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.
Claims 10-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jeong (US 20150107576).
Regarding claim 10, Jeong teaches an oven appliance (system of fig 1) defining a vertical direction (vertical direction in fig 1), a lateral direction (annotated fig 1), and a transverse direction (annotated fig 1), the vertical direction, lateral direction, and transverse direction mutually perpendicular (see fig 1 and annotated figure 1), the oven appliance comprising: a cabinet (housing of oven); a cooking chamber (11, fig 1) defined within the cabinet for receipt of food items for cooking, the cooking chamber delineated by a plurality of walls including a left side wall, a right side wall, and a back wall (interior sidewalls and back wall of cooking chamber); a plurality of sliding rails (annotated fig 1) extending in pairs from each of the left side wall and the right side wall (rails are inherently provided in pairs on left and right sidewalls), each pair of sliding rails of the plurality of sliding rails “configured to hold a baking rack” (rails are capable of support rack); a heating chamber (under floor/base 12, fig 1) defined below the cooking chamber; a heating element (20, fig 1) positioned within the heating chamber ([0021] “A burner 20 that is a heat source for heating a food received in the cooking chamber 11 may be disposed under the base 12”); and a plurality of air deflectors ([0045] “At least one second discharge hole 38”. Figure 2 shows three holes 38) positioned within the cooking chamber, the air deflector one of permanently or removably mountable on the back wall of the cooking chamber (see fig 1).
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Regarding claim 11, Jeong teaches the heating chamber comprises an inlet proximate one or more of a front side, the left side wall, and the right side wall of the heating chamber (see fig 3 for airflow, an inlet is inherently provided at the front side of the heating chamber).
Regarding claim 12, Jeong teaches the heating chamber comprises an outlet at the back side of the heating chamber (13, fig 3), such that air heated by the heating element may emanate from the outlet.
Regarding claim 13, Jeong teaches the outlet at the back side of the heating chamber is positioned proximate the back wall of the cooking chamber such that air emanating from the outlet impinges on the back wall of the cooking chamber and rises vertically along the back wall of the cooking chamber (see fig 3 for airflow direction).
Regarding claim 14, Jeong teaches each air deflector of the plurality of air deflectors is positioned on the back wall of the cooking chamber (see fig 3) such that air may be deflected in the transverse direction away from the back wall of the cooking chamber (airflow out of outlet 38 is in transverse direction) and continue rising in the vertical direction away from the heating chamber (see fig 5).
Regarding claim 15, Jeong teaches each air deflector of the plurality of air deflectors is positioned at an angle between zero degrees (outlet 38 is at zero degree with respect to the transverse direction) and seventy degrees from the transverse direction towards an upward vertical direction.
Regarding claim 16, Jeong teaches the plurality of air deflectors comprises a first air deflector (figure 2 shows three outlets 38. Therefore one of them can be a first air deflector) positioned in the vertical direction between sliding rails of the plurality of sliding rails (outlets 38 are between a pair of rails).
Regarding claim 17, Jeong teaches a second air deflector (a second one of the three outlets 38, fig 2) of the plurality of air deflectors positioned in the vertical direction between other sliding rails of the plurality of sliding rails (a second one of the three outlets 38 is between another pair of rails as viewed in fig 1).
Regarding claim 18, Jeong teaches the heating element is one of an electric resistance element or a gas burner ([0023] “The burner 20 may include a supply part 21 extending in a direction that is away from the heated air guider 30 and a combustion part 22”).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 are allowed.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 10 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KO-WEI LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7675. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30-2:30 Eastern Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571)272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KO-WEI LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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