All The Claims

1. A system, comprising:
a first memory configured to store first metadata to associate logical addresses with physical addresses;
a second memory having the physical addresses, wherein the second memory is configured to
store first data based on the physical addresses of the second memory, and
store portions of the first metadata i) in response to a status of a predetermined group of the physical addresses being changed, and ii) regardless of whether the system is being powered down; and

a recovery module configured to, in response to a determination that the system was powered down improperly, update the first metadata stored in the first memory based on the portions of the first metadata stored in the second memory,
wherein the first metadata includes a first lookup table to associate the logical addresses with the physical addresses of the second memory,
wherein the first metadata includes a second lookup table to associate the physical addresses of the second memory with the logical addresses,
wherein the predetermined group of the physical addresses is a wide erase block unit (WERU),
wherein the first metadata includes identifiers for a plurality of WERUs, and wherein the identifiers correspond to respective bins, and
wherein the first metadata includes an activity log to indicate when a first identifier for one of the plurality of WERUs is changed.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first memory includes volatile memory, and the second memory includes a flash memory module.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the bins include a working bin, a partial bin, a valid bin, and a free bin.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second memory stores the portions of the first metadata when the first identifier is changed.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the portions of the first metadata include portions of the second lookup table associated with the one of the plurality of WERUs.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the recovery module updates the first lookup table based on (i) the portions of the second lookup table and (ii) the activity log.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the recovery module retrieves the portions of the second lookup table and the activity log from the second memory when the system powers up.
8. A method for operating a device, the method comprising:
storing, in a first memory, first metadata that associates logical addresses with physical addresses, wherein the physical addresses are associated with a second memory;
storing, in the second memory, first data based on the physical addresses of the second memory;
storing portions of the first metadata in the second memory i) in response to a status of a predetermined group of the physical addresses being changed, and ii) regardless of whether the device is powered down;
in response to a determination that the device was powered down improperly, updating the first metadata stored in the first memory based on the portions of the first metadata stored in the second memory;
associating the logical address with the physical addresses of the second memory based on a first lookup table included in the first metadata;
associating the physical addresses of the second memory with the logical addresses based on a second lookup table included in the first metadata,
wherein the predetermined group of the physical addresses is a wide erase block unit (WERU), and
wherein the first metadata includes identifiers for a plurality of WERUs, and wherein the identifiers correspond to respective bins; and
indicating when a first identifier for one of the plurality of WERUs is changed using an activity log included in the first metadata.
9. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the portions of the first metadata in the second memory when the first identifier is changed.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the portions of the first metadata include portions of the second lookup table associated with the one of the plurality of WERUs.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising updating the first lookup table based on the portions of the second lookup table and the activity log.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising retrieving the portions of the second lookup table and the activity log from the second memory when the device powers up.

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 method for scanning a semiconductor wafer, comprising the steps of:
scanning the wafer with a plurality of scan lines by creating a relative motion between a camera and the wafer,
acquiring images of regions on the wafer with the camera at a scanning speed in a direction of one scan line,
changing from a current scan line to a new scan line that is to be scanned next, by:
providing a deceleration of the relative motion in the scan line direction in the scan line until that relative motion comes to a standstill, and
providing acceleration in the opposite scan line direction until the scanning speed is reached, and

