Author: claimsbot

1. A safety brake system for a trailer comprising:
a brake end comprising a brake unit adapted to be secured to a trailer and positioned to block movement of the trailer when actuated;
an actuation end adapted to be secured to a front end of the trailer comprising:
a hitch ball coupler comprising a hand portion defining a concavity adapted to receive a hitch ball of a vehicle,
a mechanism operatively connected to the hitch coupler and displaceable with respect thereto, the mechanism comprising a probe plunger displaceable between an unhitched position in which the probe plunger penetrates inside the concavity free of the hitch ball, and a hitched position in which the probe plunger is displaced at least partially out of the concavity by contact with the hitch ball, the mechanism being directly connected to the brake unit, the mechanism transmitting movement of the probe plunger to the brake unit so as to actuate said brake unit when the probe plunger moves to the unhitched state, the mechanism transmitting movement of the probe plunger to the brake unit so as to release said brake unit when the hitch bail is received in the hitch ball coupler to move the probe plunger to the hitched state and

a biasing unit to continuously bias the probe plunger toward the unhitched state, whereby the probe plunger automatically penetrates the concavity when the hitch coupler of the trailer is separated from the hitch ball of the vehicle to actuate the brake unit.
2. The safety brake system according to claim 1, wherein an opening is defined in a top portion of the hand portion for penetration of the probe plunger into the concavity.
3. The safety brake system according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism comprises an elongated member pivotally mounted at to the hitch ball coupler, with the probe plunger being secured to the elongated member.
4. The safety brake system according to claim 3, wherein the elongated member is a U-shaped bracket pivotally mounted at opposed ends to the hitch ball coupler.
5. The safety brake system according to claim 3, wherein the mechanism further comprises a lever operatively connected to the elongated member for concurrent movement, the lever being manually displaceable to release brakes of the brake unit.
6. The safety brake system according to claim 3, wherein the mechanism further comprises a joining unit for joining a cable of the brake unit to at least one of the elongated member and of the lever, a portion of the joining unit being mounted to the hitch ball coupler to translate relative to the trailer, the joining unit being connected to the cable of the brake unit such that a translation of the portion of the joining unit actuatesreleases the brakes of the brake unit.
7. The safety brake system according to claim 6, wherein the joining unit comprises a rack block meshed with a pinion portion of one of the elongated member and of the lever.
8. The safety brake system according to claim 7, wherein the joining unit further comprises a cable block releasably engaged to the rack block, the cable block being mounted to the hitch ball coupler to translate relative to the trailer, the cable block being connected to the cable of the brake unit such that a translation of the cable block actuatesreleases the brakes of the brake unit.
9. The safety brake system according to claim 8, further comprising a safety block and biasing component, the safety block being operatively mounted to the hitch ball coupler to bias the cable block into engagement with the rack block.
10. The safety brake system according to claim 9, further comprising a safety cable connected at a first end to the safety block and adapted to be connected at a second end to the vehicle, such that a pulling force on the safety cable displaces the safety block out of biasing the cable block from the rack block to actuate the brakes.
11. The safety brake system according to claim 9, wherein the safety block is mounted to the hitch ball coupler to translate relative to the trailer in a direction angled relative to a direction of the cable block.
12. A trailer assembly comprising:
a trailer body supported by wheels, and a trailer tongue; and
the safety brake system as defined in any one of claims 1 to 11, the hitch ball coupler being mounted to the trailer tongue.
13. The trailer assembly according to claim 12, wherein the brake is shaped to block at least one of the wheels of the trailer.

