Patent Application
20120271844
Users can communicate digitally with contacts using a variety of means. For example, a user may utilize an instant messaging client or application to “chat” with a contact over a connected network (e.g., the Internet), where the conversation may comprise a back and forth of short sentences or phrases. Further, as another example, “texting” can comprise another form of short, back-and-forth conversation with a contact, such as using a mobile phone, a computing device, or a combination of both. Additionally, as another example, the user may create a user message utilizing an email client, and broadcast the message to one or more contacts, one or more of whom may reply instantly, later or not at all. Users may also communicate by posting messages on social networks, such as status updates, direct messaging, micro-blogs, and others, for example. These postings may also be replied to by contacts receiving/reading the user message(s).
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key factors or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Messaging between a user and one or more contacts often comprises terms that may be relevant to an active or ongoing conversation. For example, a user and a contact may be “chatting” about movies, when the user receives a message asking: “do you want to go see the movie ‘X’ tonight, it stars Y?” In this example, the term “X” refers to a movie name, for which show times, theatre locations, and reviews may be relevant to the conversation. Further, the term Y refers to a well-known actor, for which images or news may be relevant to the conversation.
Typically, if the user wishes to find relevant information for a term they enter the term as a query in an online search provider. The search provider can return the relevant information from a query, such as the movie times, locations, and reviews; and/or the actor's images and news. That is, for example, if the user identified an interesting term in the user message they must open a browser, navigate to a search provider, enter the term and perform a search. The information retrieved by the query can then be copied into a user message returned to the contact, for example. Because the user needs to perform the operations outside the context of the user message, the user experience may be diminished, for example, the “chatting” interrupted.
Accordingly, one or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed that provide for retrieving relevant information for temporally recognized terms that may be identified in a user message. For example, while the user is writing or reading a message, such as an instant message (IM), email message, text message, or the like, one or more terms can be identified (e.g., automatically) in the message. The identified terms can correspond to temporally recognized terms, for example, that may be currently (e.g., or from a desired time period) relevant. Further, relevant information for the term can be presented to the user, if desired, for example.
In one embodiment for providing relevant information for a term identified in a user message, the term can be identified in the user message. The identified term can be compared with data that is stored locally, such on a client device accessing the user message, to determine whether the identified term comprises a temporally recognized term. In this embodiment, if it is determined that the identified term comprises a temporally recognized term, and the identified term is selected by the user, an action assigned to the temporally recognized term can be performed, where the action comprises retrieving relevant information.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the following description and annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative aspects and implementations. These are indicative of but a few of the various ways in which one or more aspects may be employed. Other aspects, advantages, and novel features of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the annexed drawings.
The claimed subject matter is now 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 claimed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the claimed subject matter.
A method may be devised that provides for quickly and efficiently finding keywords in a user message, such as one comprising an instant message, and identifying the keywords so that a user may find relevant information for a selected keyword. In this way, for example, a richer user experience can be provided for a user message, such as by allowing the user to select relevant information and add it to the user message (e.g., embedding images, video, and reference information). Further, as an example, the user may be able to identify relevant information associated with a keyword that provides more detail about a particular topic, such as entertainment venues and times, which may be used to provide an improved user experience.
At 106, the identified term is compared with locally stored data to determine if the identified term comprises a temporally recognized term. In one embodiment, a temporally recognized term can comprise a combination of one or more words that are recognized as having temporal relevance. For example, an online search engine can provide search results for queried terms entered by online users, such as “Seattle Seahawks.” Often, online search providers analyze queried terms entered as searches to identify those queried terms that are “trending,” for example.
A trending term can comprise a query that has an increasing search rate (e.g., more people are searching using the term that previously). In this example, a trending term may be considered temporally relevant at the time it is identified as trending; that is, the term is relevant at that particular time. For example, soon after a large earthquake occurs, the term “earthquake” may likely be a trending term. As another example, search providers can compile a list of the top searched query terms at any particular time, such as identifying a top one hundred current searched terms. In this example, the top one hundred terms may be considered temporally relevant at the time they are identified by the search provider. Identifying temporally relevant terms can help provide an enhanced user experience, for example, where those terms that a user may be interested in (e.g., because they appear to be relevant at the time) are more likely to be identified. Providing stale information, such as for terms that are no longer relevant to users, may lessen the user experience and lead to reduced use of a particular service.
