U.S. patent application number 13/951337 was filed with the patent office on 2013-11-21 for system, method and computer program product for managing business hours in an on-demand service.
This patent application is currently assigned to salesforce.com, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Salesforce.com, Inc.. Invention is credited to Marco S. Casalaina, Mark A. Fischer, Benjamin Tsai.
Application Number | 20130311225 13/951337 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48999842 |
Filed Date | 2013-11-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130311225 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Fischer; Mark A. ; et
al. |
November 21, 2013 |
SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR MANAGING BUSINESS
HOURS IN AN ON-DEMAND SERVICE
Abstract
In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms
and methods for managing multiple business hours in anon-demand
service. These mechanisms and methods for managing multiple
business hours in an on-demand service can enable embodiments to
provide access to a stored set of business hours for a user to
track, at a user level. The ability of embodiments to provide this
access may allow users of such on-demand services better insight as
to how much time their agents are spending on cases.
Inventors: |
Fischer; Mark A.; (Ashland,
OR) ; Casalaina; Marco S.; (San Francisco, CA)
; Tsai; Benjamin; (San Francisco, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Salesforce.com, Inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
salesforce.com, Inc.
San Francisco
CA
|
Family ID: |
48999842 |
Appl. No.: |
13/951337 |
Filed: |
July 25, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
12437461 |
May 7, 2009 |
8521571 |
|
|
13951337 |
|
|
|
|
61051166 |
May 7, 2008 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.18 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/06 20130101;
G06Q 10/1093 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/7.18 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20060101
G06Q010/10 |
Claims
1. A method, comprising: receiving a set of business hours
corresponding to a plurality of offices in different locations from
a user of an on-demand service, wherein the set of business hours
include one or more exceptions to standard business hours
associated with the plurality of offices; receiving a set of
holiday hours corresponding to each of the offices in the different
locations from the user of the on-demand service; automatically
integrating the set of holiday hours into the set of business hours
based on a geographical location of the plurality of offices;
storing the set of business hours and the set of holiday hours in a
shared database associated with the user, utilizing a processing
machine; providing access to the stored set of business hours and
the set of holiday hours for the user to track, at a user level;
and wherein the set of business hours are stored in a business
hours object and the set of holiday hours are stored in a holiday
hours object, and further the set of holiday hours correspond to
the set of business hours by linking the holiday hours object with
the business hours object; wherein the set of holiday hours are
utilized to suspend the set of business hours and rules associated
with the set of business hours; wherein the business hours object
is included in a formula that calculates times using the set of
business hours that are stored in a business hours object.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of business hours are in
terms of business hours of tenant offices specified in a business
hours object.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of business hours in
terms of the business hours of the tenant offices are different
than a calendar time associated with the on-demand service.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing
mathematical calculations, based on the stored set of business
hours.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the mathematical calculations are
capable of being performed at the user level.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more exceptions
include user defined exceptions.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more exceptions
include the set of holiday hours.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of holiday hours are
configured to reoccur automatically.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more exceptions are
transparently integrated into the set of business hours.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the integration of the one or
more exceptions into the set of business hours is automatic.
11. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating alerts
utilizing a workflow and the set of business hours.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the on-demand service includes a
multi-tenant on-demand database service.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of business
hours objects corresponding to a different one of the offices is
linked to a same holiday hours object, such that that each of the
business hours objects shares a same set of holiday hours stored in
the holiday hours object.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein an association table links the
holiday hours object to the business hours object.
15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium carrying one or more
sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more
processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps
of: receiving a set of business hours corresponding to a plurality
of offices in different locations from a user of an on-demand
service, wherein the set of business hours include one or more
exceptions to standard business hours associated with the plurality
of offices; receiving a set of holiday hours corresponding to each
of the offices in the different locations from the user of the
on-demand service; automatically integrating the set of holiday
hours into the set of business hours based on a geographical
location of the plurality of offices; storing the set of business
hours and the set of holiday hours in a shared database associated
with the user; providing access to the stored set of business hours
and the set of holiday hours for the user to track, at a user
level; and wherein the set of business hours are stored in a
business hours object and the set of holiday hours are stored in a
holiday hours object, and further the set of holiday hours
correspond to the set of business hours by linking the holiday
hours object with the business hours object; wherein the set of
holiday hours are utilized to suspend the set of business hours and
rules associated with the set of business hours; wherein the
business hours object is included in a formula that calculates
times using the set of business hours that are stored in a business
hours object.
16. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and one or more
sequences of instructions stored on a non-transitory medium which,
when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out
the steps of: receiving a set of business hours corresponding to a
plurality of offices in different locations from a user of an
on-demand service, wherein the set of business hours include one or
more exceptions to standard business hours associated with the
plurality of offices; receiving a set of holiday hours
corresponding to each of the offices in the different locations
from the user of the on-demand service; automatically integrating
the set of holiday hours into the set of business hours based on a
geographical location of the plurality of offices; storing the set
of business hours and the set of holiday hours in a shared database
associated with the user; providing access to the stored set of
business hours and the set of holiday hours for the user to track,
at a user level; and wherein the set of business hours are stored
in a business hours object and the set of holiday hours are stored
in a holiday hours object, and further the set of holiday hours
correspond to the set of business hours by linking the holiday
hours object with the business hours object; wherein the set of
holiday hours are utilized to suspend the set of business hours and
rules associated with the set of business hours; wherein the
business hours object is included in a formula that calculates
times using the set of business hours that are stored in a business
hours object.
