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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-14 and 21-26 in the reply filed on 03/19/2026 is acknowledged.
Withdrawn claims 15-20 have been canceled.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “16” (Figure 1) has been used to designate both the cooking stone and the receiving aperture. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
Claims 1, 5-9, 13, 22, 23 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krolick (US 9,016,191) in view of Хорьков (RU 207970).
Regarding claim 1, Krolick teaches a cooking apparatus (Fig. 1A-3 and 8), comprising: a tray (15) defining a receiving aperture (39); a cooking stone (17) selectively disposed within the receiving aperture of the tray (as shown in Fig. 1B-1C, 3 and 8), wherein the cooking stone is spaced from the tray when disposed over a heat source (25) (as shown in Fig. 3 and 8), and wherein the cooking stone includes: a high-thermal mass layer defining a cooking surface (17; Col. 4, lines 50-52); and a lid (19) selectively disposed over the cooking surface (as shown in Fig. 1A-3 and 8).
Krolick fails to disclose an adapter layer coupled to a lower surface of the high-thermal mass layer.
Хорьков teaches a cooking stone (combination of 13 and 14) including a high thermal layer mass layer (13); and an adapter layer (14) coupled to a lower surface of the high-thermal mass layer (para. 0063; as shown in Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was made to have modified the cooking stone of Krolick, with Хорьков, by providing an adapter layer coupled to a lower surface of the high-thermal mass layer, to improve heat conduction.
Regarding claim 5, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the cooking apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tray is configured as an oven rack (Krolick; as shown in Fig. 1C, 3 and 8).
Regarding claim 6, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the cooking apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adapter layer defines a recess configured to receive the high-thermal mass layer (Хорьков; the stone flat disk 13 is inserted into the steel plate of stone 14; para. 0063).
Krolick and Хорьков combined wherein the high-thermal mass layer defines a recess configured to receive the adapter layer.
It would have been an obvious matter of design choice to provide the recess in the high-thermal mass layer instead of providing the recess in the adapter layer since the applicant has not disclosed that doing so solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the recess in the adapter layer of Хорьков.
Regarding claim 7, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the cooking apparatus of claim 6, wherein the adapter layer includes an upper portion and an outer wall extending from the lower surface and defining the recess (Хорьков; the stone flat disk 13 is inserted into the steel plate of stone 14; para. 0063).
Krolick and Хорьков combined fail to disclose wherein the high-thermal mass layer includes an upper portion and an outer wall extending from the lower surface and defining the recess.
As explained in claim 6, it would have been an obvious matter of design choice to provide the recess in the high-thermal mass layer instead of providing the recess in the adapter layer since the applicant has not disclosed that doing so solves any stated problem or is for any particular purpose and it appears that the invention would perform equally well with the recess in the adapter layer of Хорьков.
Regarding claim 8, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the cooking apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cooking stone is received within the receiving aperture when the cooking apparatus is disposed in a cooking cavity (Krolick; as shown in Fig. 1A-3 and 8).
Regarding claim 9, Krolick a pizza stone (Fig. 1A-3 and 8), comprising: a tray (15) defining a receiving aperture (39); and a cooking stone (17) selectively disposed within the receiving aperture (as shown in Fig. 1B-1C, 3 and 8), wherein the cooking
stone includes: a high-thermal mass layer defining a cooking surface (17; Col. 4, lines 50-52).
Хорьков teaches a cooking stone (combination of 13 and 14) including a high thermal layer mass layer (13); and an adapter layer (14) coupled to a lower surface of the high-thermal mass layer (para. 0063; as shown in Fig. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at
the time the invention was made to have modified the cooking stone of Krolick, with Хорьков, by providing an adapter layer coupled to a lower surface of the high-thermal mass layer, to improve heat conduction.
Regarding claim 13, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the pizza stone of claim 9, further comprising: a lid (Krolick; 19) selectively disposed over the cooking surface (Krolick; as shown in Fig. 1A-3 and 8).
Regarding claim 22, Krolick and Хорьков combined the cooking apparatus of claim 9, wherein the receiving aperture defined by the tray includes a circular configuration (Krolick; as shown in Fig. 1B-1C and 4).
Regarding claim 23, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the pizza stone of claim 9, wherein the tray is configured as an oven rack (Krolick; as shown in Fig. 1C, 3 and 8).
Regarding claim 26, Krolick and Хорьков combined teach the pizza stone of claim 9, wherein an interface between the high-thermal mass layer and the adaptive layer is planar (Хорьков; as shown in Fig. 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4, 10-12, 14, 21, 24 and 25 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: allowable subject matter is indicated for claims 2-4, 10-12, 14, 21, 24 and 25 because the prior art of record does not show or fairly suggest a cooking apparatus or pizza stone wherein the adapter layer includes: an aluminum layer coupled to the high-thermal mass layer; a cast iron layer coupled to the aluminum layer; and a stainless-steel layer coupled to the cast iron layer; wherein the aluminum layer includes a
plurality of raised portions configured to be received by a plurality of recessed portions defined by the high-thermal mass layer; or wherein the adapter layer includes:
an aluminum layer including a plurality of raised portions configured to be received by a
plurality of recessed portions defined by the high-thermal mass layer, wherein the aluminum layer is coupled to the high-thermal mass layer; and a stainless-steel layer coupled to the aluminum layer; or wherein the lid includes: a heating element coupled to the top wall, wherein the heating element is configured to interact with an induction cooktop and heat the cooking cavity; or wherein the cast iron layer is encapsulated by the aluminum layer, as recited in claims 2-4, 10-12, 14, 21 and 24.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: US 2020/0352385, US 2006/0230949 and US 6,010,731.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALBA T ROSARIO-APONTE whose telephone number is (571)272-9325. The examiner can normally be reached M to F; 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Crabb can be reached at 571-270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALBA T ROSARIO-APONTE/Examiner, Art Unit 3761 07/22/2026
/ELIZABETH M KERR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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