Patent Publication Number: US-2021165647-A1

Title: System for performing automatic code correction for disparate programming languages

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Conventional systems do not have the capability to perform automatic code correction for disparate programming languages. As such, there exists a need for a single system to automatically correct codes for disparate programming languages. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     The following presents a summary of certain embodiments of the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present certain concepts and elements of one or more embodiments in a summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description that follows. 
     Embodiments of the present invention address the above needs and/or achieve other advantages by providing apparatuses (e.g., a system, computer program product and/or other devices) and methods for performing automatic code correction for disparate programming languages. The system embodiments may comprise one or more memory devices having computer readable program code stored thereon, a communication device, and one or more processing devices operatively coupled to the one or more memory devices, wherein the one or more processing devices are configured to execute the computer readable program code to carry out the invention. In computer program product embodiments of the invention, the computer program product comprises at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions for carrying out the invention. Computer implemented method embodiments of the invention may comprise providing a computing system comprising a computer processing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium, where the computer readable medium comprises configured computer program instruction code, such that when said instruction code is operated by said computer processing device, said computer processing device performs certain operations to carry out the invention. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention identifies defective code lines associated with a code, in response to identifying the defective code lines, extracts the defective code lines, tokenizes the defective code lines, passes tokenized defective code lines to an ensemble of neural machine translation models, wherein the ensemble of the neural machine translation models process the tokenized defective code lines, and receives one or more candidates from the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. 
     In some embodiments, tokenizing the defective code lines comprises encoding the defective code lines into fixed dimension vectors. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention generates an output by selecting a candidate from the one or more candidates. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention selects the candidate based on ranking the one or more candidates. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention generates the output based on converting the candidate to a patch, wherein the patch comprises fixed code lines that replace the defective code lines. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention validates the patch comprising the fixed code lines. 
     In some embodiments, the present invention trains the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. 
     The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed may be achieved independently in various embodiments of the present invention or may be combined with yet other embodiments, further details of which can be seen with reference to the following description and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Having thus described embodiments of the invention in general terms, reference will now be made the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  provides a block diagram illustrating a system environment for performing automatic code correction for disparate programming languages, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  provides a block diagram illustrating the entity system  200  of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  provides a block diagram illustrating an automatic code correction system  300  of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 4  provides a block diagram illustrating the computing device system  400  of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 5  provides a flowchart illustrating a process flow for automatically performing code correction for disparate programming languages, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 6  provides a block diagram of different stages associated with the automatic code correction process, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and 
         FIG. 7  provides a block diagram illustrating the automatic code correction process, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all, embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Where possible, any terms expressed in the singular form herein are meant to also include the plural form and vice versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term “a” and/or “an” shall mean “one or more,” even though the phrase “one or more” is also used herein. Furthermore, when it is said herein that something is “based on” something else, it may be based on one or more other things as well. In other words, unless expressly indicated otherwise, as used herein “based on” means “based at least in part on” or “based at least partially on.” Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. 
     Many of the example embodiments and implementations described herein contemplate interactions engaged in by a user with a computing device and/or one or more communication devices and/or secondary communication devices. A “user”, as referenced herein, may refer to an entity or individual that has the ability and/or authorization to access and use one or more resources provided by an entity or the system of the present invention. Furthermore, as used herein, the term “user computing device” or “mobile device” may refer to mobile phones, computing devices, tablet computers, wearable devices, smart devices and/or any portable electronic device capable of receiving and/or storing data therein. 
     A “user interface” is any device or software that allows a user to input information, such as commands or data, into a device, or that allows the device to output information to the user. For example, the user interface includes a graphical user interface (GUI) or an interface to input computer-executable instructions that direct a processing device to carry out specific functions. The user interface typically employs certain input and output devices to input data received from a user or to output data to a user. These input and output devices may include a display, mouse, keyboard, button, touchpad, touch screen, microphone, speaker, LED, light, joystick, switch, buzzer, bell, and/or other user input/output device for communicating with one or more users. 
     Typically, conventional systems rely on hard coded rules and fix defects following specific patterns and are difficult to adapt to different programming languages. Most of the conventional systems fix only syntactical errors and not run time errors and for each of the programming languages a different system exists to correct defects associated with that particular programming language. As such, there exists a need for a system that is flexible and is not dependent on hardcoded rules to automatically correct all types of errors associated with multiple programming languages. The system of the invention solves the above mentioned technical problems as discussed in detail below. 
