CTNF 18/872,393 CTNF 90882 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Drawings 06-36-01 AIA Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA 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. 07-34-01 Claim 23 is 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 23 recites the limitation "the reservoir" in the last two lines. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim science claim 23 depends from claim 1 and the reservoir is only first recited in claim 2 from which claim 23 does not depend. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1-2, 10-12, 15, 18, 23, 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Göltenboth et al. (DE 102015201946 A1) . Regarding claim 1, Göltenboth discloses (figure 1-8) an apparatus for cooling or heating a liquid in a container (at container 1), the apparatus comprising: a first conduit (from intake line 9); a second conduit (from discharge line 3); a pump in fluid communication with the first conduit and the second conduit (pump 5); and a thermal energy transfer mechanism (the heat exchanging device at cooler 4), wherein: the pump (5) is configured to transfer the liquid from the container to the thermal energy transfer mechanism (4) via the first conduit (from line 9 to pump 5 and cooler 4 to discharge line 3, per paragraph 0040 of the machine translation provided by the examiner); the thermal energy transfer mechanism is configured to cool or heat the liquid ( the cooler cools the liquid per paragraph 0012-0013, where the claim currently only require the cooling or heating by the transfer mechanism, not both in combination as would be required by the conjunction “and” instead of the conjunction “or”. Additional prior art will be cited that can perform the heating as well as cooling but in its current form Claim 1 can be anticipated by Göltenboth alone); and the pump is configured to transfer the liquid from the thermal energy transfer mechanism to the container via the second conduit (from line 9 to pump 5 and cooler 4 to discharge line 3, per paragraph 0040 of the machine translation provided by the examiner). Regarding claim 2, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 and Göltenboth further discloses the thermal energy transfer mechanism comprises: a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the first conduit and the second conduit; and a reservoir ( the cooler 4 comprises a heat exchanger and a reservoir for fluid within the heat exchange as seen in figures 4 and 5). Regarding claim 10, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 and Göltenboth further discloses a first actuator configured to insert and retract the first conduit into the container (1); and a second actuator configured to insert and retract the second conduit into the container (an actuator is implicitly disclosed as the container 1 can be exchanged with a second container 11 as seen in figure 6 and per paragraph 0045). Regarding claim 11, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 2 and Göltenboth further discloses the reservoir comprises an inlet and an outlet (for cooling medium flowing to the cooler 4 per paragraph 0026). Regarding claim 12, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 11 and Göltenboth further discloses the inlet is in fluid communication with a fluid source; and the fluid source comprises at least one of a hot fluid source or a cold fluid source ( a cold fluid source at cooling medium flowing to the cooler 4 per paragraph 0026). Regarding claim 15, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 12 and Göltenboth further discloses at least one of: a temperature sensor configured to monitor the temperature of the fluid in the first conduit or the temperature of the fluid in the container (temperature sensors on the container 1 or pump 5 per paragraph 0013). Regarding claim 18, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 2 and Göltenboth further discloses one or more heat transfer elements in a fluid in the reservoir ( the cooler 4 comprises a heat exchanger and a reservoir for fluid within the heat exchange as seen in figures 4 and 5, where the heat transfer elements can be any portion of the cooler that promotes heat exchange). Regarding claim 23, Göltenboth disclose the claim limitations of claim 1 and Göltenboth further discloses at least one of: a first temperature sensor configure to monitor the temperature of the fluid in the second conduit (the temperature sensor can be disposed in the supply and discharge lines per paragraph 0013). Regarding claim 26, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 and Göltenboth further discloses a container (11) comprising a cleaning fluid (per paragraph 0045). Regarding claim 27, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 26 and Göltenboth further discloses the apparatus is configured to circulate the cleaning fluid (in container 11) through the first conduit, the second conduit, the pump and the thermal energy transfer mechanism (per paragraph 0045). Regarding claim 28, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 and Göltenboth further discloses a controller configured