U.S. patent application number 10/279696 was filed with the patent office on 2003-07-31 for system and method for portal rendering.
Invention is credited to Fletcher, Adrian, Lor, Robert, Qian, Shelly.
Application Number | 20030145275 10/279696 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23525780 |
Filed Date | 2003-07-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030145275 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Qian, Shelly ; et
al. |
July 31, 2003 |
System and method for portal rendering
Abstract
A system and method for rendering a portal, comprising rendering
a portal containing a portal page with a first Java Server Page
(JSP); rendering the portal page containing a portlet with a second
JSP; rendering the portlet containing a portlet element with a
third JSP; and rendering the portlet element with a fourth JSP.
Inventors: |
Qian, Shelly; (Cupertino,
CA) ; Lor, Robert; (San Jose, CA) ; Fletcher,
Adrian; (Wokingham, GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
FLIESLER DUBB MEYER & LOVEJOY, LLP
FOUR EMBARCADERO CENTER
SUITE 400
SAN FRANCISCO
CA
94111
US
|
Family ID: |
23525780 |
Appl. No.: |
10/279696 |
Filed: |
October 24, 2002 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60386487 |
Oct 24, 2001 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/234 ;
707/E17.032; 707/E17.111; 707/E17.116 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 2221/0735 20130101;
H04L 63/102 20130101; G06F 2221/0766 20130101; G06F 2221/2101
20130101; H04L 67/568 20220501; H04L 69/22 20130101; G06F 21/604
20130101; H04L 63/0815 20130101; G06F 16/986 20190101; G06F
2221/0771 20130101; H04L 67/34 20130101; Y10S 707/99953 20130101;
H04L 67/2871 20130101; Y10S 707/99931 20130101; G06F 21/6227
20130101; H04L 63/0884 20130101; G06F 21/6218 20130101; H04L 67/564
20220501; G06Q 10/10 20130101; H04L 41/22 20130101; G06F 2221/2141
20130101; H04L 67/142 20130101; G06F 2221/2149 20130101; H04L 67/75
20220501; G06F 2221/2117 20130101; H04L 67/02 20130101; G06F 16/275
20190101; H04L 67/51 20220501; Y10S 707/99954 20130101; H04L 67/306
20130101; G06F 2221/2145 20130101; H04L 67/06 20130101; G06F 21/629
20130101; H04L 67/14 20130101; H04L 69/329 20130101; G06F 16/954
20190101; H04L 67/025 20130101; H04L 67/567 20220501; H04L 41/18
20130101; Y10S 707/99933 20130101; G06F 2221/0706 20130101; G06F
16/80 20190101; H04L 9/40 20220501; G06F 16/958 20190101; G06F
2221/0717 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/500 |
International
Class: |
G06F 015/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for rendering a portal, comprising: rendering a portal
containing a portal page with a first Java Server Page (JSP);
rendering the portal page containing a portlet with a second JSP;
rendering the portlet containing a portlet element with a third
JSP; and rendering the portlet element with a fourth JSP.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein: wherein rendering utilizes a
skin.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein: the skin can be customized.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein: the portal page is a Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML) table.
5. The method of claim 1 to be used by a portal group which
contains at least one user wherein: the portal page is described by
a template wherein the template can be customized by the group
and/or by the at least one user.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein: a placeholder is associated with
the template.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein: the portlet is dynamically bound
to the placeholder.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein: the portlet has at least one
capability which is determined by evaluation of at least one
entitlement.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein: at least one entitlement acts as
security for the portlet.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein: access to the portlet is guarded
by at least one entitlement.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein: rendering the portal includes
rendering a header and a footer.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein: rendering the portlet element
includes rendering at least one of a title bar, a banner, a header,
a content and a footer.
13. A method for rendering a portal, comprising: rendering a portal
containing a customizable portal page with a first Java Server Page
(JSP); rendering the portal page containing a portlet with a second
JSP; rendering the portlet containing a portlet element with a
third JSP; rendering the portlet element with a fourth JSP; and
wherein the portlet corresponds to a placeholder on the portal
page.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein: wherein rendering utilizes a
skin.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein: the skin can be customized.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein: the portal page is a Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML) table.
