Abstract:
A user interface comprises an interactive control and method for quickly changing the amount of text displayed in each item in a list of text items. The control allows the user to choose from a large range of choices for how much text is displayed and provides live updates of the changes. The method saves the user time by eliminating the need to refresh the screen when changing the amount of text displayed.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/582,868, filed Jun. 25, 2004 by S. P. Jobs, et al. This application also is related to application Ser. No. 08/536,903 entitled “Document Summary Computer System User Interface,” filed on Sep. 29, 1995 by D. Rose et al. and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,323. This application also is related to application Ser. No. 09/241,255 entitled “Auto-Summary of Document Content,” filed on Feb. 1, 1999 by J. Bornstein et al. and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,362, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/536,020 entitled “Interactive Document Summarization,” filed on Sep. 29, 1995 by J. Bornstein et al. and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,164. This application also is related to application Ser. No. 10/200,806 entitled “Interactive Document Summarization,” filed on Jul. 22, 2002 by J. Bornstein et al., which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/536,020 entitled “Interactive Document Summarization,” filed on Sep. 29, 1995 by J. Bornstein et al. and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,164, all of which applications are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to controlling content displayed in a user interface, and more particularly, to a control and method for live resizing of displayed content. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the ever-increasing amount of electronic information available, such as via the Internet, locating desired information can take a long time. For example, when searching for content on a specific topic a user often is presented with a few items that the user is interested in and many others that the user is not interested in. 
     Existing formats for displaying content often take the form of a list of blocks of text corresponding to each respective item. In a list, such as those displaying search or other user-initiated query results, the amount of content displayed in each block of text varies greatly. For example, one block of text in the list may include only three lines of text and another block of text within the same list may include twenty lines of text. Many conventional display formats provide the user a single format for viewing the list of text blocks, with no options for changing the output to show smaller or larger amounts of text in the blocks. Therefore, if a user desires quickly to see what the search has produced, the user must scroll through all of the items, which may take a long time if the amount of text displayed in the text blocks is large. 
     Some existing formats for displaying content have more than one granularity level for the amount of text displayed. For example, in a user-initiated term-based search, one existing format provides a first display option that shows, for each document found, sections of the document containing the search term and a second display option that shows only the title of each document. However, such formats generally are limited to just a few predetermined choices, such as a choice between a smaller amount of text, for example a title, and a larger amount of text, for example several paragraphs. As a result the user has little control over how much text is displayed. The user may want to quickly scan query results for a desired topic. However, the smaller option may not include enough information to discern whether a particular query result is on topic. On the other hand, the larger option may show too much text, requiring the user to spend significant time scrolling through the displayed results, including switching between pages of displayed results to see all of the results, thus decreasing the efficiency of the search. In addition, even with more than a few options for display of information, most systems have no mechanism to determine if any of the options provide the user the amount of information that will best suit the user&#39;s purpose and provide no option for continuously varying the amount of text displayed. 
     An additional problem with such limited option display formats is that the change is not immediately reflected in the display as the user changes back and forth between the options; the user must refresh or wait for the screen to reload. A related problem is that when the refresh occurs, generally the user is returned to the top of the list of displayed results. This process is problematic, for example, if the user begins with the smaller option, finds an interesting item part way down the list, and wants to see the expanded version of that item. Upon refresh, generally the display will return to the top of the list or query results. Thus, unless the user wants to see the expanded version of the first item, the user must re-scroll down to the desired item to see its expanded version, resulting in wasted search time. 
     Traditional systems also maintain no record of users&#39; search display preferences. As a result, in a display format that defaults to displaying the smaller option content, either in general or specific to searching for particular content, a user who prefers the larger option must switch to that option each time the user runs a search. In addition, even systems that do maintain such a record contain few display options as described above, and thus do not accurately record users&#39; display preferences. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides the ability to quickly change the amount of text displayed in a list of query results or articles at multiple levels of granularity and continuously via a user interface control. By allowing the user to choose from a large range of choices for how much text is displayed, the display format flexibly conforms to the user&#39;s desires. In addition, the changes occur “live” as the user changes the level of granularity, eliminating the need for the user to refresh the screen to achieve the desired amount of text displayed. In one embodiment, the invention allows some portion or portions of the text to be designated as critical (by the user or the author) so that they are displayed regardless of the selected granularity level. 
