Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/740,652 filed Apr. 26, 2007, entitled “DMA and Graphics Interface Emulation,” Attorney Docket No. 026340-04810US, which application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/797,435, filed May 3, 2006, entitled “DMA and Graphics Interface Emulation,” Attorney Docket No. 026340-004800US; which is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/763,568, filed Jan. 30, 2006, entitled “Branch Prediction Thread Management,” Attorney Docket No. 026340-004700US; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/797,762, filed May 3, 2006, entitled “Stall Prediction Thread Management,” Attorney Docket No. 026340-004710US; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/797,761, filed May 3, 2006, entitled “Code Translation and Pipeline Optimization,” Attorney Docket No. 026340-004900US; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/746,267, filed May 3, 2006, entitled “Translation Block Invalidation Prehints in Emulation of a Target System on a Host System;” U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/746,268, filed May 3, 2006, entitled “Register Mapping in Emulation of a Target System on a Host System;” and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/746,273, filed May 3, 2006, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Resolving Clock Management Issue in Emulation Involving Both Interpreted and Translated Code,” all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention is related to emulation software to execute applications on a computer or information processing device other than the one for which the applications were originally written. Applications are typically developed to be executed by computer systems of a particular type or that meet specific specifications. Developers specify the functions of an application as source code expressed in one or more programming languages. Source code is typically designed to be easily written and understood by human developers. Development applications, such as compilers, assemblers, linkers, and interpreters, convert an application expressed as source code into binary code or object code modules, which are in a format capable of being executed by the intended system. The binary code or object code format typically is adapted to the architecture of the intended computer system, including the number and type of microprocessors; the arrangement of memory and storage; and the audio, video, networking, and other input and output subsystems. The computer system originally intended to execute an application is referred to as a target computer system. 
         [0003]    Often, it is desirable to be able to execute applications on different types of computer systems other than the one for which the applications were originally written. For example, users with a new computer system, such as a video game console, may still wish to use applications previously purchased for other types of computer systems, such as older video game consoles. A computer system that is of a different type than the target computer system originally intended for an application is referred to as a host computer system. 
         [0004]    One solution for executing applications on host computer systems, i.e. types of computer systems other than the one for which the applications were originally written, is to modify the application. Application source code can be modified, or ported, to a different type of computer system. However, this is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive if there are substantial differences between the target computer system and the host computer system. 
         [0005]    Emulation is another solution for executing applications on host computer systems. Emulation software and/or hardware enables the host computer system to mimic the functionality of the target computer system. A target system using the appropriate emulation will ideally respond to an application&#39;s binary code in the same or similar way as the target computer system. 
         [0006]    One of the simplest types of emulation is a software interpreter that sequentially analyzes each instruction in an application&#39;s binary code modules, creates one or more equivalent instructions for the host computer system, and then executes the equivalent instructions. The emulator also typically includes data structures adapted to represent the state of the emulated target computer system. The emulator also may include software functions or modules adapted to mimic the hardware functions of the emulated target computer system and to interface hardware resources of the host computer system with the application. 
         [0007]    Because of the overhead associated with constantly analyzing and converting application instructions into equivalent host computer system instructions, software interpreters often require orders of magnitude more processing performance on a host computer system to execute an application at the same speed as the target computer system. Thus, for applications requiring real-time emulation, software interpreters are often too slow to be used when the host computer system is not substantially faster than the target computer system. 
         [0008]    A more complicated type of emulation employs binary translation to convert large portions of an application&#39;s binary code modules into corresponding portions of host computer system instructions prior to execution. Binary translation can be performed statically, i.e. prior to the execution of the application by the host computer system, or dynamically, i.e. during the execution of other portions of the application by the host computer system. Translated portions, or blocks, of the application can be cached, thereby amortizing the performance penalty associated with emulation for frequently executed portions of the application, such as loops, functions, and subroutines. Translated blocks of the application can also be optimized for execution by host computer system, taking advantage of application information known in advance or determined while running portions of the application. 
