A fishing lure, comprising a weighted head to which a hook, spinner and weed guard are attached, and three cutouts made of a flexible, absorbent material that are wrapped and tied around a load collar or extension from the head. The cutouts will make the lure resemble a bait fish such as is eaten by the fish that the user wants to catch. The cutouts may be decorated with beads, feathers and paint, to increase the resemblance to bait fish. The wiggling motion of the jig as it is pulled through the water and the rotation of the spinner will attract fish. Scent may be absorbed and released by the cutouts to further attract fish. The head is preferably made from lead, and the cutouts are preferably made from a microfiber fabric. A first preferred embodiment is called the “switch back”, and a second preferred embodiment is called the “pop”.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing lures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous fishing lures in the prior art, but none that are equivalent to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 315,967, issued on Apr. 14, 1885, to Clare L. Spencer, discloses a combination fish hook, with multiple hooks and spinners.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,247,955, issued on Nov. 27, 1917, to William J. Grube, discloses an artificial bait, including a piece of rubber or other elastic material in the shape of a crawfish or other shape with a body and branches, attached to a fish hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,435,177, issued on Nov. 14, 1922, to Ernest Hilary Peckinpaugh, discloses an artificial fishing bait, with a body, hook, eye, a bunch of bucktail or other hairs, a spiral winding of silk thread, and side wings of hair or feathers.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,457,926, issued on Jun. 5, 1923, to Milton S. Dunkelberger, discloses a casting lure, with wing pieces made of celluloid or waxed paper.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,611,644, issued on Dec. 21, 1926, to Otis Johnson, discloses a fish lure that can rotate to simulate the movements of a frightened fish.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,777,004, issued on Sep. 30, 1930, to Lou S. Lemere and Walter M. Long, discloses a fish lure having a metal strip embedded in a flat body of flexible material.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,792,366, issued on Feb. 10, 1931, to George R. Ettles, discloses a fish lure with a series of body members resembling a shrimp. It does not disclose the use of cyanoacrylate glue, nor the use of cutouts having the shapes of those in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,833,581, issued on Nov. 24, 1931, to William M. Jordan, discloses a fishing lure, with an elongated plate body.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,857,939, issued on May 10, 1932, to Frederick C. Cameron, discloses an artificial fish bait, having a wire below its body, on which are weights that can slide back and forth to cause the body to imitate motions of a fish.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,865,359, issued on Jun. 28, 1932, to William F. Eger, discloses a fish bait, having a frusto-conical head, with a hook and ribbons or streamers extending from the rear of the head, and a spinner before the head.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,921,176, issued on Aug. 8, 1933, to George R. Unkefer, discloses a fishing lure in which two sides of a piece of flexible material resembling a minnow may be secured to a rawhide reinforcement by waterproof glue. The use of cyanoacrylate glue, as in the instant invention, is not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,976,695, issued on Oct. 9, 1934, to George P. Boehm, discloses a fishing lure with metal plates and sheets of rubber resembling aquatic prey. It does not disclose the use of cyanoacrylate glue, nor the use of cutouts having the shapes of those in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,036,954, issued on Apr. 7, 1936, to John William Murray, discloses a fishing lure with a pear-shaped body.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,298,811, issued on Oct. 13, 1948, to Alexander Sisco, discloses a frog-shaped fish lure made of wood and sponge rubber, with hooks extending from the front and rear of the frog.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,492,064, issued on Dec. 20, 1949, to Herbert H. Rauh, discloses a fishing bait having a flat portion and flexible extensions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,399, issued on Jul. 25, 1950, to Charles D. Lovelace, discloses a fish lure, including a metal body to which are attached a flag and a fish hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,549,458, issued on Apr. 17, 1951, to Cliel L. Grimm, discloses a weedless fish bait, adapted for use with pork rind strips.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,683, issued on Jun. 12, 1951, to Henry P. Deitz, discloses a fishing lure with a hollow body simulating a fish.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,434, issued on Jul. 3, 1951, to Daniel F. Hyland, discloses a cutting guide for cutting fishing bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,792, issued on May 20, 1952, to John James Hardy, discloses a fish lure made in two parts hinged together to simulate a headless shrimp.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,616,559, issued on Nov. 4, 1952, to Daniel F. Hyland, discloses packaging of fishing lures that are made of flexible sheet metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,618,095, issued on Nov. 18, 1952, to Robert K. Igo, discloses a weed-free fishhook and lure, with a protective apron formed of a thin flat sheet of flexible rubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,632,277, issued on Mar. 24, 1953, to Wilton W. Cogswell, Sr. and Walter F. Cogswell, discloses a U-shaped fishing lure with multiple hooks.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,633,659, issued on Apr. 7, 1953, to John W. Baum, discloses a fish lure, with a plastic, wood or metal body portion, a detachable stabilizer plate, and a hook supporting body and stabilizing wire leader.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,081, issued on Jun. 9, 1953, to Henry S. Moore, discloses a fishing lure with a loop-shaped weed guard.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,058, issued on Apr. 10, 1956, to Jack S. Allman, discloses a fishing lure, comprising a core around which is placed a raw salmon skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,770,063, issued on Nov. 13, 1956, to William F. Martin, discloses an artificial fishing lure, with an articulated body resembling a shrimp, having a spring mounted actuating rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,144, issued on Jan. 22, 1957, to R. Clyde Jones and Clayton W. Bradshaw, discloses a fishing lure having a circular head and a spinner.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,826,853, issued on Mar. 18, 1958, to Ralph I. Guy and George K. Lait, discloses fish bait and a method for its preparation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,857,703, issued on Oct. 28, 1958, to David Parmlee, discloses a fishing rig using live bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,048, issued on Feb. 17, 1959, to Gustav A. Walldov, discloses water-soluble fish bait and a method for making it.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,294, issued on May 31, 1960, to Gunnar Bachmann, discloses a fish lure, having a body filled with liquid, two wing-like streamers, and a tail-like streamer attached to a hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,620, issued on Oct. 30, 1962, to Andrew Binkowski, discloses a weedless hook skirt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,434, issued on Sep. 22, 1964, to John R. Janac, discloses a fishing lure using a narrow, elongated strip of parchment skin as bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,336, issued on Jun. 29, 1965, to Carl R. Cordell, Jr., discloses a fishing lure with a hook weighted by a body of lead, with a plume or tuft of filaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,963, issued on Jul. 13, 1965, to Donald G. Roedel, discloses an artificial fishing lure, shaped like a small fish, with fins and a tail, made from a bowed sheet. A hook extends from the lure. The lure is attached to a fishing line by a swivel and leader.