Patent Application
20150104765
The present invention relates to teaching natural language conventions, and, more specifically, to an adaptive grammar teaching system configured to train users on identifying and correcting parallel structure errors within natural language sentences.
Natural languages are spoken languages (such as American English), which have grammar rules governing the composition of the natural language. There are stylistic conventions that apply to the written form of a natural language, which, unlike natural language per se, must be taught. When a person has not learned the proper stylistic conventions for written language, the student may encounter difficulty in communicating in writing, particularly in formal documents. For example, it may be particularly difficult for a person who does not understand the punctuation rules of American English to write an error-free research paper or formal letter, which limits that person's ability to communicate effectively through writing.
Grammar checkers, e.g., Grammerly.com, Thelma Thistleblossom, and grammar checkers included with document editors such as Microsoft Word, identify certain types of grammatical and punctuation errors in written documents. However, grammar and punctuation error identification/correction is not the same as teaching grammar and punctuation rules, even when the grammar checker indicates why each identified error is an error. Grammar checkers generally do not teach either prescriptive or descriptive rules of grammar, nor do grammar checkers target particular problems that users have with grammatical or stylistic rules. At times, the grammar checkers identify “errors” that are not errors at all, and rely on the user's knowledge to ultimately determine whether an error exists. Thus, grammar checkers are generally ineffective at teaching a user the conventions of formal written language.
Some English courses, e.g., in secondary and higher education, attempt to teach prescriptive grammar rules, largely using face-to-face teaching techniques, quizzes, and other activities. At times, automation is used in such traditional English courses. However, this automation generally consists of providing a student with multiple-choice questions and giving the student feedback on the student's selected answers. It can be difficult for an English teacher to identify and aid each student with the student's individual grammar or stylistic misconceptions, especially since classes tend to be large and students tend to have a wide range of skill gaps with respect to mastery of prescriptive grammar rules. At least the above mentioned deficiencies can allow students to complete English courses without learning all of the prescriptive grammar rules that they need to produce error-free communications.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide an automated grammar teaching system that is configured to teach prescriptive stylistic conventions targeted to the needs of students.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
In the drawings:
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.
An automated grammar teaching system delivers highly personalized, differentiated instruction to users. The automated grammar teaching system provides lessons and adaptive practice to build each student's skills for the rules of natural language grammar with respect to parallel structures. Parallel structure problems are automatically presented to students by the automated grammar teaching system, and are configured to address each student's continuous learning needs with respect to granular grammar skills relating to parallel structures.
Sentences of problems are presented to the user in a user interface. The problems may be presented as single sentences. The user may be asked to perform 3 different tasks, including 1) identifying the structures that should be parallel, 2) selecting the structures that are incorrect, 3) making the correction by typing the corrections. In various embodiments, problems may only require a subset of the above tasks to be completed.
In an embodiment, if a user incorrectly identifies a particular portion or an entirety of a sentence as having a parallel structure error, then the system displays remediation information to help the user understand why the identification is incorrect. In an embodiment, if a user provides an inaccurate correction to a parallel structure error, the system displays remediation information to explain why the correction that the user specified is inaccurate. Further, the automated grammar teaching system records, as historical data, a user's actions within the system. The system uses this historical data to identify what sentences, with what kinds of parallel structure errors, the system should provide to the user.
Techniques are described hereafter for adaptively instructing a user on grammar rules governing parallel structure usage in sentences.
With respect to
Client device 110 may be implemented by any type of computing device that is communicatively connected to network 130. Example implementations of client device 110 include, without limitation, workstations, personal computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, cellular telephony devices such as smart phones, and any other type of computing device.
In network arrangement 100, client device 110 is configured with a grammar client 112 and a browser 114 that displays web page 116. Grammar client 112 may be implemented in any number of ways, including as a plug-in to browser 114, as an application running in connection with web page 116, as a stand-alone application running on client device 110, etc. Grammar client 112 may be implemented by one or more logical modules, and is described in further detail below. Browser 114 is configured to interpret and display web pages that are received over network 130 (e.g., web page 116), such as Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) pages, and eXtensible Markup Language (XML) pages, etc. Client device 110 may be configured with other mechanisms, processes and functionalities, depending upon a particular implementation.
Further, client device 110 is communicatively coupled to a display device (not shown in
Network 130 may be implemented with any type of medium and/or mechanism that facilitates the exchange of information between client device 110 and server device 120. Furthermore, network 130 may facilitate use of any type of communications protocol, and may be secured or unsecured, depending upon the requirements of a particular embodiment.
