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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 7 – 15 and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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.
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, 6, 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RYOO et al. KR 20160129515 (hereinafter RYOO) in view of Ho et al. KR 20200106769 (hereinafter Ho).
Regarding claim 1, RYOO teaches: an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) comprising:
an autonomous mobile module capable of autonomously moving along a certain autonomous motion path (Page 2 - - transfer robot for automatically transferring a cargo cart to a desired point); and
a loading module provided as a transferable structure, and docked to and transferred by the autonomous mobile module (Fig. 1, Page 3 - - the cargo cart is a loading module),
wherein, in the autonomous mobile module, a male coupler rotatably protruding from a docking surface of the autonomous mobile module so as to be inserted into a female coupler of the loading module is flexibly supported by a first elastic member so as to be easily inserted into the female coupler despite a stop position error of the autonomous mobile module when the loading module is docked (Fig. 1, Page 3 - - transfer robot is an autonomous mobile module; Fig. 2, Page 4 - - the docking unit is a male coupler; the docking hole is a female couple; the elastic part is a first elastic member; the docking ascending and descending unit 230 rotatable).
But RYOO does not explicitly teach:
path between a plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses disposed in semiconductor manufacturing equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices to supply materials to or perform maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment;
a manipulator for supplying materials to or performing maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses;
However, Ho teaches:
path between a plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses disposed in semiconductor manufacturing equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices to supply materials to or perform maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment (Fig. 1, Abstract - - semiconductor manufacturing facility and a plurality of manufacturing devices);
a manipulator for supplying materials to or performing maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses (Page 4 - - the transfer device includes a mobile robot, the robot is a manipulator).
RYOO and Ho are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor. They all relate to mobile system.
Therefore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above system, as taught by RYOO, and incorporating a transfer device including a manipulator, as taught by Ho.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to provide necessary devices to semiconductor manufacturing stations, as suggested by Ho (Page 4).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of RYOO and Ho teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
RYOO further teaches:
a mobile body provided with a plurality of wheel units to autonomously move (Fig. 2, Page 4 - - moving wheel unit);
a docking plate provided in a plate shape to provide a flat docking surface on
an upper surface thereof, and mounted on an upper surface of the mobile body; and the male coupler rotatably mounted on the docking surface of the docking plate so as to be inserted into the female coupler of the loading module (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Page 4 - - docking plate 220).
Ho further teaches:
moving between the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment (Fig. 1);
RYOO and Ho are combinable for the same rationale as set forth.
Regarding claim 3, the combination of RYOO and Ho teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
RYOO further teaches:
a coupler body provided in a shape corresponding to at least a portion of a shape of the female coupler of the loading module (Page 4 - - the docking part is formed in a shape corresponding to the docking hole); and
a rotating cylinder provided in a cylindrical shape overall and rotatably mounted on the docking plate to support the coupler body (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 - - the docking ascending and descending part 230 is a rotating cylinder).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of RYOO and Ho teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
RYOO further teaches: the rotating cylinder is mounted on the docking plate to position a rotational axis thereof on the same line as a central axis of the docking plate (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 - - the docking ascending and descending part is mounted on the docking plate and on the same line as a central axis of the docking plate).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of RYOO and Ho teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
RYOO further teaches: the docking plate is mounted on an upper surface of the mobile body so as to be lifted to a certain height (Fig. 1, Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of RYOO and Ho teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
RYOO further teaches: the docking plate comprises at least one guide bump protruding from the docking surface so as to be inserted into at least one guide indentation formed in a lower surface of the loading module when the loading module is docked (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 - - there are two docking units 210, one docking unit maps to a male coupler, the other docking unit maps to a guide bump).
Claims 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RYOO et al. KR 20160129515 (hereinafter RYOO) in view of Ho et al. KR 20200106769 (hereinafter Ho) and further in view of CHOO et al. US 2013/0190915 (hereinafter CHOO).
Regarding claim 18, RYOO teaches:
an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) capable of autonomously moving along a certain autonomous motion path (Page 2 - - transfer robot for automatically transferring a cargo cart to a desired point);
wherein the AMR comprises:
an autonomous mobile module capable of autonomously moving along a certain path (Page 2 - - transfer robot for automatically transferring a cargo cart to a desired point); and
a loading module provided as a transferable structure docked to and transferred by the autonomous mobile module (Fig. 1, Fig.2, Page 3 - - the cargo cart is a loading module), and wherein, in the autonomous mobile module, a male coupler rotatably protruding from a docking surface of the autonomous mobile module so as to be inserted into a female coupler of the loading module is flexibly supported by a first elastic member so as to be easily inserted into the female coupler despite a stop position error of the autonomous mobile module when the loading module is docked (Fig. 2, Page 4 - - the docking unit is a male coupler; the docking hole is a female couple; the elastic part is a first elastic member; the docking ascending and descending unit 230 rotatable).
But RYOO does not explicitly teach:
a plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses for manufacturing semiconductor devices;
an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) capable of autonomously moving along a certain autonomous motion path between the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses to supply materials to or perform maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses;
a manipulator for supplying materials to or performing maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses;
However, Ho teaches:
a plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses for manufacturing semiconductor devices (Fig. 1, Abstract - - semiconductor manufacturing facility and a plurality of manufacturing devices);
a path between the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses to supply materials to or perform maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses (Fig. 1, Abstract - - semiconductor manufacturing facility and a plurality of manufacturing devices);
a manipulator for supplying materials to or performing maintenance on any one of the plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses (Page 4 - - the transfer device includes a mobile robot, the robot is a manipulator).
RYOO and Ho are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor. They all relate to mobile system.
Therefore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above system, as taught by RYOO, and incorporating a transfer device including a manipulator, as taught by Ho.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to provide necessary devices to semiconductor manufacturing stations, as suggested by Ho (Page 4).
But the combination of RYOO and Ho does not explicitly teach:
a motion controller capable of applying a control signal to the AMR in a wireless manner to control motion of the AMR;
However, Choo teaches:
a motion controller capable of applying a control signal to the AMR in a wireless manner to control motion of the AMR ([0081] - - the production control system instructs the AGV, [0047], [0082] - - the communication system is a wireless communication system);
RYOO, Ho and Choo are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor. They all relate to mobile system.
Therefore before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the above system, as taught by the combination of RYOO and Ho, and incorporating applying control signals to mobile robot wirelessly, as taught by Choo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do this modification in order to improve material handling, as suggested by Choo ([0004]).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of RYOO, Ho and Choo teaches all the limitations of the base claims as outlined above.
Ho further teaches: a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus on which maintenance work is performed transmits, to the motion controller, a first signal indicating that the maintenance work has started and a second signal indicating that the maintenance work has ended, and wherein, when the first signal is received, the motion controller changes the autonomous motion path of the AMR so as not to overlap with a preset area around the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus on which the maintenance work is performed (Abstract - - “a device control unit for generating a first signal notifying the start of the maintenance work and a second signal notifying the end of the maintenance work, and the transfer control unit receives the first signal from the device control unit. In this case, the operation of the transfer device is controlled so that the transfer device does not approach the manufacturing device.”).
Conclusion
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/YUHUI R PAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2116