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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 1-16 and 21-24 in the reply filed on 12/29/2025 is acknowledged.
Applicants have canceled nonelected claims 17-20.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-16 and 21-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 11 recites: “wherein the first tapered wall and the second tapered wall are characterized by a tapered shape that facilitates entry of a wafer assembly”. Applicants specification fails to disclose what shape “facilitates entry of a wafer assembly”, and what shape would not “facilitate entry of a wafer assembly”, and as such, the features recited in claim 1 are unclear as one having ordinary skill in the art would not understand the metes and bounds which applicants regard as their invention.
For Examination purposes, claim 1 will be read on any features having a tapered shape.
Claim 21 recites “the roller cap configured to momentarily raise a wafer assembly to release friction between the wafer assembly and the set of conveyor rollers”. However, based on applicants’ specification, it is unclear what configuration would “momentarily raise a wafer assembly to release friction between the wafer assembly and the set of conveyor rollers”, and what configuration would not perform this function. As such one having ordinary skill in the would be left to guess the metes and bounds of applicants’ invention.
Dependent claims 2-10, 12-16 and 22-24 are rejected based on their dependence on a rejected base claim.
Due to the above rejection under 35 USC 112(b), a prior art rejection cannot be made at this time.
A formal response will be treated under standard USPTO procedures.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT G BACHNER whose telephone number is (571)270-3888. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 10-6 EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Leonard Chang can be reached at (571) 270-3691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ROBERT G BACHNER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898