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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-36 are amended. Therefore, claims 1-36 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on December 23, 2025 has been entered. Applicant’s amendment overcomes the previously set-forth objection to the Specification regarding the length of the abstract.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pages 1-5, filed on 12/23/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-36 under U.S.C. 102 and 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of applicant’s amendment regarding the stationary autonomous tool that receives a rotating cooking surface and newly found prior art regarding that feature.
Applicant argues that Gokey does not include stopping or indexing the cooker’s multiple sections and that the heating source is not described in detail.
It is the Examiner’s position that these arguments are not persuasive. Gokey discloses where the rotation of the cooking surface that can contain grates or grills can be incremental, where there is indexing to stop between sections, Section 5 lines 67-end, “When the motor of the rotation means 38 operates discontinuously, each increment advancing cooking area 31 is in the range of from 3 to 45 degrees”.
Gokey also discloses where the heating element heats the cooking surface, Section 6, lines 14-15, “The heating means 37 may be continuous beneath the cooking area 31 or composed of a number of individually controllable segments”.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-22 in Group I in the reply filed on 07/07/2025 is acknowledged. Since claim 23 is now dependent on claim 1, claims 23-36 have not been withdrawn and are now part of the Group I claims. Therefore, claims 1-36 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. CA3,166,189, filed on 06/29/2022.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“hub rotating means” in Claim 1 and 18
The limitation uses the word “means” and the functional language attributed the “means” includes: “is activated the hub rotates the griddle”.
“hub attachment means” in Claim 14
The limitation uses the word “means” and the functional language attributed the “means” includes: “is attached on its top side to an underside of the hub”.
“actuator connecting means” in Claim 14
The limitation uses the word “means” and the functional language attributed the “means” includes: “is connected to an actuator”.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
Reference is made to the Specification filed on 06/30/2022.
Regarding the hub rotating means, on Page 1, “The hub rotating means can be comprised of an electric actuator and an actuator connecting means”, where the hub rotating means 39 is assumed to cover an actuator connected to a hub
Regarding the hub attachment means, Page 2, “The actuator turns the axle 42 which is connected to the bottom of the hub attachment means 43, which hub attachment means 43 is attached at its top to the hub 40.”, where the hub attachment means 43 is assumed to cover the features shown from Fig. 8 as being an adapter that connects an actuator to the hub
Regarding the actuator connecting means, Page 1, “The axle 42 is connected at a second end to the actuator connector means 41 which is attached to an actuator (not shown) within the actuator cover 300.”, where the actuator connecting means 41 is assumed to cover the features shown from Fig. 8 as being an adapter that connects an axle to an actuator
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-17, 23, and 33-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, line 2 from end, the phrase “cooking surface rotates into a position at or near each autonomous tool”, it is unclear what “near” each autonomous tool constitutes. How close must the surface be from each tool in order to satisfy the “near” limitation?
For the purposes of substantive examination, the cooking surface is assumed to be near or at each autonomous tool when the surface is located at a position where the autonomous tool is capable of performing it’s designed task.
Claims 2-17, 23, and 33-36 are also rejected based on their dependency to claim 1.
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 1-3, 13, 15-18, 22-25, and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang).
Regarding claim 1, Gokey discloses an autonomous (Abstract, “An automated food preparation system”) cooking unit comprising an annular cooking surface connected to a rotatable hub (Section 2, lines 8-11, “annular rotating cooking surface, an industrial robot for manipulating the food items onto the grill for cooking and removing the food items”, and Section 5, lines 43-44, “The cooking area 31 is divided into multiple, typically eight, arcuate segments 32.”, and Section 6, lines 3-4, “Each of the arcuate segments 32 contains a removable cooking area which may be either a planar grill 33 or a wire grid 34”, where the wire grid 34 is construed to be the grate located on top of the rotatable hub or cooking area 31) which is connected to a hub rotating means (Section 5, lines 44-49, The cooking area 31 can be rotated on a plurality of wheels 35 rolling in a "U" shaped track 36. The rotation means 38 can be any conventional power source capable of rotating cooking area 31 in the range of 10 minutes to 40 minutes per revolution.”),
the grate, the rotatable hub and the hub rotating means supported by a grill body (Section 4, lines 30-32, “The cooker 13 is located on a base 30 of a suitable height for convenient intervention by a human operator”, where Fig. 1 shows that the grate 34, rotatable hub 13 and hub rotating means 38 are supported by the base 30),
wherein when the hub rotating means is activated the hub rotates the cooking surface through a plurality of positions (Section 5 lines 67-end, “When the motor of the rotation means 38 operates discontinuously, each increment advancing cooking area 31 is in the range of from 3 to 45 degrees”, where each increment includes a removable cooking area that can be the planar grill 33 or the wire grid 34, where when the motor of the rotation means or hub rotating means is activated, the hub rotates the cooking surface that contains multiple grates that are sectioned off);
at least one heating element positioned beneath the cooking surface to heat items being cooked on the cooking surface (Section 6, lines 11-20, “The cooking area 31 is heated using conventional means such as gas or electricity…The heating means 37 may be continuous beneath the cooking area 31 or composed of a number of individually controllable segment, the number of segments preferably corresponding to the number of arcuate sections 32 of the cooking area 31. The heating means 37 has been illustrated for convenience as a gas burner”); and
at least one autonomous tool (Section 5, lines 4-6, “The robot 12 may use one of several end effectors 19 available to the robot 12 or the robot 12 may use combination end effectors 19 having multiple uses.”).
