Author: claimsbot

1. A control interface for controlling multiple functional devices comprising:
at least one control element in the form of, or positioned in a configuration on the control device corresponding to, a part of the a face or body; wherein the control element performs a function of the device associated with the part of the face or body;
a selector for selecting one from a plurality of functional devices.
2. The control interface as in claim 1, wherein the control element comprise physical control elements.
3. The control interface as in claim 1, wherein the control element comprise virtual control elements.
4. A control interface for controlling a multiple purpose device having a plurality of modes:
at least one control element in the form of, or positioned in a configuration on the control device corresponding to, a part of the a face or body; wherein the control element performs a function of the device associated with the part of the face or body;
a selector for selecting one from a plurality of modes.
5. The control interface as in claim 1, wherein the control element comprise physical control elements.
6. The control interface as in claim 1, wherein the control element comprise virtual control elements.

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

We claim:

1. A method for evaluating the performance of a financial advisor comprising:
reading a case prepared by the financial advisor, wherein said case provides recommendations;
rating said case in a plurality of areas by comparing said case to a predetermined standard; and
assigning a numerical value for said case in each of said plurality of areas based on said rating.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising repeating said reading, rating, and assigning steps for a plurality of cases for the financial advisor being evaluated.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein said repeating step is performed by a different person than said reading, comparing, and rating steps.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said financial advisor is a member of a larger group of financial advisors, each group comprising a plurality of financial advisors, further comprising:
compiling data regarding the ratings of the group.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein a higher numerical value indicates increased compliance with said predetermined standard.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of areas comprises: Financial Planning; Financial Position; Protection Planning; Disability; Life Insurance; Long-Term Care; Investment Planning; Tax Planning; Retirement Planning; Estate Planning; Communication; Overall rating.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of areas comprises: Cash reserves; BudgetExpensesCash FlowDebt Management; Overall Financial Position rating; Disability Insurance; Affordability of Disability Insurance Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Disability Insurance recommendation; Overall rating of Disability Insurance section; Affordability of Life Insurance Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Life Insurance recommendation; Overall rating of Life Insurance section; Affordability of Long-Term Care Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Long-Term Care Recommendation; Overall rating of Long-term Care section; Affordability of Investment Planning Recommendation; Documentation of risk tolerance of the client; Exploration of tax ramifications of Investment Planning recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding investment planning recommendation; Overall rating of Investment Planning section; Advice with respect to Tax-qualified investments; Advice with respect to Tax-deferred investments; Advice with respect to Tax-exempt investment; Advice regarding tax effect of liquidating certain investments; Advice regarding the hiring of a tax advisor; Overall rating of Tax Planning section; Affordability of Retirement Planning Recommendation; Documentation of risk tolerance regarding Retirement Planning; Exploration of tax ramifications of Retirement Planning Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Retirement Planning Recommendation; Overall rating of Retirement Planning section; Advice regarding wills, trusts, or other estate planning techniques; Advice regarding beneficiary designations andor ownership issues; Advice regarding Estate Tax situation; Advice regarding the hiring of an estate planning attorney; Overall rating of Estate Planning section; Linkage of various financial planning areas to another; Organization and presentation; Statement of sources of information andor assumptions; and Overall rating of the work-product.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein said reading, rating, and assigning steps are completed by a plurality of people.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein said reading, rating, and assigning steps are completed by a plurality of financial advisors.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein said reading, rating, and assigning steps are completed for each case in a subset of all cases produced by the financial advisor during a predetermined time period.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein said numerical value comprises a numerical rating that is an integer selected from the group consisting of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; and wherein:
a numerical rating of 1 in a particular category indicates that the advice in that category is considered questionable;
a numerical rating of 2 in a particular category indicates that the advice in that category is considered limited;
a numerical rating of 3 in a particular category indicates that the advice in that category is reasonably informative with respect to any actions that are recommended;
a numerical rating of 4 in a particular category indicates that the advice in that category details the reasons for the recommendation of a particular action and the manner in which an action should be performed; and
a numerical rating of 5 in a particular category indicates that the advice in that category sufficiently provides an analysis of alternative courses of actions in addition to detailing the reasons for the recommendation of a particular action.
12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:
providing negative feedback to said financial advisor if said numerical rating in a any of said plurality of categories is at least one of 1 and 2.
13. A method for evaluating the performance of a financial advisor comprising:
selecting a case prepared by the financial advisor, wherein said case provides recommendations;
selecting a first assessor and a second assessor;
rating said case in a plurality of areas by comparing said case to a predetermined standard;
assigning a first numerical value for said case in each of said plurality of areas based on said rating by said first assessor;
assigning a second numerical value for said case in each of said plurality of areas based on said rating by said second assessor; and
comparing said first numerical value to said second numerical value in one of said plurality of areas.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein said first numerical value is not equal to said second numerical value, said method further comprising:
selecting an arbitrator;
rating said case in a plurality of areas by comparing said case to a predetermined standard;
assigning a third numerical value for said case in each of said plurality of areas based on said rating by said arbitrator; and
finalizing said rating based on said third numerical value.
15. An evaluation system used to measure written work-product comprising:
a plurality of categories in which the work-product is to be rated; and
a rating scale with which to evaluate said work-product.
16. The evaluation system of claim 15 wherein said rating scale consists of integers ranging from 1 to 5.
17. The evaluation system of claim 15 in which said plurality of categories comprises:
Cash reserves; BudgetExpensesCash FlowDebt Management; Overall Financial Position rating; Disability Insurance; Affordability of Disability Insurance Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Disability Insurance recommendation; Overall rating of Disability Insurance section; Affordability of Life Insurance Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Life Insurance recommendation; Overall rating of Life Insurance section; Affordability of Long-Term Care Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Long-Term Care Recommendation; Overall rating of Long-term Care section; Affordability of Investment Planning Recommendation; Documentation of risk tolerance of the client; Exploration of tax ramifications of Investment Planning recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding investment planning recommendation; Overall rating of Investment Planning section; Advice with respect to Tax-qualified investments; Advice with respect to Tax-deferred investments; Advice with respect to Tax-exempt investment; Advice regarding tax effect of liquidating certain investments; Advice regarding the hiring of a tax advisor; Overall rating of Tax Planning section; Affordability of Retirement Planning Recommendation; Documentation of risk tolerance regarding Retirement Planning; Exploration of tax ramifications of Retirement Planning Recommendation; Feasibility of Goal Achievement regarding Retirement Planning Recommendation; Overall rating of Retirement Planning section; Advice regarding wills, trusts, or other estate planning techniques; Advice regarding beneficiary designations andor ownership issues; Advice regarding Estate Tax situation; Advice regarding the hiring of an estate planning attorney; Overall rating of Estate Planning section; Linkage of various financial planning areas to another; Organization and presentation; Statement of sources of information andor assumptions; Overall rating of the work-product.

