Gases are vented from a waste site such as a landfill, and the gases are separated into at least three streams comprising a hydrocarbon stream, a carbon dioxide stream, and residue stream. At least a portion of the carbon dioxide stream and hydrocarbon stream are liquefied or converted to a supercritical liquid. At least some of the carbon dioxide gas stream (as a liquid or supercritical fluid) is used in a cleaning step, preferably a polymer cleaning step, and more preferably a polymer cleaning step in a polymer recycling process, and most preferably in a polymer cleaning step in a polymer recycling system where the cleaning is performed on-site at the waste site.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of gas within land-fill sites, the recycling of materials from recycling collection and separation, and the recycling or commercial use of waste effluents materials from land-fills.
2. Background of the Art
A significant societal effect caused by the unceasing growth in world human population is the increased use of a limited supply of raw materials. Both in the field of agricultural and the field of commercial products, an increasing population requires an increasing expenditure of energy and use of material to sustain even the existing average life style. As desires and expectations are growing around the world within every population center for higher standards of living, there is a multi-faceted draining effect on resources. Increased production capacity has been able to sustain this growth for centuries, but even the most optimistic technologist must appreciate that there is a finite limit to growth and production given the closed system of the Earth.
Recycling has been one direction of increased effort in reutilization of materials to conserve dwindling original supplies. Initially, recycling involved the wholesale reuse of objects, such as beverage containers where return fees or deposits were placed on the containers, the fees were returned to the purchaser with return of the containers, and the containers were cleaned and returned into the production line to be refilled. The limitations on this system included at least the facts that the containers would show unacceptable levels of wear fairly early during repeated reuse (especially with bottles that could be easily scratched or chipped), containers had to be returned to individual original suppliers according to brand names (which dictated against any centralized system), and cleaning was difficult as different co-wastes were added to the containers (e.g., cigarette stubs and filters) and few viable cleaning processes could remove some of the associated wastes without extensive manual labor.
One of the more successful recycling programs has involved the recycling of aluminum beverage containers. The success has been accomplished because of some unique attributes in the specific product. The material itself (the aluminum) is easily melted and placed back into the natural manufacturing stream. Associated materials in the product (e.g., inks, coating materials, lid adhesives, and the like) are easily removed from the aluminum by the heating needed to melt the aluminum (and with possible solvent treatment), and solid wastes added to the aluminum containers can be removed by physical processes (e.g., shredding of cans and washing/flotation) alone or in combination with the melting steps needed for recycling. This model, however, does not translate well to other materials, as the properties, economics, technology and market for aluminum are unique, and it is this uniqueness that enables success of the system.
Certain classes of polymeric materials are presently recycled in commercial systems relying in great part on collection of polymeric containers from residential and commercial sites. This system is complicated in that associated wastes with differing sources of polymeric materials may not be amenable to a single format of treatment. Although local jurisdictions may require some level of cleaning of the polymeric containers, the original liquids or powders may be insufficiently removed from the polymer. These materials may vary from water, beverages, detergents, oils, alkaline cleaners, and highly toxic materials, including pesticides. In addition, the containers may contain labels that are applied by adhesives of different strengths, and the label stock itself may need to be treated by distinct processes. A single cleaning process has been unlikely to act on all polymeric containers, at least in part because of the deficiencies in the cleaning steps that fail to provide a sufficiently pure supply of polymer that would enable direct recycling.
Recycling of motor oil containers is illustrative of the problem. Motor oil containers typically are high-density polyethylene (HDPE) which lends itself well to recycling if it is sufficiently clean. However, residual oil coating the interior surface of the "empty" motor oil containers constitutes a contaminant that prevents use of the containers as high grade plastics. Based upon measurement of samples of used motor oil containers, this residual oil coating appears to average 4.6 percent of the weight of the used plastic container and can represent as much as 20 percent of the container weight. Estimates are that over one billion one-quart plastic containers were filled with motor oils in the United States in 1993. If 4.6 percent by weight of those containers is motor oil, the one billion empty plastic containers represent approximately 160 million pounds of plastic and over 7 million pounds of motor oil that could be recovered for reuse if an appropriate separation method were available. However, because the motor oils have not been easily separated from the plastic containers, the vast majority of these containers are currently disposed of in landfills, leaking oils into the soil and groundwater, and occupying significant landfill volume.
Current available options to landfilling the waste plastics include (a) grinding the containers and using them in other plastic recycling processes on a very limited (dilute) basis; (b) using an aqueous process to displace the oil from the plastic; (c) using a halogenated solvent to dissolve/dilute the oil; or (d) using a combustible or flammable solvent to dissolve/dilute the oil from the plastic.
The problems with these options are as follows:
a. Existing recyclers in the United States can blend limited quantities of oil contaminated plastics in recycled plastic products. Large quantities cannot be blended because of the undesirable effects of the residual oil on the recycled plastic properties. Examples include "plastic lumber" and lower grade plastic products.
b. Aqueous processes can be used to displace the oil from the plastic. However, detergents and/or surfactants are required to assist displacement of the oils. A stream of usable oil-free plastic will be generated by this method; however, the displaced oil will be contaminated or changed chemically and additional processing will be needed to separate it from the aqueous solutions. The aqueous solutions themselves will be a secondary waste stream that will require treatment before being recycled or discharged as waste water.
c. Halogenated solvents can be used to dissolve/dilute the oils from the plastic. Again, usable plastic will be obtained by this process if the solvents do not extract essential components from the plastic. The halogenated solvent solutions will require distillation to recover the oils and recycle the solvents. In general, it is difficult to fully reclaim usable oil from the distillate. Furthermore, many halogenated solvents are ozone depleting compounds and potential health hazards to humans, and therefore their use and release into the environment are under regulation and close scrutiny by federal and state governments.
d. Combustible or flammable solvents may be used to dissolve and/or displace the oil from the plastic. Usable plastic can be generated by this method if the solvents do not extract essential components from the plastic. The combustible or flammable solvent solutions will require distillation to recover the oils and recycle the solvents. Only distillation equipment suitable for combustible or flammable solvents may be used and even then fire safety concerns will be significant. As in the case of the use of halogenated solvents, the oil may not be fully recoverable from the distillation.
The methods described above can provide some usable plastic from oil-contaminated plastics. However, they will provide usable oil only at the expense of a secondary waste stream that itself will require treatment and additional expense. The recycling of plastic and oil from "empty" plastic oil containers presents serious environmental and waste stream disposal problems if conventional organic or aqueous solvents are used for the separation of the plastic and oil. Discarding of the containers as landfill waste also presents environmental problems in that the residual oil may eventually leach into soil and groundwater.
Landfills provide the most complex issue to be faced in the entire realm of waste disposal, with the possible exception of long-term storage of nuclear wastes. Landfills are little more than holes in the ground into which massive volumes of wastes are dumped, compacted and covered, with an unsupported expectation that the material will eventually decompose and be absorbed into the normal ecology. This expectation is unsupported because excavations of earlier (19th and early 20th century) landfills have found that even paper products, including newspapers, are substantially intact (if not structurally pristine) over a time period where decomposition had been expected. Present attempts to moderate the impact of landfills have met limited environmental and limited economic success.
The typical landfill reclamation attempts have included providing gas vents into the covered masses of landfilled materials, separating out three streams of gas, the streams usually distinguished along the lines of highly volatile organic streams including methane, carbon dioxide, and commercially unsuitable mixtures of gases. The separations can be performed by various techniques selected from amongst semi permeable membranes, filtering membranes, differential condensation, differential absorption, differential solvency absorption, molecular sieves and combinations of these technologies. The non-commercial gases are often vented and flared directly in the atmosphere. The volatile hydrocarbon gas can be liquefied and used for fuels, usually with onsite condensation of the hydrocarbon gas. (The stream usually comprises at least or only methane. In some uses, other low carbon hydrocarbons such as ethane and some propane may be included in the hydrocarbon gas stream, in a separate stream, or in the waste stream, but these other hydrocarbons are usually removed as part of the residue gas stream. The hydrocarbon gas has been used for pipeline natural gas or compressed natural gas for vehicles. The carbon dioxide has also been liquefied, but has found few commercial outlets of sufficient volume as to make that product stream economically supportive of the recycling process. Part of the reason is the hesitancy of the largest volume of commercial use of carbon dioxide (carbonated beverages) to use carbon dioxide sourced from landfill waste streams in their products. The first manufacturer to use this source of carbon dioxide would be quickly attacked in the market by its competitors, even though the carbon dioxide greatly exceeds the purity required by the industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,615 discloses a process for cleaning textiles using densified carbon dioxide in combination with a non-polar cleaning adjunct. The preferred adjuncts are paraffin oils such as mineral oil or petrolatum. These substances are a mixture of alkanes including a portion of which are C16 or higher hydrocarbons. The process uses a heterogeneous cleaning system formed by the combination of the adjunct which is applied to the textile prior to or substantially at the same time as the application of the densified fluid. According to the data disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,615, the cleaning adjunct is not as effective at removing soil from fabric as conventional cleaning solvents or as the solvents described for use in the present invention as disclosed below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,591 discloses a process for cleaning substrates using liquid carbon dioxide or other liquefied gases below their critical temperature. The focus of this patent is on the use of any one of a number of means to effect cavitation to enhance the cleaning performance of the liquid carbon dioxide. In all of the disclosed embodiments, densified carbon dioxide is the cleaning medium. This patent does not describe the use of a solvent other than the liquefied gas for cleaning substrates. The combination of ultrasonic cavitation and liquid carbon dioxide may be well suited to processing complex hardware and substrates containing extremely hazardous contaminants.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,705, issued to Smith et al., discloses a system designed to clean parts utilizing supercritical carbon dioxide and an environmentally friendly co-solvent. Parts to be cleaned are placed in a cleaning vessel along with the co-solvent. After adding super critical carbon dioxide, mechanical agitation is applied via sonication or brushing. Loosened contaminants are then flushed from the cleaning vessel using additional carbon dioxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,768, issued to Smith et al., discloses a process for precision cleaning of a work piece using a multi-solvent system in which one of the solvents is liquid or supercritical carbon dioxide. The process results in minimal mixing of the solvents and incorporates ultrasonic cavitation in such a way as to prevent the ultrasonic transducers from coming in contact with cleaning solvents that could degrade the piezoelectric transducers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,250 discloses the use of a binary azeotrope comprised of propylene glycol tertiary butyl ether and water as an environmentally attractive replacement for perchlorethylene in dry cleaning and degreasing processes. While the use of propylene glycol tertiary butyl ether is attractive from an environmental regulatory point of view, its use as disclosed in this invention is in a conventional dry cleaning process using conventional dry cleaning equipment and a conventional evaporative hot air drying cycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,352 discloses a process for cleaning substrates in a cleaning mixture comprising carbon dioxide, water, surfactant, and organic co-solvent. This process uses carbon dioxide as the primary cleaning media with the other components included to enhance the overall cleaning effectiveness of the process. There is no suggestion of a separate, low pressure cleaning step followed by the use of densified fluid to remove the cleaning solvent. As a result, this process has many of the same cost and cleaning performance disadvantages of other liquid carbon dioxide cleaning processes. Additional patents have been issued to the assignee of U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,352 covering related subject matter. Liquid carbon dioxide is usually the cleaning solvent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,558,432 describes a textile cleaning system that utilizes an organic cleaning solvent and pressurized fluid solvent is disclosed. The system has no conventional evaporative hot air drying cycle. Instead, the system utilizes the solubility of the organic solvent in pressurized fluid solvent as well as the physical properties of pressurized fluid solvent. After an organic solvent cleaning cycle, the solvent is extracted from the textiles at high speed in a rotating drum in the same way conventional solvents are extracted from textiles in conventional evaporative hot air dry cleaning machines. Instead of proceeding to a conventional drying cycle, the extracted textiles are then immersed in pressurized fluid solvent to extract the residual organic solvent from the textiles. This is possible because the organic solvent is soluble in pressurized fluid solvent. After the textiles are immersed in pressurized fluid solvent, pressurized fluid solvent is pumped from the drum. Finally, the drum is de-pressurized to atmospheric pressure to evaporate any remaining pressurized fluid solvent, yielding clean, solvent free textiles. The organic solvent is preferably selected from terpenes, halohydrocarbons, certain glycol ethers, polyols, ethers, esters of glycol ethers, esters of fatty acids and other long chain carboxylic acids, fatty alcohols and other long-chain alcohols, short-chain alcohols, polar aprotic solvents, siloxanes, hydrofluoroethers, dibasic esters, and aliphatic hydrocarbons solvents or similar solvents or mixtures of such solvents and the pressurized fluid solvent is preferably densified carbon dioxide.
To make landfills better able to service the environment and to assist in the recycling of materials not added to the landfill mass, different technologies, processes and business models are needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System for use of land fills and recyclable materials


