Author: claimsbot

1. A method of forming a metal cap over a conductive interconnect in a chalcogenide-based memory device comprising, forming a layer of a first conductive material over a substrate, depositing an insulating layer over said first conductive material and said substrate, forming an opening in said insulating layer to expose at least a portion of said first conductive material, depositing a second conductive material over said insulating layer and within said opening, removing portions of said second conductive material to form a conductive area within said opening, recessing said conductive area within said opening to a level below an upper surface of said insulating layer, forming a cap of a third conductive material over the recessed conductive area within said opening, depositing a stack of a chalcogenide based memory cell material over said cap, and depositing a conductive material over said chalcogenide stack.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cap of third conductive material is formed by electroless plating.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2 including activating the surface of the recessed conductive area.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which said second conductive material comprises tungsten.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1 including the step of depositing a refractory metal or refractory metal nitride layer in said opening prior to the deposition of said second conductive material.
6. A method as claimed in claim 5 in which said refractory metal comprises titanium.
7. A method as claimed in claim 5 in which said refractory metal nitride comprises titanium nitride.
8. A method as claimed in claim 1 including removing portions of said cap to planarize said cap.
9. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which said cap is formed to have a thickness of from about 200 to about 500 angstroms.
10. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which said insulating layer is selected from the group consisting of borophosphosilicate glass, tetraethylorthosilicate glass, and silicon nitride.
11. A method of forming a metal cap over a conductive interconnect in a chalcogenide-based memory device comprising, providing an insulating layer over a substrate, said insulating layer having an opening therein, said opening exposing at least a portion of a first conductive material on said substrate, depositing a second conductive material over said insulating layer and within said opening, removing portions of said second conductive material to form a conductive area within said opening, recessing said conductive area within said opening to a level below an upper surface of said insulating layer, forming a cap of a third conductive material over the recessed conductive area within said opening, depositing a stack of a chalcogenide based memory cell material over said cap, and depositing a conductive material over said chalcogenide stack.
12. A method of forming a conductive metal interconnect for a semiconductor circuit comprising, providing a semiconductor structure having semiconductor devices formed thereon, forming an insulating layer over said semiconductor structure, forming a trench in said insulating layer down to said semiconductor structure exposing at least a portion of said semiconductor devices, substantially filling said trench with tungsten, recessing said tungsten to a level below the upper surface of said insulating layer, electrolessly depositing a metal cap over the recessed tungsten, depositing a stack of a chalcogenide based memory cell material over said cap, and depositing a conductive material over said chalcogenide stack.
13. A method as claimed in claim 12 including activating the surface of the recessed tungsten prior to electrolessly depositing said metal cap.
14. A method as claimed in claim 12 including removing portions of said cap to planarize said cap.
15. A conductive interconnect for a chalcogenide-based memory device comprising, an insulating layer having an opening therein on a semiconductor substrate, a recessed tungsten layer in said opening, an electrolessly deposited metal cap on said tungsten layer, a stack of a chalcogenide based memory cell material over said cap, and a conductive material over said chalcogenide stack.
16. A conductive interconnect as claimed in claim 15 in which said metal cap is planarized to be coplanar with an upper surface of said insulating layer.
17. A processor-based system comprising a processor, and a chalcogenide-based memory device coupled to said processor, said chalcogenide-based memory device comprising an insulating layer having an opening therein on a semiconductor substrate, a recessed tungsten layer in said opening, an electrolessly deposited metal cap on said tungsten layer, a stack of a chalcogenide based memory cell material over said cap, and a conductive material over said chalcogenide stack.
18. A system as claimed in claim 17 in which said metal cap is planarized to be coplanar with an upper surface of said insulating layer.

