Patent Application
20170153918
This disclosure relates to workload management systems, and more particularly, to systems, devices, methods and computer-readable media for resource management.
In computing environments such as cloud computing, servers, or other systems or devices, workload management systems can be used for result management, workload management and scheduling.
Workloads running on the computing environment may consume or compete for resources in the computing environment. Distributed resource managers often have separate schedulers to handle different resource types. However, as resource interactions become more complex, managing these resources can be a challenge.
In accordance with one aspect, there is provided a method of managing a resource in a distributed resource management system. The method includes: receiving a resource request by at least one processor in the distributed resource management system, the resource request identifying a requested resource type corresponding to at least one of: a class identifier identifying a resource class assigned to a composite resource in the distributed resource management system, and a class identifier identifying at least one additional resource associated with the composite resource; determining availability of the requested resource type; and scheduling a workload associated with the resource request for execution based on the determination.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a system including at least one processor for managing resources. The at least one processor is configured for: receiving a resource request by at least one processor the resource request identifying a requested resource type corresponding to at least one of: a class identifier identifying a resource class assigned to a composite resource in the distributed management system, and a class identifier identifying at least one additional resource associated with the composite resource; determining availability of the requested resource type; and scheduling a workload associated with the resource request for execution based on the determination.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a non-transitory, computer-readable medium or media having stored thereon computer-readable instructions. When executed by at least one processor, the computer-readable instructions cause the at least one processor to: receive a resource request by at least one processor in the distributed resource management system, the resource request identifying a requested resource type corresponding to at least one of: a class identifier identifying a resource assigned to a composite resource, and a class identifier identifying at least one additional resource associated with the composite resource; determine availability of the requested resource type; and schedule a workload associated with the resource request for execution based on the determination.
Many further features and combinations thereof concerning the present improvements will appear to those skilled in the art following a reading of the instant disclosure.
These drawings depict aspects of example embodiments for illustrative purposes. Variations, alternative configurations, alternative components and modifications may be made to these example embodiments.
In some embodiments, the computing system 100 can include any combination of hardware and software components. For example, a computing system 100 may include a combination of computing devices, processors, networks, memories, storage devices, network devices, power sources, license servers (e.g., software license servers), swap space, and the like. In some embodiments, the computing system 100 may be a heterogeneous or a homogenous environment, and may have different or similar hardware components running different or similar operating systems.
In some embodiments, the computing system 100 may be a single device physically or logically, such as a single computing device or a single server having one or more resources.
The computing system 100 can include one or more resources 150 which can be shared between, or otherwise utilized by, multiple workloads. Some resources 150 may be physically or logically associated with a single device, and other resources 150 may be shared resources which may be utilized by multiple devices in the system 100.
Irrespective of the number or configuration of devices, networks, hardware, software and/or other resources in the system 100, in some embodiments, the system 100 may be configured to appear as a single image or interface to the client devices 120. The system 100 can be configured to run workloads from the client devices 120 and from components of the system 100 itself.
The computing system 100 may include one or more processors 101 in a single device or split across any number of devices in the system 100. These processors 101 can be configured to manage the resources 150 in the system 100.
The computing system 100 can be configured as a distributed resource management (DRM) system. In some embodiments, the DRM system is an infrastructure middleware which can run on top of a distributed environment. The distributed environment can include different kinds of hardware and software.
The DRM system may be implemented by one or more processors 101 in one or more devices in the system 100. In some embodiments, the DRM system can provide a single system image to client devices 120, and can handle resource management, workload management and scheduling. Workloads can refer to any process, job, service, or any other computing task to be run on the system 100. For example, workloads may include batch jobs (e.g., high performance computing (HPC) batch jobs), Message Passing Interface (MPI) processes, serial and/or parallel batch tasks, real time analytics, elastic applications (e.g., MapReduce), long running services, virtual machines, containers, etc.
Aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to various DRM systems such as the IBM™ Platform Load Sharing Facility (LSF), Apache™ Hadoop, YARN (Yet Another Resource Negotiator), PBS (Portable Batch Scheduler), OpenStack™, Huawei™ FusionSphere, FusionCube and FusionInsight.
In some embodiments, the devices 200 may be physically or logically configured as master and slave devices. In other embodiments, other hierarchies or logical arrangements may be used. Any suitable physical and/or logical arrangement of DRM components can be used.
