Author: claimsbot

1. A method of making an IC tag, the method comprising:
installing, in a device, an antenna and an IC chip with an electrical breakdown circuit that destroys another circuit included in the IC chip in response to a breakdown voltage;
installing a breakdown voltage generation circuit which generates the breakdown voltage
in response to a mechanical force applied to the device.
2. The method of making an IC tag according to claim 1, wherein
the electrical breakdown device is formed as a voltage application terminal connected to the internal circuit of the IC chip and
the breakdown voltage generation circuit generates, as the breakdown voltage, a reverse voltage with polarity reversed from a voltage used by the IC chip in standard operation.
3. A method of making an IC tag according to claim 1, wherein
the electrical breakdown circuit comprises a heating element which generates heat, which destroys another portion of the IC chip, in response to the breakdown voltage.
4. The method of installing an IC tag according to claim 3, further comprising:
installing a connection openingclosing device for connecting a current output from a current generation source to the heating element as a the breakdown voltage.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mechanical force results from opening a unit including the IC tag.
6. An IC tag-bearing device, comprising:
an IC tag including an IC chip and an antenna, the IC chip including an electrical breakdown circuit that destroys another circuit included in the IC chip in response to a breakdown voltage; and
a breakdown voltage generation circuit which generates the breakdown voltage in response to a mechanical force applied to the IC tag-bearing device.
7. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 6, wherein
the electrical breakdown circuit includes a voltage application terminal; and
the breakdown voltage generation circuit generates, as the breakdown voltage, a reverse voltage with polarity reverse from a voltage used by the IC chip in standard operation.
8. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 6, wherein
the breakdown voltage generation circuit comprises a piezoelectric element which generates the breakdown voltage in response to the mechanical force.
9. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 8, further comprising
a striking element which applies a second mechanical force to the piezoelectric element in response to the mechanical force applied to the IC tag-bearing device.
10. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 9, further comprising
a battery; wherein
power is supplied from the battery to the heating element in response to the mechanical force.
11. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 6, further comprising
a battery, wherein
the breakdown voltage generation circuit generates the breakdown voltage from power supplied by the battery.
12. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 6, wherein the mechanical force results from opening the IC tag-bearing device.
13. The IC tag-bearing device of claim 6, wherein
the electrical breakdown circuit comprises a heating element which generates heat, which destroys another portion of the IC chip in response to the breakdown voltage.

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 disk brake, comprising:
a brake lining having a brake lining support plate and a lining material with a given limit wear condition, the brake lining being displaceable over a displacement path to effect braking;
a brake lining holding device for the brake lining;
a stop configured to prevent a further displacement of the brake lining under normal braking condition for a first given amount of brake application force when the given limit wear condition is met, wherein the stop is designed such that, when the first given limit brake application force is exceeded, the stop is at first elastically deformed to allow for additional displacement of the brake lining and, when a second given, higher limit brake application force is exceeded, the stop is plastically deformed.
2. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein for a sliding caliper disk brake, at the brake lining holding device the stop has at least one recess on a brake carrier; and
wherein at least one projection of the brake lining support plate engages into the recess, when the first given brake application force is exceeded, the projection is at least one of elastically and plastically deformable.
3. The disk brake according to claim 2, wherein the stop includes at least one of:
at least one projection constructed in one-piece with the brake lining support plate; and
at least one projection constructed as a separate element connectable with the brake lining support plate.
4. The disk brake according to claim 2, wherein the at least one recess in the brake carrier has a depth such that, when the given limit wear condition is reached, the at least one projection of the brake lining support plate rests on the brake carrier.
5. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein for a sliding caliper disk brake, at the brake lining holding device the stop has at least one recess on a brake carrier; and
wherein at least one projection of the brake lining support plate engages into the recess, when the first and second given brake application forces are exceeded, the projection is elastically and plastically deformable, respectively.
6. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein for a fixed caliper disk brake, at the brake lining holding device the stop has a recess formed on a caliper; and
wherein at least one projection of the brake lining support plate engages into the recess, when the first given brake application force is exceeded, the projection is elastically and plastically deformable.
7. The disk brake according to claim 6, wherein the stop includes at least one of:
at least one projection constructed in one-piece with the brake lining support plate; and
at least one projection constructed as a separate element connectable with the brake lining support plate.
8. The disk brake according to claim 6, wherein the recess in the caliper has a depth such that, when the given limit wear condition is reached, the at least one projection of the brake lining support plate rests on the caliper.
9. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein for a fixed caliper disk brake, at the brake lining holding device the stop has a recess formed on a caliper; and
wherein at least one projection of the brake lining support plate engages into the recess, when the first and second given brake application forces are exceeded, the projection is elastically and plastically deformable respectively.
10. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the stop includes at least one of:
at least one projection constructed in one-piece with the brake lining support plate; and
at least one projection constructed as a separate element connectable with the brake lining support plate.
11. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the stop includes at least one of:
at least one projection constructed in one-piece with the brake lining support plate; and
at least one projection constructed as a separate element connectable with the brake lining plate.
12. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the stop has, on brake lining support surfaces of the brake lining holding device, at least one of molded-on and attached elements constructed in one-piece with the brake lining holding device or connected with the brake lining holding device, respectively.
13. The disk brake according to claim 12, wherein the attached elements are constructed as angled sheet elements attachable to a brake carrier or caliper, the angled sheet elements having a bend pointing in a direction of the brake lining at an end facing the brake disk, which bend limits a displacement path of the brake lining.
14. The disk brake according to claim 1, wherein the stop includes at least one projection constructed as an end of a bendable tongue forming part of the brake lining support plate.
15. The disk brake according to claim 14, wherein one of a plurality of bendable tongues of the brake lining support plate are respectively arranged relative to the brake disk rotational direction in an inlet and an outlet area of the brake disk.
16. The disk brake according to claim 14, wherein the bendable tongue has a given bending length on the brake lining support plate.
17. The disk brake according to claim 14, wherein the bendable tongue is fastened as a separate component with a corresponding bending length on the brake lining support plate.
18. A brake lining displaceable over a displacement path to effect braking of a disk brake, comprising:
a brake lining support;
a brake lining material with a given limit wear condition arranged on the brake lining support;
wherein the brake lining support has at least one of a projection and recess adapted to interact with the disk brake to form a stop between the brake lining and the disk brake preventing further displacement of the brake lining under normal braking conditions for a first given amount of brake application force when the given limit wear condition is met; and
further wherein the stop is designed such that, when the first given limit brake application force is exceeded, the stop is at first elastically deformed to allow for additional displacement of the brake lining and, when a second given, higher limit brake application force is exceeded, the stop is plastically deformed.
19. A method for operating a disk brake having a brake lining holding device for a brake lining that is displaceable over a displacement path in a direction of a brake disk to effect braking and has a lining support plate with a brake lining material arranged thereon, the brake lining material having a given limit wear condition, the method comprising the acts of:
upon meeting the given limit wear condition of the brake lining material, preventing further displacement of the brake lining during braking under normal braking condition for a first given brake application force via a stop;
upon exceeding the first given brake application force, elastically deforming the stop to allow for additional displacement of the brake lining;
upon exceeding a second given, higher, brake application force, plastically deforming the stop to allow for additional displacement of the brake lining.

1. A system for providing business travel and expense benchmarking analysis to an individual entity, comprising:
first data storage operable to receive and store travel data for a plurality of peer entities;
second data storage operable to receive and store expense transaction data for the plurality of peer entities;
a data storage server operable to aggregate a plurality of metrics of the travel data and the expense transaction data of the plurality of peer entities, thereby generating aggregated travel and expense data;
a processor operable to compare at least one of a first travel metric and expense transaction metric of the individual entity to a corresponding metric of the aggregated travel data and expense transaction data; and
a communications interface operable to electronically communicate a result of the comparison to a client host computer.
