Author: claimsbot

1. Consumer premises equipment (CPE) adapted for use in a content-based network, said equipment comprising:
at least one diode- or liquid crystal-based display element operative to display status or other information relating to the operation of said CPE;
an application programming interface (API) resident on said CPE and adapted to provide access to said at least one display element; and
a trusted monitor application running at least in part on said CPE and having permission to utilize said API;
wherein said application performs at least one of discovering or controlling said at least one display element via said API; and
wherein said API is adapted to interface with a plurality of different configurations of said display element.
2. The CPE of claim 1, wherein said CPE is OpenCable compliant and adapted for use in a cable television network.
3. The CPE of claim 1, wherein said CPE comprises a satellite receiver.
4. The CPE of claim 1, wherein said at least one display element comprises a liquid crystal display device having a plurality of character lines.
5. The CPE of claim 1, wherein said at least one display element comprises a liquid crystal display device having the ability to display graphical images according to at least one file format selected from the group consisting of: (i) GIF; (ii) TIFF; and (iii) JPEG.
6. Consumer premises equipment (CPE) adapted for connection to a content-based network, said CPE having a display element manager adapted to:
discover the presence of at least one display element of said CPE using an interface; and
provide for control of said at least one display element by a privileged application running on said CPE.
7. The CPE of claim 6, wherein said at least one display element comprises at least one LED segment
8. The CPE of claim 7, wherein said privileged application comprises an OpenCable (OCAP)-compliant monitor application.
9. The CPE of claim 6, wherein:
said at least one display element comprises at least one of (i) a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) segments, and (ii) a liquid crystal display (LCD); and
said interface comprises a substantially platform-agnostic application programming interface (API) rendered in the Java programming language.
10. A method of operating consumer premises equipment (CPE) in a content-based network, said CPE comprising at least one display element, the method comprising:
providing a software interface adapted to communicate with said at least one display element;
providing a software application adapted to communicate with said at least one display element via said interface, and control at least a portion of the operation thereof; and
operating said CPE and said at least one display element using at least said software application;
wherein said act of providing a software interface comprises providing an interface which is independent of the particular configuration of said at least one display element.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein said act of providing a software interface comprises:
providing a Java-based application programming interface (API); and
downloading said API from said network to said CPE.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein said act of operating further comprises controlling said display element from a remote location of said network.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein said act of downloading comprises downloading the same API to a plurality of different ones of said CPE within said network, said plurality of CPE individually having heterogeneous display element configurations.
14. A method of operating a content network having a plurality of client devices, said plurality of devices having heterogeneous display elements, comprising:
placing said plurality of said devices in communication with said network;
configuring each of said devices to comprise an interface, said interface being adapted to discover and access each of said heterogeneous display elements; and
operating an application at least on respective ones of said devices, said operating comprising controlling respective ones of said display elements thereof via said interface.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein said network comprises a cable television network, and said plurality of client devices comprise set-top boxes.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein said heterogeneous display elements comprise at least light-emitting diode (LED) elements and liquid crystal display (LCD) elements.
17. The method of claim 15, wherein said application comprises a trusted monitor application.
18. A method of controlling one or more display elements of an electronic device, said device being operatively coupled to a remote node via a network and adapted to run at least one application program, said method comprising:
providing an application programming interface (API) on said device;
running an application program on said device;
discovering, via said API, said one or more display elements; and
operating said one or more display elements based at least in part on inputs from said application.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein said electronic device comprises a set-top box, said network comprises a cable television network, and said application program comprises a trusted monitor application, said remote node comprises a software process in data communication with said monitor application via one or more communication channels.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein and said act of discovering comprises obtaining at least one parameter relating to said one or more display elements.
21. The method of claim 18, wherein said act of operating comprises configuring at least one aspect of the operation of said display elements from said remote node.
22. Computer-readable storage apparatus comprising a storage medium adapted to store a computer program, said computer program comprising a Java-based programming interface adapted to:
communicate with at least one display element of a parent device on which said program is run;
communicate with at least one software application also running on said parent device; and
allow control of said at least one display element by said application via said interface; and
wherein said programming interface is independent of the particular configuration of said at least one display element and said parent device.
23. In a computerized device for use in a content distribution network, a software architecture comprising:
a manager entity adapted to discover at least one display element of said computerized device;
an indicator display interface adapted to discover at least one indicator of said at least one display element;
an indicator properties interface adapted to discover at least one property of said at least one indicator;
a text display component adapted to control the display of text on said at least one display element;
a blink component adapted to set a blink specification of at least a portion of said at least one display; and
a scroll component adapted to set a scroll specification of at least a portion of said at least one display.

