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 Objections
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: independent claim 7 has the steps p) – r), but since it is an independent claim it is unclear what the steps before p) – r) are supposed to be. The Examiner believes the steps should be a) – c). Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naohara et al., US 2019/0172732 A1 (Naohara).
Regarding claim 1, Naohara teaches an analysis method for analyzing a state of a liquid membrane on a substrate (analyzing the state of a liquid membrane on a top surface of a substrate going from a liquid membrane and gradually enlarging a dry area from which the liquid membrane has been removed) (Abstract), the liquid membrane being of a liquid supplied to the substrate (fluid supply unit 40 is a mechanism that supplies a processing liquid to the top surface of a substrate W) (Fig. 3; [0051]) that is rotating (rotation mechanism 30 is a mechanism that rotates the substrate) (Fig. 3; [0050]) in a substrate processing apparatus (a processing liquid supplied from the fluid supply unit 40 to the top surface of the substrate W flies outward due to a centrifugal force from rotation of the substrate W) (Fig. 3; [0064]), the analysis method comprising:
a) acquiring luminance values of individual pixels (the imaging unit 70 captures an image that is constituted by a plurality of pixels and includes information of a luminance value for each pixel) (Fig. 3; [0068]) in a region that is predetermined (the top surface of the substrate W) (Fig. 3; [0068]), from an image obtained by imaging a surface of the substrate (the imaging unit 70 acquires a captured image of the top surface of the substrate W by performing an imaging operation using the camera 72) (Fig. 3; [0068]), and calculating a first statistic from the luminance values (calculating a luminance average value) ([0101]);
b) calculating a second statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the first statistic (time-filtered images; a luminance value of each pixel in a captured image is replaced with an average value of luminance values at the same coordinates as in a plurality of captured images including the corresponding captured image; images acquired before and after) ([0102]); and
c) analyzing a state of the liquid membrane on the substrate based on at least one of the first statistic or the second statistic (analyzing the state of the liquid membrane based on at least the first or second statistic) (Fig. 18; [0106-0108]),
wherein the first statistic includes:
a luminance average value obtained by averaging the luminance values of the region (the averaging filtering process is a process of replacing a luminance value of each pixel included in an image with an average value of luminance values of pixels in a predetermined range including the pixel) ([0101]); and
a dissimilarity average value obtained by averaging dissimilarities of the luminance values of the region (wherein the different values of the luminance in the region of interest are averaged together) ([0101]), and
the second statistic includes at least one of:
a luminance statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the luminance average value (time-filtered images; a luminance value of each pixel in a captured image is replaced with an average value of luminance values at the same coordinates as in a plurality of captured images including the corresponding captured image; images acquired before and after) ([0102]); or
a dissimilarity statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the dissimilarity average value (difference image between the space-filtered image and the time-filtered image; the difference values being that of the luminance values calculated before, such as an average value) ([0101-0105]).
Although Naohara does not explicitly teach using a “video” image, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that since Naohara takes continuously captured images (Naohara; [0114]) that using a video would be a simple solution that would yield predictable results; and, Naohara teaches that the top surface of a substrate is repeatedly imaged during execution of the drying process (Naohara; [0128]); wherein based on a plurality of acquired captured images, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether states of initial formation and enlargement of the dry area are normal (Naohara; [0128]); and wherein accordingly, a user can appropriately ascertain whether substrates which are sequentially processed are normally dried based on the determination result and can take necessary countermeasures at the time of abnormality (Naohara; [0128]).
