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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-11 are 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 recites “Cooking, roasting, boiling, or frying”, while dependent claim 8 recites “further comprising the step of d2) cooking”. It is not clear if “roasting, boiling, and frying” would NOT include cooking, or not. Claim 8 appears to be broader than parent claim 1. For instance, boiling/roasting/frying would satisfy claim 1, but not appear to satisfy claim 8 even though these were commonly used forms of cooking.
Claims 2-3 recite “forms a solid mass” and “forms as a solid ball”. It is not clear if these steps are describing the “mixing” step of b), or the extruding/molding step of c) which “form” the product.
Regarding claim 4, the phrase "preferably" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Regarding claim 6, the phrase "e.g., ultra-freezing" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d). It is also is not clear what form of freezing, would be considered “ultra”.
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.
Claims 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Weaver et al [Pat. No. 3,812,274] in view of nourishingtime or NT [Mashed Green Bananas (Easy Potato Replacement)], thatgirlcookshealthy or TGCH [Green Banana Mash (Green Fig)], Mangu [Dominican mashed Plantains – Mangu], and Leong [Why You Should Eat Green Bananas].
Weaver et al teach a process for preparing shaped potato products (title) by cooking potatoes in steam or boiling water (Figure 1, #2; column 4, line 65 to column 5, line 6), mashing the cooked potatoes (Figure 1, #3), extruding or moulding the mashed potatoes to form a food product (Figure 1, #4; column 39-58), freezing the formed product (Figure 1, #9), cooking/frying the frozen products (column 7, lines 21-25), forming a French fry shaped product (column 5, line 42), forming a solid loaf which was subsequently cooked and resembled a good-quality baked potato (column 11, lines 1-15), and forming the mash into various further shapes such as chips, strings, ribbons, cubes, etc… (column 5, line 46).
Weaver et al do not explicitly recite 50-90% cooked green bananas and 10-30% water (claim 1), blending (claim 2), shredding with a rotary knife cutter (claim 4), 15-20% water (claim 5), and 17-22% water (claim 7).
NT teaches a recipe for mashed green bananas (title) by boiling green bananas and mashing them to use as a replacement for potatoes (page 1-2).
TGCH teaches a recipe for green banana mash (title) by boiling five green bananas, adding ½ cup almond milk, and pureeing the mixture with a food processor, immersion stick, or potato masher (page 1-2).
Mangu teaches a recipe for Dominican mashed plantains (title) by boiling the green plantains, draining the cooked plantains, retaining one cup of water, mashing the cooked plantains while adding the retained water until reaching the appropriate texture and consistency (page 1).
Leong discloses that green bananas contained important vitamins and minerals, as well as resistant starches which were known to induce satiety, increase fat burning, and it acts as a prebiotic to feed probiotic bacteria and promote digestive health (page 1-2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed amounts of cooked green bananas and water into the invention of Weaver et al, in view of NT, TGCH, Mangu, and Leong; since all are directed to methods of preparing food products, since Weaver et al already include the use of mashed potatoes, since green bananas was a commonly known replacement for mashed potatoes (title) as shown by NT, since green banana mash was commonly made by combining and mixing green bananas and almond milk as shown by TGCH, since almond milk was commonly known to contain at least 90% water, since Dominican Mashed Plantains or Mangu was commonly made by mashing the cooked plantains while adding the retained water until reaching the appropriate texture and consistency as shown by Mangu, since plantains were a type of banana as disclosed by applicant (page 1, line 22 of the specification), since many consumers desired the flavor and texture of bananas, and since green bananas were known to provide important vitamins and minerals, as well as resistant starches which were known to induce satiety, increase fat burning, and it acts as a prebiotic to feed probiotic bacteria and promote digestive health (page 1-2) as shown by Leong, and since the claimed amounts of green banana and water would have been used during the course of normal experimentation and optimization procedures due to factors such as the desired texture and consistency of the final product, the form or shape of the final product, and/or the initial water content of the bananas used by Weaver et al, in view of NT, TGCH, Mangu, and Leong.
It further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed blending, shredding, and rotary knife cutter into the invention of Weaver et al, in view of NT, TGCH, Mangu, and Leong; since all are directed to methods of preparing food products, since Weaver et al already included a mashing step, since green bananas were commonly mashed by pureeing the mixture with a food processor, immersion stick, or potato masher (page 1-2) as shown by TGCH, since food processors commonly used a rotary knife cutter, and since a food processor would be more convenient and easier to use as compared to a manual masher in the method of Weaver et al, in view of NT, TGCH, Mangu, and Leong.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DREW E BECKER whose telephone number is (571)272-1396. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm Monday-Friday.
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/DREW E BECKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1792