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,755, issued on Apr. 14, 1970, to John C. Pearce, discloses a fish lure, having a wick-like member saturated with a fish-getting compound inside the lure body.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,892, issued on May 25, 1971, to James O. Olvey, Sr., discloses a bead-head fly lure with a dangling spinner.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,514, issued on Jul. 6, 1971, to Daniel P. Begley, discloses a fishing lure and a method of making it from shredded rubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,279, issued on Sep. 26, 1972, to Kenneth Mackle, discloses a sound producing fishing lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,117, issued on Apr. 3, 1973, to Lindley E. Flanagan, Jr., discloses a fishing jig, having a weight, a hook, and an elongated body of flexible and resilient sheet material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,463, issued on Aug. 13, 1974, to George S. Perrin, discloses a drop spin fishing lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,572, issued on Sep. 17, 1974, to Reginald Mounsey, discloses a fishing lure having a chamber for dispersible bait.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,869, issued on Mar. 2, 1976, to Eldon E. Roberts, discloses an artificial fishing lure formed from a sheet of sponge.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,203, issued on Jun. 22, 1976, to William O. Williams, Jr., discloses a fishing lure formed of a strip of flat chamois impregnated with animal blood.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,688, issued on Dec. 14, 1976, to James E. Hardwicke, III, discloses a fishing lure having a weighted body and a skirt comprising an attaching sleeve and flexible strands extending from the sleeve. It does not disclose the use of cutouts having the shapes of those in the instant invention, nor the use of cyanoacrylate glue to retain them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,862, issued on Mar. 22, 1977, to Eugene Dubois, discloses an artificial fishing lure with spinners and a weed guard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,454, issued on Feb. 21, 1978, to Carl R. Cordell, Jr., discloses a fishing lure having a plastic multi-strand skirt combined with a curled tail made of flat thin plastic.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,597, issued on Dec. 11, 1979, to Robert C. Thomassin, discloses a fishing lure simulating lifelike swimming motions of aquatic animals, composed of a strip of flexible material containing two rectilinear components having a variable angle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,956, issued on Sep. 2, 1980, to Dean L. R. Hedman, discloses a weedless changeable plastic lure, having a rounded, segmented forward section, and a flat, undulating rear section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,420, issued on Jan. 20, 1981, to William E. S. Carr, discloses artificial bait for aquatic species.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,730, issued on Jan. 17, 1984, to Edward E. Goetz, Jr., discloses a hydrodynamic fishing lure for top water or surface fishing of the "buzzbait" variety.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,586, issued on Jan. 27, 1987, to Joseph P. Hall, discloses a fishing lure having a spinner and legs or streamers extending from a weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,914, issued on Sep. 1, 1987, to Leland F. Quinlan, discloses a variable buoyancy fishing lure having a hollow head member with a vent opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,325, issued on Dec. 15, 1987, to Charles E. Smith, discloses a fishing lure having strips of chamois that can absorb fish scent attractants. It does not disclose the use of cyanoacrylate glue, nor the use of cutouts having the shapes in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,542, issued on Apr. 12, 1988, to John F. Floyd, discloses a scented fishing lure having a rigid absorbent body portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,167, issued on May 17, 1988, to George Steele, discloses a fishing lure with a keel-stabilized weight in combination with a hook, a weed shield, an absorbent, scent-emitting body, and a multi-leafed skirt. A trailing spinner may also be attached.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,085, issued on Aug. 23, 1988, to Fred W. Wotawa and Patrick J. Wotawa, discloses a fishing lure having a vane adapted for oscillating movement, but not for rotational movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,883, issued on Jul. 11, 1989, Alexander G. Langer, discloses a fishing lure made of a soft, non-rigid material shaped and weighted to glide in water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,470, issued on Feb. 20, 1990, to Donald D. Gentry, discloses a fishing lure having a spinner attached to a coiled spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,975, issued on Mar. 20, 1990, to Teddy A. Root and Wilbur H. McVay, discloses a bucktail jig and a method of making it, using a hook having a lead-weighted head that is formed with a longer, longitudinally extending bucktail hair mass, coupled with rubber flaps and a shorter, generally omnidirectionally extending mass of rubber strands. It does not disclose the use of cyanoacrylate glue, nor the use of cutouts having the shapes of those in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,871, issued on Apr. 3, 1990, to Todd M. Brady, discloses a fishing lure in the configuration of a crab body formed entirely as a unitary member of a soft resilient molding.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,609, issued on Oct. 16, 1990, to Russell D. Walker, discloses a scent emitting fish-shaped fishing lure, having a rigid body with recesses on opposite sides filled with a layer of fibrous material impregnated with a fish attracting substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,573, issued on Jun. 2, 1992, to Harold F. Semler, discloses a fishing lure including a central shank with a hook member mounted at a lower end of the shank, and a support head at an upper end of the shank, with a projection mounted to the support head that includes an aperture for receiving fishing line.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,801, issued on Aug. 11, 1992, to Robert B. Pond, discloses a fishing lure designed to be bounced along the bottom of a body of water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,510, issued on Dec. 22, 1992, to Charles F. Lovell, Jr., discloses a semi-artificial fish lure, having a clear body in which is embedded a natural marine food, such as the head of small fish, and streamers extending from the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,876, issued on Feb. 2, 1993, to Earl L. Lewis, discloses a jigging lure with a T-shaped shank on which a weighted head and a barbed end are balanced about a pivot point.