The invention relates to data communication and more particularly to management of data communication between a host computer system and peripheral device in communication with the host computer system.
Many types of peripheral devices connect to a host computer system on which one or more applications execute. Those who manage deployment of peripheral devices, for instance a business entity that owns point-of-sale systems comprising host computer systems attached to barcode scanning peripheral devices, routinely face the need to manage their deployed peripheral devices. Peripheral devices connect to host computer system using a variety of wired and/or wireless communication interfaces, including a wired Universal Serial Bus interface. Typically, peripheral devices utilizing a Universal Serial Bus connection expose a single Universal Serial Bus interface to the host computer. This single interface is commonly owned by a Line of Business application on the host computer, which, in the example involving a barcode scanner peripheral device, typically performs data collection from the scanner. Alternatively, if the scanner device is capable of exposing more than one interface across a physical interface connection, a problem arises when another utility or application desires to manage the scanner over the existing interface since typically none of the interfaces are intended to act as a secondary channel (back door) for scanner device management purposes. Such managing becomes challenging absent interference with normal scanner operation and performance expected by the Line of Business application. For instance, the Line of Business application would release the interface, freeing the interface for a management application to user the scanner, which can be impractical, problematic, and inefficient.
The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantages are provided through a method of managing data communication between a peripheral device and a host computer system, which method includes, for instance, exposing to the host computer system, by a processor of the peripheral device, multiple interfaces for data communication between the peripheral device and the host computer system, the multiple interfaces being exposed over a single physical interface between the peripheral device and the host computer system, the multiple interfaces for communicating data between the peripheral device and multiple applications executing on the host computer system, wherein the multiple interfaces comprise a dedicated management interface facilitating management of the peripheral device by a management application of the multiple applications executing on the host computer system.
Additional features and advantages are realized through the concepts of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed invention.
The features described herein can be better understood with reference to the drawings described below. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the drawings, like numerals are used to indicate like parts throughout the various views.
By way of specific example, peripheral device 100 is an encoded information reading terminal comprising a processor 102 (such as a CPU) and one or more encoded information reading device 104. Encoded information reading device 104 can be provided, e.g. by a bar code reading device, an RFID reading device, and a card reading device. Encoded information reading device 104 can be operative to output one or more of a decoded message decoded from raw signal or a raw signal comprising an encoded message. Shown in the block view as being provided by a separate unit external to processor 102 processing functionality of encoded information device 104 can be provided by processor 102. In operation of peripheral device 100, image signals can be read out of encoded information reading device 104 and stored into a volatile or non-volatile memory (not pictured), such as random access memory, read only memory, or any other type of storage memory. Processor 102 can be adapted to perform various algorithms including reading out image data stored in memory and/or algorithms supporting communication of data across communications link 108 via one or more I/O component(s) 106.
Host 110 similarly includes I/O component(s) 112. I/O components include one or more physical interfaces for communicating data to/from peripheral device 100. These interfaces comprise one or more hardware components. In the example of a Universal Serial Bus communications link, a supporting physical interface comprises a Universal Serial Bus port, as an example.
Host 110 also includes processor 114 (such as a CPU) and memory 116. Memory 116 can include one or more volatile or non-volatile memories of one or more types, such as random access memory, read only memory, or any other type of storage memory, such as a hard disk drive.
