Patent Publication Number: US-10320623-B2

Title: Techniques for tracking resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/360,460 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,686,152), entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR TRACKING RESOURCE USAGE STATISTICS PER TRANSACTION ACROSS MULTIPLE LAYERS OF PROTOCOLS,” filed on Jan. 27, 2012, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     A web service may employ many different protocols to respond to requests for its services. Each protocol may have its own resource usage characteristics. Usage of the different services and related protocols may also vary, for example, according to time of day. Having different services and different protocols can make determining an overall pattern of usage challenging. Having such an awareness of overall usage pattern, however, could improve resource allocation and throttling algorithms that could improve user experience with the web service. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present improvements have been needed. 
     SUMMARY 
     This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques to track resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols. Some embodiments are particularly directed to techniques to track resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols and across multiple threads, processes and/or devices. In one embodiment, for example, a technique may comprise assigning an activity context to a request at the beginning of a first stage, where the activity context has an initial set of properties. The values of the properties may be assigned to the properties in the initial set during the first stage. The value of a property may be stored on a data store local to the first stage. The activity context may be transferred to a second stage when the request begins the second stage. The transferred activity context may include a property from the initial set of properties. The stored values may be analyzed to determine a resource usage statistic. Other embodiments are described and claimed. 
     These and other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of aspects as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a first system for providing web services. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an embodiment of a web services server to track resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an embodiment of an activity context. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a sequence diagram of tracking resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of a sequence diagram of using the stored values to determine a resource usage pattern. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow to track resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of a computing architecture. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment of a communications architecture. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Conventionally, web services servers have been able to determine resource usage statistics for individual protocols, or within one process, for example. Further, data about usage was typically static, and only provided by a process on a build. However, many service requests may be handled by more than one process, thread, protocol and/or device. Tracking the total resource usage of one request has not been conventionally possible. 
     Various embodiments are directed to techniques to track resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols and across multiple threads, processes and/or devices. For example, in an embodiment, an activity context may be assigned to a request. The activity context may include various properties that may describe the request, such as client information, user information, the requested action, and so forth. The activity context may travel with the request as the request is handled, even from one thread to another, one process to another, and/or one device to another. The values of activity context properties may be stored in log files locally along the processing path, for example, before a transition to another thread, process or device. An activity context may have a default set of standard properties. In an embodiment, a default set of standard properties may include, for example, an activity duration, a read count, a write count, a read latency, a write latency and other performance metrics. Additional properties may be added to the activity context at different stages as the request is processed, for example, a user agent that identifies a browser being used on the requesting client device and cookies that may have been included in a request. The information stored in the log files may be analyzed and used for various reasons, such as to adjust throttling, debug software, and providing performance and data usage metrics. As a result, the embodiments can improve web services server performance. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram for a system  100  for providing web services. In one embodiment, for example, the system  100  may comprise a computer-implemented system  100  having multiple components, such as a web services server  110  and a client device  130 . As used herein the terms “system” and “component” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, comprising either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be implemented as a process running on a processor, a processor, a hard disk drive, multiple storage drives (of optical and/or magnetic storage medium), an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers as desired for a given implementation. The embodiments are not limited in this context. 
     In the illustrated embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the system  100  may be implemented with one or more electronic devices. Examples of an electronic device may include without limitation a mobile device, a personal digital assistant, a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a cellular telephone, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messaging device, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a handheld computer, a server, a server array or server farm, a web server, a network server, an Internet server, a work station, a mini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a network appliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system, multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer electronics, programmable consumer electronics, television, digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station, subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio network controller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, or combination thereof. Although the system  100  as shown in  FIG. 1  has a limited number of elements in a certain topology, it may be appreciated that the system  100  may include more or less elements in alternate topologies as desired for a given implementation. 
     In various embodiments, the system  100  may comprise a web services server  110 . Web services server  110 , also referred to herein as WSS  110 , may be one or more server devices that receive requests for data and/or services from client devices, such as client device  130 . One example of a WSS  110  is EXCHANGE SERVER® from MICROSOFT CORP. of Redmond, Wash., USA. The embodiments are not limited to this example. 