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,105, issued on Apr. 20, 1993, to A. Melvin Bond and Jerry M. Bond, discloses a fishing lure in the shape of a horse head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,830, issued on Jun. 8, 1993, to Louis J. Brott, II, discloses a fishing lure having a front blade, a central body, and a trailing hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,230, issued on Jul. 20, 1993, to Gerald D. Vaught, discloses a fishing lure with a simulacrum of a crawdad or bait fish made of cloth or analogous material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,636, issued on Mar. 7, 1995, to Rabideau, discloses a combination jig and spinner fishing lure, having a jig head, hook, hook dressing, and a spinner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,899, issued on May 9, 1995, to Hauser G. Reboul, discloses an artificial bait with a pair of stabilizing bristles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,927, issued on Feb. 20, 1996, to Philip V. Ortiz, discloses a fishing lure for use with disposable lure bodies having interchangeable skirts placed forward of the mass of the lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,377, issued on Jun. 11, 1996, to Lynn Freeman and Lyndall Helms, discloses a jig trailer fishing lure made of a synthetic material capable of absorbing water and fish attractant liquids.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,775, issued on Jul. 23, 1996, to Douglas L. Crumrine, discloses a weighted jig having a fishhook with an elongated shank, to one end of which is secured a U-shaped hook, with a shoulder attached to the other end.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,405, issued on Dec. 24, 1996, to Jody R. Fike, discloses a fishing lure for top water fishing, having a body with a spiral configuration and a longitudinal concave recess, and a bulbous head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,246, issued on Dec. 31, 1996, to Curtis J. Hill, discloses interchangeable eyes for fishing lures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,139, issued on May 13, 1997, to Gregory D. Rhoten, discloses a device for removably attaching a trailing spinner to a fish hook, using a rigidly spiraled wire that, when rotated about its axis, embraces the shaft portion of the fish hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,941, issued on Aug. 3, 1999, to Ed Lymon Hayes II and Howard Duke Davenport, II, discloses a fishing lure having three points of support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,886, issued on Sep. 28, 1999, to Chris Choate, discloses a fishing lure with a laterally spaced spinner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,723, issued on Nov. 2, 1999, to Jeff A. Taibi, discloses a weed shielding spinner fishing lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,658, issued on Jan. 4, 2000, to Herman P. Firmin, discloses a fishing lure with a body having two overlapping heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,146, issued on Jun. 27, 2000, to Walter A. Larsen, discloses a scent strip for a fishing lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,999, issued on Dec. 5, 2000, to Todd D. Woods, discloses a fishing lure designed to resemble an insect, having a flat, elongated body formed of a flexible fabric material. It does not disclose the use of cutouts having the shapes of those in the instant invention, nor the use of cyanoacrylate glue.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,324, issued on Dec. 19, 2000, to Jim Hugunin, discloses a scent tab for a bucktail fishing lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,535, issued on Apr. 23, 2002, to David M. Bailey, discloses a fishing lure comprising a crankbait or similar body member to which both a spinner and a hook are attached, having an oscillating, swimming-like motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,336, issued on Aug. 5, 2003, to Donald J. Link, discloses detachable lure dressings having modular spinner blade assemblies and rattle chambers that mount to elastomer collars and filaments on a fishing lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,692, issued on Jun. 15, 2004, to Travis Sprouse, discloses a spinner bait, including a head, a hook, a pair of legs, and two or more spinner blades extending from the pair of legs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,553, issued on Aug. 10, 2004, to Rick A. Philips et al., discloses an anti-snag fishing lure, with a spherical body, primary and secondary fish hooks, a deflector (like the present invention's weed guard), and a spinner attached by a connecting ring to a swivel. The instant invention is distinguishable in that it has a molded lead collar (or spout-like extension) extending from the spherical or rounded lead head, it retains the swivel on a metal stem connected by a wire to the collar or head, rather than directly on a spherical body, and it does not have a secondary fish hook. The instant invention is also distinguishable because only it includes microfiber or leather cutouts, and the use of cyanoacrylate glue.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,894, issued on May 31, 2005, to James W. Anderson, discloses a fishing jig with interchangeable jig heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,641, issued on Nov. 8, 2005, to Slane L. Chocklett and Harrison R. Steeves, discloses an arts and crafts material having a foil pattern imprinted on a sheet, portions of which may be cut to form particular shapes, such as the body and tail portions of fishing flies.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,881, issued on Mar. 14, 2006, to Jeremy W. Altman, discloses a fishing lure having a body with a hook, and elongated arms to which spinners are attached, with the body formed in a mold that is centrifuged.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,285, issued on Oct. 3, 2006, to Jerome Rousseau Ince, discloses a snagless artificial fishing lure with pectoral appendages, and with a snag guard and a top-mounted hook configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,146, issued on Nov. 28, 2006, to Andy T. Gill, discloses a jig and bait system, including a body connected to a neck and a bait keeper, and a latch that prevents fish from spitting out a hook. It does not disclose the use of cyanoacrylate glue as in the instant invention, nor the use of cutouts having the shapes of the cutouts in the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,147, issued on Nov. 28, 2006, to Willard C. Wacha, discloses a jig rig having a metal lip with raised edges to help it sink and wobble when reeled in or let out in water.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0045048, published on Nov. 29, 2001, to Rodney Levelle Johnson, discloses an articulated fishing jig, comprising a weighted head, an arcuate lip extending forward from the head, an eyelet extending from the head, and a hook extending rearward from the head.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0029509, published on Mar. 14, 2002, to Jim Hugunin, is a continuation-in-part of the same patent application that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,324, noted above.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0078619, published on Jun. 27, 2002, to Michael E. Hurtle, Jr., discloses a tube lure, comprising a flexible tube body having a cavity, and a jig head that fits within the cavity.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0074828, published on Apr. 24, 2003, to Travis Sprouse, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,692, noted above.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0183323, published on Aug. 25, 2005, to Eric A. Harrell, discloses a jig fish lure having a body and a hook attached to the body, an eye to the rear of the body in a recess, and a passage through the body through which fishing line can pass from the eye through the front of the body.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0042150, published on Mar. 2, 2006, to Warren Edward Roh, discloses a two dimensional fishing lure, formed from a flat base material that is bent to form two images of the lure. A hook is placed between the images, and the hook and images are held together by an adhesive, stitching or mechanical means. The use of cyanoacrylate glue, as in the instant invention, is not disclosed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0201050, published on Sep. 14, 2006, to Conrad Mark Troutman, discloses a jig-type fishing lure having a jig body with a hook extending from a rear portion of the body and a spinner-type fish attractant located before the front end of the jig body.
