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
Claims 1-10, 15-23 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 2/11/26.
Claim Objections
Claims 11-14, 24 are objected to because of the following informalities: they depend from withdrawn claim 1. Also, method claim 11 does not positively recite any method steps. Appropriate correction is required.
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 11-14, 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dunkelberg [US 11,622,647B2] in view of Tseng [US 2017/0295983A1].
Dunkelberg teaches a method for controlling a coffee grinder (title) by providing a separate coffee brewing machine with a dispenser station, water tank, pump, heater, and interface for porta filter (Figure 1, #1, 12, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9); a separate coffee bean grinder with a grinder module, bean container, control unit, and load cell (Figure 1, #2, 24, 20, 26, 25); a cup for receiving the beverage (Figure 1, #11), a sensor unit with CPU and storage means and communication means for sensing a volume of liquid going to the cup over time (Figure 1, #5, 15; column 7, lines 27-40), the sensor unit communicating wirelessly with the grinder device (column 7, line 37), the grinder continuously monitoring the flow meter to control and adjust parameters such as fineness and amount of the grinder (column 8, line 13), and the flow mater sensor monitoring an amount of water per shot, extraction time, and flowrate profile (column 9, line 4-14).
Dunkelberg does not explicitly recite a separate sensor unit with a bottom part and load cell located at the dispensing location (claim 11-12).
Tseng teaches a method for beverage brewing management (title) comprising a beverage brewing machine (Figure 2, #21-22, 24), a separate grinder (Figure 4, #14), a separate sensor unit with a bottom part, weighing unit, and timer unit (Figure 2, #13, 131-132); the sensor unit placed beneath a cup in the dispensing area (Figure 2, #13, 23), and the sensor unit wirelessly communicating with the grinder (Figure 1, #13, 14).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the claimed separate sensor unit with load cell into the invention of Dunkelberg, in view of Tseng, since both are directed to methods of making coffee, since Dunkelberg already included with CPU and storage means and communication means for sensing an amount of liquid going to the cup over time (Figure 1, #5, 15; column 7, lines 27-40), the sensor unit communicating wirelessly with the grinder device (column 7, line 37), the grinder continuously monitoring the flow meter to control and adjust parameters such as fineness and amount of the grinder (column 8, line 13), and the flow mater sensor monitoring an amount of water per shot, extraction time, and flowrate profile (column 9, line 4-14); since coffee systems commonly included a separate sensor unit with a bottom part, weighing unit, and timer unit (Figure 2, #13, 131-132); the sensor unit placed beneath a cup in the dispensing area (Figure 2, #13, 23), and the sensor unit wirelessly communicating with the grinder (Figure 1, #13, 14) as shown by Tseng; since both the flow meter of Dunkelberg and the load cell of Tseng were used to monitor the amount of liquid over time and communicate that information to the grinder, since the substitution of one known element (ie load cell sensor) for another (ie flow meter sensor) would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art, since an external sensor device would have been more easily serviced and repaired as compared to an internal sensor device within the coffee machine, and since the load cell sensor device of Tseng could be more easily transferred to different coffee machines at different locations as compared to an internally installed sensor device in the system of Dunkelberg.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bianchi, Ottavi, Herbert, Chiou, Zhan, Ye, and Beomjoon teach methods of making coffee.
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/DREW E BECKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1792