Further details of a peripheral device in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention are described with reference to
First interface 206a can be dedicated to device management, that is, it can be dedicated to data communication between one or more management applications on a host computer communicating with peripheral device 200. In this manner, data communications between the one or more management applications are received by peripheral device 200 via first interface 206a. Meanwhile, second interface 206b can be a data collection interface dedicated to communication between peripheral device 200 and another application on a host computer, such as a line of business application executing thereon for data collection. This facilitates both device management and data collection in parallel by separate applications executing on the host computer, without affecting performance or expected operation of the applications, thus simplifying the hardware and software components necessary to achieve this functionality. Further details of a host computer system in communication with a peripheral device in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention are depicted in and described with reference to
In
As is understood by those having ordinary skill in the art, a processor can be configured to execute instructions of a program. Common such programs are an operating system and applications which run on the operating system from memory. In
Application 320a in
In the example of
In one embodiment, dedicated management interface 306a can be a Universal Serial Bus Human Interface Device (USB HID) class interface, for instance a barcode scanner interface, but with a non-standard usage page number that is not appealing to line of business application 320b as a data collection option. By using a non-standard page number (in this example), line of business application 320b will ignore the interface. Using a non-standard page number is just one way of using a non-standard configuration in order to cause line of business application 320b to ignore management interface 306a; there are many other ways of varying this configuration to expose management interface 306a in such as way that is it not appealing to line of business application 320b.
In operation, dedicated management interface 306a can receive special treatment from both management application 320a running on host 310 and from the firmware (not pictured) of peripheral device 300. For instance, on the host side, management application 320a can be configured to recognize management interface 306a, and be able to connect to it, enabling data communication between management application 320a and management interface 306a of peripheral device 300.
On the peripheral device side, commands received from host 310 through dedicated management interface 306a can be replied-to (from peripheral device 300 to host 310) using dedicated management interface 306a, rather than using another interface, such as line of business interface 306b. The opposite is also true: commands received from host 310 through line of business interface 306b can be replied-to using line of business interface 306b. Peripheral device 300 is therefore aware of which interface was the interface though which a command was received and is configured to reply to host 310 using that interface, so that the reply reaches the appropriate host application. This also enables peripheral device 300 to recognize unique commands when coming through dedicated management interface 306a, which may not be valid over line of business interface 306b.
Additionally, peripheral device 300 can send custom unsolicited notifications (i.e.: bar code reading statistics, low battery notifications, etc) over dedicated management interface 306a. These notifications can be provided across management interface 306a and not across line of business interface 306b, if so desired.
Peripheral device 300 can prioritize data communication through the different interfaces. For instance, in case multiple commands arrive concurrently over different interfaces, from applications on the host, peripheral device 300 can give priority to one of the interfaces over the other interface(s). As an example, the peripheral device can give priority to execute data collection events (e.g.: reading a barcode) on line of business interface 306b, so that the application performance of the data collection application (line of business application 320b on host 310) in not affected. Additionally, the peripheral device can be configured to always finish the execution of a request before processing a new request on the same or different interface (i.e.: adhere to the transaction concept to guarantee consistency of data). In this case, the new request, received during execution of a previously received request, may still be accepted and placed in a queue.
In a further enhancement, peripheral device 300 can be selectively configured for exclusive use of any one or more of the multiple interfaces to the host computer system. For instance, peripheral device 300 can include a special operation mode where the dedicated management interface becomes exclusive until the peripheral device is configured otherwise. There are various ways of achieving this including, but not limited to: signaling the host operating system that the other interface(s) are busy, temporarily blocking or placing on hold the other interface(s), or by queuing requests. Alternatively or additionally, the peripheral device could temporarily expose only one interface, such as the dedicated management interface, for exclusive use thereof. It may be important, in these scenarios to avoid reporting an error condition from the other applications, for instance the line of business application. This exclusive use of only the dedicated management interface can be enabled to facilitate performance of a firmware upgrade or peripheral device reconfiguration, as examples. By exclusively using the management interface, without having to worry about the other interface(s), the peripheral device can pay full attention to the particular management operation being requested, without interruption, and enabling it to dedicate the necessary hardware resources of the peripheral device (CPU, memory, etc) to the particular task. This can be advantageous in that, for limited-resource peripheral devices, communication errors are less frequent since the peripheral device is not stressed by trying to process requests on all interfaces.
Aspects of the present invention provide the existence of a dedicated interface with potentially special treatment by the peripheral device and the host computer. Aspects of the present invention can be applied to any type of interface used by a peripheral device, and thus can be applied to other types of interfaces (including those that are not physically limited to be a single interface), for instance Bluetooth™, WiFi™, or ZigBee interfaces.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Referring now to
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
Further, a data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code is usable that includes at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements include, for instance, local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memory which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution.
