DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-15 are pending.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 08/05/2026, have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 101 has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by He, Q. Peter, et al. "Statistics pattern analysis based virtual metrology for plasma etch processes." 2012 American Control Conference (ACC). IEEE, 2012 (hereinafter He).
Regarding claims 1-15, He discloses all the claimed limitations, as outlined below:
CLAIM 1. An industrial control system comprising: one or more computers comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: receive, by the one or more processors, a first sensor output, the first sensor output
comprising one or more first data values from a first component within the industrial process;
associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more first data values with a first unit
of measure; receive, by the one or more processors, a second sensor output, the second sensor output
comprising one or more second data values from a second component within the
industrial process; associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more second data values with a
second unit of measure; generate, by the one or more processors, a graphical user interface (GUI), the graphical user interface comprising a visual representation of at least the first component
and the second component; generate, by the one or more processors, a first data display on the GUI comprising at least one of the one or more first data values in association with the first
component, the first data display comprising the first unit of measure; execute, by the one or more processors, a transformation of the one or more second data values to obtain one or more transformed data values; associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more transformed data values with
the first unit of measure; and control, by the one or more processors, a physical attribute of at least one component of an industrial process based on the transformed data values to effect operation of
the industrial process; and cause a second data to be displayed on the GUI, the second data display comprising at least one of the one or more transformed data values in association
with the second component, and the first unit of measure (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
2. The industrial control system of claim 1, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: generate, by the one or more processors, a visual representation of at least a third
component within the industrial process that does not comprise a sensor on the GUI;
calculate, by the one or more processors, one or more equivalent third data values using
the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values; and
display, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent third data values on
the GUI in association with the third component (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
3. The industrial control system of claim 2,
wherein the one or more equivalent third data values comprise the first unit of measure (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
4. The industrial control system of claim 3,
wherein the one or more equivalent third data values are calculated using the one or more
first data values and/or the one or more second data values as the one or more first data values
and/or the one or more second data values are received in substantially real time (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
5. The industrial control system of claim 4,
the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored
thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to:
receive, by the one or more processors, one or more time data points associated with a
time the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values were received;
transform, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent third data values
into one or more transformed third data values using the one or more first data values and/or the
one or more second data values and the one or more time data points;
wherein the one or more transformed third data values comprise a transformed third unit
of measure comprising a time rate of change (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
6. A system comprising: one or more computers comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to:
receive, by the one or more processors, a first sensor output, the first sensor output
comprising one or more first data values from a first component within an industrial process;
associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more first data values with a first unit
of measure; receive, by the one or more processors, a second sensor output, the second sensor output
comprising one or more second data values from a second component within the industrial
process; associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more second data values with a
second unit of measure; and generate, by the one or more processors, a graphical user interface (GUI), the graphical user interface comprising a visual representation of at least the first component and the one or more first data values; execute, by the one or more processors a self-healing operation when the first sensor output is not received within a pre-determined period of time, the self-healing operation providing continuous production of the components within the industrial process during the data collection signal loss by causing the one or more computers to: calculate, by the one or more processors, one or more equivalent first data values using the one or more second data values; display, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent first data
values on the GUI in association with the first component; associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent first data values with the first unit of measure; and control, by the one or more processors, a physical attribute of at least one component of an industrial process based on at least one of the equivalent first data values to effect operation of the industrial process (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
7. The system of claim 6, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to:
generate, by the one or more processors, a visual representation of at least a third
component within the industrial process that is not receiving data from a sensor on the GUI;
calculate, by the one or more processors, one or more equivalent third data values using
the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values; and
display, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent third data values on
the GUI in association with the third component (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more equivalent third data values comprise the first unit of measure (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more equivalent third data values are calculated using the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values as the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values are received in substantially real time (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
10. The system of claim 9, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to:
receive, by the one or more processors, one or more time data points associated with a
time the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values were received;
and transform, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent third data values
into one or more transformed third data values using the one or more first data values and/or the
one or more second data values and the one or more time data points; wherein the one or more transformed third data values comprise a transformed third unit of measure comprising a time rate of change (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
11. An industrial control system comprising: one or more computers comprising one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer readable media, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: receive, by the one or more processors, a first sensor output, the first sensor output
comprising one or more first data values from a first component within an industrial process;
associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more first data values with a first unit
of measure; receive, by the one or more processors, a second sensor output, the second sensor output
comprising one or more second data values from a second component within the industrial
process; associate, by the one or more processors, the one or more second data values with a
second unit of measure; generate, by the one or more processors, a graphical user interface (GUI), the graphical user interface comprising a visual representation of at least a third component within the
industrial process that does not comprise a sensor; calculate, by the one or more processors, one or more equivalent third data values using the one or more first data values and/or the one or more second data values; and control, by the one or more processors, a physical attribute of at least one component of an industrial process based on at least one of the equivalent third data values to effect operation of the industrial process[[,]]; and display, by the one or more processors, the one or more equivalent third data values on the GUI in association with the third component (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
12. The industrial control system of claim 11, wherein if the first sensor output is not received within a pre-determined period of time, the instructions further cause the one or more computers to implement a self-healing operation, the self-healing operation causing the one or more computers to:
calculate, by the one or more processors, one or more equivalent first data values using
the one or more second data values (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
13. The industrial control system of claim 11, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: control, by the one or more processors, a physical attribute of the third component using
the one or more equivalent third data values (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
14. The industrial control system of claim 12, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: control, by the one or more processors, a physical attribute of the first component using
the one or more equivalent first data values (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
15. The industrial control system of claim 11, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media further comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers to: receive, by the one or more processors, one or more time data points associated with a
time the one or more first data values; transform, by the one or more processors, the one or more first data values into one or more transformed first data values using the one or more first data values and the one or more time data points; wherein the one or more transformed first data values comprise a transformed first unit of measure comprising a time rate of change (Page 4899, Fig 1, Page 4901-4902 , and the Conclusion - - Using the SPA framework for FDC and VM. Multiple diverse outputs are correlated in a 3D representation. Batches, variables/parameter, and time are correlated in one same display, specifically in a 3D dimensional space. Data unfolding is taken into consideration and feedback control is implemented in semiconductor manufacturing).
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
1. US Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0278721 relates to - - monitoring state of a plasma chamber.
2. Qin, S. Joe, et al. "Semiconductor manufacturing process control and monitoring: A fab-wide framework." Journal of Process Control 16.3 (2006): 179-191.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CARLOS R ORTIZ RODRIGUEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-3766. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 10:00 am- 6:30 pm.
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/CARLOS R ORTIZ RODRIGUEZ/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2119
