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 § 102
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 –
(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.
Claim(s) s 1-6, 8-13 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Phillips (US 2021/0101793).
Phillips discloses (claims 1, 8, 15) a method, process and computing system for operating a network 50 having one or more beverage robots 10, the method comprising: detecting 31 a new ingredient container installed into a beverage robot 10 from the one or more beverage robots (para [0023]); retrieving ingredient quality information related to an ingredient in the new ingredient container, wherein the ingredient quality information includes one or more of a an acidity level, a brix value, a nutrient table, content, and/or a concentration level for the ingredient in the new ingredient container (para [0025]); for each individual recipe including the ingredient in the new ingredient container, determining whether adjustments to the individual recipe are needed based on the ingredient quality information, (in that a user can customize the beverage based on the macronutrient ratios and dietary preferences and logic 36 calculates an ingredient profile based on user preferences and user parameters) (para [0025]); in response to a determination that adjustments are needed, adjusting the individual recipe to create a modified individual recipe based on the ingredient quality information (para [0025]) ; and storing the modified individual recipe via remote server 50 for use in preparing beverages that include the ingredient at the beverage robot; (claims 2, 9, 16) retrieving ingredient quality information related to an ingredient in the new ingredient container comprises: in response to the beverage robot scanning 31 an identifier of the new ingredient container, retrieving, from a database 50, the concentration level of the ingredient in the new ingredient container; and for each of the individual recipes including the ingredient in the new ingredient container, determining whether adjustments to the individual recipe are needed comprises determining if the concentration level of the ingredient is outside of a predetermined range; and adjusting the individual recipe to create the modified individual recipe comprises making one or more adjustments to the individual recipe to counteract the concentration level (para [0023] and para [0025]); (claims 3, 10, 17) retrieving ingredient quality information related to an ingredient in the new ingredient container comprises: in response to the beverage robot scanning an identifier of the new ingredient container, retrieving, from a database, the brix value of the ingredient in the new ingredient container; and for each of the individual recipes including the ingredient in the new ingredient container, determining whether adjustments to the individual recipe are needed comprises determining if the brix value of the ingredient is outside of a predetermined range; and adjusting the individual recipe to create the modified individual recipe comprises making one or more adjustments to the individual recipe based on the brix value (para [0025]; (claim 4, 11, 18) the ingredient quality information is a first set of ingredient quality information and the modified recipe is a first modified recipe, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving a second set of ingredient quality information of the ingredient in the new ingredient container; determining the first set of ingredient quality information does not match the second set of ingredient quality information; and in response to the first set of ingredient quality information not matching the second set of ingredient quality information, generating a second modified individual recipe based on the second set of ingredient quality information, (in that users preferences are stored, the user can customize a previous recipe and the internal logic can modify ideal amounts and ratios of ingredients based on caloric needs of the user and other parameters); (claims 5, 12, 19) receiving an order requesting a beverage from the network 40, 50, 60; in response to receiving the order, retrieving the modified individual recipe associated with the beverage to determine required ingredients for the beverage; and checking a list of stored ingredients to determine if the beverage robot has the required ingredients to make the beverage according to the adjusted individual recipe (paragraph [0023]; (claims 6, 13, 20) receiving an order requesting a beverage from the network associated with an individual modified recipe; assigning the beverage to the beverage robot from the one or more beverage robots, wherein assigning the beverage to the beverage robot causes the order to be added to a robotic queue at the beverage robot, and wherein the robotic queue is associated with beverages to be prepared by the beverage robot; and preparing the beverage according to the individual modified recipe (para [0024]).
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) 7 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phillips (US 2021/0101793) in view of KR2024039765.
With regard to claims 7 and 14, Phillips discloses all the claimed features but does not disclose determination of an expiration date of ingredients and displaying via a user interface a notification that the ingredient is expired. KR2024039765 discloses a network having one or more beverage robots with a method including the broad teaching of determination of an expiration date of ingredients and displaying via a user interface a notification that the ingredient is expired. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing date to include determining an expiration date of ingredients and notifying the user via a user interface the ingredient is expired.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/GENE O CRAWFORD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3651