...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8127128 | Synchronization of swappable module in modular system Exemplary methods, systems, and computer program product embodiments for synchronizing a swappable module between modular computer systems are provided. Each of the embodiments has dual controllers and distributed copies of states. Upon an insertion of the swappable... | 02/28/2012 |
| 7991753 | Lock acquisition among nodes of divided cluster The acquisition of a lock among nodes of a divided cluster is disclosed. A method is performable by each of at least one node of the cluster. A node waits for a delay corresponding to its identifier. The node asserts intent to acquire the lock by writing its identif... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7966723 | Method for facilitating access to electronic components An electronics component support assembly and an electronics system assembly employing the component support assembly are provided. The component support assembly includes a rotatable base support and a component connector assembly. The rotatable base support is siz... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7809993 | Apparatus, system, and method for receiving digital instructions at devices sharing an identity An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for receiving digital instructions at devices or controllers sharing an identity. A first controller receives a digital instruction instance over a communications medium. The digital instruction instance may be a firmwa... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7743201 | Apparatus and method to assign addresses to a plurality of information storage devices A method to assign addresses to a plurality of data storage devices, by providing a switch and (N) data storage devices, where each of those (N) data storage devices is interconnected with said switch. The method further establishes (M) arbitrated loop physical addr... | 06/22/2010 |
| 7675744 | Air distribution system compatible with disparate data storage systems A data storage library includes a drive enclosure bay which can be adapted to work with multiple air-flow configuration requirements. This is accomplished by creating air-flow ports in the top and bottom of the drive enclosure bay, by forming drive tray slots and pr... | 03/09/2010 |
| 7610418 | Maximizing blade slot utilization in a storage blade enclosure A method of configuring a blade enclosure is provided in which, in a first step, slots are identified whose SAS connectors are to be connected to SAS device blades in a minimum capacity configuration. In a second step, slots are identified whose SAS connectors are t... | 10/27/2009 |
| 7590883 | Management of warranty information in vital product data for replaceable units of data handling systems A vital product data system memory stores warranty information in vital product data relating to replaceable unit(s) of a data handling system. The data comprises a date of first use, and a device state field comprising an identifier representing one of the states: ... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7565488 | Apparatus, system, and method for integrated blade raid controller and storage An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for integrating a blade RAID controller and storage. A storage blade enclosure communicates with a blade chassis. The storage blade enclosure is mounted within the blade chassis. A RAID controller disposed in the storag... | 07/21/2009 |
| 7549018 | Configurable blade enclosure A blade enclosure is provided which may accommodate a first configuration which includes integrated drive enclosure blades (I-DEBs) or a second configuration which includes I-DEBs and non-integrated or switched DEBs (S-DEBs). Each I-DEB includes a pair of redundant ... | 06/16/2009 |
| 7546415 | Apparatus, system, and method for integrating multiple raid storage instances within a blade center An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for integrating redundant array of independent disk (“RAID”) storage within a blade center. A plurality of mutually autonomous storage subsystems mount within the blade center through a switch. Each storage subsyste... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7487285 | Using out-of-band signaling to provide communication between storage controllers in a computer storage system A system provides communication between components of a computer data storage system using out-of-band (OOB) signaling. The system includes a plurality of data storage devices having a local controller for directing data flow to each of the plurality of data storage... | 02/03/2009 |
| 7418623 | Apparatus and method to reconfigure a storage array A method is disclosed to reconfigure a storage array. The method supplies a data storage and retrieval system comprising (N) data storage device assemblies, wherein each of those (N) data storage device assemblies comprises (M) data storage devices, wherein (N) is g... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7404104 | Apparatus and method to assign network addresses in a storage array A method is disclosed to assign network addresses in a storage array disposed in a data storage and retrieval system comprising (P) data storage devices disposed in (N) data storage device assemblies. The method configures the (N) data storage device assemblies to c... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7375961 | Rotatable component support assembly for an electronics enclosure An electronics component support assembly and an electronics system assembly employing the component support assembly are provided. The component support assembly includes a rotatable base support and a component connector assembly. The rotatable base support is siz... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7356638 | Using out-of-band signaling to provide communication between storage controllers in a computer storage system A system provides communication between components of a computer data storage system using out-of-band (OOB) signaling. The system includes a plurality of data storage devices having a local controller for directing data flow to each of the plurality of data storage... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7353318 | Apparatus and method to assign addresses to plurality of information storage devices A method is disclosed to assign addresses to a plurality of data storage devices. The method provides a switch and (N) data storage devices, where each of those (N) data storage devices is interconnected with said switch. The method further establishes (M) device ad... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7254686 | Switching between mirrored and non-mirrored volumes Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, wherein a request is received for switching a logical volume from one state to another state, wherein the logical volume is in a mirrored state if data corresponding to the logical volume is mirrored from a ... | 08/07/2007 |