Patent Application
20250112837
Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to device management. More particularly, embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems and methods to manage devices in distributed systems.
Computing devices may provide computer-implemented services. The computer-implemented services may be used by users of the computing devices and/or devices operably connected to the computing devices. The computer-implemented services may be performed with hardware components such as processors, memory modules, storage devices, and communication devices. The operation of these components and the components of other devices may impact the performance of the computer-implemented services.
Embodiments disclosed herein are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.
Various embodiments will be described with reference to details discussed below, and the accompanying drawings will illustrate the various embodiments. The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order to provide a concise discussion of embodiments disclosed herein.
Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” and “an embodiment” in various places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment.
References to an “operable connection” or “operably connected” means that a particular device is able to communicate with one or more other devices. The devices themselves may be directly connected to one another or may be indirectly connected to one another through any number of intermediary devices, such as in a network topology.
In general, embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for providing computer implemented services. To provide the computer implemented services, any number of data processing systems may be operably connected by network devices that facilitate communications used in the computer implemented services.
The configuration of the network devices may impact the ability of the data processing systems to communicate with each other. To reduce the likelihood of the network devices being undesirably configured, the network devices may be part of a managed communication system. The managed communication system may be externally managed and configured.
To facilitate configuration of the managed communication system in a desired manner, information regarding desired outcomes with respect to services provided by the managed communication system may be obtained. The information may be used to configure the network devices.
To govern the configuration, various subscriptions for the services may be entered into by the users of the services. The subscriptions may define subscription limits that limit the extent of use of the services provided by the network devices.
To enforce the subscription limits, the network devices may include management controllers. The management controllers may be independent from data and control planes of the network devices, and may enforce the subscription limits on the control plane and the data plane.
Thus, even if a network device is unable to communication with a communication management system that manages subscriptions, the management controller may independently enforce subscription limits on the services provided by the network devices. By doing so, user of the managed communication system may obtain improved network traffic management services through improved configuration of the network devices while balancing risk presented to the remote managers of the network devices.
In an embodiment, a method of managing operation of a distributed system is provided. The method may include obtaining, by a management controller of a network device of the distributes system, an intermediate representation of a subscription and the subscription; obtaining, by the management controller and using the intermediate representation and the subscription, configuration data for a control plane of the network device, the control plane being tasked with managing traffic forwarding behavior of a data plane of the network device; configuring, by the management controller and using the configuration data, the control plane to obtain an updated control plane; configuring, by the updated control plane, a data plane of the network device to obtain an updated data plane; and forwarding, by the updated data plane, network traffic obtained by the network device.
The method may also include monitoring, by the management controller, operation of the updated control plane and the data plane based on a subscription limit of the subscription to identify an occurrence of a subscription enforcement event; obtaining, by the management controller and responsive to the occurrence of the subscription enforcement event, an enforcement action based on the subscription; and performing, by the management controller, the enforcement action to update at least one of the updated control plane and the updated data plane.
The management controller may include a data processing system, the control plane is hosted by computing resources of the network device, and the data processing system operates independently from the computing resources.
The management controller may be operably connected to the computing resources via a first management channel, and the first management channel being usable by the management controller to configure the computing resources.
The data plane may be hosted by a special purposes hardware device operably connected to in-band links through which the network traffic is obtained and forwarded on to other devices, and the management controller is operably connected to at least one other device via an out-of-band link.
The management controller may be operably connected to the special purpose hardware device via a second management channel, and the second management channel being usable by the management controller to configure the special purpose hardware device.
The special purpose hardware device may include a switch application specific integrated circuit adapted to forward the traffic.
The subscription may be for a level of service to be provided by the network device to a subscribing entity, and the intermediate representation may specify at least one goal to meet the subscription.
Obtaining the configuration data may include identifying, by the management controller, at least one limitation of the data plane; and selecting, by the management controller, a configuration setting for the control plane based on the at least one limitation of the data plane to obtain the configuration data.
Obtaining the configuration data may also include identifying, by the management controller, at least one network environment limitation of a network environment in which the network device is positioned. The configuration setting may also be selected based on the at least one network environment limitation of a network environment.
The subscription may include a subscription limit, and the management controller is adapted to enforce the subscription limit on the control plane and the data plane.