Gokey does not disclose:
the at least one autonomous tool fixed in position about the annular cooking surface such that the cooking surface rotates into a position at or near each autonomous tool to have that autonomous tool apply a corresponding operation associated with the item one or more times.
However, Yang discloses, in the similar field of autonomous food units (Abstract, “automatic food packaging device”), where an autonomous tool is fixed in position about an annular food holding surface such that the food holding surface rotates into position at each autonomous tool to have the tool apply a corresponding operation associated with the food item one or more times (Page 5, Para. 2 from end, “transposition disc 103 is fixedly mounted on the other end of the transposition power device 102; the transposition disc 103 around uniformly distributed eight stations, each station with two working groove, each working groove placing a reed leaf placing cylinder 104. transposition power device 102 provides power to make the transposition disc 103 to do circular motion, each reed leaf placing cylinder 104 to each working position.”, where the transposition disc is the annular food holding surface that rotates, where food is held on the disc surface, Page 4, last Para., “104-rice dumpling leaf placing cylinder”, and where fixed autonomous tools apply corresponding operations when the food is rotated into position of each autonomous tool, Abstract, “wherein the transposition device provides a base and a station replacement function; putting the rice dumpling leaf into the rice dumpling leaf placing cylinder; processing the rice dumpling leaf shaping device for shaping the rice dumpling leaf into fixed shape; putting the jujube in the shaped rice dumpling leaf by the jujube putting device; processing the sticky rice in the rice dumpling leaf by the rice putting device; finally taking out the rice dumpling by the binding device and binding the rice dumpling.”, where Fig. 2 shows that multiple autonomous tools are present around the annular food holding surface, where 5 includes a food shaper and 4 is a jujube inserter). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the autonomous tool and cooking surface in Gokey to be subdivided into multiple fixed stations that have individual autonomous tools as taught by Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to divide up a cooking process from Gokey into multiple stations, where each station is specialized and contains a fixed autonomous tool which can improve the efficiency of the cooking process through eliminating the need of a robotic system having to move or switch between end effectors, as stated by Yang, Page 2, Para. 4 from end, “An automatic food packaging device, comprising a transposition device, a reed leaf placing device, a rice dumpling leaf shaping device, a jujube placing device, a rice placing device, a binding device.”.
Regarding claim 2, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises at least one autonomous flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”).
Regarding claim 3, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 2, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises at least one autonomous ejector (Gokey, Section 4, lines 42-43, “The robot 12 can remove each food item 16 for cooking.”, and Section 5, lines 36-39, “When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area”, where the robot includes a removing function, which is construed to be an ejector as it ejects food from the grill).
Regarding claim 13, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, wherein the at least one heating element comprises at least one gas burner to heat the cooking surface (Gokey, Section 6, lines 19-22, “The heating means 37 has been illustrated for convenience as a gas burner, it is understood that electric elements or any other conventional heating method can be selected.”, and Section 6, lines 14-15, “The heating means 37 may be continuous beneath the cooking area 31”).
Regarding claim 15, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses which additionally comprises a supporting frame and wherein the supporting frame is attached to the hub and the cooking surface rests on the supporting frame (Gokey, Modified Fig. 2, where the supporting frame is shown to be an upper part of the hub, where this frame would support all the grates and griddles or planar grills 33 or wire grids 34, where the grates include a cooking surface).
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Modified Figure 2, Gokey
Regarding claim 16, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses in which cooking surface comprises a grate which comprises grate segments (Gokey, Section 6, lines 5-8, “The type of cooking area segment is selected to provide proper cooking of the particular type of food item 16 being cooked. For example, sausages are traditionally cooked on a wire grid 34”, where Fig. 1A shows that the wire grid 34 or grate includes segments that would contain food items like sausages).
