Patent Application
20080295040
Throughout history, technological advancements have enabled simplification of common tasks and/or handling such tasks in more sophisticated manners that can provide increased efficiency, throughput, and the like. For instance, technological advancements have led to automation of tasks oftentimes performed manually, increased ease of widespread dissemination of information, and a variety of ways to communicate as opposed to face to face meetings or sending letters. Moreover, these technological advancements can enhance experiences of individuals with disabilities and/or with limited types of available resources.
In the communication realm, the rise of telecommunications has enabled a shift away from communicating in person or sending written letters; rather, signals (e.g., electromagnetic, . . . ) can be transmitted over a distance for the purpose of carrying data that can be leveraged for communication. Development of the telephone allowed individuals to talk to each other while located at a distance from one another. Additionally, use of fax, email, blogs, instant messaging, and the like has provided a manner by which written language, images, documents, sounds, etc. can be transferred with diminished latencies in comparison to sending letters. Teleconferencing (e.g., audio and/or video conferencing, . . . ) has also allowed for a number of participants positioned at diverse geographic locations to collaborate in a meeting without needing to travel. The aforementioned examples can enable businesses to reduce costs while at the same time increase efficiency.
Participants of teleconferences can have limited access to available resources, disabilities can impact their ability to partake in teleconferences, and so forth. By way of illustration, an individual that takes part in a teleconference can employ a device (e.g., personal computer, laptop, . . . ) that lacks audio output (e.g., speakers, . . . ); accordingly, this individual commonly is unable to understand sounds (e.g., audio data such as spoken language, previously retained audio content, . . . ) transferred as part of the teleconference. According to another example, a participant in a teleconference can be hearing impaired, and thus, can have difficulty associated with joining in the teleconference. Also, a teleconference member can be in a location where she desires to mute her sound to mitigate content of the teleconference being overheard by others in proximity. Conventional techniques, however, oftentimes fail to address the forgoing illustrations.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of the claimed subject matter. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the claimed subject matter nor delineate the scope thereof. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The claimed subject matter relates to systems and/or methods that facilitate yielding closed caption service associated with real time communication. For example, audio data and video data can be obtained from an active speaker in a real time teleconference. Moreover, the audio data can be converted into a set of characters (e.g., text data) that can be transmitted to other participants of the real time teleconference. Additionally, the real time teleconference can be a peer to peer conference (e.g., where a sending endpoint communicates with a receiving endpoint) and/or a multi-party conference (e.g., where an audio/video multi-point control unit (AVMCU) routes data such as the audio data, the video data, and the text data between endpoints).
In accordance with various aspects of the claimed subject matter, text data can be transmitted to listening participants of a real time teleconference to enable rendering of closed captions. For instance, the listening participants can manually and/or automatically negotiate the use of closed captions upon receiving endpoints; thus, the text data can be transmitted to the receiving endpoints that select to utilize closed captions, while the text data need not be transferred to the remaining receiving endpoints. The text data employed for closed captions can be transmitted in compressed forms. Moreover, the text data can be synchronized with the video data and/or the audio data of the teleconference (e.g., via embedding, utilizing timestamps, . . . ). According to another example, when the receiving endpoints select (e.g., automatically, manually, . . . ) to request text data to render closed captions, a language associated with such text data can be chosen as well.
The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the claimed subject matter. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of such matter may be employed and the claimed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.
The claimed subject matter is described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the subject innovation. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the subject innovation.
As utilized herein, terms “component,” “system,” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, software (e.g., in execution), and/or firmware. For example, a component can be a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), . . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive, . . . ). Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs.
Now turning to the figures,
The real time conferencing component 102 can send and/or receive data (e.g., via a network such as the internet, a corporate intranet, a telephone network, . . . ) utilized in connection with audio/video teleconferences. For instance, the real time conferencing component 102 can transmit and/or obtain audio data, video data, text data, and so forth. Further, the real time conferencing component 102 and the disparate real time conferencing component(s) 104 can leverage various adaptors, connectors, channels, communication paths, etc. to enable interaction there between.
The system 100 can support real time peer-to-peer conferences and/or multi-party conferences. For example, in a peer-to-peer conference, the real time conferencing component 102 and the disparate real time conferencing component 104 can both be endpoints that can directly communicate with each other (e.g., over a network connection, . . . ). Moreover, in a multi-party conference, data can traverse through an AVMCU, which can be a gateway between substantially any number of endpoints; according to this illustration, the real time conferencing component 102 and/or the disparate real time conferencing components(s) 104 can be endpoints, AVMCUs, and the like.