17. The method of claim 13 to be used by a portal group which
contains at least one user wherein: the portal page is described by
a template wherein the template can be customized by the group
and/or by the at least one user.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein: the placeholder is associated
with the template.
19. The method of claim 13 wherein: the portlet is dynamically
bound to the placeholder.
20. The method of claim 13 wherein: the portlet has at least one
capability which is determined by evaluation of at least one
entitlement.
21. The method of claim 13 wherein: at least one entitlement acts
as security for the portlet.
22. The method of claim 13 wherein: access to the portlet is
guarded by at least one entitlement.
23. The method of claim 13 wherein: rendering the portal includes
rendering a header and a footer.
24. The method of claim 13 wherein: rendering the portlet element
includes rendering at least one of a title bar, a banner, a header,
a content and a footer.
25. A method for rendering a portal, comprising: spawning a first
process to render a portal containing a portal page; spawning a
second process to render the portal page containing a portlet;
spawning a third process to render the portlet containing a portlet
element; and spawning a fourth process to render the portlet
element.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein: wherein rendering utilizes a
skin.
27. The method of claim 26 wherein: the skin can be customized.
28. The method of claim 25 wherein: the portal page is a Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML) table.
29. The method of claim 25 to be used by a portal group which
contains at least one user wherein: the portal page is described by
a template wherein the template can be customized by the group
and/or by the at least one user.
30. The method of claim 29 wherein: a placeholder is associated
with the template.
31. The method of claim 30 wherein: the portlet is dynamically
bound to the placeholder.
32. The method of claim 25 wherein: the portlet has at least one
capability which is determined by evaluation of at least one
entitlement.
33. The method of claim 25 wherein: at least one entitlement acts
as security for the portlet.
34. The method of claim 25 wherein: access to the portlet is
guarded by at least one entitlement.
35. The method of claim 25 wherein: rendering the portal includes
rendering a header and a footer.
36. The method of claim 25 wherein: rendering the portlet element
includes rendering at least one of a title bar, a banner, a header,
a content, and a footer.
37. The method of claim 25 wherein: a process is a servlet.
38. A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon
that when executed by a processor cause a system to: render a
portal containing a portal page with a first Java Server Page
(JSP); render the portal page containing a portlet with a second
JSP; render the portlet containing a portlet element with a third
JSP; and render the portlet element with a fourth JSP.
39. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein: wherein
rendering utilizes a skin.
40. The machine readable medium of claim 39 wherein: the skin can
be customized.
41. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein: the portal
page is a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) table.
42. The method of claim 38 to be used by a portal group which
contains at least one user wherein: the portal page is described by
a template wherein the template can be customized by the group
and/or by the at least one user.
43. The machine readable medium of claim 42 wherein: a placeholder
is associated with the template.
44. The machine readable medium of claim 43 wherein: the portlet is
dynamically bound to the placeholder.
45. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein: the portlet
has at least one capability which is determined by evaluation of at
least one entitlement.
46. The method of claim 38 wherein: at least one entitlement acts
as security for the portlet.
47. The method of claim 38 wherein: access to the portlet is
guarded by at least one entitlement.
48. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein: rendering the
portal includes rendering a header and a footer.
49. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein: rendering the
portlet element includes rendering at least one of a title bar, a
banner, a header, a content and a footer.
50. A system for rendering a portal and adapted to communicate with
a client, comprising: a server to perform a hierarchy of rendering
processes in response to communication from the client; and wherein
the server can evaluate at least one entitlement to determine a
permission associated with an element to be rendered.
51. The system of claim 50 wherein: the server can evaluate at
least one entitlement which associates a role with a user based on
a role rule.
52. The system of claim 50 wherein: a rendering process can be a
servlet.
53. The system of claim 50 wherein: the server communicates to the
client a portal skin and a portal page template.
54. The system of claim 53 wherein: the portal page template can be
customized for a group and/or by at least one user belonging to the
group.
55. The system of claim 53 wherein: the server selectively binds at
least one portlet to the template.
56. The system of claim 55 wherein: binding is based on the
evaluation of the at least one entitlement.
57. The system of claim 50, further comprising: a portal manager,
adapted to communicate to the client a portal skin and a portal
page template.
