Abstract:
An automated contact center agent mobile device client infrastructure testing system comprising a mobile device command repository is disclosed. The system also has a mobile device control module that retrieves mobile device commands from the repository, receives instructions, data, and parameters for contact center device testing, runs predesignated contact center device test suites on at least one mobile device, receives contact center device test suite result data from mobile devices, and forwards the contact center device test suite result data received from mobile devices to a contact center device test manager system.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/491,258, titled “AUTOMATED CONTACT CENTER AGENT MOBILE DEVICE CLIENT INFRASTUCTURE TESTING” and filed on Apr. 28, 2017, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/613,168 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CONTACT CENTER AGENT WORKSTATION TESTING”, filed on Jun. 3, 2017, which claims benefit of U.S. provisional application 62/491,252, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CONTACT CENTER AGENT WORKSTATION TESTING” and filed on Apr. 28, 2017, which is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/491,965, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED THIN CLIENT CONTACT CENTER AGENT DESKTOP TESTING” and filed on Apr. 19, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/083,259 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED END-TO-END WEB INTERACTION TESTING”, filed on Mar. 28, 2016, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/854,023, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Sep. 14, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/141,424 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Dec. 27, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,184 on Sep. 15, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/936,186 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Jul. 6, 2013, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/644,343 titled “INTEGRATED TESTING PLATFORM FOR CONTACT CENTRES”, filed on Dec. 22, 2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,625,772 on Jan. 7, 2014, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/567,089 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED ADAPTATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SPEAKER AUTHENTICATION IN A VOICE BIOMETRIC SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT”, filed on Aug. 6, 2012, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/140,449 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Dec. 24, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,183 on Sep. 15, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/936,147 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CHAT TESTING”, filed on Jul. 6, 2013, the entire specifications of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
         [0002]    This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/613,168 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CONTACT CENTER AGENT WORKSTATION TESTING”, filed on Jun. 3, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/491,965, titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED THIN CLIENT CONTACT CENTER AGENT DESKTOP TESTING” and filed on Apr. 19, 2017, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/157,384 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on May 17, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/709,252 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on May 11, 2015, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,344,556 on May 17, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/140,470 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on Dec. 25, 2013, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,031,221 on May 12, 2015, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/936,183 titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED VOICE QUALITY TESTING”, filed on Jul. 6, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/644,343 titled “INTEGRATED TESTING PLATFORM FOR CONTACT CENTRES”, filed on Dec. 22, 2009, the entire specifications of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
       [0003]    The disclosure relates to the field of system testing, and more particularly to the field of automated quality assurance testing of contact center customer mobile device function when used as part of a contact center&#39;s overall solution of both hardware and software components which may include mobile devices from multiple vendors running multiple operating systems. 
       Discussion of the State of the Art 
       [0004]      FIG. 1  (PRIOR ART) is a typical system architecture diagram of a contact center  100  known to the art. A contact center is similar to a call center, but a contact center has more features. While a call center may communicate mainly by voice, a contact center may communicate via email; text chat, such as, but not limited to, instant messaging, social media posts, and SMS interaction; and web interfaces in addition to voice communication in order to facilitate communications between a customer endpoint  110  and a resource endpoint  120 . Resource  120  may include, but is not limited to, agents, sales representatives, service representatives, or collection agents handling communications with customers  110  on behalf of an enterprise. Resources  120  may be in-house within contact center  100 , or may be remote, such as out-sourcing to a third party, or agents working from home. Contact center  100  may be independently operated or networked with additional centers, and may often be linked to a corporate computer network. 
         [0005]    Contact center  100  may further comprise network interface  130 , text channels  140 , multimedia channels  145 , and contact center components  150 . Text channels  140  may be communications conducted mainly through text, and may comprise social media  141 , email  142 , short message service (SMS)  143 , or instant messaging (IM)  144 , and would communicate through their counterparts within contact center components  150 , each respectively being social server  159 , email server  157 , SMS server  160 , and IM server  158 . 
         [0006]    Multimedia channels  145  may be communications conducted through a variety of mediums, and may comprise a media server  146 , private branch exchange (PBX)  147 , interactive voice response (IVR)  148 , and bots  149 . Text channels  140  and multimedia channels  145  may act as third parties to engage with outside social media services and so a social server  159  may be required to interact with the third party social media  141 . Multimedia channels  145 , are typically present in an enterprise&#39;s datacenter; but could be hosted in a remote facility, in a cloud facility, or in a multifunction service facility. 