The real time conferencing component 102 can further include a text streaming component 106 that can generate, transfer, route, receive, output, etc. streaming text (e.g., text data) utilized to yield closed captions associated with a real time audio/video conference. For example, when the real time conferencing component 102 is a receiving endpoint, the text streaming component 106 can obtain and output text (e.g., upon a display, . . . ), where the text can correspond to audio data yielded by an active speaker at a particular time. The text can be overlaid over video associated with the real time conference concurrently being outputted and/or in an area above, below, to the side of, etc. the video, for instance. Moreover, when the real time conferencing component 102 is a sending endpoint, the text streaming component 106 can transmit the text stream and/or audio data that can be converted into the text stream (e.g., by the disparate real time conferencing component(s) 104).
The system 100 can enable providing closed caption service with real time communications. For instance, participants in a real time conference who have muted their respective speakers and still want to know what is being said on the conference can leverage the closed caption service. Moreover, participants who have poor or no hearing yet still desire to participate in an audio/video conference can employ the system 100.
With reference to
The input component 202 can obtain the audio data in any manner. According to an illustration, the input component 202 can convert waves in air, water or hard material and translate them into an electrical signal. For example, the input component 202 can be a microphone that can capture the audio data and generate electrical impulses. Further, the input component 202 can be a sound card that can convert acoustical signals to digital signals. In accordance with another example, the input component 202 can obtain audio data captured by and thereafter transmitted from a disparate real time conferencing component (not shown). Thus, the audio data can be transferred via a network connection and obtained by the input component 202.
The text streaming component 106 can further include a speech to text conversion component 204 that converts the audio data to text data. The speech to text conversion component 204 can employ a speech recognition engine that can convert digital signals corresponding to the audio data to phonemes, words, and so forth. Moreover, the speech to text conversion component 204 can process continuous speech and/or isolated or discrete speech. For continuous speech, the speech to text conversion component 204 can convert audio data spoken naturally at a conversational speed. Additionally, isolated or discrete speech entails processing audio data where a speaker pauses between each word. The speech to text conversion component 204 can provide real time conversion of speech of an active speaker into a set of characters that can be transmitted to other participants for the purpose of real time communication. The set of characters (e.g., text data) can be employed for closed captions and can be transmitted in a compressed form. Moreover, the text data can be sent to endpoints requesting such data.
The speech to text conversion component 204 can compare processed words to a dictionary of words associated therewith. For example, the dictionary of words can be retained in memory (not shown). Moreover, the dictionary of words can be predefined and/or can be trainable. By way of illustration, users can each be associated with respective profiles that include information related to their unique speech patterns, and these profiles can be utilized in the matching process during recognition. The profiles can provide information pertaining to the user's accent, language, vocabulary (e.g., dictionary of words), enunciation, pronunciation, and the like. Thus, for instance, the profile can include a user's list of recognized words, and the speech to text conversion component 204 can compare the audio data to the recognized words to yield the text data.
According to another illustration, the speech to text conversion component 204 (and/or a translation component (not shown)) can translate audio data into text data in one or more foreign languages. For instance, the speech to text conversion component 204 can convert audio data into text data in a first language. Thereafter, the text data in the first language can be translated into any number of disparate languages. Thus, one or more text streams can be transmitted, where each text stream can correspond to a specific language. Moreover, an endpoint that receives the text data (e.g., a receiving endpoint) can enable selecting a desired language; accordingly, the text stream associated with the selected language can be sent to such receiving endpoint (e.g., from the sending endpoint, an AVMCU, . . . ).
Now turning to
Further, the sending endpoint 302 can obtain data from the input component 202 while the sending endpoint 302 is associated with the active speaker. It is to be appreciated that the input component 202 can be separate from the sending endpoint 302, the sending endpoint 302 can include the input component 202 (not shown), a combination thereof, and so forth. The input component 202 can obtain any type of input. For example, the input component 202 can obtain audio data and/or video data from a participant in a teleconference (e.g., the active speaker). Following this example, the input component 202 can include a video camera to capture video data and/or a microphone to obtain the audio input. According to another illustration, the input component 202 can include memory (not shown) that can retain documents, sounds, images, videos, etc. that can be provided to the sending endpoint 302 for transfer to the receiving endpoint 304. Thus, slides from a presentation can be sent from the sending endpoint 302 to the receiving endpoint 304, for example.