French Patent No. 2 569 947, published on Mar. 14, 1986, to Jacques A. Dubert, discloses an artificial fishing bait, comprising a body which simulates a bait, with an attached piece made by moulding a synthetic substance (which may be phosphorescent or luminescent) in order to give it the appearance of live bait.
French Patent No. 2 593 354, published on Jul. 31, 1987, to Jean-Claude Bedu, discloses a lure for carnivorous fish, which may be made from a chicken larynx or a plastic imitation.
Japanese Patent No. 2004-113038, published on Apr. 15, 2004, inventor Kenta Nagai, discloses a blade and spinner bait, with the blade being made of a thin curved plate.
Japanese Patent No. 2004-159633, published on Jun. 10, 2004, inventor Takashi Shutto, discloses a reinforced thin stem wire type bait, having a thin stem hook, and a hairy animal skin trailer.
Japanese Patent No. 2004-275161, published on Oct. 7, 2004, inventor Masahito Fukuda, discloses a lure with a shaft and swivel fixed on one straight line and a blade joined at their rear.
Japanese Patent No. 2005-185255, published on Jul. 14, 2005, inventor Kenji Hirahara, discloses a spinner type bait lure capable of holding a stable swimming/moving posture, having a shaft with two bent parts, and a swivel between the bent parts joined to a fishing line.
Japanese Patent No. 2005-210950, published on Aug. 11, 2005, inventor Kenji Hirahara, discloses a blade for a fishing lure, having a body composed of a curved shield-like plate with a connection hole.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. In particular, the prior art does not disclose the use of cyanoacrylate glue to retain cutouts on a fishing lure, nor the use of cutouts having the shapes of those in the instant invention.


A light source, in particular incandescent lamp, with a bulb (1), and filament (2) arranged in the bulb (1), and a heating device (3) for the filament (2), the filament (2) emitting both visible light and heat radiation, is designed and constructed with respect to a high conversion efficiency between electric power and visible light output such that the heating device (3) includes a heating element (4) for the indirect heating of the filament (2).

The invention relates to a light source, in particular incandescent lamp, with a bulb, a filament arranged in the bulb, and a heating device for the filament, the filament emitting both visible light and heat radiation.
Light sources of the described type have been known from practice for a long time, and they exist in a large variety of designs and sizes. In this connection, for example, incandescent lamps are known as electrical light sources, in which it is common to bring a tungsten filament by electrical Joule heat to a highest possible temperature. In this process, a temperature radiation is generated. The light yield of incandescent filaments considerably increases as the temperature rises. Besides that, also so-called nonthermal sources of radiation are known, for example, discharge lamps, such as inert gas-, mercury-, sodium-, and metal halide discharge lamps in high-pressure and low-pressure designs.
All so far known, electrically operated types of light sources have the disadvantage that they are very inefficient with respect to converting electric power into visible light output. The conversion barely exceeds 30%. The largest portion of the consumed electric power is an uneconomical dissipation primarily in the form of heat.
A possibility of increasing the efficiency of known light sources consists in that the heat radiated from the filament or glow wire, is reflected from the inner side of the bulb back to the filament or glow wire. As a result, the filament or glow wire undergoes a kind of backheating. This results in that after reaching the same filament temperature, less electric power will be needed than during a heating without reflection. The visible light output, which is transmitted through the bulb, remains in this instance the same. In the ideal case, only that electric power will be needed, which corresponds to the visible, emitted light output and to the thermal dissipation, which is absorbed by the bulb. Thus, the conversion efficiency is improved by the portion of the reflected heat radiation. Theoretically, it would be possible to increase with that the conversion efficiency to as much as 75% or 140 lumens/watt, if one took as a basis the standard thermal dissipation of tungsten lamps of about 25%, and if one neglected the radiation absorption of a mirror coating on the inner side of the bulb. In this connection, for example, dielectric mirror coatings have an absorption of typically 0.1%.
In the case of a mirror coating on the inner side of the bulb with a reflecting power of, for example, 99.9%, statistically, every one thousandth photon in the material of the mirror coating will be absorbed. In the case of a reflection of the radiation into the bulb, the photon flux may therefore undergo only 1000 reflections on the inner side of the bulb, until it is totally absorbed in the bulb. The probability that on its path of reflection, the photon flux strikes the filament or glow wire and is there absorbed, is proportionate to the ratio of the filament volume or the filament surface to the reflecting bulb volume or the reflecting bulb surface.
To achieve a highest possible backheating of the filament, it will therefore be advantageous, when a large filament surface is present, so that the photon flux strikes the filament and is there absorbed after the fewest possible reflections on the inner side of the bulb.
However, in this instance, it is disadvantageous that in the case of an enlarged filament surface, the electrical resistance of the filament becomes smaller, so that for reaching the filament temperature necessary for the light emission, a substantially greater current is needed in the filament than in the case of a normal filament surface or normal filament cross section. This may lead to safety problems for the user of the light source. In summary, there is a dilemma as to a largest possible filament surface and the therefor required and disadvantageous high currents.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to describe a light source of the initially described type, which allows to achieve a high conversion efficiency with simple means and in a reliable manner.
The foregoing object is achieved by a light source which is designed and constructed such that the heating device includes a heating element for an indirect heating of the filament.
In accordance with the invention, it has been recognized that the development of a separate heating element for the filament accomplishes the foregoing object in a surprisingly simple manner. In this instance, the filament is indirectly heated by the heating element, which offers the great advantage that the filament may be configured irrespective of its electrical resistance behavior. As a result, it is possible to realize a large-surface filament, which exhibits a high absorptive power for heat radiation, which is reflected from the inner side of the bulb. The device, which is needed for heating the filament may be realized independently of the configuration of the filament. Consequently, it is also possible to realize a heating device, which operates with electric currents, which can be safely managed. An electrical contact between the heating device and the filament is no longer needed.
Thus, the light source of the present invention denotes a light source, which allows to achieve a high conversion efficiency with simple means and great reliability.
