public function rpc($method, $args)
   {
      $data = array(
         'id'=>$this->_id,
         'method'=>$method,
         'params'=>$args
      );
      $request = json_encode($data);
      $request .= "\n";
      $sent = socket_write($this->_socket, $request, strlen($request));
      $response = socket_read($this->_socket, 8192, PHP_NORMAL_READ) or die("Could not read input\n");
      $this->_id++;
      $result = json_decode($response);

      $ret =  array (
        'id'=>$result->id,
        'result'=>$result->result,
        'error'=>$result->error
      );
      return $ret;
   }