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
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “a lower flow-out port configured to adjust aperture ratio”. It is not clear how the port adjusts aperture ratio. Additionally, it is unclear what the aperture ratio applies to. It is also not clear how a port achieves this and if there is additional structure required to perform this. For examination purposes Examiner will consider this to mean the lower flow out port size can be changed by additional structure, not that the lower flow out port has the structure to be able to do this.
Claim 1 recites “upper opening part”. It is unclear if this is a structure or simply a part of a space. For examination purposes Examiner will consider that either meet the claim limitation.
Claim 2 recites “FOUP or FOSB”. Neither of these acronyms are defined or spelled out in the claim. For examination purposes Examiner will consider these to be Front Opening Unified Pod and Front Opening Shipping Box.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP2002005485 to Kamiya et al. (Kamiya).
Regarding claim 1, Kamiya teaches a stocker area (interior of the central area in between areas 16, Figure 1) in which an article management storage is installed (any device in the interior of this area can be considered an article management storage. Additionally, the interior of this area could be considered an article management storage), wherein the article management storage includes an upper opening part (top portion of this area, Figure 1) and a lower flow-out port (through 10, Figure 1) configured to adjust aperture ratio (aperture ratio can be adjusted. Additionally, it appears to be adjusted by the components fitting over a one of the apertures), a ceiling of the stocker area includes an eyelid (walls surrounding the area. Examiner considers the walls to be an eyelid because they extend from the ceiling of the device and therefore can be considered hanging walls. If Applicant has additional structure to overcome this it should be claimed.) and an air outlet port (through 7, Figure 1, air is outlet from this port), the upper opening part of the article management storage and the air outlet port are connected to each other so as to be surrounded by the eyelid (shown in Figure 1), and the clean room is configured that air supplied from the air outlet port is directly supplied into the article management storage through the upper opening part and is discharged from the lower flow-out port (flowpath shown in Figure 1).
Regarding claim 2, Kamiya teaches wherein an article to be managed by the article management storage is FOUP or FOSB (30 is considered a FOUP per the specification, this is labeled in Figure 3 and unlabeled in Figure 1. Additionally this is considered intended use and the device is capable of handling a FOUP or FOSB).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN S ANDERSON II whose telephone number is (571)272-2055. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Hoang can be reached at 574-272-6460. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEVEN S ANDERSON II/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762