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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-8 and 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jang et. al (US 2018/0058702 A1).
With respect to claim 1 Jang discloses a cooking apparatus comprising: a main body [reference character 10] including an inner case [see annotated Fig. below], a cooking chamber [reference character 20] inside the inner case, and an electronic compartment [reference character 50] outside the inner case; a heating device [reference character 21] configured to heat the cooking chamber; an electronic compartment cooling fan [reference character 51] configured to cool the electronic compartment; an electronic compartment duct [reference character 53] arranged in the electronic compartment and dividing the electronic compartment into an electronic component space [the space outside of duct 53] and an exhaust space [reference character 55, (the space inside duct 53)], the electronic compartment duct configured to allow air in the electronic component space to be sucked into the exhaust space and to then be discharged to an outside of the main body [see Fig. 16, where 55 discharges to outside the main body] according to an operation of the electronic compartment cooling fan; a camera cooling duct [reference characters 110 and 130] including a camera receiving space [the interior of housing 130]; a camera [reference character 140] in the camera receiving space and configured to obtain an image of an inside of the cooking chamber; and a camera cooling fan [reference character 120] configured to cool the camera, wherein the camera cooling duct is configured to allow air outside the main body to be sucked into the camera receiving space so as to cool the camera and to then be discharged to the electronic component space according to an operation of the camera cooling fan [see Fig. 10 and paragraph 0119].
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With respect to claim 2 Jang discloses that the camera cooling duct includes: a housing [reference character 130] including the camera receiving space, a suction duct [reference character 110] coupled to the housing and configured to suck air outside the main body to the camera receiving space, and a discharge duct [reference character 137] coupled to the housing and configured to discharge air in the camera receiving space to the electronic component space.
With respect to claim 3 Jang discloses that the main body includes a rear plate [reference character 13] forming a rear surface of the main body, and the suction duct is coupled to the rear plate [via intervening structure].
With respect to claim 4 Jang discloses a circuit board [see annotated Fig. below] in the electronic compartment, wherein the discharge duct is configured to discharge air toward the circuit board.
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With respect to claim 5 Jang discloses that the housing is coupled to an upper surface of the electronic compartment duct [see Fig. 4].
With respect to claim 6 Jang discloses that the housing includes an inlet [see annotated Fig. below] to which an exit of the suction duct is connected, and an outlet [see annotated Fig. below] to which an entrance of the discharge duct is connected.
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With respect to claim 7 Jang discloses that the inlet and the outlet are on an upper surface of the housing [see annotated Fig. above associated with claim 6].
With respect to claim 8 Jang discloses that the camera receiving space is located at a height corresponding to the exhaust space [see Fig. 12].
With respect to claim 10 Jang discloses that the housing includes a cooling fan receiving space [see annotated Fig. below], and the camera cooling fan is in the cooling fan receiving space.
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With respect to claim 11 Jang discloses that the camera receiving space is located downstream of the cooling fan receiving space with respect to an air flow direction [see Fig. 10].
With respect to claim 12 Jang discloses that the camera receiving space is located below the cooling fan receiving space [see Fig. 10].
With respect to claim 13 Jang discloses that the housing includes a camera receiving member [see annotated Fig. below] protruding downward to form the camera receiving space.
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With respect to claim 14 Jang discloses that the housing includes a cooling fan receiving member [see annotated Fig. above with respect to claim 13] protruding upward to form the cooling fan receiving space.
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With respect to claim 15 Jang discloses that the housing includes an upper housing that includes the inlet and the outlet and a lower housing coupled to the upper housing [see annotated Fig. below].
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Claim(s) 16 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jang et. al (US 2018/0058702 A1).
With respect to claim 16 Jang discloses a cooking apparatus comprising: a main body [reference character 10] including a rear plate [reference character 13] forming a rear surface of the main body, the main body having a cooking chamber [reference character 20] inside the main body; a heating device [reference character 21] configured to heat the cooking chamber; a housing [reference characters 110 and 130], inside the main body, having a camera receiving space [the space within 130]; a camera [reference character 140] in the camera receiving space, and configured to obtain an image of an inside of the cooking chamber; a camera cooling fan [reference character 140] configured to cool the camera; and a suction duct [reference character 110] having one end coupled to the housing [see Fig. 10] and another end coupled to the rear plate [via intervening structure], and being configured to allow air outside the main body to be sucked into the camera receiving space so as to cool the camera according to an operation of the camera cooling fan [see Fig. 10].
With respect to claim 18 Jang discloses that the suction duct includes a suction duct body [reference character 14] extending from the rear plate to the housing, and a suction flow path is formed inside the suction duct body.
With respect to claim 19 Jang discloses that the main body has an electronic compartment [reference character 50] inside the main body, and the cooking apparatus further comprising: an electronic compartment cooling fan [reference character 51] in the electronic compartment; and an electronic compartment duct [reference character 53] configured to allow air in the electronic compartment to be sucked and to then be discharged to an outside of the main body according to an operation of the electronic compartment cooling fan [see Fig. 16, where 55 discharges to outside the main body].
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jang et. al (US 2018/0058702 A1).
With respect to claim 20 Jang discloses a cooking apparatus comprising: a main body [reference character 10] having a cooking chamber [reference character 20] and an electronic compartment [reference character 50] inside the main body; a heating device [reference character 21] configured to heat the cooking chamber; an electronic compartment cooling fan [reference character 51] configured to cool the electronic compartment; an electronic compartment duct [reference character 53] in the electronic compartment and dividing the electronic compartment into an electronic component space [the space outside of duct 53] and an exhaust space [reference character 55, (the space inside duct 53)], the electronic compartment duct configured to allow air in the electronic component space to be sucked into the exhaust space and to then be discharged to an outside of the main body according to an operation of the electronic compartment cooling fan [see Fig. 16, where 55 discharges to outside the main body]; a housing [reference character 130] having a camera receiving space [the space within housing 130], and an outlet [reference character 137] through which air in the camera receiving space is dischargeable to the electronic component space; a camera [reference character 140] in the camera receiving space and configured to obtain an image of an inside of the cooking chamber; a camera cooling fan [reference character 120] configured to cool the camera; and a suction duct [reference character 110] configured to allow air outside the main body to be sucked into the camera receiving space so as to cool the camera according to an operation of the camera cooling fan.
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.
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(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jang et. al (US 2018/0058702 A1).
With respect to claim 17 Jang does not disclose that an outside air inlet is formed on the rear plate to allow for air outside the main body to be sucked into the main body. However, extending the suction ports [reference character 12a] taught by Jang to the rear surface represents a mere duplication of parts of the invention, which involves only routine skill in the art. In this case duplicating suctions ports 12a so that they are also present on the rear plate would allow for maintaining airflow even if the oven is placed in a location where the side suction ports are partially or completely blocked. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention to form suction ports on the rear plate, since it has been held that mere duplication of the essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. St Regis Paper Co. v. Bemis Co., 193 USPQ 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VIVEK K SHIRSAT whose telephone number is (571)272-3722. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-5:20AM.
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/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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