Double-Crusted Pizza Peripheral Gap Visual Access

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing double-crusted pizza products do not allow consumers to visually determine the type, quality, and quantity of ingredients without reading packaging descriptions, and designs attempting to provide visibility, such as lattice arrangements, can resemble pie crusts and fail to show ingredient quantity, while continuous crusts can be messy to handle.

Innovation Solution

A double-crusted pizza product with a peripheral gap between the upper and lower crusts, allowing visual access to ingredients and enabling cleaner handling without touching the ingredients, while maintaining structural integrity.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a continuous crust (pocket) structure is used to secure the upper crust and maintain ingredients, then structural integrity and ingredient containment are improved, but visual access to ingredients is blocked and handling becomes messy

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural integrityVSAvoidhandling cleanliness
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The continuous crust structure is segmented by introducing a peripheral gap between the upper and lower crusts around the product perimeter. This segmentation allows the crust to be divided into distinct sections: the gap region that provides visual access and clean handling, and the remaining crust regions that maintain structural integrity and ingredient containment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Loss of information

If lattice openings are created in the upper crust to allow visual access to ingredients, then ingredient visibility is improved, but the product resembles pie crust rather than pizza crust and only upper layer ingredients are visible

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveingredient visibilityVSAvoidcrust appearance
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSShape

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of creating openings within the upper crust, the invention extracts the visual access function to the peripheral region by creating a gap between the upper and lower crusts at the product perimeter. This allows consumers to view ingredients through the gap without compromising the integrity and appearance of the upper crust surface.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Quantity of substance

If the upper and lower crusts are joined at the periphery to form a continuous pocket, then ingredient containment is improved, but consumer access to view ingredients is restricted

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveingredient containmentVSAvoidingredient visibility
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The crust structure is designed with different local qualities: the peripheral gap region provides visual access and clean handling, while the remaining joined crust regions maintain ingredient containment. This local differentiation allows both functions to coexist without compromise.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP2493319B1Pizza sandwich
Publication Date: 2018.09.12 SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE SA
  • EP2493319B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2493319B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

Compositions and methods for double-crusted pizza product and method for making are disclosed having a peripheral gap extending around, or substantially around, the product perimeter between upper and lower crusts forming a gap. One embodiment provides a double-crusted layer pizza product having a lower crust layer forming a base; an upper crust layer positioned above the lower crust layer; a sauce layer applied directly adjacent to the upper crust layer on a lower surface thereof and positioned between the lower and upper crust layers; at least one ingredient; and the sauce layer having a water concentration of at least 40 percent weight. A second sauce layer or oil layer can be optionally applied adjacent to an upper surface of the lower crust layer. Cut-outs of the second crust layer can occur prior to or after hot-pressing a billet. Optional methods can include spraying the second sauce layer.