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 .
In the amendment filed on 01/05/26, applicants have amended claim 1 and cancelled claims 2-3. 35 USC § 102 and 103 rejections over WO’888 alone and/or in view of WO’046 and CN ‘711 are maintained in view of the examiner’s arguments (see Response to the argument below).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO/118888A1 (see Figs 1-3 and English Translation pages 1-16).
As to claim 1, WO'888 teaches (see Fig 1A and 3) a carrier (fixing mechanism)
comprising: a body portion (400); an electro permanent magnetic chuck (101, 102)
arranged on a boundary portion (101) of the body portion and configured to selectively
fix a mask assembly (200); a substrate fixing unit (102X, 102Y) arranged in the
body portion to selectively fix a display substrate (300); a magnetic force portion arranged in the body portion and configured to apply a magnetic force (attractive force) such that the mask assembly (200b) approaches the display substrate (300, see Fig 1 A and English Translation on pages 7-8). Furthermore, WO’888 teaches (see Figs 1C-1E) a position varying portion (variable polarity magnet 102c) coupled to the magnetic force portion (102) and configured to vary a position of the magnetic force portion.
Regarding claim 4, in WO'888 the magnetic force portion (102) comprises a
permanent magnet (102).
As to claim 5, WO'888 teaches (see Fig 1 A -1E and English Translation on
pages 11-13) the magnetic force portion comprises a permanent magnet and/or an
electromagnet (see English translation on page 9).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 6-11 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)) (1) as anticipated
by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over WO/118888A1 (see Figs
and English Translation pages 1-16) in view of WO 2011081046A1).
As to claim 6, WO'888 teaches (see Fig 3 and English Translation on page 13)
an apparatus (processing apparatus 30) for manufacturing a display apparatus, the apparatus (30) comprising: a substrate loading unit (input/positioning/fixing chamber with a transfer system, not shown); a mask loading unit (input/positioning/fixing chamber 31 with a mask transfer system, not shown) coupled to the substrate loading unit
(input/positioning/fixing chamber 31 with a transfer system, not shown); a deposition unit (a vapor deposition chamber 32) capable of being coupled to the mask loading unit
(a mask transfer system, not shown) and configured to deposit a deposition material on
a display substrate (300); and a carrier (fixing mechanism) configured to move to pass
through the substrate loading unit (input/positioning/fixing chamber 31 with a transfer
system, not shown), the mask loading unit (input/positioning/fixing chamber 31 with a
mask transfer system, not shown), and the deposition unit (vapor deposition chamber 32), wherein the substrate loading unit (input/positioning/fixing chamber 31 with a
transfer system, not shown) is configured to have a display substrate (300) fixed
therein, and a mask assembly (mask frame 200a and mask membrane plate 200b) is
fixed in the mask loading unit (input/positioning/fixing chamber 31 with a mask transfer
system, not shown). Although WO'888 teaches a substrate loading unit (transfer
system) and mask loading unit (mask transfer system), a mask loading unit coupled to a
substrate loading unit and the mask loading unit coupled to a deposition unit are not
specifically shown in WO'888. However, WO'046 shows (see Fig 1 and 10) a mask
loading unit (transfer robot 131, 91) coupled to a substrate loading unit (transfer robot
132) and the mask loading unit coupled to a deposition unit (process chambers 113-117
and 1222-125). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a mask loading unit coupled to a
substrate loading unit and the mask loading unit coupled to a deposition unit in WO'888
to allow a plurality of substrates to pass through the same processing chamber and
continuously forms a plurality of organic layers as taught by WO'046 (see English
Translation on page 3).
Regarding claim 7, the carrier (fixing mechanism) comprises: a body portion (400); an electro permanent magnetic chuck (101,102) arranged on a boundary portion of the body portion and configured to selectively fix the mask assembly; and a substrate fixing unit (102X, 102Y) arranged in the body portion to selectively fix the display substrate (300).
Regarding claim 8, WO'888 teaches the carrier (fixing mechanism) having a
magnetic force portion arranged in the body portion and configured to apply a magnetic
force (attractive force) such that the mask assembly (200b) approaches the display
substrate (300, see Fig 1 A and English Translation on pages 7-8).
As to claim 9, WO'888 teaches (see Figs 1C-1E) the carrier (fixing mechanism)
having a position varying portion (variable polarity magnet 102c) coupled to the
magnetic force portion (102) and configured to vary a position of the magnetic force
portion.
Regarding claim 10, in WO'888 (see Fig 1 A -1E and English Translation on
pages 11-13) the magnetic force portion (102) comprises a permanent magnet (102).
As to claim 11, in WO'888 the mask loading unit comprises a first switch unit
(current applied to coil 102d) that is configured to operate the electro permanent
magnetic chuck through selective contact with the carrier.
As to claims 14-15, WO'888 lacks teaching a mask unloading chamber coupled
to the deposition unit and a substrate unloading chamber coupled to the mask
unloading chamber mask. WO'046 teaches (see Figs 1 and 4) a mask unloading
chamber (32) coupled to the deposition unit (24-26), wherein the mask assembly is
configured to be separated from the carrier in the mask unloading chamber (32); and a
substrate unloading chamber (28) coupled to the mask unloading chamber (32),
wherein the display substrate (11) is configured to be separated from the carrier in the
substrate unloading chamber. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the
art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a mask unloading
chamber coupled to the deposition unit and a substrate unloading chamber coupled to
the mask unloading chamber to easily manufacture organic elements connected to each other.