The subscription limit may include a limit selected from a group of limits consisting of: a time base limit for a service governed by the subscription; a usable based limit for a service governed by the subscription; and a limit tied to occurrences of an event for a service governed by the subscription.
The intermediate representation may not explicitly specify requirements for the control plane and the data plane.
The intermediate representation may specify criteria usable to identify whether operation of the data plane meets the subscription.
The control plane may be adapted to automatically configure operation of the data plane based at least in part on a configuration of the control plane and a forwarding information base.
The forwarding information base may include information regarding a network environment in which the network device is positioned.
In an embodiment, a non-transitory media is provided. The non-transitory media may include instructions that when executed by a processor cause the computer-implemented method to be performed.
In an embodiment, a data processing system is provided. The data processing system may include the non-transitory media and a processor, and may perform the method when the computer instructions are executed by the processor.
Turning to
When providing the computer implemented services, the computing devices may need to communicate with other devices. To do so, the computing devices may be operably connected to networks. The networks may facilitate communications between the computer devices and/or other devices.
The networks may include any number of network devices. The network devices may facilitate network communications by sending and receiving network data units. The network data units may include a payload and control information. The payload may correspond to data between transported between devices, and the control information may facilitate network routing, switching, etc.
For example, the control information may include information regarding where a network data unit originated, a destination for the network data unit, and/or other types of information that may allow intermediary devices to decide how to forward the network data units toward corresponding destinations.
Any of the network devices may be connected to any number of other network devices and/or computing devices. There may be many options for forwarding network data units within the network environment towards destination locations.
The traffic forwarding behavior (e.g., how each network data unit is forwarded, which may include deciding out of which port to forward a network data unit, how to encapsulate the network data unit with control information, etc.) of the network devices may be configurable. The configurability may allow for forwarding preferences to be implemented. For example, the forwarding preferences may allow for administrators of a deployment to shape traffic to meet certain goals (e.g., enable high fidelity video conferences, low latency for latency dependent workloads, etc.).
However, if the forwarding preferences are out of sync with desired goals for a deployment, then operation of the deployment may be negatively impacted. For example, if traffic shaping policies are implemented that do not align the goals, then the goals may be frustrated. Selecting and applying such policies may be challenging even for experienced system administrators.
In general, embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems, devices, and methods for managing operations of networks of distributed system using a subscription system. To manage the operation of networks using the subscription system, network devices may be deployed to establish a managed communication system. When deployed, the network devices may be over provisioned by including more resources for managing network traffic than is expected to be required for traffic management purposes.
Rather than being managed by users, the managed communication system may be managed by a vendor or other organization (e.g., any being a “managed communication system provider”). The vendor may be responsible for managing operation of the managed communication system.
User, organizations, and/or other entities (e.g., any being a “managed network user”) may subscribe to communication services provided by the managed communication system. The managed network users may indicate their desire for outcomes with respect to use of the communication services provided by the managed communication system. The managed communication system provider may use the desired outcomes to establish subscriptions for the communication services.
The subscriptions may be used to define intermediate representations for configurations of network devices of the managed communication system. The intermediate representations for the configurations of the managed system may provide criteria by which each network device may measure its performance against corresponding subscription. Rather than explicitly define the configuration and operation of each network device, each (and/or groups of) network device may identify how to configure itself based on the intermediate representation. Thus, decision making authority may be distributed between the network devices and management entities tasked with managing the network devices.
To conform operation of the network devices, corresponding intermediate representations and subscriptions may be provided to the network devices. Each network device may then decide how to configure itself, and may use the intermediate representation to measure its operation with respect to corresponding subscriptions.
The provided subscriptions may include information regarding the subscriptions such as limits on the use of the network devices by managed communication system users. The network devices may independently enforce the subscription limits.
By doing so, embodiments disclosed herein may improve computer implemented services provided by a distributed system by improving the likelihood that network traffic in a manner that is aligned with the computer implemented services.
To provide the above noted functionality, the system of
Network management system 100 may facilitate use and management of managed communication system 120 by managed communication system users. To do so, network management system 100 may (i) provide a portal through which subscriptions for services provided by managed communication system 120 may be provided, (ii) establish subscription and intermediate limitations using information obtained through the portal, and (iii) distribute information regarding the subscriptions and intermediate limitations to network devices (e.g., 122-124) of managed communication system 120.