to control operation of the apparatus, wherein the controller comprises an on/off selector, a temperature set point controller, a temperature set point display and a clean cycle selector ( the controller is controlled to a desired set temperature per paragraph 0012 and a cleaning cycle can be initiated per paragraph 0045) Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 5-9, and 20-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Göltenboth et al. (DE 102015201946 A1) in view of Bertram-Gregory et al. (GB 2569131 A) . Regarding claim 5, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 1 and Göltenboth further discloses the pump in fluid communication with the first conduit and the second conduit is a first pump (5); however Göltenboth does not explicitly disclose a second the second pump is configured to circulate a thermal energy transfer fluid through the heat exchanger. Bertram-Gregory teaches (Figure 1) an apparatus for cooling or heating a liquid in a container (at vessel 18), the apparatus comprising: a first conduit ( conduit 17 from vessel 18 to reservoir 16); a second conduit (conduit 17 from vessel 16 to dispenser 19); and a thermal energy transfer mechanism (at reservoir 16 and circuits 14 and 15 which are part of heat transfer apparatus 10), wherein: liquid is transferred from the container to the thermal energy transfer mechanism (at reservoir 16 and circuits 14 and 15) via the first conduit ; the thermal energy transfer mechanism is configured to cool or heat the liquid ( where heat exchange takes place between the beverage in conduit 17 and the liquid in the reservoir per the paragraph spanning pages 12 and 13); where the thermal energy transfer mechanism comprises: a heat exchanger (between the liquid in reservoir 16 and the beverage in conduit 17 per the third paragraph of page 9) in fluid communication with the first conduit and the second conduit; and a reservoir ( reservoir 16) with a second the second pump (23) is configured to circulate a thermal energy transfer fluid through the heat exchanger (per the first full paragraph of page 11). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the cooler 4 of Göltenboth to be the reservoir for heat exchanger with a pump for a heat exchange liquid disclosed by Bertram-Gregory. Doing so would provide a heat exchange structure that could heat the beverage liquid as well as cool the beverage as recognized by Bertram-Gregory (per the sixth paragraph of page 7 of Bertram-Gregory). Regarding claim 6, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 5 and Bertram-Gregory further discloses a heater (13a and 13b can be operated as coolers or heaters per the first full paragraph of page 14) in fluid communication with the second pump (23) and the heat exchanger ( in reservoir 16 as seen in figure 1). Regarding claim 7, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 6 and Bertram-Gregory further discloses the thermal energy transfer fluid is contained in the reservoir (16); and the thermal energy transfer fluid is colder than the liquid in the container (when the reservoir 16 is being used to cool the beverage in conduit 17 per the last paragraph of page 13). Regarding claim 8, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 6 and Bertram-Gregory further discloses the heater is configured to heat the thermal energy transfer fluid to a temperature that is hotter than the liquid in the container (when the reservoir 16 is being used to heat the beverage in conduit 17 per first full paragraph of page 14). Regarding claim 9, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 6 and Bertram-Gregory further discloses a plurality of control valves (At valves 21 and 15a) configured to: control a first flow of the thermal energy transfer fluid from the reservoir (16) , through the second pump (23) and heat exchanger and back to the reservoir; and control a second flow of the thermal energy transfer fluid from the pump, through the heater (at 13a and 13b) and heat exchanger and back to the second pump (a seen in figure 1). Regarding claim 20, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 18 however Göltenboth does not explicitly disclose the one or more heat transfer elements comprise a heating element. Bertram-Gregory teaches (Figure 1) an apparatus for cooling or heating a liquid in a container (at vessel 18), the apparatus comprising: a first conduit ( conduit 17 from vessel 18 to reservoir 16); a second conduit (conduit 17 from vessel 16 to dispenser 19); and a thermal energy transfer mechanism (at reservoir 16 and circuits 14 and 15 which are part of heat transfer apparatus 10), wherein: liquid is transferred from the container to the thermal energy transfer mechanism (at reservoir 16 and circuits 14 and 15) via the first conduit ; the thermal energy transfer mechanism is configured to cool or heat the liquid ( where heat exchange takes place between the beverage in conduit 17 and the liquid in the reservoir per the paragraph spanning pages 12 and 13); where the thermal energy transfer mechanism comprises: a heat exchanger (between the liquid in reservoir 16 and the beverage in conduit 17 per the third paragraph of page 9) in fluid communication with the first conduit and the second conduit; and a reservoir ( reservoir 16) with a second the second pump (23) is configured to circulate a thermal energy transfer fluid through the heat exchanger (per the first full paragraph of page 11) where the heat exchanger is a heating element in the reservoir (that where the liquid in reservoir 16 can heat the beverage in conduit 17 per the first full paragraph of page 14). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the cooler 4 of Göltenboth to be the reservoir for heat exchanger that can act as a heating element for heating the beverage disclosed by Bertram-Gregory. Doing so would provide a heat exchange structure that could heat the beverage liquid as well as cool the beverage as recognized by Bertram-Gregory (per the sixth paragraph of page 7 of Bertram-Gregory). Regarding claim 21 and 22, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 18 however Göltenboth does not explicitly disclose a stirring mechanism where the stirring mechanism is configured to stir the heat transfer elements and the fluid within the reservoir. Bertram-Gregory teaches (Figure 1) an apparatus for cooling or heating a liquid in a container (at vessel 18), the apparatus comprising: a first conduit ( conduit 17 from vessel 18 to reservoir 16); a second conduit (conduit 17 from vessel 16 to dispenser 19); and a thermal energy transfer mechanism (at reservoir 16 and circuits 14 and 15 which are part of heat transfer apparatus 10), wherein: liquid is transferred from the container to the thermal energy transfer mechanism (at reservoir 16 and circuits 14 and 15) via the first conduit ; the thermal energy transfer mechanism is configured to cool or heat the liquid ( where heat exchange takes place between the beverage in conduit 17 and the liquid in the reservoir per the paragraph spanning pages 12 and 13); where the thermal energy transfer mechanism comprises: a heat exchanger (between the liquid in reservoir 16 and the beverage in conduit 17 per the third paragraph of page 9) in fluid communication with the first conduit and the second conduit; and a reservoir ( reservoir 16) with a second the second pump (23) is configured to circulate a thermal energy transfer fluid through the heat exchanger (per the first full paragraph of page 11) where the heat exchanger is a heating element in the reservoir (that where the liquid in reservoir 16 can heat the beverage in conduit 17 per the first full paragraph of page 14) and a stirring mechanism where the stirring mechanism is configured to stir the heat transfer elements and the fluid within the reservoir (agitating pumps can be provided in the reservoir to maintain a uniform temperature of the liquid in the reservoir per the third paragraph of page 11) . It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the cooler 4 of Göltenboth to be the reservoir for heat exchanger with a stirring mechanism that can act as a heating element for heating the beverage disclosed by Bertram-Gregory. Doing so would provide a heat exchange structure that could heat the beverage liquid as well as cool the beverage as recognized by Bertram-Gregory (per the sixth paragraph of page 7 of Bertram-Gregory) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Göltenboth et al. (DE 102015201946 A1) in view of Thiry. (US 2010/0000246 A1) . Regarding claim 19, Göltenboth discloses the claim limitations of claim 18 however Göltenboth does not explicitly disclose ice is used as a cooling element. Thriy discloses a beverage that it is a known method used to cooling a by immersing a coil in an ice bath (Per paragraph 0003). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to have modified the cooler 4 of Göltenboth to be a coil immersed in an ice bath. Doing so would provide an alternative old and well known method for cooling a beverage as recognized by Thiry (per paragraph 0003) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Terzian et al. (US 4204613 A) Minamitani et al. (JP 2016138698 A), Tanemoto (JP 2009001280 A), Arndt et al. (EP 2833091 A2) and Bondavalli et al. (EP 3738483 A1) all disclose relevant structures for cooling or heating a liquid . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HANS R. WEILAND whose telephone number is (571)272-9847. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6-3 EST and alternating Fridays. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Len Tran can be reached at 571-272-1184. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HANS R WEILAND/Examiner, Art Unit 3763 /LEN TRAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 2 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 3 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 4 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 5 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 6 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 7 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 8 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 9 Art Unit: 3763 Application/Control Number: 18/872,393 Page 10 Art Unit: 3763
Prosecution Insights