Input/Output or I/O devices (including, but not limited to, keyboards, displays, pointing devices, DASD, tape, CDs, DVDs, thumb drives and other memory media, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modems, and Ethernet cards are just a few of the available types of network adapters.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising”, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below, if any, are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
A small sample of methods that are described herein is as follows:
A1. A method for managing data communication between a peripheral device and a host computer system, the method comprising: exposing to the host computer system, by a processor of the peripheral device, multiple interfaces for data communication between the peripheral device and the host computer system, the multiple interfaces being exposed over a single physical interface between the peripheral device and the host computer system, the multiple interfaces for communicating data between the peripheral device and multiple applications executing on the host computer system, wherein the multiple interfaces comprise a dedicated management interface facilitating management of the peripheral device by a management application of the multiple applications executing on the host computer system.
A2. The method of A1, wherein the multiple interfaces further comprise a line of business interface for data communication between the peripheral device and a line of business application of the multiple applications, and wherein the dedicated management interface and the line of business interface are exposed separately to the host computer system to facilitate peripheral device management across the dedicated management interface in parallel with data collection across the line of business interface by the line of business application.
A3. The method of A1, wherein the single physical interface comprises a Universal Serial Bus interface.
A4. The method of A3, wherein the peripheral device behaves as a Universal Serial Bus composite device exposing the multiple interfaces responsive to a Universal Serial Bus host enumeration request.
A5. The method of A1, wherein the dedicated management interface comprises a Universal Serial Bus Human Interface Device class interface, wherein the peripheral device exposes the Universal Serial Bus Human Interface Device class interface as having a non-standard configuration so as to be ignored by a line of business application of the multiple applications executing on the host computer system.
A6. The method of A5, wherein the non-standard configuration comprises a non-standard usage page number of the Universal Serial Bus Human Interface Device class interface.
A7. The method of A1, further comprising receiving commands by the peripheral device from the host computer system across the multiple interfaces and responding to the received commands, wherein the peripheral device, in responding to a command, responds to the command across a same interface of the multiple interfaces through which the command was received from the host computer.
A8. The method of A7, wherein the peripheral device is configured to give priority to one interface of the multiple interfaces, responsive to contemporaneously receiving more than one command across more than one interface of the multiple interfaces.
A9. The method of A8, wherein priority is given to a data collection interface of the multiple interfaces over the dedicated management interface of the multiple interfaces, the data collection interface collecting barcode data for provision to a line of business application of the multiple applications executing on the host computer system.
A10. The method of A1, further comprising sending one or more notifications over the dedicated management interface to the host computer system, wherein the one or more notifications are not made available across the other interfaces of the multiple interfaces.
A11. The method of A10, wherein the one or more notifications comprise bar code reading statistics.
A12. The method of A10, wherein the one or more notifications comprise a low battery notification
A13. The method of A1, wherein the peripheral device is selectably configurable to exclusively use of one interface of the multiple interfaces to facilitate performance of at least one of: a firmware upgrade, or a peripheral device reconfiguration.
A14. The method of A13, wherein exclusive use of one interface of the multiple interfaces comprises one of temporarily blocking requests through other interfaces of the multiple interfaces through the period of exclusive use of the one interface, or temporarily queuing requests through other interfaces of the multiple interfaces through the period of exclusive use of the one interface.
A15. The method of A1, wherein the peripheral device is selectably configurable to expose any one or more of the multiple interfaces to the host computer system.
A16. The method of A15, wherein the peripheral device is selectably configurable to expose only the dedicated management interface to facilitate performance of at least one of: a firmware upgrade, or a peripheral device reconfiguration.
A17. The method of A1, wherein the peripheral device is configurable to recognize commands received through the dedicated management interface as being valid, wherein the commands are not recognized as being valid if received through other interfaces of the multiple interfaces.
