BSH Home Appliances Corporation et al.

Patent Trials and Appeals Board

Jan 28, 2021

2020004430 (P.T.A.B. Jan. 28, 2021)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
15/643,591 07/07/2017 Nilton Bertolini 2017P01442US 1088
46726 7590 01/28/2021
BSH Home Appliances Corporation
100 Bosch Boulevard
NEW BERN, NC 28562
EXAMINER
ZEC, FILIP
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
3763
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
01/28/2021 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):
MBX-NBN-IntelProp@bshg.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte NILTON BERTOLINI, SILAS PATRICK MALLON, and
JORGE CARLOS MONTALVO SANCHEZ

Appeal 2020-004430
Application 15/643,591
Technology Center 3700
Before DANIEL S. SONG, MICHAEL L. WOODS, and
NATHAN A. ENGELS, Administrative Patent Judges.
WOODS, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant1 appeals from the
Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1, 2, 4–17, and 19–21. See Appeal Br.
7. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.

1 We use the word Appellant to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R.
§ 1.42(a). Appellant identifies the real party in interest as BSH Home
Appliances Corporation. Appeal Br. 2.
Appeal 2020-004430
Application 15/643,591
2
CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER
The application is titled “Control Logic for Compact Ice Making
System.” Spec. 1. Claim 1 is the sole independent claim. Appeal Br. 14–18
(Claims App.). We reproduce Claim 1, below, with emphasis added to a
particular limitation that is central to our analysis:
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a fresh food compartment;
a freezer compartment;
an ice compartment disposed in the fresh food
compartment;
an ice maker assembly disposed in the ice compartment,
the ice maker assembly including an ice maker tray/evaporator
having an evaporator cooling tube which is in direct contact with
an ice maker tray portion;
a tray temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the
ice maker tray/evaporator;
an ice bucket for storing ice, the ice bucket being disposed
in the ice compartment; and
a controller configured to control ice making, ice
harvesting, and ice maintenance based on the temperature sensed
by the tray temperature sensor,
wherein the tray temperature sensor is the only
temperature sensor used to control ice making, ice harvesting,
and ice maintenance, and
wherein the controller is configured to operate in an ice
maintenance mode to maintain the ice compartment at a
temperature to prevent the ice stored in the ice bucket from
melting by using the temperature sensed by the tray temperature
sensor.
Id. at 14 (Claims App.) (emphasis added).

Appeal 2020-004430
Application 15/643,591
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REFERENCES
The prior art relied upon by the Examiner is:
Name Reference Date
Shoukyuu US 7,152,424 B2 Dec. 26, 2006
Wang US 7,406,838 B2 Aug. 5, 2008
Lee US 2010/0257889 A1 Oct. 14, 2010
McCollough US 2013/0192279 A1 Aug. 1, 2013
Bortoletto US 8,950,197 B2 Feb. 10, 2015
Hong US 9,080,799 B2 July 14, 2015
Subera US 9,528,741 B2 Dec. 27, 2016

REJECTIONS
The following rejections are before us on appeal:
(1) Claims 1, 4–6, 8–10, 13–17, and 19–21 stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Hong, Subera, and
McCollough. Final Act. 2.2
(2) Claim 2 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Hong, Subera, McCollough, and Wang. Final Act. 9.
(3) Claim 7 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Hong, Subera, McCollough, and Lee. Final Act. 9.
(4) Claim 11 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Hong, Subera, McCollough, and Bortoletto. Final Act. 10.
(5) Claim 12 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Hong, Subera, McCollough, and Shoukyuu. Final Act. 10.