As regards a most favorable possible absorption behavior for heat radiation, it would be possible to design and construct the filament in the form of a strip, or, quite generally, as a flat filament. As an alternative thereto, one could also make the filament, quite generally, as a volume filament, i.e., a filament, which occupies a spatial volume, or comprises a volume. In particular, one could make the filament in the shape of a cup or cylinder jacket. In this connection, a configuration as a complete cylinder jacket or even as a portion thereof, in particular a cylinder jacket half is possible. In the case of a substantially complete cylinder jacket, such a jacket could also be made open on its side or axially slotted. This is favorable with respect to the thermal expansion behavior of the filament.
To guarantee a particularly effective absorption of the heat radiation being reflected from the inner side of the bulb, the diameter of the cylinder jacket, or of a portion or half thereof, could be only slightly smaller than the diameter of the bulb. In particular in this instance, it would be possible to arrange the filament in the bulb in concentric and/or coaxial relationship with a longitudinal axis of the bulb.
Depending on its configuration, the filament could divide the interior of the bulb into one or more half spaces or subspaces.
The bulb could have such a large outer surface that it is possible to dissipate the surface heat, which is generated, for example, by absorption of heat radiation, with the use of convection cooling or any other forced cooling. The size and form of the filament and the bulb could adapted to each other in a corresponding manner.
Basically, the filament could contain tungsten, and/or rhenium, and/or tantalum, and/or zirconium, and/or niobium. In this connection, adjustments are to be made to the respective needs of the light source characteristics. The filament could contain the last-mentioned materials in a sintered form.
Furthermore, the filament could be composed at least in part of a nonmetal. This could improve the mechanical stability of the filament.
With respect to very high surface temperatures, and very high light currents in the visible range, the filament could be composed at least in part of tantalum carbide, and/or rhenium carbide, and/or niobium carbide, and/or zirconium carbide. This would allow to reach surface temperatures, which are higher than is normal for known tungsten filament lamps.
Concretely, the heating element could be an incandescent element that is heated by the electric current. The filament is heated by the heat radiation of the incandescent element. The incandescent element may be adapted to the required lamp output independently of the filament. In a particularly simple manner, the incandescent element could be a heating coil.
As regards a particularly favorable heating of the filament by the incandescent element, the latter could be arranged within a space or half space formed by the filament, preferably within a cylinder jacket or a cylinder jacket half. In this connection, quasi the largest portion of the heat radiated from the incandescent element is absorbed by the filament. When the filament is designed as a body that is open in sectionsxe2x80x94for example, as a cylinder jacket halfxe2x80x94the incandescent element will be able to contribute in addition to the generation of light. In this instance, the incandescent element radiates in the direction, which is predetermined by the configuration of the filament. The light source would be able to emit light already before the filament is heated to the temperature necessary for the light emission. A time delay between the activation of the light source and light emission is thus largely avoided.
In a particularly simple manner, the incandescent element could be formed from tungsten. In this instance, the use of conventional tungsten heating coils is possible.
In a constructionally very simple manner, the filament could be attached to a power supply conductor for the heating element or incandescent element, thereby avoiding additional holding means for the filament in the bulb.
As an alternative or in addition to a heating of the filament by means of a heated incandescent element, one could arrange magnetic inductors in the bulb or outside thereof for an indirect heating of the filament. Likewise with that, an indirect heating of the filament is possible in a simple manner.
To optimize the reflection behavior of the inner side of the bulb, which is transparent for the visible light, the bulb could have a mirror coating on its inner side. In a particularly favorable manner, same could be a dielectric multilayer coating. With that, a spectrally selective mirror coating is present, which largely reflects the portion of heat radiation and transmits the portion of visible radiation.
In the case of a filament, which does not fully surround an incandescent element, heat radiation is also emitted from the incandescent element directly to the inner side of the bulb. From this inner side, the heat radiation in turn is reflected on the filament.
Likewise, the heat radiation emitted from the filament is reflected from the inner side of the bulb, and thus contributes to the backheating of the filament. As a whole, the light source of the present invention could be described a radiation furnace lamp, wherein the bulb forms an internally heated radiation furnace for the infrared radiation.
The large, possible surface of the filament permits constructing light sources with high light outputs. It is likewise possible to adjust the color temperature of the light source independently of the surface temperature of the filament or incandescent element. This may occur by the spectrally selective mirror coating, which is capable of predetermining the transmitted spectral distribution of the radiation output emitted from the bulb and thus the color temperature.
In comparison with previous light sources of the same light output, it is possible to lower in particular the surface temperature of both the incandescent element and the filament, inasmuch as, on the one hand, the entire radiation output of the incandescent element must correspond only to the sum of the visible radiation output and the thermal dissipation power of the light source. However, same is smaller by the portion of reflected and reabsorbed heat radiation or portion of the infrared radiation output than the total radiation output of comparable temperature radiators of the art. In accordance with the Stefan-Boltzmann law, the total specific heat radiation is a function of the temperature, so that the incandescent element of the light source according to the invention can be operated at a lower temperature in comparison with the directly heated filament of comparable thermal light sources of the art. On the other hand, likewise for comparison, the surface temperature of the filament may be adjusted lower, since the comparable visible light current can be generated by a larger and colder surface of the filament. In this connection, the filament surface forms a new, additional constructional degree of freedom.
While it is possible to operate the filament at a relatively low temperature, and while with that also a relatively low evaporation of the filament material is reached, a disturbing evaporation may occur because of the very large surface, which is as close as possible to the inner side of the bulb. As a result of filament material, which has evaporated and settled on the inner side of the bulb, the reflectivity of the inner side of the bulb or the mirror coating on the inner side of the bulb is reduced, and the absorption of the bulb or the mirror coating and the thermal dissipation respectively are increased. It is therefore desirable to minimize the evaporation of the filament material to the greatest extent.
For minimizing the evaporation of the filament material, the bulb could contain an inert gas and/or a halogen gas, with the halogen gas containing bromine and/or iodine. With that, it would be possible to generate a normal tungsten iodide circulation in the case of a tungsten filament.
An alternative solution to the evaporation problems could occur by coating the filament and/or the incandescent element with a coating material, which has a higher melt point than the material of the filament and/or incandescent element. This lies in the dependency of the temperature-dependent vapor pressure of a solid from its melt point. Furthermore, the deposit of the coating material could exhibit a lesser absorptivity than the deposit of the standard filament material or the material of the incandescent element. As a coating material with a very high melt point, it would be possible to use, for example, tantalum carbide, and/or rhenium carbide, and or niobium carbide, and/or zirconium carbide.