17. A method for transmitting code for use in a multi-tenant
database system on a transmission medium, the method comprising:
transmitting code for receiving a set of business hours
corresponding to a plurality of offices in different locations from
a user of an on-demand service, wherein the set of business hours
include one or more exceptions to standard business hours
associated with the plurality of offices, utilizing a processor;
transmitting code for receiving a set of holiday hours
corresponding to each of the offices in the different locations
from the user of the on-demand service; transmitting code for
automatically integrating the set of holiday hours into the set of
business hours based on a geographical location of the plurality of
offices; transmitting code for storing the set of business hours
and the set of holiday hours in a shared database associated with
the user, utilizing a processing machine; transmitting code for
providing access to the stored set of business hours and the set of
holiday hours for the user to track, at a user level; and wherein
the set of business hours are stored in a business hours object and
the set of holiday hours are stored in a holiday hours object, and
further the set of holiday hours correspond to the set of business
hours by linking the holiday hours object with the business hours
object; wherein the set of holiday hours are utilized to suspend
the set of business hours and rules associated with the set of
business hours; wherein the business hours object is included in a
formula that calculates times using the set of business hours that
are stored in a business hours object.
Description
CLAIM OF PRIORITY
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 12/437,461, filed May 7, 2009, which claims priority to U.S.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/051,166, filed May 7, 2008,
the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by
reference.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains
material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright
owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of
the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the
Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise
reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The current invention relates generally to database systems,
and more particularly to managing business hours for users of such
database systems.
BACKGROUND
[0004] The subject matter discussed in the background section
should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its
mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned
in the background section or associated with the subject matter of
the background section should not be assumed to have been
previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the
background section merely represents different approaches, which in
and of themselves may also be inventions.
[0005] In conventional database systems, users access their data
resources in one logical database. A user of such a conventional
system typically retrieves data from and stores data on the system
using the user's own systems. A user system might remotely access
one of a plurality of server systems that might in turn access the
database system. Data retrieval from the system might include the
issuance of a query from the user system to the database system.
The database system might process the request for information
received in the query and send to the user system information
relevant to the request.
[0006] Often, users of such database systems are large enterprises
with sizeable agent pools and offices in many different locations.
There is often a desire to be able to report on and track cases
associated with the users in terms of the business hours of those
specific offices, rather than in calendar time. To date, however,
the users have been unable to report on and track the cases in
terms of the business hours for the specific offices.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0007] in accordance with embodiments, there are provided
mechanisms and methods for managing multiple business hours in an
on-demand service. These mechanisms and methods for managing
multiple business hours in an on-demand service can enable
embodiments to provide access to a stored set of business hours for
a user to track, at a user level. The ability of embodiments to
provide this access may allow users of such on-demand services
better insight as to how much time their agents are spending on
cases.
[0008] In an embodiment and by way of example, a method is provided
for managing multiple business hours in an on-demand service. In
use, a set of business hours corresponding to a plurality of
offices in different locations is received from a user of an
on-demand service. Furthermore, the set of business hours is stored
in a shared database associated with the user. Additionally, access
is provided to the stored set of business hours for the user to
track, at a user level.
[0009] While the present invention is described with reference to
an embodiment in which techniques for managing multiple business
hours in an on-demand service are implemented in an application
server providing a front end for a multi-tenant database on-demand
service, the present invention is not limited to multi-tenant
databases or deployment on application servers. Embodiments may be
practiced using other database architectures, i.e., ORACLE.RTM.,
DB2.RTM. and the like without departing from the scope of the
embodiments claimed.
[0010] Any of the above embodiments may be used alone or together
with one another in any combination. Inventions encompassed within
this specification may also include embodiments that are only
partially mentioned or alluded to or are not mentioned or alluded
to at all in this brief summary or in the abstract. Although
various embodiments of the invention may have been motivated by
various deficiencies with the prior art, which may be discussed or
alluded to in one or more places in the specification, the
embodiments of the invention do not necessarily address any of
these deficiencies. In other words, different embodiments of the
invention may address different deficiencies that may be discussed
in the specification. Some embodiments may only partially address
some deficiencies or just one deficiency that may be discussed in
the specification, and some embodiments may not address any of
these deficiencies.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 shows a method for managing multiple business hours
in an on-demand service, in accordance with one embodiment.
[0012] FIG. 2A shows an interface for managing multiple business
hours in an on-demand service, in accordance with one
embodiment.
[0013] FIG. 2B shows an interface for managing multiple business
hours, including holiday exceptions, in an on-demand service, in
accordance with one embodiment.
[0014] FIG. 2C shows an interface for generating holiday hours to
be integrated into the set of business hours, in accordance with
one embodiment.
[0015] FIG. 2D shows an interface for managing multiple business
hours in an on-demand service, in accordance with another
embodiment.
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example of an
environment wherein an on-demand database service might be
used.
[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of
elements of FIG. 3 and various possible interconnections between
these elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
General Overview
[0018] Systems and methods are provided for managing multiple
business hours in an on-demand service.
[0019] Often, users of database systems are large enterprises with
sizeable agent pools and offices in many different locations. There
is often a desire to be able to report on and track cases
associated with the users in terms of the business hours of those
specific offices, rather than in calendar time. Currently, however,
the users are unable to report on and track the cases in terms of
the business hours of the specific offices.
[0020] Thus, mechanisms and methods are provided herein for
managing multiple business hours in an on-demand service. These
mechanisms and methods for managing multiple business hours in an
on-demand service can enable embodiments to provide access to a
stored set of business hours for a user to track, at a user level.
The ability of embodiments to provide this access may allow users
of such on-demand services better insight as to how much time their
agents are actually spending on cases.
[0021] Next, mechanisms and methods for managing multiple business
hours in an on-demand service will be described with reference to
exemplary embodiments.
[0022] FIG. 1 shows a method 100 for managing multiple business
hours in an on-demand service, in accordance with one embodiment.
As shown, a set of business hours corresponding to a plurality of
offices in different locations is received from a user of an
on-demand service. See operation 102.
