Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
Le Bread Xpress robotic-bakery vending machine was awarded the US design patent USD674020S, titledVending machine. As a reminder the difference between utility and design patents is explained in the following provisions of the United States Patent and TradeMark Office (USPTO) Manual of Patent Examing Procedure (MPEP):
“a “utility patent” protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a "design patent" protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171). [USPTO - MPEP]
Below, the Figure 1 drawing, extracted from the US design patent USD674020S, together with an image of the marketed, robotic-bakery, vending machine.
The franchised, award-winning, robotic-bakery vending machines deliver piping hot and crusty, artisan-made baguettes, on-demand, 24/7. In France the Panivending machines are found in under-served rural areas, and just outside artisan bakery shops, in view of extending hours of operation. In the US, pandemic-interrupted deployment of the machines was planned for malls and at corporate centers.
At the intersection of hi-tech robotics and artisan
manufacturing, Le Bread Xpress is a robotic bakery vending machine that serves hot,
fresh-baked, artisan-made baguettes, 24/7— just like an ATM machine. As a
bonus for pandemic times, sales of the fresh-baked artisan-made baguettes are
100% contactless. Just swipe your credit card, and watch for when your baguette
comes out crunchy and piping hot, 20 seconds later. Le Bread Xpress is a vending machine
that has automated the fridge-to-oven-to-sale and delivery process for artisan-made
baguettes. Artisan-made baguettes, just like the ones made-in-France, that are pre-cooked,
and refrigerated inside the vending machine. The result is a crispy hot
baguette, available on-demand, or until out of batches, at selected public
locations, and at many private corporate locations.
The robotic bakery vending machine was invented by two French engineers: Jean-Louis and Jean-Claude Hecht. Designated micro-bakery, the robotic vending machine was awarded the President of
the Republic Prize, representing top honors at
the prestigious, 120-year old, 2014 Concours Lépine, an international competition for patented
inventions, held every year in Paris, since 1901. The robotic bakery vending machine was then
marketed as a franchise.
In France, the
24/7 micro-bakery vending machine is marketed by Le Panivending. A company,
selling the micro-bakery vending machines directly
to artisan bakers. Artisan bakers who want to extend the business hours of their shops, and/or
their distribution networks to otherwise under-served locations in small rural
villages—without sacrificing the quality of their artisan baguettes. In the USA,
the franchise Le Bread Xpress is based
in San Francisco, California. Le Bread Xpress delivers hot and crunchy, artisan-made baguettes, in malls,
using Le Bread Xpress micro-bakery vending machine, as well as a large
selection of fresh-baked goods, such as croissants, quiches, pizza, and gourmet
sandwiches, using another micro-bakery vending machine, called the Bake Xpress,
also within the scope of the invention.
The micro-bakery vending machine was patented in France in the below-listed two French (FR) patents. The
patent families include European (EP), US, and Spain (SP) patents, also listed below.
FR2973789-
Dispositif de stockage et de prélèvement et procédé pour l'utilisation d'un tel
dispositif
EP2508450A1- Storage and retrieval device and
method for using such a device
ES2481916T3 - Dispositivo de almacenamiento y
recuperación y procedimiento para la utilización de tal dispositivo
The two
patent families each recite different aspects of the robotic processes. In particular, the two
patents respectively recite: the loading and unloading processes of the bread within the machine (FR2971122), and the conveyor belt system, inside and outside of the oven (FR2973789). The inventions
are best illustrated in the following
Youtube technical video, posted by one of the inventors.
In a
nutshell, the micro-bakery machine stores 120 baguettes in a fridge. 14 baguettes
are kept warm in a compartment for swift on-demand delivery, together with a paper bag. When
one baguette is sold, it is replaced with a freshly baked baguette. The oven is
able to bake eight baguettes at a time. It is the smallest micro-bakery fabricated. The interface is cloud-based, allowing remote access for tracking, and monitoring, of the machine's inventory.
Below, a video of le Bread Xpress at the San Francisco, Stonestown Galleria shopping Mall, showing both the inside and outside operation of the robotic bakery vending machine.
Disney Pixar, children's classics and bestselling characters, the unlinked mosaic below displays an inexhaustive sample of the many available Creative Tonies®, aka patented identification carriers for the patented Toniebox® toy.
