DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. Claims 1, 2, 5-13, 16 and 17 are pending.
3. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant’s arguments with respect to the amended independent claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection in which the Examiner has cited newly presented prior art, Staun (US Pub. No. 2021/00298530 A1 hereinafter “Staun”), as necessitated by the amended independent claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. Claims 1, 5-12, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kolar in view of Staun (US Pub. No. 2021/00298530 A1 hereinafter “Staun”).
Referring to claim 1, Kolar discloses a kitchen appliance (Kolar – Figs. 1-5, blending system 100, 200, 300, 400, 500.), wherein the kitchen appliance comprises a base unit having a housing, an electric motor (Kolar – Par. [0027] discloses a base 110 may house a motor; Fig. 3, motor 312.), a detector (Kolar – Fig. 3, NFC component 314.), a controller (Kolar – Fig. 3, processor 304.) and a communication interface (Kolar – Fig. 3, NFC component 314.), and at least one accessory having an identifier (Kolar – Figs. 1-5, container 120, 230, 330, 430, 530; Par. [0047] discloses the container 330 having a unique identifier.), the at least one accessory comprising a first accessory and a further accessory, each of the first accessory and the further accessory comprising a type of the following: a cutting unit, stirring unit, cooking unit, weighing unit, or steaming unit (Kolar – Fig. 1 & par. [0028] disclose the container 120 to allow blade assembly 122 to chop, mix, blend, or otherwise interact with the foodstuff. Par. [0067] discloses the blender system 500 may utilize pressure sensors (e.g., weight sensors), or the like to determine when a user adds foodstuff to the container 560.),
wherein the detector is configured to detect the identifier of the at least one accessory and to forward it to the controller (Kolar – Par. [0047-0052] disclose the NFC component 314 receiving an identifier of the container 330 so the base 310 (e.g., via processor 304) may receive the parameters and/or query the NFC component 334 to determine whether the container 330 is compatible with the base 310.),
wherein the controller is configured to compare the detected identifier with identifiers from a database, wherein the controller is configured to, in the event of a match between the detected identifier and an unmarked identifier from the database, mark the matching identifier from the database as known, and provide cooking information associated with the matching identifier from the database via the communication interface, and wherein the controller is configured to make available at least one item of cooking information from the database, which is assigned to the identifier marked as known, via the communication interface if the detected identifier matches an identifier already marked as known (Kolar – Par. [0047-0052, 0055] disclose the NFC component 314 receiving an identifier of the container 330 so the base 310 (e.g., via processor 304) may receive the parameters and/or query the NFC component 334 to determine whether the container 330 is compatible with the base 310. The base 310 may identify container 330. Identifying container 330 may include identifying a make, model, a particular container (e.g., via a unique identifier), blade assembly utilized in the container, or the like. In an example, identifying the container may include determining a match between received data and data stored in memory 302. For example, a set of identifiers may be stored in a table or other data structure in memory 302. The NFC component 314 may receive an identifier from NFC component 334 and/or decode data received therefrom to determine an identifier. The identifier may then be compared to stored identifiers. See par. [0055] disclosing a user accessing a recipe that allows the user to identify a specific container 330 for the utilization for nuts.),
wherein a position detector is provided and is configured to detect the position of the first accessory with respect to the base unit and with respect to the further accessory (Kolar – Figs. 1A-1B show a first accessory, blade assembly 122, of the container 120 with respect to the base unit 110 and with respect to a further accessory, lid 130 of the container 102.) and to forward it to the controller (Kolar – See par. [0026-0034, 0043-0047].), wherein the controller is configured to provide cooking information from the database in dependence on the detected position of the at least one accessory via the communication interface (Kolar – See par. [0026-0034, 0043-0047].), and
wherein the controller is configured to provide cooking information from the database as a function of a plurality of detected identifiers and/or detected positions (Kolar – See par. [0039, 0043-47].).