Further, in one embodiment, the data that can help determine whether an identified term is a temporally relevant term can be stored locally, for example, such as on a client device used to access the user message. For example, a user may be instant messaging from their handheld device (e.g., smart phone), and the data used to compare the identified term can be stored in local memory or storage on the hand held device. In this way, for example, the determination process (e.g., comparing the identified term with the locally stored data) may be faster than if the data was stored remotely, such as on a remote server (e.g., at a search service providers server).
In one embodiment, the locally stored data can comprise a data structure used to store an indication of temporally recognized terms. For example, a set of temporally recognized terms, such as query terms retrieved from an online search provider, may be stored in the data structure in a manner that provides for fast comparison with an identified term. Further, in this example, the data structure may be of a desired size so that storage and retrieval resources for the client device are not burdened in a way that lessens the user experience. In one embodiment, the data can be received by the client device, such as over a network connection (e.g., the Internet connected by Wifi, cellular, or some other means) and stored in local storage. Therefore, for example, a data structure comprising a smaller size may reduce bandwidth use during retrieval, and storage resource use on the client device.
At 108 in the exemplary method 100, if the identified term does not comprise a temporally recognized term when compared with the locally stored data (NO), no action is taken at 114. For example, in the user message “Did you see the Seattle Seahawks play?” the identified term “you see” is not likely to comprise a temporally relevant term (e.g., one that is a trending search query tem). In this example, no action is taken with regard to the identified term “you see,” and another term may be identified in the user message, at 104, or the exemplary method may end at 116.
If the identified term does comprise a temporally recognized term when compared with the locally stored data (YES at 108), but an indication of a user selection of the identified term is not received (NO at 110), no action is taken, at 114. For example, in the user message “Did you see the Seattle Seahawks play?” the identified term “Seattle Seahawks” may comprise a temporally relevant term (e.g., online search users may be querying Seattle Seahawks recently to find scores, tickets, or because they played on Monday Night Football, etc., thereby making the term become temporally relevant). However, the user may not select the identified term Seattle Seahawks, for example, as they are not currently interested in seeing information about the Seattle Seahawks, and/or it may not be germane to their current task. In one embodiment, no action is taken with regard to the temporally recognized term “Seattle Seahawks,” and another term may be identified in the user message, at 104, or the exemplary method may end at 116.
If the identified term comprises a temporally recognized term (YES at 108), and an indication of a user selection of the identified term is received (YES at 110), an action assigned to the temporally recognized term is performed, at 112, which comprises retrieving relevant information. In one embodiment, a data structure comprising a set of temporally relevant terms may be assigned an action, for example, which involves retrieving a particular type of relevant information for a member of the set, when selected (e.g., by a user). Accordingly, such an action may be said to be assigned to, associated with, etc. a data structure and/or a term of/from/identified by, etc. the data structure. As an illustrative example, the set of temporally relevant terms stored by the data structure may comprise movie titles, and the assigned action may comprise retrieving theatre locations, and/or show times for the movie. As another example, the set of terms in the data structure may comprise geographic locations, and the assigned action may comprise retrieving a map of the location.
In one embodiment, more than one action may be assigned to a temporally relevant term. For example, a set of temporally relevant terms stored by the data structure may comprise celebrity names, and the actions assigned to the set may comprise: retrieve images, retrieve videos, retrieve music, and/or retrieve news. In one embodiment, a user may be provided with a choice of relevant information that can be retrieved for the temporally relevant term. For example, if more than one action is assigned to the temporally relevant term, as described above, upon selection of the identified term, the use may choose whether to retrieve images, retrieve videos, retrieve music, and/or retrieve news.
Having performed the assigned action, and retrieved the relevant information for the temporally recognized term, the exemplary method 100 ends at 116.
As an illustrative example, a set of temporally recognized terms may be respectively collected from search queries comprising movie names (e.g., for movie information, ratings, trailers, theater locations, show times, etc.); queries comprising sports teams and/or athletes (e.g., for game times, scores, ticket info, etc.); queries comprising site and/localities (e.g., travel information, flight deals and details, maps, etc.); queries comprising celebrities names (e.g., for information/news, pictures, videos, music, concert/event information); queries comprising restaurant names (e.g., for information, ratings, menus, maps, etc.); queries comprising product names (for product information/news, ratings, prices, shopping information, etc.); queries comprising event related terms, such as concerts, shows, etc. (e.g., for show information, show times, ticket information, etc.); queries comprising food (e.g., for recipes, ratings, dietary information); queries comprising stock symbols (e.g., for prices, other information, etc.); and/or queries comprising weather related terms (e.g., for forecast information), and many others.