       FIG. 1  provides a block diagram illustrating a system environment  100  for performing automatic code correction for disparate programming languages, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the environment  100  includes an automatic code correction system  300 , entity system  200 , and a computing device system  400 . One or more users  110  may be included in the system environment  100 , where the users  110  interact with the other entities of the system environment  100  via a user interface of the computing device system  400 . In some embodiments, the one or more user(s)  110  of the system environment  100  may be employees of an entity associated with the entity system  200 . In some embodiments, the users may be developers that submit one or more software codes to the entity system  200  and/or the automatic code correction system  300 . 
     The entity system(s)  200  may be any system owned or otherwise controlled by an entity to support or perform one or more process steps described herein. In some embodiments, the entity is a financial institution. In some embodiments, the entity is a non-financial institution. 
     The automatic code correction system  300  is a system of the present invention for performing one or more process steps described herein. In some embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  may be an independent system. In some embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  may be a part of the entity system  200 . 
     The automatic code correction system  300 , the entity system  200 , and the computing device system  400  may be in network communication across the system environment  100  through the network  150 . The network  150  may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and/or a global area network (GAN). The network  150  may provide for wireline, wireless, or a combination of wireline and wireless communication between devices in the network. In one embodiment, the network  150  includes the Internet. In general, the automatic code correction system  300  is configured to communicate information or instructions with the entity system  200 , and/or the computing device system  400  across the network  150 . 
     The computing device system  400  may be a system owned or controlled by the entity of the entity system  200  and/or the user  110 . As such, the computing device system  400  may be a computing device of the user  110 . In general, the computing device system  400  communicates with the user  110  via a user interface of the computing device system  400 , and in turn is configured to communicate information or instructions with the automatic code correction system  300 , and/or entity system  200  across the network  150 . 
       FIG. 2  provides a block diagram illustrating the entity system  200 , in greater detail, in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , in one embodiment of the invention, the entity system  200  includes one or more processing devices  220  operatively coupled to a network communication interface  210  and a memory device  230 . In certain embodiments, the entity system  200  is operated by a first entity, such as a financial institution, while in other embodiments, the entity system  200  is operated by an entity other than a financial institution. In some embodiments, the entity system may be operated by any entity that is associated with developing and/or testing software program codes. 
     It should be understood that the memory device  230  may include one or more databases or other data structures/repositories. The memory device  230  also includes computer-executable program code that instructs the processing device  220  to operate the network communication interface  210  to perform certain communication functions of the entity system  200  described herein. For example, in one embodiment of the entity system  200 , the memory device  230  includes, but is not limited to, an automatic code correction application  250 , one or more entity applications  270 , and a data repository  280  comprising one or more codes  283  submitted by the one or more users via the computing device system. The computer-executable program code of the network server application  240 , the automatic code correction application  250 , the one or more entity application  270  to perform certain logic, data-extraction, and data-storing functions of the entity system  200  described herein, as well as communication functions of the entity system  200 . 
     The network server application  240 , the automatic code correction application  250 , and the one or more entity applications  270  are configured to store data in the data repository  280  or to use the data stored in the data repository  280  when communicating through the network communication interface  210  with the automatic code correction system  300 , and/or the computing device system  400  to perform one or more process steps described herein. In some embodiments, the entity system  200  may receive instructions from the automatic code correction system  300  via the automatic code correction application  250  to perform certain operations. The automatic code correction application  250  may be provided by the automatic code correction system  300 . The one or more entity applications  270  may be any of the applications used, created, modified, and/or managed by the entity system  200 . 
       FIG. 3  provides a block diagram illustrating the automatic code correction system  300  in greater detail, in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , in one embodiment of the invention, the automatic code correction system  300  includes one or more processing devices  320  operatively coupled to a network communication interface  310  and a memory device  330 . In certain embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  is operated by a first entity, such as a financial institution, while in other embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  is operated by an entity other than a financial institution. In some embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  is owned or operated by the entity of the entity system  200 . In some embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  may be an independent system. In alternate embodiments, the automatic code correction system  300  may be a part of the entity system  200 . 
     It should be understood that the memory device  330  may include one or more databases or other data structures/repositories. The memory device  330  also includes computer-executable program code that instructs the processing device  320  to operate the network communication interface  310  to perform certain communication functions of the automatic code correction system  300  described herein. For example, in one embodiment of the automatic code correction system  300 , the memory device  330  includes, but is not limited to, a network provisioning application  340 , one or more NMT models  350 , a tokenization application  360 , an encoder  370 , a decoder  375 , a ranking application  380 , and a data repository  390  comprising data processed or accessed by one or more applications in the memory device  330 . The computer-executable program code of the network provisioning application  340 , the one or more NMT models  350 , the tokenization application  360 , the encoder  370 , the decoder  375 , and the ranking application  380  may instruct the processing device  320  to perform certain logic, data-processing, and data-storing functions of the automatic code correction system  300  described herein, as well as communication functions of the automatic code correction system  300 . 
