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 .
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.
Claims 16-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more.
Claims 16, 23 and 29 recites a method / a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions therein for generating a metrology sampling scheme for a patterning process comprising the steps of obtaining a parameter map, decomposing, by a hardware computer system, the parameter map to generate a fingerprint specific to an apparatus of the patterning process and generating, a metrology sampling scheme for a subsequent substrate at the apparatus of the patterning process so as to improve a metrology sampling density and physically measuring the subsequent substrate using the metrology sampling scheme and/or providing a physical signal. These steps are a mental process of gathering and analyzing information so as to characterize a process and therefore recite the judicial exception of an abstract idea. Further, the application of configuring and/or providing a signal for the manufacturing process is not a practical application because a result of the abstract idea is generically applied to configure the manufacturing process without any specific details of how the application to configure is accomplished (see MPEP 2106.05(f)(1)).
Claims 16, 23 and 29 recites a hardware computer system to perform the steps. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the generically recited computer element do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea because they amount to simply implementing the abstract idea on a computer.
Claims 16, 23 and 29 does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the generic computer elements only provide for the implementing of mental process on a computer. Further, the application of configuring and/or providing a signal for the manufacturing process is not a practical application because a result of the abstract idea is generically applied to configure the manufacturing process without any specific details of how the application to configure is accomplished and using the performance of processing parameters to adjust the manufacturing processes is a well-known method.
Dependent claims 17-22, 24-28 and 30-35 fail to cure this deficiency of independent claims 1 and 16 (set forth above) and are rejected accordingly. Claims 17-22, 24-28 and 30-35 recite limitations that represent (in addition to the limitations already noted above) either the abstract idea or an additional element that is merely extra-solution activity, mere use of instructions and/or generic computer component(s) as a tool to implement the abstract idea, and/or merely limits the abstract idea to a particular measurement feature.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/09/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued that “physically measuring the subsequent substrate using the metrology sampling scheme and/or providing a physical signal representing, or based on, the metrology sampling scheme to a system for use in measuring the subsequent substrate using the metrology sampling scheme”, is not an abstract idea, but rather at least recite a specific practical application, see pages 8-10 of the remarks.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. As applied above, the application of configuring and/or providing a signal for the manufacturing process is not a practical application because a result of the abstract idea is generically applied to configure the manufacturing process without any specific details of how the application to configure is accomplished and using the performance of processing parameters to adjust the manufacturing processes is a well-known method.
As such, Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive and the rejection under 35 USC § 101 is maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/DEORAM PERSAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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