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[Patentstudent]

Let’s presume that I want to write the claims for a circular plate (a plate to eat food from) that is made from a readily deformable material which allows the user to easily transform the plate into a soup bowl for example by pressing down the center of the plate with the thumbs while pulling up the plate along the circumference.
How can I best go about claiming this user-adjustable plate? Should I put the fact that it is user-adjustable in the preambule and claim the features that make it user-adjustable? Can anybody give an example of how the independent claim for this sample product may look like?

Thank you very much in advance.     

[Ghoti]

With the caveat in place that I have limited experience drafting claims... Here is my first thought.

A collapsible plate comprising;
a centre portion,
an adjustable portion circumnavigating the centre portion,
wherein the plate is adjustable between at least a first position and a second position, and
wherein the internal volume of the first position is less than the internal volume of the second position.

[Patentstudent]

Ghoti, thank you very much.
This looks good to me, but as you will have guessed already my experience with drafting claims is very limited.
I am trying to learn and welcome more suggestions. 
 

[khazzah]

How can I best go about claiming this user-adjustable plate? Should I put the fact that it is user-adjustable in the preambule and claim the features that make it user-adjustable?

You should absolutely recite, in the body of the claim, those features which lead to the cool result (here, user-adjustability). IOW, don't rely on a claim that merely says "user adustable" without claiming the structures that make it so.

As for the preamble, my preambles say "a method" or "a device". This avoids arguments from an infringer as to whether something in preamble is or is not limiting. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that choosing to include a feature in the preamble is idiotic.

[Patentstudent]

Karen, thank you very much.
I will definitely follow your advice to recite the special feature in the body of the claim and I will keep the preamble limited to "a device". 

[JimIvey]

With the caveat in place that I have limited experience drafting claims... Here is my first thought.

A collapsible plate comprising;
a centre portion,
an adjustable portion circumnavigating the centre portion,
wherein the plate is adjustable between at least a first position and a second position, and
wherein the internal volume of the first position is less than the internal volume of the second position.

I'm going to work with this for a bit to tease out user-adjustability a bit more.

1. A collapsible plate comprising;
a center portion,
an adjustable portion circumnavigating the center portion,
wherein the plate is adjustable between at least a first position configuration and a second position configuration, and
wherein the internal volume depth of the plate in the first position configuration is less than the internal volume depth of the plate in the second position configuration.

2.  The collapsible plate of claim 1 wherein the plate is configured to transform from the first configuration to the second configuration in response to a first external force applied to the center in a first direction and a second external force concurrently applied to the adjustable portion in a second direction.

You can go on to add claims (or limitations to these claims) that the external forces are in substantially opposite directions, that the first force is applied toward a bottom of the plate, etc.  Since some collapsible tableware exists, you'll probably want to recite specific physical elements of the collapsing mechanism as well. 

The main idea is to not claim anything about the human directly.  Instead, you claim what the plate does in response to external forces.

Regards.

[Patentstudent]

Jim, thank you.

These are very helpful additional points. I also like the 'volume depth of the plate', which of course will be defined clearly in the description. 
You also prevented that I will add a claim that includes the user, i.e. the human.   

[JimIvey]

You also prevented that I will add a claim that includes the user, i.e. the human.   

I'll just expand on this a bit since it seems new to you.

It's okay to claim "in response to an external force applied by a human user."  The human is external, claimed inferentially.

It is not okay to claim:

"A collapsible plate comprising:
a human user;
... when the human user does this...."

No one will make, use, or sell a collapsible plate with a human user, e.g., as a gift set.  So no one would ever infringe.

Regards.

[Patentstudent]

It's okay to claim "in response to an external force applied by a human user."  The human is external, claimed inferentially.

It is not okay to claim:

"A collapsible plate comprising:
a human user;
... when the human user does this...."

A very clear explanation. Thank you.

[JimIvey]

Just to expand a bit (should have included this in my prior post), there's a saying for claim drafting -- "batteries not included."  If the thing can be sold without a power source (like without batteries or an AC adapter), leave them external in a similar fashion.

Regards.