     WSS  110  may generally provide services such as email services, contact management services, calendar services, document sharing services, presence information services, services through a web interface, and so forth. An example of WSS  110  is described further with respect to  FIG. 2 . 
     WSS  110  may receive a request  120  from a client device  130 . Request  120  may be a request for data, a request for a service, a request for both data and a service, and so forth. For example, request  120  may be a request to get unread messages from an email inbox. Request  120  may be a request to send an email message composed on client device  130 . WSS  110  may process request  120  and provide a response  140  to client device  130 . 
     In an embodiment, WSS  110  may be implemented with a cloud computing model. In a cloud computing model, applications and services may be provided as though the applications and data were on a local device, without having to install the applications and/or store the data on a local device. However, the applications and/or data storage may be implemented across many devices, servers, and data stores, accessible over a communication interface from a local device. In a cloud computing model, WSS  110  may be physically embodied on one or more servers, and in one or more physical locations. WSS  110  may be a sub-component of a larger cloud computing implementation of a group of services. Regardless of physical configuration, WSS  110  may appear, logically, as one device or system to external entities, such as client device  130 . 
     In various embodiments, the system  100  may comprise client device  130 . Client device  130  may include any electronic devices capable of sending requests to and receiving responses  140  from WSS  110 . Client device  130  may include one or more applications  132  that may communicate with WSS  110  to receive or send data, and perform various functions. Such an application may include an e-mail client application, a calendar application, a contact management application, a word processing application, a web browser, and so forth. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of a web services server  210  to track resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols. Web services server  210  (also referred to herein as WSS  210 ) may be a representative embodiment of WSS  110 . WSS  210  may appear as one logical entity while being implemented with a plurality of devices, data stores and applications. WSS  210  may include one or more components, such as a request handler  220 , a logger  230 , and a workload manager  280 . WSS  210  may further include a data store  270 . WSS  210  may be implemented with more or other components and is not limited to this example. 
     In various embodiments, WSS  210  may include request handler  220 . Request handler  220  may receive incoming requests, such as request  120 . Request handler  220  may determine what components of WSS  210  may be needed to handle the request. Prior to handing the request to a process, thread, or device, request handler  220  may create an activity context  222  and assign it to the request. 
     Activity context  222  may be a data structure that includes one or more properties about the request. Activity context  222  may start with an initial set of properties. A property may be analogous to a variable. Activity context  222  may be, for example, a list of property names and their respective values. Other data structures, such as an array or a class object may also be used. 
     Properties may be added to or removed from activity context  222  during the course of processing the request. Some properties may have values specific to the request. Other properties may have values that reflect a resource usage metric. Examples of properties include, without limitation, an activity identifier; a user identifier; an email address; an authentication type; an authentication token; a tenant identifier; a tenant type; a component; a component instance; a feature; a protocol of the request; client information; an action; metadata; a client version; resource usage metrics such as: a number of processing unit cycles; a number of read operations; a number of write operations; a number of database accesses; a number of times a protocol is used; a number of requests from an application; memory usage; a number of requests from a client; a number of requests from a user; a latency time; a total activity time; a peak request time; and so forth. 
     Activity context  222  may stay with the request throughout the stages of processing of the request. The values of the properties in activity context  222  may be determined and set during the processing of the request. An example of an activity context is described further with respect to  FIG. 3 . 
     In various embodiments, WSS  210  may include logger  230 . Logger  230  may store some or all of the contents of activity context  222  to a data store that is local to where the request is currently being processed, e.g. in data store  270 . In particular, logger  230  may store contents of activity context  222  as stored activity context (AC) values  272  when the request is passed from one stage to another in processing. A stage may include a thread  240 , a process  250 , or a device  260 . A request may be passed from one thread to another thread, from one device to another device, from one process to another process, or any combination of these, during processing. 
     Logger  230  may also collect stored activity context values  272  and generate a log file  232  on a periodic basis. The log file  232  may aggregate and/or analyze data from stored activity context values  272  from multiple requests. Logger  230  may, for example, determine how many requests came from a particular application or client device, which hour during the day had the most requests, the average time to handle a request and so forth. Log files  232  may be used to adjust throttling algorithms, to debug a problematic stage, or to provide other performance related data, such as peak usage times and response times, for administrative purposes. 