         [0009]    It thus is desirable for emulators to provide improved performance when executing applications on a target system. It is further desirable for emulators to optimize translated code to take advantage of unique hardware features of the host computer system while ensuring correct emulation behavior. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    Embodiments in accordance with the present invention schedule emulation threads for DMA emulation and other emulation functions to be executed in a time-multiplexed manner. Emulation threads in one embodiment are selected for execution according to a load balancing scheme. For non-DMA emulation threads, the emulation thread is executed until its execution time period expires or the thread stalls. For DMA emulation threads, the DMA emulation thread execution is allowed to execute indefinitely until the DMA emulation thread stalls. In a further embodiment, the DMA emulation thread prefetches additional adjacent data in response to target computer system DMA requests. Upon receiving a target computer system DMA request, the DMA emulation thread first checks to the prefetched data to see if this data matches the request. If so, the request is fulfilled using the prefetched data. If the prefetched data does not match the target computer system DMA request, the DMA emulation thread fetches and stores the requested data and additional adjacent data for potential future use. 
         [0011]    A further understanding of the nature and the advantages of the inventions disclosed herein may be realized by reference of the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    The invention will be described with reference to the drawings, in which: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a method of scheduling threads of a multithreaded emulator according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates a method of optimizing direct memory access emulation according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example hardware system suitable for implementing an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example processor suitable for implementing an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  illustrates an example target computer system capable of being emulated using embodiments of the invention; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  illustrates an example emulator architecture on a host computer system capable of emulating the target computer system of  FIG. 5 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Threads of execution, or threads, are commonly used for splitting programs into two or more simultaneous running tasks. Multiple threads can often be executed in parallel, such as by multiple microprocessors operating in parallel; a single microprocessor with multiple execution cores or specialized multithreaded execution capabilities; or by time-multiplexing different threads, where a processor frequently switches execution between different threads. 
         [0020]    In the latter case, an application, such as an emulator or operating system, can schedule thread execution to maximum performance of all threads. Typically, an application allocates to each time-multiplexed thread an execution time period. The execution time period can be expressed in terms of time, processor clock cycles, number of instructions, or any other measurement of processor computing resources. The processor executes each thread during its assigned execution time period. After the expiration of its execution time period, the processor suspends execution of the current thread until the thread is assigned a new execution time period. The processor then executes another thread for its assigned execution time period. The number and size of the execution time periods assigned to each thread determine the proportion of the processor&#39;s computing resources devoted to each thread. 
         [0021]    Emulators can use multiple threads of execution to emulate the functions of different portions of the target computer system that operate in parallel. Because many portions of the target computer system are often dependent on instruction and data interactions with other portions of the target computer system, the emulator should schedule for execution emulator threads corresponding to these portions of the target computer system in accordance with these dependencies. 
         [0022]    For example, direct memory access (DMA) is commonly used by target computer systems to transfer data and instructions between its different portions with minimal processor supervision. If the DMA transfers to a component of the target computer system do not arrive fast enough, the component may stall while waiting for necessary instructions and/or data. Conversely, if the DMA attempts to transfer data to a component of the target computer system too quickly, the registers, local buffers, or local storage of the component will be overwhelmed and unable to accept all of the DMA transfer. As a result, the DMA transfer will stall, which may potentially block subsequent DMA transfers to other components of the target computer system. This may cause the other components of the target computer system to stall while waiting for their DMA transfers to arrive. Applications for target computer systems are often finely tuned to prevent either of these conditions from occurring. For emulators executing applications on a target system, it is important for the emulated DMA system to maintain an optimal DMA transfer rate to all of the emulated components and to utilize host computer system resources in an efficient manner. 
         [0023]      FIG. 1  illustrates a method  100  of scheduling threads of a multithreaded emulator according to one embodiment. Method  100  can be used to schedule threads of an emulator for execution on a single processor or processor core in a time multiplexed manner and for execution on multiple processors or processor cores in parallel. Method  100  can be applied to threads used to emulate DMA functionality of a target computer system on a target system. Method  100  can also be applied to threads emulating the functionality of components of a target computer system highly dependent upon DMA transfers. 