[0023] In the context of the present description, an on-demand
service refers to any service that relies on a system that is
accessible over a network. For example, in one embodiment, the
on-demand service may include an on-demand database service. An
on-demand database service may include any service that relies on a
database system that is accessible over a network.
[0024] In one embodiment, the on-demand database service may
include a multi-tenant on-demand database service. In the present
description, such multi-tenant on-demand database service may
include any service that relies on a database system that is
accessible over a network, in which various elements of hardware
and software of the database system may be shared by one or more
customers. For instance, a given application server may
simultaneously process requests for a great number of customers,
and a given database table may store rows for a potentially much
greater number of customers.
[0025] Furthermore, in the context of the present description, a
set of business hours refers to one or more hours in a time zone
that may define the hours during which a particular office is
active, or that may define the hours during which certain customers
are entitled to support. In various embodiments, the business hours
may include working hours, holiday hours, vacation hours, paid time
off (PTO) hours, and/or various other hours.
[0026] Additionally, in the context of the present description, the
offices may include any entity with business hours capable of being
tracked. For example, in various embodiments, the offices may
include a building, a company, an employer, and/or various other
entities.
[0027] Once the set of business hours are received, the set of
business hours are stored in a shared database associated with the
user. See operation 104. As an option, the shared database may
include one or more databases associated with the on-demand
service.
[0028] Furthermore, access is provided to the stored set of
business hours for the user to track, at a user level. See
operation 106. In one embodiment, the set of business hours may be
in terms of business hours of tenant offices specified in a
business hours object. In this case, the set of business hours in
terms of the business hours of the tenant offices may be different
than a calendar time associated with the on-demand service, ft
should be noted that the object may include any table, portion of a
table, or other data structure.
[0029] In addition to allowing access to the stored set of business
hours, as an option, mathematical calculations may be performed,
based on the stored set of business hours. In this case, the
mathematical calculations may be capable of being performed at the
user level. The user level may refer to any level to which the user
has the ability to access. For example, the user level may include
a level of a tenant of the on-demand service.
[0030] It should be noted that, in one embodiment, the set of
business hours may include one or more exceptions. The exceptions
may include any exception or deviation from a standard set of
business hours associated with an office. Additionally, the
exceptions may include user defined exceptions and/or automatically
defined exceptions.
[0031] In one embodiment, the exceptions may include one or more
holiday exceptions. In this case, the holiday exceptions may be
automatically and transparently integrated into the set of business
hours. Additionally, the integration may be transparent to a user
of the on-demand service (e.g. a user tenant, a user organization,
etc.). As an option, the one or more holiday exceptions may be
automatically integrated into the set of business hours based on a
geographical location of the plurality of offices. Additionally,
the one or more holiday exceptions may be configured to reoccur
automatically.
[0032] Still yet, in one embodiment, a workflow may be generated
based, at least in part, on the set of business hours. Further,
alerts may be generated utilizing the workflow and the set of
business hours. As an option, the workflow may further be generated
based on holiday hours included in the set of business hours.
[0033] FIG. 2A shows an interface 200 for managing multiple
business hours in an on-demand service, in accordance with one
embodiment. As an option, the present interface 200 may be utilized
in the context of the functionality of FIG. 1. Of course, however,
the interface 200 may be implemented in any desired environment.
The aforementioned definitions may apply during the present
description.
[0034] In operation, the interface 200 may be utilized to set
and/or edit business hours for an office (e.g. an organization,
etc.). The interface 200 may be accessible by a user (e.g. a
tenant, an organization, etc.) of on on-demand service. Using the
interface 200, a user of the on-demand database service may
configure or generate a set of business hours corresponding to a
plurality of offices in different locations from a user of an
on-demand service. Furthermore, the business hours may be stored in
a shared database such that the user may access to the stored
business hours for the user to track.
[0035] In this way, for large enterprises with offices in many
different geographical locations, users may be able to report on
and track their cases in terms of the business hours of those
specific offices, rather than in calendar time. This may give them
a better idea of how much time their agents (e.g. employees, etc.)
are actually spending on cases.
[0036] Furthermore, multiple sets of business hours may be
specified and assigned to different pieces of data, holidays may be
specified, and business hours handling techniques may be
implemented (e.g. using the Apex computer programming language, or
any other computer programming language, etc.).
[0037] In one embodiment, business hours and their attendant time
zones may be specified utilizing the interface 200, or a separate
interface. The granularity of the start and end times of the
business hours may be different in various embodiments. For
example, in one embodiment, the granularity of the start and end
times may be at least 15 minutes, and may optionally be set to the
individual minute level.
[0038] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the business hours may be
defined by a business hours object that is a top-level object in an
application programming interface (API). In this case, any object
may be capable of having a custom lookup field. Additionally,
standard lookups to the business hours object may be implemented
from a case associated with a tenant of the on-demand service
and/or from a service level agreement (SLA) process. In this case,
an SLA may define the specific durations in which companies are
contractually obligated to respond and resolve support cases that
are logged with them. An SLA process refers to any process
associated defining an SLA.
[0039] In one embodiment, the business hours object may have a
Boolean flag called "Active." In this case, inactive business hours
may not show up in the list of available business hours in lookups
from cases or SLA processes. As an option, if a user attempts to
inactivate a business hours object that is being utilized in the
context of one or more business hours, the action may be prevented
and a list of the SLA processes that are blocking the action may be
presented to the user. Further, cases that are using inactive
business hours may continue to calculate using those business hours
until their business hours are explicitly reset.
[0040] In one embodiment, business hours may be configured such
that only a default system administrator profile has full create,
read, update, and delete (CRUD) access for business hours. In
another embodiment, other profiles (e.g. including custom profiles,
etc.) may have only read access by default. Furthermore, as an
option, portal profiles may not have CRUD access for business hours
by default.
