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 “said”, “comprises”, “comprising”, “means”, 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 11-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR10-0200780B1 cited by applicant, in view of KR20-0365796Y1. Regarding claim 1, KR10-0200780B1 discloses microwave oven comprising a casing (10) having a cooking chamber (11); a door provided at one portion of the casing configured to open and close the cooking chamber (11); a raising and lowering motor (41) capable of raising and lowering a tray (12); and a food detection system with stopping the operation of a heater (20) and the raising and lowering motor (41) when the food makes contact with the heater (20), and displaying a message so that a user can check a contact state (see claim 1,m Figures 2 and 3). However, KR10-0200780B1 does not disclose a structure having a pair of connecting couplings which have shapes corresponding to each other and are coupled to each other. KR20-0365796Y1 discloses a connecting coupling (8) between a motor (20) and a shaft (9) is used to stop the motor in case of a malfunction (par. 0008-par. 0009), claim 1, Figures 2-4). 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 KR10-0200780B1 a structure having a pair of connecting couplings which have shapes corresponding to each other and are coupled to each other as taught by KR20-0365796Y1 in order to stop the moving assembly in case of malfunction. Regarding claim 2, KR20-0365796Y1 discloses the connecting coupling (8) provided between the motor (20) and the shaft (9, par. 0008-par. 0009, claim 1, Figures 2-4). Regarding claims 11-12, KR20-0365796Y1 discloses of connecting the coupling (8) for a blocking plate shaft (21), the shaft (9), and the motor (20, claim 1, Figures 2-4).
Claims 3-10 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 prior art of record does not show or suggest the pair of connection couplings includes coupling protrusions and coupling grooves that are formed in a shape corresponding to each other and are selectively coupled to each other as recited in claims 3-10.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Heimerdinger (US 12,513,789) discloses sous vide assembly for use in a microwave oven.
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/QUANG T VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 October 3, 2026
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