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 1 comprising claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 9/2/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 9/2/26.
Per the restriction dated 07/07/2026, page 4 sets forth eligibility requirements for rejoinder of the withdrawn method claims 14-20. As of right now, claims 14-20 aren’t eligible for rejoinder. Claims 14-20 need to be amended so that they’re eligible for rejoinder. Otherwise, they should be cancelled.
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.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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.
Claim 1, line 4 recites “a cabinet” (emphasis added) which renders the claim indefinite. It is unclear whether the recited “cabinet” in line 4 is the same as or different from the one recited in line 3. For the purposes of substantiative examination, it’s presumed that the cabinet in line 4 is the same as that introduced in line 3.
Amendments to the claims are kindly requested for clarification.
To overcome this rejection, it appears that amending “a cabinet” in line 4 to “the cabinet” should be done. Looking at the specification / Figure 2, the cabinet is element 102, the discharge vent is element 182, and the smoking chamber is element 120. In other words, there appears to be only one cabinet and therefore the Examiner’s recommended amendment is based on the Applicant’s disclosure.
Claims 2-13 are rejected by virtue of their dependency from base claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 is objected to because of a corresponding 112b rejection, but would be allowable if the 112b rejection is overcome. Note amendments made to overcome the 112b rejection may change the scope of the claim and require further search and/or consideration.
Prior art references Norris (US20180279634A1, as cited in Applicant’s 5/22/24 IDS as US10932474B2) and Colston et al. (US10105007B2, hereafter Colston) represent the closest prior art of record to the Applicant’s claimed invention as recited in claim 1.
Regarding claim 1, Norris discloses an indoor smoker defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction, and a transverse direction (Fig. 12, smoke generator 1100 and cabinet 105), the indoor smoker comprising:
a cabinet (Fig. 18, outer walls forming smoke generator 1100 and cabinet 105);
a smoking chamber (Figs. 2 and 18, cooking area 210) positioned within a cabinet (Fig. 18, outer walls forming smoke generator 1100 and cabinet 105);
a smoke generating assembly for providing a flow of smoke into the smoking chamber (Figs. 11-18, smoke generator 1100), the smoke generating assembly comprising:
a smoke barrel that extends between a first end and a second end along a central axis (Fig. 12, conveyor casing 1130), the smoke barrel being configured for receiving combustible material (Fig. 12, via hopper feed extension 1125);
an auger positioned within the smoke barrel and being rotatable about the central axis for selectively urging the combustible material from the first end toward the second end of the smoke barrel (Figs. 12-15, auger 1505 and “Conveyor casing 1130 includes an outer pipe 1305 (see FIG. 13) “, “An inner pipe 1405 (see FIG. 14) fits at least partially within the opening 1318 of outer pipe 1305 “, and “An auger 1505, as shown in FIG. 15, is positioned within the interior pathway 1418 of inner pipe 1405”);
a smoldering heater in thermal communication with the smoke barrel and at least partially defining a smoldering chamber for smoldering the combustible material as the auger advances the combustible material past the smoldering heater (Figs. 14 and 18, trace tape 1426 and “a smoke generator that is able to produce smoke in a controllable and repeatable process without producing a flame was developed”); and
a controller in operative communication with the smoke generating assembly (Figs. 14 and 18, controller 1804 and “A controller 1804 (see FIG. 18) is used to control the supply of power to smoke generator 1100”), the controller being configured to:
receive a command to pause a smoke generating process (Fig. 19, first stage 1905, wherein the command to pause a smoke generating process occurs when the inner pipe reaches a minimum temperature. A ‘pause’ is a temporary stop, therefore turning off the smoke generating process is a ‘pause’ because it is a temporary stop before the user turns on the smoke generating process again to cook something else);
turn off the smoldering heater (Fig. 19, second stage 1910, wherein power to the trace tape 1426 is turned off).
However, Norris does not disclose an indoor smoker,
a cabinet defining a discharge vent;
a smoking chamber…defining a chamber outlet;
the controller being configured to:
receive a command to pause a smoke generating process;
turn off the smoldering heater;
rotate the auger to advance smoldering combustible material off of the smoldering heater and advance fresh combustible material onto the smoldering heater;
pause for a predetermined amount of time to permit the fresh combustible material to absorb residual heat from the smoldering heater; and
rotate the auger to advance the fresh combustible material off of the smoldering heater.
Colston discloses a cabinet (Fig. 5, walls forming oven section 110, hopper 120, and smoke exhaust vent 140) defining a discharge vent (Fig. 5, smoke exhaust vent 140); and
a smoking chamber (Fig. 5, interior of oven section 110) positioned within a cabinet (Fig. 5, walls forming oven section 110, hopper 120, and smoke exhaust vent 140) defining a chamber outlet (Fig. 5, which shows an outlet must necessarily be present for smoke/heat to travel from oven section 110 to smoke vent 140).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the device of Norris with the device of Colston in order to have a cabinet defining a discharge vent and a smoking chamber defining a chamber outlet and thereby allow the user to decrease smokiness and/or the smoking temperature by controlling the discharge vent. This beneficially gives the user more control over the cooking process so they can better cook to their desired preferences.