[0041] In some cases, deletion may not be permitted for business
hours. In these cases, no profiles may be able to turn on the
delete permission.
[0042] It should be noted that various permissions may be set as a
default, in various embodiments. Additionally, a particular set of
business hours may optionally be set as a default. As an option, a
Boolean field may be defined for a set of business hours that
determines whether a given set of business hours is the
default.
[0043] Using the interface 200, a user may update a set of business
hours. In one embodiment, if a set of business hours that is used
in cases or SLA processes is updated, no recalculation may occur.
In this case, all time-based triggers and case history rows may
remain intact. Furthermore, only future calculations may take into
account the updated business hours.
[0044] Various calculations may be performed in the context of
business hours. In one embodiment, specific functions may be
utilized for performing such calculations. These functions may be
implemented utilizing any suitable computer programming language
(e. Apex, etc.).
[0045] In one embodiment, a function may be implemented that
returns a datetime that represents a specified datetime plus the
specified number of hours in the given set of business hours.
Additionally, a function may be implemented that returns a datetime
that represents the specified datetime minus the specified number
of hours in the given set of business hours.
[0046] Further, a function may be implemented that returns a
floating point number that represents the number of business hours
between the second and first datetimes. This number may be negative
if the first datetime is later than the second. As another option,
a function may be implemented that returns the number of working
days between a first time and a second time in terms of the given
business hours. A working day is defined as a calendar day during
which there are any business hours.
[0047] In one embodiment, business hours objects may be available
in pointwise formulas that calculate times using the business
hours. In this case, pointwise formulas may be the type of formulas
that are used in workflow rules and summary fields. In one
embodiment, the pointwise formulas may be configured to be
different than bulk formulas, which may be used in formula fields.
For example, the pointwise formulas may be configured to be
calculated in Java, where bulk formulas may be calculated in
SQL.
[0048] In another embodiment, functions that allow arbitrary
calculations using business hours may be added to the formula
language. For example, a function may be implemented that returns a
datetime that represents the specified datetime plus the specified
number of hours in the given set of business hours. Additionally, a
function may be implemented that returns a datetime that represents
the specified datetime minus the specified number of hours in the
given set of business hours.
[0049] Furthermore, a function may be implemented that returns a
floating point number that represents the number of business hours
between the second and first datetimes. This number may be negative
if the first datetime is later than the second. Still yet, a
function may be implemented that returns the number of working days
between a first time and a second time in terms of the given set of
business hours. As an option, a working day may be defined as a
calendar day during which there are any business hours.
[0050] As an option, the business hours object may be implemented
as a deletable singleton or an undeletable, multi-row entity.
Furthermore, in one embodiment, a "time only" column type may be
implemented in the business hours object, such that the start/end
time fields may be changed from static enumerators to more granular
time values with millisecond-level precision in the persistence
layer and minute-level precision at a user interface level.
Additionally, API access may be able to access millisecond-level
precision.
[0051] In addition to a business hours object, in one embodiment,
an object associated with holidays may be utilized. As an option,
holidays may be shared across sets of business hours. In this case,
the holidays object may be linked to a set of business hours (or an
associated object) via a transparent many-to-many related list. In
this way, there may be a pool of holidays from which users (e.g.
administrator tenants, etc.) may choose holidays when setting up a
new set of business hours.
[0052] In one embodiment, the holidays object may be configured
such that holidays may be set up generically. As an option, a
button may exist on the interface for editing business hours to add
a new holiday on the fly.
[0053] FIG. 2B shows an interface 220 for managing multiple
business hours, including holiday exceptions, in an on-demand
service, in accordance with one embodiment. As an option, the
present interface 220 may be utilized in the context of the
functionality of FIGS. 1-2A. Of course, however, the interface 220
may be implemented in any desired environment. Again, the
aforementioned definitions may apply during the present
description.
[0054] Using the interface 220, holiday hours may be added to a set
of business hours. In one embodiment, the holiday hours may be
pre-configured or pre-existing holiday hours. In this case, a user
may add holiday hours by selecting the holiday hours to add and
clicking an "Add" button. Similarly, holiday hours may be removed
from a set of business hours by clicking a "Remove" button.
[0055] In one embodiment, a user may configure and/or generate
holiday hours that may be integrated into the set of business
hours. FIG. 2C shows an interface 230 for generating holiday hours
to be integrated into the set of business hours, in accordance with
one embodiment. As an option, the present interface 230 may be
utilized in the context of the functionality of FIGS. 1-2B. Of
course, however, the interface 230 may be implemented in any
desired environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions may
apply during the present description.
[0056] Utilizing the interface 230, a user may generate and/or
configure holiday hours. Holidays may be definable on an individual
day or repeatable basis. For example, an administrator may create a
holiday that is Dec. 25, 2020, or he could create a holiday that is
every December 25. Any level of granularity for this repeatability
may be allowed. Furthermore, holidays may be definable using a
"from" datetime and a "to" datetime, thereby giving user the
capability to define partial-day holidays. In one embodiment,
holidays may reuse the recurrence metaphor from a calendar, giving
administrators maximum flexibility to create and maintain recurring
holidays.
[0057] In use, business hours objects may be associated with 0:N
holidays, where N is and integer, during which the elapsed time
clock in terms of business hours may be suspended. In various
embodiments, holidays may be recurring, all day, or partial-day
holidays. The holiday may also have a many-to-many relationship to
business hours. For example, a single instance of the Christmas
holiday may be shared across many different business hours
objects.
[0058] In one embodiment, holidays (e.g. one-time holidays,
recurring holidays, all day holidays, or partial day holidays,
etc.) may be stored as a new type of activity to such that a
recurrence feature may be utilized. Further, in one embodiment, the
holiday object may have its own object entity/key prefix, different
from an event, to minimize mutual dependencies.