As a result of the constructionally necessitated large filament surface, it is possible to generate very high light currents and to emit them from the light source, so as to enable an illumination of large building interiors or outdoor areas with only one light source according to the invention.
There exist various possibilities of improving and further developing the teaching of the present invention in an advantageous manner. To this end, one may refer to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the drawing. In conjunction with the detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawing, also generally preferred improvements and further developments of the teaching are described.


A unified web-based voice messaging system provides voice application control between a web browser and an application server via an hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) connection on an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The application server executes the voice-enabled web application by runtime execution of a first set of extensible markup language (XML) documents that define the voice-enabled web application to be executed. The application server generates an HTML form specifying selected application parameters from an XML document executable by the voice application. The HTML form is supplied to a browser, enabling a user of the browser to input or modify application parameters for the corresponding XML document into the form. The application server inserts the received input application parameters into the XML document, and stores the document.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generating and executing voice enabled web applications within a hypertext markup language (HTML) and hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) framework.
2. Description of the Related Art
The evolution of the public switched telephone network has resulted in a variety of voice applications and services that can be provided to individual subscribers and business subscribers. Such services include voice messaging systems that enable landline or wireless subscribers to record, playback, and forward voice mail messages. However, the ability to provide enhanced services to subscribers of the public switched telephone network is directly affected by the limitations of the public switched telephone network. In particular, the public switched telephone network operates according to a protocol that is specifically designed for the transport of voice signals; hence any modifications necessary to provide enhanced services can only be done by switch vendors that have sufficient know-how of the existing public switched telephone network infrastructure.
An open standards-based Internet protocol (IP) network, such as the World Wide Web, the Internet, or a corporate intranet, provides client-server type application services for clients by enabling the clients to request application services from remote servers using standardized protocols, for example hypertext transport protocol (HTTP). The web server application environment can include web server software, such as Apache-based software available from The Apache Software Foundation, implemented on a computer system attached to the IP network. Web-based applications are composed of HTML pages, logic, and database functions. In addition, the web server may provide logging and monitoring capabilities.
In contrast to the public switched telephone network, the open standards-based IP network has enabled the proliferation of web based applications written by web application developers using ever increasing web development tools. Hence, the ever increasing popularity of web applications and web development tools provides substantial resources for application developers to develop robust web applications in a relatively short time and an economical manner. However, one important distinction between telephony-based applications and web-based applications is that telephony-based applications are state aware, whereas web-based applications are stateless.
In particular, telephony applications are state aware to ensure that prescribed operations between the telephony application servers and the user telephony devices occur in a prescribed sequence. For example, operations such as call processing operations, voicemail operations, call forwarding, etc., require that specific actions occur in a specific sequence to enable the multiple components of the public switched telephone network to complete the prescribed operations.
The web-based applications running in the IP network, however, are state-less and transient in nature, and do not maintain application state because application state requires an interactive communication between the browser and back-end database servers accessed by the browsers via a HTTP-based web server. However, an HTTP server provides asynchronous execution of HTML applications, where the web applications in response to reception of a-specific request in the form of a URL from a client, instantiate a program configured for execution of the specific request, send an HTML web page back to the client, and terminate the program instance that executed the specific request. Storage of application state information in the form of a xe2x80x9ccookiexe2x80x9d is not practical because some users prefer not to enable cookies on their browser, and because the passing of a large amount of state information as would normally be required for voice-type applications between the browser and the web application would substantially reduce the bandwidth available for the client.
Commonly-assigned, copending application Ser. No. 09/480,485, filed Jan. 11, 2000, entitled Application Server Configured for Dynamically Generating Web Pages for Voice Enabled Web Applications, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, discloses an application server that executes a voice-enabled web application by runtime execution of extensible markup language (XML) documents that define the voice-enabled web application to be executed. The application server includes a runtime environment that establishes an efficient, high-speed connection to a web server. The application server, in response to receiving a user request from a user, accesses a selected XML page that defines at least a part of the voice application to be executed for the user. The XML page may describe any one of a user interface such as dynamic generation of a menu of options or a prompt for a password, an application logic operation, or a function capability such as generating a function call to an external resource. The application server then parses the XML page, and executes the operation described by the XML page, for example dynamically generating an HTML page having voice application control content, or fetching another XML page to continue application processing. In addition, the application server may access an XML page that stores application state information, enabling the application server to be state-aware relative to the user interaction. Hence, the XML page, which can be written using a conventional editor or word processor, defines the application to be executed by the application server within the runtime environment, enabling voice enabled web applications to be generated and executed without the necessity of programming language environments.
Hence, web programmers can write voice-enabled web applications, using the teachings of the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 09/480,485, by writing XML pages that specify respective voice application operations to be performed. The XML documents have a distinct feature of having tags that allow a web browser (or other software) to identify information as being a specific kind or type of information. In particular, commonly-assigned, copending application Ser. No. 09/501,516, filed Feb. 1, 2000 entitled Arrangement for Defining and Processing Voice Enabled Web Applications Using Extensible Markup Language Documents, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference, discloses an arrangement for defining a voice-enabled web application using extensible markup language (XML) documents that define the voice application operations to be performed within the voice application. Each voice application operation can be defined as any one of a user interface operation, a logic operation, or a function operation. Each XML document includes XML tags that specify the user interface operation, the logic operation and/or the function operation to be performed within a corresponding voice application operation, the XML tags being based on prescribed rule sets that specify the executable functions to be performed by the application runtime environment. Each XML document may also reference another XML document to be executed based on the relative position of the XML document within the sequence of voice application operations to be performed. The XML documents are stored for execution of the voice application by an application server in an application runtime environment.
Hence, the XML document described in the above-incorporated application Ser. No. 09/501,516, which can be written using a conventional editor or word processor,.defines the application to be executed by the application server within the runtime environment, enabling voice enabled web applications to be generated and executed without the necessity of programming language environments.
