Kla Tencor Corporation

Zvi Dubiner

Mark J Roulo

Krishnamurthy Bhaskar

An inspection system that receives image data corresponding to an image and processes the image data to produce a report corresponding to characteristics of the image. Interface cards receive the image data in a flow, where each interface card receives image data corresponding to a different portion of the image. Process nodes connect to the interface cards, and receive the image data from the interface cards. A host computer is connected to the process nodes, and job managers implemented in the host computer manage the flow of image data to and from the process nodes. The job managers remain operable during a crash of one of the process nodes. Process node programs are implemented in the process nodes, and analyze a portion of the image data and produce the report corresponding to the characteristics of the analyzed portion of the image data. At least one process node program is implemented in each process node. The process node programs rapidly analyze the image. The process node programs are isolated from the job managers so that a crash of a process node program does not crash the job manager.

Image processing architecture

An inspection system that receives image data corresponding to an image and processes the image data to produce a report corresponding to characteristics of the image. Interface cards receive the image data in a flow, where each interface card receives image data corresponding to a different portion of the image. Process nodes connect to the interface cards, and receive the image data from the interface cards. A host computer is connected to the process nodes, and job managers implemented in the host computer manage the flow of image data to and from the process nodes. The job managers are written in a relatively stable and slow programming environment, to remain operable during a crash of one of the process nodes. Process node programs are implemented in the process nodes, and analyze a portion of the image data and produce the report corresponding to the characteristics of the analyzed portion of the image data. At least one process node program is implemented in each process node. The process node programs are written in a relatively instable and fast programming environment, and rapidly analyze the image. The process node programs are isolated from the job managers so that a crash of a process node program does not crash the job manager.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Zvi Dubiner