[0059] As noted above, holidays may be infinitely reoccurring or
seemingly infinitely reoccurring holidays. This may be accomplished
in various ways. For example, in one embodiment, a limit for a
number of holidays may be relaxed to a larger number (e.g. from 1
to 100, etc.). Additionally, instead of creating a fixed number of
occurrences, enough occurrences may be created such that the last
occurrence takes place far in the future from a present date (e.g.
100 years from a date, etc.). As another option, the holidays may
be configured such that any blowing out of the reoccurrences for
holidays is avoided. In this case, occurrences may be calculated
dynamically in a middle tier when needed.
[0060] In embodiments where business hour math is supported, such
as for adding a given number of business hours excluding holidays
to a date that may be arbitrary, a non-blown-out approach may be
utilized. Furthermore, there may be dozens of holidays shared
within an organization. In these cases, recurring holidays and
their occurrences may be calculated and cached.
[0061] in various embodiments, holidays and other exceptions may be
configured to occur at different intervals. For example, in one
embodiment, holidays may be configured to occur at a yearly
interval. In this case, two types of reoccurrences may be
implemented, a fixed date (e.g. January 1, etc.) or a fixed day in
week (e.g. the first Monday of September, etc.) every year. In
these cases, any necessary Java Calendar fields may be set to match
the pattern and it may be compared to the target. If it is earlier
than the target, a year may be added.
[0062] In another embodiment, holidays may be configured to occur
at a yearly interval. In this case, two types of reoccurrences may
be implemented, a fixed day (e.g. day 10, etc.) or fixed day in the
week (e.g. the second Monday, etc.) every N months. In these cases,
to calculate the next occurrence, the month of the first occurrence
may be determined because not every month may be valid. The first
occurrence may be calculated and stored in a specific field when
saved (e.g. a "ReccurrenceStartdateTime" field, etc.). The
difference in the month between the target date and the first
occurrence may then be computed. In this way, there is no need to
calculate all occurrences in between because of the fixed
interval.
[0063] in another embodiment, holidays may be configured to occur
at a weekly interval. An example of this pattern is every Monday or
Friday every N weeks. In this case, the calculation may be
implemented similarly to the monthly pattern. The number of weeks
between the target date the first occurrence may be calculated.
[0064] In another embodiment, holidays may be configured to occur
at a daily interval. This calculation may occur in a similar manner
to the weekly calculation.
[0065] With respect to partial day holidays, as an option, the
partial day holidays may be time zone agnostic. For example, a
first user in GMT-8 may create a holiday for September 1, 8 am-12
pm, and a second user in time zone GMT+8 may see the same holiday
also at September 1, 8 am-12 pm. This may also be implemented for
business hours calculations.
[0066] Further, in one embodiment, restrictions may be placed on
holidays. For example, a user may be prohibited from defining
holidays across a day boundary (e.g. September 1, 11 pm to
September 2, 3 am, etc.).
[0067] In various embodiments, calendars and events may be used to
support holiday functionality in different ways. For example, in
one embodiment, a special, hidden calendar may be created as a
container for business hours object related holidays. As an option,
this calendar may be a singleton per organization, containing all
holidays that have been defined and associated with one or more
business hours objects.
[0068] As another option, an association table may be maintained to
map events on the holiday calendar to business hours objects.
Additionally, any API delete of events on the business hours
holiday calendar may be blocked if there are associations to any
business hours objects. In one embodiment, events may be
automatically deleted from the calendar when the last association
is removed. In this way, the association table may not need to be
checked during an event delete.
[0069] It should be noted that the implementation of business hours
and associated objects, and holiday hours may facilitated in a
variety of ways. Table 1 shows a data model for integrating
holidays into business hours, in accordance with one
embodiment.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 ALTER TABLE support.business_hours ADD name
VARCHAR2(240 BYTE), is_default CHAR(1 BYTE) NOT NULL DEFAULT `0`,
active CHAR(1 BYTE) NOT NULL DEFAULT `0`, time_zone_sid_key NUMBER
); -- redo AK index to include name DROP INDEX
support.akbusiness_hours; EXEC
upgdata.uUpgradeUtils.create_partitioned_index (`akbusiness_hours`,
`support`, `business_hours`, `organization_id, name`, 1); --
escalation rule entry has optional FK to BusinessHours ALTER TABLE
core.rule_filter ADD ( business_hours_id CHAR(15 BYTE) ); ALTER
TABLE support.cases ADD ( business_hours_id CHAR(15 BYTE) ); CREATE
TABLE support.business_hours_holiday ( organization_id CHAR(15
BYTE) NOT NULL, business_hours_id CHAR(15 BYTE) NOT NULL,
holiday_id CHAR(15 BYTE) NOT NULL, system_modstamp date DEFAULT
SYSDATE NOT NULL ); CREATE INDEX support.pkbusiness_hours_holiday
ON support.business_hours_holiday (organization_id,
business_hours_id, holiday_id); CREATE INDEX
support.iebusiness_hours_holiday_h ON
support.business_hours_holiday (organization_id, holiday_id);
CREATE INDEX support.iebusiness_hours_hol_modstamp ON
support.business_hours_holiday (organization_id,
system_modstamp);
[0070] Furthermore, in various embodiments, the aforementioned
functionality may be implemented by a user of an on-demand database
service using a single user interface or multiple user
interfaces.
[0071] FIG. 2D shows an interface 240 for managing multiple
business hours in an on-demand service, in accordance with another
embodiment. As an option, the present interface 240 may be utilized
in the context of the functionality of FIGS. 1-2C. Of course,
however, the interface 240 may be implemented in any desired
environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions may apply
during the present description.