         [0024]    Method  100  begins with step  105 , which selects the next thread for execution. In an embodiment, step  105  can select emulator threads for execution according to any load-balancing scheme known in the art. For example, step  105  can select threads for execution randomly, in a round-robin manner, or according to a priority scheme. Step  105  also assigns the selected thread an execution time period. 
         [0025]    Step  110  determines if the emulation thread selected for execution is a DMA emulation thread associated with DMA emulation. If not, method  100  proceeds to step  125 . Step  125  executes the selected Emulation thread. 
         [0026]    While the selected emulation thread is being executed, step  130  monitors the selected emulation thread to determine if this thread has stalled. For example, the selected emulation thread may stall if it is waiting on a resource of the host computer system, such as information from another thread or the host computer system&#39;s DMA functions. The selected emulation thread may also stall if the local storage, buffer, or other memory that data is being transferred to is full. 
         [0027]    If the selected emulation thread has stalled, the selected emulation thread is suspended to avoid wasting processor time. Then, method  100  proceeds from step  130  back to step  105  to select the next emulation thread for execution. 
         [0028]    If the selected emulation thread is executing normally, step  135  determines whether the thread execution time period of the selected emulation thread has expired. If not, the selected emulation thread is allowed to continue to operate. If the DMA emulation thread&#39;s execution time period has expired, then method  100  proceeds from step  135  to step  140 . Step  140  suspends the selected emulation thread. Following the suspension of the selected emulation thread, method  100  proceeds from step  140  back to step  105  to select the next emulation thread for execution. In an alternate embodiment, interrupts are used to control the execution time period of emulation threads, rather than assigning execution time periods to emulation threads in advance. 
         [0029]    Conversely, if step  110  determines that the emulation thread selected for execution is a DMA emulation thread associated with the emulation of the target computer system&#39;s DMA functionality on the host computer system, then method  100  proceeds to step  115 . Step  115  executes the DMA emulation thread. While the DMA emulation thread is being executed, step  120  determines whether the DMA emulation thread has stalled. The DMA emulation thread may stall if there are no more DMA commands to be processed, if there are no more DMA channels available for use by the DMA emulation thread, or if the local storage, buffer, or other memory that data is being transferred to is full. If not, the selected emulation thread is allowed to continue to operate. 
         [0030]    If the DMA emulation thread has stalled, or the thread&#39;s execution time period has expired, the DMA emulation thread is suspended in step  140  and method  100  returns to step  105  to select another emulation thread for execution. 
         [0031]    In some emulators, the DMA emulation thread, which emulates the DMA functionality of the target computer system, may utilize the DMA functionality of the host computer system. In these types of emulators, the DMA emulation thread essentially translates DMA operations in an application intended for the target computer system into equivalent DMA operations on the host computer system. However, there may be differences in the latency and bandwidth between DMA functions on the target computer system and the host computer system. Therefore, it is often desirable for the DMA emulation thread to optimize its DMA operations to the characteristics of the host computer system. 
         [0032]      FIG. 2  illustrates a method  200  of optimizing direct memory access emulation according to one embodiment. In step  205  a target computer system DMA command is received. DMA commands can be received from other emulation threads responsible for the emulation of target computer system components that issue DMA commands, such as threads responsible for processor and I/O emulation. 
         [0033]    The target computer DMA command is analyzed in step  210  to identify the data requested. The requested data can be identified by one or a range of memory addresses in the target computer system address space. In an alternate embodiment, the requested data can be identified by one or a range of memory addresses in the host computer system address space. 
         [0034]    In an embodiment, emulator prefetches DMA data by rounding the size of DMA requests up to a larger value to fetch additional adjacent data. For example, if a target computer system DMA command requests a set of 64 bytes of data, the emulator may issue a host computer DMA command for a page of 512 bytes of data. The page of data requested will include the set of 64 bytes of data originally specified by the target computer system DMA command, as well as additional adjacent data before and/or after this set. This page of data is saved in local storage, along with associated identifying information, for potential future use. Embodiments of the emulator may save multiple pages of data for potential future use. 
         [0035]    After identifying the data requested by the target computer system DMA command, step  210  determines if this requested data is part of a page of data previously retrieved and stored. In an embodiment, step  210  compares the memory address or range of addresses of the requested data with the range of memory addresses associated with one or more pages of previously stored data. 