         [0007]    Contact center components  150  may comprise a routing server  151 , a session initiation protocol (SIP) server  152 , an outbound server  153 , a computer telephony integration (CTI) server  154 , a state and statistics (STAT) server  155 , an automated call distribution facility (ACD)  156 , an email server  157 , an IM server  158 , a social server  159 , a SMS server  160 , a routing database  170 , a historical database  172 , and a campaign database  171 . It is possible that other servers and databases may exist within a contact center, but in this example the referenced components are used. Contact center components  150 , including servers, databases, and other key modules that may be present in a typical contact center may work in a black box environment, may be used collectively in one location, or may be spread over a plurality of locations. Contact center components  150  may even be cloud-based, and more than one of each component shown may be present in a single location. 
         [0008]    Customers  110  may communicate by use of any known form of communication known in the art, be it by a telephone  111 , a mobile smartphone  112 , a tablet  113 , a laptop  114 , or a desktop computer  115 , to name a few examples. Similarly, resources  120  may communicate by use of any known form of communication known in the art, be it by a telephone  121 , a mobile smartphone  122 , a tablet  123 , a laptop  124 , or a desktop computer  125 , to name a few examples. Communication may be conducted through a network interface  130  by way of at least one channel, such as a text channel  140  or a multimedia channel  145 , which communicates with a plurality of contact center components  150 . Available network interfaces  130  may include, but is not limited to, a public switched telephone networks (PSTN)  131 , an internet network  132 , a wide area network (WAN)  133 , or a local area network (LAN)  134 . 
         [0009]    To provide a few example cases, a customer calling on telephone handset  111  may connect through PSTN  131  and terminate on PBX  147 ; a video call originating from tablet  123  may connect through internet connection  132  and terminate on media server  146 ; or a customer device such as smartphone  112  may connect via WAN  133 , and terminate on IVR  148 , such as in the case of a customer calling a customer support line for a bank or a utility service. In another example, an email server  157  would be owned by the contact center  100  and would be used to communicate with a third-party email channel  142 . The number of communication possibilities are vast between the number of possible devices of resources  120 , devices of customers  110 , networks  130 , text channels  140 , multimedia channels  145 , and contact center components  150 , hence the system diagram on  FIG. 1  indicates connections between delineated groups rather than individual connections for clarity. 
         [0010]    Continuing from the examples given above, in some conditions where a single medium (such as ordinary telephone calls) is used for interactions that require routing, media server  146  may be more specifically PBX  147 , ACD  156 , or similar media-specific switching system. Generally, when interactions arrive at media server  146 , a route request, or a variation of a route request (for example, a SIP invite message), is sent to SIP server  152  or to an equivalent system such as CTI server  154 . A route request may be a data message sent from a media-handling device, such as media server  146 , to a signaling system, such as SIP server  152 . The message may comprise a request for one or more target destinations to which to send (or route, or deliver) the specific interaction with regard to which the route request was sent. SIP server  152  or its equivalent may, in some cases, carry out any required routing logic itself, or it may forward the route request message to routing server  151 . Routing server  151  executes, using statistical data from STAT server  155  and, optionally, data from routing database  170 , a routing script in response to the route request message and sends a response to media server  146  directing it to route the interaction to a specific target in resources  120 . 
