ES2431438R1 - Warning system for customer or consumer service - Google Patents

Abstract

The system that we present is based on a caller or alarm composed of a sending terminal and a centralized receiving terminal in a panel, specially designed for the hospitality industry. The emitting terminals serve to lightly indicate the need of the client to be attended, while communicating this incident to a central panel, and to a fixed light receiver located in a strategic place of the premises, so that it is easily visible by all the personnel from any point of the same. # Each transmitter includes two buttons, red and green. The green activates a LED-type light of the same color, which indicates to the waiter the client's desire to be served, while the red warns of his desire to pay the bill.

Claims (2)

SPANISH OFFICE OF THE PATENTS AND BRAND Application no .: 201200563 SPAIN Date of submission of the application: 23.05.2012 Priority Date: REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE 51 Int. Cl.: G08B5 / 36 (2006.01)  RELEVANT DOCUMENTS

Category

56 Documents cited Claims Affected

X

US 4935720 A (KALFOUN JEAN C) 19.06.1990, column 3, paragraph [1]; claim 1. 1-3

TO

US 6975207 B1 (SHMELZER YANIV) 13.12.2005, the whole document. 1-3

TO

US 2002115435 A1 (SOH YOU SEUNG) 22.08.2002, the whole document. 1-3

TO

GB 2434474 A (SERVICE ALERT LTD) 25.07.2007, the whole document. 1-3

Category of the documents cited X: of particular relevance Y: of particular relevance combined with other / s of the same category A: reflects the state of the art O: refers to unwritten disclosure P: published between the priority date and the date of priority submission of the application E: previous document, but published after the date of submission of the application

This report has been prepared • for all claims • for claims no:

Date of realization of the report 02.22.2014

Examiner D. Cavia del Olmo Page 1/4

REPORT OF THE STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE Application number: 201200563 Minimum documentation searched (classification system followed by classification symbols) G08B Electronic databases consulted during the search (name of the database and, if possible, terms of search used) INVENES, EPODOC State of the Art Report Page 2/4 WRITTEN OPINION Application number: 201200563 Date of Completion of Written Opinion: 02.22.2014 Statement

Novelty (Art. 6.1 LP 11/1986)

Claims Claims 1-3 IF NOT

Inventive activity (Art. 8.1 LP11 / 1986)

Claims Claims 1-3 IF NOT

The application is considered to comply with the industrial application requirement. This requirement was evaluated during the formal and technical examination phase of the application (Article 31.2 Law 11/1986).  Opinion Base.- This opinion has been made on the basis of the patent application as published. State of the Art Report Page 3/4 WRITTEN OPINION Application number: 201200563  1. Documents considered.- The documents belonging to the state of the art taken into consideration for the realization of this opinion are listed below.

Document

Publication or Identification Number publication date

D01

US 4935720 A (KALFOUN JEAN C) 19.06.1990

D02

US 6975207 B1 (SHMELZER YANIV) 13.12.2005

D03

US 2002115435 A1 (SOH YOU SEUNG) 22.02.2002

D04

GB 2434474 A (SERVICE ALERT LTD) 07.25.2007

 2. Statement motivated according to articles 29.6 and 29.7 of the Regulations for the execution of Law 11/1986, of March 20, on Patents on novelty and inventive activity; quotes and explanations in support of this statement D01 is considered the state of the art document closest to the object of the claimed application. Following the wording of the independent claim, D01 describes a warning system for the attention of the waiter characterized in that it comprises, among others, the following technical elements: - Main panel arranged in the kitchen or food preparation area comprising a series of buttons each one of them associated with the activation of a light signal representing, each of these light signals, a restaurant table (see claim 1). -At least one first panel equivalent to the central receiver panel located in the dining room of the restaurant that has a plurality of lights labeled with the number that identifies each of the tables (see claim 1). -A second panel equivalent to the fixed warning panel located in a strategic area between the food preparation area and the dining room presenting a plurality of lights associated each with a table (see claim 1). These panels are electrically connected to each other so that the activation of a switch corresponding to a particular table in the main panel arranged in the kitchen causes the corresponding lamp on the other two panels to light, indicating to the waiters that the food is already It is ready to take to the table (see claim 1). The invention described in D01 contemplates means to indicate whether the time spent since the activation of a light indicating that the food is ready for a table until the food is served by the waiter at said table is too long. Such means include the possibility of the light flashing or changing color (see column 3, paragraph 1). With regard to independent claim number 1, and taking into account the content of D01, it is concluded that R1 lacks inventive activity since the technical elements necessary for the resolution of the technical problem raised are described analogously in D01 presenting Simply variations in your design. Specifically, in the claimed invention the pushbuttons are two (each corresponding to a light color) and are located on the customer's table in the restaurant while, in D01, it is a single push button associated with each table and these are in the kitchen since the objective is to transfer information from the kitchen to the dining room (and not vice versa as is the case of R1). Both the number of lights that are activated when the button is pressed and the direction of the flow of information (from the client to the waiter or from the chef to the waiter) are considered design options that do not provide inventive activity. As regards the fact that the information is transmitted by means of electromagnetic waves, as claimed in R1, although this technical aspect is not specifically mentioned in D01, it is understood that this detail does not provide inventive activity and constitutes a an option that the person skilled in the art would consider as usual within the state of the art as reflected, for example, in documents D02 and D03. Therefore, R1 lacks inventive activity within the meaning of Article 8.1 of the Patent Law. In relation to the dependent claim number 2, it lacks inventive activity since the concrete form adopted by the central panel (console, computer, pda, etc ...) constitutes a usual design option within the state of the art as it is see in document D03 (see reference 12 in figure 1). R3 lacks inventive activity in the same way as the independent claim on which it depends since the design option corresponding to the light flickering is already described in document D01. Document D04 is representative of the state of the art in the sector. State of the Art Report Page 4/4