Server device 120 may be implemented by any type of computing device that is capable of communicating with client device 110 over network 130. In network arrangement 100, server device 120 is configured with a grammar service 122, an error location service 124, an error correction service 126, and a remediation service 128. One or more of services 122-128 may be part of a cloud computing service. Functionality attributed to one or more of services 122-128 may be performed by grammar client 112, according to embodiments. Services 122-128 may be implemented by one or more logical modules, and are described in further detail below. Server device 120 may be configured with other mechanisms, processes and functionalities, depending upon a particular implementation.
Server device 120 is communicatively coupled to database 140. Database 140 may reside in any type of storage, including volatile and non-volatile storage (e.g., random access memory (RAM), one or more hard or floppy disks, main memory, etc.), and may be implemented by multiple logical databases. The storage on which database 140 resides may be external or internal to server device 120.
Any of grammar client 112 and services 122-128 may receive and respond to Application Programming Interface (API) calls, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messages, requests via HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), or any other kind of communication, e.g., from one of the other services 122-128 or grammar client 112. Further, any of grammar client 112 and services 122-128 may send one or more of the following over network 130 to one of the other entities: information via HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, etc.; XML data; SOAP messages; API calls; and other communications according to embodiments.
In an embodiment, each of the processes described in connection with one or more of grammar client 112 and services 122-128 are performed automatically and may be implemented using one or more computer programs, other software elements, and/or digital logic in any of a general-purpose computer or a special-purpose computer, while performing data retrieval, transformation, and storage operations that involve interacting with and transforming the physical state of memory of the computer.
According to an embodiment, grammar service 122 and/or grammar client 112 is implemented as part of an intelligent tutoring system, such as the cognitive tutor described in Kenneth R. Koedinger, John R. Anderson, William H. Hadley, & Mary A. Mark Intelligent tutoring goes to school in the big city §2.2 (7th World Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education 1995), which paper is incorporated herein by reference.
According to embodiments, a set of problem data includes a sentence and may also include one or more of:
In some embodiments, some of the above metadata may not be explicitly specified by the problem writer. Further, the same set of words or phrases may be defined using multiple different parallel structures. For example, if a list of three items is presented in a problem, there could be a parallel structure where the list is consistent with the structure of the first two items, or a parallel structure where the list is consistent with the structure of the last item. These parallel structures may be automatically generated by construction code that is executed once to generate metadata within database 140.
To illustrate, database 140 may include, in connection with a particular set of problem data, metadata embedded into the following marked-up sentence:
A new study [_leadingWords]$recommends to[/_leadingWords]
[_baseInfinitivePhrase]change study locations[/_baseInfinitivePhrase],
[_gerundPhrase]getting enough sleep[/_gerundPhrase], and
[_gerundPhrase]participating in class[/_gerundPhrase] to $increaseSuccess.
The embedded metadata variables (“$recommends”, “$increaseSuccess”) facilitate creating alternate wordings for the marked-up sentence. For example, database 140 also includes the following definitions of the embedded variables:
According to an embodiment, metadata for a sentence includes a tag that grammar service 122 may use for remediation information. Such metadata identifies one or more portions of a sentence that are correct. For example, a particular marked-up sentence includes the metadata tag [_infinitivePhrase/], which indicates to grammar service 122 that an infinitive phrase is located where the tag is positioned, but that it is irrelevant for any parallel structure. As described in further detail below, remediation service 128 may use such metadata to identify particular remediation information to display to a user. For example, if a user identifies the infinitivePhrase in a particular displayed sentence as part of the parallel structure, then remediation service 128 uses the tag that marks that infinitivePhrase to identify remediation text to display to the user. For example, the remediation text may indicate that the infinitivePhrase is not part of the parallel structure and that the parallel structure is elsewhere in the sentence.
Grammar service 122 sends information for GUI 300, via network 130, to grammar client 112. Grammar client 112 makes GUI 300 available to browser 114 executing on client device 110, and browser 114 displays GUI 300, i.e., in web page 116. According to another embodiment, grammar client 112 causes GUI 300 to be displayed outside of a browser, e.g., as part of a stand-alone application.
At step 204 of flowchart 200, a natural language sentence is depicted, which may include zero or more parallel structure errors. To illustrate, GUI 300 depicts natural language sentence 302A that, according to an embodiment, includes parallel structure errors. According to another embodiment, sentence 302A may or may not contain a parallel structure error, and grammar client 112 instructs users to determine whether sentence 302A includes a parallel structure error.