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 repair circuit for substituting a defective cell with a redundancy cell, comprising:
an antifuse programmed by a voltage difference of both ends thereof;
a power-up reset circuit for generating a first and a second power stabilization signal;
a programming circuit for programming the antifuse;
a detection circuit for detecting whether the antifuse is programmed or unprogrammed by using the first and the second power stabilization signals, wherein the detection is performed during or after a power stabilization period; and
a latch circuit for latching the result of the detection, wherein the defective cell is substituted with the redundancy cell in response to an output of the latch circuit.
2. The repair circuit as recited in claim 1, further comprising:
a pulse generating means, connected between the power-up reset circuit and the detection circuit, for generating a first and a second short pulse in order to detect whether the antifuse is programmed or unprogrammed after the power stabilization.
3. The repair circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein the pulse generating means produces the first and the second short pulses by using the first control signal and one of a chip select signal and a row address strobe signal.
4. The repair circuit as recited in claim 3, wherein the pulse generating means includes:
a phase inversion level shifter receiving either the chip select signal or the row address strobe signal as its input;
a NAND gate for combining an output of the phase inversion level shifter and the first control signal;
a delay circuit for delaying and inverting an output of the NAND gate;
a NOR gate for combining the outputs of the NAND gate and the delay circuit to generate the first short pulse; and
an inverting gate for inverting an output of the NOR gate to generate the second short pulse.
5. The repair circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein the programming circuit includes:
a first PMOS transistor, connected between a power voltage node and one end of the antifuse, whose gate is provided with a high voltage when the antifuse is programmed and is also connected to said one end of the antifuse;
the antifuse connected between the first PMOS transistor and a first node;
a first NMOS transistor, connected between the first node and a second node, whose gate is connected to the power voltage node;
a second NMOS transistor, connected between the second node and ground, which gate is provided with an address for the programming; and
a third NMOS transistor, connected between the power voltage node and the second node, whose gate is provided with a precharge signal.
6. The repair circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein one junction of each of the second and the third NMOS transistors has an N-type.
7. The repair circuit of claim 5, wherein the detection circuit includes:
a second PMOS transistor, connected between the power voltage node and a third node, whose gate is connected to the gate of the first PMOS transistor;
a third PMOS transistor, connected between the third node and a fourth node, whose gate is provided with the first control signal;
a fourth NMOS transistor, connected between the fourth node and ground, whose gate is provided with the second control signal; and
a fifth NMOS transistor, connected with the second NMOS transistor in parallel, whose gate is provided with the second control signal.
8. The repair circuit as recited in claim 7, wherein one junction of the fifth NMOS transistor has an N-type.
9. The repair circuit as recited in claim 7, wherein the detection circuit further includes:
a fourth PMOS transistor, connected with the second PMOS transistor in parallel in order to prevent a gate-to-junction breakdown of the second PMOS transistor, whose gate is provided with the second control signal.
10. The repair circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein the programming circuit includes:
a first PMOS transistor, connected between the power voltage node and one end of the antifuse, whose gate is provided with a high voltage when the antifuse is programmed and is also connected to said one end of the antifuse;
the antifuse connected between the first PMOS transistor and a first node;
a first NMOS transistor, connected between the first node and a second node, whose gate is provided with the power voltage node; and
a third NMOS transistor, connected between the power voltage node and the second node, whose gate is provided with a precharge signal.

1. In a computer system having a display device, the display device having a plurality of pixels each having a plurality of pixel sub-components of different colors, a method of adjusting image data to a grid defined by the pixels and pixel sub-components in preparation for rasterizing an image on the display device, the method comprising:
obtaining image data having selected elements with position relative to the grid, the positions of at least one of the selected elements of the obtained image data not coinciding with a boundary between pixel sub-components;
hinting the image data such that a typographical feature defined by one or more of the selected elements is adjusted to a position on the grid that corresponds to a selected boundary between pixel sub-components, the selected boundary being designated as a high contrast boundary due to the color contrast of the sub-pixel components which define the boundary, and which may comprise a boundary other than one which is between pixels; and
displaying the image on the display device using the image data, the typographical feature being displayed at the high contrast boundary.
2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the image data represents a character, the method further comprising analyzing the topology of the character at runtime to identify the typographical feature that is to be adjusted.
3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the image is displayed such that individual pixel sub-components of the pixels represent spatially different portions of the image data rather than the different portions being represented by entire pixels that include the individual pixel sub-components.
4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the typographical feature is a stem of a character represented by the image data.
5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein hinting the image data is conducted such that a left edge of the stem is aligned with the high contrast boundary.
6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the typographical feature is a horizontal segment of a character represented by the image data.
7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein hinting the image data comprises:
grid fitting the image data to grid points of the grid that corresponds to the pixels and pixel sub-components of the display device such that the one or more elements defining the typographical feature of the image data correspond to the grid points;
phase adjusting the typographical feature such that the typographical feature coincides with the high contrast boundary; and
interpolating the image data such that the position on the grid of remaining elements of the image data is adjusted.
8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the image data represents a character to be displayed on the display device, the method further comprising analyzing the topology of the character at runtime to identify the typographical feature.
9. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein phase adjusting further comprises:
analyzing hinting instructions associated with the image data for patterns that are indicative of the typographical feature;
deriving, from the hinting instructions, a directed acyclic graph, wherein the topology of the typographical feature is at least partially defined by one or more nodes of the directed acyclic graph; and
based on a traversal of the directed acyclic graph, identifying the position of the typographical feature and repositioning the typographical feature to the high contrast boundary.
10. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:
traversing the directed acyclic graph;
encountering a node that corresponds to a point of the image data that is to be repositioned on the grid; and
accounting for an error introduced by a repositioning of a point corresponding to a previous node of the directed acyclic graph.
11. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein analyzing the hinting instructions further comprises searching for a selected pattern of distance having specified colors associated with the typographical feature.
12. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the high contrast boundary is between a blue pixel sub-component and a green pixel sub-component, the blue pixel sub-component being interior to a character defined by the image data and the green pixel sub-component being exterior to the character.
13. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the high contrast boundary is between a red pixel sub-component and a green pixel sub-component, the red pixel sub-component being exterior to a character defined by the image data and the green pixel sub-component being interior to the character.
14. A method as defined in claim 7, further comprising mapping spatially different sets of one or more samples of the image data to individual pixel sub-components of the pixels rather than mapping samples to entire pixels.
15. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the elements include one or more control points and the image data is associated with a character, wherein hinting the image data comprises:
analyzing the image data associated with the character, the image data defining:
an outline of the character using at least the one or more control points;
distances between key control points; and
a parentchild relationship of the key control points;

