Patent Publication Number: US-2022237288-A1

Title: System and method of inspecting archive slices for malware

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 16/798,709 filed on Feb. 24, 2020, and further claims benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/874,548 filed on Jul. 16, 2019, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
     The present disclosure relates generally to the field of virus and malware detection in stored archives, and more specifically, to systems and method of scanning backup archives by inspecting slices of the archive for malware. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Typically, the backup and storage of archives for recovery is performed regularly according to a schedule. It is often the case that the backup may become tainted with malicious software, therefore companies often have automated software that performs malware scans, either prior to backup, during backup, prior to restoration or the like. Virus and malware scans should be carried out periodically and regularly because anti-virus databases are updated often due to the emergence of new types of malware. However, full scanning of large archives requires considerable time and computational resources, often not available or not an efficient use of the time and resources. Scanning archives becomes especially critical if the archives are not stored locally, but in cloud storage, because the speed of access to an archive in the cloud may be significantly slower than accessing a local storage device (depending on the speed of the network or communication channel being used, and/or how heavily the channel is loaded). Additionally, if any problems arise such that viruses and/or malicious files are found in the archive, the archive is considered damaged or infected, and may not be entirely suitable for use in system recovery or file and data extraction. 
     Conventionally, to avoid restoring data that is infected, archives are periodically scanned with anti-virus scanners during storage, when new slices are added to the archive and/or before restoring the data. However, currently there is no solution to scan arbitrary time points in an archive. Instead, solutions are forced to scan the entire archive. Furthermore, currently damaged or infected data in archives cannot be repaired. 
     SUMMARY 
     Aspects of the disclosure relate to the field of virus and malware detection in stored archives. In particular, aspects of the disclosure describe methods and systems for scanning backup archives by inspecting slices of the archive. 
     In one exemplary aspect, the method comprises mounting, to a disk, a first slice of a plurality of slices in a backup archive, wherein the first slice is an image of user data at a first time. The method further comprises detecting a modified block of the mounted first slice by comparing blocks of the mounted first slice to blocks of a second slice of the plurality of slices, wherein the second slice is an image of the user data captured before the first time. The method comprises identifying, on a file system of the disk, at least one file in the mounted first slice that corresponds to the detected modified block and scanning the at least one file for viruses and malicious software. In response to detecting that the at least one file is infected, the method comprises generating a cured slice that comprises the user data of the mounted first slice without the at least one file. 
     In some aspects, generating the cured slice comprises removing the at least one file from the mounted first slice. 
     In some aspects, a plurality of modified blocks relative to the second slice exist for the mounted first slice, generating the cured slice comprises generating a copy of the second slice, and transferring, to the copy of the second slice, all files corresponding to the plurality of modified blocks and not including the at least one file, wherein the copy of the second slice is the cured slice. 
     In some aspects, the second slice is mounted to the disk prior to or concurrently with the mounted first slice. 
     In some aspects, the method comprises adding the new cured slice to the backup archive. 
     In some aspects, the method comprises scanning a third slice of the plurality of slices in the backup archive for viruses and malicious software, wherein the third slice is an image of the user data captured before a creation time of the second slice. In response to detecting an infected file in the third slice, the method comprises marking a subset of the plurality of slices captured subsequent to a creation time of the third slice as unsuitable for data recovery, wherein the subset comprises the second slice and the first slice. 
     In some aspects, the method comprises identifying a block of the third slice that corresponds to the infected file, mounting the second slice and the first slice to the disk, tracking the block, and determining whether the infected file exists on any one of the second slice and the first slice. Based on the determination (i.e., the infected file exists on at lease one of the slices), the method comprises removing the infected file from the any one of the second slice and the first slice by generating respective cured slices. 
     In some aspects, the plurality of slices can be mounted as one or more virtual disks. 
     In some aspects, a correspondence of the at least one file and the modified block is determined using a block map of the backup archive. 
     It should be noted that the methods described above may be implemented in a system comprising a hardware processor. Alternatively, the methods may be implemented using computer executable instructions of a non-transitory computer readable medium. 
     The above simplified summary of example aspects serves to provide a basic understanding of the present disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description of the disclosure that follows. To the accomplishment of the foregoing, the one or more aspects of the present disclosure include the features described and exemplarily pointed out in the claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more example aspects of the present disclosure and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain their principles and implementations. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, in accordance with exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a sequence of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, according to exemplary aspects of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a method of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, according to exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a method of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, in accordance with exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a computer system on which the disclosed system and method can be implemented according to an exemplary aspect. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Exemplary aspects are described herein in the context of a system, method, and computer program product for inspecting archive slices for malware. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the example aspects as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The same reference indicators will be used to the extent possible throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or like items. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system  100  of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, in accordance with exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. 