At step 206, input information is received, from a user, which indicates whether the natural language sentence includes a parallel structure error. For example, grammar client 112 receives information, input by the user via GUI 300 that indicates whether sentence 302A has no parallel structure error or has a parallel structure error according to the three types discussed above. A user may indicate this in various ways, such as by clicking on a yes/no dialog box, by entering a particular key stroke, etc. While flowchart 200 concerns a single parallel structure error, embodiments may also include natural language sentences that include multiple parallel structure errors. In this case, the user may correct each of the parallel structure errors one at a time.
Assuming the user has correctly identified the presence of a parallel structure error, the user may be required to further identify the locations of the parallel structures. In some embodiments, selection of the parallel structures may be made by highlighting, for example by clicking and dragging a desired selection with a pointing device. In other embodiments, the locations of the parallel structures may be given, thus requiring no user identification.
In some embodiments, the user may be further required to identify the grammatical types or roles of each of the identified parallel structures. As discussed above under the heading “SENTENCE PROBLEMS STORED AT THE DATABASE”, metadata may include the grammatical type or role for each parallel structure, such as “an adjective by itself” or “an adverb by itself”. The user may, for example by multiple-choice or drop-down menu selection, indicate the correct grammatical role of one or more of the identified parallel structures.
At step 208, the automated grammar teaching system determines whether the input information received from the user is correct. For example, moving to
If the user selects the wrong location or provides the wrong correction, then the user input may be determined as incorrect. Step 208 may be carried out after the user provides input information for each problem step or task, and the user may be prevented from proceeding further until the user answers each problem step or task successfully.
Since the parallel structures may have multiple possible solutions depending on the structure(s) used as the basis to correct the other structure(s), GUI 300 may accept several different answers as correct solutions to the problem. One solution is illustrated in
As discussed above, the construction code may create many possible combinations of parallel structures in the metadata stored in database 140 so that various correction possibilities can be accepted as correct answers. Since these different parallel structures present solutions or “goalposts” that may be mutually incompatible with each other, grammar service 122 may be able to detect the particular parallel structure that the user is attempting to apply, and only the corrections for that particular parallel structure may be enabled from that point forward, with corrections from all other possible parallel structures disabled. These different “goalposts” may be reflected in the metadata stored in database 140, allowing grammar service 122 to parse user inputs without conflicts even with multiple conflicting paths to different solutions.
Returning to flowchart 200 of
communicating that the indicated input information is incorrect;
communicating a request for second input information; or
displaying remediation information for the incorrectly indicated sentence.
According to an embodiment, in response to the above determination of error correction service 126, grammar client 112 communicates that the indicated input information is incorrect. For example, grammar client 112 displays text that informs the user that the user has not provided the correct parallel structure for sentence 302A. As another example, grammar client 112 displays a symbol or plays a sound to indicate the incorrect selection for sentence 302A. As yet another example, grammar client 112 simply does not move on to another problem or another portion of the present problem, which communicates to the user that the user has not provided the correct parallel structure for sentence 302A.
According to another embodiment, in response to the above determination of error correction service 126, grammar client 112 communicates a request for second input information. For example, grammar client 112 displays text that requests that the user make another answer attempt. As another example, grammar client 112 highlights instructions 310 within GUI 300 (e.g., with bolded text, font color, highlight color, a displayed symbol, a displayed border, etc.).
According to an embodiment, grammar client 112 displays remedial information in connection with communicating that the indicated response is incorrect. According to another embodiment, grammar client 112 displays hint information in response to detecting selection of hint button 312 (in GUI 300 of
Hints may also be presented in a contextually aware fashion. For example, hints may be tailored according to the specific portion or step of the problem that the user is working with. Additionally, in some embodiments, the hints may be provided proactively as a just-in-time intervention. For example, if the user begins typing a correction that is detected as incorrect, then a just-in-time tooltip may be shown, attempting to steer the user away from making the incorrect modification. In another embodiment, the remedial information may not be presented to the user until the incorrect selection has been made.
In some embodiments, less formalized hints may be given to assist the user. For example, some terms may be difficult to understand if the user is unfamiliar with formal grammar terminology. Thus, a less formalized explanation may be provided in the hints. As the user is exposed to formal grammar terminology, the hints may gradually transition to using formal terminology. Additionally, in some embodiments, an explanatory tooltip may be shown to the user when the user hovers over a particular term. In other embodiments, the information may be presented in a separate glossary that is available to the user through the use of contextual links, right-click contextual menus, search, or other means of access.
At step 404 of flowchart 400, a natural language sentence is depicted, which includes a parallel structure error that occurs at particular locations within the natural language sentence. For example, GUI 500 depicts natural language sentence 504 that includes a parallel structure error of three items in a list that are structurally inconsistent with each other.
