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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyamoto (US 20180090358 A1) in view of Takahashi (US 20240234189 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Miyamoto teaches:
A posture turning apparatus (5) that turns a posture of a plurality of substrates (9), the apparatus comprising:
an reversing chuck (51 & 52) that holds the plurality of substrates [0075 & 0076 & 0077];
an opening/closing drive mechanism (57) that drives the reversing chuck between an open position for transferring the plurality of substrates to and from the reversing chuck and a holding position for holding the plurality of substrates by the reversing chuck [0097 & 0102 & 0103 & 0105 & 0106];
a rotary drive mechanism (54 & 541) that drives the reversing chuck about a horizontal axis in order to turn the posture of the plurality of substrates from a vertical posture to a horizontal posture [0075 & 0098 & 0121]; and
a control unit that operates the rotary drive mechanism in accordance with a posture of a processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates in the vertical posture so as to change a rotation angle of the inversion chuck about the horizontal axis, so that processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates in the horizontal posture face upward, when turning the posture of the plurality of substrates from the vertical posture to the horizontal posture after operating the opening/closing drive mechanism so as to cause the reversing chuck to hold the plurality of substrates in a vertical posture (Fig. 3 & Fig. 8 & Fig. 9 & Fig. 10 & Fig. 11 & Fig. 12 & Fig. 13) [0103 & 0113 & 0116 & 0120].
Miyamoto does not teach:
the opening/closing drive mechanism that drives the reversing chuck in a radial direction of the substrates.
Takahashi teaches:
A posture turning apparatus (66) that turns a posture of a plurality of substrates (W), the apparatus comprising:
an reversing chuck (661 & 663 & 664 & 6611 & 6612 & 6613) that holds the plurality of substrates (Fig. 5 & Fig. 6) [0090 & 0091 & 0092 & 0093 & 0097 & 0098 & 0099 & 100 & 0101 & 0102 & 0104 & 0105];
an opening/closing drive mechanism (613 & 663) that drives the reversing chuck in a radial direction of the substrates between an open position for transferring the plurality of substrates to and from the reversing chuck and a holding position for holding the plurality of substrates by the reversing chuck (Fig. 5 & Fig. 6 & Fig. 8) [0090 & 0091 & 0092 & 0097 & 0098 & 0099 & 0107];
a rotary drive mechanism (664) that drives the reversing chuck about a horizontal axis in order to turn the posture of the plurality of substrates from a vertical posture to a horizontal posture [0097 & 0105 & 0107]; and
a control unit that operates the rotary drive mechanism so that processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates face upward, when turning the posture of the plurality of substrates from the vertical posture to the horizontal posture after operating the opening/closing drive mechanism so as to cause the reversing chuck to hold the plurality of substrates in a vertical posture [0097 & 0105 & 0107] [it is implied that a controller would be used to coordinate operation of the system including rotation of the reversing chuck].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the posture turning apparatus for turning the posture of a plurality of substrates having a reversing chuck driven to grip the substrates being turned taught by Miyamoto with the posture turning apparatus for turning the posture of a plurality of substrates having a reversing chuck driven to grip the substrates being turned, where the opening/closing drive mechanism that drives the reversing chuck in a radial direction of the substrates taught by Takahashi in order to provide a reorienting means which has a gripping chuck which affords clearance to the hand to prevent incidental contact during transfer into/out of the reversing chuck.
Regarding Claim 2, Miyamoto teaches:
the control unit operates the rotary drive mechanism so as to rotate in one direction or another direction opposite to the one direction according to the posture of the processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates (Fig. 10 & Fig. 11 & Fig. 15 & Fig. 16 & Fig. 17).
Regarding Claim 3, Miyamoto teaches:
the control unit operates the rotary drive mechanism so as to rotate only in one direction according to the posture of the processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates (Fig. 10 & Fig. 11 & Fig. 12 & Fig. 13).
Regarding Claim 4, Miyamoto teaches:
the reversing chuck holds only both outermost surfaces of the plurality of substrates in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the plurality of substrates are transferred (Fig. 6 & Fig. 15 & Fig. 16).
Regarding Claim 5, Miyamoto teaches:
the control unit operates the rotary drive mechanism according to a recipe that defines how to process the plurality of substrates [0103 & 0113 & 0116 & 0120].
Regarding Claim 6, Miyamoto teaches:
among the recipes, for a batch lot configured by matching a certain plurality of substrates and another plurality of substrates, the control unit operates the rotary drive mechanism according to a way of matching the processing surfaces, i.e., to which posture the processing surfaces are matched [abstract & 0006 & 0065 & 0089 & 0103 & 0113 & 0116 & 0120].
