Appeal No. 2003-0214
Application 09/441,490
(pallet loading station 12). Corsini does not disclose any top
frame structure.
Genov pertains to “systems for loading and unloading
substrates [e.g., semiconductor wafers] into and from a
processing environment” (column 1, lines 7 and 8). As described
by Genov,
a robot having an articulating robot arm is disposed in
a load lock chamber. The load lock chamber, itself
maintained under controlled micro environment
conditions, functions to interface various processing
stations of a micro environment system, such as one
used for processing of semiconductor wafers, with the
exterior of the micro environment system. The robot
serves to load and unload the wafers into the micro
environment system by way of the load lock chamber, via
ports in the load lock chamber which mate with
containers, or pods, in which the wafers are stored
during transport to and from the micro environment
system. The robot also serves the function of opening
and closing doors of the ports of the load lock chamber
and of the pods, and of parking the doors at remote
locations when the pods are being accessed [column 4,
lines 24 through 39].
With regard to the dual functionality of the robot arm,
Genov explains that
[t]he pod and load lock chamber doors are designed
to interface with a door handling mechanism, in the
form of a door gripping tool, fixed or removably
mounted on the robot arm. In a first, fixed
configuration, the door gripping tool is mounted on an
end effector of the robot arm, which also supports a
substrate handling tool for use after the doors have
been removed. Alternatively, the door gripping tool
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