The sending endpoint 302 can further include the text streaming component 106 that communicates text data to the receiving endpoint 304 (e.g., the text streaming component 106 of the receiving endpoint 304). The text streaming component 106 of the sending endpoint 302 can further comprise the speech to text conversion component 204 that converts digital audio data obtained by way of the input component 202 into the text data that can be utilized to generate closed captions. Further, it is contemplated that the speech to text conversion component 204 need not be included in the sending endpoint 302 (and/or in the text streaming component 106); rather, the speech to text conversion component 204 can be a stand alone component, for instance. Moreover, it is to be appreciated that the receiving endpoint 304 can be associated with a substantially similar speech to text conversion component (not shown); thus, such substantially similar speech to text component can be utilized when the roles of the receiving endpoint 304 and the sending endpoint 302 switch at a disparate time (e.g., the receiving endpoint 304 changes to a sending endpoint associated with an active speaker and the sending endpoint 302 changes to a receiving endpoint). According to another example, the sending endpoint 302 can transmit audio data to the receiving endpoint 304, and the substantially similar speech to text conversion component of the receiving endpoint 304 can convert the audio data into text data to yield closed captions; it is to be appreciated, however, that the claimed subject matter is not so limited.
The receiving endpoint 304 can be coupled to an output component 306 that yields outputs corresponding to the audio data, video data, text data, etc. received from the sending endpoint 302. For example, the output component 306 can include a display (e.g., monitor, television, projector, . . . ) to present video data and/or text data. Moreover, the output component 306 can comprise one or more speakers to render audio output.
According to an example, the output component 306 can provide various types of user interfaces to facilitate interaction between a user and the receiving endpoint 304. As depicted, the output component 304 is a separate entity that can be utilized with the receiving endpoint 304. However, it is to be appreciated that the output component 306 can be incorporated into the receiving endpoint 304 and/or a stand-alone unit. The output component 306 can provide one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs), command line interfaces, and the like. For example, a GUI can be rendered that provides a user with a region or means to load, import, read, etc., data, and can include a region to present the results of such. These regions can comprise known text and/or graphic regions comprising dialogue boxes, static controls, drop-down-menus, list boxes, pop-up menus, edit controls, combo boxes, radio buttons, check boxes, push buttons, and graphic boxes. In addition, utilities to facilitate the presentation such as vertical and/or horizontal scroll bars for navigation and toolbar buttons to determine whether a region will be viewable can be employed.
The user can also interact with the regions to select and provide information via various devices such as a mouse, a roller ball, a keypad, a keyboard, a pen and/or voice activation, for example. Typically, a mechanism such as a push button or the enter key on the keyboard can be employed subsequent entering the information in order to initiate the search. However, it is to be appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not so limited. For example, merely highlighting a check box can initiate information conveyance. In another example, a command line interface can be employed. For example, the command line interface can prompt (e.g., via a text message on a display and an audio tone) the user for information via providing a text message. The user can than provide suitable information, such as alpha-numeric input corresponding to an option provided in the interface prompt or an answer to a question posed in the prompt. It is to be appreciated that the command line interface can be employed in connection with a GUI and/or API. In addition, the command line interface can be employed in connection with hardware (e.g., video cards) and/or displays (e.g., black and white, and EGA) with limited graphic support, and/or low bandwidth communication channels. Although not shown, it is contemplated that the sending endpoint 302 can be associated with an output component substantially similar to the output component 306 and the receiving endpoint 304 can be associated with an input component substantially similar to the input component 202.
Turning to
One person (e.g., an active speaker associated with the sending endpoint 302) can present at a particular time and the remaining participants in a conference can listen (e.g., multitask by turning off the audio while monitoring what is being said via closed captioning, associated with the receiving endpoints 404-408 . . . ). Additionally, at the time of an interruption, the person that was the active speaker prior to the interruption no longer is associated with the sending endpoint 302; rather, the interrupting party becomes associated with the sending endpoint 302. In an interactive conference where speakers can alternate, the AVMCU 402 can identify the active speaker at a particular time. Moreover, the AVMCU 402 can route data to non-speaking participants. Further, when the active speaker changes, the AVMCU 402 can alter the routing to account for such changes.