User devices 102 may be used by managed communication system users to establish subscriptions for use of managed communication system 120. User devices 102 may utilize the portal provided by network management system 100 to provide user input to network management system 100. The user input may convey desired outcomes for user of managed communication system 120.
For example, the portal may include a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface may display information regarding (i) managed communication system 120, (ii) services that managed communication system 120 may provide, (iii) existing subscriptions for user of managed communication systems, and/or other information regarding services that may be subscribed to by the user (e.g., such as used of data processing systems 130, which may be managed with a similar subscription based model). The graphical user interface may include fields in which the users of user devices 102 may input user input to convey desires for user of services, confirm acceptance of terms of subscriptions, and/or otherwise facilitate collaboration between network management system 100 and the users of user devices 102.
Deployment 110 may provide computer implemented services (e.g., to users of deployment 110 and/or to devices operably connected to deployment 110). To do so, deployment may include data processing systems 130 and managed communication system 120. Data processing systems 130 may include any number of data processing systems (e.g., 132-134) that provide the computer implemented services. When providing the computer implemented services, data processing systems 130 may generate network traffic (e.g., network data units directed to various entities) and utilize the services provided by managed communication system 120 to transmit the network data units to destinations.
Managed communication system 120 may provide managed communication services. The managed communication services may be provided in accordance with subscriptions. The managed communication services may include transmitting network traffic between data processing systems and/or other devices.
To provide the managed communication services, managed communication service 120 may include any number of network devices (e.g., 122-124). The network devices may be organized in a network topology to facilitate transmission of network traffic. Each network device may manage its operation in accordance with intermediate representations and subscriptions provided by network management system 100. Refer to
When providing their functionality, any (and the components thereof) of network management system 100, user devices 102, and deployment 110 may perform any of the actions and methods illustrated in
Any of (and/or components thereof) network management system 100, user devices 102, and deployment 110 may be implemented using a computing device (also referred to as a data processing system) such as a host or a server, a personal computer (e.g., desktops, laptops, and tablets), a “thin” client, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a Web enabled appliance, a mobile phone (e.g., Smartphone), an embedded system, local controllers, an edge node, and/or any other type of data processing device or system. For additional details regarding computing devices, refer to
Any of the components illustrated in
While illustrated in
Turning to
To provide traffic management services, network device 122 may include network data unit processing resources 140, computing resources 142, and management controller 144. Each of these components is discussed below.
Network data unit processing resources 140 may provide configurable traffic management services. To provide the configurable traffic management services, network data unit processing resources 140 may include special purpose hardware such as a switch application specific integrated circuit (SASIC). The SASIC may include a network data unit processing pipeline used to route and switch network data units between interfaces (e.g., 154, 152).
The network data unit processing pipeline may operate in accordance with a processing standard such as the P4 programming language that allows the manner in which network data units are processed for forwarding purposes to be configured. The processing pipeline may use a routing information base and/or other data structures (e.g., equal cost multipath tables) to decide how to direct network data units. For example, when a network data unit is received, the control information may be used to decide how to forward the network data unit towards a destination. The network data unit processing pipeline may sequentially make decisions regarding which interface out of which to send the network unit, control information to add/remove from the network data unit prior to forwarding, etc.
Additionally, as noted above, the processing pipeline may add or remove control information (e.g., via encapsulation) to enable network data units (e.g., packets) to be transmitted across a network. For example, the processing pipeline may facilitate multiprotocol approaches such as a label switched network (e.g., labels added to the control information to facilitate rapid identification of egress interfaces) overlayed over an internet protocol (IP) based forwarding network. Thus, network data units with varying control information may be forwarded, and any network device may serve as an ingest point to an overlay network.
Network data unit processing resources 140 may operate as part of a data plane of network device 122. The data plane may provide traffic management services obtained from any number of in-band links (e.g., 164, 164) via corresponding interfaces (e.g., 152-154, may include physical ports). The in-band links may be organized as up/down links depending on the location of network device 122 within a network architecture. Any of the interfaces (e.g., in-band interfaces 152-154, separate from the out-of-band interfaces such as interface 156) may be reconfigurable between up/down links and/or may be bi-directional.
