Abstract:
A user interface and user interface control for displaying calendar data is provided. In particular, the user interface provides a hybrid view that includes both a schedule view of listed calendar items together with an overview strip that displays a compressed version of the schedule view. The selection of an appointment is reflected in both the schedule view portion of the view and the overview strip. As a result, users are able to easily see conflicts and free time while retaining a simple chronological listing of their day&#39;s commitments. Through the use of this hybrid view, the number of views to navigate between can be reduced without sacrificing function to simplify the calendaring experience.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/746,551, entitled AGENDA AND DAY HYBRID CALENDAR VIEW, filed on May 5, 2006, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Mobile users, particularly those that spend significant time working outside of an office and away from a desk, rely heavily on their mobile or handheld devices to keep themselves organized and on-time for meetings, appointments, and even flights. To address the increasing demands of such users, handheld computing devices such as pocket PCs, smart phones, and mini-compact PCs have lead to smaller and more compact multi-functional devices. However, the ever-shrinking devices also mean smaller and smaller screen sizes. As a result, many new challenges for applications in terms of conveying and displaying content that is both useful and readable have arisen. Take a calendar application for example. In the calendar space, displaying the relevant content to the user tends to be more difficult as screen sizes decrease. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the systems and/or methods discussed herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of the systems and/or methods discussed herein. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope of such systems and/or methods. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. 
         [0004]    The subject application relates to a user interface and user interface control system that facilitates visualizing calendar data from multiple perspectives particularly on smaller handheld devices where screen real estate is limited or restricted. More specifically, the user interface control displays calendar items in a schedule view as well as an overview strip or bar for a current window of time on display. The schedule view provides a detailed linear listing of the calendar items in chronological order according to the indicated time. The calendar items can include appointments, events, and activities that can be associated with a specific time of the day (e.g., 1:30-3:00 PM) or can occur “all-day” with no specific time indicated. Thus, the schedule view displays the name or title of the appointment, event, or activity, time, and location when known in a relatively uncomplicated manner to maximize the amount of text which can be displayed for each calendar item. 
         [0005]    In addition to the schedule view, a time-oriented overview strip of existing calendar items can be displayed in the display space along with the schedule view to provide a peripheral understanding of the duration of the calendar items and of when there are free times in the user&#39;s day. More specifically, the overview strip can encompass any number of hours or a time window (e.g., 8-hour block of time from 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM), whereby the length or duration of any one calendar item is expressed as a bar. The size of the bar corresponds to the duration of the calendar item. The bars can appear in different colors or shadings to indicate the status of the appointment or the status of the user during the appointment. For instance, a green bar for a meeting can indicate that the user will be out of the office for the meeting or can indicate that the meeting will be conducted via video-conferencing. 
         [0006]    The schedule view and overview strip can operate in tandem to provide consistent information to the user when viewing or navigating through the information. For example, as the user scrolls through the schedule view, the overview strip view can shift to the appropriate time window to correspond to the calendar items currently shown in the display space. The shift of the time window either forward or backward can be visualized using various animation effects. As a result of such animation, the user retains context of the content displayed on-screen when the time window shifts. 
         [0007]    Calendar items shown in the schedule view can include various visual notifications to inform the user of item status or of conflicts between items. The overview strip can mirror such notifications using similar visual cues to capture the user&#39;s attention. The use of such visual cues in the overview strip facilitates scheduling future items in a more efficient manner. Even more so, the combination of the schedule view and the overview strip displayed on-screen at the same time reduces the number of screens the user must navigate between to obtain the information. 
