All The Claims

1. An interconnection apparatus for establishing electrical contact between two components, comprising.
at least one elastic core member, said core member comprising an anchor portion attached to a substrate having at least one metallized through-via therein filled with electrically conducting material, and a free portion, initially attached to said substrate, which, upon release, extends away from said substrate due to an inherent stress gradient in the core;
wherein said core member is electrodepositedly enveloped with at least one layer covering all exposed surfaces of said core member.
2. The interconnection element of claim 1, wherein said envelope comprises electroplated films.
3. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said free portion is substantially tapered having a width that gradually decreases towards the probe tip over a substantial length of the free portion.
4. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said free portion is substantially trapezoidal in shape.
5. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one layer is an electrical conductor.
6. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said at least one layer is selected from the group of materials comprising any of nickel, platinum group materials which comprise any of palladium, platinum rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, iridium, and, gold, silver, copper, cobalt, tungsten, and any of their alloys
7. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the average grain size of at least one of the said at least one electrodeposited film ranges from 3 to 500 nm.
8. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of said at least one layer remains under compressive stress.
9. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the grains of at least one of the said at least one layer are substantially equiaxed with the average ratio of long to short dimensions being about 2 or less.
10. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one layer near the surface of the electrodepositedly enveloped core member has a lower elastic modulus than the said core that it surrounds.
11. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises any of ceramic, glass, silicon, quartz and organic materials.
12. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said core member comprises any of Mo, Cr, Ti, W, Zr, TiW, and MoCr.
13. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the envelope comprises plurality of different and sequentially electrodeposited films.
14. The interconnection apparatus of claim 13, wherein the electrodeposited films are deposited in such a manner that the elastic modulus of the deposited films generally decrease progressively from the innermost core toward an outermost surface.
15. The interconnection apparatus of claim 13, wherein the elastic modulus of said electrodeposited films decreases substantially discreetly from the innermost core toward an outermost surface.
16. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a film layer selectively dispensed at a probe tip area onto said electrodepositedly enveloped core member.
17. The claim of 16, wherein the film layer is deposited by electroplating.
18. The claim of 17, wherein the film layer comprises at least any one of palladium, rhodium, platinum, iridium, osmium, ruthenium, and cobalt, nickel, gold, copper, silver, and their alloys
19. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thickness of the electrodepositedly enveloped free portion ranges from 1 to 45 microns.
20. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thickness of each of said at least one layer ranges from 0.1 to 20 microns.
21. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein said free portion has a size ranging from 10 m to 1000 m in length, 3 m to 500 m in width, and 0.1 m to 40 m in thickness.
22. The interconnection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outermost layer of said at least one layer comprises any of copper, gold, nickel, and platinum group materials.
23. A method for manufacturing a plurality of miniaturized springs on a substrate, said miniaturized springs each comprising an electrically conducting core member, said core member having an anchor portion and a free portion, initially attached to the substrate, which extends away from the substrate upon release due to an inherent stress gradient in the core, said free portion having a tip area at the end, said anchor portion being fixed to a substrate comprising plurality of metallized through-vias, the method comprising the steps of.
electroplating of spring core members with at least one film layer to cover all surfaces of said core member including free portion without using a mask; and
said electroplating of core members is performed using through-vias in said substrate to establish electrical contact to said core members from the substrate side opposite to the side where core members are located.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one film layer is electroplated with intrinsic compressive stress.
25. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one electroplated film layer is deposited with an average grain size in the range of 3 to 500 nm.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein the grain size of at least one electroplated film is controlled by altering the additive composition in the electroplating bath, andor the current density during plating.
27. The method of claim 23, wherein a material used for an inner layer has a higher elastic modulus; and
wherein a material used for outer layers has a lower elastic modulus.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein the elastic modulus of said layers decreases progressively from an innermost layer toward an outermost layer.
29. The method of claim 27, wherein the elastic modulus of said layers decreases discretely from an innermost layer toward an outermost layer.
30. The method of claim 23, wherein said at least one film layer is selected from the group of materials, which comprise any of Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os, and cobalt, nickel, gold, silver, copper, aluminum, tungsten; and an alloy comprising at least any one of the group consisting of Co, Ni, Au, Cu, Ag, Al, Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os, W.
31. The method of claim 23, wherein said substrate comprises any of ceramic, glass, silicon, quartz and organic materials.
32. The method of claim 23, wherein said core member comprises any of Mo, Cr, W, Ti, Zr, TiW, and MoCr.
33. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of.
selectively coating said tip area to form a contact button subsequent to said electroplating of core members;
wherein said contact button comprises at least one electrically conducting material that does not have strong adherence to an opposite contact pad or terminal.
34. The method of claim 33, wherein said tip area is selectively coated to form said contact button before said free portion is released from said substrate.
35. The method of claim 33, wherein said tip area is selectively coated to form said contact button after said free portion is released from said substrate,
36. The method of claim 33, wherein said at least one electrically conducting material comprises at least any one of the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, Ru, Os, and cobalt, nickel, gold, silver, copper, and their alloys.
37. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of.
forming said core film’s pattern by dry etching.
38. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of.
polishing said core film before deposition of said layer.
39. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of.
polishing the outermost surface using any of an eletropolishing, chemical polishing, and electrochemical polishing process.
40. An interconnection apparatus for establishing plurality of electrical contacts between two components, comprising:
an elastic core member, said core member comprising an anchor portion attached to a substrate with multilevel metallization comprising metallized vias and a free portion, initially attached to said substrate, which, upon release, extends away from said substrate due to an inherent stress gradient in the core;
wherein said core member is electrodepositedly enveloped with at least one layer covering all exposed surfaces of said core member.
41. The claim of 40, wherein said substrate comprises any of ceramic, glass, quartz, silicon, and organic material.
42. The claim of 40, wherein said core member comprises any of Mo, Cr, W, Ti, Zr, MoCr, and TiW.

