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 § 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.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 16 recites the limitation "the main circuit breaker" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-3, 7, 8 & 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nering (US 5,784,238) in view of Baldwin (US 2011/0148213).
With regard to claim 1, Nering, in Fig. 2 teaches a substrate processing equipment for processing a substrate (Abstract), the substrate processing equipment comprising: a process processing module including loads (12-15 & 20) utilized in a process for processing a substrate (column 2, line 64-column 3, line 3); a branch circuit breaker (45) installed on a periphery to the process processing module and electrically connected to the loads; a main circuit breaker (31) electrically connected to the branch circuit breaker and supplying power to the branch circuit breaker.
Nering does not teach a power distribution board in which the branch circuit breaker is mounted, and including a power distribution board door, wherein the main circuit breaker cuts off power when the power distribution board door is opened.
Baldwin, in Figure 7, teaches a power distribution panel similar to Nering where a downstream panel (702) is coupled to an upstream breaker (708). It is further taught that the panel includes a power distribution board in which equipment is mounted, and including a power distribution board door (714), wherein the main circuit breaker cuts off power when the power distribution board door is opened (paragraph 0042).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teachings of Nering with Baldwin, by placing the branch circuit breaker of Nering in an enclosed power distribution board with a door that trips the main breaker when it is opened as taught by Baldwin, for the purpose of providing inherent safety to the system.
With regard to claims 2, 3, 7, 8 & 15, Nering in view of Baldwin discloses the system of claim 1, and further discloses a door open/close detection unit (Baldwin, 712) mounted on a periphery of the power distribution board door, switching to a first contact (state to trigger the shunt trip) when the power distribution board door is opened and switching to a second contact (state which deactivates the shunt trip) when the power distribution board door is closed; and a shunt unit (Baldwin 710) electrically connected to the door open/close detection unit and not cutting off the main circuit breaker to allow the main circuit breaker to be switched to a turn-off state when the door open/close detection unit is in the first contact and to allow the main circuit breaker to be switched to a turn-on state when the door open/close detection unit is in the second contact (Baldwin, paragraph 0042) (re claim 2), wherein the door open/close detection unit is formed of at least one of a magnetic sensor, a relay switch, and an object detection sensor (the door sensor of Baldwin would necessarily comprise an object detection sensor as the sensor detects the door which is an object) (re claim 3), wherein the shunt unit includes a relay or a switching element (Baldwin in paragraph 0042 teaches that the shunt trip 710 is an interlock which necessarily would include a switching element) (re claim 7), wherein the power distribution board door is pivotably or slidably installed in an opening region of the power distribution board (as seen in Fig. 7 of Baldwin, the door pivots on a hinge) (re claim 8), wherein the main circuit breaker is not disposed in the power distribution board (as seen in Fig. 7 of Baldwin, the main breaker (708) is located outside of the power distribution board) (re claim 15).
With regard to claim 16, Nering teaches a method of driving a substrate processing equipment processing a substrate (Abstract), the method comprising; a process processing operation in which each of the process processing modules receives power from a main circuit breaker (49) and a branch circuit breaker (45) to process a substrate (column 2, line 64-column 3, line 3).
Nering does not teach a power supply operation in which a door open/close detection unit detects a closed state of a power distribution board door and switches to a second contact, and the second contact causes a shunt unit not to turn off the main circuit breaker so as to supply power from the main circuit breaker to a branch circuit breaker; and a power cut-off operation in which the door open/close detection unit detects an open state of the power distribution board door and switches to a first contact, and the shunt unit turns off the main circuit breaker to cut off power supplied from the main circuit breaker to the branch circuit breaker
Baldwin, in Figure 7, teaches a power supply operation in which a door open/close detection unit (712) detects a closed state of a power distribution board door and switches to a second contact (state which doesn’t trigger shunt trip 710), and the second contact causes a shunt unit not to turn off the main circuit breaker so as to supply power from a main circuit breaker to the power distribution board; and a power cut-off operation in which the door open/close detection unit detects an open state of the power distribution board door and switches to a first contact, and the shunt unit turns off the main circuit breaker to cut off power supplied from the main circuit breaker to the power distribution board (paragraph 0042).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teachings of Nering with Baldwin, by placing the branch circuit breaker of Nering in an enclosed power distribution board with a door that trips the main breaker when it is opened as taught by Baldwin, for the purpose of providing inherent safety to the system.
