What is claimed is:
1. A positioning system, comprising:
a movable stage;
a cable carrier movable relative to the stage, the cable carrier being configured for carrying at least one cable so as to prevent cable drag forces from acting on the stage.
2. The positioning system as recited in claim 1 wherein the stage is configured for carrying a work piece.
3. The positioning system as recited in claim 1 wherein the cable carrier is configured for carrying a first cable that is coupled to a device external to the stage, and a second cable that is coupled to the stage.
4. The positioning system as recited in claim 1 wherein the cable carrier moves independent of the movable stage.
5. The positioning system as recited in claim 1 wherein the cable carrier is movably coupled to the stage via a carrier linkage.
6. The positioning system as recited in claim 5 wherein the carrier linkage is a bearing, a pivot arm or a flexure.
7. The positioning system as recited in claim 1 wherein the cable is selected from a group consisting essentially of an electrical cable, a control cable, an air supply cable, a vacuum supply cable or a cooling cable.
8. A high precision stage system, comprising:
a movable stage;
a cable carrier movably coupled to the stage; and
a control system for controlling the positions of the stage and cable carrier so as to prevent cable drag forces from acting on the stage.
9. The stage system as recited in claim 8 wherein the control system includes a first drive unit for moving the stage and a second drive unit for moving the cable carrier relative to the movable stage.
10. The stage system as recited in claim 9 wherein the first drive unit outputs a stage force for moving the stage, and the second drive unit outputs a carrier force for maintaining a predetermined carrier position relative to the stage.
11. The stage system as recited in claim 10 wherein the carrier force is applied to the cable carrier to overcome the cable drag forces and wherein a resultant force, which is the combination of the carrier force and the stage force, is applied to the stage to overcome the effects of the carrier force.
12. The stage system as recited in claim 9 wherein the second drive unit is a force type actuator selected from the group consisting essentially of a voice coil motor, an E-I actuator, a pneumatic cylinder, a torque motor, or an air motor.
13. The stage system as recited in claim 8 further including a position measurement system for determining the actual positions of the stage and cable carrier.
14. The stage system as recited in claim 13 wherein the position measurement system includes a laser interferometer, encoder sensors, potentiometer sensors, capacitance sensors, or inductance sensors.
15. The stage system as recited in claim 8 wherein the control system includes a first drive unit for moving the stage, and a springdamper device for supporting the cable carrier in a predetermined carrier position relative to the moving stage.
16. The stage system as recited in claim 15 wherein the springdamper device includes a spring element and a damper element.
17. The stage system as recited in claim 15 wherein the first drive unit outputs a stage force for moving the stage, and the springdamper device forms a resilient force for maintaining the predetermined carrier position relative to the stage.
18. The stage system as recited in claim 17 wherein the resilient force is configured to overcome the cable drag forces acting on the cable carrier, and wherein a resultant force, which is the combination of the resilient force and the stage force, is applied to the stage to overcome the effects of the resilient force.
19. The stage system as recited in claim 8 wherein the stage system is used in a planar stage.
20. The stage system as recited in claim 8 wherein the stage system is used in a semiconductor processing system.
21. A method for preventing cable drag forces from acting on a stage, the method comprising:
providing a cable carrier that is movably coupled to the stage, the cable carrier being configured for carrying a cable that is operatively coupled to a device external to the stage;
applying a first force to the cable carrier so as to cancel the cable drag forces acting on the cable carrier; and
applying a second force to the stage so as to move the stage and to cancel the first force acting on the stage.
22. The method as recited in claim 21 further comprising:
providing a control system for outputting the first and second forces, and a position measuring system for determining the positions of the stage and cable carrier.
23. The method as recited in claim 22 further comprising:
measuring an actual position of the cable carrier and the stage with the position measurement system; and
sending positional signals associated with the actual positions of the stage and cable carrier to the control system.
24. The method as recited in claim 23 wherein the first and second forces are determined using the positional signals from the position measuring system.
25. The method as recited in claim 23 further comprising:
comparing the actual position of the stage to a desired position of the stage; and
comparing the actual position of the cable carrier to a desired position of the cable carrier.
26. The method as recited in claim 25 further comprising:
generating a stage force command signal if there is a difference between the actual position of the stage and the desired position of the stage; and
generating a carrier force command signal if there is a difference between the actual position of the carrier and the desired position of the carrier.
27. The method as recited in claim 26 further comprising:
sending the carrier force command signal to a first drive unit;
combining the carrier force command signal with the stage force command signal; and
sending the combined force command signal to a second drive unit.
