Patent Application
20080168045
In many instances, a search engine is utilized to search for information. In general, a search engine is a special program (e.g., computer executable instructions) designed to help find files (e.g., web pages, images, text . . . ) stored on a computer, for example, a public server or on one's own personal computer. A typical search engine allows a user to invoke a query for files that satisfy particular criteria, for example, files that contain a given word or phrase in a title or body. Web search engines generally work by storing information about a large number of web pages retrieved from the World Wide Web (WWW) through a web crawler, or an automated web browser, which follows essentially every link it locates. The contents of each web page are then analyzed to determine how it should be indexed, for example, words can be extracted from the titles, headings, or special fields called meta-tags. Data about web pages is stored in an index database for use in later queries. Some search engines store (or cache) all or part of a source page as well as information about the web pages. When a user invokes a query through the web search engine by providing key words, the web search engine looks up the index and provides a listing of web pages that best-match the criteria, usually with a short summary containing the document's title and/or parts of the text.
In general, the usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance of the results it presents to a user and the presentation of such results. While there can be numerous web pages that include a particular word or phrase, some web pages may be more relevant, popular, or authoritative than others. Most search engines employ methods to rank the results to provide a “best” result first. How a search engine decides which pages are the best matches, and what order the results should be shown in, varies widely from one engine to another. Conventionally, the technique for displaying what the search engine considers relevant information about a web page to a user can based solely on traffic. In other words, query results are traditionally ranked based on the number of links and the traffic associated with such links. Thus, a particular web page can be ranked very high solely because a link within such web page has a relatively high amount of traffic. Utilizing the page structure of web pages to prioritize query results is not an efficient and/or user specific technique.
As of late, there is an increase and rapid movement toward gathering and indexing non-web content by search engines to allow access and availability via the Internet. In particular, literary works (e.g., books, periodicals, articles, newspapers, magazines, manuals, etc.) and media (e.g., music, video, etc.) are an area where much work occurs, wherein content by the millions are scanned and hosted by major search portals with little or no end in sight. A typical problem associated with gathering such massive amounts of data is the ability of a user to ascertain which of the literary works and/or media presented in search results are relevant and/or applicable to a query/search. Conventional search systems can rank and present search results in an algorithmic order that tends to be somewhat useful to the user, yet the algorithm is completely unaware of the validity/accuracy of respective hyperlinks (e.g., used to determine importance and/or relevancy). Such conventional search systems can be an inefficient manner for querying data and related content. Moreover, ascertaining the importance of a literary work in the absence of hyperlinks can be difficult and/or inaccurate.
The following presents a simplified summary of the innovation 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 of the subject innovation. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the claimed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The subject innovation relates to systems and/or methods that facilitate generating a content rank that includes at least one quantitative measurement to ascertain the importance of a literary work and/or media. A rank component can receive data related to a query aimed at specific content, wherein the rank component can create a content rank based on a quantitative measurement to enable an objective criteria associated with content. The content rank can correspond to any data that can be queried such as books, periodicals, newspapers, articles, music, media, movies, video, comic books, manuals, and the like.
The rank component can employ at least one quantitative measurement to provide the arrangement of data in a set order. The content rank created utilizing the quantitative measurement can provide a scalable and objective rank utilizing quantitative measurements relating to the importance of such content. In particular, the content rank can be independent of traditional hyperlink-based ranking techniques. However, the content rank can be utilized in conjunction with traditional hyperlink-based ranking techniques in order to enhance data querying.
In accordance with one aspect of the claimed subject matter, the rank component can utilize an update component that enables continuous and seamless versioning of at least one quantitative measurement utilized to create the content rank. In general, the update component can employ versioning associated with quantitative measurements in order to ensure that the optimal measurement is implemented to create the content rank. In other words, the update component can continuously upgrade the quantitative measurement(s) in light of any changes and/or adjustments associated therewith. In other aspects of the claimed subject matter, methods are provided that facilitate querying content by employing a content rank utilizing quantitative measurements.
