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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 18-20 in the reply filed on 7/20/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claims 18-20 objected to because of the following informalities:
claim 18 recites “an cooling compartment” which should be amended to “acooling compartment” to reflect proper grammar.
claim 19 recites “the bearding station of claim 18” which should be amended to “the breading station of claim 18”
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lintker (US10060669B2).
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Fig. 1 of Lintker
Regarding claim 18, Lintker teaches a breading station comprising:
a housing (24) including a well (26) defining an cooling compartment (Col. 3 lines 5-10 pan chiller unit 20) sized and shaped to receive a plurality of pans (34, Fig. 1); and
a pan frame (30, 58) configured to be supported by the housing (24),
the pan frame (30, 58) bounding a plurality of pan receiving areas (32) for receiving the plurality of pans (34, Fig. 1),
the pan frame (30, 58) is supported by the housing (24) and the plurality of pans (34) are received in the plurality of pan receiving areas (32, Fig. 1),
the pan frame (30, 58) being adjustable to change a dimension of at least one of the pan receiving areas to size said at least one pan receiving area for receiving different pan sizes (Col. 4 lines 1-20 the present system 10 is modular, and accordingly, a length or profile of the divider bars 30 can be custom made to properly fit and accommodate different shapes/sizes of food pans 34 to obtain a close, complementary fit between the divider bar and the pans for enhanced heat transfer).
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Annotated Fig. 1 of Lintker
Regarding claim 19, Lintker teaches The bearding station of claim 18,
wherein said at least one of the pan receiving areas (32) is a first pan receiving area (Annotated Fig. 1 one of openings 32),
the pan frame (30, 58) including a first support (58) and a second support (30),
the second support (30) bounding the first pan receiving area (32) and a second pan receiving area (32, Annotated Fig. 1) of the plurality of pan receiving areas (openings 32),
the second support (30) being movable relative to the first support (58) to change the dimension of the first pan receiving area and a dimension of the second pan receiving area (Col. 4 lines 1-20 a length or profile of the divider bars 30 can be custom made to properly fit and accommodate different shapes/sizes of food pans 34 to obtain a close, complementary fit between the divider bar and the pans for enhanced heat transfer; where it is understood changing the length or profile of one bar 30 would change the dimensions of both pan receiving areas shown in Annotated Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 20, Lintker teaches the breading station of claim 19,
wherein the second support (30) is removably connectable to the first support (58) at a first location and a second location different than the first location (Fig. 1) to change the dimensions of the first and second pan receiving areas (Col. 4 lines 1-20, 30-55 , a length or profile of the divider bars 30 can be custom made to properly fit and accommodate different shapes/sizes of food pans 34 to obtain a close, complementary fit between the divider bar and the pans for enhanced heat transfer; the divider bars 30 are secured at each end 50, 52 to a food well sidewall 58 by at least one, and preferably three fasteners 60 which are inserted into food well 26 through apertures (not shown), endcap through holes 62 and divider bar through openings 64, respectively. It is contemplated that this arrangement provides a modular assembly that is easier to assemble, disassemble and customize than current chiller systems; where it is understood that the three fasteners 60 allow bar 30 to be removably connectable to the support; where removing the support is understood to change the dimension of the pan receiving areas shown in Annotated Fig. 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABIGAIL RHUE whose telephone number is (571)272-4615. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Crabb can be reached at (571) 270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABIGAIL H RHUE/Examiner, Art Unit 3761 7/27/2026
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