         [0011]    In another case, routing server  151  uses historical information from historical database  172 , or real-time information from campaign database  171 , or both, as well as configuration information (generally available from a distributed configuration system, not shown for convenience) and information from routing database  170 . STAT server  154  receives event notifications from media server  146 , SIP server  152 , or both regarding events pertaining to a plurality of specific interactions handled by media server  146 , SIP server  152 , or both, and STAT server  155  computes one or more statistics for use in routing based on the received event notifications. Routing database  170  may comprise multiple distinct databases, either stored in one database management system or in separate database management systems. Examples of data that may normally be found in routing database  170  may include, but are not limited to: customer relationship management (CRM) data; data pertaining to one or more social networks, including, but not limited to network graphs capturing social relationships within relevant social networks, or media updates made by members of relevant social networks; skills data pertaining to a members of resources  120 , which may be human agents, automated software agents, interactive voice response scripts, and so forth; data extracted from third party data sources including cloud-based data sources such as CRM and other data from SALESFORCE.COM™, credit data from EXPERIAN™, consumer data from DATA.COM™; or any other data that may be useful in making routing decisions. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that there are many means of data integration known in the art, any of which may be used to obtain data from premise-based, single machine-based, cloud-based, public or private data sources as needed, without departing from the scope of the invention. Using information obtained from one or more of STAT server  155 , routing database  170 , campaign database  172 , historical database  171 , and any associated configuration systems, routing server  151  selects a routing target from among a plurality of available resource devices  120 , and routing server  151  then instructs SIP server  152  to route the interaction in question to the selected resource  120 , and SIP server  152  in turn directs media server  146  to establish an appropriate connection between customer  110  and target resource  120 . In this case, the routing script comprises at least the steps of generating a list of all possible routing targets for the interaction regardless of the real-time state of the routing targets using at least an interaction identifier and a plurality of data elements pertaining to the interaction, removing a subset of routing targets from the generated list based on the subset of routing targets being logged out to obtain a modified list, computing a plurality of fitness parameters for each routing target in the modified list, sorting the modified list based on one or more of the fitness parameters using a sorting rule to obtain a sorted target list, and using a target selection rule to consider a plurality of routing targets starting at the beginning of the sorted target list until a routing target is selected. It should be noted that customers  110  are generally, but not necessarily, associated with human customers or users. Nevertheless, it should be understood that routing of other work or interaction types is possible, although in any case, is limited to act or change without input from a management team. 
         [0012]    As contact center software solutions from a number of vendors which together perform all needed tasks, whether as a single monolithic service or a set of multiple service offerings, have become more complex, so have the systems and techniques needed to monitor and test them. The ability to qualify new software versions and variants on the entire range of hardware types expected to be deployed, to qualify new hardware or software combinations as they arise, or to monitor functional efficiency under conditions mimicking actual live usage has become much more important. These types of test software currently exists, and may run on either dedicated equipment, or on live equipment under instances of low live traffic. However, the current solutions may be inflexible in deployment; requiring significant preplanning and hardware resources; lack the ability to test function of important emerging system configurations, such as those that include mobile devices as endpoints of interaction; have little modification capability while running; lack the ability to run unobtrusively and thus cannot be used to diagnose problems encountered during actual call center use; have inflexible result reporting abilities; and require a significant amount of programming knowledge to administer. 
         [0013]    What is needed are computer service package testing suites that are easy and flexible to deploy, that accept modifications without the use of complex procedures while running, that have highly configurable and easily specified reporting formats, that can be deployed through a centralized gateway using simplified runtime commands instead of programming changes to the suites&#39; source code themselves and that can be used to test a wide range of both software and hardware combinations in use, including mobile devices. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0014]    Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, a system and method for automated contact center customer mobile device client infrastructure testing which has a single interface, does not need significant programming ability to operate, automates many types of testing and allocates resources and pre-loads test payloads. 
         [0015]    According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for conducting centrally controlled, robust and easily customized contact center customer mobile device client tests has been created. This centralized test suite may execute tests for voice and chat interaction software, and other general functions (such as performing transactional operations that are utilized to set the context of a customer&#39;s subsequent interactions both via mobile and not) in conjunction with any support software frequently used by the contact center. Customer mobile devices with differing CPU, RAM, operating system vendor, versions and patch levels, voice or chat management software versions or vendors as well as third party software payloads may be easily tested concurrently with results categorized and information depth dictated by the test analysts. Test setup is accomplished using a robust set of simple test directive commands and modifiers which insulates the analyst from the underlying programming. Commands and modifiers may be strung together to form macros that represent more complex test case conditions. The embodiment allows for testing to be run on live customer mobile devices without noticeable disruption of actual customer time and also allows testing to be run on specially set aside, otherwise idle customer mobile devices depending on the needs of the test conditions. The suite is such that stopping or modifying a test under execution may be accomplished without catastrophic test disruption, or programming knowledge of test execution. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
         [0016]    The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention according to the embodiments. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the particular embodiments illustrated in the drawings are merely exemplary, and are not to be considered as limiting of the scope of the invention or the claims herein in any way. 
           [0017]      FIG. 1  (PRIOR ART) is a typical system architecture diagram of a contact center including components commonly known in the art. 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture for an automated contact center test engine including a mobile device test module, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture for a system and method for automated chat and automated voice testing services on customer mobile devices, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture  400  for a system and method for automated general functions testing according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is a method flow diagram illustrating an exemplary system for certifying mobile devices of different operating systems, hardware configurations and possibly differing software payloads prior to a full scale update of call center voice software, call center chat software, call center customer relationship management system software or when issues in performance are detected with existing software on workstations of different configuration according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware architecture of a computing device used in an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical architecture for a client device, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram showing an exemplary architectural arrangement of clients, servers, and external services, according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 9  is another block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware architecture of a computing device used in various embodiments of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0026]    The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system and method for automated contact center customer client infrastructure testing. 