A pair of elongate attachment members, or “Z-rails” for attaching an end of a trailer crossmember to a flanged beam each include a first end section, an L-shaped portion comprising a horizontal leg and a vertical leg extending from the first end section, and a second end section extending from the vertical leg. The horizontal leg has a bottom surface with a width equal to the distance between the web of the flanged beam and the end of the flange. The vertical leg has an outer surface with a width equal to the width of the end of the flange. The Z-rails are attached to opposite ends of the crossmember to form a subassembly. The subassembly is fixed to and between the flanged beams by welding the first end sections to the web of the corresponding beam, with the horizontal leg on the flange, without directly heating the flange, thereby not diminishing the toughness of the flange.

Commercial trailers, for example, full trailers and semi-trailers, are well known in the art and are produced and configured in various styles and for a wide variety of industries to accommodate the particular trailering needs of different applications. For example, Western Trailers® brand trailers, by Western Trailer Co. are available as platform trailers (for example, flatbed, drop deck or step-frame, and hopper flat trailers), agricultural trailers (for example, commodity belt, express floor, and hopper flat trailers), forest industry trailers (for example, chip and express floor trailers), curtainsider trailers or "tautliners," and specialty trailers for the military, aerospace, glass, and wind power industries. The most common type of trailers is box or van trailers.
Conventionally, a semi-trailer includes one or more (typically more) rear axles and a front end that is configured to be supported by the prime mover (tractor), or in the case of an additional towed trailer, supported by a trailer dolly. Full trailers include one or more front axles and one or more rear axles that support the trailer.
The chassis (or frame) of a platform (or flatbed) trailer typically includes two parallel main beams that extend along all or substantially all of the length of the trailer, and a plurality of connecting crossmembers that are fixedly attached to the main beams to produce a sturdy frame. The chassis provides a support structure for other trailer components, including for example, suspension components, a trailer stand, a fifth-wheel kingpin coupling, and the like.
In some embodiments the main beams are tempered steel beams, for example, I-beams, channel beams, or the like. In other embodiments the main beams may have a different cross-section shape, for example, C-shaped or channel beams. In other embodiments the main beams are formed from other metal or metal alloys, for example, heat-treated, or tempered, aluminum alloys.
In prior art trailers the crossmembers are welded directly to the main beams, to produce a fixed and permanent connection that can withstand the rigors and miles that the trailer is expected to encounter. However, heating the tempered metal by welding can weaken the main beams locally by interfering with the design tempering of the beams. Frequently, a plurality of crossmembers are fixed to the main beams in relatively close spacing, for example, to provide a mounting and support structure for a particular trailer component, such as a coupler assembly, a suspension assembly, or the like. Sequentially welding a plurality of crossmembers to the main beams may result in significant de-tempering in the impacted region of the main beams due to the heating of the main beams over a longer installation period. Welding multiple crossbeams to the main beams within a short distance can also be difficult for the welder who must accurately position the crossmembers sequentially while working around earlier-installed crossmembers.
It is desirable to weld crossmembers to the main beams of trailers in a manner that would reduce interference with the engineered tempering of the main beams, and that would allow a plurality of crossmembers to be installed in a single installation.

Method and apparatus for attaching crossmembers to a pair of flanged beams


An apparatus and method for EUV light production is disclosed which may comprise a laser produced plasma (“LPP”) extreme ultraviolet (“EUV”) light source comprising a target delivery system adapted to deliver moving plasma initiation targets and an EUV light collection optic having a focus defining a desired plasma initiation site.