The example system 100 in
Processors 101 on each slave machine 200b, 200c, 200d can be configured to operate at least one DRM agent. Processors 101 on the slave machines 200b, 200c, 200d can be configured, via a DRM agent or otherwise, to monitor and report resource availability to the master daemon on the master machine 200a. DRM agents can be configured to accept requests from the master daemon to execute and control workloads, and/or to monitor the life cycle of its workloads.
Although aspects of the present disclosure refer to DRM agents, daemons, masters, slaves, etc., it should be understood that DRM components and their functions, interactions, etc., may be performed by one or more processors 101 anywhere in the system 100 in any arrangement, structure, or division of responsibilities. For example, in some embodiments, master or slave may refer to a role or process running on a particular machine or processor. In some examples, master and slave roles can be performed by a single machine. In other examples, the DRM system may operate in a peer-to-peer fashion, as a distributed process, or otherwise.
To increase utilization of the resources 150, the system 100 can be configured for the concurrent operation of workloads on the same machine, and to schedule and/or allocate resources and workloads across the system 100. To manage different resources 150, distributed resource managers can implement separate schedulers for different types of resources 150. For example, the system 100 can have a scheduler for managing central processing units (CPUs), a scheduler for memory, and a scheduler for storage. However, separate schedulers may fail to recognize relationships between different types of resources, and may require custom coding or plug-ins to handle non-standard resource hardware or non-standard resource requests.
For example, a workload requiring a virtual machine may have specific requirements for a number of CPUs, memory, storage, software licenses, network capabilities, etc. Coordinating a single workload requiring different resources 150 across multiple resource schedulers can be a challenge and may require custom code or plug-ins.
In some instances, through separate resource schedulers, different resources 150 for a workload may be spread across multiple devices in the computing system 100, which may result in poor performance or a resource allocation which cannot successfully complete the workload.
In some systems 100, resources 150 can include, be connected to, or be otherwise associated with other resources 150. In
The Slave2 machine 200c has a resource R4 which is connected to or associated with resources R5 and R6. For example, resource R4 may be a compute server which is connected to a number of GPUs (graphics processing units) R5 and storage devices R6.
As illustrated by the Slave3 machine 200d, resources (R10, R11) may not have any defined relationship. Some resources 150 (e.g., R7) may not have a local agent and may be managed by the master scheduler 201 or an agent 202 from another device. For example, in some instances, it may not be possible, practical, or desirable for a networking device to have a local agent.
In some examples, a resource 150 may have related resource capacities or capabilities. For example, if R7 is a networking resource such as a switch, the resource may have associated port resources R8 and bandwidth resources R9 for each of those ports.
These non-limiting examples illustrate some of the many possible resources 150 and their relationships to one another. As resources 150 and workload resource requirements become more complex, so do the modeling, scheduling and monitoring of such resources 150 individually.
In broad terms, some embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a generic or composite resource management system which may be configured to accommodate and manage many types of resources 150 and any associated or related resources 150. For the purposes of the present disclosure, the term “associated” should be understood to include any association or relationship between two or more resources 150.
The example model 300 has a resource definition 310 which can include a class identifier, a name identifier and a value identifier. In other embodiments, additional identifiers or definition fields may also be included. In some embodiments, some of the above-listed identifiers or other identifiers/fields may be optional.
A class identifier can identify a class, type, or general nature of the resource 150 being defined. A name identifier can provide a name or otherwise identify the resource 150.
In some instances, the resource instance can be a composite resource 320 or a basic resource 330. A basic resource 330 can include a class identifier for identifying the class or type of resource. Class identifiers can, in some embodiments, include basic resource types such as Boolean, numeric, and string.
A Boolean resource can include any resource which can be defined by a true or false value (e.g., has a value of 1 or 0). A Boolean resource can indicate the availability of specific features or functionality. For example, a Boolean resource can be a file server, a software package, a software version, a special-purpose device, etc. In some examples, a Boolean resource may identify a capability such as “has a Gigabit bandwidth”. If the resource is available on the system, the Boolean resource will have a value of true.
A numeric resource can include any resource which has a numeric value. A numeric resource can indicate, for example, a quantity or capacity of the resource. For example, numeric resources can include number of processors, memory size, amount of bandwidth, etc.
A string resource can include any resource which has a string value. A string resource can include, for example, a host type (e.g., LINUX64), a host model (e.g. x86), an operating system (e.g., WINDOWS10), etc.