The cute little characters that bring the Toniebox® to life with playlists of songs, music
and stories are not only sold separately, they are also patented separately, from the Toniebox® toy. Marketed as the Creative Tonies®, the
invention of these little characters, technically designated identification carriers, is recited in
the US utility patent US20190022546A1, titled Identification carrier for a toy for reproducing music or an audio story. Thus, each of the Creative Tonies®, found on the market, embodies a different identification carrier, specifically connected to the songs and story playlists of such well-known children’s classics as the Disney Pixar Toy Story, Peter Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh. Children’s playlists that promise hours of music and stories for funtime or bedtime. Alternatively, MP3-style playlists, cleverly re-invented, especially for children, to while away any future lockdown time, lurking in the still-raging COVID 19 pandemic.
Injection
molded, or 3D printed, out of preferably 100% biodegradable materials, the Creative Tonies®, aka Identification carriers, are
each equipped with one or several magnets, enabling the little characters to snap on andoff the surface of a Toniebox®. Each of the
characters is also equipped with an dentification (ID) tag, readable by a
sensor located beneath the surface of the Toniebox®. Once the ID information is captured, the sensor then sends the character’s
information to the Toniebox® central processing unit (CPU). In turn, the CPU retrieves the connected or locally
stored content, allowing the Toniebox®, equippedwith speakers and kid-friendly controls, to replay songs, stories and
other music. Playlists, which are specific to each of the Creative Tonies®, per the character’s embodied ID tag.
Once connected to a playlist, actuation is also driven by various additional sensors. Sensors, such as for movement or acceleration, inclination, GPS, and/or gyroscopic, are used to generate commands upon detection of user control. For
example, detection of a light tap on the left side, or the right side of the Toniebox®, is
converted to a skip command on the playlist. Similarly, detection of shaking
will generate replay in random order. Consequently, the foam-clad device is also able to recognize when
it is being thrown around.
The abstract of the
Tonie®identification carrier invention is included below, together with the Figure 4
patent drawing. The Figure 4 patent drawing shows an identification
carrier embodied as Greg, the main character of the pre-teen, novel-in-cartoonsDiary of a WimpyKid, with all of the significant identification carrier components, according to the invention.
Specifically, the Figure 4 drawing
depicts the identification carrier108, embodied as Wimpy Kid Greg, comprising two parts, a first upper body part 101 and a second lower body part 102. The second lower part 102
has a first cylindrical blind hole opening 103, at the base of which is a rod or disk magnet 110, enabling
the Tonie® to snap onto the surface of the Toniebox®, forming a single plane E.
The second lower part 102 has a second cylindrical bind hole opening 104, at the base of which is an identification 113, in the form of a tiny radiofrequency receiver and transmitter, termed a radiofrequency identification (RFID) transponder, or near-field communication (NFC) tag,
enabling communication between devices in close proximity.
The identification carrier108, in the form of Wimpy Kid Greg,
has legs 109 and feet, without a pedestal, as it snaps directly on the Toniebox®,
via the disk or rod magnet 110. The feet, and a sack next to them, form
non-interconnected standing surfaces 111, 112, and 114. The magnet 110 is positioned
at a distance closer to the standing surface than the identification 113, in such a
way that there is at least one surface normal N1, relative to the standing surface, that
does not interfere with the magnet 110 or the ID chip 113, and one surface normal N2, relative
to a standing surface, that passes directly through the magnet 110, without passing through the RFID transponder 113. This configuration of non-interconnected standing
surfaces is designed to prevent interference of the magnet 110 with the RFID
transponder 113.
The first upper part 101, of the Wimpy Kid Greg,identification carrier108, has a three-dimensional shape. The first upper part 101 also comprises a projection 115,with
a cone-shaped tip 116, designed to engage with the opening 103, on the second lowere part of the identification carrier 108, in view of securing
the rod or disk magnet 110, in place.
An identification carrier for a toy for replaying music or a spoken story, includes a standing surface, a magnet and an identification, wherein the identification changes a property of an external magnetic field when it enters the magnetic field, and the magnet is arranged closer than the identification to the standing surface and/or at least one surface normal to the standing surface passes only through the magnet or only through the identification. [Abstract US20190022546A1]
Below, just FYI, the Youtube video trailer for the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid storybook. Click here for the full, free, online version.
For bedtime, playtime, funtime, traveltime or lockdown time, the Toniebox® is a charming little WIFI-connected audiobox, which promises big adventures and countless stories and songs, for the toddler crowd (+3), and up. Created by parents, who wanted to give children the augmented possibilities of story-telling and music in the digital age, without imposing screen limitations on visual imagination, the soft Toniebox® plays stories, songs and music, with no advertisements, at the touch of a Tonie® friend.