As discussed in the above referenced co-pending applications one aspect of an EUV light source operating at ten to twenty thousand pulses of EUV light per second, or even higher, and using, e.g., a moving target, e.g., a mass limited droplet, is the ability to track the position and timing of the targets and their respective arrival at a desired plasma initiation site. This involves, e.g., determining a spot in 3D space which is imaged by an EUV light collector to an intermediate focus (IF), e.g., at an exit point for the EUV light from an EUV light generation chamber containing the collector and the desired initiation site. Also as discussed in the above referenced co-pending applications a droplet delivery system, including, e.g., a droplet generator and aiming system, needs to be aligned so that the droplets are projected through or fall through (in the case of a gravity feed) the spot that constitutes the desired plasma initiation site, corresponding to the focus of the collector and a small area around this focus, e.g., ±10 μm in which EUV generated from a laser produced plasma will still be adequately focused to the intermediate focus of the system, a so-called desired plasma initiation region around the desired plasma initiation site. Also required is to be able to fire the laser to have the drive laser beam intersect the target droplet at the desired plasma initiation site, i.e., when a droplet arrives exactly at the desired initiation site. It will be understood, as noted, that the desired initiation site may vary slightly from the precise focus of the collector, e.g., at a first focus of an elliptical collector mirror having a second focus comprising the intermediate focus of the light source system, e.g., by about 10 μm for, e.g., droplets of about 10 μm-40 μm in diameter and still be in focus enough for adequate collection. Therefore, a function of the tracking sub-system is not only to determine when to fire the laser(s) but at what selected plasma initiation site if not the desired plasma initiation site at the true focus, and the corrections necessary for the delivery system to, in the meantime, bring the target delivery to the desired plasma initiation site. The system may also determine that the target droplet is not on a track to arrive at the desired plasma initiation site and that, therefore there will not be any effective generation of EUV light that will arrive at the intermediate focus, and that therefore the laser should not be fired while the target droplets are returned to a proper target track to intersect the desired EUV plasma initiation site. Alternatively, laser firing could be allowed to continue even though adequate EUV light is not being collected while the target positioning is ongoing.
It will be understood that, while "desired plasma initiation site" as used herein is the focus of the collector, some area around the focus of the collector in which aiming the drive laser beam at a so-called selected plasma initiation site that is slightly off of the collector focus, can still be effective for generating an effective amount of EUV light at the intermediate focus ("the desired plasma initiation region"). "Selected plasma initiation sites" that are not on the collector focus, but within the desired plasma initiation region, having an acceptable distance error in both the x and y planes, as defined below, may occur. In the event that the laser will continue to be fired even if the selected plasma initiation site is outside the desired plasma initiation region, then selected plasma initiation sites may occur outside the desired plasma initiation region also.
Aspects of performing these functions have been discussed in the above referenced co-pending applications. Applicants herein propose certain improved apparatus and methods for accomplishing these functions.
Applicants have developed unique approaches to place the targets, e.g., individual Li droplet targets in the right position in 3D space, aiming a laser beam at a droplet position and firing the laser at the right moment in order to better enable operation of EUV LPP source, according to aspects of embodiments of the present invention. The irradiation of the target, e.g., a target droplet, heats the droplet sufficiently to cause the formation of a plasma through, e.g., evaporation/ablation and photons in the laser beam strip off electrons forming ions of evaporated target metal atoms in the plasma, and in this sense the target is ignited at a plasma initiation site, using the meaning of ignite or ignition to mean the subjecting of the target to intense heat and/or to heat up or excite, and generally meaning the formation of the plasma from the irradiated target due to the impartation of the heat (energy) from a drive laser beam intersecting the target and igniting the target to form a resultant plasma, that in turn produces EUV radiation. The use of the term ignition in the above referenced applications will be understood to have this meaning. Another meaning for ignition is the heating of a plasma to a temperature high enough to sustain nuclear fusion. While likely that such a temperature is attained in the plasma formation according to aspects of the present invention, which, however, involves none of the attempts to confine the plasma so formed according to aspects of the present invention sufficient to induce and/or sustain fusion, the conception of an ignition of a plasma according to aspects of an embodiment of the present invention has a similar meaning as used in the above referenced applications. In the present application the same concept is expressed by the term "plasma initiation" and "plasma initiation site," meaning the irradiation of the target causes the plasma to form "plasma initiation" and this occurs or is desired to occur at some "plasma initiation site."
Lithium for use as a target as discussed in above referenced co-pending applications likely will have at least some impurities in it. Even levels of impurities in the parts per million range, over time, can cause unwanted and damaging depositions within an LPP EUV chamber, e.g., on the collector optics and/or various chamber windows. These impurities, contained in an LPP target droplet of liquid lithium, after plasma initiation will be deposited, e.g., on the collector mirror. Since many of these impurities have much higher boiling temperatures than the, e.g., 400-500° C. proposed collector temperature, e.g., to evaporate the deposition of lithium itself, it is more difficult to remove these impurities from the collector using the previously suggested evaporation techniques. Applicants in the present application suggest a way of dealing with this problem in previously proposed LPP and/or DPP EUV chamber components, e.g., the optical components.
As discussed in prior co-pending applications referenced above, the collector needs to operate at an elevated temperature (e.g., at least at about a range of 400-500° C.), e.g., in order to evaporate Li from its reflective surface and maintain its reflectivity. Applicants propose in the present application apparatus and methods to maintain a stable and uniform temperature range across the optics of the collector over which its performance is able to meet required specifications, e.g., the avoidance of collector distortion due to maintenance of the elevated temperature.
Utilization of a solid state laser, e.g., a Nd:YAG laser to drive a LPP EUV source, with 1064 nm laser light is often doubled, has been known to employ doubled, tripled, etc. frequencies, e.g., to possibly achieve higher conversion efficiency at smaller wavelengths produced at the first harmonic generation ("FHG") and second harmonic generation ("SHG"). This has been based on accessing a higher density plasma layer with the shorter wavelength higher harmonics, such that more source atoms are available for excitation and subsequent emission. In generating the higher laser harmonics, however, a large fraction (perhaps 30-50% for SHG and 80% for FHG to 266 nm) is lost because it is not converted in the nonlinear crystals.
Applicants have also developed, according to aspects of embodiments of the present invention ways to achieve higher conversion efficiency from laser energy converted to EUV radiation, and which allows extremely precise control of the initial density scale length, which will allow precision optimization of the laser deposition of energy into a target, e.g., a droplet, for improved conversion energy output ratios.
One of the problems in focusing optics for EUV LPP sources with Li or similar elements is a contamination and degradation of the optics due to contamination from Li or other elements. Applicants have developed according to aspects of embodiments of the present invention utilizations of grazing incidence optics or other EUV radiation collection optics for the improvement of conversion efficiency.
Also an issue in systems of the type of aspects of an embodiment of the present invention relates to the need for protecting optics other than the collector, e.g., windows and focusing optics, which may be combined, e.g., in introducing the drive laser beam into the EUV light source production chamber, which are addressed in the present application.


The disclosure is directed to a nursing cradle for infants that is attached to a bedstead or a waterbed. The disclosure is also directed to a soft wall and cradle sheet to keep an infant from exiting the cradle or getting wedged between a mother's bed and the cradle.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The invention relates to a cradle or crib for infants attached to a bedstead with a soft wall and a cradle sheet for ease of breastfeeding and caring for infants. Additionally, the invention can be used as a quilt holder or toddler's loveseat.
2. Background Art
There are several prior art infant beds or cribs that attach to a bedstead. See U.S. Pat. No. 134,847 to Bryan, entitled "Crib-Attachment for Bedsteads"; U.S. Pat. No. 328,157 to Tyler, entitled "Crib"; U.S. Pat. No. 884,509 to Lindsey, entitled "Baby Bed"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,138,451 to Buguele, entitled "Baby Crib"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,267,244 to McMillan, entitled "Crib Attachment"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,495,988 to Catino entitled "Bed Outfit For Nursing Women"; and U.S. Pat. No. 920,009 to Beeland, entitled "Crib Attachment For Bedsteads". The herein described nursing cradle contains significant advances and novel features not found in these prior art devices. This invention provides a novel means for attaching the crib to a bedstead including a waterbed. The present invention also increases the stability of the crib by legs that are height adjustable and mounted to the crib at an angle. Another novel feature of this invention are the stepped side rails. The invention also comprises bumper pads for the back and sides of the crib and also form a soft wall to keep the baby inside the crib. The invention includes a cradle sheet for covering the crib mattress which also extends onto the mother's bed to provide a waterproof barrier between the baby and mother's bed and also keeps the baby from getting wedged between the crib and the mother's bed when the soft wall is not in use.


A control system for a sewing machine, which is operable in a simulation manner as if the control system is connected to the sewing machine. When a sewing-machine control system starts a main control process, a status of its connection to a sewing machine is detected. If the connection is established, a connection flag is set. If it is not established, a connection flag is reset. A display device displays a menu select screen having a list of items, and a desired item is selected from the list. When the selected item is "Sewing process", the sewing-machine control device operates in the following manner. If the sewing-machine control device is not connected to the embroidering sewing machine, a virtual sewing-machine control program is executed to set "in-sewing" data for the pseudo status information, "0" as the initial value for a pseudo number-of-stitches; and "1800" for a pseudo rotation speed signal. The display device displays a pseudo sewing screen, constructed with those items of information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for a sewing machine. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique by which even in a state where a control system is not connected to an embroidery sewing machine, an operator can experience a setting process for various parametrical items on an embroidering operation and a sewing process with a simulation screen on a display as if the control system is connected to the embroidery sewing machine.
2. Description of Related Art
Various sewing-machine control systems and embroidery sewing machine systems have been proposed and put into practice. Each of those systems is arranged such that a sewing-machine control system made up of a personal computer is connected by wires to an embroidery sewing machine equipped with an embroidering system. The control system sends stitch data (sewing data) for each stitch as well as various control commands to the embroidery sewing machine to control the embroidery sewing machine.
One of those systems is disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei. 5-76670, in which an embroidering process controller is connected to four embroidering devices by way of communication lines. Various parametrical items on the embroidering operation are set in those embroidering devices through the operation of the embroidering process controller. Therefore, sewing data on preselected stitch patterns may be sent to the respective embroidering devices from the embroidering process controller.
When the embroidering process controller is turned ON in a state that four embroidering devices are connected to the embroidering process controller, a display device of the controller displays an initial screen (menu screen) containing the following items: 1. Initial, 2. Quick embroidery, 3. Monogram, and so on. The various parameters on those display items are set in the descending order; 1. Initial, 2. Quick embroidery, . . . . When the item "1. Initial" is executed, a "screen-splitting setting screen" is presented. The number of split screens is set in accordance with the number of embroidering devices to be driven. The embroidering process controller receives device-type data from the related embroidering devices, and displays the device-type data.
When the item "2. Quick embroidery" is executed, embroidery patterns can be chosen, which are to be sewn by the embroidering devices that were set in the item "1. Initial".
In this type of the sewing-machine control system, when no power is supplied to the embroidering devices, it is impossible not only to execute the sewing process but also to set various items on the sewing process, e.g., to set a sewing area.
Incidentally, an information transmission system for a sewing machine is disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei. 7-194880. In this system, a computer is connected to a plurality of embroidering devices, through communication lines. Sewing data and control data are formed using the computer, and sent to the embroidering devices. The computer receives control status signals from the embroidering devices, and statistically or collectively processes those signals to produce information on the production efficiency of each embroidering device and other information necessary for various production managements.
As stated above, the sewing-machine control system using the embroidering process controller connected to four embroidering devices by way of communication lines as disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. Hei. 5-76670, suffers from a problem in that the embroidering process controller is operable for the setting of various parametrical items and the sewing process (see the above setting description on item 1. Initial, 2. Quick embroidery, . . .) only when the controller is connected to the embroidering devices and the power is supplied to the embroidering devices. There is a case where the embroidering process controllers, while being separated from the embroidering devices, are installed in a training room, for example, to train factory workers to learn the skill of operating the sewing-machine control system. In this case, the initial screen is displayed, but the controller rejects the access thereto and disables the setting of most of the parametrical items (menu items) on the initial screen. The controller also rejects the execution of the sewing process. For this reason, the factory workers cannot experience the setting process and the sewing process in association with the items displayed on the screens, e.g., the number of stitches, error messages, and others.
A possible solution to cope with this problem is to connect one embroidering process controller to one embroidery sewing machine. However, this solution is impractical in view of cost and occupying space in a situation where a plurality of embroidering process controllers are used for the training of a number of trainees since the number of embroidery sewing machines equal to that of the embroidering process controllers are required.


