Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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SLIDE PREPARATION
FIELD
[0001] The technology disclosed herein (the "technology") relates to processor-
implemented
presentation systems. More specifically, the technology relates to caching a
constructed slide of
a presentation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0002] Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying
drawings which
show example implementations of the present application.
[0003] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system;
[0004] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of a portable electronic device
forming part of
the communication system of FIG. 1, according to an implementation;
[0005] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing functional components of the
technology;
[0006] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating methods of the technology, using the
functional
components of FIG. 3;
[0007] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating methods of the technology, using the
functional
components of FIGS. 1 - 3;
[0008] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating methods of caching a ready-to-
display representation of
an anticipated slide in slide construction memory of a presentation device;
[0009] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating methods of caching a ready-to-
display representation of
an anticipated slide in slide construction memory of a presentation device;
and
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[0010] FIG. 8 illustrates a data processing system suitable for storing a
computer program
product of the present technology and for executing the program code of the
computer program
product.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011 ] Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the
technology. Each
example is provided by way of explanation of the technology only, not as a
limitation of the
technology. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and
variations can be made in the present technology without departing from the
scope or spirit of the
technology. For instance, features described as part of one implementation can
be used on
another implementation to yield a still further implementation. Thus, it is
intended that the
present technology cover such modifications and variations that come within
the scope of the
technology.
[0012] Electronic slide presentations are a common way to present information
to one or more
viewers. Slide presentation software (e.g. Microsoft Office PowerPoint )
facilitates the
creation of multimedia files incorporating text, images, audio and/or visual
clips for presentation
in one or more slides. Often the files are presented in a slideshow,
displaying the slides
sequentially. The slides may be displayed to a display screen of a computing
device (e.g., a
personal computer), or via a presentation device such as a projector for
projecting the
presentation to a remote screen.
[0013] More particularly, portable electronic devices such as wireless mobile
devices (cellular
phones, PDAs, etc.) among others, may include a viewer for displaying slide
presentations in
multiple display modes, such as a text mode for displaying text information
distilled from the
slides, a preview mode for displaying thumbnail slide images rendered from the
slides and a
mixed mode for displaying both text information and thumbnail slide images
together. The slide
presentation viewer may also include a slide show mode to display the slide
images in full screen
along with an interface (e.g. menu) for selecting among the multiple modes and
for invoking and
controlling the slide show. For handheld wireless communication devices in
particular, a
network server may process slide. presentation files to generate the text
information and slide
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images for communicating to wireless devices equipped with appropriate slide
presentation
viewers.- The network server may be an attachment server providing services
for email
attachments and the slide presentation viewers may be attachment viewers for
email or dedicated
viewers for presentations.
[0014] Handheld communication devices may also be capable of remotely
controlling display of
an electronic slide presentation. For example, a presentation mode of
operation may be provided
for wirelessly controlling display of a slide presentation on, or through, a
presentation device.
When controlling a presentation in this fashion, the slides being displayed on
the handheld
electronic device can be the same as those displayed on the presentation
device (or on a display
connected to the presentation device.
[0015] The term "slide" as used throughout the specification and drawings
includes, but is not
limited to, a single presentation slide (such as a PowerPoint slide), a page
in a PDF file, or a
single photo image.
[0016] FIG. 1 shows a communication network system 100 comprising at least one
portable
electronic device 112, an IP network 114 (including a wireless carrier network
and base station
(not shown)), a wireless network gateway 116, an enterprise email server 117,
an enterprise
wireless communication device server or proxy server 118, an attachment server
119, a display
190, and interconnections therebetween.
[0017] The portable electronic device 112 can be operable to effect
communications over an IP
network 114 via a radio communications channel 160, and communicates with the
base station
(not shown) while located within a coverage area that is defined by the base
station. The base
station can be part of the IP network 114, or other network such as a Wireless
Wide Area
Network (WWAN). Data can be delivered to the portable electronic device 112
via wireless
transmission from the base station. Similarly, data can be sent from the
portable electronic
device 112 via wireless transmission to the base station.