         [0027]    One or more different aspects may be described in the present application. Further, for one or more of the aspects described herein, numerous alternative arrangements may be described; it should be appreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting of the aspects contained herein or the claims presented herein in any way. One or more of the arrangements may be widely applicable to numerous aspects, as may be readily apparent from the disclosure. In general, arrangements are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of the aspects, and it should be appreciated that other arrangements may be utilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the particular aspects. Particular features of one or more of the aspects described herein may be described with reference to one or more particular aspects or figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific arrangements of one or more of the aspects. It should be appreciated, however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular aspects or figures with reference to which they are described. The present disclosure is neither a literal description of all arrangements of one or more of the aspects nor a listing of features of one or more of the aspects that must be present in all arrangements. 
         [0028]    Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the title of this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way. 
         [0029]    Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more communication means or intermediaries, logical or physical. 
         [0030]    A description of an aspect with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. To the contrary, a variety of optional components may be described to illustrate a wide variety of possible aspects and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects. Similarly, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work in alternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in this patent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of described processes may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one or more of the aspects, and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred. Also, steps are generally described once per aspect, but this does not mean they must occur once, or that they may only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm is carried out or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some aspects or some occurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a given aspect or occurrence. 
         [0031]    When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of a single device or article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a single device or article may be used in place of the more than one device or article. 
         [0032]    The functionality or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly described as having such functionality or features. Thus, other aspects need not include the device itself. 
         [0033]    Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, it should be appreciated that particular aspects may include multiple iterations of a technique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless noted otherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of various aspects in which, for example, functions may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art. 
       Conceptual Architecture 
       [0034]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture  200  for an automated contact center test engine including a mobile device test module, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. According to the embodiment, system  200  may comprise a standard contact center  100  with the addition of new elements: an automated end-to-end contact center testing system  281 , and a mobile device testing module  285 , both of which may be operating on at least one network  130 ,  287  as illustrated. 
         [0035]    As discussed above in  FIG. 1 , a plurality of customers  110  and network-connected resources  120  may connect to a contact center  150  via a network  130  using a variety of specific communication means which may include, but not limited to, text-based communication channels  140 , such as social media networks  141 , email  142 , SMS  143 , instant messaging  144 ; or via multimedia communication channels  145 , such as through media server  146 , PBX  147 , IVR system  148 , or via communication bots  149  that may automate or simulate communication (as may be used for testing purposes without relying on actual customer communication). Communication may occur over a variety of network interfaces  130 , such as, but not limited to, PSTN  131 , the Internet  132 , WAN  133 , or LAN  134  according to various arrangements. For example, internal testing may occur exclusively within a LAN, whereas testing of online helpdesk interactions may use Internet-connected IM, email, or other arrangements to provide practical metrics pertaining to bandwidth, server load, and the like. 
         [0036]    A contact center may comprise a number of systems and features common in the art, such as, for example, a routing server  151  that directs other components based on routing instructions from a routing database  170  to route interactions to appropriate handling endpoints (such as agents to answer calls or IMs), a SIP server  152  that handles SIP-based telephony, an outbound server  153  that processes outbound interaction attempts such as customer callbacks, STAT server  155  that manages internal contact center state monitoring and statistics (for example, tracking interaction metrics such as handle time, queue wait time, number of interactions handled or transferred, and other various metrics that are commonly tracked in contact center operations), or an automated call distributor (ACD) that may be used to automatically distribute interactions to endpoints (for example, based on customer input or agent skills). Additionally, a variety of interaction servers may be used to appropriately receive, process, and handle interactions such as a CTI server  154  that may be used to connect telephony and computer-based or IP technologies, email server  157  that may be used to handle email-based interactions, IM server  158  that may be used to handle web-based instant messaging, social server  159  that may be used to handle content from social media networks (such as communicating directly with a social network&#39;s public API, for example to read and process content and user messages), or SMS server  160  that may be used to handle SMS-based text messages. Additionally, contact center campaign information (for example, metric goals pertaining to a particular customer or campaign) may be stored in campaign database  171  for reference, and historical interaction information may be stored in historical database  172 , such as to store call recording for later reference or analysis. 
