Appeal No. 2005-0970 Page 2
Application No. 09/918,760
at least one substrate transport mechanism connected to the
drive train and driven by the drive motor therethrough;
a controller comprising;
a substrate advancer in communication with the drive motor,
the substrate advancer emitting control signals to the drive
motor that cause the substrate to move to a point short of an
intended destination; and
a substrate final advancer in communication with the drive
motor, the substrate final advancer sending control signals to
the drive motor that cause the substrate to continue to the
intended destination.
16. A backlash reduction method comprising:
advancing a substrate to a point short of a final intended
position;
finally advancing the substrate to the final intended position,
thereby taking up backlash in a substrate transport system.
THE REFERENCES
Barker et al. (Barker) 4,519,700 May 28, 1985
Narita 5,149,217 Sep. 22, 1992
Nureki 6,312,177 Nov. 6, 2001
THE REJECTIONS
The claims stand rejected as follows: claims 1-12 and 14-24
under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by Narita; claims 1, 3-
12, 14, 16 and 18-24 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as anticipated by
Nureki; claim 13 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over Narita or
Nureki; and claims 2, 15 and 17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious
over Nureki in view of Barker.
OPINION
We reverse the rejections of claims 1-8 and 16-24, and
affirm the rejections of claims 9-15. Under the provisions of
37 CFR § 41.50(b) we enter new grounds of rejection of claim 24.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007