Appeal 2006-0891
Application 10/224,886
The Examiner has established a prima facie case of obviousness with
respect to the subject matter of claim 1 based on the findings and
conclusions presented in the paragraph bridging pages 3 and 4 and those
presented on page 4, line 16 to page 5, line 9 of the Answer. Kuechle
suggests combining dough ingredients into a mixture using a mixer and a
method including a high speed mixing step as required by the first clause of
the claim. Furthermore, Kuechle includes an encapsulated leavening agent
(Kuechle, col. 8, ll. 28-54) and this encapsulated leavening agent, along with
the other ingredients, is mixed until substantially uniformly integrated, i.e.,
uniformly distributed into the dough ingredients, as claimed (Kuechle, col.
11, ll. 32-33). Kuechle exemplifies the following approximate speeds and
times for use when mixing in a Horizontal Bar mixer:2
1. Dry ingredient blending: 32-40 rpm for 28-60 seconds.
2. Liquid addition: 32-40 rpm for 1.5-2 minutes (90-120 sec.)
3. Speed increase: 64-80 rpm for 1.5-2 minutes (90-120 sec.)
The evidence supports the Examiner’s conclusion that it would have
been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select speeds below 36 rpm
for the first two mixing steps, such speeds being within the exemplified
ranges disclosed in the reference, and then increase the speed to about 64-80
rpm for only 1.5 to about 2 minutes (about 90 seconds to about 120 seconds)
thereby exposing the encapsulated leavening agent to no more than 160
seconds of high speed mixing as claimed. One of ordinary skill in the art
would have expected to obtain an underdeveloped dough composition with
uniformly integrated ingredients by conducting the process within the
exemplified parameters in accordance with the teachings of Kuechle.
2 Kuechle precedes each range value with the word “about”.
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