Claim(s) 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
WO/118888A1 (see Figs 1-3 and English Translation pages 1-16) in view of WO
2011081046A1 as applied to claim 6 and further in view of CN 107541711A.
WO'888 lacks teaching first and second vision unit configured to capture an
image of positions of the display substrate and the carrier/mask assembly. CN'711
teaches (see Fig 9 and English Translation on page 8) the substrate loading unit comprises a first vision unit (260 camera) configured to capture an image of positions of
the display substrate and the carrier; the mask loading unit comprises a second vision
unit (camera 261) configured to capture an image of at least one selected from positions
of the display substrate and the mask assembly, and positions of the carrier and the
mask assembly. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to include first and second vision units as
claimed in WO'888 to position the substrate and mask with high precision as taught by
CN'711 (see English translation on page 8).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants contend (see Response to argument on page 7) “Although WO'888 may appear to disclose a variable polarity magnet 102c that affects a magnetic field of the device of WO'888, it does not disclose, teach, or suggest that the variable polarity magnet 102c varies a position of a magnetic force portion that applies a magnetic force”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the argument above because as recited on pages 8-9 of WO’888 (See English translation), a position varying portion (the variable polarity magnet 102c) of WO’888 is able to vary a position of a magnetic force portion that applies a magnetic force. See annotated paragraphs of WO’888 cited on pages 8-9:
“The polarity-fixed magnet 102b needs to be a magnet having a strong magnetic flux density in order to create the attractive force of the permanent electromagnet 102, and a rare earth magnet is generally used. The variable polarity magnet 102c serves to control the magnetic flux of the fixed polarity magnet 102b, and has a property that the direction of magnetic flux is reversed (the magnetic pole is reversed) by external magnetic control by the coil 101d installed outside, for example, Aluminum-nickel-cobalt magnets are used. The magnet fixing component 102e is used for fixing the magnets stored therein.
When using permanent electromagnets in this way, it is possible to adjust the magnetic attraction force only by electric circuit control from the viewpoint of operation control of the device, so compared with the case where it is configured using only permanent magnets. The apparatus configuration can be greatly simplified, and the reliability of the apparatus can be improved and the price can be reduced”.
It is noted, per applicants’ specification, the position varying portion vary a position of the magnetic force portion to adjust an intensity of a magnetic force applied by the magnetic force potion to the mask assembly (see applicants’ specification on para [0067]) “The position varying portion 950 may be coupled to the magnetic force portion 940 to vary a position of the magnetic force portion 940, thereby adjusting an intensity of a magnetic force applied by the magnetic force portion 940 to the mask assembly 30”. As such, in WO’888 the position varying portion (the variable polarity magnet 102c) is considered to have the configuration to vary a position of a magnetic force portion that applies a magnetic force because the variable polarity magnet (102c) in communication with the fixed polarity magnet (102b) creating the attractive force of the permanent electromagnet 102, control the magnetic flux and adjust the magnetic attraction force per teaching recited on these pages of WO’888. Applicants’ claims or specification do not teach varying a physical position of the magnets. What is taught in the applicants’ specification is varying a position of the magnetic force, in so doing adjusting an intensity of a magnetic force applied by the magnetic force portion. Therefore, WO’888 meet the limitations of claim 1 including a magnetic force portion and a position varying portion and other as claimed.
Furthermore, WO’888 teaches on page 12 a magnetic force portion configured to apply magnetic force such that the mask assembly approaches the display apparatus.
Here is the section WO’888 teaching magnetic force applied such that the mask assembly approaches the display apparatus:
“FIG. 2D shows a state in which a current is applied for a short time only to the permanent electromagnet 102Y of the peripheral portion fixing mechanism of the mask film-like plane 200b after the center of the object 300 to be processed and the center parts of the mask film-like plane 200b contact each other. The magnetic attraction force is generated, the peripheral portion of the mask film-like plane 200b is elastically deformed toward the surface to be processed of the object to be processed 300, and finally the two are completely in surface contact. Further, the permanent electromagnets 102X and 102Y for fixing the mask film-like plane 200b are arranged so as to uniformly exert an attractive force on the mask film-like plane 200b. Specifically, the permanent electromagnets are evenly arranged in the surface facing the mask film-like plane 200b. In the present embodiment, a magnetic attraction force is generated by applying a pulse current to the permanent electromagnet for about 0.5 seconds from each drive power source (not shown)”.
For at least the reasons described above, the examiner maintains the art rejections over the references to WO’888 alone and/or in combinations with WO’046 and CN ‘711.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEWEBDAR T TADESSE whose telephone number is (571)272-1238. The examiner can normally be reached 7.00-3:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dah-Wei Yuan can be reached at 571-272-1295. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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YEWEBDAR T. TADESSE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1717
/YEWEBDAR T TADESSE/