     As previously mentioned, a request may be processed in one or more stages, e.g. thread  240 , process  250 , and device  260 . A request may be processed by one or more threads, one or more processes, one or more devices, or any combination of these. For example, a request may be processed by a plurality of threads on one device, but not by any processes. Another request may be processed by a process on one device and another process on another device, but not by any threads. The embodiments are not limited to these examples. 
     Thread  240  may be a processing unit thread that is invoked to handle the request or a portion of request handling. Thread  240  may only exist during execution and may generally not persist beyond its execution. During processing, a request may be passed from one thread to another thread, a process, and/or a device. 
     Process  250  may be an executable unit of software instructions, such as a function, sub-routine, script, class method and so forth. While the instructions for process  250  may persist on a computer-readable medium, the process  250  that executes on the request may not persist beyond its execution. During processing, a request may be passed from one process to another process, a thread, and/or a device. 
     Device  260  may be a physical unit, such as an electronic device, a volatile or non-volatile memory, a processing unit and so forth. A device  260  may also include a server. A request may be passed from one device  260  to another device  260  during processing. Unlike thread  240  and process  250 , device  260  persists in physical form even when not processing a request. 
     In various embodiments, WSS  210  may include workload manager  280 . Workload manager  280  may read log files  232  and analyze the data therein. Workload manager  280  may identify abnormal request activity, e.g. an unusually high number of requests from a particular source, requests that take too long to process, and so forth. Workload  280  may throttle incoming requests from the particular source, for example, while leaving requests from other sources unaffected in order to preserve service levels. Workload manager  280  may also, for example, generate an alert for web services server  210  administrators when other performance metrics indicate a problem within WSS  210 . 
     The components of WSS  210 , such as request handler  220 , logger  230 , and workload manger  280 , may be communicatively coupled via various types of communications media. The components  220 ,  230 , and  280  may coordinate operations between each other. The coordination may involve the uni-directional or bi-directional exchange of information. For instance, the components  220 ,  230 , and  280  may communicate information in the form of signals communicated over the communications media. The information can be implemented as signals allocated to various signal lines. In such allocations, each message is a signal. Further embodiments, however, may alternatively employ data messages. Such data messages may be sent across various connections. Exemplary connections include parallel interfaces, serial interfaces, and bus interfaces. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a block diagram of an activity context  300 . Activity context  300  may be a representative embodiment of activity context  222 . Activity context  300  shows a set of properties  310  and the values  320  of the properties. Some or all of properties  310  may also be referred to as metadata. An activity context  300  may include more, fewer, or other properties than those shown. 
     Activity ID property  310 - a  may have a value  320 - a  that represents a unique identifier for the request that activity context  300  is associated with. 
     User ID property  310 - b  may have a value  320 - b  that represents a unique identifier for the user that is accessing WSS  110 ,  210 . In some cases, user ID property  310 - b  may have a user&#39;s email address as value  320 - b , a login name, or an account name. 
     Email address property  310 - c  may have a value  320 - c  that represents the e-mail address of the accessing user. 
     Authentication type property  310 - d  may have a value  320 - d  that represents a type of authentication that was used to authenticate the user&#39;s email address. 
     Authentication token property  310 - e  may have a value  320 - e  that represents a sub-type of authentication, when applicable. In the current example, the authentication type “FormBaseAuth” does not have a sub-type. 
     Tenant ID property  310 - f  may have a value  320 - f  that represents the domain name of the tenant that is receiving web services from WSS  110 ,  210 , e.g. a business entity or government entity. 
     Tenant type property  310 - g  may have a value  320 - g  that represents the type of tenant. 
     Component property  310 - h  may have a value  320 - h  that represents the first component in WSS  110 ,  210  that handles the request. If WSS  110 ,  210  is an EXCHANGE SERVER®, for example, the components may be OUTLOOK WEB SERVICE®, EXCHANGE WEB SERVICE®, or an assistant component. 
