Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02823800 2013-08-12
CONTACTS AFFINITY USED TO PRIORITIZE DISPLAY OF CONTENT ITEM REVIEWS
IN ONLINE STORE
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates in general to electronic commerce, and more
particularly, to using
social affinity information to improve online shopping experience,
BACKGROUND
Online storefronts often provide reviews about items that are offered for
sale. One
problem with online reviews is that most of them are written by strangers with
whom a potential
purchaser has no trust relationship. Reviews written by people known to a
potential purchaser are
likely to have more influence upon that person's decision-making than those by
people who they
do not know or trust. The advent of widespread online social networks and
online shopping
creates opportunities for online shoppers to seek input online from persons
who they trust about
items such as songs, videos, games and books before deciding whether to make a
purchase.
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce in which a consumer acquires
goods or
services from a seller over the internet. An online storefront often is
implemented using an
application that runs on a user device to provide a user interface (UI) that
provides an online
storefront experience and that communicates with a web server. The web server
provides
information for display by the user device, which allows a user to browse
through the store and
to download or purchase items.
A server is a computer or program configured to supply data or resources to
other
machines on a network. The basic architecture of the internet is relatively
simple: web clients
running on users' machines, e.g., mobile devices use HTTP (Hyper Text
Transport Protocol) to
request objects from web servers. The server processes the request and sends a
response back to
the client. HTTP is built on a client-server model in which a client makes a
request of the server.
A web server often is implemented using multiple physical or virtual computers
that work
cooperatively to retrieve and deliver information used to generate display
information such as
web pages for display on user devices upon request
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CA 02823800 2013-08-12
SUMMARY
In some embodiments, a method is provided to display on an electronic device,
prioritized reviews of content items offered in an online storefront. Contact
information
associated with a user of the device includes social affinity information.
Contacts of the device
are matched to reviews of the content item within a content item database
associated with the
online storefront. Social affinity between reviewers, who have a match user
contacts, and the
user of the device is used to prioritize the reviews. The reviews are
displayed on the electronic
device with an indication of their priority based upon social affinity between
the reviewer and
the user of the device.
BRIEF DESCRITPION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is an illustrative drawing representing online storefrontelectronic
devices
coupled to an online storefront by a communications network online
storefrontfor obtaining
items available at the online storefront;
Figure 2 is an illustrative drawing of an example data structure for at least
a portion of a
contacts database stored in a storage device of an electronic device in
accordance with an
example embodiment;
Figure 3 is an illustrative drawing of showing information structures stored
within
storage devices included within a content database in accordance with an
example embodiment;
Figure 4 is an illustrative drawing showing an example of signal flow within a
system
that includes a mobile device and an online storefront in accordance with an
example
embodiment;
Figures 5A-5B are illustrative drawings of a user first and second display
screen of a
user device that show information for an illustrative 'content item X' before
(Figure 5A) and
after (Figure 5B) a user requests reviews in accordance with some example
embodiments;;
Figure 6 is an illustrative flow diagram of a process performed by the
priority server to
prioritize presentation of content item reviews within the display screen as a
function of contact
database information associated with a user in accordance with an example
embodiment;
Figures 7A-7C are illustrative drawings representing example review
information
structures for storing individual reviews for a selected content item before
and after
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CA 02823800 2013-08-12
prioritization of the reviews according to the process of Figure 6 in
accordance with some
embodiments.
Figure 8 is an illustrative drawing showing additional details of the act of
matching
contact information with reviews in accordance with some embodiments.
Figure 9 shows an illustrative diagrammatic representation of a machine in the
example
form of a computer system within which a set of instructions, for causing the
machine to perform
any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS
The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art
to create and
use a method and system to provide prioritized reviews in association with a
content item offered
within an online storefront. Various modifications to the example embodiments
herein will be
readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles defined
herein may be applied to
other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope
of the present
disclosure. Moreover, in the following description, numerous details are set
forth for the purpose
of explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will realize that
the present disclosure
might be practiced without the use of these specific details. In other
instances, well-known data
structures and processes are shown in block diagram form in order not to
obscure the description
of the present disclosure with unnecessary detail. Identical reference
numerals may be used to
represent different views of the same item in different drawings. Flow
diagrams in drawings
referenced below are used to represent processes. A computer system is
configured to perform
these processes. The flow diagrams include modules that represent the
configuration of a
computer system according to computer program code to perform the acts
described with
reference to these modules. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be
limited to the
embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the
principles and
features disclosed herein.
