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 .
Priority
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.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Boggavarapu (US 2018/0000108) in view of Laner (WO 2015/169398). Laner (US 2017/0071398) is being used as an English language equivalent for Laner (WO 2015/169398).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Boggavarapu teaches a beverage machine (title, abstract) comprising: a breaker (Figs 5-9, cutter 406, 0105) for breaking a beverage pod (container 502, 1000, 0120) containing whole brewing elements (0120, single pod or container 1000 (FIG. 12) can be packaged and organized as a series of independent coffee beans; 0121, green coffee beans) to release the whole brewing elements; a grinder for grinding whole brewing elements into grounds (Fig 7, grinder system 504, 0135), the whole brewing elements released from the beverage pod broken by the breaker (0135, grinder system 504 can accept the roasted beans from the trap door 426); a brew chamber for brewing the grounds (brew chamber 432, piston 448, 0116) into a drinkable substance; and a fluidic system for dispensing (Fig 1, dispensing 116, valve 453, 0117) the drinkable substance from the beverage machine.
Boggavarapu discloses the claimed invention except for the brew chamber comprising: an upper chamber attached to an upper plunger, a lower chamber attached to a lower plunger, the upper plunger and lower plunger are actuatable to seal the upper and lower chamber for brewing the drinkable substance, and the upper plunger and lower plunger are actuatable to decouple the upper chamber and lower chamber and break the seal; and a wiper apparatus for moving grounds into the brew chamber when the upper chamber and lower chamber are decoupled.
However, Laner discloses the brew chamber (Figs 3, 10-16, infusion assembly 2, infusion chamber 22, 0032, 0036) comprising: an upper chamber (plate 26 forming upper chamber portion of chamber 22) attached to an upper plunger (Figs 3, 13, 14, infusion piston 25, 0038), a lower chamber (plate 21 forming lower chamber portion of chamber 22) attached to a lower plunger (Figs 3, 13, 14, dispensing piston 20, 0035), the upper plunger and lower plunger are actuatable to seal the upper and lower chamber (Fig 13, shows sealed condition of upper and lower chamber in lower dispensing chamber; where figure 14 shows unsealed condition in upper chamber) for brewing the drinkable substance, and the upper plunger and lower plunger are actuatable to decouple the upper chamber and lower chamber and break the seal (Fig 14); and a wiper apparatus (Figs 2, 3, 8, 9, scraper 15, 0032) for moving grounds into the brew chamber (0046-0048) when the upper chamber and lower chamber are decoupled is known in the art.
It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the beverage of Boggavarapu having a brew chamber silent to the recited moveable plungers and wiper apparatus with the brew chamber comprising: an upper chamber attached to an upper plunger, a lower chamber attached to a lower plunger, the upper plunger and lower plunger are actuatable to seal the upper and lower chamber for brewing the drinkable substance, and the upper plunger and lower plunger are actuatable to decouple the upper chamber and lower chamber and break the seal; and a wiper apparatus for moving grounds into the brew chamber when the upper chamber and lower chamber are decoupled of Laner for the purpose of providing a known brewing chamber and wiper configuration that automatically loads and unloads beverage brewing material into a brewing chamber (0046-0048, 0051-0053), thereby improving the overall versatility and convenience of the device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THIEN S TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7745. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday [8:00-4:00].
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/THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 4/24/20206
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