The invention relates to compositions comprising a compound based on the general formula (I)R1-Arg-R2—NH—CH(R3)—CH2—NH—R4   (I)and a carrier, diluent or an excipient.

In the late 70ies, it was believed that bacterial diseases were satisfactorily controlled by antibiotics and, as well, future vaccines. Meanwhile, the appearance of new bacterial disease manifestations, such as staphylococcal and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, the haemolytic-uremic syndrome and others, and rapidly increasing drug resistance worldwide have acted to challenge the view that bacterial diseases were largely defeated.
Antibiotic research at the industrial level was focused on the identification of more refined variants of already existing drugs—and newer penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides and fluoroquinolones were marketed. However, only one antibiotic based on a novel antimicrobial principle, linezolide, was created during three decades—and resistance to the drug has already emerged during a few years of clinical use. Many antimicrobial peptides with new mechanisms of action have been reported; out of those active against bacteria most target the bacterial cell membrane by forming pores, for example antibiotics which are of microbial origin, and defensins, a large class of substances of mammalian origin. However, so far none of these substances has been developed into clinical use. Also, recent technical progress with combinatorial library technology has enabled the rapid design and testing of many substances intended for a defined target; again, in spite of considerable efforts no such compounds for medical use have been approved to date.Resistance to old and newer antibiotics among bacterial pathogens is evolving rapidly, as exemplified by extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and quinolone resistant gram-negatives, multi-resistant gonococci, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE), penicillin non-susceptible pneumococci (PNSP) and macrolide resistant pneumococci and streptococci (Panlilo et al., Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1992;13:582.586; Morris et al., Ann Intern Med 1995;123:250-259). An overuse, or improper use, of antibiotics is probably of great importance for triggering and spread of bacterial resistance.Economically, drug resistant pathogens represent a major burden for health-care systems. For example, postoperative and other nosocomial infections will prolong the need for hospital care and increase antibiotic drug expenses. At the community level, the current situation with PNSP has high-lighted, that most existing antibiotics may fail against this pathogen, earlier known to be invariably susceptible to antibiotics.
In the case of viral diseases, few drugs for treatment are available in spite of intense research. For HIV, the situation has improved by the combined use of some drugs with different targets, delaying progression of the disease. Regarding herpes viruses, there is a need for improved drugs for both systemic and localised manifestations. Also for the SARS virus, effective treatment alternatives are lacking.


The present invention provides a Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder that is used for the pressed powder magnetic cores for a choke coil, reactor coil, etc., and that has a higher magnetic permeability. At least one selected from Fe, Co, or Ni that is generally used is used as the main component of the Fe-group-based alloy (iron-based alloy) soft magnetic powder. The soft magnetic powder is produced by adding a small amount (0.05-4 wt %) of Nb, V, Ta, Ti, Mo, or W, to the molten metal and by means of an inexpensive method such as the water-atomizing method.

Recently, pressed powder magnetic cores, as, for example, in a choke coil, reactor coil, etc., are often adopted in an environment where the choke coil, reactor coil, etc., are used under a high current, or where they are used in a high-frequency range or in a limited space. So, also the soft magnetic powder that is used for such a choke coil, reactor coil, etc., must have superior soft magnetic property if it may be used under a high current, or at a higher frequency, or will be suitably used in a choke coil, reactor, coil, etc., that have limited sizes.
In general, soft magnetic powder that is used as a pressed powder magnetic core should have a high saturation magnetic flux density, high magnetic permeability, and a low core loss, because the pressed powder magnetic cores are often used under a high current. Also, it is preferred that the core be highly resistive in light of achieving a low current loss.
However, usually it is difficult to manufacture a soft magnetic powder that has all these characteristics. So, depending on the need, different soft magnetic powders are used, such as a) an oxidized soft magnetic powder (Ferrite), b) amorphous Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder, and c) crystalline Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder (Metal Alloy) (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).    a) The oxidized soft magnetic powder is highly-resistive and thus has a low core loss. But it is unsuitable for use under a high current because it has a low saturation magnetic flux density.    b) Amorphous Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder has a superior magnetic property. But due to the structure of the powder composition the amorphous Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder has very high hardness of the powder and it is hard to press it into a desired shape. Also, it does not have a sufficient saturation magnetic flux density, so that it cannot be used as a pressed powder magnetic core of a small size.    c) Crystalline Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder has a high saturation magnetic flux density and also has comparatively lower hardness of the powder. So, it can be pressed into a powder magnetic core having a low core loss if insulation of the surface of the powder is secured, for example, by using resin, etc. Also, it is suitable for use as a pressed powder magnetic core of a small size that is used under a high current and in a high-frequency range.
It is generally recognized that finer Fe-group-based alloy soft magnetic powder is suitably used in an environment of a high-frequency range or for obtaining a low core loss.
However, it needs a higher level of technology to press finer powder into a desired shape or it needs more resin, etc., to obtain a sufficient insulation between the fine powders. For this reason there is a problem in that the high permeability property (magnetic property) that the Fe-group-based alloy soft magnetic powder itself normally has cannot be utilized because of the lowering of the magnetic permeability of the pressed powder magnetic core itself due to a decrease in the density of the pressed powder magnetic core. Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose coating the surface of the powder by oxidation. But the coating by oxidizing makes the manufacturing process complex.
For these reasons, even by using the conventional Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder, if higher magnetic permeability is obtained without increasing the core loss, the pressed powder magnetic core that has lower density can be used under a high current or in a high-frequency range. Thus minimizing the size of the pressed powder magnetic core and lowering the core loss can be achieved without using a high-level pressing technology.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose manufacturing the soft magnetic powder by a water atomizing process, etc., as in the present invention. They disclose using an adjunct component selected from Si, Al, and Cr and also disclose that it is possible to add the metals of groups IV-VI as a small-amount adjunct component (Patent Document 1, Paragraph 0053, and Patent Document 2, Paragraphs 0021 and 0044). But the metals of groups IV-VI as small-amount adjunct components (transition metals whose d-orbitals are less than half filled) are shown as mere examples, just as are Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Ga, Ge, Ru, Rh, etc., of the metals of groups VII-XI (transition metals whose d-orbitals are more than half filled) and just as is B (boron). Further, neither Patent Document 1 nor 2 includes any description that implies that the small-amount adjunct component should be added to improve the magnetic property (particularly to attain the high magnetic permeability) (Patent Document 1, Paragraph 0053, and Patent Document 2, Paragraph 0044). Paragraph 0044 of Patent Document 2 says that the small-amount adjunct component that is added is preferably 1 wt % or less.
Although it does not affect the patentability of the present invention, there are the prior-art publications, i.e., Patent Documents 3-5, that refer to the amorphous Fe-group-based soft magnetic powder, to which a small amount of the metals of groups IV-VI is added.
The metals of groups IV-VI denoted by M in the compositional formula Fe100-a-b-x-y-z-w-tCOaNibMxPyCzBwSit of Patent Document 3 are shown as mere examples, like Pd, Pt, Au, etc., of the metals of groups X-XI given in Patent Documents 1 and 2. Further, in Patent Document 3 the metals of groups IV-VI are added to improve the corrosion resistance of the powder by a passivated oxide coating being formed (Paragraph 0024). Also, the description in that paragraph stating that "the amount of M that is added is preferably 0-3 atom % if the magnetic property and corrosion resistance are considered" should mean, when the preceding paragraph is considered, that Nb does not increase the magnetic property, but that rather it would cause the magnetic property to be lowered if it were added in a large amount.
The metals of groups IV-VI denoted by M′ in the compositional formula T100-x-yRxMyM′z of Patent Document 4 are shown as mere examples, like the other metals of groups VII-XI, and further, like non-metals or typical metals like P, Al, Sb, etc. Also, in Patent Document 4, by adding M′, the corrosion resistance is expected to improve. Also, Patent Document 4 says that the amount to be added is preferably in the range of 0-30%, more preferably 0-20% (Patent Document 4, page 9, the lower part, the second paragraph). That is, the addition of M′ as stated in Patent Document 4 does not suggest that one should add the metals of groups IV-VI in a small amount of 4% or less as is disclosed in the present invention.
Similarly, in Patent Document 5, also the metals of groups IV-VI denoted by M′ in compositional formula T100-x-yRxMyM′z are given only as mere examples, like the metals of groups VII-XI and like the typical metals, such as Zn, Ga, etc.
Paragraph 0032 of Patent Document 5 says, "Addition of element M′ has an effect where the coercive force of a micro-crystallite alloy is lowered. However, if the content of the element M′ is too large, the magnetization is lowered. So, the ratio z of element M′ in the composition should be 0 at %≦z≦10 at %, preferably 0.5 at %≦z≦4 at %." This statement, like one in Patent Document 3, is considered to imply that element M′ contributes to lowering a core loss by minimizing the coercive force of soft magnetic, but that it does not contribute to increasing the magnetic permeability (magnetization).


