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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The first paragraph of the specification should be updated to reflect the status of the parent application as being patented.
Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Miller (US 5,417,537).
Miller shows a substrate transfer apparatus having a moving plate 66 which includes a magnetic levitation rail 24, a plurality of processing chambers 40, 44, 46 disposed adjacent to the moving plate 66, a plurality of shuttles 80 which move on the moving plate 66 by using a magnetic levitation rail (see Figure 10) so as to transport substrates from one chamber to another.
Re claim 2, processing chamber groups are located on each side of the rail, see Figure 1.
Re claim 3, Figure 1 shows at least three rail areas connected to one another.
Re claim 4, shown are a plurality of shuttles which may be stopped in various areas so as not to block other shuttles.
Re claim 5, Figure 1 shows rails which are adjacent to and overlap one another.
Re claim 6, the shuttles may be moved into different areas after the area has been cleared.
Re claim 7, the shuttles are stopped before being transferred into locked process chambers.
Re claim 8, shown are transfer arms in Figure 1.
Re claim 9, arms are between different areas.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is 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 prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The TW 202141675 reference shows a magnetic rail which moves shuttles to process chambers which reads at least on claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES R BIDWELL whose telephone number is (571)272-6910. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 to 4.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gene Crawford, can be reached at telephone number (571)272-6911. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/InterviewPractice.
/JAMES R BIDWELL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3651 06/02/2026
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