superimposing at least partially the acceleration and subsequent deceleration of a relative motion between the camera and wafer the until the new scan line is reached.
2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the decelerating and accelerating of the relative motion in the scan line direction and perpendicular thereto begin, at the earliest, after imaging of a last region of the current scan line that is to be imaged; and the scanning speed in the opposite scan line direction is reached, and the relative speed perpendicular to the scan lines goes to zero, at the latest upon reaching a region that is to be imaged next.
3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the decelerating and accelerating of the relative motion in the scan line direction and perpendicular thereto begin, at the earliest, after imaging of a last region of the current scan line that is to be imaged; or the scanning speed in the opposite scan line direction is reached, and the relative speed perpendicular to the scan lines goes to zero, at the latest upon reaching a region that is to be imaged next.
4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the deceleration in the scan line direction and the acceleration perpendicular to the scan lines begin simultaneously, and the acceleration in the scan line direction and the deceleration perpendicular to the scan lines are completed simultaneously.
5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the deceleration in the scan line direction begins even before imaging of a region that is the last to be imaged in the current scan line.
6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the scanning speed in the opposite scan line direction is reached only after a region to be imaged next in the new scan line is reached.
7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the greatest relative speed perpendicular to the scan lines is reached upon reaching a relative speed of zero in the scan line direction.
8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the acceleration values upon deceleration and acceleration in and perpendicular to the scan line direction are modified continuously.
9. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein regions on the wafer adjacent to one another in the scan line direction are imaged with the camera.
10. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein regions adjacent to one another on the wafer are imaged in such a way that their images partially overlap.
11. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the wafer is completely scanned, and images of the entire surface of the wafer are acquired.
12. The method as defined in claim 11, wherein regions adjacent to one another on the wafer (1) are imaged in such a way that their images partially overlap.
13. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the camera defines a rectangularly configured image field having a short side an the short side of the image field is oriented parallel to the scan line direction.
14. An apparatus for scanning a semiconductor wafer in plurality of scan lines comprising: a camera for on-the-fly acquisition of images of a plurality of regions on the wafer, means for generating a relative motion between the camera and the wafer thereby defining a scanning speed in a direction of the scan line, a control device with which, upon a changeover from a current scan line to a new scan line that is to be scanned next, a deceleration of the relative motion in the direction of the scan line is carried out until that relative motion comes to a standstill, and a subsequent acceleration in an opposite direction of the scan line is carried out until the scanning speed is reached, and the control device performs a superimposition on that relative motion with regard to acceleration and subsequent deceleration of a relative motion between camera and wafer perpendicular to the scan lines until the new scan line is reached.
15. The apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein in the context of a rectangularly configured image field of the camera, a short side of the rectangle of the image field is oriented parallel to the scan line direction.
16. The apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein a scanning stage is provided, on which the wafer (1) is placeable and securable and with which the relative motion with reference to a stationary camera is performable.
17. An apparatus for scanning a semiconductor wafer comprising: a camera for on-the-fly acquisition of images with an image field of a plurality of regions on the wafer, a plurality of scan lines are defined and the wafer is divided into that plurality of scan lines, means for scanning the wafer with a scanning speed in a scan line direction as a relative motion between the camera and the wafer, the image field of the camera has a rectangular configuration, and a short side of the rectangular configuration of the image field is oriented parallel to the scan line direction.