A18. The method of A1, wherein the single physical interface comprises at least one of: a Bluetooth interface, a WiFi interface, or a ZigBee interface.
A19. The method of A1, wherein the peripheral device comprises an encoded information reading device configured to output a decoded message, wherein data communicated between the peripheral device and the host computer system comprises the decoded message and wherein the decoded message is communicated to a line of business application of the multiple applications executing on the host computer system.
While the present invention has been described with reference to a number of specific embodiments, it will be understood that the true spirit and scope of the invention should be determined only with respect to claims that can be supported by the present specification. Further, while in numerous cases herein wherein systems and apparatuses and methods are described as having a certain number of elements it will be understood that such systems, apparatuses and methods can be practiced with fewer than or greater than the mentioned certain number of elements. Also, while a number of particular embodiments have been described, it will be understood that features and aspects that have been described with reference to each particular embodiment can be used with each remaining particularly described embodiment.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5109486 | Seymour | Apr 1992 | A |
5261044 | Dev et al. | Nov 1993 | A |
5402316 | Volz et al. | Mar 1995 | A |
5463742 | Kobayashi | Oct 1995 | A |
5504921 | Dev et al. | Apr 1996 | A |
5546145 | Bernardi et al. | Aug 1996 | A |
5552959 | Penniman et al. | Sep 1996 | A |
5579001 | Dempsey et al. | Nov 1996 | A |
5579529 | Terrell et al. | Nov 1996 | A |
5579775 | Dempsey et al. | Dec 1996 | A |
5587560 | Crooks et al. | Dec 1996 | A |
5615625 | Cassidy et al. | Apr 1997 | A |
5640953 | Bishop et al. | Jun 1997 | A |
5655081 | Bonnell et al. | Aug 1997 | A |
5687734 | Dempsey et al. | Nov 1997 | A |
5724509 | Starkweather et al. | Mar 1998 | A |
5752917 | Fuchs | May 1998 | A |
5774793 | Cooper et al. | Jun 1998 | A |
5793967 | Simciak et al. | Aug 1998 | A |
5798951 | Cho et al. | Aug 1998 | A |
5805442 | Crater et al. | Sep 1998 | A |
5815735 | Baker | Sep 1998 | A |
5819110 | Motoyama | Oct 1998 | A |
5825617 | Kochis et al. | Oct 1998 | A |
5832244 | Jolley et al. | Nov 1998 | A |
5835733 | Walsh et al. | Nov 1998 | A |
5848253 | Walsh et al. | Dec 1998 | A |
5862349 | Cho et al. | Jan 1999 | A |
5867714 | Todd et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
5875312 | Walsh et al. | Feb 1999 | A |
5878256 | Bealkowski et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
5889964 | Cho et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
5921459 | Heraly et al. | Jul 1999 | A |
5931909 | Taylor | Aug 1999 | A |
5935244 | Swamy et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
5941965 | Moroz et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
5961337 | Kordes | Oct 1999 | A |
5978591 | Bartholomew et al. | Nov 1999 | A |
6032202 | Lea et al. | Feb 2000 | A |
6037788 | Krajec et al. | Mar 2000 | A |
6049454 | Howell et al. | Apr 2000 | A |
6070012 | Eitner et al. | May 2000 | A |
6085244 | Wookey | Jul 2000 | A |
6086430 | Amoni et al. | Jul 2000 | A |
6088752 | Ahern | Jul 2000 | A |
6091602 | Helot | Jul 2000 | A |
6098097 | Dean et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6108717 | Kimura et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6109039 | Hougham et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6142593 | Kim et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6151643 | Cheng et al. | Nov 2000 | A |
6158430 | Pfeiffer et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6160719 | May et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6161133 | Kikinis | Dec 2000 | A |
6171559 | Sanders et al. | Jan 2001 | B1 |
6188572 | Liao et al. | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6195265 | Choi | Feb 2001 | B1 |
6199108 | Casey et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6202209 | Bartholomew et al. | Mar 2001 | B1 |
6226739 | Eagle | May 2001 | B1 |
6240297 | Jadoul | May 2001 | B1 |
6247074 | Shin | Jun 2001 | B1 |
6256691 | Moroz et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6267475 | Lee et al. | Jul 2001 | B1 |
