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 § 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.
Claims 1-5, 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dholoo (US 4,815,986)
Regarding claim 1: Dholoo teaches an electrical terminal connector (see Figs. 1-3) comprising: a housing unit (Fig. 2) installed by penetrating through a heater cup 40 and having a housing ring 18 (see Figs. 1-3); and a terminal connection unit (at 10; Fig. 3) installed to reciprocate within the housing unit (see Fig. 1) and having a terminal connection portion 10 to or from which an electric terminal 14 is attached and detached (see Fig. 6), wherein the terminal connection portion 10 is variable so that the electric terminal is insertable when the terminal connection portion is separated from the housing ring (Col. 4, lines 62-68 through Col. 5, lines 1-2) and the electric terminal 14 is fixed when the terminal connection portion 10 is inserted into the housing ring together with the electric terminal inserted (Col. 4, lines 33-53).
Regarding claim 2: Dholoo teaches all the limitations of claim 1 and further teaches wherein the terminal connection unit (at 10; Fig. 3) includes a hollow shaft (e.g. below 10; Fig. 3) having the terminal connection portion (at 10; Fig. 3), wherein the hollow shaft includes, a hollow body (see Fig. 3); and the terminal connection portion disposed by penetrating through the housing ring 18 and extending in a radial direction while extending from an end of the hollow body (see Fig. 3), the terminal connection portion (at 10; Fig. 3) is formed of a plurality of portions spaced apart from each other (see Fig. 3), and as the plurality of portions are separated from the housing ring, a distance between the plurality of portions gradually increases (see Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 3: Dholoo teaches all the limitations of claim 2 and further teaches wherein the terminal connection unit further includes an elastic member 54 connecting the housing unit and the hollow shaft and applying elastic force to the hollow shaft so that the terminal connection portion moves back into the housing ring when the terminal connection portion is separated from the housing ring (see Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 4: Dholoo teaches all the limitations of claim 3 and further teaches wherein the terminal connection unit further includes, a connecting pipe 28 having one end into which an end of the hollow shaft (e.g. below 10; Fig. 3) is inserted and fastened (see Fig. 3), and the other end 32 into which an electric cable 36 is insertable (Fig. 6); and a support member 58 provided with a support hole into which the other end 32 of the connecting pipe is inserted and fastened (see Fig. 3), wherein the support member is provided with a fixing groove (at 54; Fig. 3) in which the elastic member 54 is fixed (see Fig. 3), and the hollow shaft is connected to the elastic member 54 by the connecting pipe 28 and the support member 58 (see Fig. 3 for all members connected to each other).
Regarding claim 5: Dholoo teaches all the limitations of claim 4 and further teaches wherein the hollow shaft (below 10; Fig. 3) and the connecting pipe 28 are formed of a conductive material (Col. 4,lines 43-53).
Regarding claim 10: Dholoo teaches a substrate support (Fig. 1) comprising: a heating plate 15 equipped with a heater (e.g. circuit components within; Fig. 1) and an electrical terminal 23 connected to the heater (Fig. 1); a heater cup 40 having a bottom portion with a support pin (e.g. bolt not shown but positioned within hole 68; Fig. 3) supporting the heating plate (see Figs. 1-6); and an electrical terminal connector 16 (Fig. 2) installed on the heater cup 40 (see Fig. 6), wherein the electrical terminal connector includes, a housing unit (at 18; Fig. 3) installed by penetrating through the heater cup and having a housing ring 24 (see Fig. 3); and a terminal connection unit (at 14; Fig. 3) installed to reciprocate within the housing unit and having a terminal connection portion (at 10; Fig. 3) to or from which an electric terminal 14 is attachable and detachable (see Fig. 6), and the terminal connection portion has a variable structure, so that the electric terminal is insertable when the terminal connection portion is separated from the housing ring (Col. 4, lines 62-68 through Col. 5, lines 1-2), and the electric terminal is fixed when the terminal connection portion is inserted into the housing ring together with the electric terminal inserted (Col. 4, lines 33-53).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9, 11-15 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.
Claims 16-20 are allowed.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 16: allowability resides at least in part with the prior art not showing orfairly teaching a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a processing chamber including an upper body and a lower body to form a processing space therein; a substrate support disposed in the processing space and supporting and heating a substrate; and a substrate lifting unit including a lifting pin lifted and lowered while penetrating through the substrate support, and a pin driving member lifting and lowering the lifting pin, and so that the electric terminal is insertable when the terminal connection portion is separated from the housing ring, and the electric terminal is fixed when the terminal connection portion is inserted into the housing ring together with the electric terminal inserted; this in combination with the remaining limitations of the claim.
Regarding claims 17-20: are allowable based on their dependency on claim 16.
Further, the examiner knows of no permissible motivation to combine the prior art such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see PTO-892 for pertinent prior art, the following references being of closest relevance:
Yi (US 8,002,574) teaches an electrical connector terminal have housing units and terminals comprised of multiple pieces including a biasing spring;
Miller (US 2022/0077639) teaches an electrical connector terminal wherein one set of terminals connect to a cable and attached to a housing unit and terminals connected to springs within;
Bang (US 2025/0149374) teaches a connector comprising a substrate support and terminals penetrating within;
Brandt (US 2021/0288443) teaches a multi part electrical terminal;
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OSCAR C JIMENEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-0272. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Renee Luebke can be reached at (571) 272-2009. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/OSCAR C JIMENEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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