In some embodiments, resources 150 can be classified as consumable or non-consumable. These or other characteristics can be associated with resources 150 based on class or other identifiers in the resource model. For example, based on a class identifier or other identifiers associated with a resource 150, the DRM may manage the resource 150 as a consumable or non-consumable resource. In some embodiments, numeric and composite resources may be managed as consumable resources; and Boolean and string resources may be managed as non-consumable resources. In some embodiments, only consumable resources may be directly consumed by workloads.
In some embodiments, only consumable resources are continuously monitored by the DRM.
A composite resource 320 can be associated with a class identifier and at least one identifier associated with an additional resource 150. This association can be made in a resource definition as illustrated in
In some embodiments, a composite resource 320 can be associated with or otherwise defined as containing or being related to one or more basic resources and/or composite resources 320.
With reference to
In some examples, a composite resource 320 may include an array, tree or any other flat or hierarchical structure of associated resources.
The table below outlines example suppliers which may be defined as resources 150, as well as associated attributes which may be defined as associated resources.
In some embodiments, the DRM can be configured to associate the compute server 400 with a composite resource definition. For example, the compute server 400 can be modelled as a composite resource 320 as illustrated by the definition in
As illustrated in
In contrast, the resources 150 designated as GPUs have not been combined, nor have their associated memories or cores. Each GPU corresponds to a different resource definition (i.e., a first composite resource named GPU1 and a second composite resource named GPU2).
Whether the DRM groups similar resources 150 into a single resource definition or multiple resource definitions can depend on the how they are consumed. For example, the CPU cores and CPU memories may be accessed, shared, divided, or otherwise consumed by any number of workloads without any structural restriction. However, the GPU cores and memory may be physically or logically tied to their respective GPUs and/or physically or logically separate from the cores/memory of other GPUs, as a result of which they may not be readily shared or allocated across GPUs.
In some examples, the DRM may be configured to determine whether to group or otherwise manage similar resource types as a single resource or as separate resources based on resource information obtained for modelling the resources 150. In some instances, the resource information itself may define whether to group or otherwise manage similar resource types as a single resource.
In some examples, the resource modelling/definitions described herein may encapsulate the relationships between resources which may, in some instances, simplify resource management or reduce improper or inefficient allocations of different resources for a single workload. In some examples, the resource modelling/definitions described herein may allow for the modelling of many different types of resources 150 including networking devices, application licenses, power sources, FPGA (field programmable gate array) components, or any other known or future resource type. In some examples, composite resource modelling may simplify the addition of new resource types, complex resources, different resource topologies/relationships, etc.
The examples above are based on the model framework in
The DRM can be configured to store or have access to one or more resource models corresponding to with one or more resources 150 in the DRM system. The DRM can create or obtain the resource models from information regarding the one or more resources.
Received resource demands may be basic requests for basic resources, but, in some instances, may also include more complicated requests or preferences for resources having different relationships or attributes encapsulated by the models described herein.
With these inputs, the DRM can be configured to output a distribution or otherwise manage the allocation and/or scheduling of the resources to the workloads.
The DRM system can be configured to receive or otherwise obtain resource information. This resource information can include static and/or runtime/dynamic resource information. In some examples, the resource information may include resource types, resource names, device identifiers, network addresses, resource capacities or capabilities, consumed/available resource information, resource relationships, topologies, and/or any other information associated with one or more resources.
In some embodiments, agents 202, master 201, or other DRM components at various devices in the system can be configured to collect static and/or runtime/dynamic resource information. The DRM components can be configured to transmit, communicate or otherwise make this information available to the distributed resource manager. In some examples, the DRM components can send the information to another component in the DRM system, a storage device, database or other storage location in the DRM system which is accessible by the DRM components. In some examples, the agents 202 can be configured to utilize plug-ins to collect resource information.
In some embodiments, the DRM system may be configured to obtain resource information from one or more configuration files. In some embodiments, there may be a single or multiple centralized configuration files including information defining the managed resources in the system. In some embodiments, the agents 202, master 201, and/or other DRM components may be configured to upload resource information to the configuration files.
In some embodiments, the DRM system may be configured to obtain resource information from one or more loaders. For example, in some instances, some devices may not have any agent or other DRM component deployed locally (e.g., a network switch). One or more loaders can be configured to collect static information and/or runtime/dynamic information from one or more resources 150 and send or otherwise make the resource information available to the DRM system.