         [0037]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture  300  for a system and method for automated chat and automated voice testing services on customer mobile devices, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. End-to-end contact center testing systems  281  are invariably quite complex and may greatly benefit from a deployment system that allows scheduling, initiation, specification, management, and allocation of resources for a wide range of analyses without the need for extensive programming knowledge on the part of the analyst. 
         [0038]    A system for automated chat testing  310  may incorporate common contact center elements, including customer mobile devices such as smartphones  393   a  to  393   n , and tablets  392   a  to  392   n , each running one or more command center package clients and support software employed by the customer contact center. Testing of these mobile devices may require that a set of varied mobile devices with regard to type, underlying operating system and individual software payload be seamlessly tested, and the results, which may be different in format due to operating system differences, normalized for meaningful presentation with data from other sources. These control and normalization capabilities may require the presence of a dedicated mobile device testing module  285 . For contact center testing engine  281  to be most predictive to performance under operation, it may run in parallel to actual contact center operations. As illustrated, chat testing system  310  may implement a test case management (TCM) platform  311 , which may serve as the beginning or origin of a test case. TCM platform  311  may operate autonomously using preprogrammed standard tests tailored to a specific customer, or optionally may accept human interaction from a test system control portal  350 . In some cases, a local test control terminal  351  may be used. Local test control terminal  351  may provide a graphical user interface for manipulation of test cases using runtime commands and parameters rather than through modification of test function code, and may also provide a means for accessing an output module  352  to allow viewing of both interim and final test result reports on a text-based output terminal. These results and test related code may also be permanently stored in a testing database  312 . Other embodiments may employ a networked test deployment terminal and output module (not shown) which may connect from a distance using a network connection  395 , such as a virtual private network or similar secure long-distance connection familiar to those skilled in the art. When a test is run, TCM platform  311  initiates a test case with chat cruncher  313  and contact center manager (CCM) platform  314 , which may each then begin their respective automated testing processes. In embodiments that are configured to exercise contact center customer mobile devices  392   a  to  392   n ,  393   a  to  393   n , chat cruncher  313  may simulate a plurality of virtual customers  320 , which may operate via a web server  319 , to send and receive data from the mobile devices through one or more mobile device control modules  362  and associated mobile device response log data store  363 . CCM platform  314  may similarly simulate virtual contact center agents  315  which may receive and respond to data requests on each of a plurality of mobile devices which may have differing physical specifications and third-party software loads. Data requests sent by simulated customers  320  through the mobile device control module  362  and then to a mobile device automation module  394   a - n  operating on a mobile device  392   a - n ,  393   a - n . Commands may come through a wireless network (which may include a WiFi connection or network of device&#39;s cellular provider  391 ), or a direct physical data connection (such as a universal serial bus or USB memory device). Any mobile device specific commands may originate from a mobile device command data store  361 . Mobile device commands may be commands that may be required to prepare and support each mobile device undergoing testing, including, but not limited to, the ability of the CCM simulated agents to issue and retrieve responses, and case management text to each mobile device as required by test module parameters provided by mobile device control module  362 . A mobile device automation module  394   a - n  may then execute commands on the processor of the mobile device, interacting as needed with other device hardware or software to perform the command tasks, for example to initiate a voice call (which may be a telephony call or a VoIP call using a packet data network) using click-to-dial, and optionally pre-authenticating the customer by retrieving and providing any needed credentials (such as an access code or account number to be provided to an IVR system that is being dialed). Responses, both those from simulated agents and from possible data flow metrics and mobile device status information, may follow the reverse transmission pathway from the mobile device through the wireless network to the mobile device control module  362 , where that information may then be forwarded to a test data store  312  or mobile device response log data store  363 , depending on the nature of the data and test specific parameters. Using the described test architecture, it will be appreciated that the flow of data requests within a test case is bidirectional. For example, requests may continually and asynchronously be sent from simulated customers  320  to simulated agents  315  and vice-versa, without necessitating a strict pattern or rhythm of data flow. It will also be appreciated that in such a manner, it is possible to simulate a customer sending multiple chat requests (or other text- or voice-based requests) while an agent waits to send a response, or for an agent to send multiple requests while a customer waits. Such occurrences are commonplace in practice, and in this manner a test case may more accurately simulate actual contact center operations for more relevant and reliable testing data. 
