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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/21/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment/Arguments
Applicant's amendment filed on 8/21/2026 has been entered.
Applicant has amended and claims 1-2, 7, 12, 15, and 17 and added claims 22-24.
Claims 3-6, 8-11, 13-14, 16, and 18-21 are as previously presented.
Claims 1-24 are still pending in this application, with claims 1, 7, and 12 being independent.
Applicant’s amendment overcomes the 6/1/2026 rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 of claims 1-21.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claim 1 and relatedly claims 2-11 and 22-24
have been considered [Remarks, pps. 11-17 and 21-24: “A. Independent Claim 1…A Single Burner Being Powered From A Combination Of Power Provided Simultaneously By Both A Battery And By A 120 V or 240 V Electric Power Circuit And Peak Output Power Of A Burner Being Greater Than A Maximum Power Available From The 120 V or 240 V Electric Power Circuit Alone…1) A Burner Being Powered From A Combination Of Power Provided Simultaneously By Both The Battery And By A 120 V Or 240 V Electric Power Circuit… 2) Peak Output Power Of An Individual Burner Being Greater Than The Maximum Power Available From A Connected 120 V Or 240 V Circuit… 3) A Peak Output Power Of An Individual Burner Being Greater Than A Maximum Power Available From A 240 V Electric Power Circuit Alone”; and “A Battery Configured to Store Power From A 120 V or 240 V Circuit And Power Burners From A Combination of Simultaneous Power from the Battery and from the 120 V or 240 V Circuit”] but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. In this case, Bunya (US 20230309202 A1, PCT filed 9/11/2020) has been additionally presented in new rejections below.
Applicant’s arguments regarding amended claim 12 [p. 24: “In another example, claim 12 recites "wherein the inductive cooktop appliance is configured to selectively couple with and be powered by either the 120 V electrical power circuit or the 240 V electrical power circuit."”] and relatedly a mains power cord [pps. 18-21: “A Three-Prong Plug And First Power Cord Configured To Couple With A Standard 120 V Power Circuit And A Second Power Cord Configured To Couple With A Standard 240 V Power Circuit”] are not persuasive. In this case, Examiner maintains that in view of the prior art being directed at residential/kitchen cooktops, wherein Bruckbauer teaches supplying power from different power systems [i.e., conventional grid systems, e.g., 50/60 Hz, 230/240/110 V systems; paras. 0106-0108] and wherein conventional wires are needed to deliver electricity to the heating element, as evidenced by Bruckbauer [i.e., power leads and cables; para. 0075: “For energy supply, the control device is connected to the power supply unit via a power lead.”; para. 0015; “In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the control device serves for controlling two or more hobs with a dedicated energy supply, in particular two or more hobs with a separate power cable.”] and Leidig [i.e., cables; para. 0015: “the lower part includes a power supply circuit arranged on the base plate and connected or connectable to the grid”, para. 0059: “The inventive cooking hob is functional without power cable…”], a PHOSITA would have found it obvious to select wires suitable for connecting to the different grid supplies, such that e.g., the wire is of sufficient cross-sectional thickness according to current/voltage needs, and connectable (e.g., via the appropriate number of prongs) to a corresponding conventional kitchen electrical receptacle. Furthermore, without any additional structural limitations in the claims directed towards the power cords in question, it seems the claims merely require the inclusion of commercially available “mains power cords”.
Applicant’s arguments regarding a removable/replaceable/modular battery are not persuasive [Remarks, pp. 25-39]. The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. One cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986). In view of conventional replaceable and modular batteries known in the art, and without any additional structural limitations in the claims directed towards the feature(s) in question to distinguish over the presented prior art, Examiner maintains that a PHOSITA would have found it obvious to have a battery be replaceable, the battery being able to be used in different cooktops, and wherein by having the battery be replaceable advantageously allows for at least maintenance/repair.
Claim Interpretation
The claims are directed towards an inductive cooktop appliance comprising a stove housing having dimensions that do not exceed a standardized counter fixturing [i.e., such that conforms to conventional residential home counters; claim 1: “…a width of 30 inches and a form factor, including a depth and the width, that does not exceed dimensions of a standardized counter fixturing and is configured to be disposed within a standardized counter fixturing having a counter depth of 25–25.5 inches, a standard base cabinet depth of 24 inches, and a standard counter height is 36 inches”; para. 0054: “This can allow for such load sources 200 or appliances to be placed within a residence without any change to how they are integrated into standardized fixturing, such as counters. In various embodiments, electrical connections to batteries 305 and/or other elements of a battery system 300 are made in the factory and fully integrated into the appliance circuit.”], and having a conventional plug/cord configured to connect to and supply electricity from conventional residential receptacles/circuits [claim 1: “…a three-prong plug configured to couple with a standard 120 V, 15 A - 30 A, single phase, 60 Hz electrical power receptacle of a 120 V electric power circuit of a power distribution system of a residential home… a power cord configured to couple with a standard 240 V, 30 A - 50 A, single-phase split-phase, 60Hz electrical power circuit”; fig. 1: electric receptacles 165; see p. 23, Table 1 showing conventional residential appliances requiring either 120V or 240V].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jenkins (US 20160051078 A1) in view of Bruckbauer (US 20190137109 A1), Leidig (US 20130186886 A1), and Bunya (US 20230309202 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
Jenkins discloses:
An inductive cooktop appliance [fig. 1: food preparation system 600; para. 0127: “…FIG. 6 is shown and described as a stove with a gas cooktop, it is appreciated that a wide range of cooking appliances and apparatuses may be provided in connection with the systems and techniques described herein, such as, for example, electric cooktops (e.g., induction and radiant cooktops), grilles, smokers and other cooking apparatuses having a variety of fuel sources.”], the inductive cooktop appliance comprising:
a stove housing having a width of 30 inches and a form factor, including a depth and the width, that does not exceed dimensions of a standardized counter fixturing and is configured to be disposed within the standardized counter fixturing having a counter depth of 25–25.5 inches, a standard base cabinet depth of 24 inches, and a standard counter height is 36 inches [see fig. 6, showing cooking unit 610 as a stove housing, configured to be disposed in residential kitchen; para. 0043: “The user's cooking environment in this example may, for example, include a kitchen and possibly additional portions of the user's home, but may have other forms in other embodiments.”];
Examiner notes that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to satisfy the requirements of residential appliance sizing with the device of Jenkins, since satisfying the operational and/or regulatory requirements of a particular application would have flown naturally to one of ordinary skill in the art.