According to the illustrated example, the sending endpoint 302 can include the speech to text conversion component 204. Alternatively, the speech to text conversion component 204 can be coupled to the sending endpoint 302 (not shown). The sending endpoint 302 can be associated with an active speaker at a particular time. Thus, the sending endpoint 302 can receive audio data and video data for a real time conference from the input component 202, and the speech to text conversion component 204 can generate text data corresponding to the audio data. Thereafter, the sending endpoint 302 can send audio data, video data and text data to the AVMCU 402. Pursuant to another example, the sending endpoint 302 can select whether to disable or enable the ability of receiving endpoints 404-408 to obtain the text data for closed captioning; hence, if closed captioning is disabled, the sending endpoint 302 can sent audio data and video data to the AVMCU 402 without text data, for instance.
The AVMCU 402 can obtain the audio data, video data and text data from the sending endpoint 302. Further, the AVMCU 402 can route such data to the receiving endpoints 404-408. Thereafter, the output components 410-414 corresponding to each of the receiving endpoints 404-408 can generate respective outputs. It should be noted that the AVMCU 402 can mix the audio of several active audio sources in which case, the audio stream sent to receiving endpoints 404-408 represents a combination of all active speakers (double or triple talk, or one dominant speaker with other participants contributing noise, for example). In this case, the AVMCU 402 can elect to send the text stream associated with the dominant speaker only or it may elect to send several text streams, each corresponding to one active speech track. Whether one or the other is used could be presented as a configuration parameter in the AVMCU 402.
According to an example, the AVMCU 402 can transmit the audio data, video data and text data to each of the receiving endpoints 404-408. Pursuant to another example, the AVMCU 402 can send the video data to each of the receiving endpoints 404-408 along with either the audio data or the text data. For instance, the AVMCU 402 can send the text data for closed captions to the receiving endpoints 404-408 requesting such data. Thus, the AVMCU 402 can send video data and audio data to the receiving endpoint 1404 and video data and text data to the receiving endpoint 2406 and the receiving endpoint N 408, for example.
Participants can manually negotiate the use of closed captions and/or the receiving endpoints 404-408 used by the listening participants can automatically negotiate the transmission of closed captions with the AVMCU 402 (or the sender in the peer to peer case described in connection with
By transmitting either text data or audio data, the AVMCU 402 can improve overall efficiency since a large number of participants in a conference can be supported by the system 400. Hence, more participants can leverage the system 400 by communicating text data or audio data to each of the receiving endpoints 404-408 to mitigate an impact of bandwidth constraints. However, it is contemplated that both text data and audio data can be sent from the AVMCU 402 to one or more of the receiving endpoints 404-408.
Referring to
Pursuant to the example shown in
By way of another illustration, one or more of the receiving endpoints 404-408 can archive the content sent from the AVMCU 402 (and/or the AVMCU 402 can archive such content). It is to be appreciated that archiving can be employed in connection with any of the examples described herein and is not limited to being utilized by the system 500 of
The data store can be, for example, either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), Rambus direct RAM (RDRAM), direct Rambus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and Rambus dynamic RAM (RDRAM). The data store of the subject systems and methods is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory. In addition, it is to be appreciated that the data store can be a server, a database, a hard drive, and the like.
With reference to
According to an example, the synchronization component 606 can effectuate synchronizing the data by embedding text data in video streams. For instance, common video compression standards can include placeholders in the bit streams for inserting independent streams of bits associated with disparate types of data. Hence, the synchronization component 606 can encode and/or decode sections of text data that can be periodically inserted in a video bit stream. Insertion of text data in the video data can enable partitioned sections of text data to be synchronized with the video frames (e.g., a section of the text data can be sent with a video frame). Moreover, the partitioning of the text data can be accomplished subsequent to yielding a text string (e.g., obtained from speech to text conversion, included with slides in a presentation, . . . ). Thus, the text can be embedded in placeholders in the bit stream associated with the video data, where the placeholders can be part of the data representing a video frame. Further, by embedding the text data, synchronization can be captured implicitly because the text data can be part of the metadata associated with a video frame. Thus, at a receiving endpoint (e.g., the real time conferencing component 102, the receiving endpoint 304 of
Pursuant to another illustration, the synchronization component 606 can employ timestamps to synchronize data (e.g., audio, video, text, . . . ). For example, the timestamps can be in the real time transport protocol (RTP) used by real time communication systems. Separate streams of data including timestamps can be generated (e.g., at a sending endpoint, an AVMCU, . . . ), and the streams can be multiplexed over the RTP. Moreover, the receiving endpoints can utilize timestamps to identify correlation between data within the separate streams.
Turning to
It is to be understood that the intelligent component 702 can provide for reasoning about or infer states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate a probability distribution over states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is, the computation of a probability distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of new events or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and data come from one or several event and data sources. Various classification (explicitly and/or implicitly trained) schemes and/or systems (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines . . . ) can be employed in connection with performing automatic and/or inferred action in connection with the claimed subject matter.