         [0036]    If the requested data is located within the range of memory addresses associated with a page of previously stored data, step  215  discards the target computer system DMA command and retrieves the requested data from the appropriate page of memory. This data is then provided to the appropriate portion of the emulator in accordance with the target computer system DMA request. 
         [0037]    Conversely, if the requested data is not located within the range of memory addresses associated with any page of previously stored data, step  220  converts the target computer system DMA request into a corresponding host computer system DMA request. In an embodiment, step  220  performs address translation from the target computer system address space to the host computer system address space if needed. Additionally, the corresponding host computer system DMA request rounds the size of the data requested to a full page of data that includes the originally requested data. 
         [0038]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example hardware system suitable for implementing an embodiment of the invention.  FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a computer system  1000 , such as a personal computer, video game console, personal digital assistant, or other digital device, suitable for practicing an embodiment of the invention. Computer system  1000  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  1005  for running software applications and optionally an operating system. CPU  1005  may be comprised of one or more processing cores. Memory  1010  stores applications and data for use by the CPU  1005 . Storage  1015  provides non-volatile storage for applications and data and may include fixed disk drives, removable disk drives, flash memory devices, and CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, or other optical storage devices. User input devices  1020  communicate user inputs from one or more users to the computer system  1000 , examples of which may include keyboards, mice, joysticks, touch pads, touch screens, still or video cameras, and/or microphones. Network interface  1025  allows computer system  1000  to communicate with other computer systems via an electronic communications network, and may include wired or wireless communication over local area networks and wide area networks such as the Internet. An audio processor  1055  is adapted to generate analog or digital audio output from instructions and/or data provided by the CPU  1005 , memory  1010 , and/or storage  1015 . The components of computer system  1000 , including CPU  1005 , memory  1010 , data storage  1015 , user input devices  1020 , network interface  1025 , and audio processor  1055  are connected via one or more data buses  1060 . 
         [0039]    A graphics subsystem  1030  is further connected with data bus  1060  and the components of the computer system  1000 . The graphics subsystem  1030  includes a graphics processing unit (GPU)  1035  and graphics memory  1040 . Graphics memory  1040  includes a display memory (e.g., a frame buffer) used for storing pixel data for each pixel of an output image. Graphics memory  1040  can be integrated in the same device as GPU  1035 , connected as a separate device with GPU  1035 , and/or implemented within memory  1010 . Pixel data can be provided to graphics memory  1040  directly from the CPU  1005 . Alternatively, CPU  1005  provides the GPU  1035  with data and/or instructions defining the desired output images, from which the GPU  1035  generates the pixel data of one or more output images. The data and/or instructions defining the desired output images can be stored in memory  1010  and/or graphics memory  1040 . In an embodiment, the GPU  1035  includes 3D rendering capabilities for generating pixel data for output images from instructions and data defining the geometry, lighting, shading, texturing, motion, and/or camera parameters for a scene. The GPU  1035  can further include one or more programmable execution units capable of executing shader programs. 
         [0040]    The graphics subsystem  1030  periodically outputs pixel data for an image from graphics memory  1040  to be displayed on display device  1050 . Display device  1050  is any device capable of displaying visual information in response to a signal from the computer system  1000 , including CRT, LCD, plasma, and OLED displays. Computer system  1000  can provide the display device  1050  with an analog or digital signal. 
         [0041]    In certain embodiments, CPU  1005  is one or more general-purpose microprocessors having one or more processing cores. Further embodiments of the invention can be implemented using one or more CPUs with microprocessor architectures specifically adapted for highly parallel and computationally intensive applications, such as media and interactive entertainment applications.  FIG. 5  illustrates an example processor  2000  suitable for implementing an embodiment of the invention. 
