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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Canada on 21 November 2021. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the Canadian application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
Page 7, line 5, should be amended to recite “bottom wall [[28]] 20.”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Comment: In light of the specification, the claimed “tea powder” is understood to mean, literally, tea leaves in powdered form, as distinct from something like instant iced tea powder or mix, which is dissolvable granules with a tea flavor.
Claims 1, 5–12, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gort-Barten (GB 2504493 A) in view of the Perry NPL.
Claim 1: Gort-Barten discloses providing a mixing device including a vessel (2) for containing a liquid therein, a mixing member (3, 10) supported within the vessel for rotation relative to the vessel, and a heating element (p. 2, ll. 17–19, “the frother further comprising heating means adapted to heat the milk or milk based liquid”) operatively connected to the vessel so as to be arranged to heat contents of the vessel.
Gort-Barten does not disclose using its mixing device for making a tea beverage using a tea powder by partly filling the vessel of the mixing device with a selected liquid; adding a prescribed amount of the tea powder to the selected liquid in the vessel; actuating the mixing member and the heating element of the mixing device so as to simultaneously (i) mix the selected liquid and the tea powder to form a mixture and (ii) heat the mixture.
However, using a milk frother to prepare a tea beverage using a tea powder is known, as taught by the Perry NPL (“How Do You Make Matcha In A Milk Frother”), which discloses partly filling the vessel of the mixing device with a selected liquid (“Add your milk of choice to the frother (making sure not to exceed the max lines)”); adding a prescribed amount of the tea powder to the selected liquid in the vessel (“While it's spinning, add in the matcha and sweetener of choice”); actuating the mixing member and the heating element of the mixing device so as to simultaneously mix the selected liquid and the tea powder to form a mixture and heat the mixture (ibid.; heating evident from “Pros: only requires one appliance for heating and mixing”).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the mixing device of Gort-Barten to perform the tea beverage making method taught by the Perry NPL as a known and effective means of doing so.
Claims 5 and 6: The Perry NPL does not disclose mixing and heating the mixture for a duration in the range of 1 to 2 minutes, or for approximately 90 seconds.
However, given that these means of making this type of beverage are already known, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of one of ordinary skill in the art to determine how long to mix and heat the mixture so that the mixture was adequately mixed (and perhaps frothed), and was adequately (and not overly) heated, including with a time value of 90 seconds.
Claims 7 and 8: Neither Gort-Barten nor the Perry NPL explicitly teach heating the mixture to a temperature exceeding 60 degrees Celsius, or equal to approximately 65 degrees Celsius, while heating the mixture.
However, Gort-Barten clearly suggests that it can heat liquids to above 60 degrees (p. 2, ll. 8–9, “The standard approach to this has been to reduce the temperature to which the milk is heated to around 60 C”), which more likely than not suggests an at least minimal moderately higher possible value of 65 °C.
Furthermore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been within the purview of one of ordinary skill in the art to select a desired temperature at which to make the beverage, including a temperature of 65 °C which is readily appreciable as a drinkable temperature for a hot beverage.
Comment: A different Gort-Barten reference (GB 2486872 A) explicitly discloses the ability to heat a liquid to 75 °C (p. 4, ll. 8–9).
Claim 9: The Perry NPL clearly suggests dispensing the mixture from the mixing device to a serving cup subsequent to heating and mixing the mixture (given how it depicts the completed beverage in non-apparatus beverage receptacles).
Claim 10: Gort-Barten discloses that the mixing member comprises an agitator (10), the method further comprising frothing the mixture using the agitator (Gort-Barten discloses itself as a milk frother, and the Perry NPL clearly discloses frothing with a milk frother given that it discloses the method of using the milk frother creates foam).
Claim 11: Gort-Barten discloses that the agitator comprises a plurality of windings of elongated strand material forming a coil (10 in the figure is clearly such a coil).
Comment: The other Gort-Barten reference (GB 2486872 A) more clearly shows, in figs. 1, 2b, 2c, such a coil. This type of coil agitator is abundant in the art.
Claim 12: Gort-Barten discloses providing a common actuator button (6) on the mixing device and simultaneously actuating the mixing of the mixture with the mixing member and the heating of the mixture with the heating element using the common actuator button (p. 3, ll. 19–20, “pressing the switch once could provide for hot froth,” i.e. both the mixer and heater are actuated).
Claim 14: Gort-Barten discloses providing a common actuator button (6) on the mixing device.
Gort-Barten does not disclose actuating the mixing of the mixture with the mixing member but not the heating of the mixture with the heating element in response to the common actuator button being depressed twice in succession within a prescribed duration.
However, instead, Gort-Barten provides the following on p. 3, ll. 15–24:
The magnetic drive means is provided with a controller, which controller is adapted to control the speed of rotation of the drive means such that it can operate at at least two speeds. The magnetic drive means can be actuated by the switch 6 located on the exterior wall of the main body 2. It is possible to provide for more than one programme with the single switch. By way of example, pressing the switch once could provide for hot froth, pressing twice could provide by hot milk and press and hold could provide for cold froth. The hot milk would be provided by slowing the motor speed and the cold froth by not actuating the heating element located beneath the flat bottom. This enables the same whisk to be used for froth and stirred/heated milk.
Given this, Gort-Barten discloses (a) using the common actuator button to mix but not heat, and (b) pressing the button twice to select a particular program.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the common actuator button of Gort-Barten to operate the program of mixing but not heating in response to pressing the button twice as a known and effective means of selecting a different operating program with a single button.
Claims 2–4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gort-Barten in view of the Perry NPL as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of the Matcha Moments NPL.
Claim 2: Modified as per claim 1 above, the Perry NPL does not disclose partly filling the vessel of the mixing device with between 100 and 250 millilitres of the selected liquid. Instead, the Perry NPL teaches using 1.5 cups of liquid, equal to about 355 ml.
However, using 100 ml to make the same type of tea beverage is known in the art, as taught by the Matcha Moments NPL (“100ml (3.4oz) of milk”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the mixing device of Gort-Barten to make a tea beverage like that of the Perry NPL using the ingredient proportions taught by the Matcha Moments NPL, according to taste preference.
Claim 3: Continuing from claim 2, the Matcha Moments NPL discloses that prescribed amount of tea powder is in the range of 1 to 20 grams (“2g”).
Claim 4: Continuing from claims 1 and 2, the Matcha Moments NPL discloses that the prescribed amount of tea powder is in the range of 1 to 2 grams (“2g”).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gort-Barten in view of the Perry NPL as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shima et al. (WO 2015/019988 A).
Gort-Barten does not explicitly disclose providing a timer on the mixing device and actuating the mixing member and the heating element for prescribed duration determined by the timer.
However, Gort-Barten clearly implies the presence of some sort of timer with claim 10, “wherein the heating element is turned off a predetermined time prior to the magnetic drive means.”
Furthermore, Shima discloses a similar apparatus with a timer (“After stirring for a certain time is counted using a timer, stirring by the rotation of the stirring blade 2 is completed (F10)”).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the timer taught by Shima into Gort-Barten to automate the duration of the mixing and heating process that Gort-Barten performs.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sakane et al. (WO 2015/115375 A1) similar to Shima, and is highly relevant.
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/JOHN J NORTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761