     In one embodiment, these features are achieved via an on-screen control, such as a slider, that allows the user to dynamically increase or decrease the amount of text displayed. As the user slides the slider control to one end, the amount of text displayed increases toward a maximum amount and to the other end, toward a minimum amount. Thus, instant visual feedback is provided without requiring the refreshing or reloading of the screen or of the results. 
     In one embodiment, the present invention also prevents the user from having to re-scroll through the result list to locate the item of interest. This aspect is accomplished by pinning the location of the topmost article displayed within the list of items. For example, before the user moves the slider, the present invention records which item in the list is at the top of the viewing screen. Then, as the user moves the slider to adjust the granularity of the displayed items, the item remains at the top of the screen. 
     In addition, in one embodiment the present invention tracks the user&#39;s preference as to how much text the user prefers to have displayed, and optionally stores the preference as the user&#39;s default setting. In one embodiment, there is provided a setting to specify whether or not to store this information, according to user preference and/or content. 
     In one embodiment, the present invention changes the amount of text displayed continuously in conjunction with movement of the slider using standard truncation, for example, line-by-line or sentence-by-sentence. In another embodiment, the invention uses an algorithm to produce a series of summaries as options for changing the amount of text displayed. 
     In one embodiment, the list of displayed items is produced by a text-based search. In another embodiment, the list is a grouping of items, such as news articles on a particular topic. In yet another embodiment, the list displayed may comprise other items, such as files in a file system. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIGS. 1A-F  are illustrations of various amounts of text displayed in a user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is enlarged version of a control as part of a user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIGS. 3A  and B are illustrations of text pinned in position in a user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart of a process for changing the amount of text displayed in a user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart of the process that the software follows to adjust the amount of text displayed in a user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is an illustration of the architecture of a system for implementing a user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     The figures depict a preferred embodiment of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Integrated User Interface 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1A , there is shown a user interface  10  displaying query results in the form of text blocks in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The user interface  10  includes two main areas: a result display area  20  and a control area  30 . The graphical or visual organization and placement of the areas in the user interface  10  of  FIGS. 1A-F  is merely illustrative and not limited by the present invention, and variations in the placement, size, and shape of the areas would be readily apparent to those of skill in the art of user interface design. 
     The result display area  20  in its basic form is the area of the user interface  10  for displaying user-initiated query results to the user. The control area  30  is the area containing the controls for modifying the result display area  20  content. 
     The result display area  20  includes query result items  40  and an indication of the total number of results displayed  50 . In the example of  FIG. 1A , the results display area  20  displays six query result items  40   a - f . The total item number indicator  50  shows that there are a total of twelve query results items  40 , although only six items  40   a - f  are depicted. The remaining six query result items  40  are currently outside the displayed area of the user&#39;s screen. 
     In the example depicted in  FIG. 1A , the individual query result items  40  are each “hits” resulting from a user-initiated text or other query, and thus display content associated with the user&#39;s query. Each query result item  40  contains a heading  75 , a text block  80 , and optionally, one or more universal indicators  85 . The heading  75  is an indication of the subject of the query result item  40 , such as a title. The text block  80  contains the text associated with the heading  75 ; in one embodiment, text block  80  is the aspect of the query result item  40  that the present invention modifies according to the techniques described herein. As shown, the size of text block  80  may vary among query result items  40 . For example, items  40   a  and  40   f  show six lines of text, item  40   b  shows three lines of text, and item  40   c  shows four lines of text. The variance in text block  80  size may be due to, for example, pre-existing variations in the overall length of the respective query results. 