2 Although the list of rejected claims does not include claim 8 (see Final Act.
2), the Examiner rejected claim 8 as unpatentable over Hong, Subera, and
McCollough (see id. at 5).
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Application 15/643,591
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OPINION
I. Claims 1, 4–6, 8–10, 13–17, and 19–21 as Unpatentable Over Hong,
Subera, and McCollough
In rejecting sole independent claim 1, the Examiner finds that Hong
teaches the claimed “fresh food compartment,” “freezer compartment,” “ice
compartment disposed in the fresh food compartment,” “ice maker assembly
disposed in the ice compartment,” “ice maker assembly,” “ice maker
tray/evaporator having an evaporator cooling tube which is in direct contact
with an ice maker tray portion,” and “an ice bucket for storing ice.” Final
Act. 3 (citations omitted).
The Examiner finds, however, that Hong “does not teach a tray
temperature sensor . . . wherein the tray temperature sensor is the only
temperature sensor used to control ice making, ice harvesting, and ice
maintenance.” Id. (emphasis added). To address this limitation, the
Examiner finds that “Subera teaches . . . a tray temperature sensor . . . for
sensing a temperature . . . wherein the tray temperature sensor (139, within
154, FIG. 8) is the only temperature sensor used to control ice making, ice
harvesting, and ice maintenance.” Id. (citing also Subera Fig. 9). The
Examiner explains that as to Subera’s temperature sensor 139, “it appears
that no other temperature sensors are used in FIG. 8 and 9.” Id. (citing also
Subera, 2:1–15).
The Examiner also finds that Hong “does not teach wherein the
controller is configured to operate in an ice maintenance mode” and relies on
McCollough for addressing this limitation. See id. at 4.
To summarize, the Examiner relies on Subera for teaching a single
temperature sensor for controlling “ice making, ice harvesting, and ice
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Application 15/643,591
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maintenance” (id. at 3) and McCollough for teaching the use of a controller
for operating in “ice maintenance mode” (id. at 4).
In its Appeal Brief, Appellant argues, “the Examiner’s position that
Subera controls ice making, ice harvesting, and ice maintenance and that the
tray temperature sensor . . . is the only temperature sensor used to control ice
making, ice harvesting, and ice maintenance is clearly misplaced.” Appeal
Br. 10.
We agree with Appellant.
The Examiner’s finding that Subera teaches its thermistor 139 as
being used to control ice maintenance is not supported by the record. See
Final Act. 3.
We assume Examiner’s arguendo that Subera teaches a single
thermistor, that being thermistor 139. Id. Subera describes this thermistor
as “detect[ing] the temperature of the ice tray containing water for freezing.”
Subera, 2:35–37. Subera further explains this thermistor as “detect[ing]
temperatures associated with ice formation” prior to “eject[ing] formed ice
cubes from the icemaker.” Id. at 2:12–15; see also id. at 3:13–15
(describing ice cubes as being ejected “into an underlying ice bin.”).
Although Subera describes thermistor 139 as being used to control “ice
making” and “ice harvesting,” Subera does not describe this thermistor as
being used to “maintain” the ice after formation, as required by the claims.
See Appeal Br. 14 (App. A) (reciting, “wherein the tray temperature sensor
is the only temperature sensor used to control ice making, ice harvesting,
and ice maintenance”). In other words, Subera does not describe, nor is it
readily evident, that Subera’s thermistor on the ice tray functions to control
maintenance of the formed and ejected ice, which are no longer in the ice
maker.
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Application 15/643,591
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For at least this reason, the Examiner erred in finding that Subera
teaches its temperature sensor 139 as being used to control ice maintenance.
Furthermore, McCollough does not remedy the deficiency of Subera.
Although McCollough teaches circulating cold air around ice cubes “for a
period of time before the defrost cycle begins so that the ice . . . will not
reach its melting temperature during the defrost cycle” (McCollough ¶ 62;
see also Ans. 12 (citing the same)), McCollough does not teach using a tray
temperature sensor, such as the one described in Subera, to prevent the ice
cubes from melting. In other words, McCollough merely teaches the use of
circulating air for a “period of time” to prevent ice from melting.
McCollough ¶ 62. As to McCollough’s thermistor, McCollough teaches that
its thermistor is used for harvesting ice from a water tray, rather than for
“maintaining” or preventing ice from melting. See, e.g., McCollough ¶ 37
(“[a] thermistor or other suitable temperature sensor operatively connected
to the controller can be coupled to the water tray 58 . . . for determining the
freezing status of the water contained in the water tray 58 to facilitate ice
harvesting.” (emphasis added)); see also Appeal Br. 11 (identifying the
same).
For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the rejection of claims 1, 4–6,
8–10, 13–17, and 19–21 as unpatentable over Hong, Subera, and
McCollough.

II. Claims 2, 7, 11, and 12 as Unpatentable Over Hong, Subera,
McCollough, and one of Wang, Lee, Bortoletto, or Shoukyuu
In rejecting dependent claims 2, 7, 11, and 12 as unpatentable over
Hong, Subera, McCollough, and the other cited art, the Examiner relies on
the same flawed findings discussed above. See Final Act. 9–11.
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For the same reasons that we reverse the rejection of independent
claim 1, we also reverse the rejections of dependent claims 2, 7, 11, and 12.

CONCLUSION
The Examiner’s rejections are reversed.
DECISION SUMMARY
In summary:
Claims
Rejected
35
U.S.C. §
Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed
1, 4–6, 8–10,
13–17, 19–21
103 Hong, Subera,
McCollough
1, 4–6, 8–10,
13–17, 19–21
2 103 Hong, Subera,
McCollough,
Wang
2
7 103 Hong, Subera,
McCollough, Lee
7
11 103 Hong, Subera,
McCollough,
Bortoletto
11
12 103 Hong, Subera,
McCollough,
Shoukyuu
12
Overall
Outcome
1, 2, 4–17,
19–21

REVERSED