Online storefront
Figure 1 is an illustrative drawing representing an online storefront 102 and
multiple
electronic devices 104 that users use to communicate with the online
storefront 102 over a
communications network 106 such as the internet to download and/or purchase
items offered by
the store. As used herein, obtaining includes downloading, acquiring rights to
use, obtaining a
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license, purchasing, a service, etc. As used herein the term electronic device
denotes a desktop
computer, laptop computer, cellular phone, smartphone, tablet, gaming
consoles, or the like. . A
device 104 makes a request to the online storefront 102 (i.e. to a web
server), and in response,
the online storefront provides information used by the user device to generate
information that is
displayed on a display screen of the user device.
A user device 104 uses information delivered by online storefront 102 to
generate screen
displays that offer products and services to the user. Physical products that
are offered by an
online storefront 102 may be delivered to users through traditional transport
mechanisms such as
delivery trucks. Intangible 'content' items such as digital media (music
files, video files,
electronic images, digital books (ebooks)), or computer software, firmware,
and mobile
applications (aps) that are offered by an online storefront 102 may be
delivered electronically
over the network 106, for example. Application programs ("apps") are computer
programs that
are a form of content item that may be offered through online storefronts for
downloading over
the internet to run on a mobile user device, for example.
Contacts Database and Affinity
A user of a mobile communication device is associated with a contacts database
that is
stored in a storage device. The contacts database may be stored within local
memory of the
electronic device or it may be stored in a remote storage that is accessible
over a network. The
contacts database identifies the user's contacts information. As used herein,
'contacts' signifies
persons or organizations for which information is stored in the contacts
database. A contacts
database ordinarily provides information about the contacts identified in the
contacts database
such as the contact's name, phone number, email address, social network
address information,
physical address and/or other information such as birthdays and comments, for
example.
In some embodiments, the contacts database also includes information
indicative of a
user's social affinity to persons and/or organizations identified as contacts.
As used herein, the
term 'social affinity' signifies a measure of the significance or importance
of a user's
relationship with a person or organization identified in the contacts database
relative to other
identified persons or organizations. In some embodiments a form of a social
graph that provides
a pictorial representation of relationships among persons can be employed to
represent a user's
social affinity to his or her contacts.
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Information concerning emails between a user and a given contact is an example
of
information indicative of a user's social affinity to the given contact
includes. Also, information
concerning electronic calendar events involving both the user and the given
contact is another
example of information indicative of a user's affinity to the given contact.
For instance, the
number of emails or calendar events or other interactions such as instant
messages exchanged or
online game matches that involve a given contact may be construed as being
indicative of the
affinity of that contact to the user. Commonly owned U.S. Patent Application
Publication No.
2009/0210391, published August 20, 2009, which is expressly incorporated
herein in its entirety
by this reference, discloses the use of emails and calendar events to provide
a social graph to
represent social affinity between a device user and other persons identified
in the user's emails
and/or calendar events. Various different criteria for measuring social
affinity may be employed.
For example, emails and/or calendar events or other interactions that are more
recent may be
weighted more heavily toward showing a greater affinity. The frequency of
occurrence of
interactions also may provide a measure of social affinity; the more frequent
the interaction the
more heavily the interaction may be weighted to show affinity, for example.
Some types of
interactions may be weighted more heavily than others in determining social
affinity. For
example, interactions involving persona meetings may weigh more heavily than
interactions
involving instant messages. Likewise, email correspondence and/or calendar
events including a
contact that are more frequent may be interpreted as a greater affinity
between with the contact.
Alternatively, a user may provide explicit preferences as to which persons or
organizations have
the highest affinity. For example, the user can establish greater affinity
with family friends or
groups formed online such as gaming partners and members of social network
communities.
It will be appreciated that email is just one example of communication that
can be
indicative of social affinity. Other examples include frequency, duration or
recentness of instant
messaging conversations, video chat or social networking communication between
a user and a
contact. Another example is how often a user plays online games with a
contact.