exactly four circular burners, and no more and no fewer than four circular burners, disposed at a top face of the stove housing, with the four circular burners comprising induction coils at the top face of the stove housing [see fig. 6, depicting four independently controlled burners 622a-622d; para. 0090];
a set of cooktop appliance controls configured for operation of the inductive cooktop appliance, including at least operation of the four circular burners, the set of cooktop appliance controls including:
separate controls for the respective four circular burners, defined by four separate circular knobs [fig. 6: control devices 640a-640d; para. 0097: “In other embodiments, the control devices 640a-640d may have a variety of different forms and may resemble various knobs and/or dials of conventional stoves and the other cooking appliances.”],
an electronic screen configured to present information to a user including information regarding operation of the four circular burners [see fig. 6, showing computing device 650, display 611, displays 642a-642d; para. 0095: “According to some embodiments, the cooking information generated by the ACC system may include visual cooking information or cooking instructions that are conveyed to a user through one or more display units, such as a display of the computing device 650 itself, a separate display 611 on the cooking unit 610, and/or displays 642a-642d of the control devices 640a-640d.”],
a communication system [para. 0032: “Among other things, techniques are described herein for automated control of at least some parts of a food cooking process, such as to control activation and heating ( or other temperature modification) for one or more cooking locations ( e.g., one or more cooking surfaces or other pieces of cooking equipment, such as a stove top heating element, an oven, etc.)...At least some of the described techniques may be automatically performed in at least some embodiments by automated operations of a computer-implemented Automated Cooking Control ("ACC") system, which may optionally include multiple executable software modules, as described in greater detail below.”], configured to communicate with a remote server via at least Wi-Fi and the Internet [para. 0044: “In the illustrated embodiment, the various computing devices and other equipment with communication capabilities may interact with each other via… a wireless local network ( e.g., using Wi-Fi)…In addition, computing devices and systems external to the cooking environment may in some embodiments communicate with at least some devices and cooking related equipment within the cooking environment over one or more external networks (e.g., the Internet).”; para. 0056: “For example, computing device 200 may be connected to other devices that are not illustrated, including through one or more networks, such as the Internet or via private networks (e.g., mobile communication networks, etc.), or via the World Wide Web. More generally, a computing device or other computing system may comprise any combination of hardware that may interact and perform the described types of functionality, such as when programmed or otherwise configured with appropriate software, including, without limitation, desktop or laptop or tablet or slate computers or other computers, smart phone computing devices and other cell phones, Internet appliances, PDAs and other electronic organizers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, wireless phones, pagers, television-based systems (e.g., using set-top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders and/or game consoles and/or media servers), specialized controller devices, and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities.”], the remote server configured to control the inductive cooktop appliance [para. 0038: “In addition, a copy of the ACC system (or particular ACC system module copies) for use with a particular cooking environment may execute in various manners, such as on one or more computing devices located in the cooking environment and/or on one or more remote computing devices that are not part of the cooking environment (e.g., that are in a different geographical location from a geographical location of the cooking environment, and that send instructions or other electronic communications over one or more public computer networks or other networks).”], including providing over-the-air (OTA) software updates to the inductive cooktop appliance [para. 0039: “Similarly, such a Cooking Control Coordination service may distribute other types of information to ACC system copies, whether in addition to or instead of automated control recipes, such as instructional videos (e.g., to be played to users together with the execution of one or more automated control recipes as part of a cooking episode), representative food images (e.g., to be displayed to users together with the execution of one or more automated control recipes as part of a cooking episode), updates to ACC system modules, etc.”];
However, although Jenkins discloses a residential electrically powered inductive cooktop, Jenkins does not disclose powering at least one of the four circular burners with power provided simultaneously by both the battery and grid, and Jenkins does not disclose details of the power supply for the inductive cooktop. Specifically, Jenkins does not disclose the features of the claim indicated above.
Bruckbauer, in the same field of endeavor [a residential inductive cooktop appliance, i.e., a kitchen hob; para. 0009: “The hob system comprises in particular at least one hob and at least one fume extractor apparatus. The hob can be a glass ceramic hob, an induction hob… The hob is in particular an electric hob. The hob converts in particular electrical energy directly or indirectly into heat. For this purpose, the hob comprises electrical components…”; para. 0071: “As a result of the particularly space-saving configuration of the compact hob system, it is possible to achieve an increase in the available storage space below the kitchen worktop.”], teaches coupling to only one of a conventional residential electrical power supply system at one time, i.e., the hob is connectable to different standard power distribution systems [paras. 0106-108: “The modular hob system comprises two circuits, a control circuit and a power circuit (or load circuit). The power circuit serves for supplying the electrical consumers with energy. Electrical consumers are the components connected to the control device, such as hobs and fume extractor apparatus. The power circuit is connected to the electrical power supply system… The components connected to the control device can be connected to different types of energy sources for energy supply. The control device can be connected in particular to an electrical power supply system at 50 Hz or 60 Hz. It can be operated with an operating voltage of either 230 V, 240 V or 110 V. It can be connected to a single-phase, two-phase, three-phase, four-phase or five-phase power supply system.”] with conventional plugs/cords [i.e., power leads; para. 0075: “For energy supply, the control device is connected to the power supply unit via a power lead.”].
Leidig, in the same field of endeavor [an inductive cooking hob; para. 0040: “The cooking hob includes a glass ceramic panel 10 at the top side and a base plate 18 at the bottom side. An induction coil 12, a battery 14 and a power supply unit 16 are arranged side-by side between the glass ceramic panel 10 and the base plate 18.”], teaches an integrated, greater than or equal to 0.75 kWh lithium-based battery [para. 0024-25: “For example, the battery includes at least one lithium-ion-accumulator... Preferably, the battery has a capacity between 0.5 kWh and 2 kWh.”], that is removable from the inductive cooktop appliance, replaceable and modular such that the battery can be coupled to other cooktop appliances and such that the battery is configured for manual swapping of the battery by a user [It has been held by the courts that the mere fact that a given structure is integral does not preclude its consisting of various elements, and that constructing a formerly integral structure in various portions involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04(V.)(C.). In this case, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA to have the battery be separable in order to, e.g., replace, repair, or clean], the battery configured to store power obtained from the power distribution system of the residential home [para. 0048: “The recharging of the battery 14 is performed by a direct connection of the cooking hob to the grid.”], and power the burners from a combination of power from the battery and from the power distribution system [para. 0017: “The main idea of the present invention is the combination of the power supply for the induction coil by an integrated battery on the one hand and the mobile and stationary part of the cooking hob on the other hand. Said stationary part forms a docking station. The mobile part of the cooking hob is the proper cooking hob. Normally, the proper cooking hob is located in the docking station on the worktop of the kitchen such as a conventional cooking hob. However, the mobile part of the cooking hob can also be used on the dining table or outdoor. The mobile part of the cooking hob is functional without connection to the grid.”]; and an electrical power bus including a DC power bus; and a built-in inverter that sits on the DC power bus [i.e., a DC power (bus) from the battery, that is inverted so as to provide AC power to the induction heating elements; para. 0026: “According to a special embodiment of the present invention the cooking hob includes at least one further inverter circuit for transmitting the direct current from the battery into an alternating current for the grid. Thereby the further inverter circuit may be arranged on the lower part of the cooking hob. The battery can feed the grid, when the grid fails or the power of the grid is reduced or limited.”].