Network data unit processing resources 140 may be operably connected to computing resources 142. Computing resources 142 may host applications that operate as part of a control plane of network device 122. The control plane may (i) maintain information regarding the network environment in which network device 122 resides (e.g., as part of a forwarding information base), (ii) maintain information regarding various network policies to be implemented by network devices 122 (e.g., the network policies may define traffic shaping rules, quality of service requirements, and/or other types of requirements for operation of network device 122), (iii) generate/provide the routing information bases used by the data plane to make network data unit processing decisions, (iv) configure operation of the data plane (e.g., by sending instructions via management link 174) based on the routing information base, the network policies, and/or other information, and/or otherwise generally manage operation of networking device 122.
Computing resources 142 may establish an independently operating data processing system (e.g., refer to
Computing resources 142 may at least to some extent be configurable by a user or subscriber to the services provided by the network device. For example, users may be allowed to perform various configurations which may present avenues of attack should a user initiate malicious action.
To limit the impacts of and/or risk of compromise of computing resources 142, management controller 144 may manage the operation of the control plane and data plane of network device 122. Management controller 144 may be implemented using a secure system on a chip (or other type of secure independently operating computing device). Management controller 144 may be operably connected to the components of the data plane and control plane via management link 172 and management link 170, respectively. These management links may give management controller 144 direct, bare metal management control over computing resources 142 and network data unit processing resources 140. Consequently, management controller 144 may directly modify the operation of any of these hardware devices, data stored by these devices, may obtain data from these hardware devices, and/or may otherwise directly manage these hardware devices. In contrast to the control plane which may at least to some extent be configuration, the management controller may not be configurable or otherwise usable by user/subscribers for services provided by the network device.
Additionally, management controller 144 may enforce subscriptions across network device 122. To enforce the subscription, management controller 144 may (i) obtain intermediate representations and information regarding subscriptions from network management system 100 via out-of-band link 166 through interface 156 (e.g., an out-of-band management port) which may provide independent network connectivity for management controller 144, (ii) use the intermediate representations to obtain configuration data for the control plane and/or data plane, (iii) modify the operation of the control plane and/or data plane based on the configuration data to update operation of the control/data plane, (iv) monitor the operation of the control/data plane with respect to subscription limits for subscribed to services provided by network device 122, and (v) enforce the subscription limits (e.g., by further modifying operation of the control/data plane).
Management controller 144 may operate as part of a management plane for network device 122. As part of its operation, management controller 144 may monitor computing resources 142 for signs of malicious activity and may, for example, take action to address the malicious activity, to blunt an impact of the malicious activity on operation of network device 122 (e.g., may quarantine computing resources 142 from network data unit processing resources 140 by disabling management links or other means), and/or may perform other actions to manage operation of network device 122.
While illustrated in
To further clarify embodiments disclosed herein, an interaction diagram showing example interactions between components of the system of
Now, consider an example scenario where a user device provides user input to network management system 100 indicating a desire for use of services provided by a managed communication system that includes networking device 122.
At operation 1, network management system may generate a subscription and intermediate representation based on the user input. The intermediate representation may include, as discussed above, criteria usable to ascertain whether operation of networking device 122 meets the subscription. The criteria may include, for example, measurable performance expectations such as quality of services levels provided to different traffic, latency goals for network data unit processing, screening of certain types of traffic, and/or other types of goals. The goals may be defined in a generalized form rather than explicitly defining how the goals are to be met.
The subscription may include information regarding limitations on use of the subscriptions as agreed during establishment of the subscription. The limits may include any number and types of limits such as, for example, time based limits, usage based limits, occurrence of event based limits, etc.
The subscriptions may also include information regarding actions to be performed when subscription limits are reached. These actions may cause all, or a portion, of the services governed by the subscription to be stopped.
Once obtained, the intermediate representation and subscription may be provided to management controller 144 (e.g., via out-of-band link 166 and interface 156).