         [0008]    To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and the subject invention is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention may become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a user interface control system that facilitates displaying calendar items from multiple perspectives on a user interface. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a user interface control system that displays calendar items from at least two different perspectives (e.g., schedule view and overview strip view) to provide a user with both current and peripheral information. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an exemplary user interface that provides a better overall sense of a day&#39;s outlook quickly at-a-glance while still retaining the ability to see more detailed information regarding at least a subset of calendar items. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is an exemplary user interface displaying existing calendar items for a particular day. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is an enlarged view of an exemplary overview strip that demonstrates the manner in which a calendar item is represented in the overview strip. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a diagram of exemplary status indicators and corresponding visual cues (e.g., color) for each that can be reflected in the calendar item in the schedule view as well as in the same item indicated in the overview strip. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is an exemplary user interface displaying a visual representation corresponding to at least one all-day calendar item as it is reflected in the schedule view and overview strip view. 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is an exemplary user interface displaying a visual representation of conflicting calendar items in the schedule view and overview strip view. 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a diagram that demonstrates exemplary time windows for a 24-hour period which can be based on screen orientation (e.g. portrait or landscape). 
           [0018]      FIG. 10  illustrates an exemplary environment for implementing various aspects of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]    The subject systems and/or methods are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the systems and/or methods. It may be evident, however, that the subject systems and/or methods may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing them. 
         [0020]    As used herein, the terms “component” and “system” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. 
         [0021]    The subject systems and/or methods can incorporate various inference schemes and/or techniques in connection with recognizing the time window in which a majority of the user&#39;s calendar items occur and then showing this time window upon opening the calendar for viewing. In addition, inference schemes can be employed to determine priorities of conflicting calendar items such as when no priority status has been assigned or when the conflicting items have the same priority. Higher priority items can be visually enhanced to appear more prominent to the user. 
         [0022]    As used herein, the term “inference” refers generally to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of the system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specific context or action, or can generate a probability distribution over states, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is, the computation of a probability distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of new events or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and whether the events and data come from one or several event and data sources. 
         [0023]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is a block diagram of a user interface control system  100  that facilitates displaying calendar items  105  from multiple perspectives on a screen at the same time, and in particular, on a smaller handheld or portable device screen. The user interface control  100  includes a multi-view display component  110  that can display calendar items  105  in at least two different perspectives. A first or primary perspective provides a linear listing of the current or upcoming calendar items on a particular day. Due to limited screen real estate and the amount of text displayed for each calendar item, the display component  110  can display at least a subset of the items  105  occurring within a time window. For example, suppose the time window spans a 10 hour period (e.g., 2:00 PM-12:00 AM). The screen size may only allow for the items occurring between 2:00 and 6:30 PM to be displayed, thereby requiring the user to scroll down to view the appointments occurring thereafter. 
         [0024]    A second or supplemental perspective provides a peripheral overview or compressed view of the calendar items  105  that exist within a time window. This view mitigates the need to page or scroll to additional screen views to see the activities planned during the particular time window. For instance, referring to the same example as above, the peripheral overview can display the hours within the time window of 2 PM-12:00 AM in a vertical or horizontal strip. A bar spanning the time or duration of each calendar item  105  can be used to represent the respective item. The length of the bar can indicate the duration of the item (e.g.,  FIG. 4 , infra) in order to quickly convey when the user has planned activities or when the user has free time (e.g., available). For example, imagine the user has an hour long event scheduled from 4-5:00 PM. The length of the bar would span from hour 4 to hour 5. Now imagine that another event is scheduled from 2 PM to 2:30 PM. In this case, the length of the bar would span from hour 2 to about a midpoint between hours 2 and 3. Moreover, the peripheral view provides a user with quick information regarding her availability throughout the day while at the same time displaying current and upcoming appointments in more detail as well. 
         [0025]    To further facilitate the amount or quality of information that is provided to the user via the multi-view display component  110 , a status notification component  120  can enhance the visual representations of calendar items in the schedule view as well as in the peripheral overview. For example, various colors can be selected to indicate different status states such as out of office, busy, tentative, and free. A lunch meeting can be colored orange to indicate that the user will be out of the office for this appointment. Therefore, the calendar item can appear orange in both the schedule view as well as in the peripheral view. 