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 computer-implemented method comprising:
setting up an enterprise server configured for performing actions according to communication scenarios, wherein each communication scenario involves using a combination of static, dynamic, and conditional content configured to provide a specific communication functionality between the enterprise server and one or more other entities;
setting up an accountholder communication system in connection with the enterprise server, the accountholder communication system configured to generate electronic messages for multiple accountholders;
presenting, in an environment for creating mass-communication templates for the accountholder communication system, identifiers for multiple communication scenarios to a user;
receiving, by the enterprise server and in the environment, a selection of a communication scenario from among the multiple communication scenarios, wherein each of the communication scenarios is associated with respective content placeholders, wherein at least one of the content placeholders includes instructions for dynamically creating, in an electronic communication, a link tailored to a recipient account number and configured for tracking interaction with the link and notifying the accountholder communication system that sends the electronic communication about activation of the link by a recipient of the respective electronic communication, the tracking including identification of the account number to the accountholder communication system;
presenting, by the enterprise server and in the environment, availability of the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario;
receiving, by the enterprise server and in the environment, a selection of a content placeholder from the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario, wherein the content placeholder is configured to include content in electronic communications based on a state of a specified communication variable;
generating, by the accountholder communication system in connection with the enterprise server and based on the received selection of the content placeholder associated with the communication scenario, a mass-communication template including the content placeholder;
accessing, by the accountholder communication system, the mass-communication template to generate a first electronic communication;
sending, by the accountholder communication system, the first electronic communication with first content based on a first state of the communication variable specified by the content placeholder of the mass-communication template;
accessing, by the accountholder communication system, the mass-communication template to generate a second electronic communication; and
sending, by the accountholder communication system, the second electronic communication with second content based on a second state of the communication variable specified by the content placeholder of the mass-communication template.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the selection of the communication scenario includes receiving input from a user through a graphical user interface to select one of multiple present communications scenarios presented to the user.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting availability of the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario includes presenting availability of one or more content placeholders which are not associated with other communication scenarios.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected content placeholder includes instructions for including a greeting which is customized for the selected communication scenario in generated electronic communications.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the greeting includes a first portion which is predetermined for all communications generated with the mass-communication template and a second portion which is conditional based on the specified communication variable.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising accessing a database to determine the state of the communication variable.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein:
the communications variable is an account number of the intended recipient of the electronic communication;
accessing the database to determine the state of the communication variable includes accessing the database to determine the account number of the intended recipient; and
the first content is a first account number and the second content is a second account number.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving a selection of a second content placeholder from the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario,
wherein the second content placeholder is configured to conditionally include third content in electronic communications based on a state of a second specified communication variable,
wherein the generated mass-communication template includes the second content placeholder.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
determining, based on the second content placeholder, that the second communication variable is in a first state; and
including third content in the first electronic communication based on the determination that the second communication variable is in the first state,
wherein sending the first electronic communication includes sending the first electronic communication with the first and the third content.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
determining, based on the second content placeholder, that the second communication variable is in a second state; and
determining not to include third content in the second electronic communication based on the determination that the second communication variable is in the second state.
11. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions that when executed by a processor perform a method comprising:
presenting, in an environment for creating mass-communication templates for the accountholder communication system, identifiers for multiple communication scenarios to a user;
receiving a selection of a communication scenario from among the multiple communication scenarios, wherein each of the communication scenarios is associated with respective content placeholders, wherein at least one of the content placeholders includes instructions for dynamically creating, in an electronic communication, a link tailored to a recipient account number and configured for tracking interaction with the link and notifying the accountholder communication system that sends the electronic communication about activation of the link by a recipient of the respective electronic communication, the tracking including identification of the account number to the accountholder communication system;
presenting availability of the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario;
receiving a selection of a content placeholder from the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario, wherein the content placeholder is configured to include content in electronic communications based on a state of a specified communication variable;
generating, based on the received selection of the content placeholder associated with the communication scenario, a mass-communication template including the content placeholder;
accessing the mass-communication template to generate a first electronic communication;
sending the first electronic communication with first content based on a first state of the communication variable specified by the content placeholder of the mass-communication template;
accessing the mass-communication template to generate a second electronic communication; and
sending the first electronic communication with first content based on a first state of the communication variable specified by the content placeholder of the mass-communication template.