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 the innovation may be employed and the claimed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the claimed subject matter will become apparent from the following detailed description of the innovation 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,” “engine,” “interface,” 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, a function, a library, a subroutine, and/or a computer or a combination of software and hardware. 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 rank component 102 can implement the content rank 104 for any suitable content associated with query results such that the content rank 104 can be based on quantitative measurement(s) (e.g., discussed in more detail infra) independent of typical hyperlink-relevancy techniques. It is to be appreciated that a content can be, but is not limited to being, a book, a magazine, a newspaper, an article, a periodical, a comic book, a literary work, a written work, a newspaper article, a magazine article, a newspaper article, a portion of literature, a poem, a manual, a portion of data associated with literature, a portion of media, a portion of music, a movie, a portion of a movie, a video, a portion of video, and/or any other suitable portion of content that can be queried.
In order to provide the scalable and objective rank associated with content and/or any other suitable data that can be queried, the rank component 102 can employ various quantitative measurements to aid in ascertaining content importance. For instance, the content rank 104 can be an objective determining factor that can give an insight on the content's reputation based at least upon the quantitative measurement. In particular, the rank component 102 can implement at least one quantitative measurement to base the content rank 104, wherein the quantitative measurement can be, but is not limited to being, a number of web pages that mention the content (e.g., the more web pages, the more important), the importance the web pages that mention the content (e.g., the importance can be ascertained by trustworthiness, longevity, popularity, and/or industry standard for the particular content), a number of library holdings for the content (e.g., the more holdings, the more important the content), a library circulation number for the content (e.g., the higher correlates to being more important), sales data for the content (e.g., higher sales can indicate importance), a peer group review of the content, a peer group rating for the content, a popularity determination correlating to a sect of users, a number of related/residual works (e.g., book with associated plays, books created into movies, music utilized in a video, a video such as a sitcom turned into a movie, etc.), a number of unique institutional holdings (e.g., importance can be increased based if an institution has more than one copy of the content), a number of reviews, a number of creative entity holdings (e.g., a creative entity can be any suitable person associated with developing the content such as an author, composer, director, producer, actor, journalist, poet, an actress, a screen-writer, a special effects artist, an artist, a librarian, a blogger, and a photographer, etc.), a creative entity circulation number, a creative entity web mentions, a creative entity web mentions, a creative entity sales statistics, a creative entity mentioned in book indices, a relationship with a particular creative entity, newsgroup opinions, forum opinions, and/or incoming links to content. The quantitative measurements described are solely for example and it is to be appreciated that subtle changes, nuances, and/or adjustments are to be considered included in the claimed subject matter.
In addition, the system 100 can include any suitable and/or necessary interface component 106 (herein referred to as “interface 106”), which provides various adapters, connectors, channels, communication paths, etc. to integrate the rank component 102 into virtually any operating and/or database system(s) and/or with one another. In addition, the interface component 106 can provide various adapters, connectors, channels, communication paths, etc., that provide for interaction with the rank component 102, content rank 104, and/or any other component, data and the like associated with the system 100.
It is to be appreciated that the rank component 102 can initiate a combination of traditional ranking (e.g., dynamic querying based on a received query) and ranking utilizing the content rank 104 (e.g., intrinsic value of content based on a quantitative measurement) as described herein. For instance, the rank component 102 can utilize a dynamic component 202 to implement dynamic querying, wherein the dynamic querying can be based upon providing content with matching query terms. Specifically, the dynamic querying can change upon each query received since each query can include changing terms, which in turn, changes the query result (e.g., content with matching query terms).