A multi-band antenna configured in a portable electrical device capable of operating in a low frequency bandwidth and a high frequency bandwidth has an elongated radiating body and a feeding conductor connecting the elongated radiating body. The feeding conductor has opposite side arms respectively connecting the elongated radiating body and a connecting portion connecting the side arms. A feeding point is arranged at a corner where one of the side arms connects to the connecting portion. The elongated radiating body and the feeding conductor are located on different planes of the portable electronic device. According to the position where the feeding conductor connects to the elongated radiating body and the position where the feeding point is arranged at, the multi-band antenna has a preferred low frequency bandwidth and a preferred high frequency bandwidth. Therefore, the portable electrical device can operate at different wireless bandwidths.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multi-band antenna, and particularly to a multi-band antenna which is adapted for configuring in portable electrical devices.
2. The Related Art
There is a growing requirement for multi-band antennas used in wireless communication devices to adapt multi-band operation of wireless communication devices. It is necessary that an antenna adapting to being configured in wireless communication devices is capable of operating in various wireless communication bands such as GSM850 (Global System for Mobile communications), EGSM (Extended Global System for Mobile communications), DCS1800 (Digital Cellular System), PCS1900 (Personal Conferencing Specification), W-CDMA2100 (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), etc.


A method for personalizing the working of a portable communication device (1) including the steps of an initialization step (A0) during which multimedia content data files are stored (A01) in a removable memory (18) of said portable communication device, and personalization parameters for controlling peripherals (2, 17) of said device are set (A02) with software links to at least some of said data files; and further including prior to removal of said removable memory (18), a step (A03) for creating a table including said software links, and a step (A2) for copying, according to said table, said data files for which software links exist or at least a transformation of said data files, from said removable memory (18) to an internal memory (7) of said portable communication device.

It is already known for portable communication devices, such as mobile phones or personal digital assistants, to provide the device with means enabling a user to give a personal touch to his device. For instance in the case of a mobile phone, a user can choose the ringing tone between several tones or melodies which have been pre stored in the mobile phone, eventually in association with the identity of the calling party in case this party has been stored in the phone directory of the mobile phone. More recently, it has also been proposed to display an image in association with the identity of the caller, such as but not limited to a photography of this caller. Other possibilities of mobile phone's personalization do exist, such as the choice of the image which can be displayed as screen saver, or the way for alerting a user of different events (incoming SMS, incoming E-mail, timer functionalities . . . ).
In view of this personalization, more and more data with multimedia content (music, image and video) have to be stored in a memory of the device in order to be linked to a particular event according to the user's choice.
However, the internal memory of a portable communication device is generally not large enough to store a great amount of data with multimedia content.
Some devices have already been proposed including both an internal memory and a removable memory of greater size for enabling the storage of a greater amount of data. However, problem exists when this external memory is used for storage of data for personalization purpose because the device cannot perform the personalized actions in case the removable memory is actually removed.

Method for personalizing the working of a portable communication device, and associated portable communication device


An ARQ transmission method in a communication system, wherein data packets comprising modulation symbols are transmitted based on an automatic repeat request and subsequently combined with previously received data packets. The symbols of the transmitted data packets are modulated In a mapping entity employing at least a first and second signal constellation. The method further comprises the step of obtaining the second signal constellation from the first signal constellation by exchanging a logical bit position and/or inverting a logical bit. The invention further relates to a corresponding transmitter and receiver.

A common technique in communication systems with unreliable and time-varying channel conditions is to correct errors based on automatic repeat request (ARQ) schemes together with a forward error correction (FEC) technique called hybrid ARQ (HARQ). If an error is detected by a commonly used cyclic redundancy check (CRC), the receiver of the communication system requests the transmitter to resend the erroneously received data packets.
S. Kallel, Analysis of a type II hybrid ARQ scheme with code combining, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 38, No. 8, August 1990 and S. Kallel, R. Link, S. Bakhtiyari, Throughput performance of Memory ARQ schemes, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 48, No. 3, May 1999 define three different types of ARQ schemes:    Type I: The erroneous received packets are discarded and a new copy of the same packet is retransmitted and decoded separately. There is no combining of earlier and later received versions of that packet.    Type II: The erroneous received packets are not discarded, but are combined with additional retransmissions for subsequent decoding. Retransmitted packets sometimes have higher coding rates (coding gain) and are combined at the receiver with the stored soft-information from previous transmissions.    Type III Is the same as Type II with the constraint each retransmitted packet is now self-decodable. This implies that the transmitted packet is decodable without the combination with previous packets. This is useful if some packets are damaged in such a way that almost no information is reusable. If all transmissions carry identified data, this can be seen as a special case called HARQ Type III with a single redundancy version.
Types II and III schemes are obviously more intelligent and show a performance gain with respect to Type I, because they provide the ability to reuse information from of previously received erroneous packets. There exist basically three schemes of reusing the redundancy of previously transmitted packets:    Soft-Combining    Code-Combining    Combination of Soft- and Code-CombiningSoft-Combining
Employing soft-combining the retransmission packets carry identical information compared with the previously received information. In this case the multiple received packets are combined either by a symbol-by-symbol or by a bit-by-bit basis as for example disclosed in D. Chase, Code combining: A maximum-likelihood decoding approach for combining an arbitrary number of noisy packets, IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. COM-33, pp. 385–393, May 1985 or B. A. Harvey and S. Wicker, Packet Combining Systems based on the Viterbi Decoder, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 42, No. 2/3/4, April 1994. By combining this soft-decision values from all received packets the reliabilities of the transmitted bits will increase linearly with the number and power of received packets. From a decoder point of view the same FEC scheme (with constant code rate) will be employed over all transmissions. Hence, the decoder does not need to know how many retransmissions have been performed, since it sees only the combined soft-decision values. In this scheme all transmitted packets will have to carry the same number of symbols.
Code-Combining
Code-combining concatenates the received packets in order to generate a new code word (decreasing code rate with increasing number of transmission). Hence, the decoder has to be aware of the FEC scheme to apply at each retransmission instant. Code-combining offers a higher flexibility with respect to soft-combining, since the length of the retransmitted packets can be altered to adapt to channel conditions. However, this requires more signaling data to be transmitted with respect to soft-combining.
Combination of Soft- and Code-Combining
In case the retransmitted packets carry some symbols identical to previously transmitted symbols and some code-symbols different from these, the identical code-symbols are combined using soft-combing as described in the section titled "Soft Combining" while the remaining code-symbols will be combined using code-combining. Here, the signaling requirements will be similar to code-combining.
As it has been shown in M. P. Schmitt Hybrid ARQ Scheme employing TCM and Packet Combining, Electronics Letters Vol. 34, No. 18, September 1998 that HARQ performance for Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) can be enhanced by rearranging the symbol constellation for the retransmissions. There, the performance gain results from the maximizing the Euclidean distances between the mapped symbols over the retransmissions, because the rearrangement has been performed on a symbol basis.
Considering high-order modulation schemes (with modulation symbols carrying more than two bits) the combining methods employing soft-combining have a major drawback: The bit reliabilities within soft-combined symbols will be in a constant ratio over all retransmissions, i.e. bits which have been less reliable from previous received transmissions will still be less reliable after having received further transmissions and, analogous, bits which have been more reliable from previous received transmissions will still be more reliable after having received further transmissions.
The varying bit reliabilities evolve from the constraint of two-dimensional signal constellation mapping, where modulation schemes carrying more than 2 bits per symbol cannot have the same mean reliabilities for all bits under the assumption that all symbols are transmitted equally likely. The term mean reliabilities is consequently meant as the reliability of a particular bit over all symbols of a signal constellation.
Employing a signal constellation for a 16 QAM modulation scheme according to FIG. 1 showing a Gray encoded signal constellation with a: given bit-mapping order i1q1i2q2, the bits mapped onto the symbols differ from each other in mean reliability in the first transmission of the packet. In more detail, bits i1 and q1 have a high mean reliability, as these bits are mapped to half spaces of the signal constellation diagram with the consequences that their reliability is independent from the fact of whether the bit transmits a one or a zero.
In contrast thereto, bits i2 and q2 have a low mean reliability, as their reliability depends on the fact of whether they transmit a one or a zero. For example, for bit i2, ones are mapped to outer columns, whereas zeros are mapped to inner columns. Similarly, for bit q2, ones are mapped to outer rows, whereas zeros are mapped to inner rows.
For the second and each further retransmissions the bit reliabilities will stay in a constant ratio to each other, which is defined by the signal constellation employed in the first transmission, i.e. bits i1 and q1 will always have a higher mean reliability than bits i2 and q2 after any number of retransmissions.
In, co-pending PCT/EP01/01982 a method has been suggested that in order to enhance the decoder performance, it would be quite beneficial to have equal or near to equal mean bit reliabilities after each received transmission of a packet. Hence, the bit reliabilities are tailored over the retransmissions in a way that the mean bit reliabilities get averaged out. This is achieved by choosing a predetermined first and at least second signal constellation for the transmissions, such that the combined mean bit reliabilities for the respective bits of all transmissions are nearly equal.
Hence, the signal constellation rearrangement results in a changed bit mapping, wherein the Euclidean distances between the modulation symbols can be altered from retransmission to retransmission due to the movement of the constellation points. As a result, the mean bit reliabilities can be manipulated in a desired manner and averaged out to increase the performance the FEC decoder at the receiver.
In the solution proposed above, the benefits of the constellation rearrangement are realized through a parameterized bit-to-symbol mapping entity. For complexity or efficient implementational reasons, it may be advantageous for a communication system to have a non-parameterized standard mapping entity.

