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 .
Claims 1-5 are pending.
Claims 1-5 are rejected below.
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 1-5 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.
It is unclear what an ex-warehouse requirement or operation actually is. The specification does use this term, but does not define it. Examiner cannot determine what the metes and bounds for the term and, as such, the claims.
The term “long” in claim 1 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “long” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. This is also in claim 4.
In claim 2 it is unclear what “relevant parameters are or how to define them.
In claim 5, it is unclear how to quantify the “to a greatest extent”. Examine suggests removing the thereby clause entirely.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticpated by Keam (U.S. PG Pub. 2018/0090355).
Keam teaches:
1. A method for monitoring gas concentration and air pressure data of a semiconductor 12- inch N2-stocker (N2STK), characterized in that a manufacturing control system (MCS) system performs comprehensive monitoring according to a nitrogen charging time required by a wafer product, and automatically supplements nitrogen when an wafer S is stored for more than a set time, which specifically comprises following steps:(1) placing a front opening unified pod (FOUP) wafer in the N2STK (abstract After the vessel has been pressurized via either negative or positive pressure, the vessel is transported to a storage location that is a non-purge storage and that is physically separate from the charging station, such as a stocker), and inquiring a manufacturing execution system (MES) about a nitrogen charging time and a longest nitrogen supplementing interval time of the wafer by the MCS [0030 (3) storing in non-purge storage; (4) leaving in storage (waiting) up to a predetermined length of time. Has the predetermined time occured);(2) replying with the nitrogen charging time by the MES, and starting nitrogen charging after the wafer is warehoused;(3) starting nitrogen charging time counting by the MCS [0030 if FOUP has still not been processed, transporting FOUP back to purging equipment; ], during a period thereof, if there is an ex-warehouse or warehouse-transfer requirement of the wafer [0030], refusing to execute same by the MCS, and at this time, reporting an abnormality by the N2STK, which is a wafer storage system, to remind a user that the wafer is being charged with nitrogen, and forbidding ex-warehouse or warehouse transfer [[0030 appears to not let any other processes occur while purging];(4) issuing a nitrogen charging instruction again by the MCS if the wafer is stored in the N2STK for a long time and the longest nitrogen supplementing interval time has been triggered after the nitrogen charging is completed, so as to perform a nitrogen charging operation [0030] on the wafer;(5) performing an ex-warehouse operation on the wafer after nitrogen charging is completed, so as to proceed to a next process[ 0030 – the processing that occurs which is discussed in step 5]. Examiner notes that Method B also teaches these steps nad should also be considered.
2. The method for monitoring gas concentration and air pressure data of the semiconductor 12-inch N2STK according to claim 1, characterized in that in the step (2), after replying to the MCS with relevant parameters by the MES, the MCS takes full control of nitrogen charging/supplementing and control of ex-warehouse/warehouse-transfer of the FOUP wafer, and after the wafer product is warehoused, the MCS starts to perform nitrogen charging on the wafer, and the nitrogen charging time is obtained from the MES through inquiry[0030].
4. The method for monitoring gas concentration and air pressure data of the semiconductor 12-inch N2STK according to claim 1, characterized in that an excessive duration for the long time stored mentioned in the step (4) is obtained from the MES through inquiry[0030 predetermined time].
5. The method for monitoring gas concentration and air pressure data of the semiconductor 12-inch N2STK according to claim 1, characterized in that after the step (5), the MCS releases control of the wafer and allows to ex-warehouse (allows further preceswsing mention in stepo 5 of paragrtaph [0030], thereby ensuring to a greatest extent that the wafer product meets an air pressure requirement and a gas concentration requirement of the next process (this seems to be the intended result and would also result in Keam).
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keam (U.S. PG Pub. 2018/0090355) in view of Obi (U.S. PG Pub. 2006/0160256).
Keam teaches most of the claimed invention including nitrogen charging process, but fails to teach all of the limitation of claim 3. However, this is an obvious variation and is taught by Obi as follows:
As to claim 3, Obi teaches characterized in that in the step (3), if the user or a system has the ex-warehouse or warehouse-transfer requirement of the wafer, but the wafer is still in processing , the MCS refuses to execute an ex-warehouse or warehouse-transfer task, and sends an alarm to remind the user that the wafer is being charged with nitrogen and any ex-warehouse or warehouse-transfer operation is forbidden (fig, 2A S201-S204).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to include the teachings of Obi into the system and methods of Keam. The motivation to combine is that Obi teaches an instruction to lift the prohibition on transfer of a product substrate into the substrate processing apparatus is issued from the external controller to the substrate processing apparatus. As a result, after the inspection of the substrate processing apparatus, processing of product substrates can be recommenced automatically, whereby a further reduction in operator labor time can be achieved [0016].
Other art of record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Woo (US PG Pub. 2023/0317486) teaches a wafer storage device and gas supply equipment.
Huang (U.S. Pat. 10,651,066) teaches a wafer transport system.
Tsai (U.S. PG Pub. 2014/0141541) teaches a wafer processing using mini stockers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHAN L LAUGHLIN whose telephone number is (571)270-1042. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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/NATHAN L LAUGHLIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
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