     The system  100  comprises a computing device  102 , an archive scanner  110 , a disk  120 , and a cloud archive  130 . The client computing device  102  may be any type of mobile computing device such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a mobile device, or the like. The computing device  102  also includes a backup module  104  that performs a backup of user data stored on the computing device  102 , wherein the user data may include an entire backup image of the disks of the computing device  102 , software installed on the device  102 , user application data such as personal documents, or the like. 
     The backup module  104  may also retrieve data that is not stored locally at the computing device  102 . In exemplary aspects, the backup module  104  stores and/or retrieves user data as a set of backup slices  106  to/from a cloud archive  130 , or alternatively, a local archive on a physical disk associated with the computing device  102 . The backup slices  106  are collectively stored in backup archives  108  in the cloud archive  130 . Each backup slice is an image of the user data or physical disk of the computing device  102  at a particular moment in time. Over time, the cloud archive  130  contains many backup archives  108  for different computing devices, each with multiple backup slices. 
     The backup module  104  communicates with the cloud archive  130  over a network  101  (e.g., the Internet). In some instances, if the backup module  104  would like to restore data from the backup archives  108 , a scan would be performed. When the backup archives  108  have grown considerably in size (e.g., beyond a predetermined threshold such as 500 GB), requesting a scan to be performed may take a significant amount of time and resources. In the case where the archives  108  are stored locally, the backup module  104  may take up a significant amount of resources of the computing device  102  that may be needed elsewhere. Such resources may include storage space, memory (e.g., RAM), and processing power. 
     In order to avoid excessive consumption of resources, whether locally and/or at a cloud platform, the cloud archive  130  is subjected to periodic scanning by the archive scanner  110 , according to some exemplary aspects. The archive scanner  110  comprises an archive mounter service  112 , an archive API  114  and an archive mount driver  116 . In some aspects, the archive scanner  110  is executing as a service over the network  101 , though in other aspects, the archive scanner  110  may be executing on the computing device  102 . Furthermore, other configurations are contemplated where the archive scanner may operate on a different server or on the same server as the cloud archive  130 . 
     The archive scanner  110  performs antivirus and malware scans on the backup archives  108  to ensure that when data is retrieved from the cloud archive, a computing device such as computing device  102  does not accidentally become infected. The device (e.g., a server) that is executing the archive scanner  110  may have a physical disk  120 . In exemplary aspects, the device may comprise a host machine and a virtual machine. In exemplary aspects, the archive scanner  110  receives a request to scan the backup archives  108 . The archive API  114  is used to retrieve new and modified blocks from the slices stored in the backup archives  108 . The archive mount driver  116  receives a request to mount an archive slice from the backup archives  108 , allowing the archive scanner  110  to work with the archive as a disk. The archive mount driver  116  may mount the archive slice as virtual disk  122 . The archive mount driver  116  allows the ability to save changes to the data in the mounted slice if changes were made, according to some aspects. 
     In exemplary aspects, the archive scanner  110  detects all modified blocks in the most recent slices since creation of the most recent slice. Subsequently, the archive scanner  110  uses the archive API  114  to determining a correspondence of files in the one or more slice with data blocks on the mounted disk. Such a determination may be made using a block map. Once the correspondence has been created, the files on the mounted virtual disk  122  that align with the modified blocks are also assumed to either be new or modified. Thus, these new files on the virtual disk  122  can be scanned for infection, viruses and malicious software. The archive API  114  can be further invoked by the archive scanner  110  to remove infected and/or damaged files and malware from the virtual disk  122 . Finally, the archive scanner  110  can save the virtual disk  122  as a new cured slice in the backup archives  108  stored in the cloud archive  130  (or stored on a storage device local to computing device  102 ). In some other aspects, the existing slice may be removed and replaced with the new cured slice. 
