Author: claimsbot

1. A method of making a substrate-through electrical connection having an on-off function, comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate (40);
etching a trench (42) in the semiconductor substrate to define said substrate-through electrical connection so that the trench surrounds the substrate-through electrical connection;
after etching the trench, doping (15) the trench walls by diffusion masking and dopant diffusion to provide a threshold adjustment doping region;
providing an insulatingdielectric layer (12) in the trench (42);
filling the trench with a conductive or semi-conductive material (13) by depositing the material (13);
removing the deposited material (13) from all areas except the trench area by means of standard techniques comprising etching andor grinding so that the material (13) is only inside an area surrounded by the trench;
thinning the substrate (40) from the opposite side from where the trench was made so as to expose the conductive or semi-conductive material (13) enclosed by the trench (42);
providing both sides of the substrate with an insulation (76);
doping the substrate-through electrical connection on a respective side of the substrate with an opposite doping type to that of the substrate to provide a source region (19t) and a drain region (19b), respectively;
providing contacts (102, 103) to the substrate-through electrical connection on each side of the substrate, said contacts having the same doping as the source region (19t) and a drain region (19b), respectively;
providing contact(s) (18) to the trench material on one side of the substrate, whereby
the contacts to the substrate-through electrical connection form source and drain contacts, respectively, of a transistor, and the contact(s) to the trench material form(s) gate contacts of a transistor.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising providing metal contacts to the source, drain and gate contacts respectively.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filling of the trenches with conductive material comprises filling with any of semi-conductor and metal.
4. A substrate-through electrical connection (10), comprising:
a semiconductor substrate;
a substrate-through via through the semiconductor substrate and made from material of the semiconductor substrate (10\u2032); wherein
a trench (11) in the semiconductor substrate that surrounds said via, the walls of said trench being coated with a layer of insulating material (12) and wherein the trench (11) has been filled with conductive or semi-conductive material (13);
a doping region (15) in the via material in the surface of the inner trench wall between the insulating material (12) and the material (10\u2032) in the via;
a doped top (19t) and bottom (19b) section, respectively, in the via, said sections having opposite doping compared with the via material;
wherein there is a contact doping (20) in said oppositely doped region, having the same doping type as the doped top (19t) and bottom (19b) sections, respectively; and
contacts (17\u2032, 17\u2033) to the via on opposite sides of the substrate; and
a contact (18) to the conductive material (13) in the trench (11) so as to enable the application of a voltage to the conductive material (13).
5. The substrate-through electrical connection as claimed in claim 4, further comprising an oxide layer (14) on the substrate whereby the contact (18) extends through the oxide layer and down to the poly silicon (13).
6. The substrate-through electrical connection as claimed in claim 4, in which one contact (17\u2032) forms a source of a transistor; another contact (17\u2033) forms a drain; a further contact (18) forms a gate.
7. The substrate-through electrical connection as claimed in claim 4, wherein the contacts (18) are provided along the entire trench (11).
8. The substrate-through electrical connection as claimed in claim 7, wherein the trench (11) is circular and the contact (18) is provided as a ring.
9. A starting substrate for semi-conductor engineering comprising a substrate-through electrical connection as claimed in claim 4.
10. A MEMS device comprising a substrate-through electrical connection as claimed in claim 4.
11. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the substrate-through electrical connection is provided in an interposer structure connecting two components.
12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of depositing the material (13) is performed using a method selected from the group consisting of LPCVD, PECVD, MOCVD, PVD, ALD, electroplating, electroless plating, and melting.
13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the deposited material (13) is one of a metal and a polysilicon.