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the processor configured to control polling of a device based on a set of polling control regions configured to control polling of the device, the set of polling control regions being defined at least one of based on a set of multiple control parameters or based on non-parametric control information, the set of polling control regions comprising at least two polling control regions, the processor configured to:
receive, while in a current polling control region of the set of polling control regions, input information comprising at least one of a set of values associated with the set of multiple control parameters or non-parametric input information, wherein the current polling control region comprises an indication of information to be collected from the device;
determine a target polling control region, from the set of polling control regions, based on the input information; and
determine a transition within the set of polling control regions based on the current polling control region and the target polling control region.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the target polling control region comprises an indication of information to be collected from the device, wherein the information to be collected from the device of the current polling control region and the information to be collected from the device of the target polling control region are different.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication of the information to be collected from the device comprises an indication of a first type of information to be collected from the device, wherein the target polling control region comprises an indication of a second type of information to be collected from the device, wherein the first type of information and the second type of information are different.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of polling control regions is defined based on at least one of:
partitioning the set of multiple control parameters into the set of polling control regions;
decomposing the set of multiple control parameters into multiple subsets of control parameters and mapping the multiple subsets of control parameters into the set of polling control regions; or
categorizing non-parametric control information to form the set of polling control regions.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein partitioning of the set of multiple control parameters into the set of polling control regions is based on at least one of:
a set of partition boundaries defined by at least one equation based on two or more control parameters in the set of multiple control parameters; or
a set of thresholds associated with at least one of the control parameters in the set of multiple control parameters.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein partitioning of the set of multiple control parameters into the set of polling control regions is based on:
for one of the control parameters of the set of multiple control parameters:
a first set of thresholds for use in controlling upward transitions based on the one of the control parameters; and
a second set of thresholds for use in controlling downward transitions based on the one of the control parameters.
7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the non-parametric control information comprises at least one of a set of keywords and a set of phrases.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of polling control regions is defined based on:
decomposing the set of multiple control parameters into multiple subsets of control parameters; and
for at least one of the subsets of control parameters including at least two control parameters from the set of multiple control parameters, partitioning the subset of control parameters to form at least two of the polling control regions.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one control parameter from the set of multiple control parameters comprises a combined control parameter defined based on a combination of at least two input control parameters.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the combination of the at least two input control parameters comprises at least one of:
a linear combination of at least a portion of the at least two input control parameters;
a weighted linear combination of at least a portion of the at least two input control parameters;
a combination of higher-order terms of at least a portion of the at least two input control parameters; or
a general function of at least a portion of the at least two input control parameters.
11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the non-parametric input information comprises at least one of a keyword, a phrase, or a text string.
12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the target polling control region based on at least one of evaluation of the set of values associated with the set of multiple control parameters or evaluation of the non-parametric input information.
13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the transition within the set of polling control regions based on transition control logic that is configured to support at least one of:
an immediate up-shift transition from the current polling control region to a higher polling control region; or
a controlled down-shift transition from the current polling control region to a lower polling control region.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transition control logic is configured to support the controlled down-shift transition from the current polling control region to the target polling control region based on at least one of a timer, a counter, or a threshold.
15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the transition within the set of polling control regions based on transition control logic configured to support at least one of:
a strict downward transition policy in which a downward transition from the current polling control region is required to be a transition to a next lower polling control region; or
a loose downward transition policy in which a downward transition from the current polling control region is not required to be a transition to a next lower polling control region.
16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a transition within the set of polling control regions based on the current polling control region and the target polling control region by:
determining whether the target polling control region is the current polling control region, a lower polling control region below the current polling control region, or a higher polling control region above the current polling control region.
17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the polling control regions have respective sets of polling control logic associated therewith, the respective polling control logic of at least two of the polling control regions being based on different polling control mechanisms.
18. A method, comprising:
using a processor and a memory for:
controlling polling of a device based on a set of polling control regions configured to control polling of the device, the set of polling control regions being defined at least one of based on a set of multiple control parameters or based on non-parametric control information, the set of polling control regions comprising at least two polling control regions, wherein controlling polling of the device comprises:
receiving, while in a current polling control region of the set of polling control regions, input information comprising at least one of a set of values associated with the set of multiple control parameters or non-parametric input information, wherein the current polling control region comprises an indication of information to be collected from the device;
determining a target polling control region, from the set of polling control regions, based on the input information; and
determining a transition within the set of polling control regions based on the current polling control region and the target polling control region.
19. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor and a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the processor configured to control polling of a device based on a set of polling control regions configured to control polling of the device, the set of polling control regions being defined at least one of based on a set of multiple control parameters or based on non-parametric control information, the set of polling control regions comprising at least two polling control regions, the processor configured to:
receive, while in a current polling control region of the set of polling control regions, input information comprising at least one of a set of values associated with the set of multiple control parameters or non-parametric input information;
determine a target polling control region, from the set of polling control regions, based on the input information; and
determine a transition within the set of polling control regions based on the current polling control region and the target polling control region;

wherein the non-parametric control information comprises at least one of a keyword, a set of keywords, a phrase, or a set of phrases.
20. A method, comprising:
using a processor and a memory for:
controlling polling of a device based on a set of polling control regions configured to control polling of the device, the set of polling control regions being defined at least one of based on a set of multiple control parameters or based on non-parametric control information, the set of polling control regions comprising at least two polling control regions, wherein controlling polling of the device comprises:
receiving, while in a current polling control region of the set of polling control regions, input information comprising at least one of a set of values associated with the set of multiple control parameters or non-parametric input information;
determining a target polling control region, from the set of polling control regions, based on the input information; and
determining a transition within the set of polling control regions based on the current polling control region and the target polling control region;