The rank component 102 can further utilize a static component 204 that provides an intrinsic value of content based at least in part upon a quantitative measurement (e.g., also referred to as the content rank 104). For instance, the static component 204 can utilize the quantitative measurement to create the content rank 104 that is objective and independent of typical and/or traditional ranking technologies and/or techniques (e.g., utilizing the number and importance of reference hyperlinks). It is to be appreciated that the quantitative measurement can be, but is not limited to being, a number of web pages that mention the content, the importance the web pages that mention the content, a number of library holdings for the content, a library circulation number for the content, sales data for the content, a peer group review of the content, a peer group rating for the content, a popularity determination correlating to a sect of users, a number of related/residual works, a number of unique institutional holdings, a number of reviews, a number of creative entity holdings (e.g., a creative entity can be any suitable person associated with developing the content such as an author, composer, director, producer, actor, journalist, poet, etc.), a creative entity circulation number, a creative entity web mentions, a creative entity web mentions, a creative entity sales statistics, a creative entity mentioned in book indices, a relationship with a particular creative entity, newsgroup opinions, forum opinions, and/or incoming links to content.
For instance, the quantitative measurement can be any suitable objective manner to hierarchically categorize data with objectivity independent of utilizing hyperlinks. In addition, the quantitative measurement can be continuously manipulated and/or managed to adapt to a particular user (e.g., a user browses data more frequently on web site A, so quantitative measurements (groups, peer reviews, and the like) relating to web site A should be held in higher regard, etc.). In another instance, the quantitative measurement can be changed based on patterns and/or characteristics of a particular user (e.g., a user prefers opinions from one group over another, etc.).
Moreover, the static component 204 allows the quantitative measurement to be static for respective content independent of the query received. Thus, regardless of the query terms received, the content produced can include the content rank 104 which provides an objective, intrinsic value of the content based on the quantitative measurement(s). For instance, a query can be received wherein results are ranked based on a score that incorporates a portion of the dynamic querying and each result can include a content rank. Thus, the querying of data can be more versatile to give a user context for the content provided as query results, wherein the context includes at least one of importance of web sites, number and importance of hyperlinks, content rank based upon a quantitative measurement, and/or any combination thereof.
The system 300 can further include a data store 302 that can include any suitable data related to the rank component 102, and the content rank 104. For instance, the data store can include quantitative measurement data, content-related data utilized for quantitative measurements, creative entity data implemented for quantitative measurements, query data, query content, data that is queried, content, dynamic querying, static querying, user preferences, user configurations, settings, any data that can be utilized for a quantitative measurement (described above), etc. It is to be appreciated that the data store 302 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 302 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 302 can be a server, a database, a hard drive, and the like.
The rank component 102 can further utilize a search component 304 that facilitates querying data. In one instance, the search component 304 can receive a query and provide query results based at least in part upon the received query, wherein the rank component 102 can generate the content rank 104 for a query result pertaining to literary work, media, and/or content. In another instance, the search component 304 can provide query results to the rank component 102 to allow the rank component 102 to create content ranks 104 for any suitable query results associated with literary works. In other words, the search component 304 can receive a query and collect query results associated with such query, wherein any query result related to content can include a respective content rank 104.
The system 400 can include an update component 402 that enables continuous and seamless versioning of at least one quantitative measurement utilized to create the content rank 104. In general, the update component 402 can employ versioning associated with quantitative measurements in order to ensure that the optimal measurement is implemented to create the content rank 104. In other words, the update component 402 can continuously upgrade the quantitative measurement(s) in light of any changes and/or adjustments associated therewith. For instance, a quantitative measurement can be upgraded to a more recent version to correct defects, increase security, enhance virus protection, update characteristics related to the measurement, etc. In another example, the update component 402 can provide additional quantitative measurements not yet utilized by the rank component 102. In particular, the update component 402 can receive various third-party quantitative measurements that are specifically tailored for particular content. Thus, a remote party 404 and/or third-party service (not shown) can be utilized to provide the rank component 102 with quantitative measurements. It is to be appreciated that there can be any suitable number of remote parties 404 such as remote party1 to remote partyN, where N is a positive integer.
It is to be understood that the intelligent component 602 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.
The rank component 102 can further utilize a presentation component 604 that provides various types of user interfaces to facilitate interaction between a user and any component coupled to the rank component 102. As depicted, the presentation component 604 is a separate entity that can be utilized with the rank component 102. However, it is to be appreciated that the presentation component 604 and/or similar view components can be incorporated into the rank component 102 and/or a stand-alone unit. The presentation component 604 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, as 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. For example, the user can interact with one or more of the components coupled and/or incorporated into the rank component 102.