Regarding claim 17, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises a robot or robot arm capable of performing one or more of the functions of food flipping (Gokey, Section 9, lines 29-35, “The robot controller 51 has sufficient intelligence to store which end effector 19 is presently in place on the robot arm 21 and instruct the robot 12 to change end effectors 19, when necessary. The robot controller 51 then commands the robot arm 21 to go to the location specified from the grid map and perform the necessary service.”, where food flipping is done, Section 10, lines 24-27, “where the particular food item 16 is telling the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”), food ejecting, food removing, food temperature measuring, and grate cleaning.
Regarding claim 18, Gokey discloses an autonomous (Abstract, “An automated food preparation system”) cooking unit comprising an annular cooking surface connected to a rotatable hub (Section 2, lines 8-11, “annular rotating cooking surface, an industrial robot for manipulating the food items onto the grill for cooking and removing the food items”, and Section 5, lines 43-44, “The cooking area 31 is divided into multiple, typically eight, arcuate segments 32.”, and Section 6, lines 3-4, “Each of the arcuate segments 32 contains a removable cooking area which may be either a planar grill 33 or a wire grid 34”, where the planar grill 33 is construed to be the griddle located on top of the rotatable hub or cooking area 31) which is connected to a hub rotating means (Section 5, lines 44-49, The cooking area 31 can be rotated on a plurality of wheels 35 rolling in a "U" shaped track 36. The rotation means 38 can be any conventional power source capable of rotating cooking area 31 in the range of 10 minutes to 40 minutes per revolution.”), and
at least one heating element positioned beneath the cooking surface to heat items being cooked on the cooking surface (Section 6, lines 11-20, “The cooking area 31 is heated using conventional means such as gas or electricity…The heating means 37 may be continuous beneath the cooking area 31 or composed of a number of individually controllable segment, the number of segments preferably corresponding to the number of arcuate sections 32 of the cooking area 31. The heating means 37 has been illustrated for convenience as a gas burner”);
the cooking surface, the rotatable hub and the hub rotating means supported by a grill body (Section 4, lines 30-32, “The cooker 13 is located on a base 30 of a suitable height for convenient intervention by a human operator”, where Fig. 1 shows that the griddle 33/ cooking surface, rotatable hub 13 and hub rotating means 38 are supported by the base 30),
wherein the hub rotating means is instructed by the unit and activated to rotate the hub and the cooking surface to move through at a plurality of positions through one or more rotations according to an item being cooked (Section 5 lines 67-end, “When the motor of the rotation means 38 operates discontinuously, each increment advancing cooking area 31 is in the range of from 3 to 45 degrees”, where each increment includes a removable cooking area that can be the planar grill 33 or the wire grid 34, where when the motor of the rotation means or hub rotating means is activated, the hub rotates the griddles).
Gokey does not disclose:
where the hub rotating means rotates the cooking surface to move through a plurality of separated positions according to an item being cooked, where each position includes a food altering step.
However, Yang discloses, in the similar field of autonomous food units (Abstract, “automatic food packaging device”), where an autonomous tool is fixed in position about an annular food holding surface such that the food holding surface rotates into multiple positions at each autonomous tool to have the tool apply a corresponding operation associated with the food item depending to the food altering step (Page 5, Para. 2 from end, “transposition disc 103 is fixedly mounted on the other end of the transposition power device 102; the transposition disc 103 around uniformly distributed eight stations, each station with two working groove, each working groove placing a reed leaf placing cylinder 104. transposition power device 102 provides power to make the transposition disc 103 to do circular motion, each reed leaf placing cylinder 104 to each working position.”, where the transposition disc is the annular food holding surface that rotates, where food is held on the disc surface, Page 4, last Para., “104-rice dumpling leaf placing cylinder”, and where fixed autonomous tools apply corresponding operations when the food is rotated into position of each autonomous tool, Abstract, “wherein the transposition device provides a base and a station replacement function; putting the rice dumpling leaf into the rice dumpling leaf placing cylinder; processing the rice dumpling leaf shaping device for shaping the rice dumpling leaf into fixed shape; putting the jujube in the shaped rice dumpling leaf by the jujube putting device; processing the sticky rice in the rice dumpling leaf by the rice putting device; finally taking out the rice dumpling by the binding device and binding the rice dumpling.”, where Fig. 2 shows that multiple autonomous tools are present around the annular food holding surface, where 5 includes a food shaper and 4 is a jujube inserter). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the positions and cooking surface in Gokey to be subdivided into multiple fixed stations that have individual autonomous tools as taught by Yang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to divide up a cooking process from Gokey into multiple stations, where each station is specialized and contains a fixed autonomous tool which can improve the efficiency of the cooking process through eliminating the need of a robotic system having to move or switch between end effectors, as stated by Yang, Page 2, Para. 4 from end, “An automatic food packaging device, comprising a transposition device, a reed leaf placing device, a rice dumpling leaf shaping device, a jujube placing device, a rice placing device, a binding device.”.
