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 § 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 21 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim 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 21 recites the limitation "the upper secondary air outlet" in the second to third line of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 31 is indefinite because it is unclear if Claim 31 depends from Claim 29 or simply includes the limitations of Claim 29 presented in a shorthand fashion. Additionally, if Claim 31 depends from Claim 29 then the optional recitation of the limitations of Claim 29 would cause the claim to be indefinite because the claim can be interpreted as eliminating the limitations of the parent claim, thus broadening rather than limiting the dependent claim. If Claim 31 is an independent claim which simply includes the limitations of Claim 29 as optional limitations, then Claim 31 should be amended to actually recite the limitations of Claim 29 in order to overcome the indefiniteness. In the interest of advancing prosecution, Claim 31 is interpreted as an independent claim as follows:
31. A gas stove, comprising:
a gas burner comprising a gas burner body designed to include a ring of gas outlet openings for providing flames directed towards an interior of the gas burner body, and to include a lower secondary air outlet located below the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an interior side of the gas burner body, or
a gas burner arrangement, comprising:
a gas burner comprising a gas burner body designed to include a ring of gas outlet openings for providing flames directed towards an interior of the gas burner body, said gas burner body including a lower secondary air outlet located below the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an interior side of the gas burner body, and an upper secondary air outlet located above the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an exterior side of the flames; and
a plate having an upper surface on which the gas burner is mounted,
wherein at least one of the lower secondary air outlet and the upper secondary air outlet is arranged above the upper surface of the plate.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 15-27 and 29-31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2019202433 A1 (hereinafter “ACOSTA”).
PNG
media_image1.png
1093
2460
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Regarding Claims 15-27 and 29-31, ACOSTA discloses:
A gas burner, comprising a gas burner body (5) designed to include a ring of gas outlet openings (29) for providing flames directed towards an interior of the gas burner body, and to include a lower secondary air outlet (see the interior end face of channel 39) located below the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an interior side of the flames;
wherein the gas burner body comprises an upper secondary air outlet (see the interior end face of channel or through-hole 42) located above the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an exterior side of the flames, the exterior side of the flames being a side that is facing the ring of gas outlet openings;
further comprising a plurality of said lower secondary air outlet (see 39) and/or a plurality of said upper secondary air outlet (see 42);
wherein the plurality of lower secondary air outlets (see 39) and/or the plurality of upper secondary air outlets (see 42) are arranged evenly along a circumference of the gas burner body (see Figs. 6-9);
wherein at least one of the lower secondary air outlet (see 39) and the upper secondary air outlet (see 42) is formed as a through-hole in the gas burner body (5), with the through-hole being fluidly connected with an exterior of the gas burner (see Figs. 6-9);
wherein the through-hole is fluidly connected with a region that is radially around the gas burner body (see Figs. 6-9);
wherein a member selected from the group consisting of the ring of gas outlet openings (29), the lower secondary air outlet (see 39) and the upper secondary air outlet (see 42) faces the interior of the gas burner body (5);
wherein the gas burner body comprises a lower secondary air channel (see 39) which extends along a radial direction from an exterior of the gas burner to the lower secondary air outlet below the ring of gas outlet openings (29), the lower secondary air channel being configured to guide secondary air from the exterior of the gas burner to the lower secondary air outlet;
further comprising a shield element (see 44, 45) extending above the ring of gas outlet openings and having a ring shape with a radius that is equal to or larger than a radius of the ring of gas outlet openings (see Figs. 6-9), said upper secondary air outlet (see 42) being formed as an opening in the shield element located above the ring of gas outlet openings (29);
wherein the shield element is integrally formed with the gas burner body (“Fig. 7 shows schematically an explosive view of the pan support 5, 6 according to Fig. 6. For example, the support structure 7 may be separated into an upper ring portion 44 and a lower ring portion 45. Alternatively, the upper ring portion 44 and the lower ring portion 45 are provided fixedly connected to each other and/or as a one material piece or monobloc element.”);
wherein the gas burner body comprises a pot support (8) configured to hold a cooking pot (13, 14);
wherein the shield element comprises a further opening (see the exterior end face of channel 39) located below the ring of gas outlet openings (29), said lower secondary air outlet (see the interior end face of channel 39) being formed or connected to the further opening in the shield element (see 45);
wherein the shield element comprises a combustion opening (see at least 40) located above the upper secondary air outlet for ejecting combustion products from a combustion of gas;
A gas burner arrangement, comprising: a gas burner comprising a gas burner body (5) designed to include a ring of gas outlet openings (29) for providing flames directed towards an interior of the gas burner body, said gas burner body including a lower secondary air outlet (see 39) located below the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an interior side of the gas burner body, and an upper secondary air outlet (see 42) located above the ring of gas outlet openings for providing secondary air along an exterior side of the flames; and a plate (4) having an upper surface on which the gas burner is mounted (see Fig. 2), wherein at least one of the lower secondary air outlet and the upper secondary air outlet is arranged above the upper surface of the plate (see the embodiments of Figs. 6-9);
constructed in a form of a gas stove (1);
A gas stove, comprising: a gas burner comprising a gas burner body (5) designed to include a ring of gas outlet openings (29) for providing flames directed towards an interior of the gas burner body, and to include a lower secondary air outlet (see 39) located below the ring of gas outlet openings (29) for providing secondary air along an interior side of the gas burner body, or the gas burner arrangement according to claim 29.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 28 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ACOSTA.
Regarding Claim 28, ACOSTA does not disclose wherein the lower secondary air outlet has a height between 1 and 20 mm and/or the upper secondary air outlet has a height between 1 and 20 mm.
Nonetheless, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify ACOSTA, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art (in the present case, wherein the lower secondary air outlet has a given height and/or the upper secondary air outlet has a given height), discovering the optimum or workable ranges (i.e., a height sufficient to provide secondary air to the combustion process) involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.05(I). The height of said lower secondary air outlet and/or upper secondary air outlet is a result effective variable because for a given outlet width, varying the height would regulate the cross-sectional area of the secondary air channel or through-hole which by extension would affect airflow volume and velocity.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure because the references are either in the same field of endeavor or are reasonably pertinent to the particular problem with which the applicant was concerned. Please see form PTO-892 (Notice of References Cited) attached to, or included with, this Office Action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE A PEREIRO whose telephone number is (571)270-3932 and whose fax number is (571) 270-4932. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 - 5:00 EST.
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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JORGE A PEREIRO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
Prosecution Insights