         [0039]    Contact center voice interaction with customers may place significantly more load on the customer&#39;s mobile devices  392   a - n ,  393   a - na ; on the wireless network(s) on which the mobile device operates, as voice may require a wider bandwidth to present; and there may be speech-to-text transcription functions to perform at some point within the contact center system. There may also be some pressure to provide a faster response during voice interaction which may lead to increased concurrent use of a wide range of software resources in a voice interaction environment. A system for automated voice call testing  370  may incorporate common contact center elements and running in parallel to actual contact center operations. As illustrated, and similar to chat testing system  310 , call testing system  370  may also have its own TCM platform  371  that may serve as the beginning or origin of a test case. TCM platform  371  may also operate autonomously, or, optionally, may accept human interaction at a test system control portal  350  via test terminal  351  for manipulation of test cases, and viewing of both interim and final test result reports with output module  352 . Test results may be stored in a testing database  372 . When a test is run, TCM platform  371  initiates a test case with call generator  373  and CCM platform  374 , which may each begin their respective automated testing processes. Call flow generator  373  may simulate a plurality of virtual customers  380 , which operate via a web server  379 , and may send voice data requests pre-stored in a call flow testing data store  381 . In this embodiment, all outbound and inbound voice data is transmitted through a mobile device control module  362  to the wireless network interface  391 , which may be the contact center&#39;s wireless network, such as WiFi, or the mobile device&#39;s service provider&#39;s network. CCM platform  374  may similarly simulate virtual contact center agents  375 , which may receive and respond to voice data requests by exercising various features of the contact center&#39;s customer relationship management software (CRM) mobile device client app in response to the test parameters possibly as supported by a mobile device command data store  361  operating as part of the function of mobile device control module  362 . Data requests sent by simulated customers  380  arriving at the mobile device control module  362  may be forwarded to a receiving mobile device under test  392   b  and requests from agents  392   b  to customers also via a mobile device control module  362 . Virtual agents  375  may operate by interacting with the mobile device control module  362  according to the specific nature of a test case. During and/or after the execution of a test case, data may be stored in data store  372  by CCM platform  374  or call generator  373 , for the formulation of test reports to be stored for later viewing by a user via TCM platform  371 . In this manner, it will be appreciated that the flow of data requests within a test case is bidirectional, i.e. requests may continually and asynchronously be sent from simulated customers  380  to simulated agents  375  and vice-versa, without necessitating a strict pattern or rhythm of data flow. It will be appreciated that in such a manner it is possible to simulate a customer uttering multiple voice requests, requiring further CRM interaction while an agent attempts to fulfill a prior task, or for an agent to have to wait while a customer produces needed data. Such occurrences are commonplace in practice, and in this manner a test case may more accurately simulate actual contact center operations for more relevant and reliable testing data. 
         [0040]    Besides testing chat and voice services, a business may want to conduct generalized testing of their mobile website or mobile apps, to monitor and test various non-interaction usage that may provide additional information pertaining to a customer “journey” as they interact with various software and systems. For example, if a customer performs a balance transfer via a banking app and then uses a click-to-dial button to call for assistance, the balance transfer may provide additional insight into the reason for the call, and this information may be used to expedite IVR interaction or to bring a contact center agent up to speed on the customer&#39;s situation. This scenario may be simulated during testing to (for example) ensure that the proper information is being collected and sent to the correct endpoints (IVR, real or virtual agents, etc.) so that the customer journey is handled efficiently. To provide this function, automated contact system test engine may be configured to conduct more generalized testing.  FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture  400  for a system and method for automated general functions testing according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. General testing system  400  may be identical to chat and voice testing system  300  with components and functions, such as, a network connection  395 , a testing system control module  350 , a test deployment terminal  351 , an output module  352 , a mobile device command data store  361 , a mobile device control module  362 , a mobile device response log data store  363 , a wireless network  391 , and mobile devices  392 [ a - n ] and  393 [ a - n ]. Functions discussed above such as the ability to modify tests during runtime, and creation or modification of tests without extensive programming knowledge, to name a few, are also available. The difference is the automated testing system; whereas testing system  300  features an automated voice testing system  370 , and automated chat testing system  310 , for testing voice systems and chat systems, respectively, general testing system  410  may test general functions of a mobile website or a mobile app. Automated general testing system  410 , itself, may have many features that may be found in automated voice testing system  370 , and automated chat testing system  310 , such as, a TCM platform  411  for starting and running tests, test data store  412  for storing of test results and test code, a CCM platform  414  for running of simulated agents  415 , and a web server  419  for running of simulated customers  420 . The unique feature of general testing system  410  is an action simulator  413 . Action simulator  413  may be configured by a tester to designate emulate actions that a user or agent may issue when browsing a mobile website, or using a mobile app using a wide variety of mobile device configurations. These actions may include, but is not limited to, logging-in to a system, accessing or exiting a mobile site or mobile app, navigating a website or app, accessing data stored on system databases, using unique functions provided by the website or app, activating and conducting simulated customer-agent interactions, and the like. Testing may be conducted in conjunction and in parallel with live systems without disruption of running services, or conducted in isolation on a test system. Additionally, general testing system  410  may spawn a large number of simulated agents, and simulated customers to test the mobile website or mobile app under stressed conditions. This may provide the business with valuable insight into any problematic parts and failure points before deploying new software or new versions to the public. 