         [0042]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary hardware system suitable for implementing an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.  FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a computer system  1000 , such as a personal computer, video game console, personal digital assistant, or other digital device, suitable for practicing such an embodiment. Computer system  1000  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  1005  for running software applications and optionally an operating system. CPU  1005  may be comprised of one or more processing cores. Memory  1010  stores applications and data for use by the CPU  1005 . Storage  1015  provides non-volatile storage for applications and data and may include fixed disk drives, removable disk drives, flash memory devices, and CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, or other optical storage devices. User input devices  1020  communicate user inputs from one or more users to the computer system  1000 , examples of which may include keyboards, mice, joysticks, touch pads, touch screens, still or video cameras, and/or microphones. Network interface  1025  allows computer system  1000  to communicate with other computer systems via an electronic communications network, and may include wired or wireless communication over local area networks and wide area networks such as the Internet. An audio processor  1055  is adapted to generate analog or digital audio output from instructions and/or data provided by the CPU  1005 , memory  1010 , and/or storage  1015 . The components of computer system  1000 , including CPU  1005 , memory  1010 , data storage  1015 , user input devices  1020 , network interface  1025 , and audio processor  1055  are connected via one or more data buses  1060 . 
         [0043]    A graphics subsystem  1030  is further connected with data bus  1060  and the components of the computer system  1000 . The graphics subsystem  1030  includes a graphics processing unit (GPU)  1035  and graphics memory  1040 . Graphics memory  1040  includes a display memory (e.g., a frame buffer) used for storing pixel data for each pixel of an output image. Graphics memory  1040  can be integrated in the same device as GPU  1035 , connected as a separate device with GPU  1035 , and/or implemented within memory  1010 . Pixel data can be provided to graphics memory  1040  directly from the CPU  1005 . Alternatively, CPU  1005  provides the GPU  1035  with data and/or instructions defining the desired output images, from which the GPU  1035  generates the pixel data of one or more output images. The data and/or instructions defining the desired output images can be stored in memory  1010  and/or graphics memory  1040 . In an embodiment, the GPU  1035  includes 3D rendering capabilities for generating pixel data for output images from instructions and data defining the geometry, lighting, shading, texturing, motion, and/or camera parameters for a scene. The GPU  1035  can further include one or more programmable execution units capable of executing shader programs. 
         [0044]    The graphics subsystem  1030  periodically outputs pixel data for an image from graphics memory  1040  to be displayed on display device  1050 . Display device  1050  is any device capable of displaying visual information in response to a signal from the computer system  1000 , including CRT, LCD, plasma, and OLED displays. Computer system  1000  can provide the display device  1050  with an analog or digital signal. 
         [0045]    In embodiments of the invention, CPU  1005  is one or more general-purpose microprocessors having one or more processing cores. Further embodiments of the invention can be implemented using one or more CPUs with microprocessor architectures specifically adapted for highly parallel and computationally intensive applications, such as media and interactive entertainment applications.  FIG. 5  illustrates an example processor  2000  suitable for implementing an embodiment of the invention. 
         [0046]    Processor  2000  includes a number of processor elements, each capable of executing independent programs in parallel. Processor  2000  includes PPE processor element  2005 . PPE processor element is a general-purpose processor of CISC, RISC, or other type of microprocessor architecture known in the art. In one example, PPE processor element  2005  is a 64-bit, multithreaded RISC architecture microprocessor, such as the PowerPC architecture. PPE processor element  2005  can include a cache memory  2007  partitioned into one, two, or more levels of caches temporarily holding data and instructions to be executed by PPE processor element  2005 . 
         [0047]    For additional performance, processor  2000  includes a number of SPE processor elements  2010 . In this example, processor  2000  includes eight SPE processor elements  2010 A- 2010 H; however, other example processors can include different number of SPE processor elements. SPE processor elements  2010  are adapted for stream processing of data. In stream processing, a program is executed repeatedly on each item in a large set of data. To facilitate stream processing, the SPE processor elements  2010  may include instruction execution units capable of executing SIMD instructions on multiple data operands simultaneously. SPE processor elements  2010  may also include instruction units capable of executing single-instruction, single data (SISD) for more general processing tasks. 