Kolar fails to explicitly disclose each of the first accessory and the further accessory comprising an interface configured to be directly assembled to or disassembled from an interface of the base unit; and the type of the further accessory being different from the type of the first accessory.
Staun discloses each of the first accessory and the further accessory comprising an interface configured to be directly assembled to or disassembled from an interface of the base unit (Staun – Par. [0037-0039] disclose the housing 105 of the multi-purpose handheld kitchen appliance 100 having an attachment identifier 140 (acting as the base unit) having contact points 142, 144 configured to be directly assembled to or disassembled from the contact points 152, 154 of the attachment type communicator 150 of the attachments 205, 210.); and the type of the further accessory being different from the type of the first accessory (Staun – Par. [0033] discloses the multi-purpose handheld kitchen appliance 100 with an attachment 205, 210 removably coupled therewith. The type of attachment 205, 210 may vary. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the attachment 205 is an immersion blender attachment 205; while in FIG. 2, the attachment 210 is a whisk attachment 210. These attachment types are not to be construed as limiting, other possible attachment types include, but are not limited, to: a hand mixer attachment (see FIGS. 6A-B); a nut chopping attachment; a salad shredder attachment; a spiralizer attachment; a pasta making attachment; a juicer attachment; a knife carving attachment; a baby food blender attachment; a smoothie attachment; or a potato mashing attachment.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include Staun’s teachings with Kolar’s teachings for the benefit of implementing a food processor capable of integrating intelligently with multiple attachments, cloud-based services, wireless-communicating household appliances, smart meters, and household robots, to efficiently and safely complete a recipe made to conform to user preferences and characteristics (Staun – par. [0002]).
Referring to claim 5, Kolar and Staun disclose the kitchen appliance according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to block at least one preparation function in the event the detected identifier does not match an identifier from the database, and/or wherein the controller is configured to block at least one preparation function in the event of detecting the position of an accessory corresponding to an assembly of the accessory with the base unit and in the event of an aborted detection of an identifier (Kolar – See par. [0049].).
Referring to claim 6, Kolar and Staun disclose the kitchen appliance according to claim 1, wherein the identifier is a coded data carrier with machine-readable information, and wherein the detector is configured to detect machine-readable information (Kolar – See par. [0022, 0023, 0026].).
Referring to claim 7, Kolar and Staun disclose the kitchen appliance according to claim 6, wherein the identifier is stored on an electronic data carrier and the detector is a reader for the electronic data carrier, the data carrier and the reader being connected bidirectionally by cable, or wherein the identifier is stored on an electronic data carrier and the detector is a reader for the electronic data carrier, the reader being configured to detect the content of the electronic data carrier by means of a radio standard (Kolar – See par. [0019-0023, 0026].).
Referring to claim 8, Kolar and Staun disclose the kitchen appliance according to claim 7, wherein the data carrier and the reader are connected bidirectionally via a bus connection (Kolar – See par. [0062] disclosing the NFC component 434 may be coupled to NFC component 474, such as via bus 454, to provide power and/or otherwise communicate therewith.).
Referring to claim 9, Kolar and Staun disclose the kitchen appliance according to claim 7, wherein the reader is configured to detect the content of the electronic data carrier by means of radio frequency identification (RFID), Bluetooth (BT), Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), WLAN or ultra-wide band (UWB) (Kolar – See par. [0019-0023, 0026]; RFID devices, transponders, or tags.).