Regarding claim 7, Naohara teaches an evaluation method for analyzing and evaluating a state of a liquid membrane on a substrate (analyzing the state of a liquid membrane on a top surface of a substrate going from a liquid membrane and gradually enlarging a dry area from which the liquid membrane has been removed) (Abstract), the liquid membrane being of a liquid supplied to the substrate (fluid supply unit 40 is a mechanism that supplies a processing liquid to the top surface of a substrate W) (Fig. 3; [0051]) that is rotating (rotation mechanism 30 is a mechanism that rotates the substrate) (Fig. 3; [0050]) in a substrate processing apparatus (a processing liquid supplied from the fluid supply unit 40 to the top surface of the substrate W flies outward due to a centrifugal force from rotation of the substrate W) (Fig. 3; [0064]), the evaluation method comprising:
p) acquiring luminance values of individual pixels (the imaging unit 70 captures an image that is constituted by a plurality of pixels and includes information of a luminance value for each pixel) (Fig. 3; [0068]) from a predetermined region (the top surface of the substrate W) (Fig. 3; [0068]) of an image obtained by imaging a surface of each of a plurality of the substrates when an identical process is performed on the substrates (a plurality of carriers that accommodate a plurality of substrates; which are processed in parallel) ([0040-0041]) (the imaging unit 70 acquires a captured image of the top surface of the substrate W by performing an imaging operation using the camera 72) (Fig. 3; [0068]), and calculating a first statistic from the luminance values (calculating a luminance average value) ([0101]);
q) calculating a second statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the first statistic (time-filtered images; a luminance value of each pixel in a captured image is replaced with an average value of luminance values at the same coordinates as in a plurality of captured images including the corresponding captured image; images acquired before and after) ([0102]); and
r) analyzing and evaluating a state of the liquid membrane on the substrate based on at least one of the first statistic or the second statistic (analyzing the state of the liquid membrane based on at least the first or second statistic) (Fig. 18; [0106-0108]),
wherein the first statistic includes:
a luminance average value obtained by averaging the luminance values of the region (the averaging filtering process is a process of replacing a luminance value of each pixel included in an image with an average value of luminance values of pixels in a predetermined range including the pixel) ([0101]); and
a dissimilarity average value obtained by averaging dissimilarities of the luminance values of the region (wherein the different values of the luminance in the region of interest are averaged together) ([0101]), and
the second statistic includes at least one of:
a luminance statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the luminance average value (time-filtered images; a luminance value of each pixel in a captured image is replaced with an average value of luminance values at the same coordinates as in a plurality of captured images including the corresponding captured image; images acquired before and after) ([0102]); or
a dissimilarity statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the dissimilarity average value (difference image between the space-filtered image and the time-filtered image; the difference values being that of the luminance values calculated before, such as an average value) ([0101-0105]).
Although Naohara does not explicitly teach using a “video” image, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that since Naohara takes continuously captured images (Naohara; [0114]) that using a video would be a simple solution that would yield predictable results; and, Naohara teaches that the top surface of a substrate is repeatedly imaged during execution of the drying process (Naohara; [0128]); wherein based on a plurality of acquired captured images, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether states of initial formation and enlargement of the dry area are normal (Naohara; [0128]); and wherein accordingly, a user can appropriately ascertain whether substrates which are sequentially processed are normally dried based on the determination result and can take necessary countermeasures at the time of abnormality (Naohara; [0128]).
Claim(s) 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naohara et al., US 2019/0172732 A1 (Naohara), and further in view of Kakuma, US 2017/0028426 A1 (Kakuma).
Regarding claim 2, Naohara teaches wherein the luminance statistic includes a luminance value (the captured image is constituted by a plurality of pixels and includes information of a luminance value for each pixel) ([0068]) for each period of a predetermined length (at the time performing the drying process on the substrates) ([0084] and [0102]).
However, Naohara does not explicitly teach a luminance “standard deviation” value or a “standard deviation of the luminance average values”.
Kakuma teaches adding a liquid to a substrate that is rotating at a predetermined rotation speed ([0042]); and wherein taking luminance summation values that can be an average value ([0094]) can include taking a standard deviation of the plurality of luminance summation values ([0095]), repeated until a timing at which the determination should be finished ([0098]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naohara to include calculating a standard deviation of the luminance values since it allows for accurate detecting a luminance change even if the luminance change is small, which can lead to a more reliable determination (Kakuma; [0087]).
Regarding claim 3, Naohara teaches wherein the dissimilarity statistic includes: a dissimilarity average values (difference image between the space-filtered image and the time-filtered image; the difference values being that of the luminance values calculated before, such as an average value) ([0101-0105]) for each period of a predetermined length (at the time performing the drying process on the substrates) ([0084] and [0102-0104]).
However, Naohara does not explicitly teach a luminance “standard deviation”.
Kakuma teaches adding a liquid to a substrate that is rotating at a predetermined rotation speed ([0042]); and wherein taking luminance summation values that can be an average value ([0094]) can include taking a standard deviation of the plurality of luminance summation values ([0095]), repeated until a timing at which the determination should be finished ([0098]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naohara to include calculating a standard deviation of the luminance values since it allows for accurate detecting a luminance change even if the luminance change is small, which can lead to a more reliable determination (Kakuma; [0087]).
Claim(s) 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Naohara et al., US 2019/0172732 A1 (Naohara), and further in view of Sano et al., US 2015/0262848 A1 (Sano).
Regarding claim 4, Naohara teaches wherein the dissimilarity statistic includes: a dissimilarity (difference image between the space-filtered image and the time-filtered image; the difference values being that of the luminance values calculated before, such as an average value) ([0101-0105]).
However, Naohara does not explicitly teach a “moving average differential value that is a first order differential of the dissimilarity moving average”.
Sano teaches a substrate processing apparatus for discharging a processing liquid to a substrate ([0009]); and wherein calculating a moving average differential value that is a first order differential of the dissimilarity moving average (a moving average of respective differences of monitor target images of a given number) ([0017]) (which includes a sum of differences in a pixel tone value between successive monitor target images taken most recently and the discharge standard image and calculates an average of these sums of the differences; then calculating a moving average of the differences) ([0233]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naohara to include calculating a moving average since it can relax influence of noise in multiple monitor target images taken successively by the camera or variation among these images, increasing the reliability of the system (Sano; [0233]).