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 system comprising:
at least one lock (40) provided with electronic circuits for NFC transmissionreception and with electric circuits for the control of lockingunlocking mechanical elements;
a portable telephone (32) provided with circuits enabling it to operate in NFC mode;
a remote lock management site (18);
a distinct site (16) of a lock manufacturer; and
a mobile network operator (20) interfaced with the management site (18), with the mobile telephone (32) and with a user (28),
said system being characterized in that:
the management site is capable of generating, for each lock, a unique random algorithm, a unique identifier (PUID) and a transport key, and of transmitting to the distinct site (16) of the lock manufacturer, for each fabricated lock, said unique identifier and said transport key;
the lock manufacturer is capable of programming each lock with its unique identifier and its corresponding transport key;
the mobile network operator (20) communicates with the management site via a secured interface (24), and with the mobile telephone (32) via a trusted service manager (34);
the mobile network operator is capable of receiving from the user a unique identifier (PUID) of a lock and of transmitting it to the management site for a preliminary recognition;
the management site is capable of transmitting back to the telephone, via said secured interface (24) of the mobile network operator and via said trusted service manager (34): the unique random algorithm, a cryptographic key, the transport key and a user key that correspond to this lock; and
the telephone comprises means for operating an initial programming of the lock by uploading into the lock the unique random algorithm, the cryptographic key and the user key, and by activating a secured cryptographic procedure.
2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:
at least one emergency card (38) initially programmed by the lock manufacturer with said transport key, and
means for duplicating said cryptographic key and said user key onto the emergency card, after the user has accepted this cryptographic key and after the latter as well as the user key have been loaded into the telephone.
3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the means for duplicating the cryptographic key and the user key onto the emergency card comprise means for: reading the content of this emergency card; recognizing in the latter the transport key loaded at the time of the lock fabrication; verifying that this key actually corresponds to the one transmitted by the management site (18) along with the definitive cryptographic key; and if such is the case, neutralizing the transport key and replacing it by the cryptographic key and the user key.