Conventional application development environments maintain a substantial distinction between application use and application development. In particular, most applications are developed either by writing source code using a conventional programming language and compiling the written code into executable format, or using a stand-alone development tool that generates the required application. After the application has been developed into executable code, the executable code is then executed by a processing system for testing prior to actual use by subscribers. The distinction between application use and application development hinders efficiency in application development, since a developer is unable to obtain immediate feedback from adding any changes to an application. Hence, an application developer having discovered an undesirable result in the application during execution typically needs to retrace the executable code to locate the cause of the undesirable result, slowing the application development process.
There is a need for an arrangement that enables a user to develop voice enabled web applications using a browser, where the user can concurrently generate new voice application operations and test the voice application operations executed by an application server.
There also is a need for an arrangement that enables voice applications to be defined using extensible markup language (XML) documents in a manner that provides flexible control of the voice applications. In particular, there is a need for an arrangement that enables the modification of existing application parameters of a voice-enabled web application, or the addition of new application parameters, without affecting unmodified application parameters.
These and other needs are attained by the present invention, where an application server that executes a voice application defined by XML documents dynamically generates an HTML form specifying selected application parameters from an XML document executable by the voice application. The HTML form is supplied to a browser, enabling a user of the browser to input or modify application parameters for the corresponding XML document into the form. The application server, upon receiving the form from the web browser, inserts the input application parameters into the XML document, and stores the application document for execution. Since voice applications are executed by the application server based on runtime parsing of the XML document, a user can concurrently use the HTML form to create or modify an XML document, post the HTML to the application server, and then execute the XML document to validate the inputs supplied to the HTML form. Hence, a user can easily generate XML documents and verify the corresponding voice application operation using a forms-based application development methodology.
One aspect of the present invention provides a method in an application server for developing an executable voice application. The method includes generating a hypertext markup language (HTML) document that specifies a form having at least one entry field for specifying an application parameter, and sending the HTML document to a web browser. The method also includes receiving the form from the web browser, the received form having an input application parameter in the entry field, inserting the input application parameter into an extensible markup language (XML) document configured for defining an operation of the executable voice application, and storing the XML document for execution by the application server. Generation of an HTML document that specifies a form for entry of application parameters enables an application developer to use an HTML forms representation of the application defining XML documents. Hence, an application developer can develop an XML-based voice web application without the necessity of any experience in writing code in existing programming languages. Moreover, the application developer can use a browser to create or modify a voice enabled web application; consequently, the request-based interaction between the browser and the application server enables an application developer to create or modify an XML document, and then cause the application server to execute the XML document in the same browser window.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method in a browser for developing an executable voice application. The method includes sending a first request to a web server according to hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) for a first hypertext markup language (HTML)-based web page having a form with at least one entry field for inputting an application parameter, receiving and displaying the form, and posting the form, including an input application parameter in the entry field that is input by a user, to a prescribed uniform resource locator (URL). The method also includes sending a second request to the web server for execution of the executable voice application based on the posted form, and receiving a second HTML-based web page having voice application content based on the posted form. The posting of the form having the input application parameter enables a user of the browser to supply application parameters to an application server to define voice application operations in an XML document. Moreover, the sending of a second request for execution of the executable voice application based on the posted form and reception of the corresponding second HTML-based web page enables a user to personalize voice application operations within a voice enabled web application, and then test the input changes by obtaining the results of execution of the voice enabled web application by the application server.
Still another aspect of the present invention provides a system configured for developing an executable voice application. The system includes a computer-based server and a storage medium. The computer-based server has an application runtime environment configured for generating for a browser a first hypertext markup language (HTML) document that specifies a form having at least one entry field for specifying an application parameter. The application runtime environment, in response to reception from the browser of a first HTTP request specifying the application parameter, inserts the application parameter specified by the first HTTP request into an XML document. The application runtime environment also selectively executes the XML document having the application parameter specified by the first HTTP request in response to a second HTTP request. The storage medium is configured for storing the XML document created or modified by the computer-based server.
Additional advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the present invention may be realized and attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Browser-based arrangement for developing voice enabled web applications using extensible markup language documents


A data management system responds to migration requests by automatically invoking a shortcut migration process for suitable candidates. Suitability of candidate data is efficiently evaluated using, among other considerations, the presence or absence of an expedited access indicator for the data which is previously set when the data is recalled from backup storage. In the shortcut migration process, the system automatically reconnects a previously migrated copy of the data object, if available.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data management systems that use removable data storage media such as magnetic tape. More particularly, the invention includes a data management system that, responsive to a migration request for a particular data object, automatically invokes a shortcut migration process that finds the previously migrated copy of the data object and reconnects to the copy.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasing importance of electronic information today, there is a similar increase in the importance of reliable data storage. The market abounds with different means of data storage today, ranging from high-speed, more expensive media such as random access memory (RAM), to slower speed, less expensive products such as magnetic tape. Some advanced, xe2x80x9chierarchicalxe2x80x9d systems utilize multiple levels of data storage, often high-speed, direct-access storage (such as magnetic disk drive storage) for frequently used data, and relatively lower-speed removable storage media (such as magnetic tape) for infrequently used data. One example of such a system is the IBM System Managed Storage product, which includes the DFSMShsm component.
The movement of data from disk to tape in a hierarchical storage system is called xe2x80x9cmigration.xe2x80x9d A single tape might contain hundreds or thousands of migrated datasets. When a migrated dataset is referenced by a user, the dataset is copied back onto the disk in a movement known as xe2x80x9crecall.xe2x80x9d One example of recall appears in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 9 (February 1984), which is incorporated herein by reference. With recall, the copy left on tape is invalidated in favor of the copy recalled to disk. This usually works well, because any changes to the recalled data will render the copy left on tape worthless; namely, the nature of serially accessible storage media prevents updating the tape copy to match the disk copy.
The DFSMShsm program maintains an inventory of migrated datasets, and uses this inventory to aid in the recall of datasets. The DFSMShsm program also keeps a limited inventory of recalled datasets (which exist on tape but are considered invalid), but only for a brief, fixed period of time. If a recalled dataset becomes inactive, DFSMShsm software re-migrates the recalled dataset back to tape. This re-migration can be time consuming because it requires copying the dataset""s entire contents from disk to tape. In cases where the recalled dataset was never changed, this copying is wasted work because the originally migrated data copy (on tape) is the same as the recalled version (on disk).