     Component instance property  310 - i  may have a value  320 - i  that identifies an instance of a component, when there is more than one instance of a component to handle a request. 
     Feature property  310 - j  may have a value  320 - j  that represents a feature within WSS  110 ,  210  that is relevant to the request. 
     Protocol property  310 - k  may have a value  320 - k  that indicates the protocol of the request. Examples of protocols may include without limitation hypertext protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), post office protocol (POP), Internet message access protocol (IMAP), and EXCHANGE WEB SERVICE® (EWS). 
     Client information property  310 - l  may have a value  320 - l  that indicates the client application  132  and version number that sent the request. 
     Action property  310 - m  may have a value  320 - m  that identifies the requested action. Examples of actions may include without limitation, create item, get item, decline item, forward item, send read receipt and so forth. 
     Activity context  300  may have workload related properties added during the processing of its associated request. Some workload related properties may include, for example, a number of calls to a database, a directory, or mailbox; the time to complete a read or write operation; latency on a read or write, how long an activity took to complete, and/or memory usage. 
     In an embodiment, activity context  300  may be an abstraction of a .NET CallContext class object. Activity context  300  may be an abstraction of, for example, of .NET&#39;s HttpContext or .NET&#39;s Operation Context. Activity context  300  may use a CallContext class to carry the properties&#39; values across stages. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a sequence diagram  400  of tracking resource usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols according to various embodiments. A sequence diagram represents a sequence of actions that takes place among a set of actors over time. Time begins at the top of the diagram and advances toward the bottom. The actors in sequence diagram  400  include a request handler  410 , an activity context  420 , a stage  430  (“stage  1 ”), a stage  440  (“stage  2 ”), and a stage  450  (“stage  3 ”). Request handler  410  may be a representative example of request handler  220 . Activity context  420  may be a representative example of activity context  222 . Stages  1 ,  2 , and  3  may be representative embodiments of any of thread  240 , process  250 , and/or device  260 . 
     Sequence diagram  400  begins when request handler  410  receives a request, e.g. request  120 . Request handler  410  creates activity context  420 , for example, by creating a new activity context class object. In an embodiment, request handler  410  may pass the request to an activity context creator so that the created activity context may set the values of some initial set of properties based on the request, e.g. a user ID, email address, action, and so forth. Activity context  420  may be returned to request handler  410  as a result of being created. In an embodiment, properties of activity context  420  may have their values assigned by request handler  410  once activity context  420  is returned to request handler  410 . 
     Request handler  410  may submit the request and activity context  420  to stage  430 . Stage  430  may process the request according to its instructions. Stage  430  may add properties to activity context  420  and assign a value to each added property. When stage  430  is finished with its portion of processing, it may log some or all of the contents of activity context  420 . In an embodiment, stage  430  may invoke logger  230  (not shown) to perform the logging function. Stage  430  may pass the request and activity context  420  to stage  440 . In an embodiment, stage  430  may pass a subset of the properties to stage  440  instead of the entire activity context. The subset may be referenced by the activity ID that identifies the associated request. 
     Stage  440  may proceed similarly to stage  440  by processing the request, adding properties to activity context  420  and logging some or all of the contents of activity context  420 . Stage  440  may pass the request and some or all of activity context  420  to stage  450 . 
     Stage  450  may proceed similarly to stages  430  and  440 . In the illustrated example, stage  450  is the last stage of request processing. More or fewer stages may be used to process a request. Stage  450  may then return the results of request processing to request handler  410  after logging some or all of the contents of activity context  420 . 
     Request handler  410  may receive the response. Activity context  420  may be ended, e.g. by freeing the memory used to store the class object. Request handler  410  may return the response to the requesting client, e.g. client device  130 . Request handler  410  may also call an end notification function to signal logger  230  that the logging for a request&#39;s processing is complete. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an embodiment of a sequence diagram  500  of using the stored values to determine a resource usage statistic. In sequence diagram  500 , the actors are logger  510 , stage  1  data store  530 , stage  2  data store  540 , and stage  3  data store  550 . Logger  510  may be a representative embodiment of logger  230 . Data stores  530 ,  540  and  550  may be representative embodiments of data store  270  that correspond, respectively, to where stages  1 ,  2 , and  3  from  FIG. 4  stored the contents of activity context  420 . 
