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 abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the legal phraseology such as “means” or “comprises” or “comprising” often used in patent claims should be avoided in the abstract. Also, it should avoid using phases which can be implied, such as, “ This disclosure concerns”, “The disclosure defined by this invention”, “This disclosure describes”, “is disclosed”, “are disclosed”, “Disclosed are”, “the invention relates to” etc. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 discloses effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN108153182A cited by applicant. CN108153182A discloses method and device for starting and stopping cooking device and cooking device comprising the step of controlling a heating unit to operate to heat an object to be processed (par. 0026); if a heating suspension condition is met, recording a current heating parameter of the heating unit, and controlling the heating unit to stop operating (par. 0026 and par. 0028); and if a heating continuation condition is met, controlling the heating unit to continue operating according to the recorded heating parameter (par. 0030).
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KR 20130034041A. KR 20130034041A discloses processing objects by radio frequency (RF) energy comprising the step of controlling a heating unit (11) to operate to heat an object to be processed (lines 1-4 of translation of description, “In some embodiments…the temperature of the object”); if a heating suspension condition is met, recording a current heating parameter of the heating unit, and controlling the heating unit to stop operating (lines 5-11 of translation of description, “As indicated by arrow 205,…if the object has cooled”); and if a heating continuation condition is met, controlling the heating unit to continue operating according to the recorded heating parameter (lines 12-22 of translation of description, “As indicated at 305…step may begin 303”).
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.
Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN108153182A cited by applicant (or KR 20130034041A) in view of EP 3500066A1. Regarding claim 2, CN108153182A and KR 20130034041A discloses substantially all features of the claimed invention except an electromagnetic wave generation module for generating an electromagnetic wave signal, a cavity capacitor for accommodating the object to be processed, and an impedance matching module connected in series between the electromagnetic wave generation module and the cavity capacitor or in parallel at both ends of the cavity capacitor; prior to the step of controlling the heating unit to operate, the heating method further comprises: adjusting the configuration of the impedance matching module to reduce a reflected wave power returning to the electromagnetic wave generation module; and determining an initial heating parameter of the heating unit based on the configuration of the impedance matching module, wherein the initial heating parameter comprises at least one of heating power, and a termination threshold for terminating a heating procedure. EP 3500066A1 discloses a heating unit comprises an electromagnetic wave generation module (342) for generating an electromagnetic wave signal, a cavity capacitor (310) for accommodating the object (316) to be processed, and an impedance matching module (360) connected in series between the electromagnetic wave generation module (342) and the cavity capacitor (310) or in parallel at both ends of the cavity capacitor; prior to the step of controlling the heating unit to operate, the heating method further comprises: adjusting the configuration of the impedance matching module to reduce a reflected wave power returning to the electromagnetic wave generation module (par. 0022); and determining an initial heating parameter of the heating unit based on the configuration of the impedance matching module (par. 0020), wherein the initial heating parameter comprises at least one of heating power, and a termination threshold for terminating a heating procedure (par. 0022). Regarding claim 3, EP 3500066A1 discloses the heating unit comprises an electromagnetic wave generation module (342) for generating an electromagnetic wave signal, and a cavity capacitor (310) which is electrically connected to the electromagnetic wave generation module and used for accommodating the object (316) to be processed; prior to the step of controlling the heating unit to operate, the heating method further comprises: adjusting the frequency of the electromagnetic wave signal to reduce a reflected wave power returning to the electromagnetic wave generation module (par. 0022); and determining an initial heating parameter of the heating unit based on the frequency of the electromagnetic wave signal (par. 0021), wherein the initial heating parameter comprises at least one of heating power, and a termination threshold for terminating a heating procedure (par. 0022). Regarding claims 8-9, EP 3500066A1 discloses if a heating completion condition is met, controlling the heating unit to terminate a heating procedure; and if the object to be processed is taken out, receiving another heating command again (par. 0025).
Claims 4-7 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG T VAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4789. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00-6:00.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 January 14, 2026