At operation 2, management controller 144 may process the intermediate representation and subscription. The processing may result in configuration data being obtained. The configuration data may include specific actions to be performed to meet the goals of the intermediate representation. The configuration data may be based on the capabilities of network device 122, the other subscriptions being provided by networking device 122, and/or via other methods. The configuration data may be obtained by, for example, applying rules or using a model. The rules may define the configuration data based on the intermediate representation, the capabilities of network devices 122, the subscription, etc. (e.g., in aggregate, the “configuration data factors”). If implemented using a model, the model may be a trained inference model that may provide the configuration data as output based on the configuration data factors.
The configuration data may include, for example, network policies for implementation by the control plane.
Once obtained, at operation 3, management controller 144 may enforce the subscription on computing resources 142. To do so, the configuration data may be used as a basis for instructions to computing resources 142. For example, management controller 144 may install new network policies in computing resources 142. These network policies may result, for example, in various functionalities of network data unit processing resources 140 to be enabled (which may be default disabled by a general network policy of computing resources 142).
Once the new network policies are obtained, at operation 4, computing resources 142 may process the network policies to update the routing information base and/or other data structures used to configure (e.g., program) network data unit processing resources 140.
Once obtained, at operation 5, computing resources 142 may program network data unit processing resources 140 based on the updated routing information base and/or other data structures. Thus, the functionality of network data unit processing resources 140 may be updated. The updated functionality may be expanded or otherwise modified depending on the specific subscription discussed with respect to operation 1.
After being programmed, at operation 6, network data unit processing resources 140 may begin to process network data units in accordance with the programming.
Following operation 6, management controller 144 may begin to monitor operation of computing resources 142 and/or network data unit processing resources 140 to determine whether subscription limits are reached. If reached, the subscription limits may be enforced by similarly updating the operation of the control and data plane as discussed with respect to operations 3-6.
Thus, as shown in
As discussed above, the components of
Turning to
Prior to operation 300, a user may interact with a network management system to establish use of services by a managed communication system. The interaction may result in the generation of an intermediate representation and a subscription.
At operation 300, the intermediate representation and the subscription are obtained by a management controller of a network devices of the managed communication system. The intermediate representation and subscription may be obtained by reading them from storage, receiving them from another device (e.g., the network management system), through generation based on user input, and/or via other methods. If received from another device, the intermediate representation and the subscription may be received via an out-of-band link.
At operation 302, configuration data for a control plane of the network device is obtained by the management controller and using the intermediate representation and the subscription. The configuration data may be obtained by applying a set of result, a model, and/or a different algorithm to generate the configuration data.
The configuration data may also be obtained using information regarding the network device that is known to the management controller. For example, the information may regarding the network device may include capabilities (e.g., hardware/software components) of the network device, responsibilities (e.g., other subscription supported by the network device, various workloads) of the network device, the network information regarding the network environment in which the network device resides, historical activity (e.g., attempts to compromise the network device), and/or other types of information regarding the network device.
The resulting configuration data may include, for example, network policies and/or other types of data usable to update operation of the control plane.
For example, consider a scenario where an intermediate representation sets a latency goal for traffic forwarded to a second network device to be under a predetermined threshold level. To establish a network policy that facilitates accomplishing the aforementioned goal, the management controller may analyze the underlying capabilities of the network device, the existing network policies (e.g., to screen for conflicts), and/or other factors that are unknown to the network management system. Thus, the resulting network policy may have a far higher likelihood of successfully accomplishing the goal.
At operation 304, the control plane may be configured by the management controller using the configuration data to obtain an updated control plane. The control plane may be configured by generating and sending instructions to the control plane via a management channel. The instructions may, when performed by the control plane, cause the network policy to be integrated into and/or otherwise used in programming of the data plane (e.g., during a future programming cycle which may be triggered by the new network policy). For example, the network policy may cause the routing information base used by the data plane to be updated thereby causing the data plane to forward network traffic differently.
At operation 306, the data plane of the network devices is configured by the updated control plane to obtain an updated data plane. The updated control plane may, based on its updated operation, update the routing information base and/or other data structures (e.g., feature enablement/disablement). The routing information base and/or other data structures may be automatically used to program the data plane in a next update cycle for the data plane.