     As illustrated, stage data stores  530 ,  540  and  550  are depicted as separate storage entities. However, different stages may share a data store, for example, when two or more stages are in read/write communication with the same computer-readable storage medium. When different stages share a data store, the contents of an activity context may be stored in one logical file or in separate logical files corresponding to the separate stages. 
     Sequence diagram  500  may begin when logger  510  receives an end notification call from a request handler, e.g. from request handler  410  from  FIG. 4 . Logger  510  may begin retrieving stored activity context contents, referred to n  FIG. 5  as “log  1 ”, “log  2 ”, and “log  3 ” immediately, or at a specified interval, e.g. hourly or daily. 
     Logger  510  may then, at some time, retrieve and receive log  1  from stage  1  data store  530 , log  2  from stage  2  data store  540 , and log  3  from stage  3  data store  550 . Although depicted as sequential in time, logger  510  may retrieve logs substantially simultaneously from the different data stores. 
     Logger  510  may then format the data from all of the retrieved logs and output a log file  232 . In an embodiment, formatting the data may include aggregating and/or analyzing the data from the different logs. 
     Operations for the above-described embodiments may be further described with reference to one or more logic flows. It may be appreciated that the representative logic flows do not necessarily have to be executed in the order presented, or in any particular order, unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, various activities described with respect to the logic flows can be executed in serial or parallel fashion. The logic flows may be implemented using one or more hardware elements and/or software elements of the described embodiments or alternative elements as desired for a given set of design and performance constraints. For example, the logic flows may be implemented as logic (e.g., computer program instructions) for execution by a logic device (e.g., a general-purpose or specific-purpose computer). 
       FIG. 6  illustrates one embodiment of a logic flow  600 . The logic flow  600  may be representative of some or all of the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein. Logic flow  600  may represent a process of tracking usage statistics per transaction across multiple layers of protocols. 
     In an embodiment, logic flow  600  may assign an activity context to a request at block  602 . For example, request handler  220  may receive request  120  and create an activity context  222 . Activity context  222  may be assigned to request  120  and identified by a unique activity identifier. 
     In an embodiment, logic flow  600  may assign values to activity context properties and execute the first stage in block  604 . For example, the act of creating activity context  222  may automatically populate some or all of the values in the initial set of properties. In an embodiment, the values of the initial set of properties may be set after the activity context  222  is created. In an embodiment, some or all of the initial set of properties may be related to the client device  130  and application  132  that sent the request. 
     In an embodiment, executing a stage may include executing software instructions to perform part of the process of responding to a request. The stage may include executing instructions within a thread and/or a process, for example. 
     In an embodiment, logic flow  600  may store values of the activity context properties to a local data store at the end of the stage in block  606 . For example, after the first stage has executed, some or all of the contents of the activity in its current state may be stored on a computer readable medium that is local to the stage. A local computer readable storage medium may include, for example, a computer readable storage medium with which a stage has direct read/write communication. In some embodiments, only values for activity context properties that are relevant to that stage may be stored. 
     In an embodiment, when there are more stages needed to complete processing the request, at block  608 , logic flow  600  may continue to block  610 . When there are no more stages, logic flow  600  may continue at block  614 . 
     In an embodiment, logic flow  600  may transfer the activity context and the request to a next stage in block  610 . For example, request  120  may be transferred to a new thread, a new process, and/or a different device. Activity context  222  may be transferred with request  120 , either in whole or in part. Some properties and values that were relevant only to the previous stage, for example, may not be passed to the next stage. 
     In an embodiment, logic flow  600  may execute the next stage in block  612 . For example, logic flow  600  may execute additional software instructions relevant to responding to the request in a thread and/or process on the same or a different device from the previous stage. 
     In an embodiment, at the end of block  612 , logic flow  600  may repeat block  606  and determine, again, whether there are additional stages to complete. 