identifying distances of the character that are indicative of type graphical features of the character to be positioned on high contrast boundaries, the identified distances being associated with at least some of the key control points; and
positioning the identified key control points of the character to grid points on the grid that correspond to high contrast boundaries of pixel sub-components on the display device.
16. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the distances include black distances which are interior to the outline of the character, white distances that are exterior to the outline of the character and grey distances which are a combination of black an white distances.
17. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the distances define a stem width identified by the at least some of the key control points.
18. A method as defined in claim 17, further comprising positioning the stems of the character.
19. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the high contrast boundary is between blue pixel sub-components and green pixel sub-components, the blue pixel sub-components being interior to the character and the green pixel sub-component being exterior to the character.
20. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the high contrast boundary is between red pixel sub-components and green pixel sub-components, the red pixel sub-components being exterior to the character and the green pixel sub-components being interior to the character.
21. A method as defined in claim 15, further comprising positioning the left character edge on the boundaries.
22. A method as defined by claim 1, wherein hinting the image data comprises:
deriving a parentchild hierarchy representative of certain ones of said selected elements from the image data;
examining the image data for patterns that indicate typographical features, wherein the patterns are identified by the certain ones of said selected elements and each node of the hierarchy is associated with one of the typographical features; and
while traversing a data structure representing the hierarchy, phase adjusting one or more selected typographical features by positioning the certain one of said selected elements associated with the selected typographical features on grid points of the grid that correspond to a high contrast boundary between pixel sub-components, the high contrast boundary not being a boundary between pixels.
23. A method as defined in claim 22, further comprising, as successive typographical features are phase adjusted, accounting for an error introduced from phase adjusting the previous typographical feature.
24. A method as defined in claim 23, wherein the error is equal to the displacement of the previous typographical feature.
25. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the pixel sub-components of the pixels are arranged on the display device to form vertical stripes of same-colored pixel subcomponents and wherein the one or more selected typographical features include a vertical stem of the character.
26. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the pixel sub-components of the pixels are arranged on the display device to form horizontal stripes of same-colored pixel subcomponents and wherein the one or more selected typographical features include a horizontal segment of the character.
27. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the patterns include alternating black and white distances, wherein the black distances include dimensions that are interior to the character and the white distances include dimensions that are exterior to the character.
28. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the patterns include alternating black and grey distances, wherein the black distances include dimensions that are interior to the character and wherein the grey distances include dimensions that are both interior and exterior to the character.
29. A computer program product for implementing, in a computer system having a display device for displaying an image, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each pixel including a plurality of pixel sub-components, a method for hinting the image data in preparation for displaying the image data on the display device, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instructions for implementing the method, the computer executable instructions, when executed, performing:
grid fitting the image data to grid points of a grid that corresponds to the pixels and pixel sub-components of the display device such that one or more elements defining a typographical feature of the image data correspond to the grid points;
phase adjusting the typographical feature such that the typographical feature coincides with a location of the grid that represents a boundary between pixel sub-components, the boundary being designated as a high contrast boundary due to the color contrast of the sub-pixel components which define the boundary, and which may comprise a boundary other than one which is between pixels; and
interpolating the image data such that the position on the grid of remaining elements of the image data is adjusted.
30. A computer program product of claim 29, wherein the image data represents a character and, the method further comprising:
identifying selected points of the image data by examining dimensions and distances stored and associated with the image data; and
based on the examined dimensions and distances, recognizing the selected points as defining the typographical feature that is to be phase adjusted.
31. A computer program product as defined in claim 29, wherein the pixel sub-components are arranged on the display device to form vertical stripes of same-colored pixel sub-components, and wherein the typographical feature is a character stem that is parallel to the direction of the vertical stripes.
32. A computer program product as defined in claim 29, wherein the method further comprises mapping spatially different sets of one or more samples to each of the pixel sub-components of a selected pixel, as opposed to mapping one or more samples to the entire selected pixel.
33. A computer program product as defined in claim 32, wherein the method further comprises displaying the image on the display device based on the image data, resulting in the typographical feature being displayed at the high contrast boundary.
34. A computer program product as defined in claim 33, wherein displaying the image on the display device comprises separately controlling each of the pixel sub-components of the selected pixel by applying to the each of pixel sub-components of the selected pixel a luminance intensity value generated from the spatially different set of one or more samples mapped to the particular pixel sub-component.
35. A computer program product for implementing, in a computer system having a display device for displaying an image, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each pixel including a plurality of pixel sub-components, a method for hinting the image data in preparation for displaying the image data on the display device, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instructions for implementing the method, the computer executable instructions, when executed, performing:
obtaining image data having selected elements with positions relative to the grid, the positions of at least one of the selected element of the obtained image data not coinciding with a boundary between pixel sub-components;
hinting the image data such that a typographical feature defined by one or more of the selected elements is adjusted to a position on the grid that corresponds to a selected boundary between pixel sub-components, the selected boundary being designated as a high contrast boundary due to the color contrast of the subpixel components which define the boundary other than a boundary between pixels; and