[0018] It will be appreciated that the portable electronic device 112 can be
movable within the
coverage area and can be moved to coverage areas defined by other base
stations. Generally,
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portable electronic devices 112 can be connected to a wireless network that
may comprise one or
more of a WWAN and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) or other suitable
network
arrangements such as 114. In some implementations, the devices 112 can be
configured to
communicate over both the WWAN and WLAN, and to roam between these networks.
In some
implementations, the wireless network may comprise multiple WWANs and WLANs.
[0019] The WWAN may be implemented as any suitable wireless access network
technology.
By way of example, but not limitation, the WWAN may be implemented as a
wireless network
that includes a number of transceiver base stations where each of the base
stations provides
wireless Radio Frequency (RF) coverage to a corresponding area or cell. The
WWAN is
typically operated by a mobile network service provider that provides
subscription packages to
users of the mobile communication devices. In some implementations, the WWAN
conforms to
one or more of the following wireless network types: Mobitex Radio Network,
DataTAC, GSM
(Global System for Mobile Communication), GPRS (General Packet Radio System),
TDMA
(Time Division Multiple Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), CDPD
(Cellular
Digital Packet Data), iDEN (integrated Digital Enhanced Network), EvDO
(Evolution-Data
Optimized) CDMA2000, EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution), UMTS
(Universal
Mobile Telecommunication Systems), HSPDA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access),
IEEE
802.16e (also referred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
or "WiMAX"), or
various other networks. Although WWAN 102 is described as a "Wide-Area"
network, that term
is intended herein also to incorporate wireless Metropolitan Area Networks
(WMAN) and other
similar technologies for providing coordinated service wirelessly over an area
larger than that
covered by typical WLANs.
[0020] The WWAN may further comprise, or interface with, a wireless network
gateway 116
that connects the devices 112 to transport facilities, and through the
transport facilities to an
enterprise system 120. Transport facilities may include one or more private
networks or lines,
the Internet, a virtual private network, or any other suitable network. The
enterprise system 120
may be operated, for example, by an organization or enterprise such as a
corporation, university,
or governmental department that allows access to a network 124 such as an
internal or enterprise
network (e.g., an intranet) and its resources, or the enterprise system 120
may be operated by a
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mobile network provider. In some implementations, the network 124 may be
realized using the
Internet rather than or in addition to an internal or enterprise network.
[0021] The portable electronic device 112 is further operable to deliver
content to and control a
presentation device 113. For example, device 112 can send slide presentation
content and
control signals to the presentation device 113 for controlling display of a
presentation, such as a
Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation or successive pages of an image
attachment, such
as a Portable Document Format (PDF) document. The electronic device 112 can
communicate
with the presentation device 113 over communications link 170, e.g., a wired
or wireless link.
Communications link 170 between the electronic device 112 and the presentation
device 113 can
be, for example, a Bluetooth wireless technology communications link.
[0022] Proxy server 118 can handle client requests from the portable
electronic device 112 for
documents stored within attachment server 119. The attachment server 119 can
communicate
with the proxy server 118 to transmit attachments such as documents,
spreadsheets, images,
multimedia files, etc. through the gateway 116 and network 114 for viewing via
an attachment
viewer of the portable electronic device 112 so as to allow a user to view
attachments that are
received in email messages. While only one attachment server 119 is shown for
illustration
purposes, a person skilled in the art will understand that the attachment
server 119 alternatively
can be a network of attachment servers. Sources for the attachments stored
within server 119 can
include mail server 117, and may include a web server, IM server, etc.
Preferably the attachment
data is downloaded to portable electronic device 112 in chunks of binary data
in an attachment
viewer readable format, for example Universal Content Stream (UCS) format.
[0023] Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of some typical components
within the portable
electronic device 112 is shown. In the illustrated implementation, the
portable electronic device
112 is based on the computing environment and functionality of a wireless
personal digital
assistant (PDA). It will be understood, however, that the portable electronic
device 112 is not
limited to wireless personal digital assistants. Other portable electronic
devices are possible,
such as smart telephones, laptop computers, and tablet computers.