Method for modifying a bit sequence in an ARQ retransmission, receiver and transmitter therefor

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A optical disk drive long distance seek control device and method thereof, capable of feeding back the optical head control device through the step motor control device during the long distance seek; wherein, the step motor control device comprises a velocity profile generator capable of producing a quadratic profile to stabilize the step motor when finishing the seek; and more particular, the optical head control device uses a center error signal and a velocity error signal alternatively; moreover, the velocity error signal can be adjusted according to the output signals from the optical head control device and the step motor control device through a weighting mechanism.

Since the manufacturing cost of the driving mechanisms utilizing step motors are not only much cheaper than that of the driving mechanisms utilizing DC motors, but also the driving mechanisms utilizing step motors are more suitable for high velocity seeking, the optical disk drive using step motors for driving the optical head thereof has become the mainstream product in the recent years.
Conventionally, while a step motor is being used to drive the optical head of an optical disk drive, the profile of the velocity profile generator arranged in the step motor control device is usually being designed to accelerate or decelerate very rapidly so as to reduce the seek time in a long seek operation. Under the circumstance, the rotation inertia of the step motor is becoming larger such that the resonant effect is becoming considerably obvious. As the result, the optical head is difficult to lock on a track after the seeking.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic drawing of a conventional long seek control device for an optical disk drive. The control device 100 comprises two independent parts. One is a step motor control device 110 capable of controlling a step motor 105 while performing a long seek operation. The other one is an optical head control device 120 capable of controlling an optical head 107 to remain in the center of the mechanism therein while performing the long seek operation.
While performing a long seek operation, the velocity profile generator 111 arranged in the step motor control device 110 will control the motion of the step motor 105 by way of a frequency converter 115, a sinusoid generator 117, and a driver 118 according to the received output information signals 113, such as seek total and seek direction, and so on. Meanwhile, the center error controller 121 in the optical head control device 120 receives a center error signal (CE) to output a seek control signal 123 and controls the optical head 107 to remain in the center of the mechanism therein through the driver 125.
Wherein, the velocity profile generated by the velocity profile generator 110 used for controlling the step motor 105 typically is a ladder shaped profile for conforming to the fast acceleration and deceleration requirements. Please refer to FIG. 2, which is the velocity profile of a conventional velocity profile generator used for controlling the step motor. The step motor 105 starts to accelerate when the long seek begins (0˜t1), and maintains at a fixed velocity (t1˜t2) afterwards, and starts to decelerate before the long distance seek finishes (t2˜t3).
Since the optical head control device 120 is using the center error signal during the period of t2˜t3, i.e. the long seek is going to finish, the disk that the optical head 107 is seeking is vulnerable to run-out effect such that the optical head 107 is difficult to lock on a track after the seeking.
The conventional method used to reduce the run out effect happening at the end of the seeking, that is, during the period of t2˜t3, is to reduce the slope of the velocity profile at the t2˜t3 period such the optical head is able to lock on a track easier. However, this method will lengthen the seek time.
In view of the above description, the present invention provides a long seek control device for optical disk drive and method thereof capable of locking on a track properly after seeking and therefore preventing the slipping from happening.

Long seek control device for optical disk drive and method thereof


A solid-state image pickup apparatus includes a color filter having an R (red), G (green) and B (blue) vertical stripe pattern. During preliminary pickup, a signal feeding section feeds particular drive signals for reading signal charges out of only odd-numbered columns or even-numbered columns. As a result, the signal charges or image data reduced to, e.g., one-half in the horizontal direction are transferred along a horizontal transfer path. The signal feeding section feeds horizontal drive signals adjusted in timing to the horizontal transfer path, causing the above image data to be read out without varying reading frequency. This doubles the horizontal transfer rate to thereby improve the signal output rate during preliminary pickup despite high pixel density, and allows signals to be read out without effecting actual pickup to follow.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid-state image pickup apparatus for reading out image signals with pixels reduced in a horizontal direction, and a signal reading method for the same. The present invention is advantageously applicable to, e.g., a digital camera or an image input apparatus including an image pickup section having high pixel density.
2. Description of the Background Art
To implement image quality comparable with one available with a silver halide photo-sensitive type of film, there have been proposed various technologies for increasing the number of pixels of a digital camera that electrically shoots a scene. Japanese patent laid-open publication No. 136391/1998 discloses a solid-state image pickup apparatus constructed to optimize the spatial sampling of an image, to shift pixels with respect to each other in such a manner as to enhance efficient receipt of light, and to reduce moiré and other aliasing signals.
A digital camera of the type including an image pickup section provided with high pixel density is extensively used and directed toward high image quality. It is a common practice with this type of digital camera to effect, before the actual pickup of a still picture, AE/AF (Automatic Exposure/Automatic Focusing) operation and movie drive that causes a scene being picked up to appear on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). This, however, brings about a problem that the high pixel density increases the period of time necessary for signal charges resulting from the pickup to be read out and thereby lowers the frame rate. It is to be noted that the high pixel density refers to more than 1,000,000 pixels or so-called megapixels.
To increase the frame rate, signal charges generated in the image pickup section may be read out while being reduced, or thinned, in the vertical direction. Specifically, assume that drive frequency CLK for reading out all of 1,500,000 pixels (1,280×1,024) by progressive scanning is 12.2725 MHZ. Then, a single horizontal synchronizing period (1 H) and a single vertical synchronizing period (1V) are 1,560 CLK and 1,050 H, respectively. The frame rate is therefore 1/7.5 second. When the signal charges are reduced to one-half in the vertical direction, 1 H needs the same period of time while 1V is 525 H, resulting in a frame rate of 66.7 milliseconds, i.e., 1/15 second. Even when the signal charges are reduced to one-fourth in the vertical direction, 1V is 262.6 H, and therefore the frame rate is as long as 33.4 millisecond or 1/30 second.
Assume that 1,500,000 pixels are read out by progressive scanning and displayed by the movie drive in the conventional image size, i.e., 640×480. Then, the pixels are reduced to one-half in the horizontal and vertical directions under the above-described conditions. As a result, the number of pixels in the horizontal direction and the number of pixels (lines) in the vertical direction are as great as 640 and 525, respectively. Even the reduction to one-fourth implements only the reduction to one-half in the horizontal direction although reducing the number of pixels in the vertical direction to 262.5, i.e., improving the frame rate. However, because the number of pixels reduced in the vertical direction is short of 480, interpolation must be executed in the vertical direction in order to match the number of pixels to the desired number. On the other hand, in the horizontal direction, all of the 1,280 pixels are read out and then reduced to 640 pixels at the subsequent signal processing stage. It will therefore be seen that strict consideration is not given to the improvement in frame rate in reducing the pixels in the horizontal direction. This is apt to prevent the operator of the camera to miss an adequate actual pickup timing.

Solid-state image pickup apparatus for reading out image signals with pixels reduced in a horizontal direction and a signal reading method for the same


Disclosed is a golf ball having excellent shot feel, control properties as well as satisfactory flight performance and cut resistance. The golf ball of the present invention has a core and a cover for covering the core, wherein the cover has a stiffness modulus of 100 to 250 MPa, and is prepared from a resin composition comprising, as a base resin, a mixture of the following resin (A) and resin (B) in a weight ratio of 60:40 to 90:10:. resin (A): an ionomer resin (i) obtained by neutralizing with metal ion at least a part of carboxyl groups in a copolymer of ethylene and an .alpha., .beta.-unsaturated carboxylic acid, or a mixture of the ionomer resin (i) and an ionomer resin (ii) obtained by neutralizing with metal ion at least a part of carboxyl groups in a terpolymer of ethylene, an .alpha., .beta.-unsaturated carboxylic acid and an .alpha., .beta.-unsaturated carboxylate, and PA1 resin (B): a thermoplastic elastomer comprising a polyamide portion as a hard segment, having a Shore D hardness of 20 to 40 and a stiffness modulus of 10 to 50 MPa.