     Aspects for forming the block map depend on the particular OS and file system. For example, in Windows NTFS files can be master file table (MFT) resident (stored inside MFT records) or non-resident, stored in the volume storage space. In one aspect, the allocated blocks of the non-resident file may be retrieved using a system function call, e.g., “FSCTL_GET_RETRIEVAL_POINTERS API”. MFT resident files block maps may be determined with the analysis of the MFT allocation and the known file identifier, which is generally the MFT record number. The MFT record number allows inspection and knowledge of the blocks of the MFT resident file. The analysis of the MFT allocation can also be determined with the help of system function “FSCTL_GET_RETRIEVAL_POINTERS” for example, but for the entire MFT, which is also a file. Other file systems can require their own special algorithms that build the files block map(s). 
     The archive scanner  110  may also be configured to scan one or more older slices in the backup archive  108  in order to discover an infected slice. Once such an infected or otherwise compromised slice is identified, the archive scanner  110  marks the infected slice and slices taken subsequently (temporally) as infected and unsuitable for data recovery for any computing device. Accordingly, the backup module  104  is configured to block any attempts to restore slices that are marked as infected. Furthermore, this allows the archive scanner  110  to establish a time of compromise that can be used for further analysis regarding the type of infection and the factors that may have been involved in the compromise. In some aspects, historical attributes of the computing device  102  can be stored in the cloud archive  130 , or elsewhere, and analyzed along with the time of compromise to establish a set of causes of the compromise/infection. This analysis can be used to prevent future infections or malware attacks. 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating the sequence of the system and method of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, according to exemplary aspects of the disclosure. 
     In exemplary aspects, the archive mounter service  112 , the archive API  114  and the cloud archive  130  and the local archive  200  may be located in the user memory space (UM), while the archive mount driver  116  may be located in kernel memory space (KM). In order to access the cloud archive  130  or a local archive  200 , the archive scanner  110  contacts the archive mounter service  112 . The archive mounter service  112  uses the mount driver  116  to mount the archives to a disk (e.g., a virtual disk). 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , mount driver  116  mounts, to disk  120 , a first slice  202  of a plurality of slices (e.g., slices  202 - 206 ) in cloud archive  130 , wherein the first slice is an image of user data (e.g., on computing device  102 ) at a first time. Archive API  114  then detects a modified block of the mounted first slice by comparing blocks of the mounted first slice to blocks of a second slice  204  of the plurality of slices, wherein the second slice is an image of the user data captured before the first time. For example, first slice  202  may have been created at time t. Second slice  204  may have been created at time t- 1 . 
     Archive API  114  may then compare the blocks of the respective mounted disks of the respective slices to find blocks that have been altered. When a modified block is found, archive mounter service  112  identifies, on a file system of the disk, at least one file in the mounted first slice that corresponds to the detected modified block. Archive scanner  110  then scans the at least one file for viruses and malicious software. In response to detecting that the at least one file is infected, archive scanner  110  generates a cured slice that comprises the user data of the mounted first slice without the at least one file. This generation process may comprise removing the at least one file from the mounted first slice  202 . In some cases, where multiple modified blocks are found in slice  202  relative to slice  204 , the generation process involves generating a copy of the second slice  204 , transferring, to the copy of the second slice, all files corresponding to the plurality of modified blocks and not including any infected file (here, the copy of the second slice is the cured slice). 
     In some aspects, archive scanner  110  may arbitrarily scan a third slice  206  of the plurality of slices in the backup archive for viruses and malicious software. The third slice  206  may be an image of the user data captured before a creation time of the second slice (i.e., t-N). In response to detecting an infected file in the third slice  206 , archive scanner  110  may mark a subset of the plurality of slices captured subsequent to a creation time of the third slice as unsuitable for data recovery. In this particular example, both first slice  202  and the second slice  204  would be included in the subset. 
     In some aspects, archive scanner  110  may identify a block of the third slice  206  that corresponds to the infected file. Archive scanner  110  may mount the second slice  204  and the first slice  202  to the disk  120 . Archive scanner  110  may track the block and determine whether the infected file exists on any one of the second slice and the first slice. For example, the infected file may exist on second slice  204 , but the user may have manually removed the infected file from first slice  202 . Because the infected file does not exist on first slice  202 , only the third slice  206  and the second slice  204  need to be cured. This will ensure that the backup archive has a clean set of slices that a user can back up from. 
     In some aspects, if the archive contains infected slices, the archive scanner  110  may discover these slices to determine when infection occurred (based on slice creation time) and the source of the infection or malware by scanning the slices. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a method  300  of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, in accordance with exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. 
     The method begins at  302  and proceeds to  304 . 