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[0024] The portable electronic device 112 can include a processor 200
connected to a read-only-
memory (ROM) 210 that can contain a plurality of applications executable by
the processor 200
that can enable the portable electronic device 112 to perform certain
functions including, for
example, PIN message functions, SMS message functions and cellular telephone
functions, and
at least one attachment viewer application for viewing attachments (e.g.
document attachments to
emails or documents from other sources, such as web servers, etc.). The
processor 200 is also
connected to a random access memory unit (RAM) 220 and a persistent storage
device 230,
which are responsible for various storage functions of the portable electronic
device 112. The
processor 200 receives input from input devices such as a keypad 240 and a
trackball or touch
sensitive input 250. The processor 200 outputs to various output devices, such
as an LCD
display 260. A microphone 270 and phone speaker 280 are connected to the
processor 200 for
cellular telephone functions. The processor 200 is also connected to a modem
and radio device
290. The modem and radio device 290 is used to connect to wireless networks
for transmitting
and receiving voice and data communications through an antenna 294. A
Bluetooth wireless
technology receiver/transmitter 296 is provided to effect wireless
communication between device
112 and other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as presentation device 113, as
discussed in greater
detail below. A content store 298, which is generally a file storage system
for the portable
electronic device 112, is also provided. Though not illustrated, the device
112 can include other
near-range communications interfaces, e.g., an infrared interface operating
similar to television
remote control interface.
[0025] Request/view functionality for an attachment can be provided by the
client/server
combination of attachment viewer within the portable electronic device 112 and
the attachment
server 118. More particularly, with reference to FIG. 3, portable electronic
device 112 can be
configured (e.g. via software stored, for example, in ROM 210) to comprise
various components
including an operating system 300, a communications system 305 for wireless
communication,
an email application 310 and other applications 315. Email application 310 can
comprise or
otherwise cooperate with various attachment viewers 320 for retrieving and
viewing attachments.
One such attachment viewer is slide presentation viewer 325. Other viewers 330
include
spreadsheet viewers, image viewers, word processing document viewers, etc.
(not described
herein). Other applications 315 include other communication and control
applications 317 and a
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presentation application 319 for communicating with and controlling
presentation device 113.
The presentation application 319 can communicate with one or more presentation
devices via
wired or wireless connections, including cables, radio frequency, and infrared
media.
[0026] Attachment server 119 can be configured (e.g. via software stored, for
example, in non-
volatile memory (not shown)) to comprise various components including a
operating system 335,
communications system 340, slide presentation attachment handler 345 as well
as other
attachment handlers 347 for other attachment types. Slide presentation
attachment handler 345
can comprise or otherwise cooperates with a text distiller 350 and slide
renderer 355. Text
distiller 350 can be configured to parse or otherwise review slide
presentation documents to
extract text information for delivery to handheld devices such as portable
electronic device 112.
Slide renderer 355 can define rasterized slide images (e.g. in a jpeg, tiff or
other image format)
from the slide presentation document for each slide for similar delivery.
[0027] The attachment server 119 and/or proxy server 118 and portable
electronic device 112
can communicate such that when a user invokes the attachment viewer 325 to
view the content of
a slide presentation, the portable electronic device 112 can transmit one or
more requests for
slide information, (i.e. the text information and slide images) and receives
same in response.
Requests and responses are illustrated notionally as communicating directly
between the portable
electronic device 112 and attachment server 119 but it is understood that
communications are
through network 114 via gateway 116 and proxy server 118.
[0028] Due in part at least to communication protocol constraints on a
message's size, a single
message may be insufficient to communicate all of the text information and/or
all of the slide
images for a slide presentation document. Thus, the portable electronic device
112 can make
multiple requests either automatically or in response to direct or indirect
user actions. For
example, as described above, during a slide show, the slide presentation
viewer 325 can
automatically make requests for slide information in the background while a
slide show is being
viewed. For example, the viewer 325 can anticipate the need for more slide
information in
response to input via trackball or touch input 250 scrolling toward the end of
the slides present
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on the handheld device. In some implementations, a menu choice may be invoked
(e.g. a "More"
command) for additional slide information, as applicable, to pre-load slides.
