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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/24/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Independent claims recite newly amended concept of inspection processes with measurement data and a pass fail test, however it is unclear how they are related. The claims are written in a way as if they are related or encompassing one another due to the grammatical structure of the claim however the way the claim actually recites the inspection is not related to result or evaluation data. Amendments need to be made either to clarify inventive concept or to grammatically fix the limitation so that it makes sense.
Dependent claims are rejected for depending off independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 of this title, 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.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14 are/is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chong et al. US2018/0182653 in view of Tian US10885022 in view of Miller et al. US6720194
Regarding claim 1, Chong teaches: A semiconductor product evaluation data management system comprising a computer server configured to manage evaluation data of a semiconductor product and configured to store the evaluation data , the evaluation data being measured data of a property of the semiconductor product the computer server comprising: (Chong see paragraph 0021 0023 0024 0028semiconductor manufacturing and management system with electronic system receiving and analyzing data based on semiconductor manufacturing including equipment setting data indicative of data regarding manufacturing process and recipe data indicative of information set in semiconductor such as temperature and pressure. Equipment setting data and recipe data reads on evaluation data)
the evaluation data to be stored in the computer server (Chong see paragraph 0024 0025 0028 0029 0037 0038 system to perform analysis of data and store data in memory and system)
updating processor configured to store and update the manufacturing information of the semiconductor product (Chong see paragraph 0005 0024 0025 0028 0029 0037 0038 processor, update data based on semiconductor manufacturing)
evaluation data, evaluation data in correspondence with a unit of the manufacturing information of the semiconductor product and (Chong see paragraph 0005 0024 processor, controller to receive data from semiconductor equipment and system to transmit data to external device)
Chong does not distinctly disclose: server configured to manage, in each of a plurality of inspection processes including at least one pre-processing inspection and at least one post-processing inspection of a semiconductor product, evaluation data of the semiconductor product including measurement results of electrical characteristics of the semiconductor product using at least one semiconductor measuring apparatus, and a result of determining whether the semiconductor product is pass or fail based on the measurement results and
a plurality of storage devices, the plurality of storage devices including at least one hot storage and at least one cold storage, the at least one hot storage having a faster response time than the at least one cold storage
a storage data index file configured to store a storage data index attached to and the plurality of storage devices
a storage data index in the storage data index; and
a storing method updating processor configured to control movement of the data to be stored into a specific storage device based on a data storage rule, and to be stored either the at least one hot storage or the at least one cold storage, among the plurality of storage devices, the data being stored into either the at least one hot storage or the at least one cold storage in correspondence with the storage data index.
However, Tian teaches: a plurality of storage devices, the plurality of storage devices including at least one hot storage and at least one cold storage, the at least one hot storage having a faster response time than the at least one cold storage (Tian see col. 15 lines 6-32, col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 plurality of tiers of storage devices including cold and hot tier storage tiers)
a storage data index file configured to store a storage data index attached to and the plurality of storage devices (Tian see col 13 lines 3-14, 36-43 col. 28 lines 24-38 col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 index log file to be created to write new data and update index information, plurality of tiers of storage devices)
a storage data index in the storage data index; and (Tian see col 13 lines 3-14, 36-43 col. 28 lines 24-38 index log file to be created to write new data and update index information)
a storing method updating processor configured to control movement of the data to be stored into a specific storage device based on a data storage rule, and to be stored either the at least one hot storage or the at least one cold storage, among the plurality of storage devices, the data being stored into either the at least one hot storage or the at least one cold storage in correspondence with the storage data index. (Tian see col. 1 lines 47-53 col 13 lines 3-14, 36-43 col. 15 lines 6-32 col. 28 lines 24-38 col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 processor, index log file to be created to write new data and update index information, migrating data to one of the plurality of tiers of storage devices including hot and cold storage tiers where storage into hot and cold tiers is based on time data is received or generated or data access frequency)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong as modified does not distinctly disclose: server configured to manage, in each of a plurality of inspection processes including at least one pre-processing inspection and at least one post-processing inspection of a semiconductor product, evaluation data of the semiconductor product including measurement results of electrical characteristics of the semiconductor product using at least one semiconductor measuring apparatus, and a result of determining whether the semiconductor product is pass or fail based on the measurement results and
However, Miller teaches: server configured to manage, in each of a plurality of inspection processes including at least one pre-processing inspection and at least one post-processing inspection of a semiconductor product, evaluation data of the semiconductor product including measurement results of electrical characteristics of the semiconductor product using at least one semiconductor measuring apparatus, and a result of determining whether the semiconductor product is pass or fail based on the measurement results and
(Miller see col. 3 lines 55-63, col. 4 lines 3-18, 20-33, 50-55, 62-67 col. 5 lines 1-5 col. 9 lines 6-34 data management reporting system with semiconductor manufacturing information from a server, product lifecycle going through design, characterization, pre-production, production with tests and workflow at each stage. A given test condition includes measuring power supply voltage measured over a range of volts with a final test indicating pass fail)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to workflow testing for semiconductor products as taught by Miller for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 5, Chong as modified teaches: the storing method updating processor moves the evaluation data stored in the hot storage to the cold storage in accordance with the storage data index. (Tian see col. 1 lines 47-53 col 13 lines 3-14, 36-43 col. 28 lines 24-38 col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 index log file to be created to write new data and update index information, migrating data to one of the plurality of tiers of storage devices where data is migrated from first to second tier storage)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 7, Chong as modified teaches: the units of the manufacturing information is at least one unit selected from the group consisting of a unit of lot, a unit of product, a unit of shipping destination, a unit of wafer, and a unit of process. (Chong see paragraph 0023 temperature value, pressure value, time for manufacturing process)
