Appeal 2006-3349
Application 09/908,360
hub with four coaxial shafts along a vertically oriented longitudinal axis” as
called for in Appellants’ independent claims 80 and 86.
The following facts are pertinent to the issue presented to us in this
appeal.
1. A “hub” is generally understood to be “the center part of a wheel, etc.,
the part fastened to the axle, or turning on it” or “a center of interest,
importance, or activity” Webster's New World Dictionary 682 (David
B. Guralnik ed., 2nd Coll. Ed., Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1984).
2. Appellants disclose that, in a preferred embodiment, an upper robot is
stacked above a lower robot “and the two robots are mounted
concentrically to a drive hub to allow simultaneous transfer of two
wafers between a transfer chamber and one or more process
chambers” (Specification [0029]). Appellants describe, in the
embodiment of Figs. 1-4, a central hub 23 for the upper robot 14 to
which first and second drive arms 21, 22 are coupled for rotation
about the hub 23 (Specification [0032]) and a central hub 53 for the
lower robot 16 to which first and second drive arms 51, 52 are
coupled for rotation about the hub 53 (Specification [0042]). As
illustrated in Fig. 1, wherein the lead line for reference numeral 23
points to the flange of housing 1008, hub 23 includes at least the
housing 1008 to which motors 1004, 1006 and hence shaft 1030 are
attached (Specification [0034] and [0035]). In the embodiment of
Figs. 1-4, the drives of the upper and lower robots are not connected
to one another, except through the transfer chamber walls (cover and
base) 12a, 12b and housings 1008, 1008’. Appellants do not
specifically use the term “hub” in describing the second embodiment
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