2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a filter operable to separate data from the result of the comparison.
3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a client information database in communication with the processor and operable to store client information data comprising customization information for the individual entity, wherein the comparison performed by the processor is determined in accordance with the customization information for the individual entity.
4. The system according to claim 3, further comprising:
a client customization engine operable to receive and customize the format of the result of the comparison in accordance with the client information data.
5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:
a Web server operable to link the comparison result from the processor to the client host computer through the communications interface.
6. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to provide business travel and expense benchmarking analysis to an individual entity, said control logic comprising:
first computer readable program code for causing the computer to receive and store travel data for a plurality of peer entities;
second computer readable program code for causing the computer to receive and store expense transaction data for the plurality of peer entities;
third computer readable program code for causing the computer to aggregate a plurality of metrics of the travel data and the expense transaction data of the plurality of peer entities, thereby generating aggregated travel and expense data;
fourth computer readable program code for causing the computer to compare at least one of a first travel metric and expense transaction metric of the individual entity to a corresponding metric of the aggregated travel data and expense transaction data; and
fifth computer readable program code for causing the computer to electronically communicate a result of the comparison to a client host computer.
7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:
sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to filter the result of the comparison.
8. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:
sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to store client information comprising customization information for the individual entity, wherein the comparison is determined in accordance with the customization information for the individual entity.
9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising:
seventh computer readable program code means for causing the computer to receive and customize the format of the result of the comparison in accordance with the client information data.
10. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising:
sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to supply a webpage for displaying the result of the comparison to the client host computer through the communications interface.
11. A method for providing business travel and expense benchmarking analysis information to an individual entity, comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving and storing travel data for a plurality of peer entities;
(b) receiving and storing expense transaction data for the plurality of peer entities;
(c) aggregating a plurality of metrics of the travel data and the expense transaction data of the plurality of peer entities, thereby generating aggregated travel and expense data;
(d) comparing at least one of a first travel metric and expense transaction metric of the individual entity to a corresponding metric of the aggregated travel data and expense transaction data; and
(e) electronically communicating a result of the comparison to a client host computer.
12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:
(f) filtering data from the result of the comparison step.
13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:
(f) storing client information data comprising customization information for the individual entity, wherein the comparison step is performed in accordance with the customization information for the individual entity.
14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the steps of:
(g) receiving and customizing the format of the result of the comparison step in accordance with the client information data.
15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:
(f) supplying a webpage for displaying the result of the comparison step to the client host computer through the communications interface.

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. An image management method, comprising:
segmenting images into image clusters;
generating a page layout for a contact sheet comprising thumbnail clusters each comprising thumbnails of the images in respective ones of the image clusters, wherein the page layout divides at least a portion of the contact sheet into regions each containing a respective one of the thumbnail clusters and at least one associated user input field; and
storing a description of the page layout on a machine-readable medium.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the segmenting comprises extracting temporal information from the images and grouping the images into the image clusters based on the extracted temporal information.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the page layout comprises a label designating a set of the user input fields as annotation fields.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising generating respective links between ones of the image clusters and user input in corresponding ones of the designated annotation user input fields in a scanned image of the contact sheet.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the page layout defines an index region of the contact sheet comprising a list of candidate user inputs for ones of the user input fields.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the index region comprises an action code designating a machine-implementable action to be performed with respect to ones of the image clusters corresponding to thumbnail clusters associated with user input fields containing the action code.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the index region additionally comprises an iconographic representation of the machine-implementable action.
