Appeal No. 2000-1414
Application No. 08/840,351
BACKGROUND
Appellants' invention relates to a system and method for detecting defects in a
planar surface. An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of
exemplary claim 1, which is reproduced below.
1. An apparatus for detecting defects in planar surfaces of a [sic, an]
object comprising:
means for directing a first laser beam (the A-beam) along a first
path;
a first telecentric lens assembly including one or more lenses;
first rotating mirror means for scanning the A-beam through the first
telecentric lens assembly and across at least a portion of a first planar
surface, the A-beam striking the first planar surface of the object at [sic, at
an] angle which deviates from perpendicular in one plane by an angle
which causes a portion of the A-beam to form a reflected beam
(A/R-beam) passing back through the telecentric lens assembly and being
reflected off of the rotating mirror means along a second path; and
a first light detector arranged in the second path producing an
A-analog signal proportional to the intensity of the A/R-beam.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the
appealed claims are:
Cuthbert et al. (Cuthbert) 3,790,287 Feb. 05, 1974
Kato et al. (Kato) 4,464,050 Aug. 07, 1984
Hellstrom 5,073,712 Dec. 17, 1991
Taylor 5,581,353 Dec. 03, 1996
Claims 1, 3 and 4 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable
over Cuthbert in view of Kato. Claims 2, 9-13, and 16-25 stand rejected under
2
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