Appeal No. 2001-0158 Page 5
Application No. 08/873,250
Iwakiri discloses an apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor wafers which
includes means for identifying each wafer and storing the identification information. The
history of each wafer, such as how the wafer was transferred and how the wafer was
processed, is stored. Iwakiri discloses that the various steps in the wafer processing
operation are controlled by a computer and that the various computers are connected to
a host computer through a computer network. A correspondence between the quality
information reported on the wafer basis and associated wafers is made and put into the
database of the host computer.
Iwakiri does not disclose or suggest the claimed “second means” for
interconnecting a first means in a physically operative manner so as to form the
respective subgroup units. In addition, Iwakiri does not disclose or suggest the claimed
additional “interconnecting means for interconnecting” the various subgroups, which
additional means includes means for storing the slices, means for manipulating the
slices and means for transporting the slices. This additional “interconnecting means for
interconnecting” provides the means for integrating the various subgroup operations of
the slicing center.
The examiner has not shown that these two claimed means, namely, the “second
means” and the additional “interconnecting means for interconnecting” are disclosed or
suggested in the prior art. As such, the examiner has failed to establish a prima facie
case of obviousness.
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