In one embodiment, an empty data structure can be created for storing respective sets of temporally recognized terms derived from search query terms. In one embodiment, the data structure can comprise a bit array that may comprise a small data structure size, while providing a fast an efficient way to compare data. In this way, the data structure may be downloaded to a client device using less bandwidth than other data structures, may have a smaller data storage footprint on the client device, and can provide for fast lookup/comparison of data than other data structures.
As an illustrative example,
Returning to
In one embodiment, the hash value may be used as an index position mapping to a bit array (e.g., an array comprising zeros (off) and/or ones (on)). In one embodiment, a temporally recognized term, from a set of temporally recognized terms, may be hashed (e.g., input to the hash algorithm) using more than one hash functions. In this embodiment, for example, results from respective terms in the set can map to a set of index positions in the bit array for the potential term.
As an illustrative example, in
Further, in this example embodiment 350, term1 can be hashed by hash function two H2, resulting in an output value of three. The hash value three can correspond to the index position I3304 of the bit array 302, where the bit value can be changed from 0 to 1. Additionally, in this example, the respective terms, term2-term5 in the set can be hashed by the hash functions one and two, and the respective results can be mapped to the index positions 304 of the bit array. At the mapped index positions (e.g., I0-I9), the bit value can be selectively changed from zero to one, for example, where a bit value that has already been activated by a first hashing can remain at one if a second hashing indicates the same index position. For example, where the bit value of I0 is changed from zero to one based upon applying hash 1 to term 1, the bit value of I0 can remain one when hash 2 is subsequently applied to term 4 (e.g., and similarly for h2(term1) and h2(term3), and h2(term2) and h1(term4)). In this way, for example, the bit array 302 can comprise indications of the respective temporally recognized terms in the set of terms, such as mined from the search query terms.
Returning to
At 210, a client can receive the file comprising the one or more data structures, and the one or more data structures can be stored locally on the client device. For example, the client may be configured to periodically (e.g., after a desired periodic interval) retrieve (e.g., or request) the file comprising the one or more data structures, respectively comprising a set of temporally recognized terms. In this example, the file can be received by the client device, the respective data structures extracted and stored in local memory, and/or local storage. In this way, when attempting to determine whether an identified term comprises a temporally recognized term, the locally stored data may be consulted for comparison, which may be faster than comparing with data stored in a remote location.
In one embodiment, the one or more data structures, respectively indicating a set of temporally recognized terms, which are comprised in the file received by the client device, may also be associated with one or more assigned actions. For example, as described above, the temporally recognized term in a set may comprise a restaurant name, and the action assigned can comprise “retrieve restaurant ratings, information, and/or maps.” In this embodiment, for example, the one or more data structures packaged into the file to be received by the client device can respectively have one or more actions assigned, such as using metadata tags attached to the data structure.
It will be appreciated that the locally stored data is not limited to the embodiments described above. It is understood that those skilled in the art may devise alternate local data storage techniques and/or systems. For example, the locally stored data may be comprised in a database (e.g., two dimensional or three-dimensional); an indexing array, a hash table, or some other form of data storage structure that provides for efficient downloading of data and efficient comparison of data.
As described above, a term can comprise one or more words in the message, of which the length (e.g., number or words and/or characters) may be set by the user, by an application comprising the user message, the client device, and/or a service providing temporally recognized terms, for example. For example, an identified term may comprise one, two, or three (e.g., or more) words in sequence in the user message, and a maximum or minimum number of words (e.g., and/or characters) set for the term identification can have an effect on a type and/or number of temporally recognized terms matching the identified term.
Further, the number of words in sequence used for an identified term may also affect a time and/or resource use to match the identified term with a temporally recognized term. Additionally, when identifying terms in a user message that comprises Asian characters, one or more different settings may be applied to identify terms (e.g., Asian words may comprise one or more characters, and/or may or may not be separated by spaces, etc.).
In one embodiment, to determine whether the identified term comprises a temporally recognized term, a lookup can be performed in one or more locally stored data structures, comprising locally stored data, in an attempt to match the identified term with a temporally recognized term indicated by one or more of the data structures. As an example, at 406 in the example embodiment 400, the lookup can comprise applying one or more hash functions to the identified term. In one embodiment, the identified term may be hashed (e.g., input to the hash algorithm) using a plurality of hash functions. In this embodiment, for example, respective results for the identified term can map to a set of index positions in a bit array.