         [0026]    The user interface also includes a conflict notification component  130 . The conflict notification component  130  can provide a visual cue when a conflict exists between calendar items. In particular, the conflict visual cue can be represented in the specific calendar item in the linear listing and a corresponding visual indicator can be shown when the respective bar in the peripheral overview is selected. 
         [0027]    As discussed earlier, the peripheral overview view can display a selected block of time (e.g., in hours). When initially viewing the calendar items on “open” in the calendar application/program, the home view of the calendar can be customized by way of an intelligent view control  140 . The home view can set a default time window to always appear initially when opening or activating the program. For example, the home view can automatically show only morning or only afternoon activities. In the alternative, the intelligent view control  140  can examine the user&#39;s calendar items and determine when most of the calendar items are scheduled and then show the time frame that shows the majority of items. For instance, suppose that a majority of the user&#39;s calendar items occur in the morning (a first time window). Based on this determination, the intelligent view control  140  can infer that the more appropriate home view is the “morning” time window. The time window appearing in the home view can change daily based on the calendar items for the given day or can be fixed (e.g., always show the morning time window). 
         [0028]    The intelligent view control  140  can also determine which time window to show in the home view by examining the priority or importance level assigned to the calendar items. For example, imagine that there are two high priority items scheduled in the morning (e.g., before noon) and 6 “normal” or lower priority items set in the afternoon (e.g. noon-5 PM). The intelligent view control  140  can be programmed to automatically show the higher priority items in the home view even though the majority of the user&#39;s activities are scheduled in the afternoon. 
         [0029]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is a block diagram of the multi-view display component  110  as introduced in  FIG. 1  that displays calendar items from at least two different perspectives (e.g., schedule view and overview strip view) to provide a user with both current and peripheral information. The user interface includes a time window display object  210  and a schedule display object  220 —both of which can convey some similar information. In particular, the schedule display object  220  lists calendar items in chronological order so that the user can readily determine the next meeting, appointment, event, etc. The user can easily read the content of each calendar item in the list and through the use of various visual indicators, can quickly determine her state in terms of being busy, out of the office, or tentatively occupied and whether any calendar items conflict with each other. 
         [0030]    The time window display object  210  provides a compressed view of the information displayed in the schedule display object  220  for a particular block of time. As the user scrolls through the list of items in the schedule display object  220  (via one or more navigation components  230 ), the time window can shift or slide left or right depending on the items on display in or by the schedule display object  220 . Thus, the time window can be set at 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Here, the user can see where items exist during this 10 hour period and can see the duration of each item (e.g., 1 hour, 30 minutes, 1½ hours, etc.). 
         [0031]    Turning now to  FIG. 3 , there is a diagram of an exemplary user interface  300  that optimizes viewing calendar items from multiple perspectives in a simultaneous manner. The user interface  300  comprises a device state bar  310  that can provide information about the device such as battery life, AC adapter use, signal strength, connection speed, available memory, and the like. The user interface  300  can also include a user state bar  320  that provides information more related to the user or conditions of the user&#39;s environment. For example, the user state bar can display the current date and/or time, current ambient temperature, and/or current weather conditions. 
         [0032]    In addition, the user interface  300  comprises an overview strip or bar  330  that provides an overview of the user&#39;s schedule and availability within a several hour time frame. For instance, the overview bar  330  can indicate a user&#39;s availability or when calendar items exist over a 9 hour block of time. By contrast, the user interface  300  also includes a calendar item view space  340  that provides a more detailed view of each calendar item. The calendar item view space  340  can show the first 4 calendar items within that 9 hour block in greater detail. The user can scroll down or navigate to a previous or next page to see any other calendar items that may exist during or outside of that same 9 hour block of time. Hence, the user can get a better overall sense of a day&#39;s outlook quickly at-a-glance while still retaining the ability to see more detailed information regarding at least a subset of calendar items that are presently onscreen. 