58. The system of claim 50, further comprising: an access
controller that can provide access to resources based on evaluation
the at least one entitlement.
59. The system of claim 50 wherein: the hierarchy is determined by
the client.
60. The system of claim 50 wherein: the element includes at least
one of a portlet element and a portlet.
61. The system of claim 50 wherein: the permission is whether a
user is entitled to any one or more of execute, view or edit a
portlet.
62. A method for rendering a portlet, comprising: rendering a
portlet wherein at least one entitlement acts as security for the
portlet.
63. The method of claim 62 wherein: rendering utilizes a skin.
64. The method of claim 63 wherein: the skin can be customized.
65. The method of claim 62 wherein: the portlet is dynamically
bound to a placeholder for a portal page based on evaluation of the
at least one entitlement.
66. The method of claim 62 wherein: the portlet has at least one
capability which is determined by evaluation of at least one
entitlement.
67. The method of claim 66 wherein: the capability is at least one
of execute, view and edit.
68. The method of claim 62 wherein: rendering includes invoking at
least one Java Server Page.
69. The method of claim 62 wherein: rendering includes rendering at
least one of a title bar, a banner, a header, a content and a
footer.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] This application claims priority from ENHANCED PORTALS
[FLAGSTAFF RELEASE], U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/386,487,
Inventors: Phil Griffin, et al., filed on Oct. 24, 2001, and which
is incorporated herein by reference.
CROSS REFERENCES
[0002] This application is related to the following co-pending
applications which are each hereby incorporated by reference in
their entirety: SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PORTAL PAGE LAYOUT,
Inventors: Phil Griffin, et al., filed on ______; SYSTEM AND METHOD
FOR DELEGATED SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION, U.S. application Ser.
No.______, Inventors: Phil Griffin, et al., filed on______; SYSTEM
AND METHOD FOR RULE-BASED ENTITLEMENTS, U.S. application Ser.
No.______, Inventors: Phil Griffin, et al., filed on______.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
[0003] The present invention disclosure relates to portal
rendering.
BACKGROUND
[0004] A portal is a point of access to data and applications that
provides a unified and personalized view of information and
resources. Typically, a portal is implemented as one or more pages
on a website. Portal pages can integrate many elements, such as
live data feeds, static information and multimedia presentations.
However, if the software required for rendering each element on a
portal page is complex, maintenance problems can arise. For
example, a web page that contains text and graphics is coded in at
least two programming languages, often intermingled within the same
file used to describe the web page. Implementing even minor changes
requires a great deal of skill and knowledge. What is needed is a
more modular approach to portal rendering that permits users of
average skill to create and modify portal pages with minimal
effort.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary portal in
accordance to one embodiment of the invention.
[0006] FIG. 2 is diagram of a system in accordance to one
embodiment of the invention.
[0007] FIG. 3 is diagram of portal rendering in accordance to one
embodiment of the invention.
[0008] FIG. 4 is diagram of portlet rendering in accordance to one
embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0009] The invention is illustrated by way of example and not by
way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in
which like references indicate similar elements. It should be noted
that references to "an" or "one" embodiment in this disclosure are
not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at
least one.
[0010] FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary portal in
accordance to one embodiment of the invention. In one embodiment,
by way of example, portal 16 is rendered upon display area 12,
which can be a region in the display area of a device (e.g., a
computer monitor). In a further embodiment, a portal can be
rendered as one or more pages available on the World Wide Web. Such
pages can be implemented using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), or
other programming language, so as to be render-able by a commercial
web browser. One such browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer,
available from Microsoft, Corp. of Redmond, Wash.
[0011] Portal 16 contains several elements. Portal page selection
tabs 20-28 can each be selected by a user to render a different
page within the portal. Portal pages can be thought of as panels or
panes that are swapped into and out of a display region of the
available portal real estate. If tab 20 were selected, for example,
the portal page corresponding to that tab would be rendered. By way
of a non limiting example, selection of a portal element can be
accomplished with an input device such as a mouse, a motion
detector, a voice command, a hand or eye gesture, etc. Although
tabs 20-28 in FIG. 1 are displayed horizontally, in another
embodiment the tabs could be displayed vertically or using some
other scheme. In yet another embodiment, tabs 20-28 could be
rendered as buttons or as other kinds of interactive controls.