1. A method for operating an identification map associated with a transformation system operatively coupled to a plurality of clients and a storage device and configured to transform a plurality of logical data objects (LOs) including a plurality of identifiers (IDs) to a plurality of transformed logical data objects (TLOs) for storage in the storage device, the method comprising:
mapping, by a data repository, current IDs and currently open LOs;
receiving, by the storage device, new IDs associated with the currently open LOs;
mapping, by the data repository, the new IDs to the currently open LOs to generate a current mapping when the new IDs are received, the current IDs becoming old IDs when the new IDs are received;
removing, by the data repository, the mapping of the old IDs to the currently open LOs subsequent to receiving the new IDs;
mapping, by a different data repository, each old ID associated with each currently open LO to generate a past mapping;
mapping, by the different data repository, the current mapping, wherein:
the data repository stores the current mapping, and the different data repository stores the current mapping and the past mapping;

removing the current mapping from the data repository when a currently open LO becomes closed;
removing the current mapping and the past mapping from the different data repository after a period corresponding to a time threshold when the currently open LO becomes closed;
performing an inputoutput (IO) request, wherein the IO request comprises the ID of the currently open LO and a first timestamp of the request;
determining if the ID is found in the different data repository;
determining if the first timestamp is lower than a second timestamp of the ID in the different data repository;
issuing a read header request with an updated timestamp;
comparing the first timestamp and an updated ID in a header in the currently open LO;
repeating the issuing and comparing process until the updated timestamp is more recent than the second timestamp;
processing the IO request when the updated timestamp is more recent than the second timestamp;
upon successful updating of the ID in the header, updating the data repository by adding a new entry ID related to the currently open LO in the data repository; and
removing an old entry ID related to the currently open LO from the data.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the new IDs and the currently open LOs comprises updating one of ID entries, data on open instances, and associations between the new IDs and the currently open LOs.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the old IDs and the new IDs comprises updating old ID entries and last ID entries corresponding to the currently open LOs.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein mapping the new IDs and the currently open LOs comprises updating one of ID entries, data on open instances, and associations between the new IDs and the currently open LOs.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the old IDs and the new IDs comprises: maintaining the old entry ID in the different data repository; adding the new entry ID to the different data repository; and associating the new entry ID and the old entry ID in the different data repository.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein mapping the old IDs and the new IDs further comprises recording, by the different data repository, a time stamp each time a ID related to each open LO is updated.
7. A storage system, comprising:
a storage device comprising a memory, a data repository and a different data repository; and
a transformation system comprising a processor operatively coupled to at least one client and the storage device, the transformation system configured to transform a logical data object (LO) to a transformed logical data object (TLO) for storage in the storage device operable with at least one storage protocol, wherein the processor is configured to:
map, in the data repository, current IDs and currently open LOs,
transmit, to the storage device, new IDs associated with the currently open LOs,
map, in the data repository, the new IDs to the currently open LOs to generate a current mapping when the new IDs are received, the current IDs becoming old IDs when the new IDs are received,
remove, from the data repository, the mapping of the old IDs to the currently open LOs subsequent to receiving the new IDs,
map, in the different data repository, each old ID associated with each currently open LO to generate a past mapping,
map, to the different data repository, the current mapping, wherein:
the data repository stores the current mapping, and
the different data repository stores the current mapping and the past mapping,

remove the current mapping from the data repository when a currently open LO becomes closed,
remove the current mapping and the past mapping from the different data repository after a period corresponding to a time threshold when the currently open LO becomes closed,
perform an inputoutput (IO) request, wherein the IO request comprises the ID of the currently open LO and a first timestamp of the request,
determine if the ID is found in the different data repository,
determine if the first timestamp is lower than a second timestamp of the ID in the different data repository,
issue a read header request with an updated timestamp,
compare the first timestamp and an updated ID in a header in the currently open LO;
repeat the issuing and comparing process until the updated timestamp is more recent than the second timestamp,
process the IO request when the updated timestamp is more recent than the second timestamp,
upon successful update of the ID in the header, update the data repository by adding a new entry ID related to the currently open LO in the data repository, and
remove and old entry ID related to the currently open LO from the data.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein, when mapping the new IDs and the currently open LOs, the processor is configured to update one of ID entries, data on open instances, and associations between the new IDs and the currently open LOs.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein, when mapping the old IDs and the new IDs, the processor is configured to update old ID entries and last ID entries corresponding to the currently open LOs.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein, when mapping the new IDs and the currently open LOs, the processor is configured to update one of ID entries, data on open instances, and associations between the new IDs and the currently open LOs.
11. The system of claim 7, wherein, when mapping the old IDs and the new IDs, the processor is further configured to: maintain the old entry ID in the different data repository; add the new entry ID to the different data repository; and associate the new entry ID and the old entry ID in the different data repository.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein, when mapping the old IDs and the new IDs, the processor is further configured to record, in the different data repository, a time stamp each time a ID related to each open LO is updated.
13. A computer program product comprising a computer useable memory including a computer readable program code embodied thereon for operating an identification map associated with a transformation system operatively coupled to a plurality of clients and a storage device and configured to transform a plurality of logical data objects (LOs) including a plurality of identifiers (IDs) to a plurality of transformed logical data objects (TLOs) for storage in the storage device, the computer program product comprising:
computer code for mapping, by a data repository, current IDs and currently open LOs;
computer code for receiving, by the storage device, new IDs associated with the currently open LOs;
computer code for mapping, by the data repository, the new IDs to the currently open LOs to generate a current mapping when the new IDs are received, the current IDs becoming old IDs when the new IDs are received;
computer code for removing, by the data repository, the mapping of the old IDs to the currently open LOs subsequent to receiving the new IDs;
computer code for mapping, by a different data repository, each old ID associated with each currently open LO to generate a past mapping;
computer code for mapping, by the different data repository, the new IDs and the current mapping, wherein:
the data repository stores the current mapping, and
the different data repository stores the current mapping and the past mapping;

