DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-8, 10 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al (US 2016/0345384) in view of Gaff et al (US 2014/0154819).
Zhang discloses the system claimed including a substrate support assembly (200), an application program/routine that is stored, a control board (250) disposed in the substrate support assembly wherein the control board includes a controller (160) includes an optical communication interface board (256), a pulse width modification PWM heater controller (216) wherein the controller is connected with the stored application routine/applications when in operation (para 0036), a heating element (214) disposed in the substrate support assembly wherein the heating element includes a plurality of spatially tunable heaters (214) that are individually tunable by the pulse width modification heater controller (para 0047-0048). But, Zhang does not explicitly show a memory that stores the application program/routine and the control board (250) with a processor having a wireless interface that is configured to communicate with a system controller remote from the substrate support
Gaff shows it is known to provide a heating system having a substrate support assembly that includes a circuit/control board (226) having a memory (para 0038) wherein Gaff further shows the control circuit board (226; para 0036) which includes a processor (316) having a wireless interface (406) that can wirelessly communicate with a system controller (e.g., an external device/computer 405; para 0061) remote from the substrate support. Also, see Figure 10.
In view of Gaff, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt Zhang with the control board disposed within the substrate support assembly to include a processor including a wireless interface that can be in communication with a remote controller remote from the substrate support to predicably enable a user to control the operations of the heating system along with the memory that includes an application program/routine for a desired operation of the claimed system.
With respect to claim 2, Gaff discloses the memory that is located with or in the control board (para 0038).
With respect to claim 3, Zhang discloses a remote system controller (160) that includes a memory (as that of the system controller 400) wherein such memory is located remote from the control board in the substrate support assembly.
With respect to claims 4-6, Zhang further discloses an external controller (180; para 0059) coupled to the control board wherein the external controller further includes a first power supply (222) which is configured to provide power to the heating element (para 0040).
With respect to claim 7, Zhang disclose that the external controller (180) includes a database (182) and a computing platform (184) but does not disclose that the external controller comprises a programming processor.
With respect to claim 8, Zhang discloses the external controller comprises or is connected with a second power supply (206) via the controller (160).
With respect to claim 10, Zhang in view of Gaff shows the processor that is wirelessly controllable as the processor is wirelessly connected with the remote control system as taught by Gaff (para 0061).
With respect to claim 11, Zhang in Gaff discloses the processor (316 as shown by Gaff) that is operable to automatically execute programs/instructions stored in the memory (para 0062 of Gaff; and para 0059 and 0060 of Zhang) upon application of power above a predefined threshold including a heating operation which includes application of power above a predetermined threshold or any suitable power to reduce variations in the temperatures within the desired temperature profile range (also, see para 0049 of Zhang).
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Gaff as applied to claims 1-8, 10 and 11 above, and further in view of Nero Jr (US 2010/0013457).
v shows the system claimed except for the external controller having a single current clamp.
Nero shows it is known to provide a processor (84) with a current clamp (86) that reads and regulates current supplied to a power source (or power takeoff PTO) and used to prevent damage to the electronic components (also, see para 0077).
In view of Nero, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt Zhang, as modified by Gaff, with the external controller having a single current clamp that reads and regulates current to provides a protection against over current or that exceeds a threshold current for the protection of the external controller including its electronic components as known in the art.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection including Gaff which discloses for a control board disposed in the substrate support assembly wherein the control board includes a processor and a wireless interface that is configured to communicate with a controller system that is remote from the substrate support.
It is noted that the objection to drawings is withdrawn.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SANG Y PAIK whose telephone number is (571)272-4783. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:30; M-F.
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/SANG Y PAIK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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