Regarding Claim 7, Miyamoto teaches:
A substrate processing apparatus (2 & 3) that processes a substrate (9), the apparatus comprising:
a batch type processing unit (2) that collectively processes a plurality of substrates in a vertical posture [0069 & 0082 & 0083 & 0084 & 0113];
a single wafer type processing unit (8) that processes one substrate in a horizontal posture [0072];
a posture turning unit (5) that turns the vertical posture to the horizontal posture of the plurality of substrates processed by the batch type processing unit [0068 & 0075 & 0077];
a first transport unit (3) that transports the plurality of substrates processed by the batch type processing unit to the posture turning unit [0068 & 0080 & 0081 & 0082]; and
a second transport unit (4) that transports the plurality of substrates brought into a horizontal posture by the posture turning unit to the single wafer type processing unit [0067 & 0070 & 0071 & 0075],
wherein the posture turning unit includes,
an reversing chuck (51 & 52) that holds the plurality of substrates [0075 & 0076 & 0077],
an opening/closing drive mechanism (57) that drives the reversing chuck between an open position for transferring the plurality of substrates to and from the reversing chuck and a holding position for holding the plurality of substrates by the reversing chuck [0097 & 0102 & 0103 & 0105 & 0106], and
a rotary drive mechanism (54 & 541) that drives the reversing chuck about a horizontal axis to turn the plurality of substrates from the vertical posture to the horizontal posture [0075 & 0098 & 0121].
Miyamoto does not teach:
the opening/closing drive mechanism that drives the reversing chuck in a radial direction of the substrates.
Takahashi teaches:
a substrate processing apparatus (10) that processes a substrate, the apparatus comprising:
a batch type processing unit (30a & 30b) that collectively processes a plurality of substrates in a vertical posture (Fig. 9 & Fig. 10);
a single wafer type processing unit (50) that processes one substrate in a horizontal posture (Fig. 7);
a posture turning unit that turns the vertical posture to the horizontal posture of the plurality of substrates processed by the batch type processing unit;
a first transport unit (65) that transports the plurality of substrates processed by the batch type processing unit to the posture turning unit [0090 & 0093]; and
a second transport unit (66) that transports the plurality of substrates brought into a horizontal posture by the posture turning unit to the single wafer type processing unit [0090 & 0094 & 0095 & 0096 & 0097],
wherein the posture turning unit includes,
an reversing chuck (661 & 663 & 664 & 6611 & 6612 & 6613) that holds the plurality of substrates (Fig. 5 & Fig. 6) [0090 & 0091 & 0092 & 0093 & 0097 & 0098 & 0099 & 100 & 0101 & 0102 & 0104 & 0105];
an opening/closing drive mechanism (613 & 663) that drives the reversing chuck in a radial direction of the substrates between an open position for transferring the plurality of substrates to and from the reversing chuck and a holding position for holding the plurality of substrates by the reversing chuck (Fig. 5 & Fig. 6 & Fig. 8) [0090 & 0091 & 0092 & 0097 & 0098 & 0099 & 0107];
a rotary drive mechanism (664) that drives the reversing chuck about a horizontal axis in order to turn the posture of the plurality of substrates from a vertical posture to a horizontal posture [0097 & 0105 & 0107].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the posture turning apparatus for turning the posture of a plurality of substrates having a reversing chuck driven to grip the substrates being turned taught by Miyamoto with the posture turning apparatus for turning the posture of a plurality of substrates having a reversing chuck driven to grip the substrates being turned, where the opening/closing drive mechanism that drives the reversing chuck in a radial direction of the substrates taught by Takahashi in order to provide a reorienting means which has a gripping chuck which affords clearance to the hand to prevent incidental contact during transfer into/out of the reversing chuck.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2026/06/15 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding Applicant’s argument of the Examiner’s rejection of Claim 1, especially as it relates to the limitation of “a control unit that operates the rotary drive mechanism in accordance with a posture of a processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates in the vertical posture so as to change a rotation angle of the inversion chuck about the horizontal axis, so that processing surfaces of the plurality of substrates in the horizontal posture face upward”:
Applicant’s assertion that the apparatus of Miyamoto does not teach that the inversion chuck rotates about the horizontal axis so that the processing surfaces of the substrates in the horizontal posture face upward is not persuasive as Fig. 9 of Miyamoto clearly shows the substrates in a horizontal posture with a processing surface of the substrates facing upwards.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDAN P TIGHE whose telephone number is 571-272-4872. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday, 7:00-5:30 EST
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, SAUL RODRIGUEZ can be reached on 571-272-7097. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BRENDAN P TIGHE/Examiner, Art Unit 3652
/SAUL RODRIGUEZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3652
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