[0012] Portal 16 is also contains portal page 10, which includes
portlets and other elements. A portlet is an application that can
manage its own graphical user interface (GUI). Portlets can
communicate with each other and with other software and hardware
components (e.g., Enterprise Java Beans.TM., Java.TM. Beans,
servlets, applets, etc.). The Java.TM. programming language, its
libraries, environment and toolkits are available from Sun
Microsystems, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. The other software and
hardware components may be part of the same execution environment
as the portlet or may be in a different execution environment. In
one embodiment, a portlet is implemented as a JavaServer Page.TM.
(JSP). JSP's are part of the Java.TM. standard available from Sun
Microsystems, Inc. For example, portlet 30 displays real-time stock
ticker information. A user might be able to configure such a
portlet to display certain stocks of interest. In another
embodiment, the user can select a given stock displayed in portlet
30 and receive more detailed information, such as the price
history, price to earnings ratio, etc. The portlet would be
responsible for handling user input and responding accordingly.
Portlet GUI 32, for example, displays up-to-date information
pertaining to a user's checking accounts. Likewise, portlet 32
could provide detailed information on transactions if the user were
to select an account. Advertisement portlet 18 displays an
advertisement that could be directed specifically to the current
user based on demographics or other information. For instance, if a
user had an outstanding home loan in good standing, the
advertisement could be for a home equity loan. Likewise, if the
user had an appropriate amount in a savings account, the
advertisement could be for a new car loan. Static area 14 contains
non-interactive content, such as text, an image or any combination
thereof.
[0013] In one embodiment, a portal page such as 10 can be described
with a layout (hereinafter referred to as a "template"). A template
can specify the location of elements on a portal page. A template
can include one or more placeholders which define regions of the
template wherein a portlet can render itself, or wherein other
static or dynamic content can be rendered. A given placeholder can
host more than one portlet. In such a case, the template area
occupied by the placeholder could be shared amongst the portlets in
a number of ways, including but not limited to stacking portlets on
top of one another (not shown). In another embodiment, a template
can be implemented as a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) table and
created with conventional HTML editors. Each cell in a such a table
can represent a placeholder. Placeholders can be dynamically bound
to portlet GUI's during portal page rendering. In one embodiment,
this can be accomplished by inserting directives to initiate
portlet execution, such as JSP tag library calls, in the HTML table
cells representing placeholders.
[0014] FIG. 2 is diagram of a system in accordance to one
embodiment of the invention. Although this diagram depicts objects
as functionally separate, such depiction is merely for illustrative
purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the
objects portrayed in FIG. 2 can be arbitrarily combined or divided
into separate software, firmware or hardware components.
Furthermore, it will also be apparent to those skilled in the art
that such objects, irregardless of how they are combined or
divided, can execute on the same computer or can be arbitrarily
distributed among different computers connected by a network.
[0015] In one embodiment, by way of illustration, client 200 can
render a portal by delegating the work to a hierarchy of JSP's
wherein one JSP renders parts of its GUI by invoking other JSP's.
Client 200 can be a web browser, for example. However, client 200
may be any software, firmware or hardware capable of communicating
with server 202. Server 202 can be any web server having a Java.TM.
run-time environment and support for JSP, such as the BEA WebLogic
Server.TM., available from BEA Systems, Inc. of San Jose,
Calif.
[0016] JSP's separate GUI functionality executing on a client from
application logic executing on a server, thereby enabling users to
easily change a GUI without having to alter underlying application
logic. Generally speaking, a JSP includes a page file that contains
traditional HTML and Java.TM., but has a "jsp" file name extension
rather than ".hml". The "jsp" extension indicates to server 202
that the file contains embedded directives to invoke special JSP
processing within server 202. For example, consider the following
JSP page:
[0017] <%@page import="java.util.*" %>
[0018] <HTML>
[0019] <HEAD>
[0020] <TITLE>JSP Date Example</TITLE>
[0021] </HEAD>
[0022] <CENTER>
[0023] <H2>Today's Date is:</H2>
[0024] <%=new Date( ) %>
[0025] </CENTER>
[0026] </BODY>
[0027] </HTML>
[0028] Embedded in the HTML code above are statements expressly for
processing by a JSP engine (not shown) in server 202. For example,
the scriplet code fragment "new Date ( )" is delimited by the
special symbols <%= and %>. When the JSP page is invoked by
client 200, it will be processed and executed on server 202 by the
JSP engine, whereas the HTML code will be processed and executed on
client 200. The above scriplet creates a new instance of the Date
class on server 202 and returns the current date as a string to
client 200, which is then displayed by client 200:
[0029] Today's Date is:
[0030] Tues Jul. 05 13:34:33 PDT 2002
[0031] In one embodiment, when client 200 invokes a JSP page, web
server 202 compiles the page into a servlet and spawns it as a
running process. A servlet is a process deployed in a web server.
