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, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 9,881,820 to Wong in view of US 8,892,242 to Kimura.
Regarding claim 1 Wong discloses a system of processing a substrate comprising; a vacuum processing chamber (104) configured to provide a processing space where a consumable is disposed and the substrate is processed (see e.g., figures and processing modules 112, 114, 116 etc.); a container (108/115) configured to accommodate the consumable or the substrate; an arm (103/105) disposed on a transfer path between the vacuum processing chamber and the container, and configured to transfer the consumable or the substrate; a detector (col. 51 line 64 to col. 52 line 2).
Wong discusses a detector/camera for mapping the contents of the pods but does not specifically disclose a detector including a light emitting part disposed at a first end of a pick connected to a tip end of the arm and a light receiving part connected to a second end of the pick; and a controller configured to control the detector to detect a thickness of a component in the container and to stop a transfer of the substrate by the arm when the detected thickness exceeds a threshold.
Kimura teaches a wafer handling system including a detector including a light emitting part (13a) disposed at a first end of a pick connected to a tip end of the arm and a light receiving part (13b) connected to a second end of the pick (figure 3); and a controller configured to control the detector to detect a thickness of a component in the container and to stop a transfer of the substrate by the arm when the detected thickness exceeds a threshold (see figure 8 and col. 9 lines 6-12 and lines 22-29, when obliquely stored or overlapping wafers are detected the process stops and notifies the operator for corrective action) to allow an operator to correct any issues and prevent damage to the articles being handled (col 6 lines 12-17).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of Applicants’ claim to have modified Wong to include a detector including a light emitting part disposed at a first end of a pick connected to a tip end of the arm and a light receiving part connected to a second end of the pick; and a controller configured to control the detector to detect a thickness of a component in the container and to stop a transfer of the substrate by the arm when the detected thickness exceeds a threshold, as taught by Kimura, to allow an operator to correct any issues and prevent damage to the articles being handled.
Regarding claim 5 the combination discloses the consumable or the substrate is loaded and unloaded in one direction (items are loaded/unloaded through the front opening of the pods).
Claim(s) 2-4 and 6-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wong and Kimura and further in view of US 9,455,167 to Inoue.
Regarding claim 2 Wong and Kimura teach all the limitations except the container comprises a partition plate including a first portion formed to be disposed between the light emitting part and the light receiving part.
Inoue teaches an accommodation cassette including a container (1) comprises a partition plate (25, see figure 3) including a first portion formed to be disposed between the light emitting part and the light receiving part (see notched area in figure 3) in order to provide for processing of smaller wafers via attachment tapes (see col. 1 lines 15-20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of Applicants’ claim to have modified Wong and Kimura to include the container comprises a partition plate including a first portion formed to be disposed between the light emitting part and the light receiving part, as taught by Inoue, in order to provide for processing of smaller wafers via attachment tapes.
Regarding claim 3 the combination teaches the container comprises multiple holding portions configured to respectively accommodate the consumable or the substrate (see e.g., Wong figure 11). Regarding claim 4 the combination teaches the partition plate is accommodated in one of the multiple holding portions (see Inoue figures 1-2).
Regarding claims 6, 7, 10 it is noted that neither the substrate or the consumable is claimed and that they represent the article/s being handled. The combined system could handle a substrate/consumable meeting these criteria and thus reads on the claim. See MPEP 2114 and 2115. If the Applicant wants to claim the relative thickness of the partition plate and either the substrate or the consumable as a structural limitation of the claim, the substrate/consumable should be positively recited as an element of the claim having a specific thickness.
Regarding claim 8 the combination teaches the partition plate is in contact with a wall surface of the container and separates an inner space of the container into a first space including a part of the multiple holding portions and a second space including the other part of the multiple holding portions (see Inoue figure 2, space above and below frame 22a which is in contact with the walls at the sides of the pod).
Regarding claims 9, 12 and 14 the combination teaches the first portion is formed to be disposed between two notches (see Inoue figure 3) having shapes corresponding to shapes of the light emitting part and the light receiving part, respectively (see Kimura figure 3).
Regarding claims 11 and 13 see claims 3 and 8 above as claims 11 and 13 contain the same limitations of claims 3 and 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Cited prior art includes other pods having partitions as well as various mapping sensors for mapping pod contents and controlling the transfer of items based on the result of the mapping.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK C HAGEMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5547. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:15-4:45 (PST).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Saul Rodriguez can be reached at 571-272-7097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARK C HAGEMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652