However, Norris, as modified above, does not disclose an indoor smoker,
the controller being configured to:
receive a command to pause a smoke generating process;
turn off the smoldering heater;
rotate the auger to advance smoldering combustible material off of the smoldering heater and advance fresh combustible material onto the smoldering heater;
pause for a predetermined amount of time to permit the fresh combustible material to absorb residual heat from the smoldering heater; and
rotate the auger to advance the fresh combustible material off of the smoldering heater.
The limitation “indoor smoker” is a recitation of intended use. A recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. The apparatus disclosed by Norris could be used indoors, such as in a room with many open windows. Additionally, the recitation “indoor smoker” has not been given patentable weight because the recitation occurs in the preamble. A preamble is generally not accorded any patentable weight where it merely recites the purpose of a process or the intended use of a structure, and where the body of the claim does not depend on the preamble for completeness but, instead, the process steps or structural limitations are able to stand alone. See In re Hirao, 535 F.2d 67, 190 USPQ 15 (CCPA 1976) and Kropa v. Robie, 187 F.2d 150, 152, 88 USPQ 478, 481 (CCPA 1951). (replace w/ MPEP 2111.02 II).
However, Norris, as modified above, does not disclose the controller being configured to:
receive a command to pause a smoke generating process;
turn off the smoldering heater;
rotate the auger to advance smoldering combustible material off of the smoldering heater and advance fresh combustible material onto the smoldering heater;
pause for a predetermined amount of time to permit the fresh combustible material to absorb residual heat from the smoldering heater; and
rotate the auger to advance the fresh combustible material off of the smoldering heater.
Norris further discloses it is known for the controller (Figs. 14 and 18, controller 1804 and “A controller 1804 (see FIG. 18) is used to control the supply of power to smoke generator 1100”) to be configured to:
rotate the auger (Figs. 12-15, auger 1505) to advance smoldering combustible material (Par. 0003, “a smoke generator that is able to produce smoke in a controllable and repeatable process without producing a flame” and Par. 0011, “the smoking fuel is wood pellets”) off of the smoldering heater and advance fresh combustible material onto the smoldering heater (Fig. 7, rotation of auger 740 advances wood pellets along the heated conveyor casing 330, causing the wood pellets to be heated by heat tape 334 and produce smoke. As the auger 740 continues to rotate, the original wood pellets advance past the heat tape 334 into reservoir 770 and new wood pellets are advanced to the heat tape 334. See Pars. 0065-0066 and 0090),
pause for a predetermined amount of time (Fig. 7 and Par. 0090, “The controller 1806 controls the dwell time and the feed rate of the smoking fuel within the inner pipe 1405 through operation of the auger 1505. In one example, the controller 1804 operates the motor 730 for five seconds and then turns off the motor 730 for ten seconds to let the smoking fuel rest within the inner pipe 1405.”); and
rotate the auger to advance the fresh combustible material off of the smoldering heater (Fig. 7 and Par. 0090 ,“This setup allows for the use of roughly 1 cup of wood pellets per hour when wood pellets are used as the smoking fuel.”).
However, Norris does not disclose that the controller turns off the smoldering heater and then rotates the auger to advance smoldering combustible material off of the smoldering heater and advance fresh combustible material onto the smoldering heater; pauses for a predetermined amount of time to permit the fresh combustible material to absorb residual heat from the smoldering heater; and rotates the auger to advance the fresh combustible material off of the smoldering heater. Pars. 0062-0066 of the PGPUB disclose controlling the auger in this way after the smoldering heater has been turned off serves a critical purpose of preventing smoke from being exhausted into the room when the door to the smoker is opened.
At the time of this writing, Examiner hasn’t found a prior art teaching that discloses the recited control of the auger after the smoldering heater has been turned off. In addition, any design choice rejection regarding modifying Norris, as modified above, in lieu of a prior art teaching would result in an unreasonable hindsight rejection and reconstruction of the Applicant’s claimed invention. Therefore, the limitations “the controller being configured to:
receive a command to pause a smoke generating process;
turn off the smoldering heater;
rotate the auger to advance smoldering combustible material off of the smoldering heater and advance fresh combustible material onto the smoldering heater;
pause for a predetermined amount of time to permit the fresh combustible material to absorb residual heat from the smoldering heater; and
rotate the auger to advance the fresh combustible material off of the smoldering heater” (emphasis added), when combined with the other limitations of the claim, distinguish the claim from the prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Buckner (US 6223737 B1) discloses a controller is configured to rotate an auger to advance combustible material onto a smoldering heater.
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/E.A.L./Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/MICHAEL G HOANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3762
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