At step 406, the automated grammar teaching system maintains data for identifying one or more accurate corrections for the particular parallel structure error. For example, database 140 includes a set of one or more accurate correction options for the particular parallel structure error. To illustrate in the context of sentence 504, database 140 has information indicating that the following correction options are accurate for the parallel structure error:
At step 408, a control is provided, in the graphical user interface, for receiving correction information for the particular parallel structure error. For example, as shown by instructions 510, grammar client 112 presents an interface that allows the user to “click and drag to highlight the items that should be parallel in structure”. After the three items are identified as shown by the highlighting of “to change study locations”, “getting enough sleep”, and “participating in class”, a dialog box may be shown as illustrated in
At step 410, information indicating a particular correction is received via the control from a user. As shown in instructions 510, the user is tasked to “select the item(s) that should be changed to correct any faulty parallelism in the sentence”. Assuming the user selects only the item “to change study locations” as needing correction, which may be checked and verified using error location service 124, GUI 500 in
As shown in GUI 500 and the updated instructions 510, a text box appears to allow the user to “correct the wording to make the items parallel in structure”. Accordingly, the user may type in the particular correction “changing study locations”. Grammar client 112 receives information indicating that the user has submitted a correction of “changing study locations” for the item “to change study locations” and sends the information to grammar service 122.
At step 412, it is determined, based on the data, whether the particular correction is one of the one or more accurate corrections for the particular parallel structure error. For example, grammar service 122 employs error correction service 126 to determine whether “changing study locations” replacing “to change study locations” corresponds to a valid correction when the remaining items “getting enough sleep” and “participating in class” are left as-is. Error correction service 126 thus examines the set of correction options, stored at database 140 in step 406 as discussed above, that are accurate for the particular parallel structure error.
Error correction service 126 checks each of the accurate correction options stored at database 140 in turn. In some cases, there will only be one accurate correction option. In other cases, as in this example, multiple correct answers may be available. Since the metadata in database 140 indicates that the proposed correction is acceptable, error correction service 126 determines that the particular correction is one of the accurate corrections.
Since the user typed the correction rather than merely selecting from multiple choices, it may be desirable to provide some flexibility to keep the focus on parallel structure. Accordingly, fuzzy searches or regular expressions may be supported to detect and ignore minor deviations such as spelling errors, incorrect capitalization, and excess whitespace. These deviations may be accepted as correct answers, with the corrected version shown to the user.
At step 414, in response to determining that the particular correction is one of the one or more accurate corrections for the particular parallel structure error, it is communicated, via the graphical user interface, that the particular correction was successful. In response, grammar client 112 may display text that informs the user that the user has accurately corrected the parallel structure error in sentence 504. As another example, grammar client 112 displays a symbol, such as a green checkmark, or plays a sound to indicate to the user that the user has accurately corrected the parallel structure error within sentence 504. As yet another example, grammar client 112 simply moves on to another problem or another portion of the present problem, which communicates to the user that the user has accurately corrected the parallel structure error or errors within sentence 504. Additionally, instructions 510 may be updated to reflect the successful correction. Thus, transitioning from GUI 500 of
While the above example for flowchart 400 is based on selecting “to change study locations” as the item needing correction,
To help the user become familiar with formal grammar terminology and rules, rule explanations using formal grammar terminology may be provided after each successfully solved problem, even when informal hints are being provided. Rule explanations may be provided in the form of an on-screen character or avatar that coaches the user in a conversational style. After the user correctly answers a problem, the correct sentences may be displayed with the on-screen character commenting on the application of the rule.
According to yet another embodiment, in response to the above determination of error correction service 126, grammar client 112 displays “remediation information” for the incorrectly indicated sentence. For example, remediation service 128 may use the metadata stored in database 140 to identify whether any corrective action submitted by the user is incorrect and to determine whether associated remediation information is available. In an embodiment, grammar client 112 presents a user with targeted remediation information about mistakes made by the user in identifying parallel structure errors. Information on why the identified sentence is incorrectly indicated educates the user on proper parallel structure usage, and therefore reinforces the user's knowledge of how to properly form sentences using parallel structures.
Remediation information includes information that explains to a user why a particular sentence is incorrectly identified as having or not having a parallel structure error. According to an embodiment, database 140 stores remediation information, including text to be displayed, for each stored sentence. According to another embodiment, database 140 stores a collection of remediation information display text indexed by unique identifiers. In this embodiment, remediation information for a particular sentence includes unique identifiers of remediation information stored in the collection.
Remediation information is created based on one or more of (a) academic literature about what students know and the mistakes that students make, (b) what subject matter experts and/or cognitive scientists know about how students learn, and (c) analysis of historical data gathered by grammar service 122. For example, grammar service 122 records, in historical data for a user, the mistakes that the user makes in identifying and correcting parallel structure errors, and what, if any, remediation information grammar client 112 was presented to the user in response to detecting the mistake. Trends in the historical data may be identified, e.g., by cognitive scientists, to determine what remediation information should be added to database 140.
