ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,536,860, issued on Jan. 27.
"Autonomous food station" was invented by Andrew Joseph Rojee (Derry, N.H.), Kent Yu (London), Michael David Miller (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Dov Z Glucksman (Winchester, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A novel food station comprises a plurality of cubbies, each sized to enclose a food portion container (FPC). Each cubby includes a cubby door and a door actuation mechanism that can open and close the cubby door independently from that of other cubbies. A heating system that can controllably heat the FPC within at least a first cubby, and a cooling system can perform cooling within at least a second cubby. Th...