     The network provisioning application  340 , the one or more NMT models  350 , the tokenization application  360 , the encoder  370 , the decoder  375 , and the ranking application  380  are configured to invoke or use the data in the data repository  390  when communicating through the network communication interface  310  with the entity system  200 , and/or the computing device system  400 . In some embodiments, the network provisioning application  340 , the one or more NMT models  350 , the tokenization application  360 , the encoder  370 , the decoder  375 , and the ranking application  380  may store the data extracted or received from the entity system  200 , and the computing device system  400  in the data repository  390 . In some embodiments, the network provisioning application  340 , the one or more NMT models  350 , the tokenization application  360 , the encoder  370 , the decoder  375 , and the ranking application  380  may be a part of a single application. 
       FIG. 4  provides a block diagram illustrating a computing device system  400  of  FIG. 1  in more detail, in accordance with embodiments of the invention. However, it should be understood that a mobile telephone is merely illustrative of one type of computing device system  400  that may benefit from, employ, or otherwise be involved with embodiments of the present invention and, therefore, should not be taken to limit the scope of embodiments of the present invention. Other types of computing devices may include portable digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, mobile televisions, gaming devices, desktop computers, workstations, laptop computers, cameras, video recorders, audio/video player, radio, GPS devices, wearable devices, Internet-of-things devices, augmented reality devices, virtual reality devices, automated teller machine devices, electronic kiosk devices, or any combination of the aforementioned. 
     Some embodiments of the computing device system  400  include a processor  410  communicably coupled to such devices as a memory  420 , user output devices  436 , user input devices  440 , a network interface  460 , a power source  415 , a clock or other timer  450 , a camera  480 , and a positioning system device  475 . The processor  410 , and other processors described herein, generally include circuitry for implementing communication and/or logic functions of the computing device system  400 . For example, the processor  410  may include a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, and various analog to digital converters, digital to analog converters, and/or other support circuits. Control and signal processing functions of the computing device system  400  are allocated between these devices according to their respective capabilities. The processor  410  thus may also include the functionality to encode and interleave messages and data prior to modulation and transmission. The processor  410  can additionally include an internal data modem. Further, the processor  410  may include functionality to operate one or more software programs, which may be stored in the memory  420 . For example, the processor  410  may be capable of operating a connectivity program, such as a web browser application  422 . The web browser application  422  may then allow the computing device system  400  to transmit and receive web content, such as, for example, location-based content and/or other web page content, according to a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and/or the like. 
     The processor  410  is configured to use the network interface  460  to communicate with one or more other devices on the network  150 . In this regard, the network interface  460  includes an antenna  476  operatively coupled to a transmitter  474  and a receiver  472  (together a “transceiver”). The processor  410  is configured to provide signals to and receive signals from the transmitter  474  and receiver  472 , respectively. The signals may include signaling information in accordance with the air interface standard of the applicable cellular system of the wireless network  152 . In this regard, the computing device system  400  may be configured to operate with one or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulation types, and access types. By way of illustration, the computing device system  400  may be configured to operate in accordance with any of a number of first, second, third, and/or fourth-generation communication protocols and/or the like. 
     As described above, the computing device system  400  has a user interface that is, like other user interfaces described herein, made up of user output devices  436  and/or user input devices  440 . The user output devices  436  include a display  430  (e.g., a liquid crystal display or the like) and a speaker  432  or other audio device, which are operatively coupled to the processor  410 . 
     The user input devices  440 , which allow the computing device system  400  to receive data from a user such as the user  110 , may include any of a number of devices allowing the computing device system  400  to receive data from the user  110 , such as a keypad, keyboard, touch-screen, touchpad, microphone, mouse, joystick, other pointer device, button, soft key, and/or other input device(s). The user interface may also include a camera  480 , such as a digital camera. 
     The computing device system  400  may also include a positioning system device  475  that is configured to be used by a positioning system to determine a location of the computing device system  400 . For example, the positioning system device  475  may include a GPS transceiver. In some embodiments, the positioning system device  475  is at least partially made up of the antenna  476 , transmitter  474 , and receiver  472  described above. For example, in one embodiment, triangulation of cellular signals may be used to identify the approximate or exact geographical location of the computing device system  400 . In other embodiments, the positioning system device  475  includes a proximity sensor or transmitter, such as an RFID tag, that can sense or be sensed by devices known to be located proximate a merchant or other location to determine that the computing device system  400  is located proximate these known devices. 