Figure 2 is an illustrative drawing of an example data structure 202 for at
least a portion
of a contacts database stored in a storage device in accordance with some
embodiments. In some
embodiments, the data structure includes a name field 204 to associate names
of persons who are
contacts with metadata about the contact. Metadata fields associated with the
name field includes
CA 02823800 2013-08-12
fields such as an employer/organization field 206 , address field 208 , phone
number field(s) 210,
and email address field 212, for example. The example metadata also includes
fields for social
affinity information such as number of emails field 214, a number of calendar
events field 216,
an email date field 218 and a calendar event date field 220, for example. The
affinity information
also may include the entire body of the emails and/or contact event records
(not shown), for
example. In addition, the metadata also may include other personal information
about the
contact and may include information indicative of communications between the
user and the
contact over other networks including social networks (not shown). The
metadata also may
include one or more device identifier field 222 that identify the devices used
by the contact to
communicate with the user. Thus, a contact may communicate with a user over
multiple
communication channels, and metadata concerning these communications may be
included in the
contact database.
Content database
A content database stores information about content items that can be acquired
through
an online storefront. An online storefront may offer a plurality of different
content items.
Millions of users may visit the online storefront to sselct content items.
Many users rely upon
reviews provided by other users concerning content items offered through the
online storefront in
deciding whether to purchase those items. A user may possess multiple devices
and may obtain
access to different content items to different devices. However, it remains
challenging to
identify online reviews of an item that an online shopper is evaluating that
have been created by
persons with whom the shopper has a trust relationship.
Figure 3 is an illustrative drawing of showing information structures stored
within
storage devices within a content database 300 in accordance with some
embodiments. The
content database includes content item structure type 302, user account
structure type 304,
review structure type 306 and device structure type 308. Each content item
data structure type
302 indicates a content item identifier information 301 and is associated with
a unique content
item identifier 303. Each user account structure type 304 indicates user
account information 305
and is associated with a unique user identifier 307. Each review structure
type 306 indicates
review information 309 and is associated with both a unique content item
identifier 311 and with
a unique user identifier 313. Each device structure type 308 indicates a
device unique identifier
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315 and is associated with one or both of a unique user account identifier 313
and one or more
content item identifier information 301.
In some embodiments, the content item type 302 provides information about the
content
item (e.g., display information of the type described below with reference to
Figures 5A-5B) and
an association with a content item indicator that uniquely identifies the
content item.
In some embodiments, a user account structure type 304 is associated with a
unique
identifier of the user account and includes information that identifies the
user such as name,
email address, telephone number, physical address, social networks the user
belongs to, friends
of the user and one or more device identifiers, for example. It will be
appreciated that a user may
possess several devices that he or she uses to interact with an online
storefront and user's account
may include unique device identifiers for each device. A user account also
includes a history of
user interaction, e.g., content items downloaded and/or purchase, through the
online storefront.
Online reviews of products and services offered for sale through an online
storefront can
be a significant factor in a consumer's decision as to whether or not to
purchase. Some online
storefronts provide user interfaces to a review data structure type 306
through which online
visitors can provide reviews that are posted online in association with a
product or service that is
offered through the store. Online reviews typically are displayed in
association with an online
storefront user interface (UI) display that describes a product or service
such as an 'app', song,
video or other content item. A review, for example, can be as simple as a
'thumbs up' or a
'thumbs down' symbol to indicate whether a reviewer likes or dislikes an
offering. A more
nuanced review may indicate a degree of like or dislike through the number of
stars displayed
next to an item, for example, or may comprise a detailed written narrative to
explain the
reviewer's recommendation. A product or service may receive numerous reviews,
and reviews
often are prioritized based upon factors such as the level of credibility or
influence possessed by
a reviewer. More highly ranked reviews often are displayed before lower
ranking reviews.
In general, a content item indicated by a content item identifier 301 can have
zero or
more reviews associated with it in the content item database 300. In some
embodiments, a user
is permitted to create only a single review per version of a content item. So
if a user writes a
review of version 1 of a content item, then that same user also would be
permitted to write a
review for version 2 of that content item, but ordinarily, would not be
permitted to write more
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than one review for the same version of the content item. In some embodiments,
an exception to
this rule applies in a situation in which a user has downloaded the same
content item on multiple
different devices or platforms, In that case the different devices may have
different functionality,
and a user may be permitted write a review for the same content item with
reference to each
different device. Another example is where the user is updates a review by
writing a follow up.
Also a user can change his or her mind and edit a review, thereby changing the
review content.