Any dynamic output of the servlet is sent back to client 200 as a
response. Processing of JSP code within the web server may also
result in the inclusion (and invocation) of other JSP files via the
<jsp:include> or similar directive.
[0032] FIG. 3 is diagram of portal rendering in accordance to one
embodiment of the invention. Each box in the diagram having a file
name therein represents a JSP page. The arrows beneath the boxes
represent execution flow from one JSP page to another via JSP
include directives. index.jsp 300 is the entry point for the portal
web page. It forwards the web page request to the main portal JSP
page, Portal.jsp 302. Portal.jsp 302 is responsible for rendering
the portal and its contents. As such it must acquire various
information needed for this endeavor. In one embodiment, Portal.jsp
302 retrieves such information via calls to a JSP tag library,
esp.tld 204. esp.tld 204 includes JSP tags for communicating with
portal manager 206. Portal manager 206 is responsible for
retrieving and persisting information pertaining to portal "skins",
portal templates and portlets. In one embodiment, the portal
manager can be implemented as a stateless session Enterprise Java
Bean.TM. (EJB). Persistence manager 208 is responsible for
persisting this information and providing it to portal manager 206.
Persistence manager 208 may utilize a relational database
management system (RDMBS) 210.
[0033] In one embodiment, a skin can be a collection of files that
includes a cascading style sheet and a directory of images that
define the look and feel of a portal. Every button, banner, portlet
header, background color, and font characteristic can be determined
by the skin. In one embodiment, a portal can be associated with
more than one user or portal group. A user group can be any
arbitrary collection of users that is determined statically, or
dynamically by evaluating rules that take into account information
about a user and other information. A portal has a default skin
that can be customized for a group. In this way, a group can define
its own look and feel for a particular portal page. The group skin
can be further customized to suit the needs of individual users.
Skin information can be cached in server 202 so that it may be used
by other JSP's invoked by Portal.jsp during rendering of the portal
page.
[0034] Another piece of information retrieved by Portaljsp 302 via
esp.tld 204 is a template corresponding to each portal page. As
with skins, a template can be customized. In one embodiment,
customization of a template involves the layout or placement of
portal elements (e.g., portlets, static data, dynamic data, header,
footer, content, etc.) on the template. A template can be afforded
an arbitrary number of levels of customization. In another
embodiment, a template can have three levels of customization:
global, group and user. An initial template is created for a portal
page at the global level. This is the default template used for
describing the portal page if there are no further customizations.
Customizations at the group level supersede the global level
template. Likewise, customizations at the user level take
precedence over the group and global levels.
[0035] As part of retrieving the template, portal manager 206 binds
portlets to template placeholders. In doing so, portal manager 206
utilizes access controller 212 to determine capabilities or
permissions (e.g., whether the given portal user is entitled to
execute, view or edit the portlet in question) based on one or more
entitlements. An entitlement is a rule that grants or denies access
to a resource capability. In one embodiment, a resource can be any
resource available on a computer network, including but not limited
to a portlet, a portlet GUI component, a portal page, portlet
content, etc. In one embodiment, evaluation of an entitlement
consists of dynamically associating roles with a user based on role
rules that take into account information about the user,
information about the user's communication session, or the current
state of the system. For example:
[0036] (1) When all of these conditions apply, the user is a
GoldMember:
[0037] Checking account balance>$5,000
[0038] Combined account balance >$50,000
[0039] In rule (1) above, a user is deemed a GoldMember if there is
more than $5,000 in their checking account and they have more than
$50,000 in their combined accounts. Certain portlets, for example,
may only be for GoldMember users. Thus, if only GoldMember users
were entitled to execute the portlet in question, it would not be
bound to a template for non-GoldMember users. Similarly, if the
entitlement was for viewing, rather than execution, the portlet
would be bound to the template but only GoldMember users could view
it. If the entitlement was for editing, then the portlet would be
bound to the template and would be visible to a user, however only
GoldMember users would be allowed to edit the portlet's contents.