12. A system comprising:
an enterprise server configured for performing actions according to communication scenarios, wherein each communication scenario involves using a combination of static, dynamic, and conditional content configured to provide a specific communication functionality between the enterprise server and one or more other entities;
an accountholder communication system in connection with the enterprise server, the accountholder communication system configured to generate electronic messages for multiple accountholders; and
an environment for creating mass-communication templates for the accountholder communication system;
wherein the system includes instructions for:
presenting identifiers for multiple communication scenarios to a user;
receiving a selection of a communication scenario from among multiple communication scenarios, wherein each of the communication scenarios is associated with content placeholders, the content placeholders configured to populate electronic messages with static content and dynamic content, the content placeholders configured to be tailored to a particular scenario, wherein at least one of the content placeholders includes instructions for dynamically creating a link in an electronic communication configured for tracking interaction with the link, the link being tailored based on recipient-specific criteria so that the accountholder communication system sending the electronic communication is notified about activation of the link by a recipient of the respective electronic communication, the tracking including identification of an account number of the recipient, and wherein each content placeholder includes conditional criteria with which a user can specify which communications variables are to be used in generating dynamic content;
presenting availability of the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario;
receiving a selection of a content placeholder from the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario, wherein the content placeholder is configured to include content in electronic communications based on a state of a specified communication variable;
generating, based on the received selection of the content placeholder associated with the communication scenario, a mass-communication template including the content placeholder, the mass-communication template including instructions that determine a number of e-mails and identity of the recipients, the mass-communication template configured to be used to generate multiple forms of electronic communication;

accessing the mass-communication template to generate a first electronic communication;
identifying the content placeholder as included in the mass-communication template accessed to generate the first electronic communication;
determining, based on the identified content placeholder, that the communication variable is in a first state;
including first content in the first electronic communication based on the determination that the communication variable is in the first state;
sending the first electronic communication with the first content;
accessing the mass-communication template to generate a second electronic communication;
identifying the content placeholder as included in the mass-communication template accessed to generate the second electronic communication;
determining, based on the identified content placeholder, that the communication variable is in a second state;
including second content in the second electronic communication based on the determination that the communication variable is in the second state; and
sending the second electronic communication with the second content.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein receiving the selection of the communication scenario includes receiving input from a user through a graphical user interface to select one of multiple present communications scenarios presented to the user.
14. The system of claim 12 wherein presenting availability of the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario includes presenting availability of one or more content placeholders which are not associated with other communication scenarios.
15. The system of claim 12 wherein the selected content placeholder includes instructions for including a greeting which is customized for the selected communication scenario in generated electronic communications.
16. The system of claim 12 further comprising instructions for accessing a database to determine the state of the communication variable.
17. The system of claim 16 wherein:
the communications variable is an account number of the intended recipient of the electronic communication;
accessing the database to determine the state of the communication variable includes accessing the database to determine the account number of the intended recipient; and
the first content is a first account number and the second content is a second account number.
18. The system of claim 12 further comprising instructions for:
receiving a selection of a second content placeholder from the content placeholders associated with the selected communication scenario,
wherein the second content placeholder is configured to conditionally include third content in electronic communications based on a state of a second specified communication variable,
wherein the generated mass-communication template includes the second content placeholder.
19. The system of claim 18 further comprising instructions for:
identifying the second content placeholder as included in the mass-communication template accessed to generate the first electronic communication;
determining, based on the second content placeholder, that the second communication variable is in a first state; and
including third content in the first electronic communication based on the determination that the second communication variable is in the first state,
wherein sending the first electronic communication includes sending the first electronic communication with the first and the third content.
20. The system of claim 19 further comprising instructions for:
identifying the second content placeholder as included in the mass-communication template accessed to generate the second electronic communication;
determining, based on the second content placeholder, that the second communication variable is in a second state; and
determining not to include third content in the second electronic communication based on the determination that the second communication variable is in the second state.

1. A method comprising:
extracting time information from a broadcast stream received by a receiver, the time information being based on a first timing reference; and
adjusting the time information with respect to a second timing reference used by an electronic program guide (EPG) obtained by the receiver.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
correcting scheduled time in the EPG to be consistent with the adjusted time information.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein adjusting comprises:
computing a time difference between the first and second timing references; and
adding the time difference to the time information to generate a resulting time.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein computing the time difference comprises:
computing a year difference taking into account leap years; and
converting the year difference into seconds.