[0029] In some implementations, a request (e.g. for slide information)
includes a flag or other
data indicating a screen size for the portable electronic device 112 when
rendering slide images.
This can be a specific pixel size (e.g. 340 x 280), a code flag (1=340 x 280
pixels) or a device
type, among other types, where the attachment server 119 or proxy server 118
determines the
screen size from the code flag or device type. Other display capabilities can
be indicated to the
attachment server 119 as well or alternatively. For example, the color
capabilities of the display
screen (e.g. back and white only or the number of colors available),
reflective type, etc. can be
indicated to help render slide images. The attachment server 119 then can
adjust the color palette
of the rendered slide presentation for viewing on the requesting device.
[0030] Slide presentation viewer 325 can provide a graphical user interface
(GUI) to present the
slides in the various modes and provides a menu or other command interface for
user input to
invoke the presentation application 319 for transmitting the slide
presentation to presentation
device 113 and controlling the presentation thereat.
[0031] More particularly, presentation device 113 can include a presentation
adapter 360 for
communicating with presentation application 319.
[0032] In addition to presentation adapter 360, presentation device 113
includes other hardware
and software such as communications 365, other projector applications 370
(e.g., for
communicating with display 190) and operating system 375.
[0033] With reference to FIG. 4, example methods are set forth for downloading
and viewing a
presentation on the portable electronic device 112, e.g., using the functional
components of FIG.
3. First, at 400, the portable electronic device 112 can request an attachment
(e.g. slide
presentation) from attachment server 119. The request can be initiated, for
example, by a
trackball click or menu item selection to "Open attachment" or "Download
attachment." The
presentation attachment may be an attachment to an email, calendar event,
instant message (IM),
browser link, or other attachment-enabled object.
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[0034] If the presentation attachment has been saved to memory of the device
119, e.g. a
persistent store 230 or Secure Digital (SD) card (not shown), then the
attachment can be retrieved
locally to the device 119, and process flows continues at FIG. 5.
[0035] If the presentation attachment has not been previously requested (e.g.,
a "No" at 410),
attachment server 119 can build a DOM that represents the attachment, e.g., by
parsing the
attachment document (step 420). In this manner, a graph structure can be built
within attachment
server 119 representing a model of the original attachment file. The DOM
contains textual
content, font, style and formatting attributes as well as layout attributes,
such as page/slide size,
positioning information (i.e. x, y and z coordinates on the page), embedded
graphics and tables,
for example. DOM structure is known and is disclosed in United States Patent
Application No.
2006/0055693. Approaches other than use of DOMs to represent a presentation
are within the
scope of the present technology. The DOM representation is used as an example.
[0036] Once the DOM of the attachment has been built the attachment server 119
can transcerpt
and encapsulate the DOM in UCS data, as indicated at 430. The UCS data then
can be sent to
portable electronic device 112 in chunks, as indicated at 440. Each chunk is a
self-contained data
representation of a portion of the presentation attachment (e.g. one image of
a slide, one slide of
a presentation). That is, there is sufficient data contained in a chunk to
enable the attachment
viewer to display the content of the chunk. Depending on the size of the
chunks and the size of
the attachment, the entire attachment can be transmitted in one chunk or in
multiple chunks.
Depending on the nature of the request from the attachment viewer, attachment
server 119 can
transmit the chunks in sequence or out of sequence. For example, if the
attachment viewer
requests the fifth slide of a presentation attachment, attachment server 119
can transmit the
chunks corresponding to the fifth slide, even if chunks for slides 1 to 4 have
not been transmitted
to the device 112.
[0037] The attachment then can be previewed via display 260, and several menu
or command
options are made available (450) such as "Present", "Retrieve Info/View Info",
"Zoom",
"Rotate", "Fit to Screen", "Next Slide", "Prey Slide (if applicable), "Save
Slide", "Download
Attachment", "Help", "Call Voice Mail", etc. Additional operations can be
performed in
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response to actuation of the trackball/touch input device 250, such as
scrolling to a next (or
previous) slide.