displaying the image on the display device using the image data, the typographical feature being displayed at the high contrast boundary.
36. In a computer system having a processor and a display device having a plurality of pixels for displaying image data, each pixel having a plurality of pixel sub-components, a method for hinting the image data, the method comprising:
grid fitting the image data to grid points of a grid that corresponds to the pixels and pixel sub-components of the display device such that one or more elements defining a typographical feature of the image data correspond to the grid points;
phase adjusting the typographical feature such that the typographical feature coincides with a location of the grid that represents a boundary between pixel sub-components, the boundary being designated as a high contrast boundary, wherein phase adjusting comprises:
analyzing hinting instructions associated with the image data for patterns that are indicative of the typographical feature;
deriving, from the hinting instructions, a directed acyclic graph, wherein the topology of the typographical feature is at least partially defined by one or more nodes of the directed acyclic graph; and
based on a traversal of the directed acyclic graph, identifying the position of the typographical feature and repositioning the typographical feature to the high contrast boundary; and

interpolating the image data such that the position on the grid of remaining elements of the image data is adjusted.
37. A method as recited in claim 36, further comprising:
traversing the directed acyclic graph;
encountering a node that corresponds to a point of the image data that is to be repositioned on the grid; and
accounting for an error introduced by a repositioning of a point corresponding to a previous node of the directed acyclic graph.
38. A method as defined in claim 36, wherein analyzing the hinting instructions further comprises searching for a selected pattern of distances having specified colors associated with the typographical feature.

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 method of forming a field effect transistor having a gate comprising a conductive metal or metal compound received over conductively doped semiconductive material, the method comprising:
forming transistor gate semiconductive material and conductive material which contacts the semiconductive material thereover into a gate line over a semiconductive material channel region, the gate line comprising semiconductive material sidewalls;
oxidizing the semiconductive material sidewalls of the gate line;
after the oxidizing, depositing insulative material over the gate line;
after the depositing, removing the insulative material effective to expose the transistor gate conductive material but not the transistor gate semiconductive material; and
after the removing, forming at least one of a conductive metal or metal compound in electrical connection with the transistor gate semiconductive material to comprise a substantially coextensive elongated portion of a final construction of the gate line of the field effect transistor being formed.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the forming the at least one of a conductive metal or metal compound to comprise a substantially coextensive elongated portion of a final construction of the gate line of the field effect transistor being formed comprises deposition of said at least one and patterning and subtractively etching of said at least one.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the field effect transistor gate line does not comprise a floating gate.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming masking material over the transistor gate semiconductive material prior to the removing.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising forming masking material over the transistor gate semiconductive material, the removing comprising removing the masking material.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the masking material is conductive.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the masking material comprises WSix.
8. The method of claim 5 wherein the masking material is insulative.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the masking material comprises silicon dioxide.
10. The method of claim 8 wherein the masking material comprises silicon nitride.