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 router transceiver unit comprising:
a network adapter module configured for electrical connection to a network interface unit, wherein the network adapter module is configured to receive high bandwidth network data from the network interface unit; and
a signal modulator module electrically connected to the network adapter module and comprising a physical layer and a data link layer, the signal modulator module comprising an electrical output and internal circuitry, wherein the electrical output is configured for electrical connection to a trainline, and wherein the internal circuitry is configured to receive the high bandwidth network data from the network adapter module, to convert the high bandwidth network data into modulated network data in a form suitable for transmission over the trainline, and to transmit the modulated network data, comprising the high bandwidth network data, over the trainline;
wherein the data link layer comprises an application protocol convergence layer, a logical link control layer, and a medium access control layer, wherein the application protocol convergence layer is configured to accept network frames of the high bandwidth network data from the network adapter module and to encapsulate the network frames into medium access control service data units, the logical link control layer is configured to receive the medium access control service data units from the application protocol convergence layer for at least one of encryption, aggregation, segmentation, or automatic repeat-request, and the medium access control layer is configured to schedule channel access; and
wherein the physical layer comprises a physical coding layer, a physical medium attachment layer, and a physical medium dependent layer, wherein the physical coding layer is configured to generate physical layer headers, the physical medium attachment layer is configured for scrambling and forward error correction coding, and the physical medium dependent layer is configured for interfacing with the trainline and for the conversion of the high bandwidth network data into the modulated network data using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation.
2. The router transceiver unit of claim 1, wherein electrical wires of the trainline are incapable of carrying data at a transmission rate of more than a very-low bandwidth unless the data is converted by the signal modulator module into the high bandwidth network data.
3. The router transceiver unit of claim 1, wherein the trainline is a locomotive multiple unit (MU) cable bus.
4. The router transceiver unit of claim 3, wherein the MU cable bus comprises copper wires that are from 12 to 14 gauge for carrying electrical signals.
5. The router transceiver unit of claim 3, wherein electrical wires of the MU cable bus are incapable of carrying data at a transmission rate of more than a very-low bandwidth unless the data is converted by the signal modulator module into the high bandwidth network data.
6. The router transceiver unit of claim 3, wherein the MU cable bus comprises a plurality of discreet electrical wires, and wherein the internal circuitry of the signal modulator module is configured to transmit the modulated network data, comprising the high bandwidth network data, over a single one of the discreet electrical wires.
7. The router transceiver unit of claim 6, wherein the discreet electrical wires comprise respective copper wires that are from 12 to 14 gauge.
8. The router transceiver unit of claim 1, wherein the trainline comprises copper wires that are from 12 to 14 gauge for carrying electrical signals.
9. The router transceiver unit of claim 1, wherein the network adapter module comprises a CAT-5E receptacle for connection to the network interface unit with a CAT-5E cable and receipt of the high bandwidth network data from the network interface unit over the CAT-5E cable.
10. The router transceiver unit of claim 1, wherein the trainline comprises a plurality of discreet electrical wires, and wherein the internal circuitry of the signal modulator module is configured to transmit the modulated network data, comprising the high bandwidth network data, over a single one of the discreet electrical wires.
11. The router transceiver unit of claim 10, wherein the discreet electrical wires comprise respective copper wires that are from 12 to 14 gauge.
12. A router transceiver unit comprising:
a main bus;
a control unit comprising a controller and a control unit bus, wherein the controller is electrically connected to the control unit bus for communications over the control unit bus;
a switch configured to process and route network data, wherein the switch interfaces the control unit with the main bus;
a network interface portion electrically connected to the main bus and comprising an Ethernet transceiver circuit and a network port portion electrically connected to the Ethernet transceiver circuit, wherein the network port portion comprises an Ethernet transformer and a receptacle for receiving a network cable; and
a VDSL module comprising a physical interface portion for connection of the VDSL module to the main bus, a VDSL control electrically connected to the physical interface portion, a VDSL analog front end unit electrically connected to the VDSL control, and a VDSL port unit electrically connected to the VDSL analog, front end unit, wherein the VDSL analog front end unit is configured for transceiving modulated network data over a trainline, wherein the VDSL control is configured for at least one of converting or processing the network data for modulation and de-modulation into the modulated network data, and wherein the VDSL port unit comprises transformer circuitry and a connection mechanism for physically and electrically connecting the VDSL module to the trainline.
13. The router transceiver unit of claim 12, wherein the receptacle is a CAT-5E receptacle and the network cable is a CAT-5E cable.