     In an embodiment, when there are no additional stages to complete, logic flow  600  may collect the stored values generated in block  606  and generate a log file in block  614 . For example, logger  230  may retrieve all stored values from their respective local data stores. Logger  230  may use the activity IDs of various activity contexts  222  to assemble all of the values stored about the resource usage of the request from start to finish. Logger  230  may, essentially, create a picture of resource usage for any given request, e.g. the time spent overall or within a particular stage, what data sources were read, what protocols used, and so forth. Logger  230  may aggregate data over multiple requests to generate resource usage statistics, for example, to identify a number of processing unit cycles; a number of read operations; a number of write operations; a number of database accesses; a number of times a protocol is used; a number of requests from an application; a number of requests from a client; a number of requests from a user; a latency time; a total activity time; a peak request time; a relative resource usage of a first client-initiated action and a second client-initiated action; and so forth. 
     Logger  230  may generate a single log file  232  from the collected data. The log file  232  may include data for only one request, for all requests since the last creation of a log file, or for all requests over a time interval. 
     The log file may then be used for a variety of purposes, such as but not limited to, modifying throttling algorithms, debugging WSS  110 ,  210  code, or administrative decisions about resource deployment. 
     To illustrate the usefulness of various embodiments, suppose a new version of a mobile client application (“newApp”) is released for a particular mobile device (“xPhone”), and that newApp sends requests to the web services server. In this example, there is a problem in newApp that causes it to send an abnormally high number of requests to the web services server. The web services server may be able to handle the surge up to a point, after which the abnormally high number causes service degradation for all clients of the web services server. 
     In an embodiment, each request is assigned an activity context, which may include information about the client application, version and device, among other information. When service degrades, the log files generated from processing requests can be analyzed. On analysis, the workload manager may determine that an abnormally high number of requests are coming from newApp and xPhone. The workload manager may then throttle requests just from the combination of newApp on xPhone. For example, requests from newApp on xPhone may be handled only when the web services server has available resources. Other users will then experience a return to normal service levels, while users of newApp on xPhone may experience reduced service levels until the bug is reported and resolved. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture  700  suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described. The computing architecture  700  includes various common computing elements, such as one or more processors, co-processors, memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O) components, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the computing architecture  700 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the computing architecture  700  comprises a processing unit  704 , a system memory  706  and a system bus  708 . The processing unit  704  can be any of various commercially available processors. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures may also be employed as the processing unit  704 . The system bus  708  provides an interface for system components including, but not limited to, the system memory  706  to the processing unit  704 . The system bus  708  can be any of several types of bus structure that may further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. 
     The system memory  706  may include various types of memory units, such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymer memory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase change or ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS) memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitable for storing information. In the illustrated embodiment shown in  FIG. 7 , the system memory  706  can include non-volatile memory  710  and/or volatile memory  712 . A basic input/output system (BIOS) can be stored in the non-volatile memory  710 . 
     The computer  702  may include various types of computer-readable storage media, including an internal hard disk drive (HDD)  714 , a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD)  716  to read from or write to a removable magnetic disk  718 , and an optical disk drive  720  to read from or write to a removable optical disk  722  (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD). The HDD  714 , FDD  716  and optical disk drive  720  can be connected to the system bus  708  by a HDD interface  724 , an FDD interface  726  and an optical drive interface  728 , respectively. The HDD interface  724  for external drive implementations can include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interface technologies. 
     The drives and associated computer-readable storage media provide volatile and/or nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For example, a number of program modules can be stored in the drives and memory units  710 ,  712 , including an operating system  730 , one or more application programs  732 , other program modules  734 , and program data  736 . The one or more application programs  732 , other program modules  734 , and program data  736  can include, for example, grammar builder  118 ,  218 ,  300 , name processing modules  310 , name normalizer  320  and speech recognizer  116 ,  216 . 
     A user can enter commands and information into the computer  702  through one or more wire/wireless input devices, for example, a keyboard  738  and a pointing device, such as a mouse  740 . Other input devices may include a microphone, an infra-red (IR) remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit  704  through an input device interface  742  that is coupled to the system bus  708 , but can be connected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, IEEE 1394 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, and so forth. 