Grammar client 112 displays remediation information when the user incorrectly identifies the presence or absence of a parallel structure error for any of the sentences. As discussed above, this may be determined by examining metadata within database 140 for a sentence in question. Remediation information may be shown in a pop-up window, similar to remediation information 406 in GUI component 412 of
According to this embodiment, database 140 contains remediation information for one or more of the following:
Grammar service 122 identifies which problem to display to a user based, at least in part, on user information stored at database 140. According to an embodiment, the automated grammar teaching system of
Based, at least in part, on the historical data, grammar service 122 identifies problems, to present to the user, that target concepts within the grammar rules governing sentence types with which the user has had trouble. The way that grammar service 122 interprets the data is configurable by an administrator of the system. For example, an administrator sets a rule in grammar service 122 that states that a user needs additional practice for a particular sentence type when the user misses over 50% of problems that feature the particular sentence type during the past seven days. At a certain point in time, the historical data for a particular user indicates that the user has made mistakes on a particular type of sentence 80% of the times that sentences of this type have been presented to the user in the past week. Based on this historical data and the administrator-set rule, grammar service 122 presents sentences of that type to the user at a higher rate than other types of sentences until grammar service 122 identifies that the rate of making mistakes on this type of problem is no longer over 50%.
According to embodiments:
In connection with sentences with parallel structure errors, grammar service 122 may track grammar skills corresponding to the item types listed above in the metadata stored in database 140.
According to one embodiment, the techniques described herein are implemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices. The special-purpose computing devices may be hard-wired to perform the techniques, or may include digital electronic devices such as one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that are persistently programmed to perform the techniques, or may include one or more general purpose hardware processors programmed to perform the techniques pursuant to program instructions in firmware, memory, other storage, or a combination. Such special-purpose computing devices may also combine custom hard-wired logic, ASICs, or FPGAs with custom programming to accomplish the techniques. The special-purpose computing devices may be desktop computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices, networking devices or any other device that incorporates hard-wired and/or program logic to implement the techniques.
For example,
Computer system 600 also includes a main memory 606, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 602 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 604. Main memory 606 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 604. Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to processor 604, render computer system 600 into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions.
Computer system 600 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 608 or other static storage device coupled to bus 602 for storing static information and instructions for processor 604. A storage device 610, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state drive is provided and coupled to bus 602 for storing information and instructions.
Computer system 600 may be coupled via bus 602 to a display 612, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. An input device 614, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 602 for communicating information and parallel structure selections to processor 604. Another type of user input device is cursor control 616, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and parallel structure selections to processor 604 and for controlling cursor movement on display 612. This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane.
Computer system 600 may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/or program logic which in combination with the computer system causes or programs computer system 600 to be a special-purpose machine. According to one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computer system 600 in response to processor 604 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 606. Such instructions may be read into main memory 606 from another storage medium, such as storage device 610. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 606 causes processor 604 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.
The term “storage media” as used herein refers to any non-transitory media that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine to operate in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprise non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical disks, magnetic disks, or solid-state drives, such as storage device 610. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 606. Common forms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge.
Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction with transmission media. Transmission media participates in transferring information between storage media. For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 602. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.
Various forms of media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 604 for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk or solid-state drive of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 600 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on bus 602. Bus 602 carries the data to main memory 606, from which processor 604 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory 606 may optionally be stored on storage device 610 either before or after execution by processor 604.
Computer system 600 also includes a communication interface 618 coupled to bus 602. Communication interface 618 provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link 620 that is connected to a local network 622. For example, communication interface 618 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 618 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 618 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.
Network link 620 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 620 may provide a connection through local network 622 to a host computer 624 or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 626. ISP 626 in turn provides data communication services through the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “Internet” 628. Local network 622 and Internet 628 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 620 and through communication interface 618, which carry the digital data to and from computer system 600, are example forms of transmission media.
Computer system 600 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link 620 and communication interface 618. In the Internet example, a server 630 might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet 628, ISP 626, local network 622 and communication interface 618.
The received code may be executed by processor 604 as it is received, and/or stored in storage device 610, or other non-volatile storage for later execution.
In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The sole and exclusive indicator of the scope of the invention, and what is intended by the applicants to be the scope of the invention, is the literal and equivalent scope of the set of claims that issue from this application, in the specific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequent correction.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/890,875, filed Oct. 15, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61890875 | Oct 2013 | US |