Regarding claim 22, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 18, as set forth above, discloses additionally comprising a robot or robot arm capable of performing one or more of the functions of food flipping (Gokey, Section 9, lines 29-35, “The robot controller 51 has sufficient intelligence to store which end effector 19 is presently in place on the robot arm 21 and instruct the robot 12 to change end effectors 19, when necessary. The robot controller 51 then commands the robot arm 21 to go to the location specified from the grid map and perform the necessary service.”, where food flipping is done, Section 10, lines 24-27, “where the particular food item 16 is telling the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”), food ejecting, food removing, food temperature measuring, and cooking surface cleaning.
Regarding claim 23, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the cooking surface is interchangeable between a grate or a griddle connected to the rotating means (Gokey, Section 5, lines 43-44, “The cooking area 31 is divided into multiple, typically eight, arcuate segments 32.”, and Section 6, lines 3-4, “Each of the arcuate segments 32 contains a removable cooking area which may be either a planar grill 33 or a wire grid 34”, where the planar grill/griddle or wire grid/grate can be interchangeably used within the arcuate segments).
Regarding claim 24, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 18, as set forth above, discloses further comprising at least one autonomous tool (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”).
Regarding claim 25, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses in which the at least one autonomous tool are a flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”) and/or an ejector (Gokey, Section 4, lines 42-43, “The robot 12 can remove each food item 16 for cooking.”, and Section 5, lines 36-39, “When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area”, where the robot includes a removing function, which is construed to be an ejector as it ejects food from the grill).
Regarding claim 33, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses additionally comprising a processing unit configured to control the at least one autonomous tool (Gokey, Section 8, lines 18-20, “In an application where one programmable controller 15 would be controlling a plurality of robots 12 a larger computing system may be necessary”, where the programmable controller would include a processing unit in order to deliver control signals to the robot).
Claims 4-9, 19-21, and 26-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Balsamo et al. (US 20190298104 A1, hereinafter Balsamo).
Regarding claim 4, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises at least one autonomous flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”), at least one autonomous ejector (Section 4, lines 42-43, “The robot 12 can remove each food item 16 for cooking.”, and Section 5, lines 36-39, “When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area”, where the robot includes a removing function, which is construed to be an ejector as it ejects food from the grill).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
where there is at least one autonomous grate cleaner.
However, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”.
Regarding claim 5, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises at least one autonomous flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
where there is at least one autonomous grate cleaner.
However, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”.
Regarding claim 6, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 2, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises an autonomous temperature probe.
However, Balsamo discloses where there is an autonomous temperature probe that can measure the temperature of the food items being cooked (Para. 0127, “the hub 204 can be rotated to move the corresponding plates 220, 238 to the output cooking station for additional cooking. An IR (infrared) sensor 270 (FIG. 14) may be mounted to the base 202 or to the tower 264, for example. The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous temperature probe as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to determine whether or not the patty or food item has been cooked to the correct doneness, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0127, “The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty to determine whether or not the patty has been cooked to a selected doneness.”.
Regarding claim 7, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 3, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises an autonomous temperature probe.
However, Balsamo discloses where there is an autonomous temperature probe that can measure the temperature of the food items being cooked (Para. 0127, “the hub 204 can be rotated to move the corresponding plates 220, 238 to the output cooking station for additional cooking. An IR (infrared) sensor 270 (FIG. 14) may be mounted to the base 202 or to the tower 264, for example. The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous temperature probe as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to determine whether or not the patty or food item has been cooked to the correct doneness, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0127, “The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty to determine whether or not the patty has been cooked to a selected doneness.”.
Regarding claim 8, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 4, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises an autonomous temperature probe.
However, Balsamo discloses where there is an autonomous temperature probe that can measure the temperature of the food items being cooked (Para. 0127, “the hub 204 can be rotated to move the corresponding plates 220, 238 to the output cooking station for additional cooking. An IR (infrared) sensor 270 (FIG. 14) may be mounted to the base 202 or to the tower 264, for example. The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous temperature probe as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to determine whether or not the patty or food item has been cooked to the correct doneness, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0127, “The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty to determine whether or not the patty has been cooked to a selected doneness.”.
Regarding claim 9, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 5, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
wherein the at least one autonomous tool comprises an autonomous temperature probe.
However, Balsamo discloses where there is an autonomous temperature probe that can measure the temperature of the food items being cooked (Para. 0127, “the hub 204 can be rotated to move the corresponding plates 220, 238 to the output cooking station for additional cooking. An IR (infrared) sensor 270 (FIG. 14) may be mounted to the base 202 or to the tower 264, for example. The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous temperature probe as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to determine whether or not the patty or food item has been cooked to the correct doneness, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0127, “The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty to determine whether or not the patty has been cooked to a selected doneness.”.