Regarding claim 9, Chong as modified teaches: the cold storage is a storage having a larger capacity than that of the hot storage (Tian see col 17 lines 56-67 col 18 lines 1-4 hot storage faster and less storage capacity that cold storage)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 10, see rejection of claim 1
Regarding claim 14, see rejection of claim 1
Claim(s) 2, 11 are/is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chong et al. US2018/0182653 in view of Tian US10885022 in view of Miller et al. US6720194 in view of Idei et al. US2015/0177984 in view of Okamoto et al. US2012/0023233 in view of Baribault et al. US2009/0088142
Regarding claim 2, Chong as modified further teaches: the manufacturing information and evaluation analysis information of the semiconductor product (Chong see paragraph 0024 0025 0028 0029 0037 0038 system to perform analysis of semiconductor manufacturing data and store data in memory and system)
are stored in the storage data index, wherein (Tian see col 13 lines 3-14, 36-43 col. 28 lines 24-38 index log file to be created to write new data and update index information)
the storing method updating processor controls the movement of the evaluation data to the specific storage device in the unit of the manufacturing information in accordance with the evaluation analysis information (Tian see col 17 lines 5-20 col. 28 lines 24-38 col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 migration based on usage rate and upper limit or based on analysis determining level of data)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a search frequency of the evaluation data, a data size of the evaluation data, and availability of the storage devices
However, Idei teaches: a search frequency of the evaluation data (Idei see paragraph 0132 migration based on search frequency of data)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include search frequency as taught by Idei for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a data size of the evaluation data, and availability of the storage devices
However, Okatamoto teaches: a data size of the evaluation data
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include data size as taught by Okamoto for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: and availability of the storage devices
However, Baribault teaches: and availability of the storage devices
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include storage device availability as taught by Baribault for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 11, see rejection of claim 2
Claim(s) 3, 12 are/is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chong et al. US2018/0182653 in view of Tian US10885022 in view of Miller et al. US6720194 in view of Idei et al. US2015/0177984 in view of Okamoto et al. US2012/0023233 in view of Baribault et al. US2009/0088142 in view of Chu et al. US2011/0257932
Regarding claim 3, Chong as modified further teaches: the storing method updating processor controls the movement of the evaluation data to be stored to the specific storage device in the unit of the manufacturing information in accordance with the evaluation analysis information (Tian see col 17 lines 5-20 col. 28 lines 24-38 col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 migration based on usage rate and upper limit or based on analysis determining level of data)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: the manufacturing information, evaluation analysis information of the semiconductor product, and correlation analysis information of evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes are stored in the storage data index, wherein
a search frequency of the evaluation data, a data size of the evaluation data, the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes and availability of the storage devices
However, Idei teaches: a search frequency of the evaluation data (Idei see paragraph 0132 migration based on search frequency of data)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include search frequency as taught by Idei for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: the manufacturing information, evaluation analysis information of the semiconductor product, and correlation analysis information of evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes are stored in the storage data index, wherein
a data size of the evaluation data, the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes and availability of the storage devices
However, Okatamoto teaches: a data size of the evaluation data
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include data size as taught by Okamoto for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: the manufacturing information, evaluation analysis information of the semiconductor product, and correlation analysis information of evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes are stored in the storage data index, wherein
the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes and availability of the storage devices
However, Baribault teaches: and availability of the storage devices
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include storage device availability as taught by Baribault for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: the manufacturing information, evaluation analysis information of the semiconductor product, and correlation analysis information of evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes are stored in the storage data index, wherein
the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes
Chu teaches: the manufacturing information, evaluation analysis information of the semiconductor product, and correlation analysis information of evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes are stored in the storage data index, wherein (Chu see paragraph 0011 detecting variation in semiconductor processes collecting process data and analyzing data including calculating correlation data to build indices)
the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes (Chu see paragraph 0011 detecting variation in semiconductor processes collecting process data and analyzing data including calculating correlation data to build indices)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include correlation data as taught by Chu for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 12, see rejection of claim 3
Claim(s) 4, 8, 13 are/is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chong et al. US2018/0182653 in view of Tian US10885022 in view of Miller et al. US6720194 in view of Idei et al. US2015/0177984 in view of Okamoto et al. US2012/0023233 in view of Baribault et al. US2009/0088142 in view of Chu et al. US2011/0257932 in view of Padmanabhan et al. US11870857
Regarding claim 4, Chong as modified further teaches: the evaluation analysis information (Tian see col 17 lines 5-20 col. 28 lines 24-38 col. 37 lines 59-64 col. 38 lines 13-17 col. 39 lines 44-52 migration based on usage rate and upper limit or based on analysis determining level of data)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a data movement ranking processor configured to execute machine learning using input of the search frequency of the evaluation data, the data size of the evaluation data, the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes, and the availability of the storage devices, to calculate priority for moving the evaluation data to be stored into the specific storage device.
