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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 1-11 in the reply filed on 03/09/2026 is acknowledged. After conducting a prior art search claim 3 appears to be allowable.
The restriction requirement between groups I, II, and III, as set forth in the Office action mailed on 01/07/2026, has been reconsidered in view of the allowability of claims to the elected invention pursuant to MPEP § 821.04(a). The restriction requirement of 01/07/2026 is hereby withdrawn. Claims 12-20 are no longer withdrawn from consideration.
In view of the above noted withdrawal of the restriction requirement, applicant is advised that if any claim presented in a divisional application is anticipated by, or includes all the limitations of, a claim that is allowable in the present application, such claim may be subject to provisional statutory and/or nonstatutory double patenting rejections over the claims of the instant application.
Once a restriction requirement is withdrawn, the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 are no longer applicable. See In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 1215, 170 USPQ 129, 131-32 (CCPA 1971). See also MPEP § 804.01.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/13/2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims.
Therefore, the “a plurality of combination shafts configured to engage or disengage the grinding wheel based on a rotation direction of the outer disk” as claimed in claim 2, 12, etc. must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Applicant’s Fig. 6 shows the screwed portion (234) coupled to the inner and outer disk (223, 224) which does not make sense as this would appear to prevent the inner and outer races from rotating relative to each other.
Therefore, the “a screwed portion extended from the geared portion and configured to engage or disengage the grinding wheel based on a rotation direction of the geared portion” as claimed in claim 4, 14, etc. must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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, 2, 10, 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yanase (US 6116996).
Yanase discloses:
1. A grinder comprising:
a spindle (71) configured to generate a rotary force;
a grinding wheel (6) configured to receive the rotary force from the spindle and
grind an object based on the rotary force; and
a mount disk (5) arranged between the spindle and the grinding wheel,
the mount disk configured to automatically engage or disengage the grinding wheel based on a rotation direction of the mount disk (Col. 10 lines 9-16 discloses disengagement of the grinding wheel 6 from the mount disk 5 by rotation between the mount disk and the grinding wheel in a direction opposite to direction R; Col. 7 lines 38-46 discloses relative rotation between the mount disk and the grinding wheel in the direction R to engage the grinding wheel with the mount disk).
2. The grinder of claim 1, wherein the mount disk comprises:
an inner disk (disk portion near 5e) connected to the spindle;
an outer disk (disk portion near 5a) connected to the inner disk; and
a plurality of combination shafts (structures 5k best seen in Fig. 5 are interpreted to be small protruding combination shafts) configured to engage or disengage the grinding wheel based on a rotation direction of the outer disk (both the inner disk portion near 5e and outer disk 5a portions rotate together, structures 5k are engaged with the grinding wheel when contacting 6d of the grinding wheel when relative rotation between the mount disk and the grinding wheel rotates in the direction R, and disengaged when structures 5k are aligned with 6k and allows for the removal of the grinding disk when relative rotation between the grinding disk and the grinding wheel rotates in a direction opposite to direction R).
10. The grinder of claim 1, further comprising: an actuator connected to the spindle, the actuator configured to generate the rotary force (“rotary drive” is an actuator that rotates the shaft/spindle 71).
12. A grinder comprising:
a spindle configured to generate a rotary force;
a grinding wheel configured to receive the rotary force from the spindle and
grind a surface of a semiconductor wafer based on the rotary force;
an inner disk connected to the spindle;
an outer disk connected to the inner disk; and
a plurality of combination shafts configured to engage or disengage the grinding wheel based on a rotation direction of the outer disk (see claim 1 and 2 rejection for equivalent limitation mapping and discussion).
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.
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yanase (US 6116996).
Yanase renders obvious:
11. The grinder of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a semiconductor wafer.
(Yanase does not explicitly disclose that the object that is grinded is a semiconductor wafer, however, absent further limitations, the device of Yanase is capable of being used to grind a semiconductor wafer because the tool can technically be used to grind whatever a user desires, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have used the grinder on a semiconductor wafer as it would yield only the predictable result of grinding material from a semiconductor wafer and can be used as a means for destruction of the wafer)
Claim(s) 1, 10, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Block (US 4655006)
Block renders obvious:
1. A grinder comprising:
a spindle (11, 13) configured to generate a rotary force;
a grinding wheel (36, 40) configured to receive the rotary force from the spindle and
grind an object based on the rotary force; and
a mount disk (10, 24) arranged between the spindle and the grinding wheel,
the mount disk configured to automatically engage or disengage the grinding wheel based on a rotation direction of the mount disk (the automatic engagement and disengagement is rendered obvious by the following passages:
Col. 3 lines 10-24 discloses disk 36 automatically engaging the mount disk 10, 24 when spindle 12 is rotated in a first direction; Col. 3 lines 35-44 discloses disengaging of the disk 36 and the plate 24 with counter movements, which is a second rotation direction of the spindle that is opposite the first direction;
Col. 1-2 discloses "when a force is applied to the disc to rotate the disc in the release direction"; "when the disc is to be released, it is rotated in the second direction, thereby producing a movement of the reinforcing plate in the first direction to release the disc from the reinforcing plate").
10. The grinder of claim 1, further comprising: an actuator (motor 11) connected to the spindle, the actuator configured to generate the rotary force (Col. 2 lines 37-39).
11. The grinder of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a semiconductor wafer.
(Block does not explicitly disclose that the object that is grinded is a semiconductor wafer, however, absent further limitations, the device of Block is capable of being used with a semiconductor wafer, and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have used the grinder on a semiconductor wafer as it would yield only the predictable result of grinding material from a semiconductor wafer and can be used as a means for destruction of the wafer)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-9, 13-18 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.
Claims 19-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art does not appear to disclose nor render obvious a grinder with a plurality of combination shafts including wherein the outer disk comprises: an inner race connected to the inner disk, the inner race including a plurality of first gear teeth/gear surface on a circumferential surface of the inner race; and an outer race spaced apart from the inner race, the outer race and inner race defining a receiving space, the outer race including a plurality of second gear teeth/gear surface on a circumferential surface of the outer race as claimed in claim 3, in combination with its base claim limitations, or as similarly recited in claims 13 and 19.
The dependent claims 4-9, 14-18, and 20 are allowable because they depend from an allowable base claim.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Eckel et al. (US 12208492) discloses Col. 4 lines 4-12a clamp assembly is disengaged from the backup pad by a simple twisting motion, and can then be rotated to a new orientation and reengaged with the backup pad.
Krondorfer et al. (US 6780093) discloses combination shafts 30, 24 that couple to the mount disk, but does not disclose automatic engagement and disengagement
Genezono (US 12440944) discloses a grinder including a plurality of combination shafts that couple the grinding disk to the mount disk, but are not configured to automatically engage or disengage based on a rotation direction of the outer disk
Suzuki et al. (US 6966826) discloses a grinder including a grinding wheel 4 coupled to a mount disk 44 via combination shafts in the form of bolts 60, but do not engage or disengage depending on a rotation of the outer disk
Maeda et al. (US 2022/0355438) discloses a grinder including a grinding wheel 10 coupled to a mount disk 8 via combination shafts in the form of bolts 14, but the bolts do not engage or disengage the grinding wheel depending on a rotation of the outer disk
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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, Nathaniel E. Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 April 29, 2026
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