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.
Claim 17 is 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.
The term “close” in claim 17 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “close” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. The claim requires that the camera module is “close to the door”, it is unclear how close the camera module needs to be to fall within the scope of “close to the door”.
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 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Luetkenhaus (US 12,429,286 B2).
With respect to claim 1 Luetkenhaus discloses a cooking device comprising: a main body [reference character 2, specifically disclosing an “oven”]; a cooking chamber [reference character 8] inside the main body; a door1 provided in a front portion of the main body to open and close the cooking chamber; a grill heater [reference character 16] provided in an upper portion of the cooking chamber to heat an inside of the cooking chamber; and a camera module [reference character 10] disposed above the grill heater and having a photographable photographing area that widens downwards to photograph the inside of the cooking chamber [see reference characters 18 and 20 in Fig. 1], wherein the grill heater comprises: a pair of first straight sections [see annotated Fig. below] each extending in a front-back direction and being spaced apart from each other in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the front- back direction [see annotated Fig. below], and a pair of first detour sections [see annotated Fig. below] respectively extending from the pair of first straight sections so as to bypass a photographing area at a height corresponding to the grill heater [see column 3 lines 9-19], each first detour section of the pair of first detour sections including: a curved section [see annotated Fig. below] extending from a first straight section among the pair of first straight sections in a direction angled [up to perpendicular] from the front-back direction in which the pair of first straight sections extend, and a second straight section [see annotated Fig. below] extending from the curved section in a direction parallel to the front-back direction in which the pair of first straight sections extend.
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With respect to claim 6 Luetkenhaus discloses a gap [see annotated Fig. below] in the horizontal direction between the pair of first detour sections is determined in consideration of a vertical distance between the camera module and the grill heater, a width of the cooking chamber, and a height of the cooking chamber [see Fig. 1, the gap and vertical distance are set so that the grill heater elements do not interfere with the imaging field].
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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) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luetkenhaus (US 12,429,286 B2) in view of Jang et. al (US 2018/0058702 A1).
With respect to claim 8 Luetkenhaus discloses the main body comprises an electrical chamber [see annotated Fig. below] provided above the cooking chamber to be separated from the cooking chamber, and the camera module comprises: a camera [reference character 10] disposed in the electrical chamber to face the cooking chamber;
Luetkenhaus does not disclose a first glass provided in the upper portion of the cooking chamber to block transfer of heat inside the cooking chamber to the camera; a second glass provided between the camera and the first glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera; and a third glass provided between the camera and the second glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera.
Jang discloses an oven camera system that includes a camera module [reference character 140] located in an electronics housing. The camera module includes a first glass [reference character 170] provided in the upper portion of the cooking chamber to block transfer of heat inside the cooking chamber to the camera; a second glass provided between the camera and the first glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera [also 170, note that 170 includes two pieces of glass]; and a third glass [reference character 180] provided between the camera and the second glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention to modify the camera module taught by Luetkenhaus by including multiple panes of glass sealing the cooking chamber from the camera module, as taught by Jang, in order to protect the camera module from the heat of the cooking compartment [see paragraph 0143 of Jang].
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Claim(s) 11, 17-18, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luetkenhaus (US 12,429,286 B2) in view of Xiao et. al (US 2025/0035315 A1).
With respect to claim 11 Luetkenhaus discloses a cooking device comprising: a main body [reference character 2, specifically disclosing an “oven”]; a cooking chamber [reference character 8] inside the main body; a door2 provided in a front portion of the main body to open and close the cooking chamber; a grill heater [reference character 16] provided in an upper portion of the cooking chamber to heat an inside of the cooking chamber, wherein the grill heater comprises a plurality of straight sections [see annotated Figs. associated with claim 1] arranged in parallel with each other and a plurality of curved sections [see annotated Figs. associated with claim 1] connecting the plurality of straight sections to each other; a camera module [reference character 10] disposed above the grill heater to photograph the inside of the cooking chamber; wherein portions of at least some of the plurality of straight sections and portions of at least some of the plurality of curved sections are detour sections [see annotated Figs. associated with claim 1] bypassing a photographing area of the camera module [see column 3 lines 9-19].
