Abstract:
A processor-implemented method for a concurrent software service upgrade is provided. The processor implemented method may include receiving a type of service request corresponding to the software service upgrade, determining, by the processor, the type of service request and then generating a plurality of subpartitions corresponding to a hypervisor. The method may further include applying the service request to at least one subpartition within the plurality of subpartitions, wherein the service request is applied to the at least one subpartition based on the type of service request and balancing the system resources among the plurality of subpartitions upon the applying of the service request to the at least one subpartition.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of service requests, and more particularly to concurrent service upgrades. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Currently, in a client-server computing environment, it is difficult to upgrade a control program (CP), such as system z/VM to correct known issues and to apply new function while the system continues to run uninterrupted. A very costly known solution, with unpredictable results, is to rewrite the control program. Another known proposed solution is to move all the virtual servers from a primary system to be upgraded to another system temporarily; apply the service upgrade to the primary system; and then move all the virtual servers back to the primary system once the upgrade is completed. However, there are several issues with this proposed solution. Another logical partition (LPAR) is required; the customer is required to perform a great deal of manual synchronization and management; and the primary system is “frozen” and cannot be accessed for extended periods of time since the control program is undergoing a live migration implementation. 
     As hardware technology (i.e., I/O devices, networking devices, etc.) changes and improves, it is critical that the control program, such as z/VM be updated to support the new hardware developments. Furthermore, it is also critical that the updates be applied in a timely manner. In the current environment, the upgrades take a great deal of time and money to be implemented. Additionally, upgrades to a large number of modules are necessary to support the new developments. This is especially true for complex systems that have existed for a while. As such, the current hardware support is falling behind as compared to the current technology that is available. 
     As previously stated, it would be very costly and the results would be unpredictable to restructure or rewrite the control program. Although it is a laborious task to properly upgrade the current control program, it would not be in the customer&#39;s best interest or efficiently serve the business needs of the customer to forego taking advantage of the technological hardware advancements. As such, it may be advantageous, among other things, to provide a concurrent upgrade mechanism that would allow modifications to the control program to occur while the control program continues to run uninterrupted and without requiring the need for the system to be rebooted. 
     SUMMARY 
     A processor-implemented method for a concurrent software service upgrade is provided. The processor implemented method may include receiving a type of service request corresponding to the software service upgrade, determining, by the processor, the type of service request and then generating a plurality of subpartitions corresponding to a hypervisor. The method may further include applying the service request to at least one subpartition within the plurality of subpartitions, wherein the service request is applied to the at least one subpartition based on the type of service request and balancing the system resources among the plurality of subpartitions upon the applying of the service request to the at least one subpartition. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings. The various features of the drawings are not to scale as the illustrations are for clarity in facilitating one skilled in the art in understanding the invention in conjunction with the detailed description. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a networked computer environment according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates the hardware that may be used in a networked computer environment with an exemplary hypervisor subpartition to be used as a concurrent upgrade mechanism according to one embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is an operational flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by a hypervisor subpartition to be used as a concurrent upgrade mechanism according to one embodiment; and 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of internal and external components of computers and servers depicted in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Detailed embodiments of the claimed structures and methods are disclosed herein; however, it can be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely illustrative of the claimed structures and methods that may be embodied in various forms. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of this invention to those skilled in the art. In the description, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments. 
     The present invention relates generally to field of service requests, and more particularly to concurrent service upgrades. The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method and program product to provide a concurrent upgrade mechanism that would allow modifications to the control program to occur while the control program continues to run uninterrupted and without requiring the need for a system reboot. 
     According to at least one embodiment of the present invention, multiple subpartitions are implemented to allow service requests (i.e., software upgrades) applied to the control program to be more granular. Although the method may be implemented on any operating system, one embodiment may be implemented by taking advantage of the dynamic module replacement on Linux™ and taking advantage of the live migration and related capabilities of a kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) as well as taking advantage of a subpartition that shares memory and an environment within a single logical partition. 
     Currently, in a client-server computing environment, it is difficult to upgrade a control program, such as system z/VM to correct known issues and to apply new function while the system continues to run uninterrupted. As previously described, hardware technology (i.e., I/O devices, networking devices, etc.) continually changes and improves, and therefore, it is critical that the control program, such as z/VM be updated to support the new hardware developments. Furthermore, it is also critical that the updates be applied in a timely manner. In the current environment, the upgrades take a great deal of time and money to be implemented. Additionally, upgrades to a large number of modules may be necessary to support the new developments. As previously described, there is currently no efficient or economical method to apply the software updates to the control program without adversely impacting the customer and their business needs. 