     A monitor  744  or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus  708  via an interface, such as a video adaptor  746 . In addition to the monitor  744 , a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices, such as speakers, printers, and so forth. 
     The computer  702  may operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wire and/or wireless communications to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer  748 . The remote computer  748  can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer  702 , although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device  750  is illustrated. The logical connections depicted include wire/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN)  752  and/or larger networks, for example, a wide area network (WAN)  754 . Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to a global communications network, for example, the Internet. 
     When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer  702  is connected to the LAN  752  through a wire and/or wireless communication network interface or adaptor  756 . The adaptor  756  can facilitate wire and/or wireless communications to the LAN  752 , which may also include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless functionality of the adaptor  756 . 
     When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer  702  can include a modem  758 , or is connected to a communications server on the WAN  754 , or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN  754 , such as by way of the Internet. The modem  758 , which can be internal or external and a wire and/or wireless device, connects to the system bus  708  via the input device interface  742 . In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer  702 , or portions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device  750 . It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. 
     The computer  702  is operable to communicate with wire and wireless devices or entities using the IEEE 802 family of standards, such as wireless devices operatively disposed in wireless communication (e.g., IEEE 802.7 over-the-air modulation techniques) with, for example, a printer, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), communications satellite, any piece of equipment or location associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand, restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi (or Wireless Fidelity), WiMax, and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies. Thus, the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices. Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.7x (a, b, g, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wire networks (which use IEEE 802.3-related media and functions). 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communications architecture  800  suitable for implementing various embodiments as previously described. The communications architecture  800  includes various common communications elements, such as a transmitter, receiver, transceiver, radio, network interface, baseband processor, antenna, amplifiers, filters, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited to implementation by the communications architecture  800 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 8 , the communications architecture  800  comprises includes one or more clients  802  and servers  804 . The clients  802  may implement the client device  130 . The servers  804  may implement the server systems for web services server  110 ,  210 . The clients  802  and the servers  804  are operatively connected to one or more respective client data stores  808  and server data stores  810  that can be employed to store information local to the respective clients  802  and servers  804 , such as cookies and/or associated contextual information. 
     The clients  802  and the servers  804  may communicate information between each other using a communication framework  806 . The communications framework  806  may implement any well-known communications techniques, such as techniques suitable for use with packet-switched networks (e.g., public networks such as the Internet, private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), circuit-switched networks (e.g., the public switched telephone network), or a combination of packet-switched networks and circuit-switched networks (with suitable gateways and translators). The clients  802  and the servers  804  may include various types of standard communication elements designed to be interoperable with the communications framework  806 , such as one or more communications interfaces, network interfaces, network interface cards (NIC), radios, wireless transmitters/receivers (transceivers), wired and/or wireless communication media, physical connectors, and so forth. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired communications media and wireless communications media. Examples of wired communications media may include a wire, cable, metal leads, printed circuit boards (PCB), backplanes, switch fabrics, semiconductor material, twisted-pair wire, co-axial cable, fiber optics, a propagated signal, and so forth. Examples of wireless communications media may include acoustic, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum, infrared and other wireless media. One possible communication between a client  802  and a server  804  can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes. The data packet may include a cookie and/or associated contextual information, for example. 
     Various embodiments may be implemented using hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples of hardware elements may include devices, components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of software elements may include software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whether an embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or software elements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such as desired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processing cycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources, data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desired for a given implementation. 
     Some embodiments may comprise an article of manufacture. An article of manufacture may comprise a storage medium to store logic. Examples of a storage medium may include one or more types of computer-readable storage media capable of storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatile memory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples of the logic may include various software elements, such as software components, programs, applications, computer programs, application programs, system programs, machine programs, operating system software, middleware, firmware, software modules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, software interfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets, computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments, words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, for example, an article of manufacture may store executable computer program instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform methods and/or operations in accordance with the described embodiments. The executable computer program instructions may include any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. The executable computer program instructions may be implemented according to a predefined computer language, manner or syntax, for instructing a computer to perform a certain function. The instructions may be implemented using any suitable high-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language. 
     Some embodiments may be described using the expression “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. 
     Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other. 
     It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. Section 1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects. 
     Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.