     The universal indicators  85  are text portions not included in the text block  80  of the query result item  40 , and in one embodiment, are always displayed for each visible query result regardless of granularity level. For example, the indicators  85  may display a date ( 85   a ) or a link ( 85   b ) to the full text of the query result  40 . In one embodiment, the user may alter which aspects of the result  40  remain constant regardless of the chosen granularity. In another embodiment, universal indicators  85  are omitted or not used. 
     The control area  30  includes a control  60 , which in this example is a slider  60 , and a scroll bar  70 . The control  60  is the aspect of the invention that controls the software providing the core functionality. Referring still to  FIG. 1A  and referring to an enlarged version of the control  60  shown in  FIG. 2 , the slider  60  includes a control element  90  that moves, in this example horizontally, on a slide bar  95 . The element  90  is movable in two directions: one direction toward a minimum amount of text  97 , and one direction toward a maximum amount of text  99 . In the example depicted in  FIG. 1A , the element  90  is at the maximum end  99 , indicating that the query results items  40  display the maximum amount of text in their respective text blocks  80 . In one embodiment, the slider  60  may contain a large number of steps between the minimum  97  and maximum  99  to create steps of very fine granularity, for example spanning values 0-100. In one embodiment, the scale is linear. In another embodiment, the scale is logarithmic, with initial movement changing the amount of text more quickly, and slowing down as the user approaches the desired amount. In one embodiment, the movement is continuous; the user is unable to discern the individual “steps.” In another embodiment, the steps are individualized, discrete movements discernable by the user. 
     In one embodiment, the change in the amount of text displayed is substantially immediate (or “live”) in response to movement of the element  90  on the slider  60 . This aspect of the present invention is advantageous because it eliminates the need for the user to refresh the screen to achieve the desired amount of text displayed. In another embodiment, the user hits a key or clicks a button to affect changes in the display. In another embodiment, a dialog box is presented including an “apply” button for effecting changes. 
     The scroll bar  70  is a control used to scroll the list of query result items  40 , in this example vertically up or down. In the example depicted in  FIG. 1A , the scroll bar  70  takes up approximately half of its possible length, indicating the fraction of the page that currently is visible on the screen. 
     Referring briefly to  FIGS. 3A  and B, another example of a user interface  10  displaying query results in the form of text blocks in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention is shown. In this example, the scroll bar  70  as shown is not at the very top of its possible length, indicating that the topmost query result item  40  displayed ( 40   t ) is not the topmost item of the entire list of query result items  40 . In other words, there are one or more query result items  40  off the top of the screen, and thus not shown, above query result item  40   t.    
     As the user moves the control element  90  from the maximum value  99  of  FIG. 3A  closer toward the minimum value end  97  as displayed in  FIG. 3B , in one embodiment the position of the topmost item  40   t  within the list of query result items  40  remains at the top of the visible display. The topmost item  40   t  remains in the top position even though it is not the topmost item  40  in the list. The system maintains the topmost item  40   t  in this position by maintaining the top line offset as described in conjunction with the offset module  575  of  FIG. 6 ; the system assumes that the item at the top of the screen is the item of interest to the user. This aspect of the present invention is advantageous because it tracks the location of the item the user is interested in within the list of displayed items. For example, regardless of where the control element  90  is moved on the slider  60  depicted in  FIGS. 3A  and B, the topmost item  40   t  is kept at the top. As a result, the user never has to re-scroll through the result list to locate the item  80  of interest. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1A-F , collectively they show an example of how the query result area  20  display line-by-line changes as a result of moving the slider  60  from a maximum  99  amount of text displayed in the respective text blocks  80  to a minimum  97  amount to text displayed in the respective text blocks  80 . Also referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a flowchart of the process for changing the size of the text blocks  80 . The process begins by determining  310  that the slider  60  position has changed. If the control element  90  of the slider  60  has moved toward the minimum value  97  end, it is first determined  315  which is the longest text block  80 . Then, the longest text block  80  is shortened  320  one increment. Next, in response to continued movement of the slider  60  toward the minimum end  97 , it is determined whether the text blocks  80  all are of equal size  325 , and if not, steps  315  and  320  repeat with the next longest text block(s)  80  as the user moves the slider  60  toward minimum  97 , until all blocks  80  are of equal size. In some examples, the longest text block  80  at any given time may be more than one text block  80 , in which case the longest blocks  80  are shortened  320  together in conjunction with continued movement of the slider  60  until they are the length of the next longest block(s)  80 . Then, all of the text blocks  80  are shortened collectively  330  in conjunction with continued movement of the slider  60  until they reach the minimum length  97 , at which time the element  90  of the slider  60  would be at the minimum end  97 . As previously described, the changes to the amount of text displayed are substantially immediate and continuous with movement of the slider. The shortening process can be seen by referring to  FIGS. 1A-F  in sequence. 