     As such, the current hardware support is falling behind as compared to the current technology that is available. Therefore, there exists a need for providing a concurrent upgrade mechanism that would allow modifications to the control program to occur while the control program continues to run uninterrupted. 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
     Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     The following described exemplary embodiments provide a system, method and program product to provide a concurrent upgrade mechanism that would allow modifications to the control program to occur while the control program continues to run uninterrupted and without the requirement of rebooting the system. This may allow high availability systems (i.e., systems that need to be running for 24 hours everyday, uninterrupted) to continue to be accessed while the software modifications, upgrades, fixes, etc. are applied in the background. Although the method may be implemented on any operating system, a Linux™ operating system may be used for example purposes only. As such, the method may include a hypervisor that is made up of multiple subpartitions. In computing, a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM) is a piece of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. The present embodiment may include a hypervisor that is made up of multiple subpartitions. For example purposes only, the method may include a hypervisor that is made up of three subpartitions which all share the same common memory for communication. The first subpartition may be a control program which does not run any customer virtual servers, but may provide the user with interfaces to the hypervisor and virtual servers, as well as the system&#39;s Linux™ subpartition. As such, the second subpartition may be a Linux™ micro hypervisor (MH) subpartition (a hypervisor subpartition within the hypervisor) that provides offload support, such as I/O, networking, etc. The third subpartition may be a Linux™ micro hypervisor subpartition that hosts all the customer&#39;s virtual servers. 
     The method may determine whether the upgrade to be made is in a module, such as Linux™, that can be dynamically upgraded. If so, then the control program may initiate that upgrade on each of the Linux™ subpartitions. If the upgrade is to one of the offload functions, then the control program may start a new offload subpartition that includes the upgrades and that uses the same common memory for communication. As such, the control program may instruct the “old” offload subpartition to stop taking new requests. Then once all the existing requests are satisfied, the “old” offload subpartition ends itself (i.e., is deleted) which makes the “old” offload&#39;s resources (i.e., CPUs, memory and devices) available for reassignment. However, if the upgrade is not in a Linux™ module or to one of the offload functions, then the control program may start a new host subpartition that includes the upgrades and that uses the same common memory for communication. As such, the control program instructs the “old” host subpartition to stop instantiating new virtual servers and move its existing virtual servers to the “new” host subpartition. This may be implemented either via a live migration environment or via a suspend/resume environment and is facilitated by the shared memory and resource space of all subpartitions. Once all the virtual servers are moved to the “new” host subpartition, the “old” host subpartition ends itself; therefore making the “old” host subpartition&#39;s resources available for reassignment. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary networked computer environment  100  in accordance with one embodiment is depicted. The networked computer environment  100  may include a client computer  102  with a processor  104  and a data storage device  106  that is enabled to run a software program  108 . The networked computer environment  100  may also include another client computer  118  and computer servers  114 ,  118  all hosting a management application  122 , an application program interface (API)  120  and a systems management tooling application  112 . The networked computer environment  100  may include a plurality of computers  102 ,  116  and servers  114 ,  118  only two of which are shown. The communication network  110  may include various types of communication networks, such as a wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), a telecommunication network, a wireless network, a public switched network and/or a satellite network. It should be appreciated that  FIG. 1  provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made based on design and implementation requirements. 
     The client computers  102  and  116  may communicate with server computers  114  and  118  via the communications network  110 . The communications network  110  may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables. As will be discussed with reference to  FIG. 4 , server computers  114  and  118  may include internal components  800   a,b  and external components  900   a,b  respectively and client computers  102  and  116  may include internal components  800   c,d  and external components  900   c,d , respectively. Client computers  102 ,  116  may be, for example, a mobile device, a telephone, a personal digital assistant, a netbook, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, or any type of computing device capable of running a program and accessing a network. 
     A software program  108  running on client computer  102  or a management application  122  running on client computer  116  or server computers  114 ,  118  may execute a command to an API  120  requesting a software upgrade to be performed. Then the API  120  may forward the software upgrade request to a systems management tooling application  112 . The software upgrade request may be transmitted via communication network  110 . According to one embodiment of the present invention, the systems management tooling application  112  may determine which subpartition needs to be upgraded and the necessary steps required to perform the upgrade. The systems management tooling process is explained in more detail below with respect to  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the hardware that may be used in a networked computer environment with an exemplary hypervisor subpartition to be used as a concurrent upgrade mechanism according to one embodiment is depicted. As shown, the system  200  may include a logical partition  214 , and a hypervisor subpartition  218  divided into multiple subpartitons (i.e., a CP subpartition  206  and micro hypervisor subpartitions  208 ,  216 ). For example purposes only, three subpartitions are depicted. There may be a micro hypervisor subpartition (i.e., a hypervisor supartition within a hypervisor subpartition) for input/output devices  208  (only two of which are shown), such as a SCSI driver  210  and a flash driver  212 . The system  200  may also include a micro hypervisor subpartition for virtual servers  216  with at least one virtual server  204 , a control program subpartition  206 , a systems management tooling application  112  and shared memory for all the subpartitions  202 . 