However, Idei teaches: the search frequency of the evaluation data (Idei see paragraph 0132 migration based on search frequency of data)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include search frequency as taught by Idei for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a data movement ranking prcoessor configured to execute machine learning using input the data size of the evaluation data, the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes, and the availability of the storage devices, to calculate priority for moving the evaluation data to be stored into the specific storage device.
However, Okatamoto teaches: the data size of the evaluation data
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include data size as taught by Okamoto for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a data movement ranking processor configured to execute machine learning using input the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes, and the availability of the storage devices, to calculate priority for moving the evaluation data to be stored into the specific storage device.
However, Baribault teaches: and availability of the storage devices
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include storage device availability as taught by Baribault for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a data movement ranking processor configured to execute machine learning using input the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes, to calculate priority for moving the evaluation data to be stored into the specific storage device.
Chu teaches: the correlation analysis information of the evaluation data over the plurality of inspection processes (Chu see paragraph 0011 detecting variation in semiconductor processes collecting process data and analyzing data including calculating correlation data to build indices)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include correlation data as taught by Chu for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Chong does not teach: a data movement ranking processor configured to execute machine learning using input of to calculate priority for moving the evaluation data to be stored into the specific storage device.
However, Padmanabhan teaches: a data movement ranking processor configured to execute machine learning using input of to calculate priority for moving the evaluation data to be stored into the specific storage device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include machine learning as taught by Padmanabhan for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 8, Chong as modified further teaches: the priority is calculated on the basis of at least one of the evaluation analysis information, the search frequency of the evaluation data, and the data sizes of the evaluation data. (Tian see col. 30 lines 9-24 col. 37 lines 49-58 data object identifier with certain priority based on how many times object has been accessed within window period which reads on evaluation data, migration priority based on newness of blockchain data which also reads on evaluation 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 modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include indexing data as taught by Tian for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Regarding claim 13, see rejection of claim 4
Claim(s) 6 are/is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chong et al. US2018/0182653 in view of Tian US10885022 in view of Miller et al. US6720194 in view of Defoy et al. US2022/0117015
Regarding claim 6, Chong does not teach: the storage data index further comprises a storing flag for storing the evaluation data in the hot storage in the unit of the manufacturing information, wherein
the storage data index updating processor updates the storing flag with reference to a predetermined data storing rule, and
the storing method updating processor excludes the evaluation data to which the storing flag is attached from data to be moved to the cold storage
Defoy teaches: the storage data index further comprises a storing flag for storing the evaluation data in the hot storage in the unit of the manufacturing information, wherein
the storage data index updating processor updates the storing flag with reference to a predetermined data storing rule, and
the storing method updating processor excludes the evaluation data to which the storing flag is attached from data to be moved to the cold storage (Defoy see paragraph 0177 0193 0215 hot migration flag for purpose of hot VM migration which is not present for cold VM migration)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified a semiconductor product as taught by Chong to include flagging hot data as taught by Defoy for the predictable result of more efficiently organizing and managing data
Response to arguments
Applicant’s argument: Prior art of record does not teach newly amended subject matter
Examiner’s response: Applicant’s argument is moot as newly amended subject matter is responded to in the above rejection
Applicant’s argument: Tian does not teach storage in correspondence with the unit of manufacturing index or data index
Examiner’s response: Applicant’s argument is considered but is not persuasive. Examiner notes that it is unclear what exactly the argument or if there even is an argument being made. The Tian reference is not relied upon to teach unit of manufacturing information as Chong teaches that by reciting a controller to receive data from semiconductor equipment and system to transmit data to external device. Tian recites an index log file which reads on the storage data index.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLEN S LIN whose telephone number is (571)270-0612. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-5.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kavita Stanley can be reached on (571)272-8352. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALLEN S LIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2153
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