At operation 308, network traffic obtained by the network device is forwarded by the updated data plane. The network traffic may be processed differently by the data plane when compared to being updated. For example, one or more features of the data plane previously disabled may be updated, different quality of service requirements may be enforced, etc. Thus, when a network data unit is obtained as part of the network traffic, the manner in which it is processed by a processing pipeline of the updated data plane may apply different control information (e.g., may apply a label giving the network data unit a higher priority), may prioritize the network data unit for processing based on its control information, etc. The method may end following operation 308.
Thus, via the method shown in
Turning to
At operation 310, operation of a control plane and a data plane of a network device may be monitored by a management controller. The monitoring may be based on subscription limits. The monitoring may be performed to identify a subscription enforcement event.
To monitor the operation of the control plane, the management controller may use management links to identify activity of the control plane. The activity may be recorded and compared against the subscription limits to identify whether a subscription limit has been reached. For example, the activity may be monitored, for example, to identify numbers of features of the data plane that are enabled, likely aggregate use rates of services provided by the data plane, etc.
To monitor the operation of the data plane, the management controller may use management links to identify activity of the data plane. The activity may be recorded and compared against the subscription limits to identify whether a subscription limit has been reached, similar to monitoring of the control plane. For example, the activity may be monitored, for example, to identify use rates of various services provided to the data plane (e.g., which may directly correspond to use limits), features of the data plane that are enables, to identify the current time, etc.
The subscription enforcement events may be operation of the network device reaching a subscription limit.
At operation 312, an enforcement action is obtained by the management controller and responsive to occurrences of subscription enforcement events. The enforcement action may be based on a subscription associated with the subscription limit. The enforcement action may be obtained by reading the enforcement action from the subscriptions for which subscription limits have been reached.
At operation 314, the enforcement action is performed by the management controller to update a control plane and/or a data plane of the network device. The enforcement action may be performed, for example, by sending various instructions to the control/data plane via management channels. The corresponding receiving plane may perform the instructions thereby updating their operation accordingly. Generally, the enforcement action may limit the use of the receiving plane (e.g., reversing whatever features were enabled by the subscription).
The method may end following operation 314.
Thus, using the method shown in
Any of the components illustrated in
In one embodiment, system 400 includes processor 401, memory 403, and devices 405-407 via a bus or an interconnect 410. Processor 401 may represent a single processor or multiple processors with a single processor core or multiple processor cores included therein. Processor 401 may represent one or more general-purpose processors such as a microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), or the like. More particularly, processor 401 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor, or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processor 401 may also be one or more special-purpose processors such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a cellular or baseband processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), a network processor, a graphics processor, a network processor, a communications processor, a cryptographic processor, a co-processor, an embedded processor, or any other type of logic capable of processing instructions.
Processor 401, which may be a low power multi-core processor socket such as an ultra-low voltage processor, may act as a main processing unit and central hub for communication with the various components of the system. Such processor can be implemented as a system on chip (SoC). Processor 401 is configured to execute instructions for performing the operations discussed herein. System 400 may further include a graphics interface that communicates with optional graphics subsystem 404, which may include a display controller, a graphics processor, and/or a display device.
Processor 401 may communicate with memory 403, which in one embodiment can be implemented via multiple memory devices to provide for a given amount of system memory. Memory 403 may include one or more volatile storage (or memory) devices such as random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), or other types of storage devices. Memory 403 may store information including sequences of instructions that are executed by processor 401, or any other device. For example, executable code and/or data of a variety of operating systems, device drivers, firmware (e.g., input output basic system or BIOS), and/or applications can be loaded in memory 403 and executed by processor 401. An operating system can be any kind of operating systems, such as, for example, Windows® operating system from Microsoft®, Mac OS®/iOS® from Apple, Android® from Google®, Linux®, Unix®, or other real-time or embedded operating systems such as VxWorks.
System 400 may further include IO devices such as devices (e.g., 405, 406, 407, 408) including network interface device(s) 405, optional input device(s) 406, and other optional IO device(s) 407. Network interface device(s) 405 may include a wireless transceiver and/or a network interface card (NIC). The wireless transceiver may be a Wi-Fi transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a WiMax transceiver, a wireless cellular telephony transceiver, a satellite transceiver (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) transceiver), or other radio frequency (RF) transceivers, or a combination thereof. The NIC may be an Ethernet card.