         [0033]    As the user navigates backward or forward through his/her calendar items, animation effects can be utilized to emphasize the change in hours that are visible in the overview bar  330 . For example, imagine that the current block of time in the overview bar  330  ranges from 10 AM to 6 PM. The user navigates to view other calendar items in the calendar item view space  340  that are presently off-screen. As the user moves to items set to occur after 6 PM, the block of time in the overview bar  330  can visibly slide to the left to show any events scheduled between 6 PM and 12 AM. By using such animation effects, the user retains some context of the current content when the overview bar shifts in either direction. 
         [0034]      FIG. 4  illustrates such features in more graphical detail. In particular, the user interface  400  displays existing calendar items for a particular day (e.g., Sep. 19, 2005) from two different viewpoints. In the first, an overview strip or bar  420  provides a compressed view of the user&#39;s activities between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM. It should be appreciated that the time can be shown in civilian time or in military time such as is depicted in the user interface  400 . 
         [0035]    In the second, a schedule view  430  provides an expanded view of at least a subset of calendar items  410  at a time. As a result, greater detail with respect to each calendar item is visible. For example, the overview bar  420  indicates that the user has an activity at 9:00 to 9:30 AM; an activity at 12:00 to 1:30 PM; an activity at 1:30 to 2:00 PM; and another activity at 4:00 to 5:30 PM. By quickly glancing at the screen, the user can discern when he has free time. However, at the same time, the user can also see what activity is planned from 9:00 to 9:30 in the morning as well as its location. As the user scrolls up or down in the schedule view  430 , the overview bar  420  can shift automatically to the appropriate block of time without direct user manipulation. 
         [0036]    In addition to indicating when calendar items are set to occur and their duration, the overview bar  420  can also provide more meaningful information about each particular item. For instance, color can be employed to indicate the user&#39;s state. One color can signify a “busy” state while another color or a different shade of the same color can signify an “out of office” state. In this user interface  400 , the color purple indicates that the user will be out of the office for a lunch meeting at 12:00 PM. Color can also be used to describe additional aspects of the item. For instance, pink can designate appointments or activities for the user&#39;s daughter; green can be used for the user&#39;s doctor appointments; and red can be used for “attendance mandatory” events. Thus, when the user sees pink or green items, he can immediately recognize and acknowledge particular details about the respective items without actually looking up or referencing the items in the schedule view  430 . 
         [0037]    Navigation within the calendar item view space (or schedule view  430 ) can also be visualized in the overview bar  420 . For example, imagine that the user highlights the 12:00 PM appointment in the schedule view. The corresponding time is also selected or boxed (blue selection box) in the overview bar  420 . Similarly, an item&#39;s color can be reflected in both the overview bar  420  and the schedule view  430 . 
         [0038]      FIG. 5  provides an enlarged view of an exemplary overview strip  500  in order to better illustrate the spacing of hours. The overview strip allows the user to view his schedule and availability from a time-line perspective. As indicated in  FIG. 5 , each segment of time (e.g., each hour) in the strip starts at the left edge of the number and ends at the left edge of the next number. If an appointment is scheduled to start at 9:00 AM and end at 9:30 AM, then a first portion of the 9 o&#39;clock segment can be shaded to indicate that an event is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM and last for 30 minutes. For very short appointments such as those that last for 0 or 1 minute, a minimum of one vertical line of pixels can be displayed to indicate to the user that an item, though very brief in duration, exists at that time. 
         [0039]      FIG. 6  is a diagram  600  of exemplary status indicators and corresponding visual cues (e.g., color) that can be reflected in a calendar item in the schedule view as well as in the overview strip. For example, various shades of blue to purple can indicate tentative, busy, and out of office, whereas white can indicate “free”. It should be appreciated that other colors or status types can be employed as well. 