     In the example shown in  FIGS. 1A-F , the shortening is line-by-line, so a single line is removed from the longest text block(s)  80  until it has the same number of lines as the next longest text block(s)  80 , and so on. In other embodiments, other increments could be used, for example word-by-word or sentence-by-sentence. 
     Beginning with  FIG. 1A  as time zero, the control element  90  of the slider  60  is at the maximum limit  99  for the amount of text displayed in the text blocks  80  of the query result area  20 . In this example, items  40   a  and  40   f  show six lines of text, item  40   b  shows three lines of text, and item  40   c  shows four lines of text. The number of lines of text in the text block of item  40   f  is unknown to the user as of time zero, because the text block  80  of item  40   f  is partially off the bottom of screen. In addition, it is unknown to the user how many lines there are for the respective text boxes  80  of the other query result items  40 . The process begins by determining  310  the longest text block  80  and shortening  320  it to the length of the next largest text block in response to movement of the element  90  of the slider  60 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1B  as time one, the control element  90  has moved on the slide bar  95  slightly away from the maximum text length end  99  toward the minimum text length end  97  of the slider  60 . However, no change in the length of the text blocks  80  of the query result items  40   a - f  is shown. The reason no change has occurred is because one of the text blocks  80  not shown on the screen must have been longer than the longest text block  80  shown, i.e., longer than six lines. Thus, the text blocks  80  shown in query results  40   a - f  have not yet been shortened because none of them are the longest text block(s)  80 . In this example, the longest text block  80  (not shown) was seven lines, and has now been shortened to six lines, i.e., to the length of the next longest text blocks  80  of items  40   a  and  40   d.    
     Referring now to  FIG. 1C  as time two, the control element  90  has moved on the slide bar  95  away from the maximum text length end  99  toward the minimum text length end  97  of the slider  60  past the position of time one. The text blocks  80  of items  40   a  and  40   d  have been shortened from six lines to five lines. In addition, now four lines of the text block  80  of item  40   f , rather than two shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , fit on the screen. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1D  as time three, the control element  90  has moved on the slide bar  95  away from the maximum text length end  99  toward the minimum text length end  97  of the slider  60  past the position of time two. The text blocks  80  of items  40   a - f  now all have been shortened from five lines to three lines. In this example, the movement of the slider  60  from time two to time three was more than one “step” (e.g., removed more than one line of text), as can be seen by comparing the slider  60  position of  FIGS. 1C and 1D . In addition, because the text block  80  of items  40   a - f  all were three lines or longer, they will now continue to decrease in size as a group. 
     An additional item  40   g  now is visible on the screen, with a text block  80  containing two lines. As a result, because the screen now displays a larger fraction of the total number  50  of query result items  40  (increased from six of twelve to seven of twelve), the length of the scroll bar  70  has increased as compared to  FIGS. 1A-C . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1E  as time four, the control element  90  has moved on the slide bar  95  further toward the minimum text length end  97  of the slider  60 , past the position of time three. Two additional items  40   h ,  40   i  can be seen on the screen, again reflected by the lengthening of the scroll bar  70 , and all items  40  now are contain two lines of text in their respective text blocks  80 . 
     Finally referring to  FIG. 1F  as time five, the control element  90  has moved to the minimum text length end  97  of the slider  60 . All items  40  are just one line long. A total of ten items  40  are displayed, which is reflected by the increased length of the scroll bar  70 . 