Regarding claim 19, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 18, as set forth above, discloses additionally comprising at least one autonomous flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
there being at least one autonomous cooking surface cleaner located at respective ones of the plurality of positions.
However, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner as taught by Balsamo; where duplicating the cleaner to be located at multiple grate locations would be a mere duplication of parts, which has been held an obvious modification to make.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”.
Regarding claim 20, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 18, as set forth above, discloses additionally comprising at least one autonomous flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”), at least one autonomous ejector (Section 4, lines 42-43, “The robot 12 can remove each food item 16 for cooking.”, and Section 5, lines 36-39, “When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area”, where the robot includes a removing function, which is construed to be an ejector as it ejects food from the grill).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
where there is at least one autonomous cooking surface cleaner located at respective ones of the plurality of positions.
However, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”.
Regarding claim 21, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 19, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
additionally comprising an autonomous temperature probe located at a corresponding one of the plurality of positions.
However, Balsamo discloses where there is an autonomous temperature probe that can measure the temperature of the food items being cooked (Para. 0127, “the hub 204 can be rotated to move the corresponding plates 220, 238 to the output cooking station for additional cooking. An IR (infrared) sensor 270 (FIG. 14) may be mounted to the base 202 or to the tower 264, for example. The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous temperature probe as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to determine whether or not the patty or food item has been cooked to the correct doneness, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0127, “The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty to determine whether or not the patty has been cooked to a selected doneness.”.
Regarding claim 26, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses in which the at least one autonomous tool are a flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
and/or a grill cleaner.
However, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”.
Regarding claim 27, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses in which the at least one autonomous tool are a flipper (Gokey, Section 10, lines 25-27, “the robot 12 instructing robot 12 to select the flipper end effector 23 for turning food item 16”) and an ejector (Gokey, Section 4, lines 42-43, “The robot 12 can remove each food item 16 for cooking.”, and Section 5, lines 36-39, “When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area”, where the robot includes a removing function, which is construed to be an ejector as it ejects food from the grill).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
a grill cleaner and a temperature probe.
However, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”), and where there is a temperature probe that can measure the temperature of the food items being cooked (Para. 0127, “the hub 204 can be rotated to move the corresponding plates 220, 238 to the output cooking station for additional cooking. An IR (infrared) sensor 270 (FIG. 14) may be mounted to the base 202 or to the tower 264, for example. The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner and temperature probe as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”, and
being able to determine whether or not the patty or food item has been cooked to the correct doneness, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0127, “The IR sensor 270 is positioned to have a clear line of sight to a periphery of a patty in the output cooking station and can sense a temperature of the periphery of the patty to determine whether or not the patty has been cooked to a selected doneness.”.
Claims 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Oleynik (WO 2022074448 A1).
Regarding claim 10, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 2, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
in which the at least one autonomous flipper is two autonomous flippers.
However, Oleynik discloses, in the similar field of robotic systems that interact with circular hubs (Para. 00116, “FIG. 31 is a pictorial diagram illustrating an isometric view of a round robotic module assembly with two robotic arms and two end effectors in accordance with the present disclosure.”), where the robotic system can include two end effectors in use simultaneously (Para. 00116, “round robotic module assembly with two robotic arms and two end effectors”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the one autonomous flipper end effector in modified Gokey to include two autonomous flipper end effectors as taught by Oleynik.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to perform more flipping actions at the same time through the multiple robotic arms and end effectors, as stated by Oleynik, Para. 00345, “plurality of slave robotic module assemblies in preparing the one or more orders by the respective one or more robotic arms and the one or more robotic end effectors executing one or more corresponding minimanipulations by a respective robotic module assembly to prepare a particular dish.”.
Regarding claim 11, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 3, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
in which the at least one autonomous ejector is two autonomous ejectors.
However, Oleynik discloses, in the similar field of robotic systems that interact with circular hubs (Para. 00116, “FIG. 31 is a pictorial diagram illustrating an isometric view of a round robotic module assembly with two robotic arms and two end effectors in accordance with the present disclosure.”), where the robotic system can include two end effectors in use simultaneously (Para. 00116, “round robotic module assembly with two robotic arms and two end effectors”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the one autonomous ejector end effector in modified Gokey to include two autonomous ejector end effectors as taught by Oleynik.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to perform more ejecting actions at the same time through the multiple robotic arms and end effectors, as stated by Oleynik, Para. 00345, “plurality of slave robotic module assemblies in preparing the one or more orders by the respective one or more robotic arms and the one or more robotic end effectors executing one or more corresponding minimanipulations by a respective robotic module assembly to prepare a particular dish.”.
Regarding claim 12, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 3, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
in which the at least one autonomous flipper is two autonomous flippers and the at least one autonomous ejector is two autonomous ejectors.
