US 10512363

Patent Overview — US10512363B2

Title: Multi-zone food holding bin

Assignee (per source): Current assignee listed as Marmon Foodservice Technologies Inc; original assignee Prince Castle LLC.

Key dates: Priority date 2016-04-20; application US15/984,760 filed 2018-05-21; published as US20180266696A1 on 2018-09-20; granted as US10512363B2 on 2019-12-24. Anticipated expiration listed as 2036-04-20. Legal status listed as Active.

Inventors: Kyle Thomas Kestner; Christopher B. Lyons, Jr.; Charles B. Hartfelder; Zachary N. McCoy.

Purpose: Fast food restaurants often pre-cook food and hold it for sale. Known holding bins keep food warm using heating elements, but holding time is limited — generally less than 15 or 20 minutes before the food must be discarded — causing waste and added cost.

Plain-language scope (from the excerpt): A multi-zone food holding bin 10 includes two (or more) separate food holding compartments 50. Each compartment has two or more separate food holding zones (e.g., first zone 57a and second zone 57b), and each zone may include two food holding bays (51a/51b and 51c/51d). Each bay can receive a single food holding tray 27 and/or a single lid 21. Bays are shown separated by dashed lines that are for illustration only; no physical boundary or indicia is required. Each zone can be configured to maintain a different food holding temperature, so different food products with different heating requirements can be held in the same compartment — enabling energy efficiencies and potentially reducing space requirements. Within a zone, bays are held at one temperature by independently controllable upper and lower heating elements; products placed together must have substantially the same temperature requirements.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US10512363](/patent/US10512363)/en

What the excerpt does not establish: It provides no full claim language, no complete written description, no prior-art references or citations, and no figures. The excerpt is expressly partial and notes omitted text, so claim scope, claim count, dependencies, and any limitations beyond the described embodiments cannot be determined from it. Classification entries and prosecution history are likewise not established here.