     The computing device system  400  further includes a power source  415 , such as a battery, for powering various circuits and other devices that are used to operate the computing device system  400 . Embodiments of the computing device system  400  may also include a clock or other timer  450  configured to determine and, in some cases, communicate actual or relative time to the processor  410  or one or more other devices. 
     The computing device system  400  also includes a memory  420  operatively coupled to the processor  410 . As used herein, memory includes any computer readable medium (as defined herein below) configured to store data, code, or other information. The memory  420  may include volatile memory, such as volatile Random Access Memory (RAM) including a cache area for the temporary storage of data. The memory  420  may also include non-volatile memory, which can be embedded and/or may be removable. The non-volatile memory can additionally or alternatively include an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or the like. 
     The memory  420  can store any of a number of applications which comprise computer-executable instructions/code executed by the processor  410  to implement the functions of the computing device system  400  and/or one or more of the process/method steps described herein. For example, the memory  420  may include such applications as a conventional web browser application  422 , an automatic code correction application  421 , entity application  424 . 
     These applications also typically instructions to a graphical user interface (GUI) on the display  430  that allows the user  110  to interact with the entity system  200 , the automatic code correction system  300 , and/or other devices or systems. The memory  420  of the computing device system  400  may comprise a Short Message Service (SMS) application  423  configured to send, receive, and store data, information, communications, alerts, and the like via the wireless telephone network  152 . In some embodiments, the automatic code correction application  421  provided by the automatic code correction system  300  allows the user  110  to access the automatic code correction system  300 . In some embodiments, the entity application  424  provided by the entity system  200  and the automatic code correction application  421  allow the user  110  to access the functionalities provided by the automatic code correction system  300  and the entity system  200 . 
     The memory  420  can also store any of a number of pieces of information, and data, used by the computing device system  400  and the applications and devices that make up the computing device system  400  or are in communication with the computing device system  400  to implement the functions of the computing device system  400  and/or the other systems described herein. 
       FIG. 5  provides a flowchart illustrating a process flow  500  for automatically performing code correction for disparate programming languages, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
     As shown in block  510 , the system trains an ensemble of neural machine translation models. Neural machine translation models are deep learning models that typically leverage Recurrent Neural Network layers. The system of this invention, instead of using the Recurrent Neural Network layers, leverages Icon architecture that relies on convolutional layers instead of the Recurrent Neural Network layers. The ensemble of the neural machine translation models work in parallel thereby improving the efficiency of the process. The system trains the ensemble of the neural machine translation models by extracting one or more program codes and providing defective code lines and fixed code lines to the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. The one or more program codes may be associated with one or more programming languages. Instead of having multiple system in place (e.g., conventional systems) for correcting codes associated with multiple programming languages, the system of the present invention provides a unique solution architecture that can correct codes associated with multiple programming languages based on training the neural machine translation models. The system tunes the ensemble of the neural machine translation models to correct all types of code errors associated with the one or more programming languages. 
     As shown in block  520 , the system identifies defective code lines in real-time. In some embodiments, the system may identify the defective code lines based on the errors outputted during the execution of the software program code. 
     As shown in block  530 , the system in response to identifying the defective code lines, extracts the defective code lines. The system, based on the errors, identifies lines of software program code associated with the defect and extracts the defective code lines. 
     As shown in block  540 , the system tokenizes the defective code lines. In some embodiments, the system utilizes word level tokenization. Word level tokenization improves the accuracy and efficiency of the process when compared to the character-level tokenization. Typically, defective code lines comprise many tokens that are not necessary to fix the defect. The system of this invention does not consider all the tokens present in the defective code lines. The encoder of the system converts the defective code lines to fixed length vectors. The encoder comprises three components the embedded layer, one or more convolutional layers, and a layer of gated linear units. The embedded layer represents the input tokens (i.e., the tokens in the defective code lines) as vectors and the other input tokens occurring in similar context as that of the input tokens as having vector representations of the vector associated with the input token. The output of the embedded layer is then fed to the one or more convolutional layers. The one or more convolutional layers provide multiple levels of abstraction. The one or more convolutional layers also provide information associated with surrounding tokens. The encoder uses information from both previous and the next tokens in the input sequence. The layer of gated linear units decides which information should be retained by the network. 