         [0048]    Each SPE processor element, such as SPE processor element  2010 A, includes local data and instruction storage  2012 A. Data and instructions can be transferred to and from the local data and instruction storage  2012 A via DMA unit  2014 A. The DMA units, such as unit  2014 A, are capable of transferring data to and from each of the SPE processor elements  2010  without processor supervision, enabling the SPE processor elements  2010  to process data continuously without stalling. 
         [0049]    Data and instructions are input and output by the processor  2000  via memory and I/O interfaces  2015 . Data and instructions can be communicated between the memory and I/O interfaces  2015 , the PPE processor element  2005 , and SPE processor elements  2010  via processor bus  2020 . 
         [0050]    Embodiments of the invention can be used to improve emulator performance and compatibility for a variety of different types of target computer systems, including general computer system  1000  shown above.  FIG. 5  illustrates another example target computer system  3000  capable of being emulated using embodiments of the invention. 
         [0051]    Target computer system  3000  illustrates the hardware architecture of the Sony Playstation 2 video game console. Target computer system  3000  includes a variety of components connected via a central data bus  3002 . These components include a CPU core  3005 ; a pair of vector processing units, VP 0   3010  and VP 1   3015 ; a graphics processing unit interface  3020 ; an image processing unit  3030 ; an I/O interface  3035 ; a DMA controller  3040 ; and a memory interface  3045 . In addition to the central data bus  3002 , target computer system  3000  includes a private bus  3007  between CPU core  3005  and vector processing unit VP 0   3010  and a private bus  3019  between vector processing unit VPU  1   3015  and graphics processing unit interface  3020 . 
         [0052]    In some applications, components  3005 ,  3010 ,  3015 ,  3020 ,  3030 ,  3035 ,  3040  and  3045  are included within a processor chip  3060 . Processor chip  3060  is connected with graphics processing unit  3025  via graphics bus  3022  and with memory  3050  via memory bus  3055 . Additional external components, such as sound and audio processing components, network interfaces, and optical storage components, are omitted from  FIG. 6  for clarity. 
         [0053]      FIG. 6  illustrates an example emulator architecture  4000  on a host computer system capable of emulating the target computer system  3000  of  FIG. 6 . In this example, emulator architecture  4000  is implemented on a host computer system including a processor similar to processor  2000  of  FIG. 5 . 
         [0054]    In emulator architecture  4000 , PPE processor element  4005  executes one or more emulator threads that provide functions including emulator control; device drivers; a vector processing unit VPU 1  code translator; CPU core emulation including code interpreters and translators; and vector processing unit VPU 0  emulation. 
         [0055]    SPE processor element  4010 E executes one or more emulation threads that provide functions including DMA controller emulation; vector processing unit VPU 1  interface emulation; and graphics processing unit interface arbitration. 
         [0056]    SPE processor element  4010 F executes one or more emulation threads that execute the translated or recompiled vector processing unit VPU 1  code. SPE processor element  4010 G executes one or more emulation threads that emulate the image processing unit. SPE processor element  4010 H executes one or more emulation threads that emulate the I/O interface functions. SPE processor element  4010 A executes one or more emulation threads that emulate the functions of sound and audio processors. SPE processor element  4010 B executes one or more emulation threads that emulate the functions of the graphics processing unit interface. 
         [0057]    In some implementations, additional emulation threads executed by PPE processor element  4005  and/or SPE processor elements can emulate the functionality of the graphics processing unit of the target computer system or translate graphics processing instructions to a format compatible with the graphics processing unit of the host computer system (omitted for clarity from  FIG. 7 ). In other implementations, the host computer system can include a graphics processing unit similar to or compatible with the graphics processing unit of the target computer system. 
         [0058]    The above example source and host computer systems are discussed for the purposes of illustration and embodiments of the invention can improve performance and compatibility of emulation of any type of target computer system by any type of host computer system. Further embodiments can be envisioned to one of ordinary skill in the art from the specification and figures. In other embodiments, combinations or sub-combinations of the above disclosed invention can be advantageously made. The block diagrams of the architecture and flow charts are grouped for ease of understanding. However it should be understood that combinations of blocks, additions of new blocks, re-arrangement of blocks, and the like are contemplated in alternative embodiments of the present invention. 
         [0059]    The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Technology Category: 3