ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,232,518, issued on Feb. 25, was assigned to Societe des Produits Nestle S.A. (Vevey, Switzerland).

"Apparatus and method for roasting coffee beans" was invented by Flavien Dubief (Champagne, Switzerland), Stefano Ceccaroli (Chavornay, Switzerland) and Nicolas Bigler (Morrens, Switzerland).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention concerns an apparatus for roasting coffee beans comprising: -a vessel (1) to contain coffee beans, -a heating device (12) to heat coffee beans contained in the vessel, -a control system (180) operable to control the heating device and configured to apply a roasting recipe (R) providing the temperature T@t1, T@...