     As shown in block  550 , the system passes the tokenized defective code lines to the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. The ensemble of the neural machine translation models process the tokenized defective code lines and each neural machine translation model of the ensemble of the neural machine translation models generates a candidate that comprises a list of tokens, where the list of tokens together form fixed code lines that fix the input defective code line. As shown in block  560 , the system receives one or more candidates from the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. In response to receiving the one or more candidates from each neural machine translation model, the system ranks the one or more candidates based on a logic. 
     As shown in block  570 , the system generates a patch based on a candidate of the one or more candidates. The system selects the candidate from the one or more candidates based on the rank generated by the system. The decoder of the system then converts the list of tokens associated with the candidate to fixed code lines. The decoder comprises 3 layers as that of encoder. The system then creates a patch using the fixed code lines, where the fixed code lines are associated with the same programming language as that of the defective code lines. As shown in block  580 , the system validates the patch. In response to validating the patch, the system replaces the defective code lines with the fixed code lines in the software program code. 
       FIG. 6  provides a block diagram  600  of different stages associated with the automatic code correction process, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. As explained above, the different stages associated with the automatic code correction process is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . As shown, block  610  is associated with training of the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. The system extracts software program codes and provides the defective code lines and fixed code lines to the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. Next, as shown in block  615 , the system identifies defective code lines and in block  620 , the system tokenizes the identified defective line and passes the tokenized defective line to the ensemble of the neural machine translation models. The system then ranks the one or more candidates received from the ensemble of the neural machine translation models and validates and tests the one or more candidates. The system provides correct patches as output based on the candidates that are associated with a higher rank based on the ranking of the one or more candidates. 
       FIG. 7  provides a block diagram  700  illustrating the automatic code correction process, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. As shown, the encoder takes in the input (i.e., the defective code lines) and tokenizes the input using the token generator before passing it to the ensemble of the models. The token generator passes the tokens outputted by the ensemble of the models and passes it to a decoder, where the tokens are converted into fixed code lines. The tokenization of the input and generation of output tokens continues for ‘n’ iterations before the defect is resolved. 
     As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method (including, for example, a computer-implemented process, a business process, and/or any other process), apparatus (including, for example, a system, machine, device, computer program product, and/or the like), or a combination of the foregoing. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, and the like), or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may generally be referred to herein as a “system.” Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable medium having computer-executable program code embodied in the medium. 
     Any suitable transitory or non-transitory computer readable medium may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device. More specific examples of the computer readable medium include, but are not limited to, the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires; a tangible storage medium such as 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), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or other optical or magnetic storage device. 
     In the context of this document, a computer readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to the Internet, wireline, optical fiber cable, radio frequency (RF) signals, or other mediums. 
     Computer-executable program code for carrying out operations of embodiments of the present invention may be written in an object oriented, scripted or unscripted programming language such as Java, Perl, Smalltalk, C++, or the like. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of embodiments of the present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. 
     Embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and/or combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-executable program code portions. These computer-executable program code portions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the code portions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create mechanisms for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
     These computer-executable program code portions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the code portions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction mechanisms which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block(s). 
     The computer-executable program code may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the code portions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block(s). Alternatively, computer program implemented steps or acts may be combined with operator or human implemented steps or acts in order to carry out an embodiment of the invention. 
     As the phrase is used herein, a processor may be “configured to” perform a certain function in a variety of ways, including, for example, by having one or more general-purpose circuits perform the function by executing particular computer-executable program code embodied in computer-readable medium, and/or by having one or more application-specific circuits perform the function. 
     Embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to flowcharts and/or block diagrams. It will be understood that steps of the processes described herein may be performed in orders different than those illustrated in the flowcharts. In other words, the processes represented by the blocks of a flowchart may, in some embodiments, be in performed in an order other that the order illustrated, may be combined or divided, or may be performed simultaneously. It will also be understood that the blocks of the block diagrams illustrated, in some embodiments, merely conceptual delineations between systems and one or more of the systems illustrated by a block in the block diagrams may be combined or share hardware and/or software with another one or more of the systems illustrated by a block in the block diagrams. Likewise, a device, system, apparatus, and/or the like may be made up of one or more devices, systems, apparatuses, and/or the like. For example, where a processor is illustrated or described herein, the processor may be made up of a plurality of microprocessors or other processing devices which may or may not be coupled to one another. Likewise, where a memory is illustrated or described herein, the memory may be made up of a plurality of memory devices which may or may not be coupled to one another. 
     While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of, and not restrictive on, the broad invention, and that this invention not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other changes, combinations, omissions, modifications and substitutions, in addition to those set forth in the above paragraphs, are possible. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just described embodiments can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.