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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/16/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the Application on 06/13/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, and 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Loan et al. (WO 01/29282 A2).
With regards to claim 1:
Loan et al. discloses (refer to Fig. 1-2 below) a gas inlet valve for the controlled inlet of a fluid into a vacuum process chamber, wherein the gas inlet valve comprises:
- a gas flow unit having a gas inlet (259), a gas outlet (261), and an inner volume (V) connecting the gas inlet and the gas outlet, wherein the gas flow unit has a sealing surface (A) in the inner volume,
- an adjustment unit (254, 256) projecting into the inner volume and having a valve disk (258) which is arranged inside the inner volume, wherein the adjustment unit is movably mounted along an adjustment axis in the closing direction and in the opening direction,
- a drive unit (251, 255) which is coupled to the adjustment unit outside the gas flow unit and provides an adjustment of the adjustment unit along the adjustment axis, wherein the valve disk can be brought by means of the drive unit (251, 255) in the opening direction into an open position in which the valve disk is spaced from the sealing surface (A) and a fluid flow is provided,
- a flexible sealing element (288, 252) which is connected to the gas flow unit and to the adjustment unit and atmospherically separates the drive unit from the inner volume,
wherein
- the drive unit (251, 255) has an expansion element (251) with a variable expansion volume,
wherein a spatial expansion of the expansion element (251) can be varied with a variation of the expansion volume,
- the drive unit (251, 255) has a compressed air channel (257) connected to the expansion volume for pressurizing and expanding the expansion volume, and
- the gas inlet valve comprises a coupling unit (253) which is connected to the drive unit (251, 255) and to the adjustment unit (254, 256) and arranged such that the coupling unit is moved upon variation of the expansion volume and causes movement of the adjustment unit.
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[AltContent: textbox (P)]Fig. 1
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Fig. 2
With regards to claim 2:
Loan et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein the spatial expansion of the expansion element (251) can be increased by pressurizing the expansion volume and the valve disk (258) can be moved in the opening direction by means of the adjustment unit.
With regards to claim 3:
Loan et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
- the drive unit has a further compressed air channel (257) connected to the expansion volume for venting the expansion volume, and
- the valve disk (258) can be brought into a closed position by means of venting and reduction of the expansion volume in the closing direction, in which closed position the valve disk (258) contacts the sealing surface (A) and gas flow is thus prevented.
With regards to claim 8:
Loan et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
the gas inlet valve has a restoring element (263), comprising a spring, which is arranged in such a way that the restoring element provides a restoring force acting in the closing direction to the adjustment unit (254, 256).
With regards to claim 11:
Loan et al. discloses (refer to Fig. 2 above) the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
the drive unit comprises a drive plate (P) cooperating with the expansion element (251), which drive plate is movably supported along the adjustment axis and is adapted to be connected to the coupling unit (253).
With regards to claim 12:
Loan et al. discloses (refer to Fig. 1-2 above) the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
the expansion element (251) is formed as a bellow, comprising a gaiter or corrugated bellows.
With regards to claim 13:
Loan et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
the expansion element comprises or is formed of a heat-resistant material (since this valve is configured to operate in the high heat environment such as CVD apparatus, see p. 19).
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Naitoh et al. (US 7,862,002).
With regards to claim 1:
Naitoh et al. discloses (refer to Fig. 3-4 below) a gas inlet valve for the controlled inlet of a fluid into a vacuum process chamber, wherein the gas inlet valve comprises:
- a gas flow unit (2) having a gas inlet (8), a gas outlet (7), and an inner volume connecting the gas inlet and the gas outlet, wherein the gas flow unit has a sealing surface (9) in the inner volume,
- an adjustment unit (26) projecting into the inner volume and having a valve disk (10) which is arranged inside the inner volume, wherein the adjustment unit is movably mounted along an adjustment axis in the closing direction and in the opening direction,
- a drive unit (3) which is coupled to the adjustment unit (26) outside the gas flow unit and provides an adjustment of the adjustment unit along the adjustment axis, wherein the valve disk can be brought by means of the drive unit (3) in the opening direction into an open position in which the valve disk is spaced from the sealing surface (9) and a fluid flow is provided,
- a flexible sealing element (31) which is connected to the gas flow unit and to the adjustment unit and atmospherically separates the drive unit from the inner volume,
wherein
- the drive unit (3) has an expansion element (21) with a variable expansion volume (21b),
wherein a spatial expansion of the expansion element (21) can be varied with a variation of the expansion volume,
- the drive unit (3) has a compressed air channel (24, 25) connected to the expansion volume for pressurizing and expanding the expansion volume, and
- the gas inlet valve comprises a coupling unit (27) which is connected to the drive unit (3) and to the adjustment unit (26) and arranged such that the coupling unit is moved upon variation of the expansion volume (21b) and causes movement of the adjustment unit.
With regards to claim 2:
Naitoh et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein the spatial expansion of the expansion element (21) can be increased by pressurizing the expansion volume (21b) and the valve disk (10) can be moved in the opening direction by means of the adjustment unit.
With regards to claim 3:
Naitoh et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
- the drive unit has a further compressed air channel (24, 25) connected to the expansion volume for venting the expansion volume (21b), and
- the valve disk (10) can be brought into a closed position by means of venting and reduction of the expansion volume in the closing direction, in which closed position the valve disk (10) contacts the sealing surface (9) and gas flow is thus prevented.
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Fig. 3
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Fig. 4
With regards to claim 8:
Naitoh et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
the gas inlet valve has a restoring element (30), comprising a spring, which is arranged in such a way that the restoring element provides a restoring force acting in the closing direction to the adjustment unit (26).
With regards to claim 11:
Naitoh et al. discloses (refer to Fig. 3-4 above) the gas inlet valve according to claim 1, wherein
the drive unit comprises a drive plate (22) cooperating with the expansion element (21), which drive plate is movably supported along the adjustment axis and is adapted to be connected to the coupling unit (27).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naitoh et al., as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mason (US 8,534,315).
With regards to claim 4:
Naitoh et al. discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 1 (see rejected claim 1 above) wherein the adjustment unit is coupled and moved upon variation of the expansion volume and causes movement of the adjustment unit.
Naitoh et al. does not disclose the gas inlet valve comprises at least one further expansion element with variable expansion volume.
Mason discloses (refer to Fig.5 below) a valve comprises multiple expansion elements (202, 204, 206) with variable expansion volumes (208a, 208b, 208c) coupled to the adjustment unit (262) to move the adjustment unit upon variation of the expansion volumes.
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Fig. 5
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the valve of Naitoh et al. to have multiple expansion elements coupled to the adjustment unit as disclosed by Mason to provide the same result of move the adjustment unit upon expansion of the variable expansion volumes to provide the valve with achieve the same moving force against the bias spring with narrow body to fit in the narrow space as taught by Mason ( Column 3, lines 8-35).
Naitoh et al., as modified, discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 4.
With regards to claim 5:
Naitoh et al., as modified, discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 4, wherein the gas inlet valve comprises at least one further compressed air channel for pressurization and expansion of the at least one further expansion volume.
With regards to claim 6:
Naitoh et al., as modified, discloses the gas inlet valve according to claim 4, wherein the coupling unit is connected to the expansion element and/or to the at least one further expansion element.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, and 9-10 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Minh Le, whose telephone number is 571-270-3805. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday (8:30AM-5:00PM EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors can be reached by phone. Kenneth Rinehart can be reached at 571-272-4881 or Craig Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MINH Q LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3753
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