[0038] If the attachment has been previously requested (e.g., a "Yes" at 410),
attachment server
119 can transcerpt and encapsulates the DOM in UCS data, and transmit the UCS
data to
portable electronic device 112 in chunks, as indicated at 445, for display
(450).
[0039] In some implementations, device 112 can perform one or more of DOM
build and UCS
formatting, e.g., on presentation files stored on the device.
[0040] Upon selection of the "Present" command (500), the presentation
application 319 is
launched, as shown in FIG. 5. At 510, the application can check to see that
the presentation
adapter 360 is connected. If not, a communication channel is established
between portable
electronic device 112 and presentation device 113, e.g. via a pairing
connection process (515)
such as Bluetooth wireless technology pairing. A typical pairing connection
process calls up a
wizard for presenting steps to establish communication pairing between the
device 112 and
presentation adapter 360 of the presentation device 113 using the
communications applications
305 and 365 (e.g. Bluetooth discovery and pairing). Other wireless and wired
communications
technologies can be used between the device 112 and the presentation device
113.
[0041] At 520, the application 319 sends a session ID to the paired
presentation adapter 360.
The application then checks for slide presentation data (e.g. a first UCS
chunk representing the
first slide) having already been transmitted to and locally stored at the
presentation adapter 360
(525). This can be accomplished, for example, by comparing check sums, or any
other
appropriate method. If not, the presentation application 319 sends the slide
data to the
presentation adapter 530 (and, in some implementations, requesting additional
data from the
attachment server 119, as discussed above in connection with FIG. 4).
[0042] Referring to FIG. 6, methods 600 of the technology are illustrated. UCS
data representing
a slide of a presentation is now stored in memory of presentation device 113,
whether from the
portable electronic device 112, SD memory card of the presentation device 113,
or otherwise.
The presentation device 113 constructs the slide from the stored UCS data 602
(typically a
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collection of objects, e.g., text, static graphics, animated graphics) to a
format compatible with
the targeted display technology 190. Such processes can include, e.g., image
decompression, text
rendering, color conversion, setup of animation information for the slide. In
some
implementations of the presentation device 113, the device 113 includes UCS
data processing
memory allocated to text construction. The text construction memory is sized
to accommodate a
full slide of text, e.g., filling a 1024 x 768 display. Processing of the UCS
data in this fashion
results in a constructed slide.
[0043] The constructed slide is rendered 604 to a region of presentation
device 113 memory
allocated to direct display 390, e.g., a visible region in a ready-to-display
format, typically in
response to an instruction from an electronic device 112. Rendering the ready-
to-display data in
a visible region frees up memory space used during slide construction, e.g.,
the text construction
region. In typical presentation devices, the slide construction region 380
remains unused until
the presentation device 113 receives UCS data for another slide, e.g., as a
consequence of the
mobile device 112 receiving a command to transition to a slide of the
presentation that has not
been stored as UCS data on the presentation device 113.
[0044] Implementations of the present technology anticipate the next slide to
be presented 606.
If the UCS data for the anticipated slide is not stored on the presentation
device, some
implementations can request the UCS data for the anticipated slide 608.
[0045] After receiving the anticipated slide UCS data 610, whether by request
or otherwise (and
preferably after copying any earlier-constructed slide to a visible region of
presentation device
113 memory), implementations of the technology construct the anticipated slide
612. The
constructed anticipated slide is cached 614a and pre-drawn 614b into the
memory space
allocated to slide construction 614. In this fashion, the anticipated slide is
ready for copying to a
visible region (e.g., main buffer, flip buffer under control of a video
driver) of presentation
device 113 memory.
[0046] In some implementations, the anticipated slide is the next slide in
sequence in the
presentation. In some implementations, the anticipated slide can be determined
from slide
metadata, e.g., the title slide, the heading slide of a next presentation
section, the slide that has
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been displayed the most times during the presentation, the slide that has been
displayed for the
longest period of time during the presentation, etc. In some implementations,
the memory space
otherwise allocated to slide construction that is used to pre-draw the
anticipated slide can be the
text construction memory.