14. The router transceiver unit of claim 12, wherein the trainline is a locomotive multiple unit (MU) cable bus.
15. The router transceiver unit of claim 14, wherein the VDSL module is configured to transceive the modulated network data over the MU cable bus at a high bandwidth.
16. The router transceiver unit of claim 15, wherein the MU cable bus comprises a plurality of discreet electrical wires, and wherein the VDSL module is configured to transceiver the modulated network data at the high bandwidth over a single one of the discreet electrical wires.
17. The router transceiver unit of claim 16, wherein the discreet electrical wires comprise respective copper wires that are from 12 to 14 gauge.
18. The router transceiver unit of claim 12, wherein the VDSL module is configured to transceive the modulated network data over the trainline at a high bandwidth.
19. The router transceiver unit of claim 18, wherein the trainline comprises a plurality of discreet electrical wires, and wherein the VDSL module is configured to transceiver the modulated network data at the high bandwidth over a single one of the discreet electrical wires.
20. The router transceiver unit of claim 19, wherein the discreet electrical wires comprise respective copper wires that are from 12 to 14 gauge.
21. A router transceiver unit comprising:
a network adapter module configured for electrical connection to a network interface unit, wherein the network adapter module is configured to receive high bandwidth network data from the network interface unit; and
a signal modulator module electrically connected to the network adapter module, the signal modulator module comprising an electrical output and internal circuitry, wherein the electrical output is configured for electrical connection to a trainline, and wherein the internal circuitry is configured to receive the high bandwidth network data from the network adapter module, to convert the high bandwidth network data into modulated network data in a form suitable for transmission over the trainline, and to transmit the modulated network data, comprising the high bandwidth network data, over the trainline;
wherein the trainline comprises a plurality of discreet electrical wires, each of the discreet electrical wires comprising a respective copper wire that is from 12 to 14 gauge, and wherein the signal modulator module is configured to transmit the modulated network data, comprising the high bandwidth network data, over a single one of the discreet electrical wires of the trainline.

1. A data storage system, comprising:
an active data store comprising stored data;
a rules engine adapted to apply at least one rule to modify data of the stored data in the active data store,
a unified container layer adapted to transmit and receive data using a data communication mechanism and further adapted to publish a message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across the data communications mechanism to the broker,
said message being derived from the data of the stored data in the active data store that had been modified by the rules engine,
said message being received from the active data store by the unified container layer,
said unified container layer adapted to validate both externally-generated data and data of the active data store generated by the rules engine,
a first list of subscribers being stored in a data store of the broker,
each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribing to a topic associated with the message and adapted to receive the message published from the broker,
said unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers,
said unified container layer adapted to receive the message published from the broker due to the unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers,
said unified container layer adapted to process the published message received from the broker and to transmit the processed published message to the active data store;
said unified container layer comprising a sender and a receiver such that the sender and the receiver are adapted to communicate using the data communication mechanism;
said unified container layer further comprising a validator and a filter, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to process the published message received from the broker by having the published message validated by the validator and by having the validated published message filtered by the filter;
said data communication mechanism further adapted to receive data from application inputs and user inputs such that no direct access to the active data store is permitted for said inputs;
said data communication mechanism comprising a publish and subscribe data communication mechanism;
said data communication mechanism adapted to participate in data communication with said broker, using said publish and subscribe mechanism, in which said broker acts as a bus by: (1) receiving published messages by means of transmissions across said data communication mechanism, and (2) making said published messages available to subscribers by transmission of said published messages across said data communication mechanism, wherein said subscribers comprise an application or system that has registered as a first subscriber with said broker, wherein said first subscriber is on said first list of subscribers;
said broker adapted to examine subscription data in its data store and determine that said data storage system has subscribed to the topic associated with the message, as has a second data storage system;
said broker adapted to transmit the message to said subscribers, including to said data storage system, to said second data storage system, and to other subscribers, said other subscribers including applications and databases.
2. The data storage system of claim 1,
wherein the stored data comprises a first entity and a second entity connected to each other by a relationship,
wherein the first entity comprises a first attribute having a first plurality of values,
wherein the second entity comprises a second attribute having a second plurality of values,
wherein the relationship comprises a third attribute having a third plurality of values, and
wherein the rules engine is adapted to apply the at least one rule to at least one attribute of the first attribute, the second attribute, and the third attribute to generate the message.