6279059 | Ludtke et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6279154 | Davis | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6285911 | Watts, Jr. et al. | Sep 2001 | B1 |
6297963 | Fogle | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6301106 | Helot et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6311321 | Agnihotri et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6324692 | Fiske | Nov 2001 | B1 |
6330597 | Collin et al. | Dec 2001 | B2 |
6341274 | Leon | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6341320 | Watts, Jr. et al. | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6360362 | Fichtner et al. | Mar 2002 | B1 |
6378128 | Edelstein et al. | Apr 2002 | B1 |
6407335 | Franklin-Lees et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6407915 | Derocher et al. | Jun 2002 | B1 |
6425126 | Branson et al. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6442639 | McElhattan et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
6452325 | Dupont | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6457076 | Cheng et al. | Sep 2002 | B1 |
6461181 | Goh et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6467088 | alSafadi et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6477588 | Yerazunis et al. | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6484315 | Ziese | Nov 2002 | B1 |
6489932 | Chitturi et al. | Dec 2002 | B1 |
6505121 | Russell | Jan 2003 | B1 |
6506009 | Nulman et al. | Jan 2003 | B1 |
6511031 | Lin | Jan 2003 | B2 |
6519143 | Goko | Feb 2003 | B1 |
6539358 | Coon et al. | Mar 2003 | B1 |
6542943 | Cheng et al. | Apr 2003 | B2 |
6558049 | Shin | May 2003 | B1 |
6560643 | Shepherd et al. | May 2003 | B1 |
6560660 | Flanagin | May 2003 | B1 |
6584336 | Ali et al. | Jun 2003 | B1 |
6584499 | Jantz et al. | Jun 2003 | B1 |
6587874 | Golla et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
6593528 | Franklin-Lees et al. | Jul 2003 | B2 |
6594534 | Crowell | Jul 2003 | B1 |
6606678 | Nakamura | Aug 2003 | B1 |
6614979 | Bourdeau | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6615405 | Goldman et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
6628517 | Helot et al. | Sep 2003 | B1 |
6633482 | Rode | Oct 2003 | B2 |
6658659 | Hiller et al. | Dec 2003 | B2 |
6668296 | Dougherty et al. | Dec 2003 | B1 |
6683786 | Yin et al. | Jan 2004 | B2 |
6684241 | Sandick et al. | Jan 2004 | B1 |
6697032 | Chitturi et al. | Feb 2004 | B2 |
6722192 | Benedict et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6725260 | Philyaw | Apr 2004 | B1 |
6725281 | Zintel et al. | Apr 2004 | B1 |
6728956 | Ono | Apr 2004 | B2 |
6742025 | Jennery et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6751681 | Torii et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6754723 | Kato | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6760761 | Sciacca | Jul 2004 | B1 |
6763403 | Cheng et al. | Jul 2004 | B2 |
6766175 | Uchiyama | Jul 2004 | B2 |
6766956 | Boylan, III et al. | Jul 2004 | B1 |
6770028 | Ali et al. | Aug 2004 | B1 |
6772264 | Dayan et al. | Aug 2004 | B1 |
6778824 | Wonak et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6779068 | Kim | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6784855 | Matthews et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
6806813 | Cheng et al. | Oct 2004 | B1 |
6832082 | Ramaswamy et al. | Dec 2004 | B1 |
6832373 | O'Neill | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6833787 | Levi | Dec 2004 | B1 |
6833989 | Helot et al. | Dec 2004 | B2 |
6850158 | Williams | Feb 2005 | B1 |
6854112 | Crespo et al. | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6857013 | Ramberg et al. | Feb 2005 | B2 |
6863210 | Becker et al. | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6864891 | Myers | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6868468 | Boz et al. | Mar 2005 | B2 |
6886104 | McClurg et al. | Apr 2005 | B1 |
6889263 | Motoyama | May 2005 | B2 |
6895261 | Palamides | May 2005 | B1 |
6895445 | Ying et al. | May 2005 | B2 |
6898080 | Yin et al. | May 2005 | B2 |
6904457 | Goodman | Jun 2005 | B2 |
6907603 | Scott | Jun 2005 | B2 |
6915514 | Machida | Jul 2005 | B1 |
6920631 | Delo | Jul 2005 | B2 |
6928493 | Motoyama | Aug 2005 | B2 |
6944854 | Kehne et al. | Sep 2005 | B2 |
6944858 | Luu | Sep 2005 | B2 |
6954142 | Lieberman et al. | Oct 2005 | B2 |
6955517 | Nulman et al. | Oct 2005 | B2 |
6959172 | Becker et al. | Oct 2005 | B2 |
