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 .
The preliminary amendment filed on December 16, 2024 has been entered. Claims 26-45 are pending in this application.
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 29-33 and 37-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because
the claimed invention is directed to the control method wherein the actuator gain correction is expressed by the specified mathematical expression which appear to be a math without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) the actuator gain correction that may be calculated by the mathematical relation as specified. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because it appears that the claimed actuator gain correction is implements by calculation of the actuator gain correction K in the gain correction calculation device (See the instant spec paras [0058] – [0062], which is an abstract idea (math) and insufficient to integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the calculation device is just a generic electrical circuit to perform the given mathematical relation as control signal.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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) 26-28, 34-36 and 42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakajima et al. [US 20200264568 A1, hereafter Nakajima].
As per Claim 26, Nakajima teaches a control method for controlling a position of an object with an electromagnetic actuator (Para 6), the method comprising:
determining a position control error between a desired position and an actual position of the object; determining a feedback control signal based on the position control error (Para 7, wherein based on difference information between a target value concerning an instruction and a feedback signal from the controlled object);
determining a feedforward control signal based on the desired position (wherein a step of adjusting a feedforward gain used in feedforward control);
combining the feedback control signal and the feedforward control signal into an actuator input; determining an actuator gain correction based on the actuator input and the actual position of the object (wherein a step of adjusting a feedforward gain used in feedforward control of the controlled object after the adjustment of the feedback gain);
applying the actuator gain correction to the actuator input to provide a corrected actuator input; and feeding the corrected actuator input to the electromagnetic actuator to exert an actuator force on the object (Para 8-11, where speed control and torque control are performed regarding the controlled object).
As per Claim 27, Nakajima teaches the control method of claim 26, wherein the combining the feedback control signal and the feedforward control signal into the actuator input comprises decoupling (Para 16 and 20, wherein a personal computer (PC) 20 that adjusts feedback gain and feedforward gain, for example. In the control system, the servo driver 4 controls driving of the motor 2 and the load device 3 as the controlled object 11, so that the controlled object 11 follows an operation instruction signal generated in the PLC 10).
As per Claim 28, Nakajima teaches the control method of claim 26, wherein the determining the actuator gain correction is based on the feedforward control signal and on the position control error or the feedback control signal (Para 20).
As per Claim 34, Nakajima teaches a control system to control a position of an object (Para 6), wherein the control system comprises:
an electromagnetic actuator arranged to exert an actuator force on the object based on an actuator input (Para 25);
a feedback control device arranged to provide a feedback control signal based on a position control error between a desired position and an actual position of the object (Para 7, wherein based on difference information between a target value concerning an instruction and a feedback signal from the controlled object);
an actuator gain correction device; and a feedforward control device arranged to provide a feedforward control signal based on the desired position (wherein a step of adjusting a feedforward gain used in feedforward control of the controlled object after the adjustment of the feedback gain),
wherein the control system is arranged to combine the feedback control signal and the feedforward control signal into an actuator input (wherein a step of adjusting a feedforward gain used in feedforward control),
wherein the actuator gain correction device is arranged to determine an actuator gain correction based on the actuator input and the actual position of the object, and arranged to apply the actuator gain correction to the actuator input to provide a corrected actuator input to the electromagnetic actuator (Para 8-11, where speed control and torque control are performed regarding the controlled object).
As per Claim 35 and 36, Nakajima teaches the control system of claim 34, wherein the control system comprises a decoupling device that is configured to apply decoupling to the combined feedback control signal and feedforward control signal (Para 16 and 20, wherein a personal computer (PC) 20 that adjusts feedback gain and feedforward gain, for example. In the control system, the servo driver 4 controls driving of the motor 2 and the load device 3 as the controlled object 11, so that the controlled object 11 follows an operation instruction signal generated in the PLC 10).
As per Claim 42, Nakajima teaches the control system of claim 34, wherein the actuator gain correction device is arranged to: reconstruct an actual corrected actuator input based on the actual position of the object, and estimate the actuator gain correction based on a difference between the actuator input and the corrected actuator input (Para 17, performs feedback control on a position loop, speed loop, and torque loop, so that the actual position, speed, and torque of the controlled object 11 follow a target value according to the instruction).
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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) 43-45 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakajima as applied in claim 34 above, in view of Loopstra et al. [US 20050105069 A1, hereafter Loopstra].
As per Claims 43-45, Nakajima teaches the control system of claim 34.
Nakajima does not explicitly teach a lithographic apparatus comprising: the control system configured to control the position of the object of the lithographic apparatus.
Loopstra teaches the lithographic projection apparatus is characterized in that the positioning module is arranged to actively control at least one of a position and orientation of the projection system. By actively controlling the position and/or orientation of the projection system, the projection system may be mounted on any arbitrary frame, and can even be mounted on a working floor (Para 24).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to implement the control system as claimed in a lithographic system in order to actively and accurately control a position and orientation of the projection system and improve image transfer accuracy.
Conclusion
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/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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