A classifier is a function that maps an input attribute vector, x=(x1, x2, x3, x4, xn), to a confidence that the input belongs to a class, that is, f(x)=confidence(class). Such classification can employ a probabilistic and/or statistical-based analysis (e.g., factoring into the analysis utilities and costs) to prognose or infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed. A support vector machine (SVM) is an example of a classifier that can be employed. The SVM operates by finding a hypersurface in the space of possible inputs, which hypersurface attempts to split the triggering criteria from the non-triggering events. Intuitively, this makes the classification correct for testing data that is near, but not identical to training data. Other directed and undirected model classification approaches include, e.g., naïve Bayes, Bayesian networks, decision trees, neural networks, fuzzy logic models, and probabilistic classification models providing different patterns of independence can be employed. Classification as used herein also is inclusive of statistical regression that is utilized to develop models of priority.
With reference to
Now turning to
At 906, a determination can be effectuated concerning whether to send the video data with the audio data and/or the text data for each of the remaining endpoints in the set. For example, each of the receiving endpoints can manually and/or automatically negotiate the transmission of audio data (e.g., for outputting via a speaker) and/or text data (e.g., for outputting via a display in the form of closed captions). By way of illustration, a request for text data can be obtained from a receiving endpoint in response to muting of a speaker associated with the receiving endpoint. At 908, the video data, the audio data, and/or the text data can be transmitted according to the respective determinations.
In order to provide additional context for implementing various aspects of the claimed subject matter,
Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the inventive methods may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including single-processor or multi-processor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based and/or programmable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which may operatively communicate with one or more associated devices. The illustrated aspects of the claimed subject matter may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. However, some, if not all, aspects of the subject innovation may be practiced on stand-alone computers. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and/or remote memory storage devices.
One possible communication between a client 1010 and a server 1020 can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes. The system 1000 includes a communication framework 1040 that can be employed to facilitate communications between the client(s) 1010 and the server(s) 1020. The client(s) 1010 are operably connected to one or more client data store(s) 1050 that can be employed to store information local to the client(s) 1010. Similarly, the server(s) 1020 are operably connected to one or more server data store(s) 1030 that can be employed to store information local to the servers 1020.
With reference to
The system bus 1118 can be any of several types of bus structure(s) including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited to, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MSA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Card Bus, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory Card International Association bus (PCMCIA), Firewire (IEEE 1394), and Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI).
The system memory 1116 includes volatile memory 1120 and nonvolatile memory 1122. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines to transfer information between elements within the computer 1112, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 1122. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 1122 can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory 1120 includes random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), Rambus direct RAM (RDRAM), direct Rambus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and Rambus dynamic RAM (RDRAM).
Computer 1112 also includes removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer storage media.
It is to be appreciated that
A user enters commands or information into the computer 1112 through input device(s) 1136. Input devices 1136 include, but are not limited to, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TV tuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and the like. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit 1114 through the system bus 1118 via interface port(s) 1138. Interface port(s) 1138 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 1140 use some of the same type of ports as input device(s) 1136. Thus, for example, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer 1112, and to output information from computer 1112 to an output device 1140. Output adapter 1142 is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices 1140 like monitors, speakers, and printers, among other output devices 1140, which require special adapters. The output adapters 1142 include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of connection between the output device 1140 and the system bus 1118. It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s) 1144.
Computer 1112 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s) 1144. The remote computer(s) 1144 can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, a peer device or other common network node and the like, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to computer 1112. For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 1146 is illustrated with remote computer(s) 1144. Remote computer(s) 1144 is logically connected to computer 1112 through a network interface 1148 and then physically connected via communication connection 1150. Network interface 1148 encompasses wire and/or wireless communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies include Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI), Ethernet, Token Ring and the like. WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL).
Communication connection(s) 1150 refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface 1148 to the bus 1118. While communication connection 1150 is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer 1112, it can also be external to computer 1112. The hardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface 1148 includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards.
What has been described above includes examples of the subject innovation. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the claimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the subject innovation are possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
In particular and in regard to the various functions performed by the above described components, devices, circuits, systems and the like, the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., a functional equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure, which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary aspects of the claimed subject matter. In this regard, it will also be recognized that the innovation includes a system as well as a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the acts and/or events of the various methods of the claimed subject matter.
In addition, while a particular feature of the subject innovation may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” and “including” and variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”
