature Tsensed of cooking utensil 12, e.g., by using temperature sensor 26 as described above”);
inputting the monitored temperature into a closed loop control algorithm (the temperature monitoring discussed in ¶ 41, inter alia, clearly suggest feedback-based monitoring that qualifies as a closed loop control algorithm);
determining an output of the closed loop control algorithm, the output comprising a request to operate the heating element at a second power level (506, see fig. 5 and ¶ 41);
determining at least one of a time limit (506b and 506c, see fig. 5A and ¶¶ 49 and 50) and a rate of temperature change threshold (not shown) is satisfied after determining the output of the closed loop control algorithm; and
operating the heating element at the second power level based on the output of the closed loop control algorithm and on the at least one of the time limit and the rate of temperature change threshold (508, see figs. 5 and 5A, and ¶¶ 41 and 50).
Claim 10: Bach discloses that determining at least one of the time limit and the rate of temperature change threshold is satisfied after determining the output of the closed loop control algorithm comprises determining the time limit is satisfied (via 506b and 506c), wherein operating the heating element at the second power level is based on the output of the closed loop control algorithm and on the time limit (see fig. 5A and ¶¶ 49 and 50).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1–4, 7, 8, and 15–18 are allowed.
Claims 5, 6, 19, and 20 would inherit allowability if rewritten or amended to overcome the objections set forth in this Office action.
Claims 11–14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Chen et al. (CN 110671726 A) is probably the closest prior art of record for disclosing the recognition of particular temperature bands, each of which is associated with a particular desired rate of temperature change that would govern a set firepower. However, Chen does not disclose adjusting the operation of the heating element based on the first temperature band and the second temperature band in response to determining the monitored temperature at the utensil is within the second temperature band.
Claims 2–8 and 16–20 each depend from independent claims 1 and 15, respectively.
Regarding claims 11–14 in general, although Bach discloses consideration of a rate of temperature change, it does not disclose a rate of temperature change threshold. Instead, Bach’s own time limit is itself based on the rate of temperature change.
Adjusting heating element power based on temperature rate thresholds is generally known, but it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bach by alternatively repurposing how it employs the temperature rate change it detects to initiate a second power level on that basis.
Regarding claim 12 specifically, Bach’s second power level M2 may include reducing the power provided to the heating source to allow the temperature of the utensil to stabilize (¶ 42), but this does not mean that M2 is based on the monitored temperature decreasing, nor does Bach disclose waiting for a steady state temperature before starting M2.
The limitations of claim 13 are not obvious from Bach, Chen, nor any other prior art of record.
Claim 14 depends from claim 13.
Billman et al. (US Pub. 2023/0152824) is relevant background art, but shares a common Applicant, and was and published less than one year before the filing date of this application. Berghuis et al. (US Pub. 2024/0049369) is similar.
Bach (US Pub. 2018/0010804), Wang et al. (CN 114811666 A), Ren et al. (CN 114688573 A), Wang et al. (CN 114963246 A), He et al. (CN 114811683 A), Hashimoto et al. (JP 2013-164194 A), Müller et al. (BE 1028749 A), He et al. (CN 112754253 A), Lee et al. (US Pub. 2015/0211744), and Payne et al. (US Pat. 4,493,980) are also cited as relevant prior art.
Conclusion
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/JOHN J NORTON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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