     At  304 , components of the archive scanner  110  scan the backup archives by inspecting archive slices. Components of the archive scanner mount a most recent slice from a backup archive to a disk, e.g., by mounting a virtual disk. In some aspects a virtual disk may be mounted on a server executing the archive scanner  110 , though the present disclosure is not limited to that configuration. 
     At  306 , the archive API  114  is requested to detect all modified blocks in the most recent slices since creation of the most recent slice. In exemplary aspects, the API  114  inspects the underlying blocks of the virtual disk that the slice is mounted to, in order to determine the modified blocks. In other aspects, the modified blocks are detected by comparing blocks of the most recent slice to blocks of previously created slices for previous backups of a computing device. The blocks that differ from one slice to the next comprises the modified set of blocks. 
     At  308 , the archive scanner  110  determines a correspondence of files in the one or more slice with data blocks on the mounted disk. In some aspects, the archive scanner  110  establishes or reads the block map of the particular backup slice being mounted, where the block map indicates which blocks correspond to which files. 
     At  310 , the archive scanner  110  determines on the file system of the disk, the files that have been modified by identifying the modified data blocks. Since the modified data blocks have been identified, the block can be used to identify which files corresponding to the modified data blocks. 
     At  312 , the archive scanner  110  scans the files on the file system that have been modified since a previous backup slice was completed for viruses and malicious software. 
     At  314 , the archive scanner  110  may remove infected and/or damaged files and malware from the virtual disk. The virtual disk can then be saved as the most recent slice and reinserted into the backup archives  108  in the cloud archive  130 , or at a local disk. 
     The method terminates at  320 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating another method  400  of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices, in accordance with exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. 
     The method begins at  402  and proceeds to  404 . 
     At  404 , the archive scanner  110  scans the backup image mounted on the virtual disk in method  300 . In exemplary aspects, the backup image or the archive image as it may be referred to, may be mounted as a virtual disk or, in other aspects, restoring the slice to a physical disk. 
     At  406 , the files that are infected are identified and marked. In some aspects the files are identified based on the modified blocks identified in method  300  using a block map or other method. The block map shows a correspondence between blocks and files on the mounted image. Thus when the modified blocks are identified, the archive scanner  310  can identify the modified files. 
     At  408 , any malware present on the mounted backup image is identified by performing a virus and malware scan on the files on the virtual disk. 
     At  410 , the infected files and malware are removed from the file system of the disk (e.g., a virtual disk) by the archive scanner  110 . In some aspects, the infected files and/or malware is quarantined, either on the virtual disk or elsewhere. It should be noted that moving infected files to a quarantine on the virtual disk requires creating the cured slice that comprises the quarantine. 
     At  412 , a new slice is created by the archive scanner  110 , excluding the infected files and malware by exporting the virtual disk as a new slice. The new slice is either stored on a new virtual disk or in another location such as the virtual disk  122 , or in a cloud archive  130  as shown in  FIG. 2  (e.g., latest slice  202 ). 
     At  414 , the archive scanner adds the newly created and cured slice on top of the most recent slice in the backup archive (e.g., archive  108 ). In some alternative aspects, the newly created slice may replace the most recent slice or the infected slice. 
     The method terminates at  420 . 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating a computer system  20  on which aspects of systems and methods of scanning backup archives by inspecting archive slices may be implemented in accordance with an exemplary aspect. It should be noted that the computer system  20  can correspond to any components of the system  100  described earlier. The computer system  20  can be in the form of multiple computing devices, or in the form of a single computing device, for example, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a server, a mainframe, an embedded device, and other forms of computing devices. 
     As shown, the computer system  20  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  21 , a system memory  22 , and a system bus  23  connecting the various system components, including the memory associated with the central processing unit  21 . The system bus  23  may comprise a bus memory or bus memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus that is able to interact with any other bus architecture. Examples of the buses may include PCI, ISA, PCI-Express, HyperTransport™, InfiniBand™, Serial ATA, I 2 C, and other suitable interconnects. The central processing unit  21  (also referred to as a processor) can include a single or multiple sets of processors having single or multiple cores. The processor  21  may execute one or more computer-executable codes implementing the techniques of the present disclosure. The system memory  22  may be any memory for storing data used herein and/or computer programs that are executable by the processor  21 . The system memory  22  may include volatile memory such as a random access memory (RAM)  25  and non-volatile memory such as a read only memory (ROM)  24 , flash memory, etc., or any combination thereof. The basic input/output system (BIOS)  26  may store the basic procedures for transfer of information between elements of the computer system  20 , such as those at the time of loading the operating system with the use of the ROM  24 . 
