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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 17 recites “the heating element” in lines 17-18 and should recite “a heating element”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-8 and 10-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 2 and 10 recite “a dispensing compartment that is substantially fluidly isolated form the filling compartment”. These two compartments are in fluid communication, so they are not fluidly isolated. The original disclosure does not give a special definition or further clarification of “substantially fluidly isolated”. It is therefore unclear exactly what “substantially fluidly isolated” means. Clarification is required.
Claim 12 recites “the dispensing trough”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is further unclear if this refers to the dispensing compartment described in base claim 9 or an additional element. Clarification is required.
Claim 17 recites “the heated water fill conduit being substantially parallel to an axis of rotation of the water fill chamber”. The specification does not give any clarity on exactly how close to parallel the two axes need to be in order to be considered “substantially parallel”. A person having ordinary skill in the art would be unable to determine the metes and bounds of this limitation. Clarification is required.
Claims dependent thereon inherit the deficiencies of the respective base claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Blankenship et al. (US Patent 6,009,793).
Regarding claim 1, Blankenship discloses a beverage maker (Figure 3, 20), comprising:
a platform (26);
a tower (24A) mounted to and extending upwardly from the platform;
an arm (24B) fixed to and extending generally horizontally from the tower and over the platform, the arm including a brew basket (66); and
a water fill chamber (146) mounted to and positioned above the arm (Figure 3), the water fill chamber being movable (Figures 11-14) relative to the arm between an operating position (Figure 11 shows the operating position), in which the water fill chamber overlies the brew basket (Figure 11, also generally shown in exploded view shown in figure 3), and an access position (Figure 14 shows the access position), in which the water fill chamber is positioned away from the brew basket to allow a user access to the brew basket (Figure 14 shows the water fill chamber in the access position where a user can access the brew basket).
Regarding claim 2, Blankenship discloses wherein the water fill chamber includes a filling compartment (Annotated figure 3) and a dispensing compartment (62) that is substantially fluidly isolated from the filling compartment (See 112 above, for purposes of examination this limitation is assumed to mean the two compartments are not the same compartment, see figure 3), wherein the dispensing compartment is in fluid communication with the brew basket (Figure 3 shows dispensing compartment 62 flows hot water through 64 to the brew basket 66).
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Regarding claim 3, Blankenship discloses wherein the tower includes a reservoir (32), and wherein the filling compartment of the water fill chamber is in fluid communication with the reservoir (col. 4, ll. 20-29).
Regarding claim 4, Blankenship discloses wherein the reservoir is in fluid communication with a fluid path that is routed between the reservoir and the dispensing compartment of the water fill chamber (col. 4, ll. 20-29).
Regarding claim 5, Blankenship discloses wherein the fluid path is routed adjacent a heating element (Figure 3 shows the heated water fill conduit 60 is in tower 24A, which is above the heating element 58, and connects the water heated by heating element 58 to the dispensing compartment 62).
Regarding claim 6, Blankenship discloses wherein a heated water fill conduit (60) is positioned between the heating element (Figure 2, 58) and the dispensing compartment (Figure 3 shows the heated water fill conduit 60 is in tower 24A, which is above the heating element 58, and connects the water heated by heating element 58 to the dispensing trough 62).
Regarding claim 7, Blankenship discloses wherein the heated water fill conduit is routed through the reservoir (Figure 3 shows conduit 60 is routed through reservoir 32).
Regarding claim 8, Blankenship discloses wherein the dispensing compartment is a dispensing trough (Figure 3 show 62 is a dispensing trough).
Regarding claim 9, Blankenship discloses a beverage maker (Figure 3, 20), comprising:
a platform (26);
a tower (24A) mounted to and extending upwardly from the platform;
an arm (24B) fixed to and extending generally horizontally from the tower and over the platform, the arm including a brew basket (66); and
a water fill chamber (146) mounted to and positioned above the arm (Figure 3), the water fill chamber being rotatable (Figures 11-14) relative to the arm between an operating position (Figure 11 shows the operating position), in which the water fill chamber overlies the brew basket (Figure 11, also generally shown in exploded view shown in figure 3), and an access position (Figure 14 shows the access position), in which the water fill chamber is positioned away from the brew basket to allow a user access to the brew basket (Figure 14 shows the water fill chamber in the access position where a user can access the brew basket).