However, Oleynik discloses, in the similar field of robotic systems that interact with circular hubs (Para. 00116, “FIG. 31 is a pictorial diagram illustrating an isometric view of a round robotic module assembly with two robotic arms and two end effectors in accordance with the present disclosure.”), where the robotic system can include two or more end effectors in use simultaneously (Para. 00116, “round robotic module assembly with two robotic arms and two end effectors”; Para. 00345, “plurality of slave robotic module assemblies in preparing the one or more orders by the respective one or more robotic arms and the one or more robotic end effectors”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the one autonomous flipper and ejector end effector in modified Gokey to include two autonomous flipper and ejector end effectors as taught by Oleynik.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to perform more flipping and ejecting actions at the same time through the multiple robotic arms and end effectors, as stated by Oleynik, Para. 00345, “plurality of slave robotic module assemblies in preparing the one or more orders by the respective one or more robotic arms and the one or more robotic end effectors executing one or more corresponding minimanipulations by a respective robotic module assembly to prepare a particular dish.”.
Claims 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Ritchie (US 2724764 A1).
Regarding claim 14, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
in which the hub rotating means is comprised of a hub attachment means with a top side and bottom side, an axle with a first end and a second end, and an actuator connecting means with a first end and a second end,
which hub attachment means is attached on its top side to an underside of the hub and is attached on its bottom side to the first end of the axle,
which second end of the axle is attached to the first end of the actuator connecting means, and the second end of the actuator connecting means is connected to an actuator.
However, Ritchie discloses, in the similar field of rotating cooking devices (Section 1, lines 13-15, “an oven having as a part thereof, a rotatable support in the nature of a number of superimposed plates”), where there is a hub attachment means with a top being attached to the underside of a hub and the bottom attached to a first end of an axle (Section 1-2, last line to lines 1-3, “A spider 40 on the uppermost end of the spindle 36 resting upon the bearing 34, has a plate 42 secured thereto which in turn supports an uppermost plate 44.”, where the top end of the spider 40 is connected to the hub or plate 42 and the bottom end is attached to the spindle 36 or axle), where the second end of the axle is connected to the first end of an actuator connecting means, where the second end of the actuator connecting means is connected to an actuator (Section 2, lines 21-24, “An electrical prime mover such as a rotor coil 56 is suitably mounted within the chamber 14 operably coupled with the spindle 36 through the medium of intermeshing gears 58 and 60.”, where the axle or spindle 36 is connected to the gears 58 and 60 or the actuator connecting means on one end and on the other end of the gears/actuator connecting means, they are connected to the actuator or rotor coil 56). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the gear train and actuator system in modified Gokey to include the features as taught by Ritchie.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to reconfigure the gear train and actuator system so that it becomes vertical, where this can allow a user to achieve the same rotating hub feature while allowing the user to customize the placement of the actuator, as stated by Ritchie, Section 2, liens 48-52, “a vertical spindle rotatably mounted in the bearings; a spider rigidly secured to the uppermost end of the spindle for rotation therewith in a substantially horizontal plane and resting on the uppermost bearing;”
Claims 28, 30, and 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Curhan et al. (US 20190039838 A1, hereinafter Curhan).
Regarding claim 28, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool consists of tools capable of flipping, ejecting (Gokey, Section 5, lines 34-39, “robot 12 selects a spatula type end effector 23 and turns the food item 16 over to cook the reverse side of the food item 16. When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area 31”).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
where the singular tool can flip, eject, and perform cleaning.
However, Curhan discloses, in the similar field of spatulas (Para. 0115, “robotic spatula 904”), where the spatula can flip, remove foods (Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”), and perform cleaning functions (Para. 0014, “Optionally, a spatula member may oppose the palm plate and be configured to scrape or support the organic article from a surface”, where the spatula can scrape, meaning that a cleaning function can be done to scrape food items off of the cooking area). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the spatula in modified Gokey to have all these functions as taught by Curhan.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage not needed to keep alternating between multiple end effectors, as stated by Curhan, Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”.
Regarding claim 30, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool consists of tools capable of flipping and ejecting (Gokey, Section 5, lines 34-39, “robot 12 selects a spatula type end effector 23 and turns the food item 16 over to cook the reverse side of the food item 16. When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area 31”).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
where the singular tool can flip and eject foods.
However, Curhan discloses, in the similar field of spatulas (Para. 0115, “robotic spatula 904”), where the spatula can flip, remove foods (Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the spatula in modified Gokey to have all these functions as taught by Curhan.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage not needed to keep alternating between multiple end effectors, as stated by Curhan, Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”.
