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. 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 § 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) 1-2 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 10-0225624B1 cited by applicant. Regarding claim 1, KR 10-0225624B1 discloses a microwave oven comprising a casing in which a cooking chamber (2) is provided; a door (not shown but inherently chamber has a door) configured to open and close the cooking chamber (2); a heater (3) configured to generate heat; a control means for controlling an operation of a motor so as to adjust the location of the heater (claim 1, Figures 1-3). However, KR 10-0225624B1 does not disclose the original position detection means which detects whether a heater is in the original position, but the difference could be readily derived from the height detection means for detecting the height of the heater (claim 1). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to have the height detection means for detecting the height of the heater as taught by KR 10-0225624B1 in order to detect whether the heater is positioned at an original position. Regarding claim 2, KR 10-0225624B1 discloses an elevation unit which is made of an X-shaped link (132, par, 0031, Figures 2-4). Regarding claims 14-15, KR 10-0225624B1 discloses during automatic cooking, the data about the heater height for each cooking is preset in a control means (110) so as to determine the location of the heater (16) corresponding to a selected cooking menu (par. 0051, Figures 3-6).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR 10-0225624B1, in view of KR 10-2011-0006893A both cited by applicant. KR 10-0225624B1 discloses substantially all features of the claimed invention except the original position detection means detects whether the upward movement of the moving assembly in the cooking chamber is completed. KR 10-2011-0006893A discloses an upper limit switch for detecting the height of a mobile heater transmits an operation stop signal to a control unit when the heater reaches the predetermined height (par. 0042-par. 0043, Figure 6). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention was made to utilize in KR 10-0225624B1 upper limit switch for detecting the height of a mobile heater transmits an operation stop signal to a control unit when the heater reaches the predetermined height as taught by KR 10-2011-0006893A in order to detect the mobile heater when the mobile heater reached the predetermined height.
Claims 3-13 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: the original position detection means comprises: a position switch provided at one portion of the movable heater system; a position lever provided at one portion of the movable heater system and selectively pressing a position button of the position switch; and a position member provided at one portion of the movable heater system and selectively pushing the position lever according to the vertical movement of the heater as recited in claims 3-13.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Shin et al (US 2023/0138859) discloses cooking appliance.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 September 15, 2026
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