6961586 | Barbosa et al. | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6966058 | Earl et al. | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6968550 | Branson et al. | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6970952 | Motoyama | Nov 2005 | B2 |
6973799 | Kuehl et al. | Dec 2005 | B2 |
6976062 | Denby et al. | Dec 2005 | B1 |
6981086 | Wetzel et al. | Dec 2005 | B2 |
6987988 | Uchiyama | Jan 2006 | B2 |
6990549 | Main et al. | Jan 2006 | B2 |
6990660 | Moshir et al. | Jan 2006 | B2 |
6993615 | Falcon | Jan 2006 | B2 |
6993760 | Peev et al. | Jan 2006 | B2 |
6996634 | Herrod et al. | Feb 2006 | B1 |
6999898 | King et al. | Feb 2006 | B2 |
7000035 | Uchizono et al. | Feb 2006 | B1 |
7000228 | Mortazavi | Feb 2006 | B2 |
7003560 | Mullen et al. | Feb 2006 | B1 |
7013331 | Das | Mar 2006 | B2 |
7020571 | Lee | Mar 2006 | B2 |
7024189 | Wonak et al. | Apr 2006 | B2 |
7039688 | Matsuda et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
7043537 | Pratt | May 2006 | B1 |
7054423 | Nebiker et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
7054977 | Kadambi et al. | May 2006 | B2 |
7069006 | Wonak et al. | Jun 2006 | B2 |
7072675 | Kanakubo | Jul 2006 | B1 |
7076536 | Chiloyan et al. | Jul 2006 | B2 |
7080371 | Arnaiz et al. | Jul 2006 | B1 |
7085805 | Ruberg et al. | Aug 2006 | B1 |
7085824 | Forth et al. | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7086049 | Goodman | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7089551 | Fordemwalt et al. | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7099152 | Gasbarro et al. | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7100271 | Baulier | Sep 2006 | B2 |
7107380 | Mohan | Sep 2006 | B1 |
7111055 | Falkner | Sep 2006 | B2 |
7114021 | Seshadri | Sep 2006 | B2 |
7117239 | Hansen | Oct 2006 | B1 |
7117286 | Falcon | Oct 2006 | B2 |
7130896 | Engel et al. | Oct 2006 | B2 |
7133939 | Desai et al. | Nov 2006 | B1 |
7149792 | Hansen et al. | Dec 2006 | B1 |
7159016 | Baker | Jan 2007 | B2 |
7185014 | Hansen | Feb 2007 | B1 |
7188160 | Champagne et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7188171 | Srinivasan et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7191435 | Lau et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7194526 | Kanemitsu | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7209971 | Dabagh et al. | Apr 2007 | B1 |
7216343 | Das et al. | May 2007 | B2 |
7272711 | Suda et al. | Sep 2007 | B2 |
7289995 | Motoyama et al. | Oct 2007 | B2 |
7290258 | Steeb et al. | Oct 2007 | B2 |
7316013 | Kawano et al. | Jan 2008 | B2 |
7409478 | Kreiner et al. | Aug 2008 | B2 |
7413129 | Fruhauf | Aug 2008 | B2 |
7543080 | Schade | Jun 2009 | B2 |
7725627 | Crain, II et al. | May 2010 | B2 |
7743174 | Remaker et al. | Jun 2010 | B2 |
7769914 | Kim et al. | Aug 2010 | B2 |
7843915 | Kashyap | Nov 2010 | B2 |
7857222 | Kosecki et al. | Dec 2010 | B2 |
7966622 | Purser et al. | Jun 2011 | B1 |
7996896 | Durie | Aug 2011 | B2 |
8000266 | Bulusu et al. | Aug 2011 | B2 |
8025233 | Kosecki et al. | Sep 2011 | B2 |
8297508 | Kosecki et al. | Oct 2012 | B2 |
20010042112 | Slivka et al. | Nov 2001 | A1 |
20020073304 | Marsh et al. | Jun 2002 | A1 |
20020083160 | Middleton | Jun 2002 | A1 |
20020086703 | Dimenstein et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020087392 | Stevens | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020087668 | San Martin et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020087960 | Hisatake | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020092008 | Kehne et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020092013 | Delo | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020094208 | Palumbo | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020095484 | Pagani et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020100036 | Moshir et al. | Jul 2002 | A1 |
20020109665 | Matthews et al. | Aug 2002 | A1 |
20020129350 | Wang et al. | Sep 2002 | A1 |
20020129355 | Velten et al. | Sep 2002 | A1 |
20020147974 | Wookey | Oct 2002 | A1 |
20020184349 | Manukyan | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20020184350 | Chen | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20020187024 | Nulman | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20020191940 | Bourdeau | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20020198969 | Engel et al. | Dec 2002 | A1 |
20030018694 | Chen et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030031539 | Nulman et al. | Feb 2003 | A1 |