3. The data storage system of claim 2, wherein the rules engine is adapted to apply the at least one rule to the third attribute to generate the message.
4. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the unified container layer is further adapted to process the published message received from the broker by compressing or decompressing the published message.
5. The data storage system of claim 1, wherein the unified container layer is further adapted to process the published message received from the broker by encrypting or decrypting the published message.
6. A method for operating a data storage system that includes a unified container layer, an active data store comprising stored data, and a rules engine, said method comprising:
applying by the rules engine at least one rule to modify data of the stored data in the active data store;
receiving, by the unified container layer from the active data store, a message derived from the data of the stored data in the active data store that had been modified by the rules engine, said unified container layer adapted to transmit and receive data using a data communication mechanism;
publishing, by the unified container layer, the message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across the data communications mechanism to the broker, wherein a first list of subscribers is stored in a data store of the broker, each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribing to a topic associated with the message and adapted to receive the message published from the broker, said unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers, said unified container layer adapted to validate both externally-generated data and data of the active data store generated by the rules engine;
receiving, by the unified container layer, the message published from the broker due to the unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers; and
processing, by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker and transmitting the processed published message to the active data store;
said unified container layer comprising a sender and a receiver such that the sender and the receiver are adapted to communicate using the data communication mechanism;
said unified container layer further comprising a validator and a filter, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to process the published message received from the broker by having the published message validated by the validator and by having the validated published message filtered by the filter;
said data communication mechanism further adapted to receive data from application inputs and user inputs such that no direct access to the active data store is permitted for said inputs;
said data communication mechanism comprising a publish and subscribe data communication mechanism;
said data communication mechanism adapted to participate in data communication with said broker, using said publish and subscribe mechanism, in which said broker acts as a bus by: (1) receiving published messages by means of transmissions across said data communication mechanism, and (2) making said published messages available to subscribers by transmission of said published messages across said data communication mechanism, wherein said subscribers comprise an application or system that has registered as a first subscriber with said broker, wherein said first subscriber is on said first list of subscribers;
said broker adapted to examine subscription data in its data store and determine that said data storage system has subscribed to the topic associated with the message, as has a second data storage system;
said broker adapted to transmit the message to said subscribers, including to said data storage system, to said second data storage system, and to other subscribers, said other subscribers including applications and databases.
7. The method of claim 6,
wherein the stored data comprises a first entity and a second entity connected to each other by a relationship,
wherein the first entity comprises a first attribute having a first plurality of values,
wherein the second entity comprises a second attribute having a second plurality of values,
wherein the relationship comprises a third attribute having a third plurality of values, and
wherein the method further comprises applying, by the rules engine, the at least one rule to at least one attribute of the first attribute, the second attribute, and the third attribute to generate the message.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises applying, by the rules engine, the at least one rule to the third attribute to generate the message.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein said processing further comprises compressing or decompressing, by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein said processing further comprises encrypting or decrypting, by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker.