         [0040]    Moving on to  FIG. 7 , there is an exemplary user interface  700  which displays two different visual indicators for an all-day calendar item. In particular, the schedule view and overview strip view each include one visual indicator. The overview strip displays a solid line  710  above the hours whereas the schedule view displays the text of the all-day item  720  set apart from all of the other calendar items  730 . The color of the line and the calendar item can correspond to a status indicator as discussed in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 6 , supra. When more than one all-day item is scheduled for any one day, the line can be depicted in various manners in order to represent that more than one all-day event is planned for that day. Alternatively, the solid line can notify the user that at least one all-day event exists on that day. It should be appreciated that the line  720  can be solid as shown in  FIG. 7  or can appear as dotted, dashed, or otherwise broken to provide the user with additional context regarding the item. 
         [0041]    Turning now to  FIG. 8 , there is an exemplary user interface  800  displaying a visual representation of conflicting calendar items both in the schedule view and overview strip. In the schedule view, the conflicting calendar items each have an icon or symbol  810  (encircled by dashed line) displayed thereon. When selected in the schedule view, the corresponding block of time in the overview strip is outlined in some other color such as red to notify the user that calendar items overlap or are in conflict with one another. When appointments overlap each other in the overview strip, priority can be given based on the status of the appointment. The status color of the selected item can be brought to the foreground. Higher priority items can be represented using specified colors, shading, or by associating a symbol therewith so that the user can readily identify which items have a higher priority, and thus require the user&#39;s attention. It should be appreciated that lower priority or no-priority items in conflict with higher priority items can still be visible to the user, however they may appear faded or in a different color than higher priority items. 
         [0042]    For conflicting items having the same priority, the user interface control system can determine which item the particular user is most likely to prefer and visually enhance that item for easier readability. Such determinations can be made using inference systems as well as artificial intelligence systems that can learn from the user&#39;s historical data including but not limited to previously entered calendar items. 
         [0043]    Moving on to  FIG. 9 , there is a diagram that demonstrates exemplary time windows for a 24-hour period which can be based on screen orientation (e.g., portrait or landscape). For most users, the majority of their daily activity takes place within an 8-10 hour span of time. By setting fixed or flexible time windows, the number of context changes the user will have to experience as they navigate their schedule view can be minimized. The scrolling itself can employ the following algorithm:
       Initial Condition: start in the 2 nd  set of hours (including days which have no appointments at all).   When an appointment is selected, check if any part of that appointment is visible in the set of hours currently shown.
           If so, stay in the current set of hours.   If not, page to the appropriate set of hours so it is visible.   
               
 
         [0048]    If the appropriate set of hours is ambiguous, show the set which is in closest time proximity to the currently shown set of hours. For example: if the user scrolls from a 6 AM appointment (unambiguously in the 1 st  set) to a 5 PM appointment (in both the 2 nd  and 3 rd  sets), the algorithm should choose set 2 since it is closer to set 1. 
         [0049]    In order to provide additional context for various aspects of the subject invention,  FIG. 10  and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable operating environment  1010  in which various aspects of the subject invention may be implemented. While the invention is described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can also be implemented in combination with other program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software. 
         [0050]    Generally, however, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular data types. The operating environment  1010  is only one example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Other well known computer systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include but are not limited to, personal computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include the above systems or devices, and the like. 
         [0051]    With reference to  FIG. 10 , an exemplary environment  1010  for implementing various aspects of the invention includes a computer  1012 . The computer  1012  includes a processing unit  1014 , a system memory  1016 , and a system bus  1018 . The system bus  1018  couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory  1016  to the processing unit  1014 . The processing unit  1014  can be any of various available processors. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures also can be employed as the processing unit  1014 . 
         [0052]    The system bus  1018  can be any of several types of bus structure(s) including the memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus or external bus, and/or a local bus using any variety of available bus architectures including, but not limited to, 11-bit bus, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), Micro-Channel Architecture (MCA), Extended ISA (EISA), Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE), VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), Personal Computer Memory Card International Association bus (PCMCIA), and Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI). 