In general, a user can have multiple devices. In some embodiments, each device
is
identified by a unique identifier that is associated with a device structure
type 308 in the content
database. The device structure type 308 provides a unique identifier for a
user device (e.g., a
device PIN) and an association with the user account of the user who owns the
device. In some
embodiments, a given device information structure 308 also is associated with
unique identifiers
of content items that have been downloaded from the online storefront to the
device.
User visits online storefront and selects a particular content item
Figure 4 is an illustrative drawing showing an example of signal flow within a
system
401 that includes an electronic device 402 and an online storefront 404 in
accordance with an
example embodiment. The signal flow is used to obtain information from a
contacts database
406, which is used to prioritize display of reviews stored within the content
database 300. The
prioritized reviews then can be displayed on a display screen of the user
device 402.
The system 401 includes an electronic device 402 and an online storefront 404.
Dashed
lines 408 indicate that a contacts database 406 is associated with the user of
device 402. In some
embodiments, contacts database 406 is stored within a storage device disposed
on the device
402. In other embodiments, the contacts database 406 is stored remotely within
a shared storage
device controlled by a storage server (not shown) accessed over a network such
as the interne.
The online storefront 404 includes a web server 412, a content database 300
and a priority server
415, each of which may be located within the same physical machine or in
different physical or
virtual machines that communicate over a network. It will be appreciated that
in some
embodiments the user device 402 and an online storefront 404 communicate over
the internet.
Moreover, in some embodiments, the web server 412, priority server 415 and
content database
300 also may communicate over the internet. As such, signals transmitted
between these devices
described below comply with the relevant network protocols.
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User device 402 sends a request signal 416 over the internet to the online
storefront 404.
As explained above, in some embodiments, the online storefront includes a web
server 412 that
sends information in response to requests received over the internet. In
response to a user device
request signal 416, the online storefront 404 sends a signal 418 to the user
device 402 that
includes information for use by the user device 402 to generate an online
storefront UI display on
the user device screen display. The UI screen display may include an
invitation to login to the
store. In response to the login invitation, a user causes the device 402 to
send signal 420 that
includes login information to the online storefront 404. The login information
identifies a user
account associated with the user. It will be appreciated that individual
signals shown may
involve multiple messages. For example, although a single arrow labeled 416
and a single arrow
labeled 418 are used to respectively represent a user device request signal
sent by a user device
408 and a response signal sent by the web server 412. It will be appreciated
that these signals in
fact may represent multiple exchanges of information over a network that are
used by the device
402 to generate a screen display.
A user can shop or browse within the online storefront to explore information
about
available items or services. In the course of shopping or browsing within the
online storefront
408 in the example shown in Figure 4, the user causes device 402 to send a
signal 422 over the
internet to the web server 412 within the online storefront 404 that requests
information about a
particular content item such as a downloadable application that is available
through the online
storefront. In some embodiments, the user sends request 422 by selecting
(e.g., clicking on) an
icon or image representing the content item on a device display screen (not
shown).
In response to the request signal 422 the web server 412 sends a request
signal 423 to the
priority server 415, which responds by sending a signal 4424 over the internet
to the contacts
database 406 to request information about contacts identified in the contacts
database 406
associated with the user of device 402. In the illustrated example, an
information storage device
that includes the contacts database 406 is disposed within the device 402, and
therefore, the
priority server 415 sends the signal 4424 to the device 402. However, in
alternative
embodiments, a contacts database associated with a user associated with the
device 402 may be
stored separately from the device 402 at a different network location (not
shown), and in that
case, the priority server 415 would send the request signal 4424 to the remote
storage server over
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the internet, for example. Requested contacts database information obtained
from the contacts
database 406 is sent over the internet via signal 426 to the priority server
415. As explained more
fully below, in some embodiments, the contacts database information provided
by signal 426
identifies persons who the user of device 402 knows and also provides social
affinity information
associated with identified persons in the content database.
Also, in response to the request signal 423, the priority server 415 sends a
signal 428 to
request certain content item information associated with the content item
identified in the user
device request 422. In some embodiments the content item database 300 is
implemented as a
storage server that serves information to the online storefront web server
404. Requested content
item database information obtained from the content database 300 is sent via
signal 430 to the
priority server 415. In this example, the content item information includes
reviews that have been
provided by others about the content item that the user requested information
about through
signal 422.