Regarding claim 5, Naohara teaches wherein the dissimilarity statistic (difference image between the space-filtered image and the time-filtered image; the difference values being that of the luminance values calculated before, such as an average value) ([0101-0105]) includes:
in the process of a), the image (capturing images repeatedly) ([0128]) is obtained by capturing an image of a first state (obtaining an image with the drying process) ([0128]), a transition period of transition from the first state to a second state (the transition period being as the top surface of the substrate is being dried) ([0128]), and the second state (which can be when the system checks to see if the enlargement of the dry area is normal) ([0128]), and
in the process of c), a switching completion time at which the liquid membrane on the substrate has become stable in the second state is analyzed (changing the completion time based on the possibility that there is an abnormality and thus a warning can be made) ([0125-0128]).
Although Naohara does not explicitly teach using a “video” image, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that since Naohara takes continuously captured images (Naohara; [0114]) that using a video would be a simple solution that would yield predictable results; and, Naohara teaches that the top surface of a substrate is repeatedly imaged during execution of the drying process (Naohara; [0128]); wherein based on a plurality of acquired captured images, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether states of initial formation and enlargement of the dry area are normal (Naohara; [0128]); and wherein accordingly, a user can appropriately ascertain whether substrates which are sequentially processed are normally dried based on the determination result and can take necessary countermeasures at the time of abnormality (Naohara; [0128]).
However, Naohara does not explicitly teach a “moving average differential value that is a first order differential of the dissimilarity moving average”.
Sano teaches a substrate processing apparatus for discharging a processing liquid to a substrate ([0009]); and wherein calculating a dissimilarity moving average differential value that is a first order differential of the dissimilarity moving average (a moving average of respective differences of monitor target images of a given number) ([0017]) (which includes a sum of differences in a pixel tone value between successive monitor target images taken most recently and the discharge standard image and calculates an average of these sums of the differences; then calculating a moving average of the differences) ([0233]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naohara to include calculating a moving average since it can relax influence of noise in multiple monitor target images taken successively by the camera or variation among these images, increasing the reliability of the system (Sano; [0233]).
Regarding claim 6, Naohara teaches wherein the dissimilarity statistic (difference image between the space-filtered image and the time-filtered image; the difference values being that of the luminance values calculated before, such as an average value) ([0101-0105]).
However, Naohara does not explicitly teach a dissimilarity “moving average differential value that is a first order differential of the dissimilarity moving average”.
Sano teaches a substrate processing apparatus for discharging a processing liquid to a substrate ([0009]); a dissimilarity moving average differential value that is a first order differential of the dissimilarity moving average (a moving average of respective differences of monitor target images of a given number) ([0017]) (which includes a sum of differences in a pixel tone value between successive monitor target images taken most recently and the discharge standard image and calculates an average of these sums of the differences; then calculating a moving average of the differences) ([0233]); and a moving average of the dissimilarity moving average differential value (a moving average of respective differences of monitor target images of a given number) ([0017]), and in the process of c), a time, at which a moving average of the dissimilarity moving average differential value (a moving average of respective differences of monitor target images of a given number) ([0017]) falls below a first threshold that is a predetermined negative value (wherein the threshold can be fixed) ([0017]), is set as a start time of the transition period (which, when below the threshold “TH” is the start time before transitioning) (Fig. 11; [0149-0150]), and a time, at which a moving average of the dissimilarity moving average differential value (a moving average of respective differences of monitor target images of a given number) ([0017]) exceeds a second threshold (various thresholds can be used) ([0188]) after showing a negative peak a predetermined number of times, is set as the switching completion time (wherein the differences are above the threshold for a number of times showing the new state) (Fig. 11; [0149-0150]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Naohara to include calculating a moving average since it can relax influence of noise in multiple monitor target images taken successively by the camera or variation among these images, increasing the reliability of the system (Sano; [0233]).
Examiner’s Note: The Examiner would like to point out that independent claim 1 states “the second statistic includes at least one of: a luminance statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the luminance average value; or a dissimilarity statistic that is a statistic of time-series data of the dissimilarity average value”. Thus, the second statistic does not need to include “a dissimilarity statistic” and just needs “a luminance statistic”. Therefore, dependent claims 3-6 don’t actually have to occur or be mapped using the single reference Naohara. One way to fix this would be to amend the claim to remove the “at least one of” and amend the “or” to an “and”, as well as providing support within Applicant’s Specification.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL J VANCHY JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1193. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm.
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/MICHAEL J VANCHY JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2666 Michael.Vanchy@uspto.gov