Any one or any combination of the above-mentioned or other approaches suitable for obtaining resource information may be used. The approaches used in the DRM system may depend on the types of devices and/or resources in the computing environment.
The DRM system can be configured to manage resource requests. For example, when a workload is submitted, a client device 120 or application can submit a request including a class and quantity of a resource required to run the workload.
In some embodiments, a resource request can include a required consumable resource identifier. A resource request may optionally include parameters for filtering or selecting the requested resource. In some examples, a resource request may optionally include parameters indicating non-essential preferences for a requested resource. In some examples, the requests may include ranges for value parameters, specific resource names, or parameters for basic resources, composite resources, and/or associated resources.
The following table provides examples of different resource requests for a DRM system with composite resource models. These examples are non-exhaustive, and in other embodiments may have different request structures or language.
In some embodiments, the DRM system can be configured to assume default resource types when not explicitly included in a request. In some examples, this may simplify system design or improve usability. For example, because a commonly used resource in the above examples is “host”, the system may be configured to have “host” be a default parent resource for “mem” and “gpu” resources. Requests could then be simplified, for example as:
Upon receipt of a request, the DRM system can be configured to determine the availability of the requested resources 150, and schedule the workload associated with the request when the requested resources 150 are available.
In some examples, scheduling of workloads/resources can involve distributing modelled resources between workload resource requests. When the DRM system is configured to utilize the generic resource models described herein, all resources can potentially be modelled in the same way. Therefore, in some instances, a DRM policy designed for a particular resource 150 can be easily integrated to support other resource types.
For example, a fairshare policy may attempt to distribute a resource 150 fairly between different users. If the policy has been designed/implemented for a host (composite resource) and host.mem (numeric resource), the DRM system can be configured to extend support to GPUs (composite resource), GPU memory (numeric resource) or switch port (numeric resource) by extending the resource collection framework and policy configurations to the new resources 150. A developer would not need to change or rewrite the entire scheduling engine or policy to handle these new resource types.
In some embodiments, the systems 10 or devices 200 may include one or more processors 101, memory devices 1020, input/output interfaces 1030, input devices 1040, resources 150 and/or any other devices 200 or mechanisms suitable for or involved in performing aspects of the methods and functions described herein.
In some embodiments, the system 10 may include one or more devices 200 or systems which provide the mechanisms, controls, devices and/or communication links to perform aspects of the methods and functions described herein. For example, the system 10 may include one or more computers, servers and control devices configured for running workloads or for accessing, controlling, monitoring or otherwise utilizing resources 150. In some embodiments, an example device 200 or system 10 may be a standalone computer, server, mobile device, mainframe, supercomputer, computing array or other computing device or devices configured for executing workloads and/or managing resources.
In some embodiments, a resource 150 may be specific to a particular device and may only be utilized by workloads on that device 200. Some resources 150 may be shared resources 150 which can be accessed and/or utilized by workloads executing on different devices. Resources 150 may be elastic or non-elastic. Elastic resources may be resources 150 which a workload may utilize in a time-sharing fashion or will not hold for its entire life cycle. Examples of elastic resources include CPU cycles and network bandwidth.
Non-elastic resources may include resources 150 which once allocated to a workload cannot be shared or used by other workloads unless the first workload completes or proactively releases the resource 150. Examples of non-elastic resources include volatile memory, storage device space, swap space, and software licenses.
The resources 150 may be accessed, monitored, or utilized via one or more connections such as internal busses or signal lines, or via a communication interface and/or network.
Each processor 101 may be, for example, any type of general-purpose microprocessor or microcontroller, a central or graphics processing unit, a digital signal processing (DSP) processor, an integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a reconfigurable processor, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), or any combination thereof.
Memory or storage devices 1020 may include one or a combination of any type of computer memory that is located either internally or externally (e.g., networked or peripheral), for example, hard drives, flash memory, solid state memory, network storage devices, random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, read-only memory (ROM), Blu-ray® or compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), electro-optical memory, magneto-optical memory, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), and electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM), non-transitory computer readable media or the like. The memory(ies) and storage provided by these devices may be resources managed by the system 10.
In some examples, memory devices 1020 may include data or instruction sets for implementing, controlling or instructing DRM components, workloads and/or resources. The memory devices 1020 may also include instructions or code for configuring one or more processors and other components of the device 200 or system 10 to perform any of the methods and functions described herein.