[0047] When the presentation device 113 is instructed to proceed to a slide
different than the one
currently being made available for display 616, the presentation device can
determine if the cache
holds the constructed new slide and if the new slide is pre-drawn in
construction memory 618,
i.e., if the anticipated slide is the slide for which it received a new
display instruction. If so, then
the presentation device 113 can copy the pre-drawn anticipated slide into the
visible portion of
memory (display memory), and use the cached constructed anticipated slide for
rendering the
new slide as necessary 620. In this fashion, the presentation device 113 can
reduce the latency
between slides when the anticipated slide is the new slide that the
presentation device is
instructed to display.
[0048] In some implementations, slide construction is a higher-priority use
than slide caching for
the memory used for slide caching. In those implementations, when the
presentation device 113
has a slide construction task, that task takes priority over slide caching.
[0049] Referring to FIG. 7, methods 700 of some implementations of the
technology are
illustrated. As with methods 600, UCS data representing a slide of a
presentation is now stored
in memory of presentation device 113, whether from the portable electronic
device 112, SD
memory card of the presentation device 113, or otherwise. The presentation
device 113
constructs the slide from the stored UCS data 602. The constructed slide is
rendered 604 to a
region of presentation device 113 memory allocated to direct display. While
the presentation
device is constructing and displaying the first slide, it is loading a second
slide in presentation
device memory. These implementations seek to construct, and pre-draw in
construction memory,
the very next slide stored - rather than otherwise anticipate the next slide
to be displayed. When
the presentation application receives the complete USC data for the second
slide 702, the
presentation device 113 constructs the second slide 704. The presentation
device 113 then pre-
draws the constructed second slide in memory 706a and caches the constructed
second slide
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706b. As with methods 600, when the presentation device 113 is instructed to
proceed to a new
slide different than the one currently being made available for display 616,
the presentation
device can determine if the cache holds the constructed new slide and if the
new slide is pre-
drawn in construction memory 618, i.e., if the second slide is the slide for
which it received a
new display instruction. If so, then the presentation device 113 can copy the
pre-drawn
anticipated slide into the visible portion of memory (display memory), and use
the cached
constructed anticipated slide for rendering the new slide as necessary 708. In
this fashion, the
presentation device 113 can reduce the latency between slides when the
anticipated slide is the
new slide that the presentation device is instructed to display.
[0050] The present technology can take the forms of hardware, software or both
hardware and
software elements. In some implementations, the technology is implemented in
software, which
includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, a Field
Programmable Gate
Array (FPGA) or Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc. In
particular, for real-time
or near real-time use, an FPGA or ASIC implementation is desirable.
[0051] Furthermore, the present technology can take the form of a computer
program product
comprising program modules accessible from computer-usable or computer-
readable medium
storing program code for use by or in connection with one or more computers,
processors, or
instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-
usable or
computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store,
communicate,
propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the
instruction execution
system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic,
optical,
electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or
a propagation
medium (though propagation mediums in and of themselves as signal carriers are
not included in
the definition of physical computer-readable medium). Examples of a physical
computer-
readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape,
a removable
computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a
rigid
magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include
compact disk - read
only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk - read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. Both
processors and
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program code for implementing each as aspect of the technology can be
centralized or distributed
(or a combination thereof) as known to those skilled in the art.
[0052] Referring to FIG. 8, a data processing system (e.g., 800) suitable for
storing a computer
program product of the present technology and for executing the program code
of the computer
program product can include at least one processor (e.g., processor resources
812) coupled
directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus (e.g., 818
comprising data bus
818a, address bus 818b, and control bus 818c). The memory elements can include
local memory
(e.g., 816) employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage
(e.g.., 860), and
cache memories (e.g., including cache memory as part of local memory or
integrated into
processor resources) that provide temporary storage of at least some program
code in order to
reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during
execution.
Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards 850,
displays 830, pointing
devices 820, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through
intervening I/O
controllers (e.g., 814). Network adapters can also be coupled to the system to
enable the data
processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote
printers or
storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable
modem and
Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network
adapters. Such systems
can be centralized or distributed, e.g., in peer-to-peer and client/server
configurations. In some
implementations, the data processing system is implemented using one or both
of FPGAs and
ASICs.
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