Abstract: Ringed staple (1), or staple that when closed takes the approximate form of a ring, that presents a cross-section (3) with a substantially straight part (6) and a non-straight part (5), preferably curved circular. The non-straight part (5) corresponds with the exterior area (14) of the staple (1), whereas the substantially straight part (6) corresponds with the interior area (13) of the staple (1). The staple (1) requires less material and provides certain improved features than conventional staples (8, 10) with a substantially circular cross-section (9) or a substantially rectangular cross section (11).

Abstract: A method and apparatus implements bi-directional communications using the same or different physical media linking any two computing systems, nodes, employing routable protocols such as TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, etc., connected to a common network, allowing bi-directional communication between them. One of the physical media preferably has a wider bandwidth in one direction than another one of the physical media operating in the other direction. The present invention also provides for optimizing traffic between any two nodes by appropriately selecting communication paths based on either bandwidth or costs. Communication between any two nodes can be split between several different physical or logical paths to either increase the effective transmission bandwidth or to provide communication redundancy.