     All three of the subpartitions (i.e., the micro hypervisor for I/O  208 , the micro hypervisor for virtual servers  216 , and the control program  206 ) may run over the same logical partition  214 . The logical partition  214  may represent all or a subset of the hardware existent on a computer system (such as the system  100  shown in  FIG. 1 ), virtualized as a distinct computer. The logical partition  214  may provide one or more processors and a set of memory to the micro hypervisor for I/O  208 , the micro hypervisor for virtual servers, and the control program  206 . 
     According to one implementation of the present embodiment, the system management tooling application  112  may receive a software upgrade request from an application program interface (API)  120 . Then the management tooling application  112  may determine whether the upgrade to be made is in a module, such as Linux™, that can be dynamically upgraded. If so, then the control program  206  may initiate that upgrade on each of the Linux™ subpartitions  208 ,  216 . If the upgrade is to one of the offload functions, such as the SCSI driver  210  or the flash driver  212 , then the control program  206  may start a new offload subpartition that includes the upgrades and that uses the same common memory  202  for communication. As such, the control program  206  may instruct the “old” offload subpartition  208  to stop taking new requests. Then once all the existing requests are satisfied, the “old” offload subpartition  208  ends itself (i.e., is deleted) which makes the “old” offload&#39;s resources  202  (i.e., CPUs, memory and devices) available for reassignment. However, if the upgrade is not in a Linux™ module or to one of the offload functions, then the control program  206  may start a new host subpartition that includes the upgrades and that uses the same common memory  202  for communication. As such, the control program  206  may instruct the “old” host subpartition  216  to stop instantiating new virtual servers  204  and move its existing virtual servers  204  to the “new” host subpartition. This may be implemented either via a live migration environment or via a suspend/resume environment and is facilitated by the shared memory  202  and resource space of all subpartitions. Once all the virtual servers  204  are moved to the “new” host subpartition, the “old” host subpartition  216  ends itself; therefore making the “old” host subpartition&#39;s resources  202  available for reassignment. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , an operational flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by a hypervisor subpartition to be used as a concurrent upgrade mechanism according to one embodiment. At  302 , a management application may issue an API to apply service to the system. For example, a management application  122  ( FIG. 1 ) running on server computer  118  ( FIG. 1 ) may issue an API  120  ( FIG. 1 ) to apply a software upgrade to the system. Then, at  304 , the system management tooling application  112  ( FIG. 1 ) running on server computer  118  ( FIG. 1 ) receives the request from the API  120  ( FIG. 1 ). 
     At  306 , the system management tooling application  112  ( FIG. 1 ) determines whether the service request is for an upgradeable kernel module. As such, the management tooling application  112  ( FIG. 1 ) may determine whether the upgrade to be made is in a module, such as Linux™, that can be dynamically upgraded. If so, then at  308 , the control program  206  ( FIG. 2 ) may initiate that upgrade to each of the micro hypervisor kernels (i.e., on each of the Linux™ subpartitions  208 ,  216  ( FIG. 2 )). Then at  316 , the control program  206  ( FIG. 2 ) balances the system resources  202  ( FIG. 2 ) among the subpartitions ( 206 ,  208 ,  216  ( FIG. 2 )). 
     If, at  310 , it is determined that the upgrade is to one of the I/O offload functions  208  ( FIG. 2 ), such as the SCSI driver  210  ( FIG. 2 ) or the flash driver  212  ( FIG. 2 ), then at  312  the control program  206  ( FIG. 2 ) may start a new offload subpartition that includes the upgrades and that uses the same common memory  202  ( FIG. 2 ) for communication. Then at  314 , the control program  206  ( FIG. 2 ) may instruct the “old” offload subpartition  208  ( FIG. 2 ) to stop taking new requests. Then once all the existing requests are satisfied, the “old” offload subpartition  208  ( FIG. 2 ) deletes itself which, at  316 , makes the “old” offload&#39;s resources  202  ( FIG. 2 ) (i.e., CPUs, memory and devices) available for reassignment. 