         [0053]    The system memory  1016  includes volatile memory  1020  and nonvolatile memory  1022 . The basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines to transfer information between elements within the computer  1012 , such as during start-up, is stored in nonvolatile memory  1022 . By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory  1022  can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory  1020  includes random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), static DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct Rambus (DRDRAM). 
         [0054]    Computer  1012  also includes removable/nonremovable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media.  FIG. 10  illustrates, for example a disk storage  1024 . Disk storage  1024  includes, but is not limited to, devices like a magnetic disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, Jaz drive, Zip drive, LS-100 drive, flash memory card, or memory stick. In addition, disk storage  1024  can include storage media separately or in combination with other storage media including, but not limited to, an optical disk drive such as a compact disk ROM device (CD-ROM), CD recordable drive (CD-R Drive), CD rewritable drive (CD-RW Drive) or a digital versatile disk ROM drive (DVD-ROM). To facilitate connection of the disk storage devices  1024  to the system bus  1018 , a removable or non-removable interface is typically used such as interface  1026 . 
         [0055]    It is to be appreciated that  FIG. 10  describes software that acts as an intermediary between users and the basic computer resources described in suitable operating environment  1010 . Such software includes an operating system  1028 . Operating system  1028 , which can be stored on disk storage  1024 , acts to control and allocate resources of the computer system  1012 . System applications  1030  take advantage of the management of resources by operating system  1028  through program modules  1032  and program data  1034  stored either in system memory  1016  or on disk storage  1024 . It is to be appreciated that the subject invention can be implemented with various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. 
         [0056]    A user enters commands or information into the computer  1012  through input device(s)  1036 . Input devices  1036  include, but are not limited to, a pointing device such as a mouse, trackball, stylus, touch pad, keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, TV tuner card, digital camera, digital video camera, web camera, and the like. These and other input devices connect to the processing unit  1014  through the system bus  1018  via interface port(s)  1038 . Interface port(s)  1038  include, for example, a serial port, a parallel port, a game port, and a universal serial bus (USB). Output device(s)  1040  use some of the same type of ports as input device(s)  1036 . Thus, for example, a USB port may be used to provide input to computer  1012  and to output information from computer  1012  to an output device  1040 . Output adapter  1042  is provided to illustrate that there are some output devices  1040  like monitors, speakers, and printers among other output devices  1040  that require special adapters. The output adapters  1042  include, by way of illustration and not limitation, video and sound cards that provide a means of connection between the output device  1040  and the system bus  1018 . It should be noted that other devices and/or systems of devices provide both input and output capabilities such as remote computer(s)  1044 . 
         [0057]    Computer  1012  can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer(s)  1044 . The remote computer(s)  1044  can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a workstation, a microprocessor based appliance, a peer device or other common network node and the like, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to computer  1012 . For purposes of brevity, only a memory storage device  1046  is illustrated with remote computer(s)  1044 . Remote computer(s)  1044  is logically connected to computer  1012  through a network interface  1048  and then physically connected via communication connection  1050 . Network interface  1048  encompasses communication networks such as local-area networks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN). LAN technologies include Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI), Ethernet/IEEE 1102.3, Token Ring/IEEE 1102.5 and the like. WAN technologies include, but are not limited to, point-to-point links, circuit switching networks like Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN) and variations thereon, packet switching networks, and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL). 
         [0058]    Communication connection(s)  1050  refers to the hardware/software employed to connect the network interface  1048  to the bus  1018 . While communication connection  1050  is shown for illustrative clarity inside computer  1012 , it can also be external to computer  1012 . The hardware/software necessary for connection to the network interface  1048  includes, for exemplary purposes only, internal and external technologies such as, modems including regular telephone grade modems, cable modems and DSL modems, ISDN adapters, and Ethernet cards. 
         [0059]    What has been described above includes examples of the subject system and/or method. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the subject system and/or method, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the subject system and/or method are possible. Accordingly, the subject system and/or method are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.