Equipped with Tonie® ear controls to increase or decrease the volume, the Toniebox® is super easy to operate. Place or remove the magnetic Tonie® friend onto the Toniebox® to start or stop the device. Tilt the Toniebox® to go back. Tap the Toniebox® to skip. Parents and grand-parents can even record 90 minutes of their own stories for playback, using the Creative Tonie®. The Toniebox® was inspired by MP3 players, the operation of which the inventors intended to simplify for little children.
Available in a variety of colors, the Toniebox® pairs with a variety of Tonie® friends, such as the Fairy Tale, Super Hero, or Disney and Pixar Tonie® friends (sold separately), each of which renews and expands the story-telling, music and song capacity of the Toniebox®.
The Toniebox®YouTube presentation video is included below:
The Toniebox® is a patented invention, originally hailing from Germany. The following US utility patent, US10960320B2, titled Toy, recites the components of the invention, including essential aspects of the invention algorithm. The components of the invention comprise such items as:
the speaker
the memory configured to store media files that can be played, replayed, and reordered into playlists
an electromagnetic field sensor, and an electro-magnetic wave sensor, configured to contactlessly detect properties, or changes in properties, connected to the media files, and
a control unit connected to the speaker (and/or a display screen), designed to drive access, and retrieval of information, from the media files, in cooperation with
a physical user-input element.
The marketed embodiment of the invention includes only audio, and audio recording components. However, the scope of the invention extends to devices and methods for playing, replaying, and recording, image, video and 3D information, as well as for software execution.
Below, the abstract of the invention.
A device for replaying audio data including data sets of separately readable ordered data sequences to be replayed and including a loudspeaker or a loudspeaker connection, a sensor that can detect within a region of its surroundings a property or a change in a property of the surroundings, a control unit that can drive the loudspeaker or the loudspeaker connection for replaying audio data, where the control unit, in response to a select signal from the sensor, generates a command to jump to a next one of the separately readable ordered data sequences to be replayed. [Abstract US10960320B2]
The patent Figure 2, together with an image of the marketed Toniebox® and Creative Tonie® friend, in pink, are also included.
Specifically, the patent Figure 2 depicts the Toniebox® device with a Tonie® friend identification carrier 8. The Tonie® friend identification carrier has legs 9 with magnets, which can interact with magnets beneath the surface of the Toniebox® base plate 4 (undepicted in Fig.2).The magnets enable to bypass the design of a pedestal for attaching the Tonie® friend to the Toniebox®. When the Tonie® friend is attached to the base plate with magnets, the sensor reads the Tonie® friend information, sends it to the control unit, which then retrieves the playlist, stored in memory, or on a remote computing device 11, associated with the particular Tonie® friend. The Figure 2 also depicts two user control ears, 5 and 6, one larger than the other, used for volume control. Finally the Figure 2 depicts a display screen 7,in front of the device, for embodiments of the invention that might includevideo, image and/or 3D components.
Competing for a European Inventor Award in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) category, the Hookpod invention, marketed by FishTek Marine, was designed to protect sea birds, albatrosses (1) in particular, from getting baited with pelagic longline fishhooks. Indeed, a great many albatrosses are cruelly killed, when they dive for bait, attached to longline fishhooks on the surface of the ocean, before the fishhooks are able to sink deeper into the ocean, where they are intended to bait fish, such as tuna and swordfish.
In response to this inhumane situation, and the unsatisfactory prior art of tori lines, acting as scarecrows, branch line weighting, and water-degradable ingestion barriers, the Hookpod invention invokes a pod cover for the fishhooks. The Hookpod encloses the fishhooks until they are deep enough to be released, thereby providing reliable and cost-effective means, preventing albatrosses from getting baited when they dive, without reducing the volume of the catch. Means that consequently put an end to an excessively cruel consequence of longline fishing, referred to as seabird bycatch. Seabird bycatch where, according to the Birdlife International Albatross Taskforce, an estimated 100,000 magnificent albatrosses are killed, each year, across the globe (Mulligan,2015).
The Hookpod invention is recited the European patent EP2731423A1, titled Hook Pod. The invention recites a Hookpod comprising two parts: a cover and a body, connected by a pivot, made of transparent plastic, preferably that can withstand repeated use in deep seawater. The Hookpod further comprises a weight and line guidance slot. In the closed position, the Hookpod houses a portion of the online fishhook, making it inaccessible to birds. As the Hookpod sinks at east 20 feet beneath the surface of the water, water pressure builds within the cavity of the pod, forcing the piston-activated pod to open and release the hook The Hookpod further comprises an LED light to attract fish.