With regard to claims 17 & 18, Nering in view of Baldwin discloses the method of claim 16, and further discloses that the a power activation operation in which the door open/close detection unit detects the closed state of the power distribution board door and switches to the second contact, and the shunt unit does not cut off the main circuit breaker (Baldwin, paragraph 0042) (re claim 17), wherein the main circuit breaker is not disposed in the power distribution board (as seen in Fig. 7 of Baldwin) (re claim 18).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nering in view of Baldwin as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hong (US 2012/0078545).
With regard to claim 14, Nering in view of Baldwin teaches the device of claim 1.
Nering in view of Baldwin does not teach that the main circuit breaker is formed of an Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELB) or a Molded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB), and the branch circuit breaker is formed of an ELB or an MCCB.
Hong, in Figure 1, teaches a power distribution network comprising a main breaker and downstream branch breakers similar to Nering. It is further taught both the main breaker and branch breakers comprise a molded case circuit breaker (paragraph 0003 & Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teachings of Nering in view of Baldwin with Hong by forming the breakers of Nering in view of Baldwin as MCCBs as taught by Hong, for the purpose of providing a breaker with a compact form which is readily available.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 9-13 & 19 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 4 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a substrate processing equipment comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the door open/close detection unit having one end of an internal contact that is electrically connected with an input terminal of the branch circuit breaker, and the other end of the internal contact that is electrically connected with the shunt unit, the first contact is an energized state of electrical connection between the input terminal of the branch circuit breaker and the shunt unit, and the second contact is in a de-energized state of electrical connection between the input terminal of the branch circuit breaker and the shunt unit.
Claim 5 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a substrate processing equipment comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the main circuit breaker including an internal relay for energizing or de-energizing an internal contact, and the internal relay is de-energized by the shunt unit.
Claim 6 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because it depends on claim 5 which would also be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 9 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a substrate processing equipment comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the process processing module including a plurality of process chambers that are disposed while being adjacent to each other, the branch circuit breaker includes a plurality of branch circuit breakers, and the plurality of branch circuit breakers is electrically connected with the plurality of process chambers, respectively, to supply or cut off power to each of the plurality of process chambers.
Claim 10 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because it depends on claim 9 which would also be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 11 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a substrate processing equipment comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the power distribution board being disposed while being adjacent to the process processing module, and the main circuit breaker is disposed while being spaced apart from the process processing module.
Claims 12 & 13 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because they depend on claim 11 which would also be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim 19 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a substrate processing equipment comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with the door open/close detection unit having one end of an internal contact that is electrically connected with an input terminal of the branch circuit breaker, and the other end of the internal contact that is electrically connected with the shunt unit, the first contact is an energized state of an electrical connection between the input terminal of the branch circuit breaker and the shunt unit, and the second contact is in a de-energized state of electrical connection between the input terminal of the branch circuit breaker and the shunt unit.
Claim 20 is allowable.
Claim 20 is allowable because the prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest a substrate processing equipment for processing a substrate comprising all the features as recited in the claims and in combination with a door open/close detection unit which is installed within the fab, is formed of at least one of a magnetic sensor, a relay switch, and an object detection sensor, is installed on a periphery of the power distribution board door, and switching to a first contact when the power distribution board door is opened and switching to a second contact when the power distribution board door is closed; and a shunt unit which is installed within the sub-fab, includes a relay or a switching element, is electrically connected to the door open/close detection unit, and does not cut off the main circuit breaker to allow the main circuit breaker to be switched to a turn-off state when the door open/close detection unit is in the first contact and to allow the main circuit breaker to be switched to a turn-on state when the door open/close detection unit is in the second contact, wherein the door open/close detection unit has one end of an internal contact that is electrically connected with an input terminal of the branch circuit breaker, and the other end of the internal contact that is electrically connected with the shunt unit, the first contact is an energized state of an electrical connection between the input terminal of the branch circuit breaker and the shunt unit, and the second contact is in a de-energized state of electrical connection between the input terminal of the branch circuit breaker and the shunt unit.
Conclusion
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/Scott Bauer/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838