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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 8, 9, 17 and 18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on1/23/2026. The examiner disagrees that undue diverse searching should not be required, as set forth in the election/ restriction requirement mailed 12/5/2025, and because each of the set of claims present different and distinct species. Therefore, the restriction is made final herein.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
The USPTO “Interim Guidelines for Examination of Patent Applications for Patent Subject Matter Eligibility” (Official Gazette notice of 22 November 2005), Annex IV, reads as follows:
In contrast, a claimed computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program is a computer element which defines structural and functional interrelationships between the computer program and the rest of the computer which permit the computer program’s functionality to be realized, and is thus statutory See Lowry, 32 F.3d at 1583-84, 32 USPQ2d at 1035.
Claims that recite nothing but the physical characteristics of a form of energy, such as frequency, voltage, or strength of a magnetic field, define energy or magnetism, per se, and as such are nonstatutory natural phenomena. O’Reilly, 56 I.S. (15 How.) at 112-14. Moreover, it does not appear that a claim reciting a signal encoded with functional descriptive material falls within any of the categories of patentable subject matter set forth in Sec. 101.
…a signal does not fall within one of the four statutory classes of Sec 101.
…signal claims are ineligible for patent protection because they do not fall within any of the four statutory classes of Sec. 101.
Claims 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter as follows. Claims 19 is drawn to functional descriptive material recorded on one or more computer readable media. A computer readable medium can be defined as encompassing statutory medium, but it also encompasses non-statutory subject matter such as a signal or carrier wave.
A “signal” embodying functional descriptive material is neither a process nor a product (i.e., a tangible “thing”) and therefore does not fall within one of the four statutory classes of §101. Rather, “signal” is a form of energy, in the absence of any physical structure of tangible material.
Because the full scope of the claim encompasses non-statutory subject matter, the claim as a whole is non-statutory. The examiner suggests amending the claim to "a non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with a computer program.” Any amendment to the claim should be commensurate with its corresponding disclosure.
It is noted that claims 1-18 are considered eligible subject matter. The claims are not drawn to an abstract idea, because the claims are directed to an apparatus with parts. Furthermore, Claim 10, even if interpreted as an abstract idea, requires the use of a particular machine and provides a practical application, i.e. substrate process inspection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20130084393 (Kashiyama et al).
Regarding clam 10, Kashiyama et al discloses an information processing method (fig. 19, 20) comprising providing a substrate processing apparatus (fig. 1-13) including a nozzle (fig. 3, item 30) that ejects a processing liquid to a periphery of a substrate (page 5, paragraph 81), and a processing liquid supply path (fig. 3, item 30B path to 30)that allows the processing liquid to flow between a supply source of the processing liquid and the nozzle (page 5, paragraph 77), acquiring a captured image of the periphery of the substrate after the processing liquid is supplied (page 5, paragraph 77, fig. 19, s3); acquiring an observation result of a flowing state of the processing liquid in the processing liquid supply path, the flow rate (detected and supplied to fig. 10, s11, page 5, paragraph 77); and specifying an abnormality factor, i.e. the factor that results from fig. 20, s11, related to a supply of the processing liquid to the substrate based on the captured image (fig. 20, s11 result based on captured image of previous step fig. 19, s3) and the observation result (fig. 3, s11).
Regarding claim 1, Kashiyama et al discloses a substrate processing apparatus (fig. 1-13) comprising: a nozzle (fig. 3, item 30) configured to eject a processing liquid to a periphery of a substrate (page 5, paragraph 81); a processing liquid supply path (fig. 3, item 30B path to 30) configured to allow the processing liquid to flow between a supply source of the processing liquid and the nozzle (page 5, paragraph 77); a camera (fig. 13, item 583, page 15, paragraph 240) configured to capture an image of the periphery of the substrate (fig. 19, s3); an sensor (fig. 3, item 30B, page 5, paragraph 77) installed in the processing liquid supply path and configured to observe a flowing state of the processing liquid in the processing liquid supply path, i.e. a flow rate, (page 5, paragraph 77, fig. 20, s11); and an analyzer configured to specify an abnormality factor, i.e. the factor result of s11 of fig. 20, related to a supply of the processing liquid to the substrate based on the image captured by the camera, fig. s11 is based on s3, and an observation result obtained by the sensor (fig. 20, item s11).
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 10. Thus, the arguments analogous to that presented above for claim 10 are equally applicable to claim 19. Claim 19 distinguishes from claim 10 only in that claim 19 is a computer readable storage medium in which a program for executing the method of claim 10 is recorded. Kashiyama et al teaches further this feature, i.e. fig. 1, item 800.
Regarding claim 13, Kashiyama et al discloses wherein in the specifying the abnormality factor analysis step, a predetermined countermeasure is performed for each specified abnormality factor (fig. 20, countermeasures of s12 or s13).
Regarding claim 14, Kashiyama et al discloses in the specifying the abnormality factor analysis step, the specified abnormality factor is notified to a user of the substrate processing apparatus by sending an alarm (fig. 20, s12).
Regarding claim 16, Kashiyama et al discloses in the specifying the abnormality factor analysis step, the abnormality factor is specified based on whether a flow rate of the processing liquid measured by a flow meter that measures the flow rate of the processing liquid is within a predetermined range, i.e. the set values of fig. 20, s11.
Claims 4, 5 and 7 are rejected for the same reasons as claims 13, 14 and 16, respectively. Thus, the arguments analogous to that presented above for claim 4, 5 and 7 are equally applicable to claim 13, 14 and 16. Claim 4, 5 and 7 distinguishes from claim 13, 14 and 16 only in that they have different dependencies, both of which have been previously rejected. Therefore, prior art applies.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 6, 11, 12 and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 2 and 11 contain allowable subject matter regarding the capture of an image of the periphery from which a film has been removed by the processing liquid, specifying of a defect mode based on each pixel value of an inner circumferential area of the substrate, rather than from an area from which the film has been removed in the image, and specifies the abnormality factor based on the specified defect mode and the claimed observation result.
Claims 6 and 15 contain allowable subject matter regarding in the specifying the abnormality factor, a process log of the observation result in the acquiring the observation result is acquired and each abnormality factor related to a plurality of time periods is specified by batch processing based on the process log.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATHLEEN YUAN DULANEY whose telephone number is (571)272-2902. The examiner can normally be reached M1:9am-5pm, th1:9am-1pm, fri1 9am-3pm, m2: 9am-5pm, t2:9-5 th2:9am-5pm, f2: 9am-5pm.
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/KATHLEEN Y DULANEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2666 2/4/2026