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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant argues that the application is in condition for allowance.
In response, claims 1,3-6 have been allowed in the present office action. However, previously rejection unamended, independent claim 7 remains rejected.
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.
Claims 7,10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Otzen (US
2014/0224826) in view of Black (US 5,522,310).
Claim 7, Otzen discloses an automatic meals-selling machine, comprising: a casing (fig.1) formed
with a heating zone (S1,S2), a cold storage zone (3) and an electronic control zone (the vending machine
of fig.1 inherently has an electronic control zone); a meals storage rack (14) provided in the cold storage
zone (3) and provided with a plurality of storage spaces (interior of 14); the heating assembly (S1,S2)
according to claim 1, wherein the heating assembly is provided at the heating zone (figs.1-2); a meals
pickup assembly (4) movably provided between the cold storage zone (3) and the heating zone (S1,S2)
to take out meals in the storage space and send the meals in the storage space into the heating
assembly via the meals inlet (inlet of S2) for heating; and an electric control assembly (the vending
machine of fig.1 inherently has an electric control assembly at the electric control zone) provided at the
electric control zone and electrically connected to both the heating assembly and the meals pickup
assembly.
Although Otzen does not explicitly disclose a casing (fig.1) formed with a heating zone (S1,S2), a
cold storage zone (3) and an electronic control zone (the vending machine of fig.1 inherently has an
electronic control zone) provided sequentially in a vertical direction, it would have been obvious to one
of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to implement such a configuration Note that it
has been held that rearranging parts of an invention involves only routine skill in the art. In re Japikse,
86 USPQ 70.
Claim 10, Otzen discloses wherein a plurality of the meals storage racks (14) are provided, and
the plurality of the meals storage racks are arranged side by side in the cold storage zone (3) at intervals;
meals pickup assembly (4) is provided with the meals storage racks (14), and a plurality of the heating
assemblies (S1,S2) are provided with the meals pickup assembly (4); a heating method of the heating
assembly is the roasting heating (grill 5; food can be roasted on a grill); and/or the heating assembly
further comprises a supply portion, and the supply portion is provided at the electronic control zone and
is connected to the vessel body and/or the cover body by a pipe or a wire to realize a heating function of
the vessel body and/or a heating function of the cover body.
Although Otzen does not disclose a plurality of the meals pickup assemblies are provided and
are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the meals storage racks, and a plurality of the heating
assemblies are provided and are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the meals pickup
assemblies, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing
date to implement such a configuration since as 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
Otzen does not disclose a heating method of the heating assembly is at least two of the roasting
heating (grill 5; food can be roasted on a grill), the water-bath heating and the steam heating.
Black discloses a heating method (heating body that enables heating inside 7) of the heating
assembly with the steam heating (C10:L40-65; steam heating does occur since some of the steam inside
the microwave oven pass through the transporter tray). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art to provide the device of Otzen a heating method of the heating assembly is at
least two of the roasting heating, the water-bath heating and the steam heating simply because it's a
widely known configuration in the art for apparatus for heating dispensing food.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1,3-6 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: a heating assembly (S1, S2) applied to an automatic meals-selling machine for heating meals including “wherein in response to that the heating assembly adopts the roasting heating, the vessel body is formed with a heating tank, a tank wall of the heating tank is provided with the meals inlet, and the heating body is provided on a surface of the vessel body facing away from the heating tank and/or inside the cover body. “ in combination with the remaining claim language is not taught by the prior art.
Claims 8-9 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
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/AYODEJI T OJOFEITIMI/Examiner, Art Unit 3651
/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651