Some input/output (I/O) interfaces 1030 can enable a device 200 or system 10 to interconnect with one or more input devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, camera, touch screen and a microphone, or with one or more output devices such as a display screen or a speaker. In some embodiments, I/O interfaces 1030 can also include network interfaces which enable devices 200 or aspects of the system 10 to communicate with other components (such as other devices, DRM components or resources), to exchange data with other components, to access and connect to network resources, to serve applications, and to perform other computing applications by connecting to one or more wired or wireless networks capable of carrying data including the Internet, Ethernet, plain old telephone service (POTS) line, public switched telephone network (PSTN), integrated services digital network (ISDN), digital subscriber line (DSL), coaxial cable, fiber optics, satellite, mobile, wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi, WiMAX), SS7 signaling network, Bluetooth™, near field communication (NFC), fixed line, local area network, wide area network, busses and others, including any combination of these.
In some examples, one or more I/O interfaces 1030 may enable a device 200 or system 10 to communicate, instruct, control, monitor or otherwise interconnect with a resource 150 or another device or system.
In some embodiments, devices 200 and/or systems 10 may include input or output devices such as keyboard, mouse, camera, touch screen, microphone, displays, etc. For example, a computing device or printing device may include a keypad, touchscreen, or other integrated, peripheral or linked input or output device. The input devices may be configured to receive instructions to run workloads or to change DRM settings. The output devices may be configured to display or otherwise output workload results, workload statuses, resource information, etc.
At 1110, one or more processors 101 in the DRM system obtain resource information. In some embodiments, the resource information can include information for collecting, classifying, encapsulate, defining or otherwise modelling DRM resources for management by the DRM system. In some embodiments, the resource information can include resource types, names, capacities/capabilities, and any other information relevant to DRM management.
In some embodiments, obtaining resource information can include obtaining or monitoring resource utilization/availability. In some examples, utilization information can include, for example, a total amount of the resource being used, a total percentage of the resource being used, an amount of available resource, etc. In some embodiments, resource utilization information may be periodically or continuously obtained.
As described herein or otherwise, in some embodiments, resource information can be collected by DRM agents or other DRM components which may store or communicate the resource information to a DRM master or other DRM components. In some embodiments, the resource information may be obtained from one or more configuration files. In some embodiments, the resource information may be obtained from a loader.
At 1120, based on the obtained resource information, the processors 101 assign to a composite resource 320 to be managed: a class identifier, and an identifier for at least one associated resource.
In some examples, assigning identifiers to the composite resource 320 can include generating a definition or model for associating with the composite resource 320. The definition or model can include the class identifier and one or more associated resource identifiers.
The class identifier can be any value (e.g., alphanumeric string, number, pointer, etc.) from which the DRM system can identify a resource class to which the composite resource 320 belongs.
In some embodiments, the identifier for an associated reference can include a class, name, pointer, resource definition/model or any other data suitable for identifying or otherwise indicating an association with another resource 150.
With reference to
These identified composite GPU resources are assigned to their own class identifier (i.e., the GPU class) and associated resource identifiers (e.g., mem and core resources).
In some embodiments, the processors 101 can assign, to the composite resource 320, a name identifier for assigning a particular name or otherwise providing another field for identifying the resource 150.
In some embodiments, the processors 101 can assign, to the composite resource 320, a value attribute for quantifying or otherwise identifying the capacity or capability of the resource 150. For example, the composite resource 320 may have assigned a model, attribute or other data indicating that the composite resource 320 includes or is associated with an array or number of associated resources 150.
At 1130, the processors 101 receive a resource request. The resource request can be received from a client device/process, an application, or any other source. In some examples, the resource request may be part of a request to handle one or more workloads. As illustrated by the examples described herein, the resource request can include a request for a resource class (e.g., host) and an associated additional resource class (e.g., host.cpu).
In some examples, the resource request can include parameters (e.g., class, name, value) which may be required or preferred. In some examples, the resource request can include an indication of whether the resource 150 is to be used exclusively by the requesting workload (e.g., a quantity of memory) or can be shared with other workloads (e.g., a number of cores). In some examples, the DRM system can be configured such that only certain classes of resources 150 may be shared or exclusively allocated.
In some examples, a resource request can include a name identifier indicating that a workload requires or prefers a resource 150 having a particular name.