5. The method of claim 3 wherein adjusting further comprises:
converting the resulting time for daylight saving.
6. The method of claim 2 wherein correcting comprises:
converting the scheduled time for daylight saving.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadcast stream is a high definition (HD) stream.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first timing reference is based on a global positioning system (GPS) reference.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the second timing reference is based on a coordinated universal time (UTC).
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the second timing reference is based on a timing reference used by an operating system.
11. The method of claim 2 further comprising recording a program in accordance with the scheduled time.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the scheduled time is sorted and stored in a database.
13. The method of claim 6 further comprises recording a program in accordance with the scheduled time.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the scheduled time is sorted and stored in a database.
15. An article of manufacture comprising:
a machine-accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
extracting time information from a broadcast stream received by a receiver, the time information being based on a first timing reference; and
adjusting the time information with respect to a second timing reference used by an electronic program guide (EPG) obtained by the receiver.
16. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the data further comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
correcting scheduled time in the EPG to be consistent with the adjusted time information.
17. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the data causing the machine to perform adjusting comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
computing a time difference between the first and second timing references; and
adding the time difference to the time information to generate a resulting time.
18. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the data causing the machine to perform computing the time difference comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
computing a year difference taking into account leap years; and
converting the year difference into seconds.
19. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the data causing the machine to perform adjusting further comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
converting the resulting time for daylight saving.
20. The article of manufacture of claim 16 wherein the data causing the machine to perform correcting comprises data that, when accessed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
converting the scheduled time for daylight saving.
21. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the broadcast stream is a high definition (HD) stream.
22. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the first timing reference is based on a global positioning system (GPS) reference.
23. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the second timing reference is based on a coordinated universal time (UTC).
24. The article of manufacture of claim 15 wherein the second timing reference is based on a timing reference used by an operating system.
25. A program guide module comprising:
EPG information obtained from an EPG provider; and
a timing module coupled to the EPG information, the timing module comprising:
a module to extract time information from a broadcast stream received by a receiver, the time information being based on a first timing reference, and
a module to adjust the time information with respect to a second timing reference used by an electronic program guide (EPG) obtained by the decoder.
26. The program guide module of claim 25 wherein the timing module further comprises:
a module to correct scheduled time in the EPG to be consistent with the adjusted time information.
27. The program guide module of claim 25 wherein the module to adjust comprises:
a module to compute a time difference between the first and second timing references; and
a module to add the time difference to the time information to generate a resulting time.
28. The program guide module of claim 27 wherein the module to compute the time difference comprises:
a module to compute a year difference taking into account leap years; and
a module to convert the year difference into seconds.
29. The program guide module of claim 27 wherein the module to adjust further comprises:
a module to convert the resulting time for daylight saving.
30. The program guide module of claim 26 wherein the module to correct comprises:
a module to convert the scheduled time for daylight saving.
31. The program guide module of claim 25 wherein the broadcast stream is a high definition (HD) stream.
32. The program guide module of claim 25 wherein the first timing reference is based on a global positioning system (GPS) reference.
33. The program guide module of claim 25 wherein the second timing reference is based on a coordinated universal time (UTC).
34. The program guide module of claim 25 wherein the second timing reference is based on a timing reference used by an operating system.

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 laser level comprising:
a covering;
a stand on which the covering is mounted;
a laser unit provided in a space surrounded by the covering and the stand; and
a radiation window, provided in the covering, through which a laser beam emitted from the laser unit is radiated to an exterior of the covering,
wherein the laser level includes removal means which removes moisture in the space, and
wherein the removal means is a hole which connects the space and an exterior of the laser level.
2. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein the hole has a larger opening area on an inner side than on an outer side.
3. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein guide means by which a liquid flows into the hole is provided on the stand.
4. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein a part or a whole of the stand and a part or a whole of covering inner surface of the covering is hydrophobic.
5. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein a part or a whole of the hole and a periphery of the hole is hydrophilic.
6. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein an outer bottom of the stand is hydrophobic.
7. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein a chamfer is provided at an edge of the hole.
8. The laser level according to claim 1, wherein the hole is covered with a water absorbent material.