The priority server 415 uses the contact information obtained via signals
4424, 426 to
process the content item information obtained vial signals 428, 430. More
specifically, in some
embodiments the priority server 415 prioritizes reviews within the content
database 300 based
upon affinity information within the contacts database 406. The contacts sever
sends the
processed content item information to the web server 412 via signal 432 for
delivery to the user
device 402.
The online storefront web server 412 sends signal 434 that includes
information used by
the device 402 to produce screen display images for the requested content
item. In some
embodiment, the information provided by the online storefront enables 404 via
signal 434 is used
by the device 402 to display reviews that have been obtained from the content
item database 300
for the content item. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the information
provided via signal 434
is used to produce a UI screen display that permits a user to selectively
display reviews, e.g., by
scrolling through the reviews. The display of these reviews is prioritized to
provide reviews by
persons whom the user knows, as indicated by social affinity information in
the contacts
database 406, ahead of other reviews. Moreover, in some embodiments, reviews
of persons
whom the user knows are further prioritized so that reviews by persons with
whom the user has a
CA 02823800 2013-08-12
greater social affinity, as determined by the priority server 415, are
prioritized ahead of reviews
with which the user has a lesser affinity.
It will be appreciated that although the priority server 415 is shown to
operate as a
component of the online storefront 404, persons skilled in the art will
appreciate that
alternatively, the user device 402 can be configured to implement the
functionality of the priority
server.
Prioritization of reviews of selected content item
Figures 5A-5B are illustrative drawings of a user first and second device
screen displays
that show information for an illustrative 'content item X' before (Figure 5A)
and after (Figure
5B) a user requests reviews in accordance with some embodiments. The user
device generates
the screen display, which may comprise an HTML page, in response to content
item information
provided by the online storefront via signal 434 described above with
reference to Figure 4. The
screen displays typically include text and images to describe the content item
and the terms of its
use, although these are not shown in order to avoid unnecessary detail. In
some embodiments,
multiple different screen displays relating to a given content item may be
displayed selectively in
response to successive user device requests for additional information. For
example, the screen
displays may include active regions such as the 'Details' field and the
'Reviews' field that
provide links to additional information relating to the content item that is
the subject of the
display. This additional information may be provided by the web server 412
upon request from
the user device 402. Signals involved in these additional device requests and
web server
responses are not shown in Figure 4 in order to avoid unnecessary detail. In
some alternative
embodiments, a screen display may show multiple different content items
together with
information indicating how many of a user's contacts have purchased a copy of
each displayed
content item, for example.
The first illustrative screen display 502 shown in Figure 5A includes a first
display field
502 to indicate in the number of contacts from the device user's associated
contacts database
determined by the priority server 415 to have a copy of the given content item
loaded on his/her
device. The second illustrative screen display 506 depicted in Figure 5B
includes a second
display field 508. A user navigates from the first screen display 502 to the
second screen display
506 by selecting the "Reviews' region of the first screen display 502. Some
reviews are
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prioritized according to social affinity of the reviewer to the user
associated with the device 402
as determined by the priority server 415. In some embodiments the second
display field 508,
which shows reviews and indicates the identity of the reviewers through their
names, online
'handles' or pictures, or other identifying information, for example, is
scrollable so that a user
can scroll through a list of reviews. The second display field includes a
scroll bar 510, although
in some embodiments scrolling is achieved by a gesture such as swiping the
screen thus
obviating the need for a scroll bar.
Figure 6 is an illustrative flow diagram of a process 600 performed by the
priority server
415 to prioritize presentation of content item reviews within the display
screen as a function of
contact database information associated with a device user in accordance with
some
embodiments. More specifically, computer program code stored in non-transitory
storage
configures a computer system to implement the prioritization server 415, which
performs the
process 600. In some embodiments, the priority server 415 shares resources
(e.g., one or more
processors and non-transitory memory) used to implement the web server 412,
for example. The
flow diagram of Figure 6 includes multiple blocks that represent configuration
of the computer
system in accordance with program code to perform the acts indicated for the
modules.
Figures 7A-7C are illustrative drawings representing example reviews
information
structures used to store individual reviews for a selected content item within
a non-transitory
memory before and after prioritization of the reviews according to the process
600 in
accordance with some embodiments. In this example content item has received
reviews R1
through Rg. The structure of the reviews information structures determines the
priority of the
reviews and the order of their presentation within the second display field
408 of the screen
display in Figure 5B.