Bunya, in the same field of endeavor, teaches that it is known to simultaneously supply power from both the grid [fig. 2: commercial electricity source 50] and the battery [para. 0033: “The storage battery 14 is configured to store electricity that has been smoothed by the rectifier circuit 15. The storage battery 14 is, for example, a secondary battery, such as a lithium battery.”] so as to deliver additional power to an inductive heating element [para. 0086: “The heating cooking apparatus 100 of Embodiment 3 further includes a second induction heating mode in which the second driving circuit 12 is operated in addition to the first driving circuit 11 to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6.”], or to conserve energy [para. 0093: “As described above, in Embodiment 3, the first driving circuit 11, which receives electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50, and the second driving circuit 12, which receives electricity supplied by the storage battery 14, each supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6 in the second induction heating mode. Thus, induction heating of the heating target 51 can be attained by use of electricity supplied by the storage battery 14 while less electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is used. Therefore, induction heating can be performed with less power consumption. In addition, the second induction heating mode can be used for peak shaving during use of commercial electricity source 50. For example, the maximum possible power consumption for a time period in which the unit price of the electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is high is set in advance in the controller 10. When there is a need to perform induction heating with a power output exceeding the maximum possible power consumption, the second induction heating mode is used to utilize electricity from the storage battery 14. More specifically, for example, when the maximum possible power consumption is set to 2,000 W and electricity exceeding 2,000 W is needed, operation in the second induction heating mode is executed so that electricity from the storage battery 14 is utilized. With this configuration, energy saving can be facilitated.”], the corresponding circuit including at least the electrical power bus and DC power [see fig. 2, showing an electrical power bus connected to commercial electricity source 50, and a DC power bus connected to rectifier circuit 15].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the inductive cooktop appliance of Jenkins so as to arrive at the invention of claim 1, since
Bruckbauer teaches the appliance can be flexibly powered according to the available energy supply,
Leidig teaches the appliance can still function during an outage [para. 0064: “A further option of the present invention is the use of the electric energy in the battery 14 for feeding the grid, when the grid fails or the power of the grid is reduced or limited.”], and
Bunya further teaching the appliance can supply energy from the grid and battery simultaneously so as to deliver a total power to the coil above what is solely available from the grid connection.
Furthermore, in addition to structural limitations, the claim recites functional limitations drawn toward the intended use or manner of operating the claimed apparatus. The functional limitations are: coupling to a standard 120 V/240 V electrical power circuit. When the cited prior art teaches all of the positively recited structure of the claimed apparatus, it will be held that the prior art apparatus is capable of performing all of the claimed functional limitations of the claimed apparatus. The courts have held that: (1) "apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does." Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 909 F.2d 1464, 1469, 15 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1990), and (2) a claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). MPEP § 2114. In this case, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to connect the appliance of Jenkins and Bruckbauer to a standard 120 V/240 V electrical power circuit/receptacle. Selecting a specific receptacle/circuit with, e.g., a particular current rating, would amount to a recitation of the intended use of the patented invention, without resulting in any structural difference between the claimed invention and the structure disclosed by Jenkins and Bruckbauer, and therefore fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. See In re Casey, 152 USPQ 235 (CCPA 1967) and In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963).
Regarding claim 2, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 1.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya further discloses:
wherein the battery is further configured to power the four circular burners during a power outage solely from power from the battery and without obtaining power from the 120 V electric power circuit when the three-prong plug is coupled with the 120 V electric power circuit [Leidig para. 0064: “A further option of the present invention is the use of the electric energy in the battery 14 for feeding the grid, when the grid fails or the power of the grid is reduced or limited.”].
Regarding claim 3, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 1.
Jenkins further discloses:
wherein touchscreens and interface buttons are absent from control elements of the inductive cooktop appliance including from the set of cooktop appliance controls configured for operation of the inductive cooktop appliance [see fig. 6, not showing touchscreens or interface buttons].
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to not use touchscreens or interface buttons, since it has been held by the courts that the omission of an element if the function of the element is not desired requires only ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04(II.)(A.).
Regarding claim 4, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 1.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya further discloses:
further comprising:
a sensor coupled to the inductive cooktop appliance to monitor an operation condition of the inductive cooktop appliance at a specific time point [i.e., a sensor for measuring a temperature during cooking; Jenkins para. 0037: “The cooking-related equipment used by the ACC system may further include cooking equipment whose temperature or other operation is controlled by control equipment, such as a pan or pot with an integrated surface temperature sensor and communication capabilities (whose temperature is controlled by an associated smart control knob), an oven grate or other interior, a grill surface or interior, a dome lid with integrated air temperature sensor, etc.”]; and
a control unit [Jenkins para. 0057: “Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the systems and/or modules may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as at least partially or wholly in designed and configured firmware and/or hardware means, including, but not limited to, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs ), etc.”] communicatively coupled to the sensor to collect information obtained from the sensor, the control unit being configured to determine whether to adjust power provided to the inductive cooktop appliance from the battery based on the operation condition of the inductive cooktop appliance [e.g., during a grid failure, the appliance being powered from the battery of Leidig; Jenkins para. 0103: “With reference to FIGS. 14 and 15, the control knob 1240 further includes a wireless communication device 1253 (e.g., Bluetooth module) such that the control knob 1240 may, among other things, receive control information and/or instructions based on temperature data acquired with a piece of temperature sensing cooking equipment, such as, for example, the temperature sensing pan 630a, as shown in FIG. 6 and discussed in detail further below, or a temperature sensing probe 1220, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 and described in further detail elsewhere.”].
Regarding claim 5, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 1.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya further discloses:
wherein the inductive cooktop appliance is configured to:
monitor an operation condition of an inductive cooktop appliance at a specific time point, wherein the operation condition is monitored by a sensor coupled to the inductive cooktop appliance [i.e., a sensor for measuring a temperature during cooking; Jenkins para. 0037: “The cooking-related equipment used by the ACC system may further include cooking equipment whose temperature or other operation is controlled by control equipment, such as a pan or pot with an integrated surface temperature sensor and communication capabilities (whose temperature is controlled by an associated smart control knob), an oven grate or other interior, a grill surface or interior, a dome lid with integrated air temperature sensor, etc.”];
collect power usage data of the inductive cooktop appliance at the specific time point, wherein the power usage data indicates power provided to the inductive cooktop appliance by the battery; and determine whether to adjust power provided to the inductive cooktop appliance from the battery based on the operation condition of the inductive cooktop appliance and power usage data of the inductive cooktop appliance [e.g., during a grid failure, the appliance being powered from the battery of Leidig; Jenkins para. 0103: “With reference to FIGS. 14 and 15, the control knob 1240 further includes a wireless communication device 1253 (e.g., Bluetooth module) such that the control knob 1240 may, among other things, receive control information and/or instructions based on temperature data acquired with a piece of temperature sensing cooking equipment, such as, for example, the temperature sensing pan 630a, as shown in FIG. 6 and discussed in detail further below, or a temperature sensing probe 1220, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 and described in further detail elsewhere.”].