Input device(s) 406 may include a mouse, a touch pad, a touch sensitive screen (which may be integrated with a display device of optional graphics subsystem 404), a pointer device such as a stylus, and/or a keyboard (e.g., physical keyboard or a virtual keyboard displayed as part of a touch sensitive screen). For example, input device(s) 406 may include a touch screen controller coupled to a touch screen. The touch screen and touch screen controller can, for example, detect contact and movement or break thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensitivity technologies, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with the touch screen.
IO devices 407 may include an audio device. An audio device may include a speaker and/or a microphone to facilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition, voice replication, digital recording, and/or telephony functions. Other IO devices 407 may further include universal serial bus (USB) port(s), parallel port(s), serial port(s), a printer, a network interface, a bus bridge (e.g., a PCI-PCI bridge), sensor(s) (e.g., a motion sensor such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, a magnetometer, a light sensor, compass, a proximity sensor, etc.), or a combination thereof. IO device(s) 407 may further include an imaging processing subsystem (e.g., a camera), which may include an optical sensor, such as a charged coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) optical sensor, utilized to facilitate camera functions, such as recording photographs and video clips. Certain sensors may be coupled to interconnect 410 via a sensor hub (not shown), while other devices such as a keyboard or thermal sensor may be controlled by an embedded controller (not shown), dependent upon the specific configuration or design of system 400.
To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, one or more operating systems and so forth, a mass storage (not shown) may also couple to processor 401. In various embodiments, to enable a thinner and lighter system design as well as to improve system responsiveness, this mass storage may be implemented via a solid state device (SSD). However, in other embodiments, the mass storage may primarily be implemented using a hard disk drive (HDD) with a smaller amount of SSD storage to act as an SSD cache to enable non-volatile storage of context state and other such information during power down events so that a fast power up can occur on re-initiation of system activities. Also, a flash device may be coupled to processor 401, e.g., via a serial peripheral interface (SPI). This flash device may provide for non-volatile storage of system software, including a basic input/output software (BIOS) as well as other firmware of the system.
Storage device 408 may include computer-readable storage medium 409 (also known as a machine-readable storage medium or a computer-readable medium) on which is stored one or more sets of instructions or software (e.g., processing module, unit, and/or processing module/unit/logic 428) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. Processing module/unit/logic 428 may represent any of the components described above. Processing module/unit/logic 428 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within memory 403 and/or within processor 401 during execution thereof by system 400, memory 403 and processor 401 also constituting machine-accessible storage media. Processing module/unit/logic 428 may further be transmitted or received over a network via network interface device(s) 405.
Computer-readable storage medium 409 may also be used to store some software functionalities described above persistently. While computer-readable storage medium 409 is shown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The terms “computer-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of embodiments disclosed herein. The term “computer-readable storage medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media, or any other non-transitory machine-readable medium.
Processing module/unit/logic 428, components and other features described herein can be implemented as discrete hardware components or integrated in the functionality of hardware components such as ASICS, FPGAs, DSPs, or similar devices. In addition, processing module/unit/logic 428 can be implemented as firmware or functional circuitry within hardware devices. Further, processing module/unit/logic 428 can be implemented in any combination hardware devices and software components.
Note that while system 400 is illustrated with various components of a data processing system, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components; as such details are not germane to embodiments disclosed herein. It will also be appreciated that network computers, handheld computers, mobile phones, servers, and/or other data processing systems which have fewer components or perhaps more components may also be used with embodiments disclosed herein.
Some portions of the preceding detailed descriptions have been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the ways used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. The operations are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities.
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as those set forth in the claims below, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
Embodiments disclosed herein also relate to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. Such a computer program is stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium. A non-transitory machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) medium includes a machine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium (e.g., read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices).
The processes or methods depicted in the preceding figures may be performed by processing logic that comprises hardware (e.g. circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (e.g., embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium), or a combination of both. Although the processes or methods are described above in terms of some sequential operations, it should be appreciated that some of the operations described may be performed in a different order. Moreover, some operations may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially.
Embodiments disclosed herein are not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of embodiments disclosed herein.
In the foregoing specification, embodiments have been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the embodiments disclosed herein as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
