1. A disposable diaper having a front waist region having a front waist edge, a back waist region having a back waist edge, and a crotch region between the waist regions, a lateral axis, and a longitudinal axis, and comprising:
an absorbent assembly having an interior surface, an exterior surface, laterally opposing longitudinally extending side edges, and laterally opposing longitudinally extending side flaps, each side flap having longitudinally opposing ends and a longitudinally extending proximal edge, each side flap being attached adjacent to its ends to the interior surface of the absorbent assembly and having a longitudinally extending elastic gathering member attached adjacent to its proximal edge such that when allowed to relax, the elastic gathering member contracts and lifts the proximal edge away from the interior surface of the absorbent assembly, thereby raising the side flap to form a side barrier; and
two laterally opposing longitudinally extending backsheet strips attached to the exterior surface of the absorbent assembly and extending laterally beyond the side edges of the absorbent assembly, each of the backsheet strips having a laterally distal edge and a laterally outwardly opening side notch formed in its laterally distal edge, the side notch extending longitudinally from the lateral axis toward the waist edges and ending longitudinally proximally of the waist edges, the disposable diaper thereby being laterally narrower in the crotch region than at the waist edges and having an overall shape of an hourglass.
2. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein the side notch has a contour formed by longitudinally opposing arcuate portions and a generally straight intermediate portion connecting the arcuate portions.
3. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein the side notch is disposed entirely laterally distally of the side edge of the absorbent assembly.
4. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein the absorbent assembly comprises a lower covering sheet disposed exteriorly of an absorbent core and forming at least a portion of the exterior surface of the absorbent assembly.
5. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein the lower covering sheet is attached in a cruciform attachment pattern having a longitudinally extending portion and a laterally extending portion intersecting in the crotch region, the longitudinally extending portion having a smaller lateral extent than the laterally extending portion and the laterally extending portion having a smaller longitudinal extent than the longitudinally extending portion, such that quadrantal portions of the lower covering sheet lying outside the cruciform attachment pattern are unrestrained by attachment to any other element of the absorbent assembly, at least one of the quadrantal portions of the lower covering sheet being laterally extensible.
6. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein at least a portion of the lower covering sheet between the backsheet strips is laterally extensible.
7. The disposable diaper of claim 6 wherein the extensible portion comprises a web material including at least two distinct laterally extending altered regions each containing a pattern of generally longitudinally oriented alternating ridges and valleys in the web material created by a deformation of the web material and also containing an unaltered region located between the altered regions, such that the deformed web material can be laterally extended to a given extent with the application of relatively less force than that required to laterally extend the same web material to the same given extent before the deformation.
8. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein the lower covering sheet is water-impermeable.
9. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein laterally opposing portions of the lower covering sheet are folded laterally inward to form the respective side flaps.
10. The disposable diaper of claim 4 wherein the absorbent assembly also includes a water-impermeable bottom sheet at least a portion of which is disposed between the lower covering sheet and the absorbent core.
11. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of at least one of the backsheet strips is laterally extensible.
12. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of one of the waist regions is laterally extensible to a greater degree than at least a portion of the crotch region.
13. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein each of the backsheet strips includes a water-impermeable layer.
14. The disposable diaper of claim 1 further comprising at least one fastening element adapted for fastening the front waist region and the back waist region together to encircle a leg of a wearer.
15. The disposable diaper of claim 14 wherein the fastening element is adapted to be openable and refastenable.
16. The disposable diaper of claim 1 further comprising cohesive fastening elements adapted for fastening the front waist region and the back waist region together to encircle a waist and a leg of a wearer, the cohesive fastening elements being disposed on both an interior surface of the disposable diaper and an exterior surface of the disposable diaper and thereby adapted for alternative fastening of the front waist region over the back waist region or the back waist region over the front waist region.
17. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein each of the backsheet strips has a laterally extending front waist edge and a longitudinally opposing laterally extending back waist edge, at least one of the backsheet strips being laterally extensible at its front waist edge and its back waist edge.
18. The disposable diaper of claim 1 wherein each of the backsheet strips is disposed laterally distant from the longitudinal axis.
19. A disposable diaper having a front waist region having a front waist edge, a back waist region having a back waist edge, and a crotch region between the waist regions, a lateral axis, and a longitudinal axis, and comprising:
an absorbent assembly having an interior surface, an exterior surface, laterally opposing longitudinally extending side edges, longitudinally opposing laterally extending front and back waist edges, and laterally opposing longitudinally extending side flaps, each side flap having longitudinally opposing ends and a longitudinally extending proximal edge, each side flap being attached adjacent to its ends to the interior surface of the absorbent assembly and having a longitudinally extending elastic gathering member attached adjacent to its proximal edge such that when allowed to relax, the elastic gathering member contracts and lifts the proximal edge away from the interior surface of the absorbent assembly, thereby raising the side flap to form a side barrier; and
a pair of laterally opposing longitudinally extending front backsheet strips attached to the exterior surface of the absorbent assembly in the front waist region and a pair of laterally opposing longitudinally extending back backsheet strips attached to the exterior surface of the absorbent assembly in the back waist region, each of the backsheet strips extending laterally beyond the side edges of the absorbent assembly, the pair of front backsheet strips being longitudinally spaced apart from the pair of back backsheet strips, the disposable diaper thereby being laterally narrower in the crotch region than at the waist edges and having an overall shape of an \u201cI\u201d.
20. The disposable diaper of claim 19 wherein the front backsheet strips have laterally extending front waist edges and the back backsheet strips have laterally extending back waist edges, the front waist edges being substantially aligned with the front edge of the absorbent assembly and the back waist edges being substantially aligned with the back edge of the absorbent assembly.
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 wireless point that provides for functions for a wireless local area network to be separated between said wireless point and one or more control nodes, said wireless point comprising:
a discovery unit configured to send a discovery request message to said one or more control nodes;
a selecting unit configured to select one control node of said one or more control nodes based on one or more discovery response messages sent to said wireless point from said one or more control nodes in response to said discovery request message, each of said one or more discovery response messages including information of functions offered by the associated control node of said one or more control nodes; and
a session establishing unit configured to establish a secure session with said selected one control node.
2. The wireless point according to claim 1, further comprising:
a negotiation unit configured to exchange information about the functions to be separated between said selected one control node and said wireless point.
3. The wireless point according to claim 2, wherein said information exchange is performed by transmitting, to the selected one control node, information about functions that said wireless point has, and receiving, from said selected one control node, information about functions that said selected one control node has.
4. The wireless point according to claim 1, wherein said functions for a wireless local area network comprise at least one of Beacon Signal Control, Power Management, Quality of Service (QoS), Scheduling, Authentication, and EncryptionDecryption.
5. A method for providing service in a wireless local area network that provides for functions for said wireless local area network to be separated between a wireless point and one or more control nodes, said method comprising steps of:
sending a discovery request message to said one or more control nodes;
selecting a control node of said one or more control nodes based on one or more discovery response messages sent to said wireless point from said one or more control nodes in response to said discovery request message, each of said one or more discovery response messages including information of functions offered by the associated control node of said one or more control nodes; and
establishing a secure session with said selected one control node.
6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:
exchanging information about the functions to be separated between said selected one control node and said wireless point.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said information exchange is performed by transmitting, to the selected one control node, information about functions that said wireless point has, and receiving, from said selected one control node, information about functions that said selected one control node has.
8. The method according to claim 5, wherein said functions for a wireless local area network comprise at least one of Beacon Signal Control, Power Management, Quality of Service (QoS), Scheduling, Authentication, and EncryptionDecryption.