[0072] In operation, the interface 240 may be utilized to add new
business hours and/or set default business hours. The interface 240
may be utilized by an organization that is associated with one or
more offices in a variety of geographical locations,
System Overview
[0073] FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an environment 310
wherein an on-demand database service might be used. As an option,
any of the previously described embodiments of the foregoing
figures may or may not be implemented in the context of the
environment 310. Environment 310 may include user systems 312,
network 314, system 316, processor system 317, application platform
318, network interface 320, tenant data storage 322, system data
storage 324, program code 326, and process space 328. In other
embodiments, environment 310 may not have all of the components
listed and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition
to, those listed above.
[0074] Environment 310 is an environment in which an on-demand
database service exists. User system 312 may be any machine or
system that is used by a user to access a database user system. For
example, any of user systems 312 can be a handheld computing
device, a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a work station, and/or a
network of computing devices. As illustrated in FIG. 3 (and in more
detail in FIG. 4) user systems 312 might interact via a network
with an on-demand database service, which is system 316.
[0075] An on-demand database service, such as system 316, is a
database system that is made available to outside users that do not
need to necessarily be concerned with building a or maintaining the
database system, but instead may be available for their use when
the users need the database system (e.g., on the demand of the
users). Some on-demand database services may store information from
one or more tenants stored into tables of a common database image
to form a multi-tenant database system (MTS). Accordingly,
"on-demand database service 316" and "system 316" will be used
interchangeably herein. A database image may include one or more
database objects. A relational database management system (RDMS) or
the equivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information
against the database object(s). Application platform 318 may be a
framework that allows the applications of system 316 to run, such
as the hardware and/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an
embodiment, on-demand database service 316 may include an
application platform 318 that enables creation, managing and
executing one or more applications developed by the provider of the
on-demand database service, users accessing the on-demand database
service via user systems 312, or third party application developers
accessing the on-demand database service via user systems 312.
[0076] The users of user systems 312 may differ in their respective
capacities, and the capacity of a particular user system 312 might
be entirely determined by permissions (permission levels) for the
current user. For example, where a salesperson is using a
particular user system 312 to interact with system 316, that user
system has the capacities allotted to that salesperson. However,
while an administrator is using that user system to interact with
system 316, that user system has the capacities allotted to that
administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, users at
one permission level may have access to applications, data, and
database information accessible by a lower permission level user,
but may not have access to certain applications, database
information, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission
level. Thus, different users will have different capabilities with
regard to accessing and modifying application and database
information, depending on a user's security or permission
level.
[0077] Network 314 is any network or combination of networks of
devices that communicate with one another. For example, network 314
can be any one or any combination of a LAN (local area network),
WAN (wide area network), telephone network, wireless network,
point-to-point network, star network, token ring network, hub
network, or other appropriate configuration. As the most common
type of computer network in current use is a TCP/IP (Transfer
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global
internetwork of networks often referred to as the "Internet" with a
capital "I," that network will be used in many of the examples
herein. However, it should be understood that the networks that the
present invention might use are not so limited, although TCP/IP is
a frequently implemented protocol.
[0078] User systems 312 might communicate with system 316 using
TCP/IP and, at a higher network level, use other common Internet
protocols to communicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an
example where HTTP is used, user system 312 might include an HTTP
client commonly referred to as a "browser" for sending and
receiving HTTP messages to and from an HTTP server at system 316.
Such an HTTP server might be implemented as the sole network
interface between system 316 and network 314, but other techniques
might be used as well or instead. In some implementations, the
interface between system 316 and network 314 includes load sharing
functionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to
balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a
plurality of servers. At least as for the users that are accessing
that server, each of the plurality of servers has access to the
MTS' data; however, other alternative configurations may be used
instead.
[0079] In one embodiment, system 316, shown in FIG. 3, implements a
web-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. For
example, in one embodiment, system 316 includes application servers
configured to implement and execute CRM software applications as
well as provide related data, code, forms, webpages and other
information to and from user systems 312 and to store to, and
retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpage
content. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may
be stored in the same physical database object, however, tenant
data typically is arranged so that data of one tenant is kept
logically separate from that of other tenants so that one tenant
does not have access to another tenant's data, unless such data is
expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 316 implements
applications other than, or in addition to, a CRM application. For
example, system 316 may provide tenant access to multiple hosted
(standard and custom) applications, including a CRM application.
User (or third party developer) applications, which may or may not
include CRM, may be supported by the application platform 318,
which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or
more database objects and executing of the applications in a
virtual machine in the process space of the system 316.
[0080] One arrangement for elements of system 316 is shown in FIG.
4, including a network interface 320, application platform 318,
tenant data storage 322 for tenant data 323, system data storage
324 for system data accessible to system 316 and possibly multiple
tenants, program code 326 for implementing various functions of
system 316, and a process space 328 for executing MTS system
processes and tenant-specific processes, such as running
applications as part of an application hosting service. Additional
processes that may execute on system 316 include database indexing
processes.
[0081] Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 3 include
conventional, well-known elements that are explained only briefly
here. For example, each user system 312 could include a desktop
personal computer, workstation, laptop, PDA, ca phone, or any
wireless access protocol (WAP) enabled device or any other
computing device capable of interfacing directly or indirectly to
the Internet or other network connection. User system 312 typically
runs an HTTP client, e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser, Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's
browser, or a WAP-enabled browser in the case of a cell phone, PDA
or other wireless device, or the like, allowing a user (e.g.
subscriber of the multi-tenant database system) of user system 312
to access, process and view information, pages and applications
available to it from system 316 over network 314. Each user system
312 also typically includes one or more user interface devices,
such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen,
pen or the like, for interacting with a graphical user interface
(GU( ) provided by the browser on a display (e.g. a monitor screen,
LCD display, etc.) in conjunction with pages, forms, applications
and other information provided by system 316 or other systems or
servers. For example, the user interface device can be used to
access data and applications hosted by system 316, and to perform
searches on stored data, and otherwise allow a user to interact
with various GUI pages that may be presented to a user. As
discussed above, embodiments are suitable for use with the
Internet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of
networks. However, it should be understood that other networks can
be used instead of the Internet, such as an intranet, an extranet,
a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any
LAN or WAN or the like.