1. A method of assisting a completion of a call between a calling user equipment and a called user equipment, when the called user equipment is initially in a busy state, wherein the method is performed by a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (\u201cUSSD\u201d) application server, the method comprising:
receiving a request to complete the call from the calling user equipment, wherein the request includes a calling number and a called number;
sending a USSD request to the called user equipment requesting the establishment of a USSD session;
receiving a notification from the called user equipment indicating that the called user equipment is in an idle state; and
sending a USSD notification to the calling user equipment indicating that the called party user equipment is in an idle state.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending an instruction to the called user equipment to send a notification to the USSD application server when the called user equipment is in an idle state.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining whether the called number is a member of a compatible network;
if the called number is not a member of a compatible network, sending a rejection indication to the calling user equipment.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining further comprises performing a number analysis on the called number to determine if the called number belongs to a compatible network.
5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining further comprises:
determining if an acknowledgement responsive to sending the USSD request to the called user equipment has been received within a predetermined time.
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a routing number for the called user equipment.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining a routing number comprises querying a number portability database to receive the routing number associated with the called number.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending an instruction to terminate the USSD session responsive to receiving a notification from the called user equipment indicating that the called user equipment is in an idle state.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining if the calling user equipment is in a busy state, if the calling user equipment is in a busy state, then:
sending a USSD request to the calling user equipment requesting the establishment of a USSD session;
receiving a notification from the calling user equipment indicating that the called user equipment is in an idle state; and
sending a USSD notification to the calling user equipment indicating that the called party user equipment is in an idle state.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising using interrogation techniques to determine the state of the calling user equipment.
11. The method of claim 9, further comprising sending an instruction to terminate the USSD session with the calling user equipment responsive to receiving a notification from the calling user equipment indicating that the calling user equipment is in an idle state.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to complete the call is initiated by entering a USSD activation code on a keypad of the calling user equipment and entering a number associated with the called party.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to complete the call is initiated by pressing a key on the keypad of the calling user equipment which retrieves a last number called for use as the called number.
14. A method of assisting a completion of a call between a calling user equipment and a called user equipment, when the called user equipment is initially in a busy state, wherein the method is performed by the called user equipment, the method comprising:
receiving a request from a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (\u201cUSSD\u201d) application server to establish a USSD session with the USSD application server;
sending an acknowledgement in response to receiving the request;
establishing a USSD session with the USSD application server;
monitoring the state of the called user equipment; and
sending a notification to the USSD application server when the called user equipment is in an idle state.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising receiving an instruction to monitor the state of the called user equipment.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising terminating the USSD session.
17. A method of assisting a completion of a call between a calling user equipment and a called user equipment, when the called user equipment is initially in a busy state, wherein the method is performed by the called user equipment, the method comprising:
receiving an Short Message Service (\u201cSMS\u201d) request from a Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (\u201cUSSD\u201d) application server to establish a USSD session with the USSD application server;
sending an initial USSD message in response to receiving the SMS request;
establishing a USSD session with the USSD application server;
monitoring the state of the called user equipment; and
sending a notification to the USSD application server when the called user equipment is in an idle state.
18. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving an instruction to monitor the state of the called user equipment.
19. The method of claim 17 further comprising terminating the USSD session.

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

1-32. (canceled)
33. An apparatus for connecting opposing panels of an insulated concrete form, comprising:
a pair of end portions to connect opposing foam panels of the insulated concrete form;
at least one structural member joining said end portions; and
said at least one structural member including a projection defining a tapered open seating surface to contain rebar in substantially vertical disposition.
34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said seating surface comprises one of several surfaces disposed adjacent one another.
35. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said projection is formed on a surface of said at least one structural member.
36. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said at least one structural member comprises a pair of structural members joining said end portions and being substantially symmetrically disposed above and below a central horizontal axis of the connecting apparatus.
37. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising at least one retaining member intersecting said at least one structural member to assist in positioning the connecting apparatus relative to the panels and resisting external loads applied to the end plates.
38. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said at least one structural member include receptacles for positioning horizontally disposed rebar.
39. The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein said receptacles have a substantially V-shaped cross sectional shape.
40. The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein said receptacles space horizontally disposed rebar at a constant distance from at least one of the end portions regardless of the size of the rebar.
41. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein said end portions comprise elongated end plates.
42. The apparatus of claim 33, where said structural member further comprises a substantially V-shaped recess containing a substantially horizontally disposed rebar, said recess being substantially open and unobstructed and having a first edge that is substantially vertical and parallel to said end portions and a second edge inclined relative to the first edge to position the rebar against the first edge wherein the outer surface of rebar received within the recess is spaced a constant distance from at least one of the end portions regardless of the size of the rebar.