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 hollow fiber module comprising:
a housing, and
a hollow fiber bundle mounted in the housing and having a fluid penetration distance ranged from 10 to 200 mm,
wherein the fluid penetration distance means the shortest distance from the outmost hollow fiber in a cross-section of the hollow fiber bundle to the hollow fiber existing at the center in the cross-section of the hollow fiber bundle.
2. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of the fluid penetration distance to the length of the hollow fiber bundle is in the range of 5 to 100%.
3. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, wherein the hollow fiber bundle has a wide and flat shape.
4. The hollow fiber module according to claim 3, wherein the thickness of the hollow fiber bundle is in the range of 20 to 400 mm.
5. The hollow fiber module according to claim 3, wherein the ratio of the thickness to the width is in the range of 10 to 100%.
6. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, wherein the hollow fiber bundle comprises the hollow fibers in the amount of 30 to 60 vol % relative to the total volume of the hollow fiber bundle.
7. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of the hollow fiber bundles and a barrier dividing the hollow fiber bundles.
8. The hollow fiber module according to claim 7, comprising a plurality of the barriers, and the barrier is disposed to surround each of the hollow fiber bundle.
9. The hollow fiber module according to claim 7, wherein the barrier has through-holes.
10. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, wherein the housing has a circular or an angular cross-sectional shape.
11. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, wherein the housing is opened at both ends, and the housing has an inlet port and an outlet port.
12. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, further comprising a potting portion fixing an end portion of the hollow fiber bundle to the housing and coupled to an end portion of the housing so as to hermetically seal the housing.
13. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, further comprising a cover coupled to an end portion of the housing and having a fluid port.
14. The hollow fiber module according to claim 1, wherein the hollow fiber module is any one selected from the group consisting of a gas separating module, a heat exchanging module, a humidifying module and a water-treatment module.
15. The hollow fiber module according to claim 8, wherein the barrier has through-holes.

1. A method of roaming on a Zigbee network using a Zigbee end device, the method comprising:
determining available Zigbee networks within a network space;
selecting one of said available Zigbee networks; and
joining said end device to said selected Zigbee network.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein selecting one of said available Zigbee networks comprises determining whether the end device is authorized to join an available Zigbee network.
3. The method according to claim 2 wherein determining whether the end device is authorized to join the selected Zigbee network comprises comparing a network identity of the selected Zigbee network with a list of authorized network identities stored in the end device.
4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the list of authorized network identities includes a preference rank; wherein selecting one of said available Zigbee networks comprises selecting an available network with a most preferred rank.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein determining the available Zigbee networks comprises scanning the network space for one or more beacons identifying a Zigbee network.
6. The method according to claim 5 wherein selecting one of said available Zigbee networks comprises comparing a network identity associated with said one or more beacons with a list of authorized network identities stored in the end device.
7. The method according to claim 1 wherein determining the available Zigbee networks within a network space comprises determining a connection quality to the available Zigbee networks; and wherein selecting one of said available Zigbee networks comprises selecting the available Zigbee network with the highest connection quality.
8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of determining the available Zigbee networks within a network space is performed in response to determining that a connection quality of the end device to a Zigbee network is below a minimum threshold.
9. A device for use on a Zigbee network, the device comprising at least one processor, wherein the processor is configured for:
determining available Zigbee networks within a network space;
selecting one of said available Zigbee networks; and
joining the device to said selected Zigbee network.
10. The device according to claim 9 further comprising a memory, wherein the memory stores a list of authorized Zigbee networks and wherein the processor is configured for selecting one of said available Zigbee networks by comparing an available Zigbee network with the list of authorized Zigbee networks.
11. The device according to claim 10 wherein the list of authorized networks includes a preference rank.
12. The device according to claim 11 wherein said device is configured to select an available Zigbee network dependent on said preference rank.
13. The device according to claim 9 wherein said device is configured to determine a signal strength to each available Zigbee network.
14. The device according to claim 13 wherein the device is configured to select an available Zigbee network dependent on the determined signal strength.
15. A computer readable medium comprising instructions executable on a device of a Zigbee network, the instructions for:
determining available Zigbee networks within a network space;
selecting one of said available Zigbee networks; and
joining said device to said selected Zigbee network.
16. The computer readable medium according to claim 15, further comprising instructions for determining whether the device is authorized to join an available Zigbee network.
17. The computer readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for comparing a network identity of the selected Zigbee network with a list of authorized network identities stored in the device.
18. The computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the list of authorized network identities includes a preference rank; wherein the computer readable medium further comprises instructions for selecting an available network with a most preferred rank.
19. The computer readable medium according to claim 15 further comprising instructions for determining a connection quality to the available Zigbee networks; and selecting the available Zigbee network with the highest connection quality.
20. The computer readable medium according to claim 15 further comprising instructions for determining that a connection quality of a current connection from the device to a Zigbee network is below a minimum threshold.

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 semiconductor pellet positioning method in which a positioning stage for holding a semiconductor pellet is moved relative to a positioning claw, and the semiconductor pellet is positioned by said positioning claw, wherein said semiconductor pellet positioning method comprising: holding said semiconductor pellet on said positioning stage by a first suction force with which said positioning claw can move said semiconductor pellet during a positioning of said semiconductor pellet; and after completion of said positioning, holding said semiconductor pellet to said positioning stage by a second suction force that is stronger than said first suction force.
2. A semiconductor pellet positioning apparatus comprising a positioning stage for holding a semiconductor pellet thereon, and a positioning claw for positioning said semiconductor pellet by being moved relative to said positioning stage, said semiconductor pellet positioning apparatus further comprising a suction force control means which holds said semiconductor pellet on said positioning stage by a first suction force with which said positioning claw can move said semiconductor pellet during a positioning of said semiconductor pellet, and after completion of said positioning holds said semiconductor pellet on said positioning stage by a second suction force that is stronger than said first suction force.
3. A semiconductor pellet positioning apparatus comprising a positioning stage for suction-holding a semiconductor pellet thereon, and a positioning claw for positioning said semiconductor pellet by being moved relative to said positioning stage, said semiconductor pellet positioning apparatus further comprising a suction force control means comprised of:
a first valve means connected to said positioning stage,
a vacuum source connected to said first valve means so as to provide a suction force to said positioning stage via said first valve means;
a second valve means connected to a point between said first valve means and said vacuum source so that said second valve means, when activated, supplies an atmospheric air to said point between said first valve means and said vacuum source, thus reducing said suction force provided to said positioning stage.