Appeal No. 96-4194
Application 08/239,732
intervening optics. A photomultiplier 36 picks up radiation
that reveals where flaws are on the web.
The examiner’s rejection (Answer, pages 3 and 4) is as
follows:
Everroad scans the filter by moving the light
source, but it would have been obvious to provide
the scanning by using a laser beam and a rotating
multifaceted mirror, such as taught by West et al,
so that the beam could be moved rapidly and
uniformly across the surface of the object being
inspected. It would also have been obvious to use
non-image detecting means so that automatic
inspection could be achieved. Automatic inspection
would have avoided operator fatigue as well as
allowing for more rapid and reliable inspection.
Merlin et al is cited as a teaching reference to
show that direct direction of the beam from the
scanner to an object is old in the inspection art,
with the choice depending on intended use and the
size of the holes to be detected. In modifying the
Everroad invention to use a rotating, multifaceted
scanner, it would have been obvious to use an
elongated detecting means extending across the width
of the object, such as shown by Merlen et al, so
that all portions of the scanned areas could be
detected without having to move the detecting means.
It would have been obvious that such elongate
detecting means could have
been provided by using a single elongated detector or a
plurality of detectors, with the choice depending upon
desired extent of the detection area, cost, and desired
resolution. The use of rollers to rotate an object is
well known.
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