For example, bit arrays, such as used by bloom filters, can produce a false positive error rate that may be mitigated by using more than one hash function to both populate the bit array with an indication of a set of temporally recognized terms, and to test whether an identified term is a member of the set of temporally recognized terms. Applying more than one hash function (e.g., an optimal number of hash functions) to populate and/or test membership for a set of terms stored by the bit array can provide for improved probability when attempting to determine if an unknown item is a member of the set (e.g., looking up the term in the bit array), for example. An identified term from the user message may be hashed by six hash functions, for example, respectively yielding an output result that may be used to compare with one or more of the bit arrays stored locally.
However, as a number of applied hash functions increases for a bit array, an amount of needed computational resources increase, for example, as well a size of the bit array used to store the members of the set. Therefore, in one embodiment, a number of hash functions used to populate the bit array, and/or determine membership in the bit array, can be identified that may result in a desirable probability and a desirable array size and computation resource use (e.g., based on error tolerance, and/or storage/computation resources available).
At 408, the result of applying the one or more hash functions to the potential term can be looked up in one or more locally stored bit arrays. As an illustrative example,
Alternately, as illustrated in
As an example, if the identified term does not match any of the member terms of the set of temporally recognized terms stored by the bit array, the results of the hash function(s) will not match any of the terms indexed by the bit array. As an illustrative example, the set of temporally recognized terms may comprise sports teams, which are respectively indexed to the bit array using one or more hash functions. In this example, if the identified term comprises “Did you,” which may be part of the user message “Did you see the Seattle Seahawks play?”, the identified term may not match any of the terms from the set indexed by the bit array (e.g., when the one or more hash functions are applied to the identified term, and the result(s) are compared against the bit array).
Returning to
In one embodiment, highlighting the identified term, which comprises the temporally recognized term, can alert the user to select the term, such as to be provided with relevant information about the identified term. As described above, the user may not choose to select the highlighted temporally recognized term in the user message (NO at 414), and no action may be taken. In one embodiment, the highlighted term can remain highlighted, thereby allowing the user to select the term at a later time. Further, additional terms may be identified in the user message, for example, as the user continues to generate, view, receive or otherwise interact with the message.
If an indication of the user selecting the highlighted identified term is received (YES at 414) an action assigned to the temporally recognized term, to which the identified term was matched, can be performed. The action can comprise retrieving relevant information for the temporally relevant term, such as relevant information that may be determined by the assigned action. For example, the assigned action may comprise “retrieve recipe information, ratings, and/or dietary information” for a set of temporally relevant terms comprising food related terminology. In this example, the indentified term may be “artichoke” and the relevant information retrieved may comprise one or more recipes using artichokes, and/or dietary information for artichokes.
In one embodiment, where more than one action is assigned to the temporally recognized term, a choice of relevant information to be retrieved can be provided, for example, so that the user may choose which type of information they wish to view. For example, if the identified term matches a temporally relevant term in more than one data structure (e.g., bit array) respectively comprising a set of temporally relevant terms having different assigned action, a choice of actions, and/or type of relevant information, may be provided.
As an illustrative example, in the user message “Did you see Seattle play Indianapolis last night?” the identified term Seattle may match a temporally recognized term from a set of team names, and from a set of geographic locations. Further, in this example, the assigned action to the set of team names may comprise “retrieve ticket info, scores, game time,” and the assigned action to the set of geographic locations may comprise “retrieve travel info, flight deals, maps.” In this embodiment, for example, the user may be provided with a choice between actions and/or information.
In one embodiment, the relevant information can be retrieved and provided in real-time. For example, the client device may be connected to a network (e.g., the Internet), and upon selection of the highlighted term, the highlighted term can be combined with the assigned action to retrieve the relevant information, such as from an online search provider. At 418, the relevant information can be displayed to the user. In one embodiment, the relevant information may be displayed in a same view as the user message (e.g., inline, in a pop-up in the user message window). In another embodiment, the relevant information may be provided in a separate viewing segment on the client device (e.g., in a separate window, and/or application).
As an illustrative example, the set of temporally recognized terms used to populate a bit array may comprise a top k number of terms (e.g., top one hundred terms used for queries about movie show times). In this example, as movies are added to and removed from cinemas, the set of temporally recognized terms comprising the query terms can change over time. In one embodiment, the updated set of temporally recognized terms can be generated from an updated set of query terms, for example, from a desired period of time (e.g., updated daily, weekly, etc.). In one embodiment, the updated temporally recognized terms can be mined from updated search data that is temporally relevant (e.g., to the desired time period, such as most recent).