     Referring again to the flowchart of the process for changing the size of the text blocks  80  of  FIG. 4 , the first step is determining  310  that the slider  60  position has changed. If the control element  90  of the slider  60  has moved toward the maximum value  99  end, it is first determined  335  which text block(s)  80  have more text available to be displayed. Then, those text block(s)  80  are lengthened  340  by one increment. Next, in response to continued movement of the slider  60 , it is determined  350  whether any text blocks  80  have more text available to be displayed, and if so, steps  335  and  340  repeat for the next remaining text block(s)  80  in conjunction with continued movement of the slider  60  until all blocks  80  display the maximum amount of text. An example of line-by-line lengthening of the text blocks  80  in conjunction with continued movement of the slider  60  can be seen by viewing  FIGS. 1A-F  discussed above in reverse order. 
     In other examples, length changes can be sentence-by-sentence or word-by-word. In one embodiment, the changes to the text blocks  80  reflect various length summaries of a full-text article. One embodiment of a summarization process and algorithm is described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,323, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 5 , there is shown one embodiment of the process that the software follows to adjust the text displayed in the text blocks  80 . In this example, the process begins by retrieving 410 data, for example from a network, such as the Internet. Next, the data is formatted  420  to annotate which blocks of text should be acted upon when the slider  60  is operated. Formatting  420  includes one or more steps that may cause various alterations to the data, such as marking the data and/or inserting addition elements to maintain coherent text when portions are removed, such as ellipses. For example, for a summarization process, formatting may include adding an ellipsis to the text for inclusion when some portion of the text is removed and assigning a span class to each portion of the text  80  of the data, for example to each sentence. Applying this example, the data begins as an article with three sentences: “This is the first sentence. This is the second sentence. This is the third sentence.” Then, the data is formatted  420  to include an ellipse: “This is the first sentence. This is the second sentence . . . . This is the third sentence.” Next, the data is formatted  420  to assign a span class to each sentence, for example (in pseudocode): 
     &lt;span class=s1&gt;This is this first sentence.&lt;/span&gt; 
     &lt;span class=s2&gt;This is the second sentence.&lt;/span&gt; 
     &lt;span class=ellipsis&gt; . . . &lt;/span&gt; 
     &lt;span class=s3&gt;This is the third sentence&lt;/span&gt; 
     Once formatted, the data is passed  430 , for example, to a web browser. Then, as the user moves the slider  60 , the data displayed is adjusted  440  substantially instantaneously using the data now formatted for that purpose. Continuing with the above example, for an adjustment  440  to show just the first and third sentences of the article, the software would adjust  440  to a style that turned off the second sentence only, exemplary pseudocode might be “#s2 display:none.” The resulting article thus would contain the first sentence, the ellipse, and the third sentence: “This is the first sentence . . . . . This is the third sentence.” In one embodiment, an aspect of adjusting  440  the data displayed maintains the top line offset  445 . As discussed in conjunction with  FIGS. 1A-F , as the slider moves, the top item  80  displayed remains the top item  80  after resizing. This is accomplished by determining and maintaining  235  the top line offset. The steps depicted in  FIG. 5  happen very quickly to enable the display to substantially immediately update the interface  10  when the slider  60  is moved. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , it illustrates the architecture of a system for implementing a user interface  10  in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In such a system, a computer  500  is of conventional design, and includes a display, input, processor, an addressable memory, and other conventional features (not illustrated) such as a local hard disk, input/output ports, a keyboard, a mouse, and a network interface. In a preferred embodiment the computer  500  may be implemented on a Macintosh computer operating under an operating system such as Mac OS X, or a SPARC-based computer operating under UNIX, or any other equivalent devices. 
     In accordance with the present invention, the computer  500  operates to execute software  520  to operate a user interface  10  as described above. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the computer  500  includes a data repository  510  and various software  520 . 
     The data repository  510  may be a conventional database accessible by the software  520 , for example, through a user interface  10 . The software  520  accesses and queries the repository  510  to retrieve data associated with the various software modules  550 - 575  and user interface  10 . The repository  510  may include, for example, data regarding web page formatting, etc. In addition, the repository  510  may store various preferences, either by user or by content, such as a user preference to display the maximum amount of text. 
