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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that the it would not be obvious to modify Glasstone dispensing system with the dispenser of Davis since the piston of the claimed invention is controlled in such a particular matter allowing for proportional control. However, the criticality of said proportional control is not found in the claim, as claim 1 teaches said proportional or opening dynamic as optional, stating the “said piston partially or totally covers said opening.” Further, the rest of the operational control of the piston is stated in the alternative (or used throughout) in the independent claims so if the prior art covers one of these recitations it satisfies the claim. With these optional recitations, the rejection over Glasstone in view of Davis is perfectly suited to control a piston to totally cover or totally open said opening for dispensing. Further delineation is needed to adequately define the prior art over the rejection of record.
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) 1-4, 13, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Glasstone et al. (US 2023/0159318 A1) and further in view of Davis et al. (US Patent No. 7,448,516).
Re: Claim 1, discloses the claimed invention including a dispending device for dispensing a beverage/slush, the dispensing device comprising:
Glasstone discloses the dispensing device able to be implement with any dispensing system for dispensing beverage/slush (Para. 17, any type of dispenser) except for expressly stating dispenser with a piston and a receptacle containing a beverage/slush. However, Davis teaches dispenser with a receptacle (467) containing a beverage/slush (Fig. 3), a conduit (416) connected to said receptacle for receiving said beverage/slush and provided with an opening (468) (Fig. 3), a piston (412, 466) movable in said conduit in a first direction and in a second direction, opposite to said first direction, so that said opening is closed or free or partially closed according to the movement of said piston in said conduit, moving means for moving said piston in said conduit,
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to include a dispenser with the claimed features as taught by Davis, since Davis states col. 5, lines 5-15 that such a modification provides a means for automatic control of dispensing based on desired parameters.
Glasstone further discloses a supporting base (14) for supporting a cup,
at least one code reader for reading a QR code (Para. 32, QR reader);
at least one presence sensor (22) for detecting the presence of a cup on said supporting base (Para. 69, detecting the presence),
at least one weight sensor for detecting the weight of the cup over time during dispensing of the beverage/slush (Para. 78, weight sensor);
storage means in which the following data are stored: one or more predetermined beverages/slushes, one or more predetermined capacities of a cup, a predetermined weight associated with a respective beverage/slush to be dispensed into said cup and a respective predetermined capacity of said cup (Para. 76, storage means container expected data regarding cup),
a control logic unit configured to:
acquire, through the presence sensor, information concerning the presence of the cup on the supporting base (Para. 76, presence of cup detected),
acquire, through the code reader, information contained in the QR code concerning the capacity of the cup (Para. 78, reading QR code about cup),
acquire, through said weight sensor, the weight of the cup over time during dispensing of the beverage/slush (Para. 78, weight of cup),
send a signal to said moving means to move said piston so that said piston approaches said opening until said piston partially or totally covers said opening, so as to reduce the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed or terminate the dispensing of said beverage/slush, or that said piston moves away from said opening, so as to increase the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed, based on the weight of the cup acquired over time, during the dispensing of the beverage/slush, with respect to a predetermined beverage/slush and to a predetermined weight associated with a predetermined capacity, said predetermined beverage/slush being equal to the beverage/slush dispensed by said dispensing device and said predetermined capacity being equal to the acquired capacity (Para. 79, compares predetermined capacity to acquired capacity).
Re: Claim 2, Glasstone discloses the claimed invention including a compartment (11) for receiving said cup, wherein said compartment comprises an opening and said supporting base (Para. 68, compartment for a cup).
Re: Claim 3, Glasstone discloses the claimed invention including at least one presence sensor (16, 18, 20) is arranged on a wall of said compartment (Depicted in Fig. 1).
Re: Claim 4, Glasstone discloses the claimed invention including a plurality of presence sensors, wherein the presence sensors of said plurality of presence sensors are arranged on said wall of said compartment in such a way as to be aligned; each presence sensor being arranged at a respective height (Para. 70 arranged at different heights).
Re: Claim 13, Glasstone discloses the claimed including a cup, wherein said cup is provided with a QR code (Para. 32, QR code on container).
