The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 26, 2012
Filed:
Apr. 17, 2008
Hidetaka Nakao, Tokyo, JP;
Masafumi Inoue, Tokyo, JP;
Koichi Takeda, Tokyo, JP;
Ebara Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A polishing apparatus includes a loading section () for placing therein a cassette () in which a plurality of polishing objects are housed; a first polishing line () and a second polishing line () for polishing a polishing object; a cleaning line () having cleaning machines () for cleaning the polishing object after polishing and a transport unit () for transporting the polishing object; a transport mechanism () for transporting the polishing object between the loading section (), the polishing lines () and the cleaning line (); and a control section for controlling the polishing lines (), the cleaning line () and the transport mechanism (). The control section determines a polishing start time in each of the first and second polishing lines () based on a predicted polishing time in each of the first and second polishing lines (), a predicted transport time in the transport mechanism (), a predicted cleaning time in the cleaning line () and a predicted cleaning start time to start cleaning by driving the transport unit () of the cleaning line ().