20030046675 | Cheng et al. | Mar 2003 | A1 |
20030051235 | Simpson | Mar 2003 | A1 |
20030059022 | Nebiker et al. | Mar 2003 | A1 |
20030084436 | Berger et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030088651 | Wilson, Jr. | May 2003 | A1 |
20030097427 | Parry | May 2003 | A1 |
20030111245 | Haggerty | Jun 2003 | A1 |
20030154471 | Teachman et al. | Aug 2003 | A1 |
20030188306 | Harris et al. | Oct 2003 | A1 |
20030198015 | Vogt | Oct 2003 | A1 |
20030217357 | Parry | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20030217358 | Thurston et al. | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20030221190 | Deshpande et al. | Nov 2003 | A1 |
20030225939 | Ying et al. | Dec 2003 | A1 |
20040002943 | Merrill et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040015949 | Taylor | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20040020974 | Becker et al. | Feb 2004 | A1 |
20040024933 | Billington et al. | Feb 2004 | A1 |
20040049233 | Edwards | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040050247 | Topping | Mar 2004 | A1 |
20040078502 | Hsin et al. | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20040083471 | Nam et al. | Apr 2004 | A1 |
20040098571 | Falcon | May 2004 | A1 |
20040103172 | Chen et al. | May 2004 | A1 |
20040123281 | Olrik et al. | Jun 2004 | A1 |
20040127210 | Shostak | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040139757 | Kuehl et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040143032 | Auschra et al. | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040148600 | Hoshino | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040154014 | Bunger | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040168167 | Ono | Aug 2004 | A1 |
20040176072 | Gellens | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040177380 | Hamel et al. | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040181593 | Kanojia et al. | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040192329 | Barbosa et al. | Sep 2004 | A1 |
20040199615 | Philyaw | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040205709 | Hiltgen et al. | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040210897 | Brockway et al. | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040212822 | Schinner | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040216099 | Okita et al. | Oct 2004 | A1 |
20040235532 | Matthews et al. | Nov 2004 | A1 |
20040243991 | Gustafson et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040243995 | Sheehy | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040255023 | Motoyama et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040268340 | Steeb et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20050044544 | Slivka et al. | Feb 2005 | A1 |
20050050538 | Kawamata et al. | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050052156 | Liebenow | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050060862 | Baulier | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050065822 | Ying et al. | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20050086328 | Landram et al. | Apr 2005 | A1 |
20050093821 | Massie et al. | May 2005 | A1 |
20050097543 | Hirayama | May 2005 | A1 |
20050097544 | Kim | May 2005 | A1 |
20050108700 | Chen et al. | May 2005 | A1 |
20050132348 | Meulemans et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050132349 | Roberts et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050132350 | Markley et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050132351 | Randall et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050144612 | Wang et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050144614 | Moslander et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
20050159847 | Shah et al. | Jul 2005 | A1 |
20050204353 | Ji | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050210458 | Moriyama et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050210459 | Henderson et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050210466 | Carter et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
20050223372 | Borchers | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050223373 | Gage et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050229171 | Henry et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050235076 | Winarski et al. | Oct 2005 | A1 |
