1. A system, comprising:
a third-party request module including circuitry configured to receive a request from a third-party, the request identifies a target patent application;
a solicitation module including circuitry configured to publish an advertisement relating to the target patent application, and circuitry configured to receive an indication from a search party that the search party will perform an art search;
a submission module including circuitry configured to receive reference information from the search party, and circuitry configured to generate electronic submission information and to transmit the electronic submission information to a patent office, wherein the electronic submission information includes at least one of reference information and relevance information.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to receive relevance information from the third-party.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to receive relevance information from the search party.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the advertisement is an Internet posting.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to send the electronic submission information to the third-party for approval.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to receive an indication of approval from the third-party.
7. The system of claim 5 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to receive an amendment to the electronic submission information from the third-party.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the third-party request module further includes circuitry configured to receive a fee from the third-party.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to return a portion of the fee to the third-party.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the submission module further includes circuitry configured to provide a portion of the fee to the search party.
11. Non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computing system perform a method of facilitating a third-party prior art submission to a patent office, the media comprising:
instructions for receiving request information from a third-party, wherein the request identifies a target patent application;
instructions for generating search request information relating to the target patent application;
instructions for receiving an indication from a search party that the search party will perform an art search;
instructions for receiving reference information from the search party; and
instructions for generating electronic submission information for transmission to the patent office, the electronic submission information includes at least one of prior art information and relevance information.
12. The computer-readable media of claim 11 further comprising instructions for receiving the relevance information from the third-party.
13. The computer-readable media of claim 11 further comprising instructions for receiving the relevance information from the search party.
14. The computer-readable media of claim 11 further comprising instructions for generating the relevance information.
15. The computer-readable media of claim 11 further comprising instructions for sending the electronic submission information to the third-party for approval.
16. The computer-readable media of claim 15 further comprising instructions for receiving an indication of approval from the third-party.
17. The computer-readable media of claim 15 further comprising instructions for receiving receive an amendment to the electronic submission information from the third-party.
18. The computer-readable media of claim 11 further comprising instructions for receiving a fee from the third-party.
19. The computer-readable media of claim 18 further comprising instructions for returning a portion of the fee to the third-party.
20. The computer-readable media of claim 19 further comprising instructions for providing a portion of the fee to the search party.
21. A method of submitting third-party art submissions in a patent application to a patent office, comprising:
receiving a request from a third-party, the request identifying a target patent application;
publishing an advertisement for an information search relating to the target patent application;
receiving an indication from a search party that the search party will perform the prior art search;
receiving a first information from the search party; and
submitting a set of information to the patent office, wherein the set of information includes at least the first information and a statement of relevance.
22. The method of claim 21 further comprising generating the statement of relevance.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein generating the statement of relevance includes matching language of the first information to a claim language of the target patent application.
24. The method of claim 23 further comprising creating a chart having the claim language in a first column and a citation to the matching language of the first information in a second column.
25. The method of claim 21 further comprising receiving the statement of relevance from the third-party.
26. The method of claim 21 further comprising receiving the statement of relevance from the search party.
27. The method of claim 21 wherein the advertisement includes an Internet posting.
28. The method of claim 21, wherein the advertisement includes a price.
29. The method of claim 21, wherein the request includes a budget.
30. The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting an acceptance to the search party for the search party to perform the search, and publishing a withdrawal of the advertisement.
31. The method of claim 21, further comprising
receiving an indication from a second search party that the second search party will perform the prior art search;
receiving a second information from the second search party; and
comparing the first information and the second information.
32-74. (canceled)
75. A method of submitting third-party art submissions in a patent application to a patent office, comprising:
receiving a request from a third-party, the request identifying a target patent application;
auctioning a search relating to subject matter of the target patent application;
receiving a first bid from a first search party;
receiving a second bid from a second search party, wherein the second bid is lower in price than the first bid;
selecting the second search party;
receiving a first reference from the second search party; and
submitting a set of references to the patent office, wherein the set of references includes the first reference and a statement of relevance.
