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 § 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) 19-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yuasa [JP 2018189748 A] in view of Glass [US 6056872 A].
Note: the PDF print of the JP 2018189748 A document is attached to this Office Action.
As per Claim 19, Yuasa teaches a cable slab 28 (See fig. 5) comprising:
a first permanent magnet 69 having a first magnetic field orientation;
a support 3 comprising a second magnet 65 having a second magnetic field orientation;
one or more supply hoses and/or supply cables (Page 5, Para 2-3); and
wherein the cable slab is arranged to be at least partially supported by the support such that the first permanent magnet and the second magnet are repulsing in response to the first permanent magnet and the second magnet facing each other to exert a force on the cable slab (Page 2, Para 2, a permanent magnet is fitted on the surfaces facing each other, thereby preventing contact between parts of the cable carrier due to the repulsive force of the permanent magnet).
Yuasa does not explicitly teach one or more clamp brackets each clamping the one or more supply hoses and/or supply cables, and wherein the first permanent magnet is arranged in or on one of the one or more clamp brackets.
Glass teaches means which are suited for peripherally arranging each of the sets of magnets with respect to the conduit (10) as described above may be used. The magnets need not physically contact the conduit, but this may be desirable with a ferromagnetic conduit such as an iron or steel pipe. These may include appropriate mechanical means such as clamps, brackets, bands, straps, housing devices having spaces for retaining the magnets therein (Column 11 lines 34-61).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate clamp brackets in order to properly secure the specified elements in a desired position.
As per Claim 20, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the cable slab of claim 19.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the force is a lifting force (Page 10, Para 4).
As per Claim 21, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the cable slab of claim 19.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein: the cable slab is designed to be arranged in a C-shape having a lower part, a middle part and an upper part, and at least the lower part comprises the first permanent magnet (See fig. 5).
As per Claim 22, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the cable slab of claim 19.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the first permanent magnet and the second magnet are designed to support the cable slab in a floating state (Page 2, Para 2).
As per Claim 23, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the cable slab of claim 19.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the cable slab comprises: multiple ones of the first permanent magnets having respective first magnetic field orientations, each of the multiple ones of the first permanent magnets being associated with one of multiple ones of the second magnets arranged in or on the support and having respective second magnetic field orientations, wherein each of the multiple ones of the first permanent magnets and associated multiple ones of the second magnet are repulsing in response to the respective first permanent magnet and the respective second magnet facing each other to exert a lifting force on the cable slab (See fig. 5, Page 2, Para 2, a permanent magnet is fitted on the surfaces facing each other, thereby preventing contact between parts of the cable carrier due to the repulsive force of the permanent magnet).
As per Claim 24, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the cable slab of claim 19.
Yuasa in view of Glass further teaches wherein: the one or more clamp brackets each clamp the one or more supply hoses and/or supply cables, and two or more clamping elements are provided with one or more of the first permanent magnet (See Yuasa fig. 5 and Glass Column 11 lines 34-61).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate clamp brackets in order to properly secure the specified elements in a desired position.
As per Claim 25, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches a positioning module comprising: a first movable object; a second object; and the cable slab of claim 19; wherein a first end of the cable slab is connected to the first moveable object and a second end of the cable slab is connected to the second object (See Yuasa fig. 3).
As per Claim 26, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the force is a lifting force (Page 10, Para 4).
As per Claim 27, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the support is arranged to support the cable slab without mechanical contact between the support and the one or more supply hoses and/or supply cables (See fig. 5, Page 2, Para 2).
As per Claim 28, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the first permanent magnet and the second magnet are designed to support the cable slab in a floating state (See fig. 5, Page 2, Para 2).
As per Claim 29, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein a main axis of the second magnetic field orientation is arranged vertically (See fig. 5).
As per Claim 30, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein the cable slab is arranged in a C-shape having a lower part, a middle part and an upper part, such that at least the lower part is supported by the support (See fig. 3 and 5).
As per Claim 31, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein: the cable slab comprises multiple ones of the first permanent magnets having first magnetic field orientations, the support comprises multiple ones of the second magnets having second magnetic field orientations, each of the multiple ones of the first permanent magnets is associated with one of the multiple ones of the second magnets such that each first permanent magnet and associated second magnet are repulsing in response to the respective first permanent magnet and the respective second magnet facing each other to exert a lifting force on the cable slab (See fig. 5, Page 2, Para 2, a permanent magnet is fitted on the surfaces facing each other, thereby preventing contact between parts of the cable carrier due to the repulsive force of the permanent magnet).
As per Claim 32, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the positioning module of claim 25.
Yuasa further disclosed wherein: the first movable object is supported by the second object, the first movable object is movable in a first horizontal direction and the second object is movable in a second horizontal direction, and the first horizontal direction and the horizontal second direction are non-parallel (See fig. 3 and 5).
As per Claim 33, Yuasa in view of Glass teaches the cable slab of claim 19.
Yuasa further disclosed a lithographic apparatus (See fig. 1) comprising: a positioning module comprising: a first movable object 29; a second object 45; and wherein a first end of the cable slab 28 is connected to the first moveable object and a second end of the cable slab is connected to the second object (See fig. 1).
Conclusion
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/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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