At 504 in the example embodiment 500, one or more updated data structures can be respectively populated with an updated set of temporally recognized terms. For example, a new, empty bit array may be created, and populated with the updated terms comprised in the updated set, such as described above, for example. At 506, one or more updated data structures (e.g., bit arrays) are packaged into one or more updated files (e.g., configured to be sent to a client and unpackaged at the client device).
In one embodiment, the client may access version information for the updated file, such as by navigating to a website comprising the file, receiving notification from a service providing the file, or receiving a request to download the file. In one embodiment, at 508, the client can compare the version of the updated file with the locally stored data to determine if the updated file is actually newer than what is already locally stored. For example, the client may receive a request to update the locally stored data, but may not want to utilize computing resources to download and store the file if it is an older or same version as what is already stored locally.
In one embodiment, the client may receive a request to download the updated file upon initiation of an application accessing the user message, such as a IM client, an email client, a browser, etc.; and/or at an initiation of the client device accessing the user message (e.g., via an operating system). Further, the client may receive a request to download the updated file after a set period of time passing, which may be set by an application and/or user; and/or the user may initiate a request to download the updated file.
If the updated file does not comprise a newer version (NO at 510), no action is taken (e.g., no download), at 516. If the updated file is identified as comprising a newer version than the locally stored data (YES at 510), the client can retrieve the updated file. For example, the updated file may be stored on a remote server, such as comprising a search provider, and the client device can contact to the remote server to download the updated file.
At 514, the client can substitute the locally stored data with updated data, comprising an indication of updated temporally recognized terms. In one embodiment, the updated data can comprise one or more updated bit arrays. Further, if an updated bit array is a newer version, for example, the updated bit array can be stored locally, substituting it for a previous version. For example, a bit array indexing movie titles, which is assigned a “retrieve show times” action, can be substituted with an updated version in local memory (e.g., or storage) if the updated version comprises a newer version (e.g., for more current show times). As another example, a plurality of updated versions of bit arrays may be substituted locally if they respectively comprise newer versions than ones stored locally.
A system may be devised for quickly and efficiently identifying terms in a user message, and providing a way for a user to find relevant information for a selected term. In this way, for example, a user may be provided with additional and/or temporally relevant information while accessing a user message (e.g., reading or writing), and the information can be utilized by the user message to create a richer user message. Further, as an example, the user may be able to quickly find relevant information about a topic identified by a term in the user message (e.g., current images, news, videos, etc.), thereby being provided with more detail that can enhance the user experience.
A term comparison component 604 is operably coupled with the local data storage component 602. The term comparison component 604 is configured to determine if a term identified in a user message 652 comprises a temporally recognized term by looking up the identified term 654 in the one or more data structures 650. For example, the user message 652 can comprise text (e.g., in a variety of languages), and one or more words in sequence from the user message may comprise an identified term. The identified term can be compared with temporally recognized terms, for example, stored in the data structures 650, in the local data storage component 602.
A relevant information retrieval component 606 is operably coupled with the term comparison component 604. If the identified term matches one of the stored temporally recognized terms, and an indication of a user selection 656 of the temporally recognized term is received, the relevant information retrieval component 606 is configured to perform an action assigned to a temporally recognized term. The assigned action comprises retrieving relevant information 658. For example, the relevant information may comprise current and/or more detailed information about the identified term, which can be made available to a user viewing the user message 652.
For example, an online search provider 768 may collect information on query terms submitted for searches online, such as over a network 766 (e.g., the Internet). The collected information may be mined for information relating to a particular area of interest, such as movie titles, sports teams, locations, celebrities, and more. Further, the queried terms may be related to a particular period of time, such as current period, past day, week, month, etc. In this way, the queried terms are temporally recognized for the period of time from which they are associated. Therefore, the bit arrays 750 can be populated with currently popular query terms, thereby allowing more relevant information to be retrieved.
In this example embodiment 700, the local data storage component 602 can be configured to substitute one or more data structures, such as bit arrays 750, with updated data structures, such as updated bit arrays 760, respectively comprising an indication of updated temporally recognized terms. For example, query terms that were temporally recognized (e.g., popular) for last week can be replaced with temporally recognized (e.g., popular) for the current week, by substituting updated data structures comprising the updated temporally recognized terms.
In the example embodiment 700, a term identification component 720 is configured to identify the term 754 in the user message 752 for use by the term comparison component 604. For example, the term identification component 720 may break the words and/or characters (e.g., Asian characters) into one, two, three (e.g., or more) words or characters, depending on a desired term length setting for the term identification component 720. The respective identified terms 754 can be provided to the term comparison component 604, for example, to determine if they are temporally recognized terms.