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.
At reference numeral 704, a content rank can be created that can be based on a quantitative measurement for an objective evaluation of content. For instance, the content rank can be an objective determining factor that can give an insight on the content's reputation based at least upon the quantitative measurement. In particular, the quantitative measurement can be, but is not limited to being, a number of web pages that mention the content (e.g., the more web pages, the more important), the importance the web pages that mention the content (e.g., the importance can be ascertained by trustworthiness, longevity, popularity, and/or industry standard for the particular content), a number of library holdings for the content (e.g., the more holdings, the more important the content), a library circulation number for the content (e.g., the higher correlates to being more important), sales data for the content (e.g., higher sales can indicate importance), a peer group review of the content, a peer group rating for the content, a popularity determination correlating to a sect of users, a number of related/residual works (e.g., book with associated plays, books created into movies, music utilized in a video, a video such as a sitcom turned into a movie, etc.), a number of unique institutional holdings (e.g., importance can be increased based if an institution has more than one copy of the content), a number of reviews, a number of creative entity holdings (e.g., a creative entity can be any suitable person associated with developing the content such as an author, composer, director, producer, actor, journalist, poet, etc.), a creative entity circulation number, a creative entity web mentions, a creative entity web mentions, a creative entity sales statistics, a creative entity mentioned in book indices, a relationship with a particular creative entity, newsgroup opinions, forum opinions, and/or incoming links to content.
At reference numeral 806, a content rank can be generated based on the quantitative measurement. Such content rank can provide a scalable and objective ranking for content (e.g., literary works, media, etc.) identified in connection with the query result corresponding to the data query. At reference numeral 808, query results can be providing utilizing the content rank. For example, the content rank can be utilized with any query result to determine the objective importance of such content. It is to be appreciated that a combination of traditional ranking (e.g., dynamic querying based on a received query) and ranking utilizing the content rank (e.g., intrinsic value of content based on a quantitative measurement) can be implemented. For instance, dynamic querying can be based upon providing content with matching query terms. Specifically, the dynamic querying can change upon each query received since each query can include changing terms, which in turn, changes the query result (e.g., content with matching query terms). The content rank can provide ranking utilizing an intrinsic value of content based at least in part upon a quantitative measurement. For instance, the quantitative measurement can facilitate creating the content rank to be objective and independent of typical and/or traditional ranking technologies and/or techniques (e.g., utilizing the number and importance of reference hyperlinks).
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 910 and a server 920 can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes. The system 900 includes a communication framework 940 that can be employed to facilitate communications between the client(s) 910 and the server(s) 920. The client(s) 910 are operably connected to one or more client data store(s) 940 that can be employed to store information local to the client(s) 910. Similarly, the server(s) 920 are operably connected to one or more server data store(s) 930 that can be employed to store information local to the servers 920.
With reference to
The system bus 1018 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 1016 includes volatile memory 1020 and nonvolatile memory 1022. The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines to transfer information between elements within the computer 1012, such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory 1022. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory 1022 can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory 1020 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 1012 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 1012 through input device(s) 1036. Input devices 1036 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 1014 through the system bus 1018 via interface port(s) 1038. Interface port(s) 1038 include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s) 1040 use some of the same type of ports as input device(s) 1036. Thus, for example, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer 1012, and to output information from computer 1012 to an output device 1040. Output adapter 1042 is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices 1040 like monitors, speakers, and printers, among other output devices 1040, which require special adapters. The output adapters 1042 include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of connection between the output device 1040 and the system bus 1018. It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s) 1044.
Computer 1012 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s) 1044. The remote computer(s) 1044 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 1012. For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device 1046 is illustrated with remote computer(s) 1044. Remote computer(s) 1044 is logically connected to computer 1012 through a network interface 1048 and then physically connected via communication connection 1050. Network interface 1048 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) 1050 refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface 1048 to the bus 1018. While communication connection 1050 is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer 1012, it can also be external to computer 1012. The hardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface 1048 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.”
