US Patent 10181185 Image based specimen process control

Methods and systems for detecting anomalies in images of a specimen are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for acquiring images generated of a specimen by an imaging subsystem. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for determining one or more characteristics of the acquired images. In addition, the computer subsystem(s) are configured for identifying anomalies in the images based on the one or more determined characteristics without applying a defect detection algorithm to the images or the one or more characteristics of the images.