Regarding claim 32, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool are a first tool capable of flipping (Gokey, Section 5, lines 34-39, “robot 12 selects a spatula type end effector 23 and turns the food item 16 over to cook the reverse side of the food item 16. When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area 31”, where the flipping spatula is different from the removing food spatula).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
wherein the at least one autonomous tool are a second tool capable of ejecting and cleaning.
However, Curhan discloses, in the similar field of spatulas (Para. 0115, “robotic spatula 904”), where the spatula can remove foods, where flipping does not need to be done (Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”), and perform cleaning functions (Para. 0014, “Optionally, a spatula member may oppose the palm plate and be configured to scrape or support the organic article from a surface”, where the spatula can scrape, meaning that a cleaning function can be done to scrape food items off of the cooking area). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the spatula in modified Gokey to have all these functions as taught by Curhan.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to selectively choose which functions a user desires for their specific spatulas to perform, as the optional functions that do not need to be performed, as stated by Curhan, Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”.
Claims 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Curhan et al. (US 20190039838 A1, hereinafter Curhan) and Hedlund et al. (US 20190387290 A1, hereinafter Hedlund).
Regarding claim 29, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above, discloses wherein the at least one autonomous tool includes tools capable of flipping, ejecting (Gokey, Section 5, lines 34-39, “robot 12 selects a spatula type end effector 23 and turns the food item 16 over to cook the reverse side of the food item 16. When cooking is completed, the robot 12 again returns with a spatula type end effector 27 and removes the food item 16 from the cooking area 31”).
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
where the singular tool can perform flipping, temperature probing, ejecting, and cleaning.
However, Curhan discloses, in the similar field of spatulas (Para. 0115, “robotic spatula 904”), where the spatula can flip, remove foods (Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”), and performing cleaning functions (Para. 0014, “Optionally, a spatula member may oppose the palm plate and be configured to scrape or support the organic article from a surface”, where the spatula can scrape, meaning that a cleaning function can be done to scrape food items off of the cooking area). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the spatula in modified Gokey to have all these functions as taught by Curhan.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage not needed to keep alternating between multiple end effectors, as stated by Curhan, Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”.
Further, Hedlund discloses, in the similar field of spatulas (Para. 0045, “a spatula”), where the utensil can include built in sensors for detecting temperature (Para. 0045, “ According to another embodiment, the handle portion 312 may include an additional sensor to detect the temperature of the vessel containing the food. For example, the handle portion 312 may have an infrared sensor that would be directed to the food vessel when the utensil is in its stored position.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the spatula in modified Gokey to include a built in temperature sensor as taught by Hedlund.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to sense the positioning of the spatula in relation to the cooking area without needing human intervention through examining temperature drops, as stated by Hedlund, Para. 0045, “As another example, utensil 310 may be configured to detect when utensil 310 has been removed from a certain vicinity of food equipment 330 (e.g., temperature drop, orientation, etc.) and may emit a beeping noise to prompt a user to replace the utensil 310 within the food equipment 330 (e.g., to ensure continuous monitoring).”.
Claims 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Curhan et al. (US 20190039838 A1, hereinafter Curhan) and Balsamo et al. (US 20190298104 A1, hereinafter Balsamo).
Regarding claim 31, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
wherein the at least one autonomous tool are a first tool capable of flipping and ejecting and a second tool capable of cleaning.
However, Curhan discloses, in the similar field of spatulas (Para. 0115, “robotic spatula 904”), where the spatula can flip, remove foods (Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the spatula in modified Gokey to have all these functions as taught by Curhan.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage not needed to keep alternating between multiple end effectors, as stated by Curhan, Para. 0115, “optionally flip the meat on the grill with the spatula 904, and deliver the cooked meat to a delivery location with the spatula 904.”.
Further, Balsamo discloses, in the similar field of a cooking grates (Abstract, “The cooking plates are rotatable with the hub among a plurality of cooking stations.”), where there is an autonomous grate cleaner separate from the spatula (Para. 0120, “The hub 204 may also include a plurality of wipers 222 that extend outward the trough 216. Each of the wipers 222 may be disposed between a different pair of the lower plates 220…The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include an autonomous grate cleaner as taught by Balsamo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of wipers that are able to direct grease away from the cooking areas, which can improve the cooking efficiency of the system as there is never a buildup of grease that can prevent further cooking to occur, as stated by Balsamo, Para. 0120, “The wipers 222 may wipe the surface of the barrier 218 and push grease into the trough 216 as the hub 204 rotates relative the base 202.”.
Claims 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Reichenbach (US 3538905 A1).
Regarding claim 34, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 23, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
additionally comprising a partial cover for covering part of the grate or griddle.