At 1140, processors 101 determine the availability of the request resources 150 in the resource request. In some examples, this determination may be dependent on obtained, monitored, or otherwise managed resource information which indicates current utilizations/availabilities for the resources 150.
At 1150, processors 101 can be configured to schedule a workload 1150 when the requested resources 150 are available or otherwise based on the determination at 1140. In some examples, this can include reserving or allocating the requested resources 150, updating resource information to indicate the resource allocation/reservation and/or generating signals to launch the workload on the allocated resources 150.
In some instances, the systems, devices, methods and computer-readable media provided herein may provide a resource modelling which identifies resource classes, quantities and relationships between resources. In some examples, this may enable a DRM system to use the same policy for different resources with minimal or no code change. In some examples, encompassing resource relationships may also improve or simplify resource scheduling policies (e.g., fine scheduling) and management.
Embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented using hardware, software or some combination thereof. Based on such understandings, the technical solution may be embodied in the form of a software product. The software product may be stored in a non-volatile or non-transitory storage medium, which can be, for example, a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), USB flash disk, a removable hard disk, flash memory, hard drive, or the like. The software product includes a number of instructions that enable a computing device (computer, server, mainframe, or network device) to execute the methods provided herein.
Program code may be applied to input data to perform the functions described herein and to generate output information. The output information is applied to one or more output devices. In some embodiments, the communication interface may be a network communication interface. In embodiments in which elements are combined, the communication interface may be a software communication interface, such as those for inter-process communication. In still other embodiments, there may be a combination of communication interfaces implemented as hardware, software, and/or combination thereof.
Each computer program may be stored on a storage media or a device (e.g., ROM, magnetic disk, optical disc), readable by a general or special purpose programmable computer, for configuring and operating the computer when the storage media or device is read by the computer to perform the procedures described herein. Embodiments of the system may also be considered to be implemented as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, configured with a computer program, where the storage medium so configured causes a computer to operate in a specific and predefined manner to perform the functions described herein.
Furthermore, the systems and methods of the described embodiments are capable of being distributed in a computer program product including a physical, non-transitory computer readable medium that bears computer usable instructions for one or more processors. The medium may be provided in various forms, including one or more diskettes, compact disks, tapes, chips, magnetic and electronic storage media, volatile memory, non-volatile memory and the like. Non-transitory computer-readable media may include all computer-readable media, with the exception being a transitory, propagating signal. The term non-transitory is not intended to exclude computer readable media such as primary memory, volatile memory, RAM and so on, where the data stored thereon may only be temporarily stored. The computer useable instructions may also be in various forms, including compiled and non-compiled code.
The present disclosure may make numerous references to servers, services, interfaces, portals, platforms, or other systems formed from hardware devices. It should be appreciated that the use of such terms is deemed to represent one or more devices having at least one processor configured to execute software instructions stored on a computer readable tangible, non-transitory medium. One should further appreciate the disclosed computer-based algorithms, processes, methods, or other types of instruction sets can be embodied as a computer program product comprising a non-transitory, tangible computer readable media storing the instructions that cause a processor to execute the disclosed steps.
Various example embodiments are described herein. Although each embodiment represents a single combination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus, if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and a second embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.
The embodiments described herein are implemented by physical computer hardware embodiments. The embodiments described herein provide useful physical machines and particularly configured computer hardware arrangements of computing devices, servers, processors, memory, networks, for example. The embodiments described herein, for example, are directed to computer apparatuses, and methods implemented by computers through the processing and transformation of electronic data signals.
The embodiments described herein may involve computing devices, servers, receivers, transmitters, processors, memory(ies), displays, networks particularly configured to implement various acts. The embodiments described herein are directed to electronic machines adapted for processing and transforming electromagnetic signals which represent various types of information. The embodiments described herein pervasively and integrally relate to machines and their uses; the embodiments described herein have no meaning or practical applicability outside their use with computer hardware, machines, a various hardware components.
Substituting the computing devices, servers, receivers, transmitters, processors, memory, display, networks particularly configured to implement various acts for non-physical hardware, using mental steps for example, may substantially affect the way the embodiments work.
Such hardware limitations are clearly essential elements of the embodiments described herein, and they cannot be omitted or substituted for mental means without having a material effect on the operation and structure of the embodiments described herein. The hardware is essential to the embodiments described herein and is not merely used to perform steps expeditiously and in an efficient manner.
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed, that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