computer code for removing the current mapping from the data repository when a currently open LO becomes closed;
computer code for removing the current mapping and the past mapping from the different data repository after a period corresponding to a time threshold when the currently open LO becomes closed;
computer code for performing an inputoutput (IO) request, wherein the IO request comprises the ID of the currently open LO and a first timestamp of the request;
computer code for determining if the ID is found in the different data repository;
computer code for determining if the first timestamp is lower than a seccond timestamp of the ID in the different data repository:
computer code for issuing a read header request with an updated timestamp;
computer code for comparing the first timestamp and an updated ID in a header in the currently open LO;
computer code for repeating the issuing and comparing process until the updated timestamp is more recent than the second timestamp;
computer code for processing the IO request when the updated timestamp is more recent than the second timestamp;
upon successful updating of the ID in the header, computer code for updating the data repository by adding a new entry ID related to the currently open LO in the data repository; and
computer code for removing an old entry ID related to the currently open LO from the data.
14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer code for mapping the new IDs and the currently open LOs comprises computer code for updating one of ID entries, data on open instances, and associations between the new IDs and the currently open LOs.
15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer code for mapping the old IDs and the new IDs comprises computer code for updating old ID entries and last ID entries corresponding to the currently open LOs.
16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer code for mapping the new IDs and the currently open LOs comprises computer code for updating one of ID entries, data on open instances, and associations between the new IDs and the currently open LOs.
17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer code for mapping the old IDs and the new IDs comprises:
computer code for maintaining the old entry ID in the different data repository; computer code for adding the new entry ID to the different data repository; and
computer code for associating the new entry ID and the old entry ID in the different data repository.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer code for mapping the old IDs and the new IDs further comprises computer code for recording, by the different data repository, a time stamp each time a ID related to each open LO is updated.

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 plasma display apparatus comprising:
a plasma display panel comprising a plurality of electrodes;
a driver for driving the plurality of electrodes; and
a sustain pulse controller for controlling the driver and for adjusting at least one of an ER (energy recovery)-Up time period and an ER (energy recovery)-Down time period of a sustain pulse supplied to the plurality of electrodes depending on an average picture level (APL) in a sustain period.
2. The plasma display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sustain pulse controller increases at least one of the ER-Up time period and the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the average picture level (APL) increases.
3. The plasma display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sustain pulse controller decreases at least one of the ER-Up time period and the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the average picture level (APL) decreases.
4. The plasma display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driver comprises a scan driver and a sustain driver.
5. The plasma display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sustain pulse controller uniformly maintains the duration of a sustain voltage of the sustain pulse.
6. The plasma display apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sustain pulse controller sets the ER-Up time period to be shorter than the ER-Down time period.
7. A method of driving a plasma display apparatus comprising:
adjusting at least one of an ER-Up time period and an ER-Down time period of a sustain pulse supplied to a plurality of electrodes depending on an average picture level (APL) in a sustain period of a plasma display panel.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjusting is to increase at least one of the ER-Up time period and an ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the average picture level (APL) increases.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjusting is to decrease at least one of the ER-Up time period and the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the average picture level (APL) decreases.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjusting is to control a scan driver and a sustain driver.
11. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjusting is to uniformly maintain the duration of a sustain voltage of the sustain pulse.
12. The method of claim 7, wherein the adjusting is to set the ER-Up time period to be shorter than the ER-Down time period.
13. A method of driving a plasma display apparatus comprising:
driving a plurality of electrodes of a plasma display panel in a reset period and an address period; and
adjusting at least one of an ER-Up time period and an ER-Down time period of a sustain pulse supplied to the plurality of electrodes depending on the number of sustain pulses in a sustain period.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the adjusting is to increase at least one of the ER-Up time period and the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the number of sustain pulses decreases.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the adjusting is to decrease at least one of the ER-Up time period and the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the number of sustain pulses increases.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of sustain pulses is equal to the number of sustain pulses supplied to a subfield or a frame.
17. A plasma display apparatus comprising:
a plasma display panel comprising a plurality of electrodes;
a driver for driving the plurality of electrodes; and
a sustain pulse controller for controlling the driver, for adjusting at least one of an ER-Up time period and an ER-Down time period of a sustain pulse supplied to the plurality of electrodes depending on an average picture level (APL) in a sustain period, and for setting the ER-Up time period to be shorter than the ER-Down time period.
18. The plasma display apparatus of claim 17, wherein the sustain pulse controller increases at least one of the ER-Up time period or the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the average picture level (APL) increases.
19. The plasma display apparatus of claim 17, wherein the sustain pulse controller decreases at least one of the ER-Up time period and the ER-Down time period of the sustain pulse as the average picture level (APL) decreases.
20. The plasma display apparatus of claim 17, wherein the sustain pulse controller uniformly maintains a sustain period of a sustain voltage of the sustain pulse.