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 § 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 1-15 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. The issue herein lies with independent claims 1, 6 and 12, and in particular the limitation “the controller performs time adjustment[s] such that an irradiation amount of light from the laser light source when the shutter is opened to start the irradiation with the light from the laser light source to when the imaging unit starts imaging of the scanning image is equal at the plurality of measurement points [emphasis added]”. The imaging unit is a charged particle beam, and in addition this laser light source is controlled by a shutter. However, with the claims as written the examiner cannot ascertain what is equal at the plurality of measurement points. The examiner sees several possibilities: that the laser light exposure and only the laser light exposure is equal at each measurement point, or that the exposure from the charged particle beam and the laser light exposure are controlled to be equal to one another at each of the measurement points, or, that the exposure from the charged particle beam and the exposure from the laser are controlled to be equal to each other at each of the measurement points and that both exposure devices are equal both to themselves and each other at each of the measurement points. The first hypothetical would be the broadest reasonable interpretation, however, the examiner cannot determine if that is the intent of the independent claims in their language. The examiner further suspects this might be an issue in the translation from Japanese to English. As none of the remaining claims rectify this issue, the examiner must likewise reject these claims under 35 USC 112 second paragraph.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Patent Application Publication Numbers 20240395499 and 20190237296.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE M IPPOLITO whose telephone number is (571)270-7449. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00am-4:00pm Mountain Time.
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/NICOLE M IPPOLITO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881
