1. A method for forming a layout pattern, comprising the steps of:
(a) forming a plurality of loop-shaped patterns in a layer over a substrate, wherein the loop-shaped patterns comprise a plurality of loop-shaped feature patterns belonging to the layout pattern and a plurality of loop-shaped dummy patterns not belonging to the layout pattern, and the loop-shaped feature patterns and the loop-shaped dummy patterns have a first dimension; and
(b) after the step (a), forming a plurality of geometric patterns in another layer over the substrate, wherein the geometric patterns comprises a plurality of pad patterns belonging to the layout pattern and a plurality of dummy pad patterns not belonging to the layout pattern, and the dummy pad patterns have a second dimension, wherein the second dimension is greater than the first dimension.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein shapes of the dummy pad patterns are rectangles.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometric patterns covers portions of the loop-shaped patterns.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the geometric patterns are made of photoresist.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second dimension is greater than 1 micrometer.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pad patterns overlap portions of the loop-shaped feature patterns.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the dummy pad patterns are uniformly distributed around a periphery of the loop-shaped feature patterns and the loop-shaped dummy patterns.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of (c) transferring the loop-shaped patterns and the geometric patterns into a target layer on the substrate.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step (c) comprises an anisotropic etching process.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein dimension of each of the pad patterns is greater than dimension of each of the dummy pad patterns.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein a plurality of the dummy pad patterns are uniformly distributed around a periphery of each of the pad patterns.
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 presenting content comprising:
aggregating endpoint metadata for each of a plurality of endpoint computing devices in a computing system and content metadata of content stored on each endpoint computing device;
receiving a request for a content item on a selected endpoint computing device;
querying aggregated endpoint metadata and content metadata to find instances of the content item and corresponding endpoint computing device locations; and
selecting an instance of the content item for playback by the selected endpoint computing device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregated endpoint metadata and content metadata are stored at cloud storage accessible by each endpoint computing device in the computing system.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregated endpoint metadata and content metadata are stored at each endpoint computing device in the computing system.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating a ranked list of instances of the content item based on selection criteria; and
selecting a highest-ranked instance of the content item from the ranked list for playback by the selected endpoint computing device.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein selection criteria includes selected endpoint computing device capability.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein selection criteria includes service andor user cost.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein selection criteria includes endpoint computing device availability andor instance availability, connectivity speedrate, andor network proximitylatency of an endpoint computing device on which a instance of the content item is stored.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein endpoint metadata includes one or more of endpoint computing device capability, online status, connectivity speedrate, and network location and content metadata includes one or more of access restrictions, encoding bit rate, format, and playback state.
9. A system comprising:
a plurality of endpoint computing devices in communication, each endpoint computing device comprising:
a location aware playback module configured to receive a request for a content item on a selected endpoint computing device, query a data storage of aggregated endpoint metadata for each of the plurality of endpoint computing devices and content metadata of content stored on each endpoint computing device of the plurality of endpoint computing devices to find instances of the content item and corresponding endpoint computing device locations, generate a ranked list of instances of the content item, retrieved from querying the data storage, based on selection criteria, and select a instance of the content item from the ranked list for playback by the selected endpoint computing device.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the data storage of aggregated endpoint metadata and content data is stored in a computing cloud and accessible by each of the plurality of endpoint computing devices.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the data storage of aggregated endpoint metadata and content data is stored on each of the plurality of endpoint computing devices.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein playback includes receiving a copy of a selected instance of the content item at the endpoint computing device via a native application executable by the endpoint computing device.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the copy of the selected instance of the content item is stored on another endpoint computing device that is directly connected to the endpoint computing device.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the copy of the selected instance of the content item is stored on another endpoint computing device that is connected to the endpoint computing device via a local area network.
15. The system of claim 9, wherein playback includes streaming a selected instance of the content item to the endpoint computing device via a web application programming interface.
16. The system of claim 9, wherein selection criteria includes selected endpoint computing device capability, service andor user cost, endpoint computing device availability andor instance availability, connectivity speedrate, andor network proximitylatency of an endpoint computing device on which an instance of the content item is stored.
17. The system of claim 9, wherein endpoint metadata includes endpoint computing device capability, online status, connectivity speedrate, and network location, and content metadata includes access restrictions, encoding bit rate, format, and playback state.
18. A data-storage device holding instructions executable by a processing device to:
aggregate endpoint metadata including endpoint computing device capability, online status, connectivity speedrate, and network location for each of a plurality of endpoint computing devices in a computing system and content metadata including access restrictions, encoding bit rate, format, and playback state of content stored on each endpoint computing device into a content-on-endpoint table;
receive a request for a content item on a selected endpoint computing device;
query the content-on-endpoint table to find instances of the content item and corresponding endpoint computing device locations;
generate a ranked list of instances of the content item based on selection criteria including selected endpoint computing device capability, service andor user cost, endpoint computing device availability andor instance availability, connectivity speedrate, andor network proximitylatency of an endpoint computing device on which an instance of the content item is stored; and
select a highest ranked instance of the content item from the ranked list for playback by the selected endpoint computing device.
19. The data-holding device of claim 18, wherein the content-on-endpoint table is stored on each endpoint computing device in the computing system.
20. The data-holding device of claim 18, wherein playback includes receiving a copy of a selected instance of the content item via a native application executable by the selected endpoint computing device or streaming the selected instance of the content item to the selected endpoint computing device via a web application programming interface.