     The computer system  20  may include one or more storage devices such as one or more removable storage devices  27 , one or more non-removable storage devices  28 , or a combination thereof. The one or more removable storage devices  27  and non-removable storage devices  28  are connected to the system bus  23  via a storage interface  32 . In an aspect, the storage devices and the corresponding computer-readable storage media are power-independent modules for the storage of computer instructions, data structures, program modules, and other data of the computer system  20 . The system memory  22 , removable storage devices  27 , and non-removable storage devices  28  may use a variety of computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include machine memory such as cache, SRAM, DRAM, zero capacitor RAM, twin transistor RAM, eDRAM, EDO RAM, DDR RAM, EEPROM, NRAM, RRAM, SONOS, PRAM; flash memory or other memory technology such as in solid state drives (SSDs) or flash drives; magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, and magnetic disk storage such as in hard disk drives or floppy disks; optical storage such as in compact disks (CD-ROM) or digital versatile disks (DVDs); and any other medium which may be used to store the desired data and which can be accessed by the computer system  20 . 
     The system memory  22 , removable storage devices  27 , and non-removable storage devices  28  of the computer system  20  may be used to store an operating system  35 , additional program applications  37 , other program modules  38 , and program data  39 . The computer system  20  may include a peripheral interface  46  for communicating data from input devices  40 , such as a keyboard, mouse, stylus, game controller, voice input device, touch input device, or other peripheral devices, such as a printer or scanner via one or more I/O ports, such as a serial port, a parallel port, a universal serial bus (USB), or other peripheral interface. A display device  47  such as one or more monitors, projectors, or integrated display, may also be connected to the system bus  23  across an output interface  48 , such as a video adapter. In addition to the display devices  47 , the computer system  20  may be equipped with other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as loudspeakers and other audiovisual devices 
     The computer system  20  may operate in a network environment, using a network connection to one or more remote computers  49 . The remote computer (or computers)  49  may be local computer workstations or servers comprising most or all of the aforementioned elements in describing the nature of a computer system  20 . Other devices may also be present in the computer network, such as, but not limited to, routers, network stations, peer devices or other network nodes. The computer system  20  may include one or more network interfaces  51  or network adapters for communicating with the remote computers  49  via one or more networks such as a local-area computer network (LAN)  50 , a wide-area computer network (WAN), an intranet, and the Internet. Examples of the network interface  51  may include an Ethernet interface, a Frame Relay interface, SONET interface, and wireless interfaces. 
     Aspects of the present disclosure may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present disclosure. 
     The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store program code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a processor of a computing device, such as the computer system  20 . The computer readable storage medium may be an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. By way of example, such computer-readable storage medium can comprise a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), EEPROM, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), flash memory, a hard disk, a portable computer diskette, a memory stick, a floppy disk, or even a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon. As used herein, a computer readable storage medium is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or transmission media, or electrical signals transmitted through a wire. 
     Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network interface in each computing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing device. 
     Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be assembly instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language, and conventional procedural programming languages. The computer readable program instructions 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 LAN or WAN, or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet). In some aspects, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present disclosure. 
     In various aspects, the systems and methods described in the present disclosure can be addressed in terms of modules. The term “module” as used herein refers to a real-world device, component, or arrangement of components implemented using hardware, such as by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or FPGA, for example, or as a combination of hardware and software, such as by a microprocessor system and a set of instructions to implement the module&#39;s functionality, which (while being executed) transform the microprocessor system into a special-purpose device. A module may also be implemented as a combination of the two, with certain functions facilitated by hardware alone, and other functions facilitated by a combination of hardware and software. In certain implementations, at least a portion, and in some cases, all, of a module may be executed on the processor of a computer system (such as the one described in greater detail in  FIG. 5 , above). Accordingly, each module may be realized in a variety of suitable configurations, and should not be limited to any particular implementation exemplified herein. 
     In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the aspects are disclosed herein. It would be appreciated that in the development of any actual implementation of the present disclosure, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer&#39;s specific goals, and these specific goals will vary for different implementations and different developers. It is understood that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     Furthermore, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of restriction, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled in the art in light of the teachings and guidance presented herein, in combination with the knowledge of the skilled in the relevant art(s). Moreover, it is not intended for any term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such. 
     The various aspects disclosed herein encompass present and future known equivalents to the known modules referred to herein by way of illustration. Moreover, while aspects and applications have been shown and described, it would be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that many more modifications than mentioned above are possible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein.