DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Notice to Applicants
This action is in response to the Restriction Election filed on 12/19/2025.
Claims 1-6 and 8-16 are pending.
Restriction/Election
The examiner thanks Applicant for their careful consideration of the Restriction Requirement mailed on 11/28/2025.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (Claims 1-6 and 14-16) in the reply filed on 12/19/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-9, 10-11, and 12-13 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/19/2025.
Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nahum (U.S. Publ. US-2002/0179819-A1) in view of Nienhuys et al. (WIPO Publ. WO-2021/121906-A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nahum discloses a measurement apparatus (see figure 1) comprising a controller that comprises a memory storing instructions and a processor executing the instructions (see figure 1, signal generating and processing circuitry 200, figure 13, and paragraph 0176) causing the controller to:
calculate a measurement value with respect to a measurement target by using a cross-correlation function of two images of the measurement target (see paragraphs 0076-0079, where a reference image and current image of a target are used to generate a cross-correlation function, which paragraph 0103 states is used to measure the amount of measurement error across the images) acquired by an image capturing element (see paragraph 0049),
Nahum fails to disclose obtain a configuration of a spatial frequency component of the two images, and correct the measurement value in a case in which a ratio of a frequency component lower than a predetermined frequency in a distribution of the spatial frequency component of the two images is equal to or greater than a predetermined ratio.
Pertaining to the same field of endeavor, Nienhuys discloses obtain a configuration of a spatial frequency component of the two images (see figure 22 and paragraphs 0210 and 0215, where the cross-correlation curves of fig 22(d) have different peak spreads/widths that vary depending on the configuration of the spatial frequencies of the respective images),
and correct the measurement value in a case in which a ratio of a frequency component lower than a predetermined frequency in a distribution of the spatial frequency component of the two images is equal to or greater than a predetermined ratio (see paragraph 0231, where a threshold value to apply to the cross-correlation curves is determined such that the parts of the curves above the threshold have a certain width, which the examiner considers analogous to correcting the cross-correlation values according to a predetermined or desired ratio of the spatial frequencies).
Nahum and Nienhuys are considered analogous art, as they are both directed to correction of manufacturing inspection devices via image analysis. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have integrated the teachings of Nienhuys into Nahum because doing so allows the user to optimize process parameters (see Nienhuys paragraph 0231).
Regarding claim 2, Nahum in view of Nienhuys discloses wherein the measurement value is calculated based on a sub-pixel estimation value calculated based on the cross-correlation function (see Nahum paragraphs 0015 and 0079).
Regarding claim 3, Nahum in view of Nienhuys discloses wherein the sub-pixel estimation value is calculated by performing a fitting by a linear function or a quadratic function based on the cross-correlation function (see paragraphs 0007 and 0101-0102).
Regarding claim 4, Nahum fails to disclose the limitations of claim 4.
Pertaining to the same field of endeavor, Nienhuys discloses wherein a spread of a peak shape of the cross-correlation function changes according to the configuration of the spatial frequency component (see figure 22 and paragraphs 0210 and 0215, where the cross-correlation curves of fig 22(d) have different peak spreads that vary depending on the configuration of the spatial frequencies of the respective images),
and in a case in which the spread of the peak shape is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the controller corrects the measurement value (see paragraph 0231, where the threshold generated by analyzing the width, or spread, of the curve, is applied to the other cross-correlation curves).
Nahum and Nienhuys are considered analogous art, as they are both directed to correction of manufacturing inspection devices via image analysis. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have integrated the teachings of Nienhuys into Nahum because doing so allows the user to optimize process parameters (see Nienhuys paragraph 0231).
Regarding claim 14, Nahum discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store a computer program comprising instructions for executing the following steps (see paragraph 0217).
The remainder of claim 14 recites steps identical to those of claim 1. Therefore, Nahum in view of Nienhuys discloses claim 14 as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 15, Nahum discloses a system (see figure 1) including: a controller that comprises a memory storing instructions and a processor executing the instructions causing the controller to (see figure 1, signal generating and processing circuitry 200, figure 13, and paragraph 0176).
Nahum in view of Nienhuys discloses the remaining limitations of claim 15 as applied to claim 1 above, in addition to a robot configured to hold and move the measurement target based on the measurement value (see Nienhuys paragraph 0026).
Nahum and Nienhuys are considered analogous art, as they are both directed to correction of manufacturing inspection devices via image analysis. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have integrated the teachings of Nienhuys into Nahum because doing so allows the user to optimize process parameters (see Nienhuys paragraph 0231), and also allows for moving the measurement target across different manufacturing apparatuses (see Nienhuys paragraph 0026).
Regarding claim 16, Nahum discloses a method of manufacturing an article that executes the following steps:
a light receiving step of receiving light from a measurement target by an image capturing element (see paragraph 0049),
a measurement step of calculating a measurement value with respect to the measurement target by using a cross-correlation function of two images (see paragraphs 0076-0079, where a reference image and current image of a target are used to generate a cross-correlation function, which paragraph 0103 states is used to measure the amount of measurement error across the images) acquired by the image capturing element (see paragraph 0049).
Nahum in view of Nienhuys discloses the remaining limitations of claim 16 as applied to claim 1 above, in addition to a step of manufacturing an article by processing the measurement target based on the measurement value that has been corrected by the correction step (see Nienhuys paragraph 0029, where the inspection apparatus can identify defects in the article through analyzing images of the article).
Nahum and Nienhuys are considered analogous art, as they are both directed to correction of manufacturing inspection devices via image analysis. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have integrated the teachings of Nienhuys into Nahum because doing so allows the user to optimize process parameters (see Nienhuys paragraph 0231), and also allows for detection of absence of needed structures or presence of unwanted structures (see Nienhuys paragraph 0277).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nahum (U.S. Publ. US-2002/0179819-A1) in view of Nienhuys et al. (WIPO Publ. WO-2021/121906-A1), and further in view of Morgan-Mar et al. (U.S. Publ. US-2013/0266210-A1).
Regarding claim 5, Nahum in view of Nienhuys fails to disclose the limitations of claim 5.
Pertaining to the same field of endeavor, Morgan-Mar discloses wherein the controller calculates the spread of the peak shape based on a maximum value of the cross-correlation function, a position of the maximum value, and values of positions before and after thereof (see figures 4-5 and paragraphs 0092 and 0096, where the width/spread of the peak shape is calculated by finding the maximum value, and then finding the distance from a left nearby point to a right nearby point such that the y-coordinates of the nearby points are half the height of the maximum point).
Nahum and Morgan-Mar are considered analogous art, as they are both directed to analysis of measurement information by analyzing frequency curves. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have integrated the teachings of Morgan-Mar into Nahum and Nienhuys because calculating the peak spread/width of a fitted function allows for better width estimation that cancels out signal noise (see Morgan-Mar paragraph 0102).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nahum (U.S. Publ. US-2002/0179819-A1) in view of Nienhuys et al. (WIPO Publ. WO-2021/121906-A1), and further in view of Gorenstein et al. (WIPO Publ. WO-2005/079263-A2).
Regarding claim 6, Nahum in view of Nienhuys fails to disclose the limitations of claim 6.
Pertaining to the same field of endeavor, Gorenstein discloses wherein the controller performs a correction by an approximate expression, or a table based on a relationship between the spread of the peak shape and an error in the measurement value (see paragraphs 0293-0295, where the standard error of measurement precision, σm, increases as the numerator, peak width wm, increases).
Nahum and Gorenstein are considered analogous art, as they are both directed to analysis of measurement information by analyzing frequency curves. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have integrated the teachings of Gorenstein into Nahum and Nienhuys because doing so allows for identification of statistical measurement errors (see Gorenstein paragraphs 0290-0291).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS JOHN HELCO whose telephone number is (703)756-5539. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew Bella, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-7778. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NICHOLAS JOHN HELCO/Examiner, Art Unit 2667
/MATTHEW C BELLA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2667