Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 11037094B2, I will first search the USPTO database for the patent and then examine its cited references.

USPTO Search for US Patent 11037094B2

A search of the USPTO database confirms the existence of US patent 11037094B2, titled "Actively managed food delivery". It was issued on June 15, 2021, from an application filed on March 21, 2019, by Zest Labs Inc..

Most Relevant Prior Art for US Patent 11037094B2

US patent 11037094B2 claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 15/085,288, filed Mar. 30, 2016, which in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/140,425, filed Mar. 30, 2015. These are foundational to the patent and represent its earliest effective filing date. The patent also lists other related applications in its family, including US10445684B2, US11037092B2, US10423918B2, US11037093B2, and US12008509B2.

The patent itself references U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/014,173 filed Aug. 29, 2013, to Mehring et al., as containing features of an illustrative management system that may be used in various embodiments disclosed. This patent application by Mehring et al. is a particularly relevant piece of prior art as it is directly incorporated by reference and forms a basis for elements of the disclosed invention.

Given the information available directly within the patent document, the most relevant prior art explicitly mentioned is:

• U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/014,173 to Mehring et al.
  • Full Citation: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/014,173 to Mehring et al. (published as US 2014/0067160 A1).
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed August 29, 2013.
  • Brief Description: This application describes a management system, the features of which can be incorporated into the actively managed food delivery system of US11037094B2. The description of US11037094B2 explicitly states that "Features from an illustrative management system disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/014,173 filed Aug. 29, 2013 to Mehring et al., which is herein incorporated by reference, may be used in various embodiments disclosed herein." This suggests that aspects of the foundational management system, including potentially aspects of data collection, analysis, and command generation, could be present in this earlier filing.
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Without a detailed claim-by-claim comparison with the full text of US 2014/0067160 A1, it's difficult to definitively state which specific claims are anticipated. However, given the explicit incorporation by reference and the description of a "management system," it is highly probable that elements related to the receiving status information, storing status information, analyzing performance of entities, and generating reports as broadly recited in independent claims 1, 10, and 14 could find antecedent basis or direct teaching in this reference. Additionally, the broader concepts of actively managing conditions during transport might be anticipated.

To provide a more comprehensive analysis of anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102, a full review of all cited prior art (both by the applicant and the examiner) within the prosecution history of US11037094B2 would be necessary, along with a detailed comparison of each claim element against the disclosures of those references. This initial analysis focuses on the prior art explicitly highlighted as foundational within the patent document itself.