[0082] According to one embodiment, each user system 312 and all of
its components are operator configurable using applications, such
as a browser, including computer code run using a central
processing unit such as an Intel Pentium.RTM. processor or the
like. Similarly, system 316 (and additional instances of an MTS,
where more than one is present) and all of their components might
be operator configurable using application(s) including computer
code to run using a central processing unit such as processor
system 317 of FIG. 3, which may include an Intel Pentium.RTM.
processor or the like, and/or multiple processor units. A computer
program product embodiment includes a machine-readable storage
medium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be
used to program a computer to perform any of the processes of the
embodiments described herein. Computer code for operating and
configuring system 316 to intercommunicate and to process webpages,
applications and other data and media content as described herein
are preferably downloaded and stored on a hard disk, but the entire
program code, or portions thereof, may also be stored in any other
volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device as is well known,
such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable of storing
program code, such as any type of rotating media including floppy
disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (MID), compact disk
(CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or
optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any
type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/or
data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,
may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over a
transmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another
server, as is well known, or transmitted over any other
conventional network connection as is well known (e.g. extranet,
VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communication medium and protocols (e.g.
TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as are well known. It will
also be appreciated that computer code for implementing embodiments
of the present invention can be implemented in any programming
language that can be executed on a client system and/or server or
server system such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup
language, Java.TM., JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting
language, such as VBScript, and many other programming languages as
are well known may be used. (Java.TM. is a trademark of Sun
Microsystems, Inc.).
[0083] According to one embodiment, each system 316 is configured
to provide webpages, forms, applications, data and media content to
user (client) systems 312 to support the access by user systems 312
as tenants of system 316. As such, system 316 provides security
mechanisms to keep each tenant's data separate unless the data is
shared. If more than one MTS is used, they may be located in close
proximity to one another (e.g. in a server farm located in a single
building or campus), or they may be distributed at locations remote
from one another (e.g. one or more servers located in city A and
one or more servers located in city B). As used herein, each NITS
could include one or more logically and/or physically connected
servers distributed locally or across one or more geographic
locations. Additionally, the term "server" is meant to include a
computer system, including processing hardware and process
space(s), and an associated storage system and database application
(e.g. OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also
be understood that "server system" and "server" are often used
interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database object described
herein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed
database, a collection of distributed databases, a database with
redundant online or offline backups or other redundancies, etc.,
and might include a distributed database or storage network and
associated processing intelligence.
[0084] FIG. 4 also illustrates environment 310. However, in FIG. 4
elements of system 316 and various interconnections in an
embodiment are further illustrated. FIG. 4 shows that user system
312 may include processor system 312A, memory system 312B, input
system 312C, and output system 312D. FIG. 4 shows network 314 and
system 316. FIG. 4 also shows that system 316 may include tenant
data storage 322, tenant data 323, system data storage 324, system
data 325. User Interface (UI) 430, Application Program Interface
(API) 432, PL/SOQL 434, save routines 436, application setup
mechanism 438, applications servers 400.sub.1-400.sub.N, system
process space 402, tenant process spaces 404, tenant management
process space 410, tenant storage area 412, user storage 414, and
application metadata 416. In other embodiments, environment 310 may
not have the same elements as those listed above and/or may have
other elements instead of, or in addition to, those listed
above.
[0085] User system 312, network 314, system 316, tenant data
storage 322, and system data storage 324 were discussed above in
FIG. 3. Regarding user system 312, processor system 312A may be any
combination of one or more processors. Memory system 312B may be
any combination of one or more memory devices, short term, and/or
long term memory. Input system 312C may be any combination of input
devices, such as one or more keyboards, mice, trackballs, scanners,
cameras, and/or interfaces to networks. Output system 312D may be
any combination of output devices, such as one or more monitors,
printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown by FIG. 4, system
316 may include a network interface 320 (of FIG. 3) implemented as
a set of HTTP application servers 400, an application platform 318,
tenant data storage 322, and system data storage 324. Also shown is
system process space 402, including individual tenant process
spaces 404 and a tenant management process space 410. Each
application server 400 may be configured to tenant data storage 322
and the tenant data 323 therein, and system data storage 324 and
the system data 325 therein to serve requests of user systems 312.
The tenant data 323 might be divided into individual tenant storage
areas 412, which can be either a physical arrangement and/or a
logical arrangement of data. Within each tenant storage area 412,
user storage 414 and application metadata 416 might be similarly
allocated for each user. For example, a copy of a user's most
recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage 414.
Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is a
tenant might be stored to tenant storage area 412. A UI 430
provides a user interface and an API 432 provides an application
programmer interface to system 316 resident processes to users
and/or developers at user systems 312. The tenant data and the
system data may be stored in various databases, such as one or more
Oracle.TM. databases.
[0086] Application platform 318 includes an application setup
mechanism 438 that supports application developers' creation and
management of applications, which may be saved as metadata into
tenant data storage 322 by save routines 436 for execution by
subscribers as one or more tenant process spaces 404 managed by
tenant management process 410 for example. Invocations to such
applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 434 that provides a
programming language style interface extension to API 432. A
detailed description of some PL/SOQL language embodiments is
discussed in commonly owned U.S. Provisional Patent Application
60/828,192 entitled, "PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR
EXTENDING APIS TO EXECUTE IN CONJUNCTION WITH DATABASE APIS," by
Craig Weissman, filed Oct. 4, 2006, which is incorporated in its
entirety herein for all purposes. Invocations to applications may
be detected by one or more system processes, which manage
retrieving application metadata 416 for the subscriber making the
invocation and executing the metadata as an application in a
virtual machine. It should be noted that any reference to the
PL/SOQL programming language may be discussed equally in the
context of the Apex programming language.