Regarding claim 10, Blankenship discloses wherein the water fill chamber includes a filling compartment (Annotated figure 3) and a dispensing compartment (62) that is substantially fluidly isolated from the filling compartment (See 112 above, for purposes of examination this limitation is assumed to mean the two compartments are not the same compartment, see figure 3), wherein the dispensing compartment is in fluid communication with the brew basket (Figure 3 shows dispensing compartment 62 flows hot water through 64 to the brew basket 66).
Regarding claim 11, Blankenship discloses wherein the tower includes a reservoir (32), and wherein the filling compartment of the water fill chamber is in fluid communication with the reservoir (col. 4, ll. 20-29).
Regarding claim 12, Blankenship discloses wherein the reservoir is in fluid communication with a fluid path that is routed between the reservoir and the dispensing trough (See 112 above, for purposes of examination this is assumed to refer to the dispensing compartment recited in base claim 9) of the water fill chamber (col. 4, ll. 20-29).
Regarding claim 13, Blankenship discloses wherein the fluid path is routed adjacent a heating element (Figure 3 shows the heated water fill conduit 60 is in tower 24A, which is above the heating element 58, and connects the water heated by heating element 58 to the dispensing compartment 62).
Regarding claim 14, Blankenship discloses wherein a heated water fill conduit (60) is positioned between the heating element (Figure 2, 58) and the dispensing trough (Figure 3 shows the heated water fill conduit 60 is in tower 24A, which is above the heating element 58, and connects the water heated by heating element 58 to the dispensing trough 62).
Regarding claim 15, Blankenship discloses wherein the heated water fill conduit is routed through the reservoir (Figure 3 shows conduit 60 is routed through reservoir 32).
Regarding claim 16, Blankenship discloses wherein the dispensing compartment is a dispensing trough (Figure 3 show 62 is a dispensing trough).
Regarding claim 17, Blankenship discloses a beverage maker (Figure 3, 20), comprising:
a platform (26);
a tower (24A) mounted to and extending upwardly from the platform, the tower including a reservoir (32);
an arm (24B) fixed to and extending generally horizontally from the tower and over the platform, the arm including a brew basket (66); and
a water fill chamber (146) mounted to and positioned above the arm (Figure 3), the water fill chamber being rotatable (Figures 11-14) relative to the arm between an operating position (Figure 11 shows the operating position), in which the water fill chamber overlies the brew basket (Figure 11, also generally shown in exploded view shown in figure 3), and an access position (Figure 14 shows the access position), in which the water fill chamber is positioned away from the brew basket to allow a user access to the brew basket (Figure 14 shows the water fill chamber in the access position where a user can access the brew basket);
wherein the water fill chamber includes a filling compartment (Annotated figure 3) in fluid communication with the reservoir (water flows from the reservoir 32, is heated and flows up 60 into the filling compartment as shown in figure 3) and a dispensing trough (62);
wherein the reservoir is in fluid communication with a fluid path that is routed between the reservoir and the dispensing trough of the water fill chamber (col. 4, ll. 20-29);
wherein a heated water fill conduit (60) is positioned between the heating element (Figure 2, 58) and the dispensing trough (Figure 3 shows the heated water fill conduit 60 is in tower 24A, which is above the heating element 58, and connects the water heated by heating element 58 to the dispensing trough 62), the heated water fill conduit being substantially parallel (See 112 section above, this limitation is assumed to mean that the heated water fill conduit has some extent that is parallel to the axis of rotation, figure 3 shows the tube 60 extends vertically)) to an axis of rotation for the water fill chamber (Figures 11-14 shows the axis of rotation for the water fill chamber is a vertical axis).
Regarding claim 18, Blankenship discloses wherein the heated water fill conduit is fixed relative to the water fill chamber (Figure 3 shows heated water fill conduit 60 is fixed relative to the water fill chamber 146 via 158).
Regarding claim 19, Blankenship discloses wherein the heated water fill conduit is routed through the reservoir (Figure 3 shows conduit 60 is routed through reservoir 32).
Regarding claim 20, Blankenship discloses wherein the dispensing trough is positioned within the water fill compartment (Figure 3 shows the dispensing trough 62 is within the water fill compartment 146).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Katheryn Malatek whose telephone number is (571)272-5689. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday, 9 am - 6 pm.
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/KATHERYN A MALATEK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3741