     The software  520  includes a number of executable code portions and data files for creating and supporting the user interface  10 , handling input and generating output. The software  520  may be provided to the computer  500  on computer readable media, such as a CD-ROM, diskette, or by electronic communication over a network from software distributors, for installation and execution thereon. Alternatively, some aspects of the software  520  and the data repository  510  can be hosted on a server computer, and accessed over the network by the user, for example using a browser interface (not shown). 
     In one embodiment, the software  520  includes a bundle of modules  530 , a user interface  10 , a web browser  540 , and a type module  545 . In one embodiment, the software  520  may be contained within more than one program, as indicated in  FIG. 6  by a dotted line. The bundle  530  contains various executable portions of code for controlling the user interface  10 , which the web browser  540  can load at run time. The user interface  10  is the set of screens that allow the user to interact with the software  520 , for example, as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 1A-F . Changes to controls on the user interface  10 , such as the slider  60  of  FIG. 1A , initiate processes and logic of the software  520 . The web browser  540  is a standard web interface that allows the user to interact with a network such as the Internet, for example, to use a search engine to retrieve articles of interest. 
     The module bundle  530  contains a retrieve module  550 , a format module  555 , a pass module  560 , a determine module  565 , an adjust module  570 , and an offset module  575 . The retrieve module  550  provides the logic for the system to perform the get data step ( 410 ) of  FIG. 5 , for example from the Internet. The format module  555  takes the data and formats it per the format data step ( 420 ) step of  FIG. 5 . The format module  555  is crucial to the live update aspect of the user interface  10 . 
     The pass module  560  provides the logic to pass the formatted text, for example, to the web browser  540  as described in step  425  of  FIG. 5 . The determine module  565  provides the logic to determine characteristics of text blocks  80  during adjustment of the slider  60 , for example, determining the relative size or content of text blocks  80  to perform steps  315 ,  325 ,  335 , and  350  of  FIG. 5 . The adjust module  570  provides the logic to adjust which portions of text are visible to the user according to step  430  of  FIG. 5 . More specifically, it provides the capability to change the amount of text displayed, for example to shorten the text (steps  320  and  330  of  FIG. 4 ) or lengthen the text ( 340 ). As described above, the adjust module  570 , working in conjunction with the format module  555 , allows for the live update of the content displayed. The offset module  575  provides the logic to maintain the first line offset (step  435  of  FIG. 5 ), pinning the top article displayed and preventing the user from having to relocate the article of interest in the text. 
     The present invention has been described in particular detail with respect to one possible embodiment. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced in other embodiments. First, the particular naming of the components, capitalization of terms, the attributes, data structures, or any other programming or structural aspect is not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may have different names, formats, or protocols. Further, the system may be implemented via a combination of hardware and software, as described, or entirely in hardware elements. Also, the particular division of functionality between the various system components described herein is merely exemplary, and not mandatory; functions performed by a single system component may instead be performed by multiple components, and functions performed by multiple components may instead performed by a single component. 
     Some portions of above description present the features of the present invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules or by functional names, without loss of generality. 
     Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. 
     Certain aspects of the present invention include process steps and instructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should be noted that the process steps and instructions of the present invention could be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and when embodied in software, could be downloaded to reside on and be operated from different platforms used by real time network operating systems. 
     The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored on a computer readable medium that can be accessed by the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs); or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore, the computers referred to in the specification may include a single processor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased computing capability. 
     The algorithms and operations presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may also be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will be apparent to those of skill in the, along with equivalent variations. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It is appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the present invention as described herein, and any references to specific languages are provided for disclosure of enablement and best mode of the present invention. 
     The present invention is well suited to a wide variety of computer network systems over numerous topologies. Within this field, the configuration and management of large networks comprise storage devices and computers that are communicatively coupled to dissimilar computers and storage devices over a network, such as the Internet. 
     Finally, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.