Luetkenhaus does not disclose a first lighting module disposed on a first side of the camera module above the grill heater and configured to radiate light toward the inside of the cooking chamber; and a second lighting module disposed on a second side of the camera module located opposite to the first side of the camera module above the grill heater and configured to radiate light toward the inside of the cooking chamber, wherein portions of at least some of the plurality of straight sections and portions of at least some of the plurality of curved sections are detour sections bypassing a light irradiation area of the first lighting module, and a light irradiation area of the second lighting module so that the grill heater does not interfere the light irradiation area of the first lighting module, and the light irradiation area of the second lighting module.
Xiao discloses an oven camera system [reference character 104] a first light module [reference character 106A] and a second light module [reference character 106B] each configured to radiate light to the inside of the cooking chamber. Xiao further discloses that the heating elements [reference characters 108A and 108B] bypass a light irradiation area of the first lighting module, and a light irradiation area of the second lighting module so that the heating element does not interfere with the photographing area of the camera module, the light irradiation area of the first lighting module, and the light irradiation area of the second lighting module [See Fig. 1, the heating elements 108A and 108B do not positionally overlap with the light modules or the camera].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention to modify the oven taught by Luetenhaus by including first and second lighting modules on either side of the camera, as taught by Xiao, in order to ensure sufficient lighting into the oven compartment for operation of the camera under cooking conditions (through steam and smoke etc.). Note that a person having ordinary skill in the art would place the modules such that they are not blocked by the heating element, based on the teachings of Xiao, thereby satisfying the requirement that “portions of at least some of the plurality of straight sections and portions of at least some of the plurality of curved sections are detour sections bypassing a light irradiation area of the first lighting module, and a light irradiation area of the second lighting module so that the grill heater does not interfere with the photographing area of the camera module, the light irradiation area of the first lighting module, and the light irradiation area of the second lighting module”.
With respect to claim 17 the combination of Luetkenhaus and Xiao discloses that the camera module is disposed at a center line of an upper portion of the cooking chamber in a front-back direction to be close to the door [see Fig. 2 of Luetkenhaus and Fig. 1 of Xiao].
With respect to claim 18 the combination of Luetkenhaus and Xiao disclose that the first and second lighting modules are disposed in alignment with the camera module [see Fig. 1 of Xiao].
With respect to claim 20 the combination of Luetkenhaus and Xiao disclose that the photographing area of the camera module covers a plane size of a middle height of the cooking chamber. Note that a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention would recognize that the image plane and the middle height of the cooking chamber would be planar.
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Luetkenhaus (US 12,429,286 B2) in view of Xiao et. al (US 2025/0035315 A1), as applied to claim 11, and further in view of Jang et. al (US 2018/0058702 A1).
With respect to claim 19 Luetkenhaus discloses the main body comprises an electrical chamber [see annotated Fig. above] provided above the cooking chamber to be separated from the cooking chamber, and the camera module comprises: a camera [reference character 10] disposed in the electrical chamber to face the cooking chamber;
Luetkenhaus does not disclose a first glass provided in the upper portion of the cooking chamber to block transfer of heat inside the cooking chamber to the camera; a second glass provided between the camera and the first glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera; and a third glass provided between the camera and the second glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera.
Jang discloses an oven camera system that includes a camera module [reference character 140] located in an electronics housing. The camera module includes a first glass [reference character 170] provided in the upper portion of the cooking chamber to block transfer of heat inside the cooking chamber to the camera; a second glass provided between the camera and the first glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera [also 170, note that 170 includes two pieces of glass]; and a third glass [reference character 180] provided between the camera and the second glass to block transfer of the heat to the camera.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing date of the invention to modify the camera module taught by Luetkenhaus by including multiple panes of glass sealing the cooking chamber from the camera module, as taught by Jang, in order to protect the camera module from the heat of the cooking compartment [see paragraph 0143 of Jang].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 7, 9 and 12-16 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
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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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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/VIVEK K SHIRSAT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
1 Though not explicitly disclosed by Luetkenhaus a person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that a door is an implicit part of a domestic oven.
2 Though not explicitly disclosed by Luetkenhaus a person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that a door is an implicit part of a domestic oven.