Referring to claim 10, Kolar and Staun disclose the at least one accessory for the kitchen appliance according to claim 1, wherein the accessory has a base body, wherein a data carrier with an identifier is provided, the identifier being at least one machine-readable information concerning the type and/or an identification number of the accessory, and wherein the data carrier is integrated in the base body (Kolar – Claim 11 discloses the container comprises: a body having an open end, a closed end, and a wall extending from the open end to the closed end; and wherein the second a near field communication component is disposed within the body. Par. [0047-0052, 0055] disclose the NFC component 314 receiving an identifier of the container 330 so the base 310 (e.g., via processor 304) may receive the parameters and/or query the NFC component 334 to determine whether the container 330 is compatible with the base 310. the base 310 may identify container 330. Identifying container 330 may include identifying a make, model, a particular container (e.g., via a unique identifier), blade assembly utilized in the container, or the like. In an example, identifying the container may include determining a match between received data and data stored in memory 302. For example, a set of identifiers may be stored in a table or other data structure in memory 302. The NFC component 314 may receive an identifier from NFC component 334 and/or decode data received therefrom to determine an identifier.).
Referring to claim 11, Kolar and Staun disclose a system, wherein the system comprises the kitchen appliance according to claim 1 (Kolar – Fig. 3, blender system 300.), and a database, wherein the database has identifiers and cooking information associated therewith, and wherein the controller is configured for connection to the database via a communication network (Kolar – See par. [0047, 0048, 0051] disclosing that blender base 314 may communicate with user device 320 to access a communication network (e.g., a cloud) and/or components of the user device 320. For instance, the user device 320 may store container IDs. It is implied that the user device 320 has some type of storage component for storing the container IDS.).
Referring to claim 12, Note the rejections of claim 1 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 16, Note the rejections of claim 5 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Referring to claim 17, Kolar and Staun disclose a computer program comprising instructions, the execution of which on at least one processor of a controller of a kitchen appliance causes the performance of a method according to claim 12 (Kolar – Par. [0043, 0045] disclose processor 304 may facilitate execution of the computer executable instructions. The processor 304 may receive the blending program from memory 302 and may generate instructions for the motor 312 and/or other components (e.g., a display - not shown) based on the blending program.).
7. Claims 2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kolar in view of Staun, and further in view of Palmer et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0204757 A1 hereinafter “Palmer” – IDS Submission).
Referring to claim 2, Kolar and Staun disclose the kitchen appliance according to claim 1, however, fail to explicitly disclose wherein the communication interface is configured to detect a user input and to forward it to the controller, and in that the controller is configured to mark at least one cooking information selected by the user input among the cooking information provided as preferred cooking information, and in the event of a subsequent, renewed match of the same identifier, make the at least one item of cooking information marked as preferred cooking information available separately via the communication interface.
Palmer discloses wherein the communication interface is configured to detect a user input and to forward it to the controller, and in that the controller is configured to mark at least one cooking information selected by the user input among the cooking information provided as preferred cooking information, and in the event of a subsequent, renewed match of the same identifier, make the at least one item of cooking information marked as preferred cooking information available separately via the communication interface (Palmer – See par. [0235].).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include Palmer’s teachings with Kolar and Staun’s teachings for the benefit of implementing a food processor capable of integrating intelligently with multiple attachments, cloud-based services, wireless-communicating household appliances, smart meters, and household robots, to efficiently and safely complete a recipe made to conform to user preferences and characteristics (Palmer – par. [0005]).
Referring to claim 13, Note the rejections of claim 2 above. The Instant Claim recites substantially same limitations as the above-rejected and is therefore rejected under same prior-art teachings.
Conclusion
The examiner requests, in response to this office action, support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line number(s) in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist the examiner in prosecuting the application. When responding to this office action, applicant is advised to clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present, in view of the state of art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. He or she must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections. See 37 C.F.R.I .Ill(c).
In amending in reply to a rejection of claims in an application or patent under reexamination, the applicant or patent owner must clearly point out the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made. The applicant or patent owner must also show how the amendments avoid such references or objections.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAYTON LEWIS-TAYLOR whose telephone number is (571) 270-7754. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday, 8AM TO 4PM, EASTERN TIME.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Idriss Alrobaye, can be reached on (571) 270-1023. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAYTON LEWIS-TAYLOR/Examiner, Art Unit 2181
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