         [0041]    Centralized deployment of all test set-up, initiation and status review is afforded by logically connecting the test system portal  350  and user interface  351  to the TCM Platforms  311 ,  371 ,  471  of the test system. Remote review of test status, as well as review of test results, is also afforded by network connection  395  of test system portal  350 . 
         [0042]    It should be understood that although automated chat test system  310 , automated voice test system  370 , and automated general test system  410  are illustrated in separate systems, this is not meant to indicate any type of limitation of the invention. These features, amongst others, may be featured on a single system, or a plurality of systems depending on the requirements of the user. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY ASPECTS 
       [0043]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method  500  for certifying mobile devices of different operating systems, hardware configurations, and software payloads prior to a full-scale update of call center voice software, call center chat software, call center customer relationship management system software; or when issues in performance are detected with existing software on workstations of different configuration according to a preferred embodiment. Testing of each mobile device and mobile device clients begins when the embodiment connects to the mobile device at step  501 . This may be through a contact center&#39;s wireless network such, as a WiFi network or over mobile device&#39;s service provider&#39;s network. At step  502 , once a stable bidirectional logical connection has been established, connection metrics are recorded. Connection metrics may include, but would not be limited only to, connection set-up time, connection signal strength, mobile device location (as determined by GPS or LAN/WAN station triangulation), and applications running on the mobile device among other items known to those skilled in the art. At step  503 , contact center clients and support apps may then be opened if not already running. While this function is only listed once in the flow diagram for simplicity, applications may be remotely opened as needed to fulfill the specifications of a running mobile device operation test at any point during testing. At step  504 , the metrics of starting the standard contact center apps on each mobile device, which may include but are not limited to time from app initiation to ready for input, CPU usage during launch and at ready for input, and active memory usage among other factors known to those skilled in the art will be monitored and recorded. At step  505 , the software modules for generating and implementing varying simulated chat communication tests, chat testing module  310  described in  FIG. 3 , along with other possible processes specified by test parameters, may then be used to fully exercise contact center chat support applications. At step  506 , chat operational metrics for the tested mobile device will then be recorded for later review. At step  507 , a similar exercise of voice call support apps on mobile device may then be undertaken in manners analogous to simulated chat testing in step  505  with call testing module  370 . At step  508 , metrics of interest from the simulated call testing may be recorded for later review. At step  509 , other mobile device resident applications that may affect contact center app operation either by a direct yet unforeseen interaction with those contact center apps or through factors such as but not limited to CPU usage, and running memory usage may be undertaken per specific preprogrammed test parameters with general test module  410 . At step  510 , the pre-designated results of such preprogrammed supplemental testing may also be recorded for later review. 
         [0044]    It should be noted that although method  500  illustrates a comprehensive test of chat, call, and general functions, the various tests may be conducted in any order, and particular tests may be picked and executed according to user requirements. For example, if a business only requires testing of the chat functions of a mobile website or mobile app, only the chat function may be conducted, and voice and general functions testing may be omitted. 
       Hardware Architecture 
       [0045]    Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented on hardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, they may be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate user process, in a library package bound into network applications, on a specially constructed machine, on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card. 
         [0046]    Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented on a programmable network-resident machine (which should be understood to include intermittently connected network-aware machines) selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in memory. Such network devices may have multiple network interfaces that may be configured or designed to utilize different types of network communication protocols. A general architecture for some of these machines may be described herein in order to illustrate one or more exemplary means by which a given unit of functionality may be implemented. According to specific aspects, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented on one or more general-purpose computers associated with one or more networks, such as for example an end-user computer system, a client computer, a network server or other server system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tablet computing device, mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriate computing device), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or any other suitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitable device, or any combination thereof. In at least some aspects, at least some of the features or functionalities of the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented in one or more virtualized computing environments (e.g., network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted on one or more physical computing machines, or other appropriate virtual environments). 