Recently, an ionomer resin has widely been used as a base resin for a cover of a golf ball (e.g. Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-27093). Particularly, the ionomer resin is exclusively used in a two-piece solid golf ball using a solid core. This is because the ionomer resin is superior in durability, cut resistance and rebound characteristics and, further, it is easily processed.
However, the ionomer resin is inferior in shot feel and control properties (ease of putting spin on the ball) in comparison with a balata used as a base resin for a cover of a thread wound golf ball, because the ionomer resin has a higher hardness and stiffness modulus.
Therefore, a trial has been conducted in order to improve the shot feel and controlling properties by softening the ionomer resin using various means.
For example, in order to improve shot feel and control properties, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 1-308577 and 5-3913 suggest to soften a high-rigid ionomer resin by blending (mixing) an soft ionomer resin obtained by neutralizing a terpolymer of an .alpha.-olefin, an unsaturated carboxylic acid (e.g. acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, etc.) and an acrylate with sodium or zinc ion.
However, even if the soft ionomer resin as described above is blended, a shot feel similar to that of the golf ball with the balata cover has not been obtained. In addition, there is a problem that rebound characteristics and flight performance are deteriorated by blending the soft ionomer resin.
In addition, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-192512, it is suggested that rebound characteristics are improved while maintaining softness by using a mixture of an ionomer resin and a thermoplastic polyamide elastomer. Although the improving effect can also be admitted in view of the maintenance of softness according to this method, it is necessary to improve rebound characteristics and shot feel properties. This is because softness is obtained by increasing the mixing ratio of the thermoplastic polyamide elastomer and therefore the rebound characteristics are lowered a little.
As described above, the golf ball using the ionomer resin as the base resin of the cover is inferior in shot feel and control properties. In addition, the suggestions to improve these properties causes deterioration in rebound characteristics and flight performance and sufficient results have not been obtained.


A hybrid type permanent magnet bearing system which utilizes four permanent magnet rings to replace the mechanical bearings. These rings are divided into two separated groups along an axis, where each group has an inner ring and a separated outer ring. At least one permanent magnet ring has a surface facing the gap between the two groups but being not vertical to the axis. Hence, inside the gap, the magnetic field between these permanent magnet rings is not non-uniform over different directions, and then it may behave as the axial and radical bearing simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to hybrid type magnet bearing system, and more particularly to bearing system uses permanent magnets to replace mechanical bearings and to provide axial and radical bearing functions simultaneously.
2. Background of the Related Art
The relative motion between different structures of a mechanism is very popular for industry and daily life. The bearing is popularly used to stable and support the action of the rotation axis when one or more of movement and/or rotation are required. For example, the ball bearing, the roller bearing and the needle bearing. Essentially, the bearing provides a rotation support between the rotator and the stator, so that the rotor indirectly contacts with the stator. Hence, the rotation and the movement of the bearing may reduce some disadvantages induced by the relative motion between the rotator and the stator, such as friction, vibration, noise, lose, and so on. However, the loss of the bearing itself also is un-avoidable. Hence, full lubrication and periodic maintenance are required, and then higher cost and lower throughput are unavoidable disadvantages.
In general, the loss of the bearing is a function of both the rotation and the movement between the bearing and the rotor/stator, i.e., the combination of the rotor and the stator. The higher the rotation rate of the bearing, the larger the dynamical frication loss between the bearing and the rotor/stator. Besides, due to the direct contact between the bearing and the rotor/stator, the static friction coefficient therebetween also is a key factor about how the motion of the bearing is driven by the rotor/stator. The loss of the bearing also is related to the details of the relative motion between the rotor and the stator, where the rotor and the stator are positioned over two opposite sides of the bearings. When the two structures (rotor and/or stator) over opposite sides of the bearing are only rotated around one same axis, the bearing only has to satisfy the requirement of axial motion. In contrast, when the two structures (rotor and/or stator) over opposite sides of the bearing are rotated around the same axis and moved perpendicularly to (radically to) the axis simultaneously, the bearing has to satisfy the requirements of both the axial motion and the radical motion.
Particularly, in a perpendicular mechanism, two structures (rotor and/or stator) on opposite sides of the bearing are perpendicularly arranged. Hence, the weight of the upper structure, even the weight of other elements positioned on and/or over the upper structure, is supported by the lower structure. Clearly, the bearing loss or other disadvantages will be more serious along the perpendicular direction. Accordingly, the axial bearing has to be particularly designed and will increase the complexity, cost and maintained difficulty of the combination of both axial and radical bearing system.
Accordingly, it is desired to develop a new bearing system for improving these disadvantages of the bearing system used to provide rotation support between two separated structures.


A method and apparatus for routing packets through a multiport switch involves attaching indicators to packets before the packets are passed through a switch fabric, and then using the indicators to look-up output port vectors after the packets have been passed through the switch fabric. In a preferred embodiment of a 64.times.64 port switch, an 8-bit output channel vector and a 15-bit output port index are attached to a packet and passed through the switch fabric. The 8-bit output channel vector directs the packet to the proper output packet processor(s) and the 15-bit output port index is used to look-up an output port vector that identifies the output port(s) that will receive the packet. The method and system provide low packet overhead and flexible scaling.

Networks are widely used to transfer voice, video, and data among various network devices such as telephones, televisions, and computers. Switches are utilized to direct network traffic among the various network devices. FIG. 1 is an example of the basic architecture of a 64-port switch 10. The input side of the switch includes sixty-four input ports 12 that are numbered from 0 to 63. The input ports are connected to eight input packet processors (IPPs) 16 that are numbered from 0 to 7. The eight IPPs are connected by eight input channels 18 (numbered 0 through 7) to a switch fabric 20 that provides the connection from input channels to output channels 22. The switch fabric is connected to eight output packet processors (OPPs) 24 that are numbered from 0 to 7 by the eight output channels 22 (numbered 0 through 7). Sixty-four output ports 28, numbered from 0 to 63, are connected to the eight OPPs.
Within the architecture of FIG. 1, the IPPs 16 manage packet traffic incoming to the switch from the input ports 12 and the OPFs 24 manage packet traffic from the switch fabric 20 to the output ports 28. In a conventional switch, a packet arrives at an IPP targeted for transmission to either a single output port, known as a unicast, or to multiple output ports, known as a multicast to selected ports or a broadcast to all of the ports. Header information from the packet is used to generate an output vector that has a width equal to the total number of output ports that are present in the system. For example, in a switch with only eight output ports. packets are forwarded through the switch fabric with an 8-bit (1-byte) output vector, where each bit relates to an output port and a set bit identifies that the corresponding output port is to receive the packet. In a system utilizing ethernet bridges and/or routers, where the minimum packet size is sixty-four bytes, the output vector overhead traveling through the switch fabric of an 8-port switch is only 1 byte/64 bytes, or approximately 1.5%. However, as more output ports are added to a switch, the width of the output vector increases proportionately.
In the 64-port switch architecture of FIG. 1, an output vector of sixty-four bits (eight bytes) is needed to represent all sixty-four output ports 28. FIG. 2 represents an incoming packet 30 with a 64-bit output vector 34 being forwarded through the switch fabric to three output channels (channels 0,1, and 7) and subsequently to the three respective OPPs (not shown). The 64-bit output vector is also transmitted with all three of the outgoing packets 38. From the OPPs, the outgoing packets 38 are distributed to the targeted output ports. The output vector overhead for a minimum size packet forwarded through the switch fabric of FIG. 2 is 8/64 or 12.5%. In a switch with 256 output ports, a 256-bit (32-byte) output vector must be forwarded through the switch fabric. The overhead for a minimum size 64-byte packet is 32/64 or 50%. An exemplary system that attaches an N-bit output vector to a packet passing through an NxN switch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,914, entitled "Shared Buffer Memory Switch for an ATM Switching System and Broadcasting Control Method," issued to Yamada.
In addition to affecting the size of output vector overhead, the number of output ports in a multiport switch also affects the total number of output port combinations possible for forwarding a single packet. For example, in an 8-port switch there are 2.sup.8 or 256 possible output port combinations for forwarding a single packet. The increase in output port combinations grows exponentially in relation to the number of output ports by a factor of 2.sup.N, where N is the number of output ports. The number of output port combinations in 16, 64, 128, and 256 output port switches are 65,536, 1.8.times.10.sup.19, 3.4.times.10.sup.38, and 1.2.times.10.sup.77, respectively. Although the theoretical number of output port combinations is extremely large, the number of output port combinations actually utilized in a typical network is much lower.
While the prior art technique of utilizing an output vector that is equal to the number of output ports works well for its intended purpose, there are some shortcomings. One shortcoming is that whenever the number of output ports is increased, the number of bits in the output vector must also be increased to accommodate identification of the new output ports. Another shortcoming is that each output vector must be transmitted through the switch fabric, inefficiently consuming switch bandwidth.
In light of the observation that a limited number of output combinations are actually utilized in a typical network and the shortcomings associated with a full width output vector, what is needed is a more efficient method and system for identifying output ports that are to receive switched packets and for forwarding packets through a multiport switch.

Method and system for identifying ports and forwarding packets in a multiport switch


A method, apparatus and computer readable medium for charged particle beam inspection of a sample comprising at least one sampling region and at least one skip region is disclosed. The method, apparatus and computer readable medium comprise receiving an imaging recipe which at least comprises information of the area of the sampling and skip regions; calculating a default stage speed according to the imaging recipe; calculating an alternative stage speed at least according to the default stage speed, the sampling region area information, and the skip region area information; calculating at least one imaging scan compensation offset at least according to the alternative stage speed; and inspecting the sample at the alternative stage speed while adjusting the motion of the charged particle beam according to the imaging scan compensation offsets, such that the charged particle beam tightly follows the motion of the stage and images only the sampling regions on the sample.