Regarding claim 6, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 1.
Jenkins further discloses:
An inductive cooktop network, comprising at least 100 inductive cooktop appliances of claim 1 that are remote from each other and remote from the remote server, wherein the remote server is configured to control the at least 100 inductive cooktop appliances, including providing over-the-air (OTA) software updates to the at least 100 inductive cooktop appliances.
In this case, since Jenkins describes remote automated control of one or more other pieces of cooking equipment [para. 0032: “Among other things, techniques are described herein for automated control of at least some parts of a food cooking process, such as to control activation and heating (or other temperature modification) for one or more cooking locations (e.g., one or more cooking surfaces or other pieces of cooking equipment, such as a stove top heating element, an oven, etc.).”; para. 0038], it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to form an inductive cooktop network of at least 100 inductive cooktop appliances, since it has been held that mere duplication of essential working parts of a device involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04(VI.)(B.).
Regarding claim 7,
Jenkins discloses:
An inductive cooktop appliance [fig. 1: food preparation system 600; para. 0127: “…FIG. 6 is shown and described as a stove with a gas cooktop, it is appreciated that a wide range of cooking appliances and apparatuses may be provided in connection with the systems and techniques described herein, such as, for example, electric cooktops (e.g., induction and radiant cooktops), grilles, smokers and other cooking apparatuses having a variety of fuel sources.”], the inductive cooktop appliance comprising:
exactly four burners, and no more and no fewer than four burners, disposed at a top face of a stove housing, with the four burners comprising induction coils at the top face of the stove housing [see fig. 6, depicting four independently controlled burners 622a-622d; para. 0090];
a set of cooktop appliance controls configured for operation of the inductive cooktop appliance, including at least operation of the four burners, the set of cooktop appliance controls including:
separate controls for the respective four burners, defined by four separate knobs [fig. 6: control devices 640a-640d; para. 0097: “In other embodiments, the control devices 640a-640d may have a variety of different forms and may resemble various knobs and/or dials of conventional stoves and the other cooking appliances.”], and
an electronic screen configured to present information to a user [see fig. 6, showing computing device 650, display 611, displays 642a-642d; para. 0095: “According to some embodiments, the cooking information generated by the ACC system may include visual cooking information or cooking instructions that are conveyed to a user through one or more display units, such as a display of the computing device 650 itself, a separate display 611 on the cooking unit 610, and/or displays 642a-642d of the control devices 640a-640d.”];
a communication system [para. 0032: “Among other things, techniques are described herein for automated control of at least some parts of a food cooking process, such as to control activation and heating ( or other temperature modification) for one or more cooking locations ( e.g., one or more cooking surfaces or other pieces of cooking equipment, such as a stove top heating element, an oven, etc.)...At least some of the described techniques may be automatically performed in at least some embodiments by automated operations of a computer-implemented Automated Cooking Control ("ACC") system, which may optionally include multiple executable software modules, as described in greater detail below.”], configured to communicate with a remote server via at least Wi-Fi and the Internet [para. 0044: “In the illustrated embodiment, the various computing devices and other equipment with communication capabilities may interact with each other via… a wireless local network ( e.g., using Wi-Fi)…In addition, computing devices and systems external to the cooking environment may in some embodiments communicate with at least some devices and cooking related equipment within the cooking environment over one or more external networks (e.g., the Internet).”; para. 0056: “For example, computing device 200 may be connected to other devices that are not illustrated, including through one or more networks, such as the Internet or via private networks (e.g., mobile communication networks, etc.), or via the World Wide Web. More generally, a computing device or other computing system may comprise any combination of hardware that may interact and perform the described types of functionality, such as when programmed or otherwise configured with appropriate software, including, without limitation, desktop or laptop or tablet or slate computers or other computers, smart phone computing devices and other cell phones, Internet appliances, PDAs and other electronic organizers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, wireless phones, pagers, television-based systems (e.g., using set-top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders and/or game consoles and/or media servers), specialized controller devices, and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities.”], the remote server configured to control the inductive cooktop appliance [para. 0038: “In addition, a copy of the ACC system (or particular ACC system module copies) for use with a particular cooking environment may execute in various manners, such as on one or more computing devices located in the cooking environment and/or on one or more remote computing devices that are not part of the cooking environment (e.g., that are in a different geographical location from a geographical location of the cooking environment, and that send instructions or other electronic communications over one or more public computer networks or other networks).”], including providing over-the-air (OTA) software updates to the inductive cooktop appliance [para. 0039: “Similarly, such a Cooking Control Coordination service may distribute other types of information to ACC system copies, whether in addition to or instead of automated control recipes, such as instructional videos (e.g., to be played to users together with the execution of one or more automated control recipes as part of a cooking episode), representative food images (e.g., to be displayed to users together with the execution of one or more automated control recipes as part of a cooking episode), updates to ACC system modules, etc.”];
However, although Jenkins discloses a residential electrically powered inductive cooktop, Jenkins does not disclose powering at least one of the four circular burners with power provided simultaneously by both the battery and grid, and Jenkins does not disclose details of the power supply for the inductive cooktop. Specifically, Jenkins does not disclose the features of the claim indicated above.
Bruckbauer, in the same field of endeavor [a residential inductive cooktop appliance, i.e., a kitchen hob; para. 0009: “The hob system comprises in particular at least one hob and at least one fume extractor apparatus. The hob can be a glass ceramic hob, an induction hob… The hob is in particular an electric hob. The hob converts in particular electrical energy directly or indirectly into heat. For this purpose, the hob comprises electrical components…”; para. 0071: “As a result of the particularly space-saving configuration of the compact hob system, it is possible to achieve an increase in the available storage space below the kitchen worktop.”], teaches coupling to only one of a conventional residential electrical power supply system at one time, i.e., the hob is connectable to different standard power distribution systems [paras. 0106-108: “The modular hob system comprises two circuits, a control circuit and a power circuit (or load circuit). The power circuit serves for supplying the electrical consumers with energy. Electrical consumers are the components connected to the control device, such as hobs and fume extractor apparatus. The power circuit is connected to the electrical power supply system… The components connected to the control device can be connected to different types of energy sources for energy supply. The control device can be connected in particular to an electrical power supply system at 50 Hz or 60 Hz. It can be operated with an operating voltage of either 230 V, 240 V or 110 V. It can be connected to a single-phase, two-phase, three-phase, four-phase or five-phase power supply system.”] with conventional plugs/cords [i.e., power leads; para. 0075: “For energy supply, the control device is connected to the power supply unit via a power lead.”].