However, Reichenbach discloses, in the similar field of grills (Abstract, “A barbecue grill”), where there is a partial cover for covering parts of the grill (Section 2, lines 53-54, “cover 22 and with reflector 23 in using position.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the system in modified Gokey to include a cover as taught by Reichenbach.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage the cover being able to reflect heat back towards the food when needed, as stated by Reichenbach, Section 2, lines 9-11, “The reflector device described above functions by reflecting and focusing the radiant energy that would normally be lost back onto the briquets”.
Claims 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Kim (JP 5975179 B2).
Regarding claim 35, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
additionally comprising a rotatable center grill for manually cooking food.
However, Kim discloses, in the similar field of circular grills (Page 7, Para. 2 from end, “roasted grill 80 that is supported and installed on the upper supporter 20 and a plate-like shape”), where there is a center grill (Page 7, last Para., “The auxiliary baking plate 86 has a dome-like panel shape in which the central portion is expanded. The auxiliary grill plate 86 is provided with a plurality of flame holes. The area of the auxiliary grill plate 86 is sufficient to cover the flame port 21 at the center of the upper supporter 20.”) for manually cooking food (Page 11, Para. 1, “When the grill plate 86 is installed and the meat is baked on the auxiliary grill plate 86 and the meat is baked, it is immediately consumed”, where the meat being immediately consumed implies that manual cooking can be performed as there is no need for robotic system to delay a user from consuming the meat). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the rotatable hub with a center hole in modified Gokey to include the auxiliary plate within the center that is placed onto of the grill hub as taught by Kim, where this would make the auxiliary plate rotatable; where the robotic arms within Gokey could be moved outside of the hub while still achieving the same end result of using the robotic arms for manipulating the food items.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to accelerate the cooking of food items within the grill through an auxiliary plate that has direct contact with the heating source, where this can assist a user if there is a need to immediately eat meat as soon as possible, as stated by Kim, Page 11, Para. 1, “When the grill plate 86 is installed and the meat is baked on the auxiliary grill plate 86 and the meat is baked, it is immediately consumed”.
Claims 36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gokey (US 5386762 A1) in view of Yang et al. (CN 110834751 B1, hereinafter Yang) in further view of Kim (JP 5975179 B2) and Chang (US 20110186033 A1).
Regarding claim 36, modified Gokey teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Gokey does not disclose:
additionally comprising a non-rotatable center grill for manually cooking food.
However, Kim discloses, in the similar field of circular grills (Page 7, Para. 2 from end, “roasted grill 80 that is supported and installed on the upper supporter 20 and a plate-like shape”), where there is a center grill (Page 7, last Para., “The auxiliary baking plate 86 has a dome-like panel shape in which the central portion is expanded. The auxiliary grill plate 86 is provided with a plurality of flame holes. The area of the auxiliary grill plate 86 is sufficient to cover the flame port 21 at the center of the upper supporter 20.”) for manually cooking food (Page 11, Para. 1, “When the grill plate 86 is installed and the meat is baked on the auxiliary grill plate 86 and the meat is baked, it is immediately consumed”, where the meat being immediately consumed implies that manual cooking can be performed as there is no need for robotic system to delay a user from consuming the meat). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the rotatable hub with a center hole in modified Gokey to include the auxiliary plate within the center that is placed onto of the grill hub as taught by Kim, where this would make the auxiliary plate rotatable; where the robotic arms within Gokey could be moved outside of the hub while still achieving the same end result of using the robotic arms for manipulating the food items.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage being able to accelerate the cooking of food items within the grill through an auxiliary plate that has direct contact with the heating source, where this can assist a user if there is a need to immediately eat meat as soon as possible, as stated by Kim, Page 11, Para. 1, “When the grill plate 86 is installed and the meat is baked on the auxiliary grill plate 86 and the meat is baked, it is immediately consumed”.
Further, Chang discloses, in the similar field of grills (Para. 0029, “cooking stove of the present invention is ready for grilling food in an indirect-heating manner”), where there is also a center auxiliary grill plate, however that plate is connected to a heating source and detached from the grill (Para. 0029, “ The annular cover plate 60 can be, thereafter, disposed on the upper opening 12 of the stove body 10, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. The annular cover plate defines a plate opening 62 at its center, and the gridiron 61 is disposed on the plate opening 62.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the auxiliary grill plate in modified Gokey to include being detached from the outside concentric grilling ring as taught by Chang, where being detached would make the center plate or auxiliary grill plate not rotate when the outside ring rotates from Gokey.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to cover a heating source or the stove body, where the direct cover can assist with creating a more efficient connection between the heating source and the grilling surface, as stated by Chang, Para. 0029, “ The annular cover plate 60 can be, thereafter, disposed on the upper opening 12 of the stove body 10, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Fischer (CN 104414493 A) discloses a similar auxiliary grill plate located in the center of the grill, however there is no mention of rotation.
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.
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/KEVIN GUANHUA WEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
03/06/2026
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761