Re: Claim 14, the device of Glasstone as modified in the rejection of claim 1 above is capable of performing the claimed invention of:
reading a QR code (Para. 32, reading QR code),
acquiring information contained in the QR code concerning the capacity of the cup (Para. 32, reading QR code),
positioning a cup on the supporting base (Para. 32, positioning cup),
acquire, through the presence sensor, information concerning the presence of the cup on the supporting base (Para. 32, acquire presence of cup),
acquire, through said weight sensor, the weight of the cup over time during dispensing of the beverage/slush (Para. 33, acquire weight over time),
send a signal to said moving means to move said piston/valve so that said piston/valve approaches said opening until said piston/valve partially or totally covers said opening, so as to reduce the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed or terminate the dispensing of said beverage/slush, or that said piston/valve moves away from said opening, so as to increase the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed, based on the weight of the cup acquired over time, during the dispensing of the beverage/slush, with respect to a predetermined beverage/slush and to a predetermined weight associated with a predetermined capacity, said predetermined beverage/slush being equal to the beverage/slush dispensed by said dispensing device and said predetermined capacity being equal to the acquired capacity (Para. 33, the dispenser is open to dispensing until predetermined capacity meets desired capacity).
Claim(s) 1, 5-9, 13, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burda (US 2021/0395069 A1), and further in view of Davis et al. (US Patent No. 7,448,516).
Re: Claim 1, discloses the claimed invention including a dispending device for dispensing a beverage/slush, the dispensing device comprising:
Burda discloses the dispensing device able to be implement with any dispensing system for dispensing beverage/slush (Para. 17, any type of dispenser) except for expressly stating dispenser with a piston and a receptacle containing a beverage/slush. However, Davis teaches dispenser with a receptacle (467) containing a beverage/slush (Fig. 3), a conduit (416) connected to said receptacle for receiving said beverage/slush and provided with an opening (468) (Fig. 3), a piston (412, 466) movable in said conduit in a first direction and in a second direction, opposite to said first direction, so that said opening is closed or free or partially closed according to the movement of said piston in said conduit, moving means for moving said piston in said conduit,
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to include a dispenser with the claimed features as taught by Davis, since Davis states col. 5, lines 5-15 that such a modification provides a means for automatic control of dispensing based on desired parameters.
Burda further disclosing a supporting base (112) for supporting a cup (120) (Fig. 6),
at least one code reader (126) for reading a QR code (Para. 36, QR reader);
at least one presence sensor (106) for detecting the presence of a cup on said supporting base (Para. 35, detecting the presence),
at least one weight sensor (128) for detecting the weight of the cup over time during dispensing of the beverage/slush (Para. 78, weight sensor);
storage means (154) in which the following data are stored: one or more predetermined beverages/slushes, one or more predetermined capacities of a cup, a predetermined weight associated with a respective beverage/slush to be dispensed into said cup and a respective predetermined capacity of said cup (Para. 41-42, storage means container expected data regarding cup),
a control logic unit (150) (Fig. 9) configured to:
acquire, through the presence sensor, information concerning the presence of the cup on the supporting base (Para. 35, acquire presence of cup),
acquire, through the code reader, information contained in the QR code concerning the capacity of the cup (Para. 36, acquire date about the cup),
acquire, through said weight sensor, the weight of the cup over time during dispensing of the beverage/slush (Para. 33, acquire weight over time),
send a signal to said moving means to move said piston so that said piston approaches said opening until said piston partially or totally covers said opening, so as to reduce the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed or terminate the dispensing of said beverage/slush, or that said piston moves away from said opening, so as to increase the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed, based on the weight of the cup acquired over time, during the dispensing of the beverage/slush, with respect to a predetermined beverage/slush and to a predetermined weight associated with a predetermined capacity, said predetermined beverage/slush being equal to the beverage/slush dispensed by said dispensing device and said predetermined capacity being equal to the acquired capacity (Para. 33, the dispenser is open to dispensing until predetermined capacity meets desired capacity).
Re: Claim 5, Burda discloses the claimed including said at least one presence sensor is an optical sensor (Para. 35, optical sensor).
Re: Claim 6, Burda discloses the claimed including said supporting base comprises a cup holder (114), wherein said cup holder comprises a supporting surface (110), a raised part (124) which extends from a portion of said supporting surface, and a protruding part (110) extending from said raised part towards the outside (Fig. 3), said weight sensor is connected to said cup holder via a connection group (114) arranged in such a way that a first portion of said connection group contacts said protruding part and a second portion of said connection group contacts a portion of said weight sensor, in such a way that, when a cup is positioned on said cup holder, said second portion exerts a pressure on said weight sensor (Depicted in Figs. 3 and 8, Para 23, protruding part contacts weight sensor).
Re: Claim 7, Burda discloses the claimed including weight sensor coincides with said presence sensor (Para. 35, sensors coincide).
Re: Claim 8, Burda discloses the claimed including said weight sensor comprises a load cell (Para. 23, load cell).
Re: Claim 9, Burda discloses the claimed including a casing (122), wherein said casing comprises an external surface and said code reader is arranged on said external surface (Depicted in Fig. 2).