To address this performance issue, and expedite data re-migration, various approaches have been developed to xe2x80x9creconnectxe2x80x9d previously recalled datasets. Broadly, reconnection updates and recreates inventory records rather than again copying data from disk to tape, allowing fast-migration of unchanged recalled data whose migration copy still exists on tape, although flagged as invalid. With one reconnection approach, known as xe2x80x9crecall browse,xe2x80x9d the storage system reconnects datasets back to their tape versions in response to operator-issued commands. The end user must issue a command for each and every dataset to be reconnected. Although this function is beneficial in certain respects, significant user activity is required to evaluate datasets for reconnection, requiring the user to determine if the data object had ever been migrated, determine if that migration copy exists, and if the copy exists, is it identical. Furthermore, the user may be unaware of certain datasets for which reconnection is nonetheless possible. In addition, there is some danger of improperly reconnecting datasets that have changed since recall, and are therefore not suitable for reconnection.
Improving upon the recall browse feature, others developed a reconnection procedure with more automated features. With the more-automated reconnection feature, software supplements the migration process by automatically considering the possibility of reconnecting data. This approach provides the advantage of greater automation, since the end user does not have to manually instigate the recall process, and because more datasets can be considered for reconnection than are possible by manual user command. Although beneficial in some respects, the more-automated approach still suffers from certain limitations. Chiefly, reconnection using the more-automated approach can be time consuming because various input/output operations are required to determine whether a dataset is suitable for reconnection. For instance, time-consuming work is required to determine whether the migration copy exists, and whether it is identical to the recall (disk) copy. In many cases, these operations are wasted, such as when a dataset being considered for reconnection has never been migrated and therefore cannot possibly be a reconnection candidate. When a large number of data objects are being migrated to tape, evaluating each dataset for reconnection can delay the migration by a considerable time.
Consequently, known reconnect procedures are not completely adequate for some applications due to certain unsolved problems.
Broadly, the present invention concerns a data management system that responds to each migration request for a particular data object by automatically invoking a shortcut migration process that finds a previously migrated copy of the exact data object, if it exists, and automatically reconnects that copy. More specifically, this data management system includes a primary level of storage (such as direct-access storage) and an auxiliary level of storage (such as multiple removable data storage media). An inventory stores metadata identifying data objects contained in the auxiliary level. A catalog includes metadata identifying data objects contained in the primary level, and whether such data objects are reconnectable.
When the data management system receives xe2x80x9crecallxe2x80x9d requests to copy target data objects from the auxiliary to the primary level, the system performs certain recall operations for each target data object as follows. The system determines whether the target data object meets prescribed future-reconnection criteria, and if so, it updates the catalog to include an expedited access indicator associated with the target data object. The system copies the target data object from the auxiliary level to the primary level. The system also updates the inventory to invalidate the metadata identifying the target data object in the auxiliary level, thereby deactivating the target data object in auxiliary storage. The system also prepares expiration information to be used in determining when to delete the invalidated inventory metadata for the target data object.
When the data management system receives xe2x80x9cmigrationxe2x80x9d requests to copy specified data objects from the primary level to the auxiliary level, the system performs certain migration operations for each specified data object as follows. If the catalog does not contain an expedited access indicator associated with the target data object, the system copies content of the specified data object from the primary level to the auxiliary level in a xe2x80x9cfullxe2x80x9d migration operation. On the other hand, if the catalog contains an expedited access indicator associated with the specified data object, the system determines whether restoration of the copy of the specified data object on the auxiliary level is possible. If restoration is not possible, the system performs a full migration. On the other hand, if restoration is possible, the system updates the inventory to restore previously invalidated metadata identifying the copy on the auxiliary level as being the specified data object, instead of re-copying contents of the specified data object from the primary level.
As mentioned above, the system also prepares certain expiration information. Namely, the system establishes a prescribed expiration schedule for metadata identifying auxiliary level copies of recalled data objects based upon access history of the data object. According to this schedule, the system cleans the inventory by removing invalidated metadata. Removing invalidated metadata prevents the inventory size from continually growing. Whenever the inventory is cleaned of metadata associated with certain data objects, the catalog may be updated to clear the expedited access indicators with these data objects. As an alternative, expedited access indicators may be cleared under other circumstances indicating an unusable auxiliary level copy of recalled data. One example occurs when the recalled data object is backed up, since the backup is presumably done to preserve changes in the recalled data object on the primary level.
The foregoing features may be implemented in a number of different forms. For example, the invention may be implemented to provide a method including a shortcut migration operation achieved by efficient, automatic reconnection to previously migrated data. In another embodiment, the invention may be implemented to provide an apparatus such as a data management system, configured to perform shortcut migration according to this invention. In still another embodiment, the invention may be implemented to provide a signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital data processing apparatus to perform a shortcut migration operation according to this invention. Another embodiment concerns logic circuitry having multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform shortcut migration as described herein.
The invention affords its users with a number of distinct advantages. Basically, the invention saves time by avoiding a full migration to auxiliary storage where possible, since a full migration of a large data object can take hours to complete. Instead of full migration, the invention performs a shortcut migration that restores a deactivated copy of data on auxiliary storage. Advantageously, the invention efficiently determines reconnect candidacy by consulting a catalog that is necessarily consulted for other reasons during reconnection anyway. From the standpoint of overhead, the shortcut migration is beneficial because it has a high likelihood of successful completion. One reason is the expedited access indicator, which helps to quickly exclude data objects for which reconnection is not possible. Also, success of reconnection is aided by preserving invalidated metadata identifying recalled data objects in auxiliary level storage according to a use-based predictive schedule, which likely preserves metadata for future reconnection if needed. As a further advantage, reconnection quickly enables the dataset to be scratched from primary level storage, freeing the typically more expensive primary level storage for storage of other data. As still another benefit, reconnecting datasets instead of copying the datasets to another auxiliary level storage media conserves media and reduces the need to clean and recycle media that become cluttered with deactivated data objects that could have been re-used through reconnection. This invention also provides a number of other advantages and benefits, which should be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Data management system with shortcut migration via efficient automatic reconnection to previously migrated copy

International Business Machines Corporation