8. The method of claim 6, further comprising performing the action designated by the action code with respect to ones of the image clusters corresponding to thumbnail clusters associated with user input fields in a scanned image of the contact sheet containing user input corresponding to the action code.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein the index region comprises a destination user input field corresponding to a machine-implementable action associating an image of user input in the destination user input field with ones of the image clusters corresponding to thumbnail clusters associated with user input fields containing user input designating the destination user input field.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising associating a bitmap image of user input in the destination user input field of a scanned image of the contact sheet with ones of the image clusters corresponding to thumbnail clusters associated with user input fields containing user input designating the destination user input field.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the page layout comprises a respective delete field associated with each of the thumbnails and corresponding to a machine-implementable action deleting ones of the images corresponding to ones of the thumbnails associated with ones of the delete fields containing user input.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a machine-readable barcode comprising symbols encoding a storage location address of the page layout description.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising decoding the storage location address of the page layout description from the machine-readable barcode in a scanned image of the contact sheet, and retrieving the page layout description based on the decoded storage address location.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising extracting user input from the scanned image of the contact sheet based on the retrieved page layout location.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the user input fields applies exclusively to all the images represented by the thumbnails in the thumbnail cluster that is associated with the user input field.
16. An image management system, comprising:
a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions; and
a data processing unit coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising
segmenting images into image clusters,
generating a page layout for a contact sheet comprising thumbnail clusters each comprising thumbnails of the images in respective ones of the image clusters, wherein the page layout divides at least a portion of the contact sheet into regions each containing a respective one of the thumbnail clusters and at least one associated user input field, and each of the user input fields applies exclusively to all the images represented by the thumbnails in the associated thumbnail cluster, and
storing a description of the page layout.
17. A machine-readable medium storing machine-readable instructions for causing a machine to perform operations comprising:
segmenting images into image clusters;
generating a page layout for a contact sheet comprising thumbnail clusters each comprising thumbnails of the images in respective ones of the image clusters, wherein the page layout divides at least a portion of the contact sheet into regions each containing a respective one of the thumbnail clusters and at least one associated user input field; and
storing a description of the page layout on a machine-readable medium.
18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the page layout comprises a label designating a set of the user input fields as annotation fields.
19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions additionally cause the machine to perform operations comprising generating a machine-readable barcode comprising symbols encoding a storage location address of a page layout description of the contact sheet and incorporating the machine-readable barcode into the page layout.
20. The machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the page layout defines an index region comprising a list of candidate user inputs for ones of the user input fields.
21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the index region comprises an action code designating a machine-implementable action to be performed with respect to ones of the image clusters corresponding to thumbnail clusters associated with user input fields containing the action code.
22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the index region additionally comprises an iconographic representation of the machine-implementable action.
23. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the index region comprises a destination user input field corresponding to a machine-implementable action associating an image of user input in the destination user input field with ones of the image clusters corresponding to thumbnail clusters associated with user input fields containing user input designating the destination user input field.
24. An image management method, comprising:
extracting user inputs from a contact sheet comprising thumbnail images and one or more annotation user input fields respectively associated with at least one of the thumbnail images;
determining whether one or more of the extracted user inputs correspond to respective ones of the annotation user input fields; and
in response to a determination that a given one of the extracted user inputs corresponds to a given one of the annotation user input fields, generating a link between an image of the given extracted user input and at least one original image corresponding to the at least one thumbnail image that is respectively associated with the given annotation user input field, and displaying the original image in association with the image of the given extracted user input on a physical display device.
25. An image management method, comprising:
extracting user inputs from a contact sheet comprising thumbnail images, one or more action user input fields respectively associated with at least one of the thumbnail images, and one or more destination user input fields;
determining whether any of the extracted user inputs designates any of the destination user input fields in any of the action user input fields; and
in response to a determination that a given one of the extracted user inputs designates a given one of the destination user input fields in a given one of the action user input fields, storing at least one original image corresponding to the at least one thumbnail image that is associated with the given action user input field on a computer-readable medium in a respective storage location in a logical file system, and labeling the respective storage location with an iconographic image of the given extracted user input.