Re: Claim 13, Burda discloses the claimed including a cup, wherein said cup is provided with a QR code (Para. 36, QR code on container).
Re: Claim 14, the device of Burda as modified in the rejection of claim 1 above is capable of performing the claimed invention of:
reading a QR code (Para. 36, reading QR code),
acquiring information contained in the QR code concerning the capacity of the cup (Para. 36, reading QR code),
positioning a cup on the supporting base (Depicted in Fig. 7),
acquire, through the presence sensor, information concerning the presence of the cup on the supporting base (Para. 35, acquire presence of cup),
acquire, through said weight sensor, the weight of the cup over time during dispensing of the beverage/slush (Para. 33, acquire weight over time),
send a signal to said moving means to move said piston/valve so that said piston/valve approaches said opening until said piston/valve partially or totally covers said opening, so as to reduce the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed or terminate the dispensing of said beverage/slush, or that said piston/valve moves away from said opening, so as to increase the quantity of beverage/slush to be dispensed, based on the weight of the cup acquired over time, during the dispensing of the beverage/slush, with respect to a predetermined beverage/slush and to a predetermined weight associated with a predetermined capacity, said predetermined beverage/slush being equal to the beverage/slush dispensed by said dispensing device and said predetermined capacity being equal to the acquired capacity (Para. 33, the dispenser is open to dispensing until predetermined capacity meets desired capacity).
Claim(s) 2 and 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Burda (US 2021/0395069 A1) and Davis et al. (US Patent No. 7,448,516). as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shtivelman (US Patent No. 9,155,330).
Re: Claim 2, Burda discloses the claimed including a space for receiving the cup except for expressly stating a compartment. However, Shtivelman discloses the claimed invention including a compartment for receiving a cup (57), wherein said compartment comprises an opening and said supporting base (Depicted in Fig. 2).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to include a compartment as taught by Shtivelman, since Burda states in para. 46 that their invention may be implemented with any dispensing system, and further Shtivelman states in col. 6, lines 59-62 that such a modification provides a splash safe environment to dispense without worry of getting on the user’s clothes.
Re: Claims 10-11, Burda as modified by Shtivelman in the rejection of claim 2 above discloses a door (58) for closing said opening of said compartment, and opening/closing means for opening/closing said door, a motor connected to said opening/closing means to open/close said door , and said control logic unit (48) is configured to: send a signal to said motor to open said door, when said cup is to be positioned on said supporting base, and send a further signal to close said door, when said cup is positioned on said supporting base (Col. 6, lines 60-62, control logic sends signal to open and close the door when the cup is in position, the door motor is implicitly disclosed to provide said movement).
Re: Claims 12, Burda as modified by Shtivelman in the rejection of claim 2 above discloses said logic control unit is configured to send a signal to said moving means for moving said valve/piston (52) in such a way that said valve/piston closes the opening of said conduit when said door is opened during the dispensing of said beverage/slush, so as to stop the dispensing of said beverage/slush (Col. 6, lines 60-62, control logic sends signal to only dispense while door is closed).
Claim(s) 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Glasstone et al. (US 2023/0159318 A1) and Davis et al. (US Patent No. 7,448,516). as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Shtivelman (US Patent No. 9,155,330).
Re: Claims 10-11, Glasstone discloses the claimed including the compartment (11) for receiving the cup except for expressly stating a door However, Shtivelman teaches a door (58) for closing said opening of said compartment, and opening/closing means for opening/closing said door. a motor connected to said opening/closing means to open/close said door , and said control logic unit (48) is configured to: send a signal to said motor to open said door, when said cup is to be positioned on said supporting base, and send a further signal to close said door, when said cup is positioned on said supporting base (Col. 6, lines 60-62, control logic sends signal to open and close the door when the cup is in position, the door motor is implicitly disclosed to provide said movement).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date to include a compartment as taught by Shtivelman, since Glasstone states in para. 17 that their invention may be implemented with any dispensing system, and further Shtivelman states in col. 6, lines 59-62 that such a modification provides a splash safe environment to dispense without worry of getting on the user’s clothes.
Re: Claims 12, Glasstone as modified by Davis and Shtivelman in the rejection of claim 2 above discloses said logic control unit is configured to send a signal to said moving means for moving said valve/piston (52) in such a way that said valve/piston closes the opening of said conduit when said door is opened during the dispensing of said beverage/slush, so as to stop the dispensing of said beverage/slush (Shtivelman: Col. 6, lines 60-62, control logic sends signal to only dispense while door is closed).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 CHARLES P. CHEYNEY whose telephone number is (571)272-9971. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm.
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/CHARLES P. CHEYNEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754
