Patent ID: 8047762

Claim:
A method of exchanging transport carriers with a process tool of a manufacturing environment, the method comprising: receiving a first transport carrier, which stores a plurality of substrates, in a first one of a plurality of buffer places of a buffer system by directly transferring said first transport carrier from a first vehicle of an overhead transport system to said first buffer place; transferring said first transport carrier from said first buffer place to a first load port of said process tool using a transport mechanism that is movable independently with respect to said first vehicle; unloading the plurality of substrates from the first transport carrier into said process tool for processing; transferring, using the transport mechanism, said first transport carrier to a second one of the plurality of buffer places; retrieving the plurality of substrates from said process tool using said first transport carrier; and storing said first transport carrier in said second buffer place between unloading said substrates to said process tool and retrieving the plurality of substrates from said process tool.