76-84. (canceled)
85. The method of claim 75 further comprising receiving the statement of relevance from the third-party.
86. The method of claim 75 further comprising receiving the statement of relevance from the second search party.
87. The method of claim 75 further comprising publishing an advertisement for an auction.
88. The method of claim 87 wherein the advertisement is an Internet advertisement.
89. The method of claim 75 wherein the request includes a search thoroughness indication.
90-114. (canceled)
115. A method of submitting third-party art submissions in a patent application to a patent office, comprising:
receiving a request from a third-party, the request identifying a target patent application;
collecting a fee from the third-party;
receiving a reference from a search party;
submitting the reference to the patent office;
monitoring prosecution of the target patent application;
identifying a correspondence from the patent office pertaining to the target patent application; and
paying the search party a bonus if the reference is cited in the correspondence.
116-125. (canceled)
126. A method of advertising third-party art submission services to a potential customer:
determining a category of patent applications of interest for a third-party;
locating a target patent application relating to the category;
alerting the third-party that a target patent application exists, wherein the alerting does not disclose an identification of the target patent application; and
receiving a request from the third-party to submit a reference to the patent office.
127-141. (canceled)
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy comprising:
a recording unit for recording a first charged particle beam image obtained when a focus of a lens for charged particle beam on a specimen is located in a first position and a second charged particle beam image obtained when said focus is located in a second position;
a calculation unit for analyzing a positional displacement between said first and second charged particle beam images and a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said first and second charged particle beam images;
a judgment unit for judging from said degree of coincidence whether said positional displacement can be converted into an axial displacement of a primary charged particle beam relative to said lens for charged particle beam; and
an alignment unit for correcting said axial displacement of said primary charged particle beam relative to said lens for charged particle beam in response to an alignment signal calculated from said positional displacement,
wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of coincidence by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and calculating the degree of coincidence defined as an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
2. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 1, wherein an image area for analyzing said positional displacement and said degree of coincidence is of one partial image or a plurality of partial images, smaller than a taken-in image area.
3. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy comprising:
a recording unit for recording a first charged particle beam image obtained when a focus of a lens for charged particle beam on a specimen is located in a first position and a second charged particle beam image obtained when said focus is located in a second position;
a calculation unit for analyzing a positional displacement between said first and second charged particle beam images and a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said first and second charged particle beam images;
a display unit for said degree of coincidence; and
a display unit for a control value variation of an alignment system calculated from said positional displacement,
wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of coincidence by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and calculating the degree of coincidence defined as an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
4. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy comprising:
a recording unit for recording a first charged particle beam image obtained when a control value of an astigmatism corrector for charged particle beam is a first and a second charged particle beam image obtained when said control value is a second value;
a calculation unit for analyzing a positional displacement between said first and second charged particle beam images and a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said first and second charged particle beam images;
a judgment unit for judging from said degree of coincidence whether said positional displacement can be converted into an axial displacement of said astigmatism corrector for charged particle beam; and
an alignment unit for correcting said axial displacement of said astigmatism corrector for charged particle beam in response to an alignment signal calculated from said positional displacement,
wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of coincidence by:
calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and calculating the degree of coincidence defined as an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
5. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy comprising:
a recording unit for recording a first charged particle beam image obtained when a control value of an astigmatism corrector for charged particle beam is a first and a second charged particle beam image obtained when said control value is a second value;
a calculation unit for analyzing a positional displacement between said first and second charged particle beam images and a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said first and second charged particle beam images;
a display unit for said degree of coincidence; and
a display unit for a control value variation of an alignment system calculated from said positional displacement,
wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of coincidence by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and the degree of coincidence defined as calculating an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
6. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy comprising:
a calculation unit for analyzing a first positional displacement between a first charged particle beam image obtained when a focus of a lens for charged particle beam on a specimen is located in a first position and when a control value of a deflector for varying an incident angle of a charged particle beam to said specimen is a first value, and a second charged particle beam image obtained when said control value of said deflector is a second value;
a calculation unit for analyzing a second positional displacement between a third charged particle beam image obtained when said focus of said lens for charged particle beam on said specimen is located in a second position and when said control value of said deflector is a third value, and a fourth charged particle beam image obtained when said control value of said deflector is a fourth value, and for analyzing a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said third and fourth charged particle beam images;
a judgment unit for judging from said degree of coincidence whether a difference between said first positional displacement and said second positional displacement can be converted into a focal displacement of said lens for charged particle beam; and
a control unit for correcting said focus of said lens for charged particle beam on said specimen into a first position in response to a correction signal calculated from said difference between said first positional displacement and said second positional displacement,
wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of coincidence by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and calculating the degree of coincidence defined as an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
7. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy comprising:
a calculation unit for analyzing a first positional displacement between a first charged particle beam image obtained when a focus of a lens for charged particle beam on a specimen is located in a first position, and a control value of a deflector for varying an incident angle of a charged particle beam to said specimen is a first value and a second charged particle beam image obtained when said control value of said deflector is a second value;
a calculation unit for analyzing a second positional displacement between a third charged particle beam image obtained when said focus of said lens for charged particle beam on said specimen is located in a second position, and said control value of said deflector is a third value and a fourth charged particle beam image obtained when said control value of said deflector is a fourth value, and a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said third and fourth charged particle beam images;
a display unit for said degree of coincidence; and
a display unit for a control value variation of said lens for charged particle beam required for correcting said focus of said lens for charged particle beam on said specimen into a first setting,
wherein said calculation unit calculates the degree of coincidence by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and the degree of coincidence defined as calculating an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
8. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy, comprising:
a charged particle source;
a specimen base for mounting a specimen thereon;
a scanning deflector for scanning and deflecting said specimen with a primary charged particle beam from said charged particle source;
an objective lens for irradiating said specimen with said primary charged particle beam;
an axial deflector disposed between said charged particle source and said objective lens for shifting said primary charged particle beam;
a detector for irradiating said specimen on said specimen base with said primary charged particle beam and detecting a secondary charged particle beam from said specimen;
a memory unit for storing a first image signal and a second image signal detected by said detector synchronously with a signal of said scanning deflector;
an operation unit for performing an operation to obtain a positional displacement between said first image and said second image and a degree of coincidence indicating a degree of resemblance between said images by use of a synthesized image of phase components of Fourier transform images of said first and second images;
a judgment unit for judging whether said degree of coincidence in said operation unit is lower than a predetermined value or not; and
a control unit for converting said positional displacement obtained in said operation unit into an alignment signal to be fed back to said axial deflector, and sending said alignment signal thereto,
wherein said operation unit determines the degree of coincidence by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second charged particle beam images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second charged particle beam images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and calculating the degree of coincidence defined as an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
9. An inspection method for inspecting a specimen using a charged particle beam, by use of an inspection apparatus having a charged particle source; a specimen base for mounting a specimen thereon; a scanning deflector for scanning and deflecting said specimen with a primary charged particle beam from said charged particle source; an objective lens for irradiating said specimen with said primary charged particle beam; an axial deflector disposed between said charged particle source and said objective lens for shifting said primary charged particle beam; a detector for irradiating said specimen on said specimen base with said primary charged particle beam and detecting a secondary charged particle beam from said specimen; and a memory for storing a first image signal and a second image signal detected by said detector synchronously with a signal of said scanning deflector; said inspection method comprising the step of:
scanning a first area on said specimen with said primary charged particle beam so as to obtain a first image in first conditions of an electron beam optics for obtaining said primary charged particle beam;
obtaining in second conditions different from said first conditions;
obtaining a degree of coincidence image from said first image and said second image by use of a phase limitation method, said degree of coincidence indicating resemblance between said first image and said second; and
storing said degree of coincidence obtained in said step of obtaining said degree of coincidence,
wherein said degree of coincidence is determined by calculating a Fourier transformation of said first and second images, calculating a phase difference of said Fourier transformed first and second images, calculating an inverse Fourier transform of said phase difference, and calculating the degree of coincidence defined as an intensity of a \u03b4 peak appearing in said inverse Fourier transformed phase difference.
10. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 1, wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx, m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl),
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
11. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 3 wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl),
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
12. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 4 wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl)
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
13. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 5 wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl)
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
14. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 6 wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl),
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
15. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 7 wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl),
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
16. An apparatus for charged particle beam microscopy according to claim 8 wherein,
said first charge particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl),
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.
17. An inspection method for inspecting a specimen using a charged particle beam according to claim 9, wherein,
said first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(n,m) and S2(n+Dx,m+Dy), where Dx and Dx equals special difference of the second image to the first image,
said Fourier transformation of first charged particle image and second charged particle image are expressed in a form of S1(l,k) exp (iDx,k+iDyl) and S2(l,k),
said phase difference is expressed in a form of P(k,l)=exp(iDx,k+iDyl),
said inverse Fourier transformation of the phase difference is expressed in a form of P(n,m), and
said \u03b4 peak is determined in a maximum value of the P(n,m) or by a calculation of a barycentric position.