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 .
This office action is in response to amendment filed 11/18/25. Claims 1, 16 and 18 are amended. Claims 1-19 are pending.
A portion of the previous 112 second paragraph is withdrawn due to the amendment. The following 112 rejection remains. The previous 103 rejection is withdrawn due to discovery of new prior art.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 1 is 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.
Claim 1 is vague and indefinite. The preamble of the claim recites a “ method of producing a beverage”; however, the body of the claim does not recite a step of forming a beverage. The body of the claim does not commensurate in scope with the preamble.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 1-8,10-13,16-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niven ( 3458320) in view of Schlecht ( 5242700), Scher ( 2013/0101705) and Glahn ( 6143346)
For claims 1,6, Niven discloses a method of producing instant coffee. The process comprises the step purifying a portion of an extract using freeze concentration, concentrating another portion of extract using evaporation, combining certain proportions of the two extracts and drying the portions. One portion of the extract has a low concentration of water soluble components and the other portion contains high concentration of water soluble components. Thus, the two extracts are separate. The drying is done by spray drying. The combined product is used to prepare beverage. For claims 2-3, Niven discloses one portion is subjected to freeze concentration and one portion is subjected to evaporation. Thus, the one subjecting to evaporation is not subjected freeze concentration and the one subjected to freeze concentration is not subjected to evaporation. For claim 10, the extract comprises hot coffee because the extraction is done on coffee that has hot water added ( see col. 3-4, col. 8 and claim 1)
For claim 11, Niven discloses roasting the coffee. ( see col. 6 lines 35-45)
For claims 12-13, Niven disclose introducing an extraction medium into the extraction material to extract and the medium is water. ( see claim 1)
For claims 16-17, Niven discloses reconstituting dried particles with water to make beverage. ( see col. 3)
Niven does not disclose concentrating with reverse osmosis and the ratio as in claim 1, the ratio as in claims 4-5, the sequence as in claims 7-8 and the BX values as in claims 18-19.
Sher discloses coffee extract. She discloses concentrating of the extract may by performed by evaporation or filtration such as reverse osmosis. ( see paragraph 0011)
Schlecht discloses treatment of extracts by extraction of coffee. Schlecht teaches concentrating by evaporator equipped with means for condensing and concentrating the vapor produced by reverse osmosis. ( see col. 3 lines 45-56)
Glahn teaches that purifying of extract can be carried out by reverse osmosis to concentrate and purify the extract in the same step. ( see col. 1 lines 38-41)
The designation of first portion and second portion in the claims are just terminology. There is no parameter defining the first portion and second portion other than that they are separate. The requirement of claim 1 is that one portion is concentrated by freeze concentration and another by reverse osmosis. Niven discloses concentrating one portion by freeze concentration and another portion by evaporation but places no restriction or limitation on the evaporation. As shown in Sher, evaporation and reverse osmosis is used interchangeably. Schlecht shows the two techniques can be combined and Glahn show that reverse osmosis achieves both purification and concentration. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute reverse osmosis for evaporation because it’s a well known alternative technique to achieve the same end result. One of skill would have been motivated to use reverse osmosis for the reason taught by Schlecht and Glahn. Niven discloses the two extracts are obtained from different parts of the coffee and contain different components. Niven teach to mix the two different concentrated extracts. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to vary the ratios of the two portions depending on the taste and flavor desired. It would have been an obvious matter of choice to dry the two extracts first before combining or vice versa. It would have been readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art to dry the two extracts separately if they are combined after spray-drying because they are two separate portions. The Bx value indicates the solid content in the extract. Niven discloses the first and second extracts have a dry matter content of about 45% Thus, it is expected that the Bx ranges are within the claimed ranges. If not, it would have been within the skill of one in the art to determine the appropriate Bx depending on the solid content desired.
Claim(s) 9,14,15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niven in view of Sher, Schlecht and Glahn as applied to claims 1-8,10-13,16-19 above, and further in view of Sahai ( 11350645).
Niven does not disclose cold brew as in claims 9,14,15.
Sahai discloses a process for preparing soluble instant coffee. Sahai teaches extraction using water at a temperature of between 0-110 degrees C, between 20-30 degrees C. ( see col. 2 lines 30-45)
As shown in Sahai, extraction can be carried out at cool to hot temperature. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the extraction in water having the temperature disclosed in Sahai as a known alternative of extraction technique. Extraction at cooler temperature would give cold brew.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-19 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.
Conclusion
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January 28, 2026
/LIEN T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793