DETAILED ACTION
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 § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
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.
Claims 1-5,7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 6242725 to Murata in view of US Publication 20010004076 to Kim and further in view of US Patent 10697647 to Scalf.
As to claim 1, Murata discloses A microwave appliance defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction and a transverse direction, the vertical, lateral, and transverse directions being mutually perpendicular (Fig 1a), the microwave appliance comprising: a casing that defines a cooking chamber (30) and a circulation conduit (12), the cooking chamber configured for receipt of food items for cooking and the circulation conduit having an inlet and an outlet (Fig 5); a door mounted to the casing and configured for permitting selective access to the chamber of the casing (3); a controller disposed within the microwave appliance (51); and a fan assembly positioned within the circulation conduit of the casing (8), the fan assembly in signal communication with the controller (Col 6, Line 52-Col 7, Line 5; Col 7, Line 20-30), the fan assembly comprising: a discharge housing comprising a plurality of discharge ports (feature 1 as shown in Figure 7, and unlabeled but shown as housing exterior of feature 8 in figures 8-10); a fan housing (exterior of 8, shown surrounding blower fan as in figure 7) comprising an outlet (8a), the fan housing mounted within the discharge housing (Fig 7), the fan housing selectively rotatable within the discharge housing to align the outlet with a selected one of the plurality of discharge ports (Col 7, Line 20-30, Fig 8-10); a fan wheel (shown but not labeled inside fan housing 8: Fig 7) rotatably mounted within the fan housing, the fan wheel configured to circulate air through the outlet of the fan housing and the selected one of the plurality of discharge ports (Fig 8-10), wherein the controller of the microwave appliance is in operable communication to rotate the fan housing (Col 7, Line 20-30).
While Murata does disclose rotating the fan housing based on a user input to direct toa specific outlet, it not expressly disclose a fan housing comprising a toothed gear and an auxiliary motor positioned adjacent the discharge housing, the auxiliary motor mechanically coupled to the toothed gear, thereby rotating the toothed gear and the fan housing, wherein the controller of the microwave appliance is in operable communication with the auxiliary motor, or the controller in communication with an external device.
Kim discloses a fan housing comprising a toothed gear (33a, Fig 4) and an auxiliary motor (Ms, Fig 4) positioned adjacent the discharge housing (Fig 4), the auxiliary motor mechanically coupled to the toothed gear (via 34), thereby rotating the toothed gear and the fan housing.
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Murata to include a fan housing comprising a toothed gear and an auxiliary motor positioned adjacent the discharge housing, the auxiliary motor mechanically coupled to the toothed gear, thereby rotating the toothed gear and the fan housing, wherein the controller of the microwave appliance is in operable communication with the auxiliary motor using the teachings of Kim as this would have been a reliable method of actuating the rotation of the fan housing in the system to orient it reliably to any of the three outlets in a rotationally reversible and efficient manner.
Scalf discloses a microwave fan hood (Col 2, Line 44-47) and how the controller in communication with an external device (Col 5, Line 10-19).
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Murata to include the controller in communication with an external device using the teachings of Scalf so as to allow the user to remotely and reliably control the cooking device when not able to reach the device or while in a position remote from the device, giving greater versatility to the device.
As to claim 2, Murata discloses the toothed gear is mounted on a side of the fan housing (Kim: Fig 4).
As to claim 3, Murata discloses the toothed gear is semi-circular (Kim Fig 4).
As to claim 4, Murata discloses comprising a rack and pinion assembly, wherein the toothed gear comprises a rack of the rack and pinion assembly and the auxiliary motor comprises a pinion of the rack and pinion assembly, the pinion of the auxiliary motor mechanically coupled to the rack (Kim: Fig 4).
As to claim 5, Murata discloses the toothed gear comprises a curved rack (Kim: Fig 4).
As to claim 7, Murata discloses the external device is one or more of a database, a smartphone, and a temperature sensor (Scalf: Col 5, Line 10-19).
As to claim 8, Murata discloses the plurality of discharge ports comprises three discharge ports facing in three different directions (Front, Up, Back Fig 8-10).
As to claim 9, Murata discloses the discharge housing is defined between a top side, a bottom side, a first side wall, a second side wall, a front side, and a back side (Fig 8-10).
As to claim 10, Murata discloses wherein one of the three discharge ports is positioned on the top side, one of the three discharge ports is positioned on the front side, and one of the three discharge ports is positioned on the back side (Fig 8-10).
Claims 11-15,17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Patent 6242725 to Murata in view of US Publication 20010004076 to Kim.
As to claim 11, Murata discloses A fan assembly configured to be positioned within a casing of an appliance, the fan assembly comprising (as cited and rejected Claim 1 above): a discharge housing comprising a plurality of discharge ports (Fig 8-10); a fan housing comprising an outlet (8a), the fan housing mounted within the discharge housing (Fig 8-10), the fan housing selectively rotatable within the discharge housing to align the outlet with a selected one of the plurality of discharge ports (Fig 8-10; Col 7, Line 20-30, Fig 8-10); a fan wheel rotatably mounted within the fan housing (Fig 7, shown inside 8), the fan wheel configured to circulate air through the outlet of the fan housing and the selected one of the plurality of discharge ports (Fig 8-10).
While Murata does disclose rotating the fan housing based on a user input to direct toa specific outlet, it not expressly disclose an auxiliary motor positioned adjacent to the discharge housing, the auxiliary motor configured to rotate the fan housing.
Kim discloses an auxiliary motor positioned adjacent to the discharge housing, the auxiliary motor configured to rotate the fan housing to rotate the fan housing (Fig 4).
At the time of invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Murata to include an auxiliary motor positioned adjacent to the discharge housing, the auxiliary motor configured to rotate the fan housing using the teachings of Kim as this would have been a reliable method of actuating the rotation of the fan housing in the system to orient it reliably to any of the three outlets in a rotationally reversible and efficient manner.
As to claim 12, Murata discloses comprising a toothed gear mounted on a side of the fan housing (Kim: Fig 4, 33a).
As to claim 13, Murata discloses the toothed gear is semi-circular (Kim: Fig 4).
As to claim 14, Murata discloses comprising a rack and pinion assembly, wherein the toothed gear comprises a rack of the rack and pinion assembly and the auxiliary motor comprises a pinion of the rack and pinion assembly, the pinion of the auxiliary motor mechanically coupled to the rack (Kim: Fig 4).
As to claim 15, Murata discloses the toothed gear comprises a curved rack (Kim: Fig 4).
As to claim 17, Murata discloses the plurality of discharge ports comprises three discharge ports facing in three different directions (Fig 8-10).
As to claim 18, Murata discloses the discharge housing is defined between a top side, a bottom side, a first side wall, a second side wall, a front side, and a back side (Fig 8-10, sides housing 8 is inside of).
As to claim 19, Murata discloses one of the three discharge ports is positioned on the top side, one of the three discharge ports is positioned on the front side, and one of the three discharge ports is positioned on the back side (Fig 8-10).
As to claim 20, Murata discloses the auxiliary motor is configured to rotate the fan housing with precise angular control (Fig 8-10)(Kim: Fig 3a-3c).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6,16 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE SAMUEL BOGUE whose telephone number is (571)270-1406. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Laurenzi can be reached on 571-270-7878. 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.
/JESSE S BOGUE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
Prosecution Insights