Referring to Figure 6, in block 602, a request for prioritized reviews is
received via
signal 423. In block 604, certain contact information represented in Figure 2
associated with the
device user is obtained from the contacts database 406 via signals 4424, 426.
In some
embodiments, the obtained contact information includes device identifiers
associated with
persons identified within the device user's contacts database. In block 606,
certain content item
information represented in Figure 3 is obtained from the content item database
300 via signals
428, 430. In block 608, a determination is made as to which, if any, contacts
within the obtained
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contact information match user account information of reviewers identified
within the obtained
content information as having reviewed the content-item indicated by the user
device in signal
422. It will be appreciated that reviewers are associated in the content
database 300 with their
user accounts, and that the reviewers' user accounts contain information, such
as unique device
identifiers, for example, that can be used to associate a reviewer's user
account with a contacts
associated with the user of device 402.
Referring to Figure 7A, there is shown an illustrative first reviews
information structure
702 that associates reviews of a selected content item prior to performance of
the matching
identification act of block 610. The example first reviews information
structure 702 orders the
reviews so that review R1 is the first review that would be presented to the
user of device 402,
and Review R8 is the last review presented. Reviews shown in Figure 7A that
contain the
additional label CI to C4 are reviews that have been created by persons
identified in the obtained
contact information. It will be appreciated that the first reviews information
structure 602
accords no special priority to reviews by persons who are contacts of the user
associated with the
device 402.
In block 610, the first data structure 702 represented in Figure 7A is
transformed to a
second data structure 704 represented in Figure 7B in which reviews by
reviewers who are
contacts of the user of the device 402 are prioritized ahead of other reviews.
In Figure 7B,
reviews are prioritized such that reviews that have an additional label C1 to
would be presented
to the user of device 402 before the other reviews would be presented. In
other words,
associations in non-transitory storage among reviews of the selected content
item are changed to
prioritize presentation of reviews by persons who are contacts of the user
associated with the
device 402 before other reviews of the content item.
In block 612, the second data structure 704 represented in Figure 7B is
transformed to a
third data structure 706 represented in Figure 7C in which reviews by
reviewers who are
contacts of the user of the device 402 are prioritized ahead of other reviews
and also are
prioritized according to the reviewer's affinity to the user associated with
the device 402. As
explained above, a variety of different criteria can be used for measuring
affinity such as
number, frequency or recentness of emails and/or calendar events, for example.
In this example,
the block 612 determines that the user associated with the device 402 has the
greatest affinity to
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the reviewer who created the review labeled with C2 followed by reviews
bearing labels C3, C4
and C1, respectively. Thus, the third reviews information structure 706
organizes the reviews
such that the review containing label C2 is presented to the user first
followed in order by
reviews bearing labels C3, C4 and Ci.
Figure 8 is an illustrative flow chart showing additional details of the act
of matching
contact information with reviews in accordance with some embodiments. In block
802, data
structure type 306 is used to identify reviews in the content database that
are associated with a
unique identifier of a content item that is of interest to the user of device
402. Each review of
data structure type 306 in the content database also is associated with a
unique identifier of the
user account of the user who created the review. Block 804 uses the review
data structure type
306 to identify user accounts associated with reviewers who created the
reviews. Block 806
matches information in the identified reviewer user account with information
in the contacts
database 406 of the user of device 402 to identify reviewers who also are
contacts of the user of
device 402.
Hardware Environment
Figure 9 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the example form
of a
computer system 900 within which a set of instructions, for causing the
machine to perform any
one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. The
computer system 900
can comprise, for example, any of the user device 402, server 412, and/or
server 415. In
alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be
connected (e.g.,
networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may
operate in the
capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment,
or as a peer
machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine
may be a server
computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top
box (STB), a
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a
network router, switch
or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions
(sequential or otherwise) that
specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single
machine is illustrated,
the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines
that individually or
jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or
more of the
methodologies discussed herein.