Leidig, in the same field of endeavor [an inductive cooking hob; para. 0040: “The cooking hob includes a glass ceramic panel 10 at the top side and a base plate 18 at the bottom side. An induction coil 12, a battery 14 and a power supply unit 16 are arranged side-by side between the glass ceramic panel 10 and the base plate 18.”], teaches an integrated, greater than or equal to 0.75 kWh lithium-based battery [para. 0024-25: “For example, the battery includes at least one lithium-ion-accumulator... Preferably, the battery has a capacity between 0.5 kWh and 2 kWh.”], that is removable from the inductive cooktop appliance, replaceable and modular such that the battery can be coupled to other cooktop appliances and such that the battery is configured for manual swapping of the battery [It has been held by the courts that the mere fact that a given structure is integral does not preclude its consisting of various elements, and that constructing a formerly integral structure in various portions involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04(V.)(C.). In this case, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA to have the battery be separable in order to, e.g., replace, repair, or clean], the battery configured to store power obtained from the power distribution system of the residential home [para. 0048: “The recharging of the battery 14 is performed by a direct connection of the cooking hob to the grid.”], and power the burners from a combination of power from the battery and from the power distribution system [para. 0017: “The main idea of the present invention is the combination of the power supply for the induction coil by an integrated battery on the one hand and the mobile and stationary part of the cooking hob on the other hand. Said stationary part forms a docking station. The mobile part of the cooking hob is the proper cooking hob. Normally, the proper cooking hob is located in the docking station on the worktop of the kitchen such as a conventional cooking hob. However, the mobile part of the cooking hob can also be used on the dining table or outdoor. The mobile part of the cooking hob is functional without connection to the grid.”].
Bunya, in the same field of endeavor, teaches that it is known to simultaneously supply power from both the grid [fig. 2: commercial electricity source 50] and the battery [para. 0033: “The storage battery 14 is configured to store electricity that has been smoothed by the rectifier circuit 15. The storage battery 14 is, for example, a secondary battery, such as a lithium battery.”] so as to deliver additional power to an inductive heating element [para. 0086: “The heating cooking apparatus 100 of Embodiment 3 further includes a second induction heating mode in which the second driving circuit 12 is operated in addition to the first driving circuit 11 to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6.”], or to conserve energy [para. 0093: “As described above, in Embodiment 3, the first driving circuit 11, which receives electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50, and the second driving circuit 12, which receives electricity supplied by the storage battery 14, each supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6 in the second induction heating mode. Thus, induction heating of the heating target 51 can be attained by use of electricity supplied by the storage battery 14 while less electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is used. Therefore, induction heating can be performed with less power consumption. In addition, the second induction heating mode can be used for peak shaving during use of commercial electricity source 50. For example, the maximum possible power consumption for a time period in which the unit price of the electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is high is set in advance in the controller 10. When there is a need to perform induction heating with a power output exceeding the maximum possible power consumption, the second induction heating mode is used to utilize electricity from the storage battery 14. More specifically, for example, when the maximum possible power consumption is set to 2,000 W and electricity exceeding 2,000 W is needed, operation in the second induction heating mode is executed so that electricity from the storage battery 14 is utilized. With this configuration, energy saving can be facilitated.”], the corresponding circuit including at least the electrical power bus and DC power [see fig. 2, showing an electrical power bus connected to commercial electricity source 50, and a DC power bus connected to rectifier circuit 15].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the inductive cooktop appliance of Jenkins so as to arrive at the invention of claim 7, since
Bruckbauer teaches the appliance can be flexibly powered according to the available energy supply,
Leidig teaches the appliance can still function during an outage [para. 0064: “A further option of the present invention is the use of the electric energy in the battery 14 for feeding the grid, when the grid fails or the power of the grid is reduced or limited.”], and
Bunya further teaching the appliance can supply energy from the grid and battery simultaneously so as to deliver a total power to the coil above what is solely available from the grid connection.
Furthermore, in addition to structural limitations, the claim recites functional limitations drawn toward the intended use or manner of operating the claimed apparatus. The functional limitations are: coupling to a standard 120 V/240 V electrical power circuit. When the cited prior art teaches all of the positively recited structure of the claimed apparatus, it will be held that the prior art apparatus is capable of performing all of the claimed functional limitations of the claimed apparatus. The courts have held that: (1) "apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does." Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 909 F.2d 1464, 1469, 15 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1990), and (2) a claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). MPEP § 2114. In this case, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to connect the appliance of Jenkins and Bruckbauer to a standard 120 V/240 V electrical power circuit/receptacle. Selecting a specific receptacle/circuit with, e.g., a particular current rating, would amount to a recitation of the intended use of the patented invention, without resulting in any structural difference between the claimed invention and the structure disclosed by Jenkins and Bruckbauer, and therefore fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. See In re Casey, 152 USPQ 235 (CCPA 1967) and In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963).
Regarding claim 8, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 7.
Jenkins further discloses:
further comprising the stove housing having a width of 30 inches and a form factor, including a depth and the width, that does not exceed dimensions of a standardized counter fixturing and is configured to be disposed within the standardized counter fixturing having a counter depth of 25–25.5 inches, a standard base cabinet depth of 24 inches, and a standard counter height is 36 inches [see fig. 6, showing cooking unit 610 as a stove housing, configured to be disposed in residential kitchen; para. 0043: “The user's cooking environment in this example may, for example, include a kitchen and possibly additional portions of the user's home, but may have other forms in other embodiments.”].
Examiner notes that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to satisfy the requirements of residential appliance sizing with the device of Jenkins, since satisfying the operational and/or regulatory requirements of a particular application would have flown naturally to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 9, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 7.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya further discloses:
wherein at least one of the one or more power cords is configured to allow installation and operation of the inductive cooktop appliance without requiring an electrical upgrade or modification to the power distribution system beyond the 120 V electric power circuit [Bruckbauer teaches the appliance capable of being connected to different standard power distribution systems; paras. 0106-108]
Regarding claim 10, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 7.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya further discloses:
further comprising:
an electrical power bus including a DC power bus, and
an inverter that sits on the DC power bus.
[Leidig teaches a DC power (bus) from the battery, that is inverted so as to provide AC power to the induction heating elements; para. 0026: “According to a special embodiment of the present invention the cooking hob includes at least one further inverter circuit for transmitting the direct current from the battery into an alternating current for the grid. Thereby the further inverter circuit may be arranged on the lower part of the cooking hob. The battery can feed the grid, when the grid fails or the power of the grid is reduced or limited.”].