wherein the non-parametric control information comprises at least one of a keyword, a set of keywords, a phrase, or a set of phrases.
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 method for testing the authenticity of documents wherein a document (10) is tested by authenticity criteria, characterized in that
at least two different authenticity classes each with one or more authenticity criteria are provided, the individual authenticity classes differing in at least one authenticity criterion, so that requirements for authenticity vary in strictness depending on the authenticity class,
an authenticity class is selected from the different authenticity classes and the document (10) tested by the authenticity criteria of the selected authenticity class, and
the document (10) is assigned the selected authenticity class if the document (10) meets the authenticity criteria thereof.
2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that if the authenticity criteria of the selected authenticity class are not met a further authenticity class is selected and the authenticity testing repeated by the authenticity criteria of the selected further authenticity class.
3. A method according to any of the above claims, characterized in that the fitness andor denomination of the document (10) is determined and the authenticity class then selected in dependence on the fitness andor denomination of the document (10).
4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the fitness of the document (10) is dividable into fitness classes, the document (10) is assigned a fitness class corresponding to the fitness and the authenticity class for testing the authenticity of the document (10) is selected in dependence on the fitness class assigned to the document (10).
5. A method according to any of the above claims, characterized in that the individual documents (10) are sorted in accordance with the particular assigned authenticity class.
6. A method according to claim 5, characterized in that the individual documents (10) are sorted additionally in accordance with their fitness, optionally their fitness class, andor their denomination.
7. A method according to either of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that the documents (10) are sorted and thereby divided into one or more sorting classes, a first sorting class receiving the documents (10) that have high fitness (ATM-fit), were assigned a certain authenticity class and are in a desired position andor belong to a desired denomination.
8. A method according to claim 7, characterized in that a second sorting class receives the documents (10) that were not assigned any of the authenticity classes andor are not in the desired position andor do not belong to a desired denomination.
9. A method according to claim 8, characterized in that a third sorting class receives all other documents (10) not divided into the first or second sorting class.
10. A method according to any of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the documents (10) divided into the first sorting class are provided for a further immediate use.
11. A method according to either of claims 9 and 10, characterized in that the documents (10) divided into the third sorting class are transferred to a testing device (35) and subjected there to further authenticity testing, in particular using further authenticity criteria.
12. A method according to claim 11, characterized in that those of the documents (10) tested in the central testing device (35) that are fit or ATM-fit and meet the authenticity criteria of authenticity testing in the central testing unit (35) are provided for a further use.
13. A method according to any of the above claims, characterized in that the documents (10) are inputted by a depositor and supplied to authenticity testing, and data identifying the depositor and characteristic data of the inputted documents (10) are stored together.
14. A method for testing the authenticity of documents, in particular according to any of the above claims, wherein
a document (10) is tested by authenticity criteria, and
the document (10) is classified as authentic if the authenticity criteria are met,
characterized in that at least a portion of the authenticity criteria used for authenticity testing is determined on counterfeit documents (10).
15. A method according to claim 14, characterized in that the authenticity testing is performed in a test station (30) and at least one portion of the authenticity criteria used for authenticity testing in the test station (30) is determined in a control device (31) on counterfeit documents (10).
16. A method according to claim 15, characterized in that information about the authenticity criteria determined on counterfeit documents (10) is transferred from the control device (31) to the test station (30).
17. A method according to claim 16, characterized in that the information transferred from the control device (31) to the test station (30) relates to characteristic differences between a counterfeit and an authentic document (10).
18. An apparatus for testing the authenticity of documents, in particular bank notes, documents of value or security documents, having
at least one measuring device (15) for measuring at least one authenticity feature on a document (10) under test, and
at least one evaluation device (16) for testing the measured authenticity feature by authenticity criteria,
characterized in that the evaluation device (16) is formed for testing the authenticity of the document (10) by authenticity criteria of an authenticity class selected from a plurality of different authenticity classes, whereby
the authenticity classes each include one or more authenticity criteria and differ in at least one authenticity criterion, so that requirements for authenticity vary in strictness depending on the authenticity class, and
the document (10) is assigned the selected authenticity class if the document (10) meets the authenticity criteria thereof.
19. An apparatus according to claim 18, characterized in that the measuring device (15) is formed for measuring at least one fitness feature that characterizes the fitness of a document (10) under test, and the evaluation device (16) is formed for determining the fitness of the document (10) from the measured fitness feature and for selecting the authenticity class in dependence on the determined fitness of the document (10).
20. An apparatus according to either of claims 18 and 19, characterized in that an output device (12) is provided for outputting documents (10) sorted according to authenticity class andor fitness andor denomination.
21. An apparatus for testing the authenticity of documents, in particular bank notes, documents of value or security documents, having
at least one measuring device (15) for measuring at least one authenticity feature on a document (10) under test, and
at least one evaluation device (16) for testing the measured authenticity feature by authenticity criteria,
characterized in that the evaluation device (16) is formed for testing the authenticity of the document (10) by authenticity criteria determined on counterfeit documents (10).
22. An apparatus according to claim 21, characterized in that a control device (31) is provided that is formed for determining the authenticity criteria on counterfeit documents (10) and from which information on the authenticity criteria determined on counterfeit documents (10) is transferable to the evaluation device (16).