20050246703 | Ahonen | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050251799 | Wang | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050254776 | Morrison et al. | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050257205 | Costea et al. | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050257209 | Adams et al. | Nov 2005 | A1 |
20050273229 | Steinmeier et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20050278001 | Qin et al. | Dec 2005 | A1 |
20060010437 | Marolia | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060013646 | Baulier et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060029489 | Nulman et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060031617 | Falcon | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060031828 | Won et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060041881 | Adkasthala | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060049677 | Lawrence et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060069813 | Biamonte et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060070055 | Hodder et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060082965 | Walker et al. | Apr 2006 | A1 |
20060106965 | Falcon | May 2006 | A1 |
20060130037 | Mackay | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060132964 | Lau et al. | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060136893 | Blossom et al. | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060142129 | Siaperas | Jun 2006 | A1 |
20060149321 | Merry et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060149322 | Merry et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060149323 | Merry et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060150177 | Liu et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060156302 | Yamamoto et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060168578 | Vorlicek | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060168581 | Goger et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20060172873 | Beard | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060179431 | Devanathan et al. | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060200812 | Mizutani et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20060206888 | Mavrinac et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20060218545 | Taguchi | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20060236518 | Baulier | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20060238384 | Hess et al. | Oct 2006 | A1 |
20060248522 | Lakshminarayanan et al. | Nov 2006 | A1 |
20060248524 | Seely | Nov 2006 | A1 |
20070006207 | Appaji | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070006213 | Shahidzadeh et al. | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070006214 | Dubal et al. | Jan 2007 | A1 |
20070038990 | White et al. | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20070055969 | Yang | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070055970 | Sakuda et al. | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070074201 | Lee | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070083630 | Roth et al. | Apr 2007 | A1 |
20070169073 | O'Neill et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070169089 | Bantz et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070169090 | Kang | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070169092 | Lee | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070169093 | Logan et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070174834 | Purkeypile et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
20070220505 | Bukovec et al. | Sep 2007 | A1 |
20070234331 | Schow et al. | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20070245333 | Ferlitsch | Oct 2007 | A1 |
20090045922 | Kosecki et al. | Feb 2009 | A1 |
20090132737 | Huang et al. | May 2009 | A1 |
20090328075 | Herskedal et al. | Dec 2009 | A1 |
20100095019 | Hannel et al. | Apr 2010 | A1 |
20100268857 | Bauman et al. | Oct 2010 | A1 |
20110090057 | Kosecki et al. | Apr 2011 | A1 |
20120000984 | Kosecki et al. | Jan 2012 | A1 |
20130013936 | Lin et al. | Jan 2013 | A1 |
20130091310 | Caballero | Apr 2013 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
WO0217073 | Feb 2002 | WO |
WO2005033964 | Apr 2005 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Apr. 2, 2013 Office Action in U.S. Application No. 13/267,342. En. |
Jul. 2, 2013 Amendment filed in U.S. Application No. 13/267,342. En. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20130091311 A1 | Apr 2013 | US |