28. The method as recited in claim 27 wherein the first drive unit applies the first force to the cable carrier via the carrier force command signal, and wherein the second drive unit applies the second force to the stage via the combined command signal.
29. The method as recited in claim 23 further comprising:
comparing the actual position of the stage to a desired position of the stage;
generating a first stage force command signal if there is a difference between the actual position of the stage and the desired position of the stage;
estimating the first force by comparing the actual position of the cable carrier to a desired position of the cable carrier;
generating a second stage force command signal that is based on the estimated first force;
combining the first stage force command signal with the second stage force command signal; and
sending the combined force command signal to a first drive unit, wherein the first drive unit applies the second force to the stage via the combined command signal.
30. The method as recited in claim 29 further comprising:
providing a springdamper device that is configured to apply the first force to the cable carrier.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer program product, comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code comprising:
computer-readable program code configured to receive a case by a question answering system;
computer-readable program code configured to identify a policy relevant in generating a response to the case, wherein the policy contains a set of criteria used in generating the response to the case;
computer-readable program code configured to swap, in the question answering system, the case and the policy, wherein the policy becomes the case, wherein the case becomes a candidate answer for the policy;
computer-readable program code configured to produce, by a first annotator selected from a predefined set of annotators, one or more relevant passages of the case;
computer-readable program code configured to compute a criteria score for a first criterion, of the set of criteria, based on the one or more relevant passages of the case; and
computer-readable program code configured to determine that the first criterion is met by the case when the criteria score for the first criterion exceeds a predefined threshold.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:
computer-readable program code configured to, prior to computing the criteria score, merge the one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer to create a first updated candidate answer; and
computer-readable program code configured to score, by a first scorer, the first updated candidate answer to compute the criteria score for the first criterion.
3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein a size of a text of the received case is too large to be processed by the first scorer, wherein the one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer are produced to allow the question answering system to score the candidate answer with the first scorer.
4. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising:
computer-readable program code configured to process the first updated candidate answer by a second annotator, of the set of annotators, to produce an updated one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer;
computer-readable program code configured to merge the updated one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer to create a second updated candidate answer; and
computer-readable program code configured to score, by a second scorer, the second updated candidate answer to update the criteria score for the first criterion.
5. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising:
computer-readable program code configured to adjust the criteria score for the first criterion based on a confidence score of the first scorer, wherein the confidence score for the first annotator indicates a level of confidence in the criteria score produced by the first scorer.
6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the received case and the policy are swapped to improve performance of the question answering system.
7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the first criterion comprises a concept, wherein the criteria score is based on whether the concept is detected in the candidate answer.
8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the one or more relevant passages comprises a subset of the text of the candidate answer deemed relevant in determining whether the first criterion is met by the candidate answer.
9. A system, comprising:
one or more computer processors; and
a memory containing a program, which, when executed by the one or more computer processors, performs an operation, comprising:
receiving a case by a question answering system;
identifying a policy relevant in generating a response to the case, wherein the policy contains a set of criteria used in generating the response to the case;
swapping, in the question answering system, the case and the policy, wherein the policy becomes the case, wherein the case becomes a candidate answer for the policy;
producing, by a first annotator selected from a predefined set of annotators, one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer;
computing a criteria score for a first criterion, of the set of criteria, based on the one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer; and
determining that the first criterion is met by the candidate answer when the criteria score for the first criterion exceeds a predefined threshold.
10. The system of claim 9, the operation further comprising:
prior to computing the criteria score, merging the one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer to create a first updated candidate answer; and
scoring, by a first scorer, the first updated candidate answer to compute the criteria score for the first criterion.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein a size of a text of the received case is too large to be processed by the first scorer, wherein the one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer are produced to allow the question answering system to score the candidate answer with the first scorer.
12. The system of claim 10, the operation further comprising:
processing the first updated candidate answer by a second annotator, of the set of annotators, to produce an updated one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer;
merging the updated one or more relevant passages of the candidate answer to create a second updated candidate answer; and
scoring, by a second scorer, the second updated candidate answer to update the criteria score for the first criterion.
13. The system of claim 10, the operation further comprising:
adjusting the criteria score for the first criterion based on a confidence score of the first scorer, wherein the confidence score for the first annotator indicates a level of confidence in the criteria score produced by the first scorer.
14. The system of claim 10, wherein the received case and the policy are swapped to improve performance of the question answering system.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first criterion comprises a concept, wherein the criteria score is based on whether the concept is detected in the candidate answer.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more relevant passages comprises a subset of the text of the candidate answer deemed relevant in determining whether the first criterion is met by the candidate answer.