The charged particle beam inspection system has been widely used for the inspection of physical or electrical defects in a semiconductor wafer or mask. FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a conventional charged particle beam defect inspection system 100. System 100 includes several portions, namely, a primary charged particle beam source portion, a secondary charged particle detection portion, an image processing portion, and a system control portion.
The primary charged particle beam source portion includes a charged particle gun 10, a beam extraction electrode 11, a condenser lens 12, a beam blanking deflector 13, an aperture 14, a scanning deflector 15, and an objective lens 16. The secondary charged particle detection portion includes an E×B charged particle detour device 17, a secondary charged particle detector 21, a preamplifier 22, an A/D converter 23, and a high voltage electric source 24.
The image processing portion includes a first image storage 46, a second image storage 47, an arithmetic operation device 48 for comparing images from storage 46 and 47, a defect judgment device 49, and a monitor display 50 for interfacing with the users. The system control portion includes a microprocessor computer 6, a position correction and control circuit 43, a stage driver 34, an objective lens source 45, a scan signal generator 44, a sample stage 30, an X-Y direction stage 31, and a high voltage electric source 36.
The inspection process begins as a sample 9 (for example, a wafer or a mask) sitting on the sample stage 30 is irradiated by a primary charged particle beam 18. The secondary charged particles 20 emanating from the sample 9 is detoured by the E×B charged particle detour device 17 to the detector 21, the charged particle signal is then amplified by the amplifier 22 and converted to digital signals by the A/D converter 23 for further image processing and defect judgment. In accordance with a preloaded recipe in the firmware, the microprocessor computer 6 guides the stage driver 34 and scan signal generator 44 to properly deliver the inspection.
The throughput of the defect inspection process is particularly critical when such inspection is part of the semiconductor manufacturing process flow. It is usually necessary to be able to measure the defect density in a shorter time for high-efficiency production flow. Referring to FIG. 2, which is a flowchart illustration of a conventional defect inspection process 200. First, an imaging recipe is loaded, for example from the firmware, in step 210. The imaging recipe is a group of parameters carrying inspection specifications such as the graphical data system (GDS) file of the sample being inspected, the location and area of the sampling regions (regions on the sample that are interested in and to be inspected for defects), image pixel size, scan width, image scan time, the largest available image pixel size, the number of scans for individual sampling region, etc. It is noted that the sampling regions are generally selected in a fashion which complies with the statistical process control rule. Next, in step 220, a moving speed for the sample stage is calculated based on the loaded imaging recipe. This is especially important for a continuous scanning mode inspection operation. Then, the inspection is performed at the calculated stage speed and according to the specifications indicated in the imaging recipe, as shown in step 230. Then, in step 240, the density of inspected defects from step 230 is calculated. The calculation result is evaluated in step 250 to determine whether it meets satisfaction, so as to determine completion of the inspection. If the inspection is determined to be incomplete, the process goes back to step 230 and down. If the inspection is determined to be complete, the process ends at step 260.
The overall defect density inspection throughput typically scales as a function of the square of the pixel size used. For example, if the linear dimension of the image pixel size is halved in order to be able to find smaller defects, the overall inspection speed decreases by a factor of four assuming the pixel data rate (sampled pixels per unit time, for example in seconds) remains constant.
The square law dependence that throughput has on the image pixel size is critical for advanced higher resolution inspection systems such as a charged particle inspection system, where the frequent need to use smaller pixels slows the inspection speed significantly. The slow speeds of high resolution defect inspection, combined with the fact that minimum sample surface area must be inspected to make a statistically significant measurement of defect density, results in inefficient use of inspection system time.
This problem is especially significant when the sample comprises patterns composed of both interested and uninterested regions, or simply say that the sample comprises interested and uninterested regions. For example, when a functional device has been developed, it is typically desired to have immediate report of possible defects thereof. However, these devices often coexist with other common devices which are equally inspected in the conventional inspection method.
A similar problem may happen in a scenario where a newly developed fabrication method of an existing common device is to be verified by means of defect inspection. Further, it is also possible for a sample to have complete blank regions where no pattern is formed at all. In these cases, the inspection performed on those regions other than the interested region obviously lowers the overall throughput.
Referring to FIG. 3A, which illustrates an exemplary pattern having both interested and uninterested regions. The "interested regions" are substantially equal to the sampling regions in the conventional art mentioned earlier, and will be continued to be referred to as the sampling regions hereinafter for consistency. The uninterested region on the other hand, is a region which is not interested in and preferred to be skipped for the purpose of time saving, and will be referred as a skip region hereinafter. As shown, a target pattern 300A comprises an interested sampling region 310A and an uninterested skip region 320A. It is noted that the target pattern 300A in this example is a repeating pattern, and the sampling region 310A combined with the skip region 320A form a pattern period 330A.
FIG. 3B illustrates another exemplary pattern having both sampling regions and skip regions. As shown, an irregular target pattern 300B comprises a sampling region 310B and a skip region 320B, and no pattern period is present in this example. It is noted that in either case in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the uninterested skip region typically has a much larger area than the interested sampling region.
For example, the sampling region may be of a few hundreds nanometers (nm) in width, while the skip region may be of a few micrometers (um) in width. As a result, much of the tool time is wasted scanning the uninterested skip regions for the conventional art inspection method as in which both regions are equally scanned and imaged.
Accordingly what is needed is an inspection method that allows for increased inspection throughput without sacrificing resolution during inspection of the sample.

Method and apparatus for charged particle beam inspection


A repairable transmission line connector is provided where the center conductor has a front removable portion, and a rear portion crimped to the center conductor of the transmission cable. An outer sleeve mounted to a first coaxial conductor of the cable includes a removable front portion, and a rear portion crimped to the first coaxial conductor of the cable. An insulator holds the front center conductor wherein the insulator is held by the rear outer sleeve and the front outer sleeve. The front and rear outer sleeves, and the front and rear center conductors form a connector assembly. In a triaxial connector the connector assembly is surrounded by an insulating sleeve disposed within front and rear connector bodies connected to the cable. By disconnecting the front and rear connector bodies (if present) and the front and rear outer sleeves, access to the front center conductor is permitted for replacement of the front center conductor. The front outer sleeve and the insulator can be replaced as desired.

Both coaxial and triaxial transmission cables include a center conductor (solid or stranded) surrounded by one layer (in the case of coax) or two layers (in the case of triax) of braided shielding conductor. Dielectric layers are between the conductors, and an outer protective jacket surrounds the inner layers. Connectors link the various conductors of the cables to transmission equipment or other cables. The cable connectors can be disconnected and reconnected as desired. The connectors usually include a small projecting male or female center conductor made of copper or other conductive material for connecting to the center conductor of the transmission equipment or other cables.
Triaxial connectors can be used for connecting the cables to television broadcasting and video equipment, such as for connecting the camera head to the camera control-unit. Other uses of the cables and connectors include providing DC power to the camera, intercom to operator connections, teleprompter feeds, and robotic camera functions.
The center conductor portion of the connector is fairly fragile and prone to damage. The center conductor portion can become damaged if the connector is misaligned during a connection to transmission equipment. A problem arises if the center conductor portion becomes damaged. In the past, the connector was permanently attached to the cable, such as via crimping. The cable had to be recut and a new connector installed when the center conductor of the connector was damaged. Recutting and installing a new connector in the field is a time consuming task. There is a need for connectors and methods which allow faster repair when the center conductor portion or other front portion of the connector becomes damaged.


Systems and methods include extraction of a plurality of clauses from each of a plurality of electronic documents, determination, for each of the plurality of clauses and using a machine-learned algorithm, an associated clause type, identification of one or more data privacy protection entities present within each of one or more of the plurality of clauses, determination, for each of the one or more of the plurality of clauses, of a weighted frequency for each of the one or more data privacy protection entities present within the clause based on a type of the data privacy protection entity, determination of a weighted frequency associated with each of the plurality of electronic documents based on the determined weighted frequency for each of the one or more data privacy protection entities present within clauses of the plurality of electronic documents, and storage of an identifier of each of the plurality of electronic documents in association with a respective determined weighted frequency.

Modern database systems store vast amounts of data for their respective enterprises. The data may include transactional data, master data, unstructured data and other data. The use and re-use of such data is an intergral aspect of enterprise operations.
The data may represent documents such as, for example, legal contracts. Existing hardcopies of documents may be scanned and stored into database systems, but such scanning fails to preserve any substantive or semantic information embodied within the documents. The documents, or selected portions thereof, cannot therefore efficiently be used or re-used by users of such systems. What is needed are systems to efficiently load physical documents into a document management system in a manner that detects semantic information associated with various document portions and allows for independent re-use of such portions as well as electronic access to the content of the original documents.
Regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) require specific handling of personal or potentially-personal electronic information. This information is typically associated with logical entities (e.g., person, organization, location, geo-political entity) referred to herein as data privacy and protection (DPP) entities. A modern enterprise is typically associated with many DPP entities within a web of complex interrelationships, many of which are defined and/or governed by associated documents, such as contracts. Systems are needed to efficiently identify DPP entities within documents and to determine privacy-weighted associations between the documents and specified parties based on the identified DPP entities.

Smart document migration and entity detection