[0087] Each application server 400 may be communicably coupled to
database systems, e.g., having access to system data 325 and tenant
data 323, via a different network connection. For example, one
application server 400.sub.1 might be coupled via the network 314
(e.g., the Internet), another application server 400.sub.N-1 might
be coupled via a direct network link, and another application
server 400.sub.N might be coupled by yet a different network
connection. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating between
application servers 400 and the database system. However, it will
be apparent to one skilled in the art that other transport
protocols may be used to optimize the system depending on the
network interconnect used.
[0088] In certain embodiments, each application server 400 is
configured to handle requests for any user associated with any
organization that is a tenant. Because it is desirable to be able
to add and remove application servers from the server pool at any
time for any reason, there is preferably no server affinity for a
user and/or organization to a specific application server 400. In
one embodiment, therefore, an interface system implementing a load
balancing function (e.g., an F5 Big-IP load balancer) is
communicably coupled between the application servers 400 and the
user systems 312 to distribute requests to the application servers
400. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses a least connections
algorithm to route user requests to the application servers 400.
Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as round robin
and observed response time, also can be used. For example, in
certain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user
could hit three different application servers 400, and three
requests from different users could hit the same application server
400. In this manner, system 316 is multi-tenant, wherein system 316
handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data and
applications across disparate users and organizations.
[0089] As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that
employs a sales force where each salesperson uses system 316 to
manage their sales process. Thus, a user might maintain contact
data, leads data, customer follow-up data, performance data, goals
and progress data, etc., all applicable to that user's personal
sales process (e.g., in tenant data storage 322). In an example of
a MTS arrangement, since all of the data and the applications to
access, view, modify, report, transmit, calculate, etc., can be
maintained and accessed by a user system having nothing more than
network access, the user can manage his or her sales efforts and
cycles from any of many different user systems. For example, if a
salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internet
access in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates
as to that customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the
lobby.
[0090] While each user's data might be separate from other users'
data regardless of the employers of each user, some data might be
organization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users
or all of the users for a given organization that is a tenant.
Thus, there might be some data structures managed by system 316
that are allocated at the tenant level while other data structures
might be managed at the user level. Because an MTS might support
multiple tenants including possible competitors, the MTS should
have security protocols that keep data, applications, and
application use separate. Also, because many tenants may opt for
access to an MTS rather than maintain their own system, redundancy,
up-time, and backup are additional functions that may be
implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data and
tenant-specific data, system 316 might also maintain system level
data usable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level
data might include industry reports, news, postings, and the like
that are sharable among tenants.
[0091] In certain embodiments, user systems 312 (which may be
client systems) communicate with application servers 400 to request
and update system-level and tenant-level data from system 316 that
may require sending one or more queries to tenant data storage 322
and/or system data storage 324. System 316 (e.g., an application
server 400 in system 316) automatically generates one or more SQL
statements (e.g., one or more SQL queries) that are designed to
access the desired information. System data storage 324 may
generate query plans to access the requested data from the
database.
[0092] Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of
objects, such as a set of logical tables, containing data fitted
into predefined categories. A "table" is one representation of a
data object, and may be used herein to simplify the conceptual
description of objects and custom objects according to the present
invention. It should be understood that "table" and "object" may be
used interchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or
more data categories logically arranged as columns or fields in a
viewable schema. Each row or record of a table contains an instance
of data for each category defined by the fields. For example, a CRM
database may include a table that describes a customer with fields
for basic contact information such as name, address, phone number,
fax number, etc. Another table might describe a purchase order,
including fields for information such as customer, product, sale
price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems, standard
entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRM
database applications, such standard entities might include tables
for Account, Contact, Lead, and Opportunity data, each containing
pre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word "entity"
may also be used interchangeably herein with "object" and
"table".
[0093] In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be
allowed to create and store custom objects, or they may be allowed
to customize standard entities or objects, for example by creating
custom fields for standard objects, including custom index fields.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/817,161, filed Apr. 2, 2004,
entitled "CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE
SYSTEM," which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, teaches
systems and methods for creating custom objects as well as
customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In
certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows are
stored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain
multiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to
customers that their multiple "tables" are in fact stored in one
large table or that their data may be stored in the same table as
the data of other customers.
[0094] it should be noted that any of the different embodiments
described herein may or may not be equipped with any one or more of
the features set forth in one or more of the following published
applications: US2003/0233404, titled "OFFLINE SIMULATION OF ONLINE
SESSION BETWEEN CLIENT AND SERVER," filed Nov. 4, 2002;
US2004/0210909, titled "JAVA OBJECT CACHE SERVER FOR DATABASES,"
filed Apr. 17, 2003, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 7,209,929;
US2005/0065925, titled "QUERY OPTIMIZATION IN A MULTI-TENANT
DATABASE SYSTEM," filed Sep. 23, 2003; US2005/0223022, titled
"CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM,"
filed Apr. 2, 2004; US2005/0283478, titled "SOAP-BASED WEB SERVICES
IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM," filed Jun. 16, 2004; and/or
US2006/0206834, titled "SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING
MULTI-APPLICATION TABS AND TAB SETS," filed Mar. 8, 2005; which are
each incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all
purposes.
[0095] While the invention has been described by way of example and
in terms of the specific embodiments, it is to be understood that
the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the
contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar
arrangements as would be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the
broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications
and similar arrangements.
* * * * *