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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the application No. 18/319,801 filed on May 18, 2023.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-3) in the reply filed on 11/20/2025 is acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS has been considered.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP2016004832 to Hattori et al. (Hattori) (Machine translation is provided by the examiner; see attached).
Regarding independent claim 1, Hattori discloses an expanding machine (tape expansion device: 2) for expanding a sheet (expand tape 23) having a workpiece (wafer 11) bonded thereon, comprising:
an expansion mechanism (Figs. 3-4B, tape expansion means 16) configured to expand the sheet (23);
a cooling unit (cooling mechanism 26) that cools the workpiece (11) bonded on the sheet (23) (¶0009, 0026, 0033); and
a temperature distribution detection unit (temperature measurement means 34) that, before expanding the sheet (23) by the expansion mechanism, detects a temperature distribution of the workpiece (11; see ¶0009, 0011 and 0041) cooled by the cooling unit (26).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US Pub # 2019/0318944 to Fujisawa in view of KR 20210049329 to Song et al. (Song) (Machine translation of KR 20210049329 is provided by the examiner; see attached).
Regarding independent claim 1, Fujisawa discloses an expanding machine (Fig. 2: 20 and ¶0027) for expanding a sheet (Fig. 8: 11 and ¶0027) having a workpiece (Fig. 8: 1 and ¶0027) bonded thereon (¶0027, also see Fig. 8), comprising:
an expansion mechanism (Figs. 2 and 8: 53) configured to expand the sheet (11 and ¶0037);
a cooling unit (Figs. 2, and 9: 30 and ¶0028) that cools the workpiece (¶0058, 0071-0073) bonded on the sheet (11) (the cooling unit configured to cool the workpiece prior to expansion).
Fujisawa fails to explicitly disclose a temperature distribution detection unit that detects a temperature distribution of the workpiece.
Song discloses a temperature distribution detection unit (Fig. 1: 30 and ¶0035) that detects a temperature distribution of the workpiece (wafer W: ¶0035).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the expanding machine of Fujisawa to include the temperature distribution detection unit as taught by Song in order to measures the surface temperature of the workpiece (wafer) and transmits it to the local controller in real time (¶0035) and improve expansion accuracy and process reliability.
Such a modification represents the predictable use of a known temperature detection technique to improve a known sheet-expansion system, consistent with MPEP 2143 and KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc.
With respect to the limitation:
“a temperature distribution detection unit that, before expanding the sheet by the expansion mechanism, detects a temperature distribution of the workpiece cooled by the cooling unit”
the timing phrase “before expanding” is a functional/operational limitation that does not impose additional structural requirements on the detection unit.
Song teaches a temperature detection unit capable of detecting temperature distribution, and when incorporated into Fujisawa, the detection would inherently occur prior to expansion, since the workpiece must be cooled and evaluated before expansion is performed.
Accordingly, the combined references teach or render obvious this functional limitation. See MPEP 2111.04, 2112, and 2143, and cases such as In re Schreiber.
Regarding claim 2, Fujisawa disclose all of the limitations of claim 1 from which this claim depends. Fujisawa further teaches a controller (Fig. 2: 100 and ¶0028) that controls at least the expansion mechanism.
Fujisawa fails to discloses an alarm generation unit that generates an alarm, and a controller that controls the alarm generation unit,
wherein the controller has a determination section configured to determine whether the temperature distribution of the workpiece as detected by the temperature distribution detection unit is abnormal or normal, and the controller is configured to generate the alarm from the alarm generation unit when the temperature distribution of the workpiece is determined to be abnormal by the determination section.
Song discloses an alarm generation unit that generates an alarm (Fig. 1: 50 outputs alarm; see ¶0065), and a controller (Fig. 1: 40) that controls the alarm generation unit (50), wherein the controller (40) has a determination section configured to determine whether the temperature distribution of the workpiece (W) as detected by the temperature distribution detection unit (30) is abnormal or normal (¶0041,0064-0065), and the controller (40) is configured to generate the alarm from the alarm generation unit (50) when the temperature distribution of the workpiece is determined to be abnormal by the determination section (¶0014, 0064-0065).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have provided the apparatus of Fujisawa with an alarm generation unit and a controller as taught by Song in order to when it is determined that the current process state is an abnormal state so that the control unit outputs alarm information notifying the abnormal state (¶0065).
Regarding claim 3, Fujisawa discloses wherein the expansion mechanism (Fig. 2: 53) includes a plurality of sets of opposing sheet clamping units (52, Fig. 2 shows plurality of 53) configured to clamp the sheet (Fig. 8: 11) at opposing positions on an outer periphery of the sheet outside the workpiece (1), and a plurality of sets of expanding and moving units (Fig. 2: 58-2), each set of expanding and moving units (58-2) being configured to move the opposing sheet clamping units (53) in directions away from each other in each corresponding set of the opposing sheet clamping units (53), the cooling unit (Figs. 2 and 8: 30) includes a cooling table (Fig. 2: 31) having a contact surface configured to come into contact with the sheet clamped (53) by the sheet clamping units (53) and cooling the sheet (11).
Fujisawa fails to discloses the temperature distribution detection unit is arranged opposing the workpiece bonded on the sheet clamped by the sheet clamping units, and includes an infrared camera to image the workpiece.
Song discloses the temperature distribution detection unit (Fig. 1: 30) is arranged opposing the workpiece (W) bonded on the sheet clamped (53) by the sheet clamping units (53), and includes an infrared camera (30) to image the workpiece (W).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have provided the apparatus of Fujisawa with the temperature distribution detection unit and an infrared camera as taught by Song in order to measure the surface temperature of the wafer and transmits it to the local controller in real time (¶0035).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Pub # 2023/0298925 to Ueki et al., US Pub # 2022/0093427 to Jang et al., US Pub # 2020/0303219 to Yamada et al.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHSEN AHMADI whose telephone number is (571)272-5062. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00am-5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William F Kraig can be reached at 571-272-8660. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOHSEN AHMADI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896