Regarding claim 11, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 7.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer, Leidig, and Bunya further discloses:
wherein the battery is further configured to power the four burners during a power outage solely from power from the battery and without obtaining power from either of the standard 120 V electric power circuit or the standard 240 V electric power circuit [Leidig teaches the battery supplying the energy for the burners during a failure of the grid; para. 0026].
Claims 12-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jenkins (US 20160051078 A1) in view of Bruckbauer (US 20190137109 A1), Leidig (US 20130186886 A1), and Bunya (US 20230309202 A1).
Regarding claim 12,
Jenkins teaches:
An inductive cooktop appliance [fig. 1: food preparation system 600; para. 0127: “…FIG. 6 is shown and described as a stove with a gas cooktop, it is appreciated that a wide range of cooking appliances and apparatuses may be provided in connection with the systems and techniques described herein, such as, for example, electric cooktops (e.g., induction and radiant cooktops), grilles, smokers and other cooking apparatuses having a variety of fuel sources.”], the inductive cooktop appliance comprising:
a plurality of burners disposed at a top face of a stove housing, with the plurality of burners comprising induction coils at the top face of the stove housing [see fig. 6, depicting four independently controlled burners 622a-622d; para. 0090];
a set of cooktop appliance controls configured for operation of the inductive cooktop appliance, including at least operation of the plurality of burners [fig. 6: control devices 640a-640d; para. 0097: “In other embodiments, the control devices 640a-640d may have a variety of different forms and may resemble various knobs and/or dials of conventional stoves and the other cooking appliances.”];
a communication system [para. 0032: “Among other things, techniques are described herein for automated control of at least some parts of a food cooking process, such as to control activation and heating ( or other temperature modification) for one or more cooking locations ( e.g., one or more cooking surfaces or other pieces of cooking equipment, such as a stove top heating element, an oven, etc.)...At least some of the described techniques may be automatically performed in at least some embodiments by automated operations of a computer-implemented Automated Cooking Control ("ACC") system, which may optionally include multiple executable software modules, as described in greater detail below.”], configured to communicate with a remote server via at least Wi-Fi and the Internet [para. 0044: “In the illustrated embodiment, the various computing devices and other equipment with communication capabilities may interact with each other via… a wireless local network ( e.g., using Wi-Fi)…In addition, computing devices and systems external to the cooking environment may in some embodiments communicate with at least some devices and cooking related equipment within the cooking environment over one or more external networks (e.g., the Internet).”; para. 0056: “For example, computing device 200 may be connected to other devices that are not illustrated, including through one or more networks, such as the Internet or via private networks (e.g., mobile communication networks, etc.), or via the World Wide Web. More generally, a computing device or other computing system may comprise any combination of hardware that may interact and perform the described types of functionality, such as when programmed or otherwise configured with appropriate software, including, without limitation, desktop or laptop or tablet or slate computers or other computers, smart phone computing devices and other cell phones, Internet appliances, PDAs and other electronic organizers, database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, wireless phones, pagers, television-based systems (e.g., using set-top boxes and/or personal/digital video recorders and/or game consoles and/or media servers), specialized controller devices, and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities.”], the remote server configured to control the inductive cooktop appliance, including providing over-the-air (OTA) software updates to the inductive cooktop appliance [para. 0038: “In addition, a copy of the ACC system (or particular ACC system module copies) for use with a particular cooking environment may execute in various manners, such as on one or more computing devices located in the cooking environment and/or on one or more remote computing devices that are not part of the cooking environment (e.g., that are in a different geographical location from a geographical location of the cooking environment, and that send instructions or other electronic communications over one or more public computer networks or other networks).”];
However, although Jenkins discloses a residential electrically powered inductive cooktop, Jenkins does not disclose details of the power supply for the inductive cooktop. Specifically, Jenkins does not disclose:
one or more power cords configured to:
couple with a 120 V electrical power receptacle of a 120 V electric power circuit of a power distribution system, and/or
couple with a 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system; and
an integrated battery, the battery configured to:
store power obtained from at least one of the 120 V electric power circuit and the 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system, and
power the plurality of burners from a combination of power from the battery and from one of the 120 V electric power circuit or the 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system, wherein the inductive cooktop appliance is configured to selectively couple with and be powered by either the 120 V electrical power circuit or the 240 V electrical power circuit.
Bruckbauer, in the same field of endeavor [a residential inductive cooktop appliance, i.e., a kitchen hob; para. 0009: “The hob system comprises in particular at least one hob and at least one fume extractor apparatus. The hob can be a glass ceramic hob, an induction hob… The hob is in particular an electric hob. The hob converts in particular electrical energy directly or indirectly into heat. For this purpose, the hob comprises electrical components…”; para. 0071: “As a result of the particularly space-saving configuration of the compact hob system, it is possible to achieve an increase in the available storage space below the kitchen worktop.”], teaches selectively coupling to only one of a conventional residential electrical power supply system at one time, i.e., the hob is connectable to different standard power distribution systems [paras. 0106-108: “The modular hob system comprises two circuits, a control circuit and a power circuit (or load circuit). The power circuit serves for supplying the electrical consumers with energy. Electrical consumers are the components connected to the control device, such as hobs and fume extractor apparatus. The power circuit is connected to the electrical power supply system… The components connected to the control device can be connected to different types of energy sources for energy supply. The control device can be connected in particular to an electrical power supply system at 50 Hz or 60 Hz. It can be operated with an operating voltage of either 230 V, 240 V or 110 V. It can be connected to a single-phase, two-phase, three-phase, four-phase or five-phase power supply system.”] with conventional plugs/cords [i.e., power leads; para. 0075: “For energy supply, the control device is connected to the power supply unit via a power lead.”].
Leidig, in the same field of endeavor [an inductive cooking hob; para. 0040: “The cooking hob includes a glass ceramic panel 10 at the top side and a base plate 18 at the bottom side. An induction coil 12, a battery 14 and a power supply unit 16 are arranged side-by side between the glass ceramic panel 10 and the base plate 18.”], teaches an integrated battery [para. 0024-25: “For example, the battery includes at least one lithium-ion-accumulator... Preferably, the battery has a capacity between 0.5 kWh and 2 kWh.”], the battery configured to store power obtained from the power distribution system [para. 0048: “The recharging of the battery 14 is performed by a direct connection of the cooking hob to the grid.”], and power the burners from a combination of power from the battery and from the power distribution system [para. 0017: “The main idea of the present invention is the combination of the power supply for the induction coil by an integrated battery on the one hand and the mobile and stationary part of the cooking hob on the other hand. Said stationary part forms a docking station. The mobile part of the cooking hob is the proper cooking hob. Normally, the proper cooking hob is located in the docking station on the worktop of the kitchen such as a conventional cooking hob. However, the mobile part of the cooking hob can also be used on the dining table or outdoor. The mobile part of the cooking hob is functional without connection to the grid.”].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the inductive cooktop appliance of Jenkins of by:
including one or more power cords configured to: couple with a 120 V electrical power receptacle of a 120 V electric power circuit of a power distribution system, and/or couple with a 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system, since Bruckbauer teaches this allows the appliance to be flexibly powered according to the available energy supply.
including an integrated battery, the battery configured to: store power obtained from at least one of the 120 V electric power circuit and the 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system, and power the plurality of burners from a combination of power from the battery and from one of the 120 V electric power circuit or the 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system, as taught/suggested by Leidig, since Leidig teaches this allows the appliance to still function during an outage [para. 0064: “A further option of the present invention is the use of the electric energy in the battery 14 for feeding the grid, when the grid fails or the power of the grid is reduced or limited.”]