A temporally recognized term highlighting component 722 can be configured to highlight the identified term 754 in a user interface (UI) comprising the user message, if the identified term 754 comprises a temporally recognized term. In this way, for example, a user viewing the user message 752 may be made aware that the identified term comprises a temporally relevant term, and may be prompted to select the term, such as by clicking on or hovering over the term, thereby providing a selection indication 756 of the highlighted identified term.
In one embodiment, an action 764 assigned to the temporally recognized term can be based on a type of relevant information 758. In this embodiment, at type of relevant information may comprise: entertainment related information (e.g., movies, shows), popular person related information (e.g., celebrities), dining related information (e.g., restaurants), travel related information (e.g., locations), product related information (e.g., brand names), event related information (e.g., concerts), sports related information (e.g., teams, athletes), financial related information (e.g., stocks), reference related information (e.g., historical figures), weather related information (e.g., forecasts), news related information (current news), and location related information (e.g., points of interest). Further, the relevant information 758, such as retrieved over a network 766 from a search provider 768, can comprise information specific to the action 764, such as movie show times and/or theatre location information for a movie title identified in the user message.
Still another embodiment involves a computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions configured to implement one or more of the techniques presented herein. An exemplary computer-readable medium that may be devised in these ways is illustrated in
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.
As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system”, “interface”, and the like are generally intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a controller and the controller can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may 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. 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.
Although not required, embodiments are described in the general context of “computer readable instructions” being executed by one or more computing devices. Computer readable instructions may be distributed via computer readable media (discussed below). Computer readable instructions may be implemented as program modules, such as functions, objects, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures, and the like, that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the computer readable instructions may be combined or distributed as desired in various environments.
In other embodiments, device 912 may include additional features and/or functionality. For example, device 912 may also include additional storage (e.g., removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical storage, and the like. Such additional storage is illustrated in
The term “computer readable media” as used herein includes computer storage media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions or other data. Memory 918 and storage 920 are examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by device 912. Any such computer storage media may be part of device 912.
Device 912 may also include communication connection(s) 926 that allows device 912 to communicate with other devices. Communication connection(s) 926 may include, but is not limited to, a modem, a Network Interface Card (NIC), an integrated network interface, a radio frequency transmitter/receiver, an infrared port, a USB connection, or other interfaces for connecting computing device 912 to other computing devices. Communication connection(s) 926 may include a wired connection or a wireless connection. Communication connection(s) 926 may transmit and/or receive communication media.
The term “computer readable media” may include communication media. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions or other data in a “modulated data signal” such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may include a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.
Device 912 may include input device(s) 924 such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, infrared cameras, video input devices, and/or any other input device. Output device(s) 922 such as one or more displays, speakers, printers, and/or any other output device may also be included in device 912. Input device(s) 924 and output device(s) 922 may be connected to device 912 via a wired connection, wireless connection, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, an input device or an output device from another computing device may be used as input device(s) 924 or output device(s) 922 for computing device 912.
Components of computing device 912 may be connected by various interconnects, such as a bus. Such interconnects may include a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), such as PCI Express, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), firewire (IEEE 1394), an optical bus structure, and the like. In another embodiment, components of computing device 912 may be interconnected by a network. For example, memory 918 may be comprised of multiple physical memory units located in different physical locations interconnected by a network.
Those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to store computer readable instructions may be distributed across a network. For example, a computing device 930 accessible via network 928 may store computer readable instructions to implement one or more embodiments provided herein. Computing device 912 may access computing device 930 and download a part or all of the computer readable instructions for execution. Alternatively, computing device 912 may download pieces of the computer readable instructions, as needed, or some instructions may be executed at computing device 912 and some at computing device 930.
Various operations of embodiments are provided herein. In one embodiment, one or more of the operations described may constitute computer readable instructions stored on one or more computer readable media, which if executed by a computing device, will cause the computing device to perform the operations described. The order in which some or all of the operations are described should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. Alternative ordering will be appreciated by one skilled in the art having the benefit of this description. Further, it will be understood that not all operations are necessarily present in each embodiment provided herein.
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 advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. Further, at least one of A and B and/or the like generally means A or B or both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims may generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.
Also, although the disclosure has been shown and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art based upon a reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. The disclosure includes all such modifications and alterations and is limited only by the scope of the following claims. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (e.g., elements, resources, etc.), the terms 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., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations of the disclosure. In addition, while a particular feature of the disclosure 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”, “having”, “has”, “with”, or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”