Access controller 212 directs role mapper 214 to determine which
roles correspond to client 200. Access controller 212 then directs
decision module 216 to determine whether or not access to a
resource should be allowed based on entitlements corresponding to
the roles.
[0040] The final piece of information Portal.jsp 302 needs in order
to render the portal is the currently selected portal page tab
20-28. This determines which portal page template to use initially,
since each portal page is described by a template and each tab
corresponds to a unique portal page. After obtaining this
preliminary information, as shown in FIG. 3, Portal.jsp 302 uses a
JSP include directive to invoke header.jsp 304. header.jsp 304
renders a standard header which is the same for each page in the
portal. The header could be a navigation pane, for example,
allowing a user to jump to different areas of the portal. It could
also provide a standard graphic design element to unify pages
within the portal. Next, Portal.jsp 302 invokes
PortalPageHeader.jsp 306. PortalPageHeader.jsp 306 renders tabs
20-28 based on the number of portal page templates retrieved. Next,
Portal.jsp 302 invokes PortalPageContent.jsp 308 to render the
selected portal page. A placeholder defines regions of the template
wherein a portlet can display itself, or wherein other static or
dynamic content can be rendered. In one embodiment,
PortalPageContent.jsp 308 is responsible for rendering the page
elements corresponding to each placeholder. If the placeholder
hosts a portlet, PortalPageContent.jsp 308 invokes Portlet.jsp
310.
[0041] FIG. 4 is diagram of portlet rendering in accordance to one
embodiment of the invention. Portlet.jsp 310 invokes Titlebar.jsp
402 which, in turn, renders the portlet's window title bar. The
title bar might display icons that, when selected, allow a user to
edit the portlet's contents 36, detach the portlet such that it
occupies a window independent from the web browser's main window
34, or remove the portlet 38 (i.e., close its window). Titlebar.jsp
402 can access entitlement information via esp.tld 204 in deciding
whether or not these icons are present or active. Portlet.jsp 310
invokes Banner.jsp 404 to render a banner in a like manner to that
of the portal page. Portlet.jsp 310 invokes aheader.jsp 406 and
afooter.jsp 410 render the header and footer portions of the
portlet window. Portlet content generation (e.g., stock quotes,
account balances) begins when Portlet.jsp 310 invokes acontent.jsp
408 to initiate portlet execution (e.g., by making a JSP tag
library call).
[0042] One embodiment may be implemented using a conventional
general purpose or a specialized digital computer or
microprocessor(s) programmed according to the teachings of the
present disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the
computer art. Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared
by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present
disclosure, as will be apparent to those skilled in the software
art. The invention may also be implemented by the preparation of
integrated circuits or by interconnecting an appropriate network of
conventional component circuits, as will be readily apparent to
those skilled in the art.
[0043] One embodiment includes a computer program product which is
a storage medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in
which can be used to program a computer to perform any of the
features presented herein. The storage medium can include, but is
not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical
discs, DVD, CD-ROMs, microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs,
RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs, flash memory devices, magnetic
or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or
any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions
and/or data.
[0044] Stored on any one of the computer readable medium (media),
the present invention includes software for controlling both the
hardware of the general purpose/specialized computer or
microprocessor, and for enabling the computer or microprocessor to
interact with a human user or other mechanism utilizing the results
of the present invention. Such software may include, but is not
limited to, device drivers, operating systems, execution
environments/containers, and user applications.
[0045] The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of
the present invention has been provided for the purposes of
illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive
or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many
modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitioner
skilled in the art. Embodiments were chosen and described in order
to best describe the principles of the invention and its practical
application, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to
understand the invention, the various embodiments and with various
modifications that are suited to the particular use contemplated.
It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the
following claims and their equivalents.
* * * * *