Regarding claim 13, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein the battery is further configured to power the plurality of burners during a power outage solely from power from the battery and without obtaining power from either of the 120 V electric power circuit or the 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system [Leidig teaches the battery supplying the energy for the burners during a failure of the grid; para. 0026].
Regarding claim 14, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins further discloses:
wherein the plurality of burners is exactly four burners, and no more and no fewer than four burners [see fig. 6, depicting four independently controlled burners 622a-622d; para. 0090].
Regarding claim 15, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins further discloses:
wherein the set of cooktop appliance controls include:
separate controls for the respective plurality of burners, defined by four separate knobs [fig. 6: control devices 640a-640d; para. 0097: “In other embodiments, the control devices 640a-640d may have a variety of different forms and may resemble various knobs and/or dials of conventional stoves and the other cooking appliances.”], and
an electronic screen configured to present information to a user [see fig. 6, showing computing device 650, display 611, displays 642a-642d; para. 0095: “According to some embodiments, the cooking information generated by the ACC system may include visual cooking information or cooking instructions that are conveyed to a user through one or more display units, such as a display of the computing device 650 itself, a separate display 611 on the cooking unit 610, and/or displays 642a-642d of the control devices 640a-640d.”].
Regarding claim 16, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein at least one of the one or more power cords is configured to couple with a standard 120 V, 15 A – 30 A, single phase, 60 Hz electrical power receptacle of the 120 V electric power circuit of the power distribution system.
The claim recites functional limitations drawn toward the intended use or manner of operating the claimed apparatus. The functional limitations are: coupling to a standard 120 V, 15 A - 30 A, single phase, 60 Hz electrical power receptacle. When the cited prior art teaches all of the positively recited structure of the claimed apparatus, it will be held that the prior art apparatus is capable of performing all of the claimed functional limitations of the claimed apparatus. The courts have held that: (1) "apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does." Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 909 F.2d 1464, 1469, 15 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1990), and (2) a claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). MPEP § 2114. In this case, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to connect the appliance of Jenkins and Bruckbauer to a standard 120 V, 15 A - 30 A, single phase, 60 Hz electrical power receptacle. Selecting a specific receptacle with, e.g., a particular current rating, would amount to a recitation of the intended use of the patented invention, without resulting in any structural difference between the claimed invention and the structure disclosed by Jenkins and Bruckbauer, and therefore fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. See In re Casey, 152 USPQ 235 (CCPA 1967) and In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963).
Regarding claim 17, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein at least one of the one or more power cords is configured to couple with a 240 V electrical power circuit.
The claim recites functional limitations drawn toward the intended use or manner of operating the claimed apparatus. The functional limitations are: coupling to a 240 V electrical power circuit. When the cited prior art teaches all of the positively recited structure of the claimed apparatus, it will be held that the prior art apparatus is capable of performing all of the claimed functional limitations of the claimed apparatus. The courts have held that: (1) "apparatus claims cover what a device is, not what a device does." Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 909 F.2d 1464, 1469, 15 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1990), and (2) a claim containing a "recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus" if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987). MPEP § 2114. In this case, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the claimed invention was made to connect the appliance of Jenkins and Bruckbauer to a standard 240 V electrical power circuit. Selecting a specific circuit with, e.g., a particular current rating, would amount to a recitation of the intended use of the patented invention, without resulting in any structural difference between the claimed invention and the structure disclosed by Jenkins and Bruckbauer, and therefore fails to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. See In re Casey, 152 USPQ 235 (CCPA 1967) and In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963).
Regarding claim 18, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein at least one of the one or more power cords is configured to couple with and be powered by only one of the 120 V electrical power receptacle and the 240 V electrical power circuit at one time [Bruckbauer teaches coupling to only one of a conventional residential electrical power supply system at one time, i.e., the hob is connectable to different standard power distribution systems; paras. 0106-108].
Regarding claim 19, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein the battery comprises a greater than or equal to 0.75 kWh lithium-based battery [Leidig para. 0024-25: “For example, the battery includes at least one lithium-ion-accumulator... Preferably, the battery has a capacity between 0.5 kWh and 2 kWh.”].
Regarding claim 20, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein the battery is removable from the inductive cooktop appliance [It has been held by the courts that the mere fact that a given structure is integral does not preclude its consisting of various elements, and that constructing a formerly integral structure in various portions involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04(V.)(C.). In this case, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA to have the battery be separable in order to, e.g., replace, repair, or clean].
Regarding claim 21, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig further discloses:
wherein the battery is replaceable and modular such that the battery can be coupled to other cooktop appliances and such that the battery is configured for manual swapping of the battery [It has been held by the courts that the mere fact that a given structure is integral does not preclude its consisting of various elements, and that constructing a formerly integral structure in various portions involves only routine skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.04(V.)(C.). In this case, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA to have the battery be separable in order to, e.g., replace, repair, or clean].
Claims 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jenkins (US 20160051078 A1) in view of Bruckbauer (US 20190137109 A1) and Leidig (US 20130186886 A1) as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Bunya (US 20230309202 A1).
Regarding claim 22, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
However, although Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses a residential electrically powered inductive cooktop, they do not disclose powering at least one of the burners with power provided simultaneously by both the battery and grid, specifically
wherein powering the plurality of burners from a combination of power from the battery and from one of the 120 V electric power circuit or the 240 V electrical power circuit of the power distribution system includes powering at least one of the plurality of burners using a combination of power drawn simultaneously from the battery and from the one of the standard 120 V electric power circuit or the standard 240 V electric power circuit.