The abstract of the Hookpod invention is included below, together with the patent Figure 2 depicting the Hookpod in an open position. Specifically, the Figure 2 drawing depicts: the body 2 of the Hookpod and its cover 3, connected via a pivot 4; a weight 5 is shown above a locking collar 15, designed to trap the longline passing through a guidance slot within the weight 5. The Figure 2 drawing further depicts the distal end of an additional locking mechanism 8a, wihich wraps around the body 2, and snap-fits on a mating protrusion 11, on the cover 3. The additional locking mechanism 8a is connected to a water-pressure activated piston, housed inside a cylindrical barrel 14, on the inner surface of the Hookpod body 2, where it is designed to slide, in view of releasing the pod's locking mechanism 8a (and 8b not shown on Figure 2). The fishhook is retained within the pod in a circular cavity 16, comprising two semi-circular doors 12a (and 12b not shown on Figure 2), respectively mounted to the body 2 and cover 3, via pivots 13a and 13b.
A Hookpod for attachment to a longline and for releasably retaining a hook, comprises a body and a cover, the body and the cover being relatively movable from a closed configuration to an open configuration, such that in the closed configuration the body and cover are relatively positioned to form a cavity therebetween, the cavity dimensioned to retain a portion of the hook therein in use, preventing access to the hook portion, and in the open configuration the body and cover are relatively positioned such that the hook is released from the cavity. [Abstract EP2731423A1]
The EPO Youtube video below covers the Hookpod invention, and its two sibling inventors, Ben and Peter Kibel, hailing from Great Britain.
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Note (1) Albatrosses are the world’s largest flying birds. Fully deployed, the albatrosses’ wingspan measures up to 12 feet, from the tip of one wing, to the tip of the other. Using the much observed, analyzed and emulated principle of dynamic soaring, albatrosses stay airborne for weeks, without even flapping their wings when cruising, traveling far offshore for food. Because albatrosses produce a single egg per attempted breeding cycle that lasts a year, their survival is also threatened by ineffective fishing regulations. Albatrosses also bond in pairs for life.
The
distinguished Jury of the European Patent Awards selected 15 finalists, among
hundreds of nominations, in the five award categories of Research, Industry,
Small & Medium Enterprises (SME), Non-European Patent Organization country,
and Lifetime Achievement. However, one additional prize is awarded, during the Awards Ceremony, as a result of the popular vote. Consequently, this is your chance to vote. The finalist who receives the most popular votes will be awarded the sixth European
Inventor trophy.
The Popular
Vote electronic polling station is open for everyone to cast, not one, but
many votes. According to the European Patent Office rules, you may vote as many
times as you wish, but only once a day, for a single invention. Therefore, dear Reader, you are invited to cast your ballot(s).
To vote for
your favorite invention, please click here.
Until June
17th, Central European Summer Time (CEST) 7 pm. when all the winners of the
European Inventor Award will be celebrated, the short YouTube video included below is a teaser about the European Inventor Awards 2021.
Each year,
since 2006 (except 2020), the European Patent Office has recognized inventors
in five categories, within the context of the European Inventor Awards. The five
categories of award are Research, Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME),
Non-European Patent Organization country, and Lifetime Achievement.The EPO just announced the list of the fifteen 2021 Finalists (included below), three in each of the five previously mentioned
categories.
In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic,
the 2021 Award ceremony promises to be special. Indeed, the ceremony will take place on June
17th 2021, at 19:00 hours, Central European Summer Time (CEST), in
an extended reality mode, including 3D animation, with no pre-registration. In
other words, for the first time since the inception of the Awards, the awards ceremony will be open to the
public on a global basis, free of charge.
Considering
the new distributed augmented reality format of the 2021 Awards ceremony, the 2021 trophy also
promises to be interesting. In the shape of a sail, fabrication of the Inventor
Award trophy is always commissioned from local manufacturers, as a showcase of renowned
craftsmanship, in the country where the Awards ceremony takes place. For
example, the trophy was made of Murano glass, when the 2017 Awards ceremony
took place in Venice, Italy. Likewise, the trophy was made of azulejo ceramics
when the 2016 Awards ceremony took place in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2021, however,
the trophy commission is much harder to predict.
An EPO YouTube
video presenting the list of Finalists is included below, together with a list
of the inventors and hyperlinked patents of the contending inventions.
Research
Marco Donolato and team (IT/DK)
Invention: Magnetic
nanoparticles to diagnose disease.