11. A computer program product, comprising computer program instructions tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, said instructions when loaded into a computer system and executed cause said computer system to operate a data storage system by performing a method, said data storage system including a unified container layer, an active data store comprising stored data, and a rules engine, said method comprising:
applying by the rules engine at least one rule to modify data of the stored data in the active data store;
receiving, by the unified container layer from the active data store, a message derived from the data of the stored data in the active data store that had been modified by the rules engine, said unified container layer adapted to transmit and receive data using a data communication mechanism;
publishing, by the unified container layer, the message to a broker located external to the data storage system by transmitting the message across the data communications mechanism to the broker, wherein a first list of subscribers is stored in a data store of the broker, each subscriber listed on the first list of subscribers subscribing to a topic associated with the message and adapted to receive the message published from the broker, said unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers, said unified container layer adapted to validate both externally-generated data and data of the active data store generated by the rules engine;
receiving, by the unified container layer, the message published from the broker due to the unified container layer being listed on the first list of subscribers; and
processing, by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker and transmitting the processed published message to the active data store;
said unified container layer comprising a sender and a receiver such that the sender and the receiver are adapted to communicate using the data communication mechanism;
said unified container layer further comprising a validator and a filter, wherein the unified container layer is adapted to process the published message received from the broker by having the published message validated by the validator and by having the validated published message filtered by the filter;
said data communication mechanism further adapted to receive data from application inputs and user inputs such that no direct access to the active data store is permitted for said inputs;
said data communication mechanism comprising a publish and subscribe data communication mechanism;
said data communication mechanism adapted to participate in data communication with said broker, using said publish and subscribe mechanism, in which said broker acts as a bus by: (1) receiving published messages by means of transmissions across said data communication mechanism, and (2) making said published messages available to subscribers by transmission of said published messages across said data communication mechanism, wherein said subscribers comprise an application or system that has registered as a first subscriber with said broker, wherein said first subscriber is on said first list of subscribers;
said broker adapted to examine subscription data in its data store and determine that said data storage system has subscribed to the topic associated with the message, as has a second data storage system;
said broker adapted to transmit the message to said subscribers, including to said data storage system, to said second data storage system, and to other subscribers, said other subscribers including applications and databases.
12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises applying, by the rules engine, the at least one rule to the third attribute to generate the message.
13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said processing further comprises compressing or decompressing, by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker.
14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said processing further comprises encrypting or decrypting, by the unified container layer, the published message received from the broker.
15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein said method further comprises:
receiving, by the unified container layer, an external message from outside the data storage system, wherein a second list of subscribers who subscribe to a topic associated with the external message is stored in the data store of the broker;
publishing, by the unified container layer, the external message to the broker;
receiving, by the unified container layer, the published external message from the broker;
processing, by the unified container layer, the published external message received from the broker by having the published external message validated by the validator and by having the validated published external message filtered by the filter; and
transmitting, by the unified container layer, the processed published external message to the subscribers on the second list of subscribers.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing an auto-rebuild feature in a digital device comprising the steps of:
initializing the digital device including a first memory device and a second memory device;
reading the first memory device to determine if the first memory device includes a first boot sequence;
if the first boot sequence is present, booting the digital device using the first boot sequence on the first memory device;
if the boot sequence is not present, reading a second boot sequence from the second memory device;
booting the digital device using the second boot sequence wherein said process of booting includes the steps of reformatting the first memory device, reading software from said second memory device and storing said software on said first memory device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first memory device is a hard disk drive.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein said second memory device is a flash memory device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said software is operating system software.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein said operating system software includes process-based security protocols.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of checking, before booting the digital device using the first boot sequence, for a manual rebuild condition, such that if the manual rebuild condition is present, reading a second boot sequence from the second memory device and booting the digital device using the second boot sequence.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said digital device is a computer.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein said digital device is a special purpose computer.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein said special purpose computer is an Internet appliance.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein said digital device is a web server.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein said digital device is an email server.
12. A digital device including an auto-rebuild feature comprising:
a processor;
a first memory device connected to said processor;
a first boot sequence stored on said first memory device;
a second memory device connected to said processor;
a second boot sequence stored on said second memory device;
wherein when said processor is initialized, the processor reads the first boot sequence stored on said first memory device such that if the reading of the first boot sequence fails, the processor reads the second boot sequence stored on said second memory device and executes said second boot sequence, wherein said second boot sequence causes said processor to reformat said first memory device and stores software on said reformatted first memory device.
13. The digital device of claim 12, wherein said software stored on said reformatted first memory device includes a new first boot sequence.
14. The digital device of claim 12, wherein said software stored on said reformatted first memory device includes operating system software.
15. The digital device of claim 12, wherein said software stored on said reformatted first memory device includes process-based security protocols.
16. The digital device of claim 12, wherein said digital device is a computer.
17. The digital device of claim 16, wherein said computer is a special purpose computer.
18. The digital device of claim 16, wherein said computer is a web server.
19. The digital device of claim 16, wherein said computer is an email server.
20. The digital device of claim 12, wherein said second memory device is a flash memory device.