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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 22 May 2025 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of US Patent #11,759,044 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8, 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wertheimer and in view of Knepler.
There is disclosed in Wertheimer a coffee brewing system comprising: a brew chamber 15 that holds a brew solution during a brew cycle and dispenses the brew solution; a water system 5, 11, 25 that dispenses water into the brew chamber; a temperature control system with a heating element (not shown, pg. 2, lns. 47, 48); a recirculating processing loop 23, 25, 28 that circulates brew solution extracted from the brew chamber, wherein the heating element of the temperature control system directly heats liquid in the water system; and wherein the processing loop comprises a subsection 23 that is thermally coupled to the water system such that the heating element indirectly heats brew solution circulated through the processing loop.
Knepler discloses it is known in the art to have a temperature control system with a heating element 64, 68 and a temperature sensor 62, 66, each of the heating element and temperature sensor being controlled by a control system 72 in order to produce and maintain a desired temperature of water to be placed in a brew chamber.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to substitute the temperature control system of Wertheimer with the temperature control system disclosed in Knepler, in order to allow use of the brewer without the need of an outside heating source and allow a user to monitor the water temperature.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to provide the brewing system of Wertheimer with the control system disclosed in Knepler, in order to allow a user to automatically set and monitor a water temperature.
Claim(s) 2-6, 8, 21 and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wertheimer in view of Knepler as applied to claims above, and further in view of Fedele et al.
Fedele discloses that it is known in the art to make use of a particle monitor system 1000 to measure a dissolved solids amount in a brewed coffee solution to be dispensed, a user interface 675 for user feedback and a memory 620 which stores user taste profiles which can be achieved by use of the particle monitor system.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to provide the brewing system of Wertheimer, as modified by Knepler, with the particle monitor system, user interface and memory disclosed in Fedele, in order to ensure the production of a desired taste of the solution.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-13 and 15-20 are allowed.
Claim 9 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The subject removed from independent claim 1, has broadened the claim structural and functional requirements. This broadened version of the claim has not been previously considered in combination with previously presented dependent claim 7.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REGINALD L. ALEXANDER whose telephone number is (571)272-1395. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-2:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ibrahime Abraham can be reached on 571-270-5569. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/REGINALD ALEXANDER/
Examiner
Art Unit 3761