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The example computer system 900 includes a processor 902 (e.g., a central
processing
unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or both), a main memory 904 and
a static memory
906, which communicate with each other via a bus 908. The computer system 900
may further
include a video display unit 910 (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), organic
light emitting diode
(OLED) display, touch screen, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer
system 500 also
includes an alphanumeric input device 912 (e.g., a keyboard, a physical
keyboard, a virtual
keyboard using software), a cursor control device or input sensor 914 (e.g., a
mouse, a trackpad,
a trackball, a sensor or reader, a machine readable information reader, bar
code reader), a disk
drive unit 916, a signal generation device 918 (e.g., a speaker) and a network
interface device or
transceiver 920.
The disk drive unit 916 includes a machine-readable medium 922 on which is
stored one
or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 924) embodying any one or more of
the
methodologies or functions described herein. The software 924 may also reside,
completely or at
least partially, within the main memory 904 and/or within the processor 902
during execution
thereof by the computer system 500, the main memory 504 and the processor 902
also
constituting machine-readable media.
The software 924 may further be transmitted or received over a network 526 via
the
network interface device 920.
While the machine-readable medium 922 is shown in an example embodiment to be
a
single medium, the term "machine-readable medium," "computer readable medium,"
and the like
should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a
centralized or distributed
database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more
sets of instructions.
The term "machine-readable medium" shall also be taken to include any medium
that is capable
of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the
machine and that cause
the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present
disclosure. The
term "machine-readable medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not
be limited to,
solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wave signals.
It will be appreciated that, for clarity purposes, the above description
describes some
embodiments with reference to different functional units or processors.
However, it will be
apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different
functional units,
CA 02823800 2013-08-12
processors or domains may be used without detracting from the present
disclosure. For example,
functionality illustrated to be performed by separate processors or
controllers may be performed
by the same processor or controller. Hence, references to specific functional
units are only to be
seen as references to suitable means for providing the described
functionality, rather than
indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organization.
Certain embodiments described herein may be implemented as logic or a number
of
modules, engines, components, or mechanisms. A module, engine, logic,
component, or
mechanism (collectively referred to as a "module") may be a tangible unit
capable of performing
certain operations and configured or arranged in a certain manner. In certain
example
embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client, or
server computer
system) or one or more components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a
group of
processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application
portion) or
firmware (note that software and firmware can generally be used
interchangeably herein as is
known by a skilled artisan) as a module that operates to perform certain
operations described
herein.
In various embodiments, a module may be implemented mechanically or
electronically.
For example, a module may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is
permanently configured
(e.g., within a special-purpose processor, application specific integrated
circuit (ASIC), or array)
to perform certain operations. A module may also comprise programmable logic
or circuitry
(e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable
processor) that
is temporarily configured by software or firmware to perform certain
operations. It will be
appreciated that a decision to implement a module mechanically, in dedicated
and permanently
configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured
by software) may be
driven by, for example, cost, time, energy-usage, and package size
considerations.
Accordingly, the term "module" should be understood to encompass a tangible
entity, be
that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g.,
hardwired), or
temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to
perform certain
operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which modules or
components are
temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the modules or components
need not be
configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where the
modules or
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CA 02823800 2013-08-12
components comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, the
general-
purpose processor may be configured as respective different modules at
different times.
Software may accordingly configure the processor to constitute a particular
module at one
instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance
of time.
Modules can provide information to, and receive information from, other
modules.
Accordingly, the described modules may be regarded as being communicatively
coupled. Where
multiples of such modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be
achieved through
signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connect
the modules. In
embodiments in which multiple modules are configured or instantiated at
different times,
communications between such modules may be achieved, for example, through the
storage and
retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple modules
have access. For
example, one module may perform an operation and store the output of that
operation in a
memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further module may
then, at a later
time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output.
Modules may also
initiate communications with input or output devices and can operate on a
resource (e.g., a
collection of information).
Although the present disclosure has been described in connection with some
embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth
herein. One skilled in
the art would recognize that various features of the described embodiments may
be combined in
accordance with the present disclosure. Moreover, it will be appreciated that
various
modifications and alterations may be made by those skilled in the art without
departing from the
spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. 1.72(b),
requiring
an abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the
technical disclosure. It
is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or
limit the scope or
meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it
can be seen that
various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose
of streamlining the
disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting
an intention that the
claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each
claim. Rather, as
the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all
features of a single
17
,
CA 02823800 2013-08-12
disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into
the Detailed
Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.
18