     However, if the upgrade is not in a Linux™ module or to one of the offload functions, then at  318 , the control program  206  ( FIG. 2 ) may start a new host subpartition that includes the upgrades and that uses the same common memory  202  ( FIG. 2 ) for communication. Then at  320 , the control program  206  ( FIG. 2 ) may move its existing virtual servers  204  ( FIG. 2 ) to the “new” host subpartition and at  322  instruct the “old” host subpartition  216  ( FIG. 2 ) to stop instantiating new virtual servers  204  ( FIG. 2 ). According to the present embodiment, this may be implemented either via a live migration environment or via a suspend/resume environment and is facilitated by the shared memory  202  ( FIG. 2 ) and resource space of all subpartitions. Once all the virtual servers  204  ( FIG. 2 ) are moved to the “new” host subpartition at  320 , then at  322 , the “old” host subpartition  216  ( FIG. 2 ) ends itself; therefore making the “old” host subpartition&#39;s resources  202  ( FIG. 2 ) (i.e., CPUs, memory and devices) available for reassignment at  316 . 
       FIG. 4  is a block diagram of internal and external components of computers depicted in  FIG. 1  in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It should be appreciated that  FIG. 4  provides only an illustration of one implementation and does not imply any limitations with regard to the environments in which different embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to the depicted environments may be made based on design and implementation requirements. 
     Data processing system  800 ,  900  is representative of any electronic device capable of executing machine-readable program instructions. Data processing system  800 ,  900  may be representative of a smart phone, a computer system, PDA, or other electronic devices. Examples of computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may represented by data processing system  800 ,  900  include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thin clients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices. 
     User client computers  102 ,  116  ( FIG. 1 ), and network server computers  114 ,  118  ( FIG. 1 ) include respective sets of internal components  800   a, b, c, d  and external components  900   a, b, c, d  illustrated in  FIG. 4 . Each of the sets of internal components  800   a, b, c, d  includes one or more processors  820 , one or more computer-readable RAMs  822  and one or more computer-readable ROMs  824  on one or more buses  826 , and one or more operating systems  828  and one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices  830 . The one or more operating systems  828  and software program  108  ( FIG. 1 ) in client computer  102  are stored on one or more of the respective computer-readable tangible storage devices  830  for execution by one or more of the respective processors  820  via one or more of the respective RAMs  822  (which typically include cache memory). In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 4 , each of the computer-readable tangible storage devices  830  is a magnetic disk storage device of an internal hard drive. Alternatively, each of the computer-readable tangible storage devices  830  is a semiconductor storage device such as ROM  824 , EPROM, flash memory or any other computer-readable tangible storage device that can store a computer program and digital information. 
     Each set of internal components  800   a, b, c, d  also includes a R/W drive or interface  832  to read from and write to one or more portable computer-readable tangible storage devices  936  such as a CD-ROM, DVD, memory stick, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical disk or semiconductor storage device. A software program  108  can be stored on one or more of the respective portable computer-readable tangible storage devices  936 , read via the respective R/W drive or interface  832  and loaded into the respective hard drive  830 . 
     Each set of internal components  800   a, b, c, d  also includes network adapters or interfaces  836  such as a TCP/IP adapter cards, wireless wi-fi interface cards, or 3G or 4G wireless interface cards or other wired or wireless communication links. A software program  108  in client computer  102  can be downloaded to client computer  102  from an external computer via a network (for example, the Internet, a local area network or other, wide area network) and respective network adapters or interfaces  836 . From the network adapters or interfaces  836 , the software program  108  in client computer  102  is loaded into the respective hard drive  830 . The network may comprise copper wires, optical fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. 
     Each of the sets of external components  900   a, b, c, d  can include a computer display monitor  920 , a keyboard  930 , and a computer mouse  934 . External components  900   a, b, c, d  can also include touch screens, virtual keyboards, touch pads, pointing devices, and other human interface devices. Each of the sets of internal components  800   a, b, c, d  also includes device drivers  840  to interface to computer display monitor  920 , keyboard  930  and computer mouse  934 . The device drivers  840 , R/W drive or interface  832  and network adapter or interface  836  comprise hardware and software (stored in storage device  830  and/or ROM  824 ). 
     Aspects of the present invention have been described with respect to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (system), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer instructions. These computer instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     The aforementioned programs can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including low-level, high-level, object-oriented or non object-oriented languages, such as Java, Smalltalk, C, and C++. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet service provider). Alternatively, the functions of the aforementioned programs can be implemented in whole or in part by computer circuits and other hardware (not shown). 
     The foregoing description of various embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible. Such modifications and variations that may be apparent to a person skilled in the art of the invention are intended to be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.