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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Specification
The specification is objected to as failing to provide proper antecedent basis for the claimed subject matter. See 37 CFR 1.75(d)(1) and MPEP § 608.01(o). Correction of the following is required: the fourth processing block does not have antecedent basis in the orig. spec.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: first/second main transfer mechanisms (Claims 16-28), moving mechanism (Claims 23-24), and first/second bypass substrate placement parts (Claims 20-22). The terms mechanism and part are construed to be generic placeholders.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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) 16-19 and 23-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsuoka et al. (JP-2008258209-A) (“Matsuoka”).
Claim 16: a first processing block including a plurality of layers, which are stacked one above another (U12/etc. in S2), and a first main transfer mechanism shared by each of the plurality of layers to transfer a substrate (A11), wherein each of the plurality of layers is provided with a processing module configured to process the substrate (figures 1-3);
a second processing block being adjacent, in a left-right direction, to the first processing block and including a plurality of layers, which are stacked one above another (U22/etc. in S3), and a second main transfer mechanism (A12) shared by each of the plurality of layers of the second processing block to transfer the substrate;
a third processing block connected to a side of the first processing block, which is opposite to the second processing block (32/etc. in S3);
a fourth processing block connected to a side of the second processing block, which is opposite to the first processing block (32/etc. in S2);
a first shuttle provided for the first processing block and configured to operate to form an outward path or a return path together with the second main transfer mechanism, wherein the first shuttle is different from the first main transfer mechanism and the second main transfer mechanism (G1);
a second shuttle provided for the second processing block and configured to operate to form the outward path or the return path together with the first main transfer mechanism, wherein the second shuttle is different from the first main transfer mechanism, the second main transfer mechanism, and the first shuttle (G2); and
a controller (100) configured to:
control one of the first shuttle and the second shuttle and one of the first main transfer mechanism and the second main transfer mechanism, which correspond to the first shuttle and the second shuttle, to transfer the substrate along the outward path from the third processing block toward the fourth processing block; and
control the other one of the first shuttle and the second shuttle and the other one of the first main transfer mechanism and the second main transfer mechanism to transfer the substrate along the return path from the fourth processing block toward the third processing block,
wherein each of the first shuttle and the second shuttle is configured to transfer the substrate in the left-right direction,
wherein the first shuttle is provided in the plurality of layers which are stacked one above another in the first processing block, and
wherein the second shuttle is provided in the plurality of layers which are stacked one above another in the second processing block (figures 1-3; para. [0012]/[0044]-[0045]);
Claim 17: wherein a first bypass transfer path, which is a transfer path through which the substrate is transferred by the first shuttle, protrudes toward a block constituting a bypass transfer path forming block of the second processing block, and
a second bypass transfer path, which is a transfer path through which the substrate is transferred by the second shuttle, protrudes toward a block constituting a bypass transfer path forming block of the first processing block (figure 6 for GX in the blocks);
Claim 18: wherein the first bypass transfer path and the second bypass transfer path have different heights (at different times 61/etc. of GX have different heights; at least shown in figure 8);
Claim 19: wherein the first bypass transfer path and the second bypass transfer path overlap each other in a plan view (at least shown in figure 8);
Claim 23: wherein each of the first shuttle and the second shuttle includes: a moving mechanism provided in each of the first processing block and the second processing block; a moving body configured to move in the left-right direction with respect to the moving mechanism; and a support configured to move in the left-right direction with respect to the moving body and to support the substrate (figure 6 at G1 (for example));
Claim 24: wherein the moving body is configured to move between a position at which the moving body protrudes leftward with respect to the moving mechanism and a position at which the moving body protrudes rightward with respect to the moving mechanism, and
the support is configured to move between a position at which the support protrudes leftward with respect to the moving body and a position at which the support protrudes rightward with respect to the moving body (arrows at G1 in figure 6);
Claim 25: wherein, in each of the first processing block and the second processing block,
a main transfer path through which the substrate is transferred by the first main transfer mechanism or the second main transfer mechanism with respect to each of the plurality of layers is located at one side in an anteroposterior direction, and
between the first processing block and the second processing block, each block constituting a bypass transfer path forming block is provided with the first shuttle or the second shuttle at the one side in the anteroposterior direction in the main transfer path (at least shown in figure 8);
Claim 26: wherein each of the plurality of layers of the first processing block is provided with a liquid processing module configured to supply a processing liquid to the substrate, as the processing module of the first processing block (BX liquid processing modules)
Claim 27: wherein at least one of the blocks constituting the bypass transfer path forming block is provided with a stacked body including a plurality of processing modules at the one side in the anteroposterior direction in the main transfer path, the plurality of processing modules being configured to perform, on the substrate, a process that is different from a process performed by the liquid processing module, and
with respect to the stacked body of the plurality of processing modules, the first shuttle and the second shuttle are provided at a side of a block connected to the bypass transfer path forming block from a lower side or an upper side of the first processing block and the second processing block (at least shown in figure 8);
Claim 28: wherein the first processing block includes a first lower processing block and a first upper processing block,
the second processing block includes a second lower processing block and a second upper processing block,
each of the first lower processing block and the first upper processing block is provided with the first shuttle,
each of the second lower processing block and the second upper processing block is provided with the second shuttle, and
each of an upper processing block configured with the first upper processing block and the second upper processing block and a lower processing block configured with the first lower processing block and the second lower processing block constitutes the bypass transfer path forming block (at least shown in figure 1-3 and 8).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 20-22 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art does not disclose a second bypass substrate placement part, which is different from the first bypass substrate placement part, provided at each of an upstream side and a downstream side of the second bypass transfer path at a height different from a height of the first bypass substrate placement part and configured to deliver the substrate to and from the second shuttle in combination with other subject matter.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2020/0206788 discloses bypass transfer mechanism 78.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Gerald McClain whose telephone number is (571)272-7803. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and at gerald.mcclain@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 (II)).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Saul Rodriguez can be reached at (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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/Gerald McClain/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3652
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