Bunya, in the same field of endeavor, teaches that it is known to simultaneously supply power from both the grid [fig. 2: commercial electricity source 50] and the battery [para. 0033: “The storage battery 14 is configured to store electricity that has been smoothed by the rectifier circuit 15. The storage battery 14 is, for example, a secondary battery, such as a lithium battery.”] so as to deliver additional power to an inductive heating element [para. 0086: “The heating cooking apparatus 100 of Embodiment 3 further includes a second induction heating mode in which the second driving circuit 12 is operated in addition to the first driving circuit 11 to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6.”], or to conserve energy [para. 0093: “As described above, in Embodiment 3, the first driving circuit 11, which receives electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50, and the second driving circuit 12, which receives electricity supplied by the storage battery 14, each supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6 in the second induction heating mode. Thus, induction heating of the heating target 51 can be attained by use of electricity supplied by the storage battery 14 while less electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is used. Therefore, induction heating can be performed with less power consumption. In addition, the second induction heating mode can be used for peak shaving during use of commercial electricity source 50. For example, the maximum possible power consumption for a time period in which the unit price of the electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is high is set in advance in the controller 10. When there is a need to perform induction heating with a power output exceeding the maximum possible power consumption, the second induction heating mode is used to utilize electricity from the storage battery 14. More specifically, for example, when the maximum possible power consumption is set to 2,000 W and electricity exceeding 2,000 W is needed, operation in the second induction heating mode is executed so that electricity from the storage battery 14 is utilized. With this configuration, energy saving can be facilitated.”], the corresponding circuit including at least the electrical power bus and DC power [see fig. 2, showing an electrical power bus connected to commercial electricity source 50, and a DC power bus connected to rectifier circuit 15].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the inductive cooktop appliance of Jenkins, Bruckbauer, and Leidig, so as to arrive at the invention of claim 22, since Bunya teaches the appliance can supply energy from the grid and battery simultaneously so as to deliver a total power to the coil above what is solely available from the grid connection.
Regarding claim 23, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
However, although Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses a residential electrically powered inductive cooktop, connectable to a 120 V electric power circuit, they do not disclose powering at least one of the burners with power provided simultaneously by both the battery and grid, specifically
wherein: powering the plurality of burners is from a combination of power from the battery and from the 120 V electric power circuit, and a peak output power of the at least one of the plurality of burners is greater than a maximum power available from the 120 V electric power circuit alone.
Bunya, in the same field of endeavor, teaches that it is known to simultaneously supply power from both the grid [fig. 2: commercial electricity source 50] and the battery [para. 0033: “The storage battery 14 is configured to store electricity that has been smoothed by the rectifier circuit 15. The storage battery 14 is, for example, a secondary battery, such as a lithium battery.”] so as to deliver additional power to an inductive heating element [para. 0086: “The heating cooking apparatus 100 of Embodiment 3 further includes a second induction heating mode in which the second driving circuit 12 is operated in addition to the first driving circuit 11 to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6.”], or to conserve energy [para. 0093: “As described above, in Embodiment 3, the first driving circuit 11, which receives electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50, and the second driving circuit 12, which receives electricity supplied by the storage battery 14, each supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6 in the second induction heating mode. Thus, induction heating of the heating target 51 can be attained by use of electricity supplied by the storage battery 14 while less electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is used. Therefore, induction heating can be performed with less power consumption. In addition, the second induction heating mode can be used for peak shaving during use of commercial electricity source 50. For example, the maximum possible power consumption for a time period in which the unit price of the electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is high is set in advance in the controller 10. When there is a need to perform induction heating with a power output exceeding the maximum possible power consumption, the second induction heating mode is used to utilize electricity from the storage battery 14. More specifically, for example, when the maximum possible power consumption is set to 2,000 W and electricity exceeding 2,000 W is needed, operation in the second induction heating mode is executed so that electricity from the storage battery 14 is utilized. With this configuration, energy saving can be facilitated.”], the corresponding circuit including at least the electrical power bus and DC power [see fig. 2, showing an electrical power bus connected to commercial electricity source 50, and a DC power bus connected to rectifier circuit 15].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the inductive cooktop appliance of Jenkins, Bruckbauer, and Leidig, so as to arrive at the invention of claim 23, since Bunya teaches the appliance can supply energy from the grid and battery simultaneously so as to deliver a total power to the coil above what is solely available from the grid connection.
Regarding claim 24, Jenkins in view of Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses the inductive cooktop appliance of claim 12.
However, although Jenkins as modified by Bruckbauer and Leidig discloses a residential electrically powered inductive cooktop, connectable to a 240 V electric power circuit, they do not disclose powering at least one of the burners with power provided simultaneously by both the battery and grid, specifically
wherein: powering the plurality of burners is from a combination of power from the battery and from the 240 V electric power circuit, and a peak output power of the at least one of the plurality of burners is greater than a maximum power available from the 240 V electric power circuit alone.
Bunya, in the same field of endeavor, teaches that it is known to simultaneously supply power from both the grid [fig. 2: commercial electricity source 50] and the battery [para. 0033: “The storage battery 14 is configured to store electricity that has been smoothed by the rectifier circuit 15. The storage battery 14 is, for example, a secondary battery, such as a lithium battery.”] so as to deliver additional power to an inductive heating element [para. 0086: “The heating cooking apparatus 100 of Embodiment 3 further includes a second induction heating mode in which the second driving circuit 12 is operated in addition to the first driving circuit 11 to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6.”], or to conserve energy [para. 0093: “As described above, in Embodiment 3, the first driving circuit 11, which receives electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50, and the second driving circuit 12, which receives electricity supplied by the storage battery 14, each supply high-frequency current to the heating coil 6 in the second induction heating mode. Thus, induction heating of the heating target 51 can be attained by use of electricity supplied by the storage battery 14 while less electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is used. Therefore, induction heating can be performed with less power consumption. In addition, the second induction heating mode can be used for peak shaving during use of commercial electricity source 50. For example, the maximum possible power consumption for a time period in which the unit price of the electricity supplied by the commercial electricity source 50 is high is set in advance in the controller 10. When there is a need to perform induction heating with a power output exceeding the maximum possible power consumption, the second induction heating mode is used to utilize electricity from the storage battery 14. More specifically, for example, when the maximum possible power consumption is set to 2,000 W and electricity exceeding 2,000 W is needed, operation in the second induction heating mode is executed so that electricity from the storage battery 14 is utilized. With this configuration, energy saving can be facilitated.”], the corresponding circuit including at least the electrical power bus and DC power [see fig. 2, showing an electrical power bus connected to commercial electricity source 50, and a DC power bus connected to rectifier circuit 15].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the inductive cooktop appliance of Jenkins, Bruckbauer, and Leidig, so as to arrive at the invention of claim 23, since Bunya teaches the appliance can supply energy from the grid and battery simultaneously so as to deliver a total power to the coil above what is solely available from the grid connection.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THEODORE J EVANGELISTA whose telephone number is (571)272-6093. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm EST.
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/THEODORE J EVANGELISTA/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/EDWARD F LANDRUM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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