         [0047]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary computing device  10  suitable for implementing at least a portion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computing device  10  may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listed in the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capable of executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to one or more programs stored in memory. Computing device  10  may be configured to communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such as clients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide area network a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wireless network, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols for such communication, whether wireless or wired. 
         [0048]    In one aspect, computing device  10  includes one or more central processing units (CPU)  12 , one or more interfaces  15 , and one or more busses  14  (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU  12  may be responsible for implementing specific functions associated with the functions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. For example, in at least one aspect, a computing device  10  may be configured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU  12 , local memory  11  and/or remote memory  16 , and interface(s)  15 . In at least one aspect, CPU  12  may be caused to perform one or more of the different types of functions and/or operations under the control of software modules or components, which for example, may include an operating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like. 
         [0049]    CPU  12  may include one or more processors  13  such as, for example, a processor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families of microprocessors. In some aspects, processors  13  may include specially designed hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, for controlling operations of computing device  10 . In a particular aspect, a local memory  11  (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/or read-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels of cached memory) may also form part of CPU  12 . However, there are many different ways in which memory may be coupled to system  10 . Memory  11  may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. It should be further appreciated that CPU  12  may be one of a variety of system-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware that may include additional hardware such as memory or graphics processing chips, such as a QUALCOMM SNAPDRAGON™ or SAMSUNG EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasingly common in the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrated devices. 
         [0050]    As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to those integrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobile processor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller, a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, an application-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmable circuit. 
         [0051]    In one aspect, interfaces  15  are provided as network interface cards (NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of data packets over a computer network; other types of interfaces  15  may for example support other peripherals used with computing device  10 . Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types of interfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus (USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radio frequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., using near-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fast Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) or external SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audio interfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speed serial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces, fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, such interfaces  15  may include physical ports appropriate for communication with appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include an independent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, as is common in the art for high-fidelity AN hardware interfaces) and, in some instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM). 
         [0052]    Although the system shown in  FIG. 6  illustrates one specific architecture for a computing device  10  for implementing one or more of the aspects described herein, it is by no means the only device architecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniques described herein may be implemented. For example, architectures having one or any number of processors  13  may be used, and such processors  13  may be present in a single device or distributed among any number of devices. In one aspect, a single processor  13  handles communications as well as routing computations, while in other aspects a separate dedicated communications processor may be provided. In various aspects, different types of features or functionalities may be implemented in a system according to the aspect that includes a client device (such as a tablet device or smartphone running client software) and server systems (such as a server system described in more detail below). 
         [0053]    Regardless of network device configuration, the system of an aspect may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example, remote memory block  16  and local memory  11 ) configured to store data, program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, or other information relating to the functionality of the aspects described herein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions may control execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. Memory  16  or memories  11 ,  16  may also be configured to store data structures, configuration data, encryption data, historical system operations information, or any other specific or generic non-program information described herein. 
         [0054]    Because such information and program instructions may be employed to implement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least some network device aspects may include nontransitory machine-readable storage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed to store program instructions, state information, and the like for performing various operations described herein. Examples of such nontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as optical disks, and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices and integrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storage drives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard disk drives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly common in the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, random access memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that such storage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardware modules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integrated into an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappable flash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable media designed for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices), “hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removable optical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that such integral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably. Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as may be produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by an assembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by for example a JAVA™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtual machine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scripts written in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language). 
         [0055]    In some aspects, systems may be implemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now to  FIG. 7 , there is shown a block diagram depicting a typical exemplary architecture of one or more aspects or components thereof on a standalone computing system. Computing device  20  includes processors  21  that may run software that carry out one or more functions or applications of aspects, such as for example a client application  24 . Processors  21  may carry out computing instructions under control of an operating system  22  such as, for example, a version of MICROSOFT WINDOWS™ operating system, APPLE macOS™ or iOS™ operating systems, some variety of the Linux operating system, ANDROID™ operating system, or the like. In many cases, one or more shared services  23  may be operable in system  20 , and may be useful for providing common services to client applications  24 . Services  23  may for example be WINDOWS™ services, user-space common services in a Linux environment, or any other type of common service architecture used with operating system  21 . Input devices  28  may be of any type suitable for receiving user input, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone (for example, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball, or any combination thereof. Output devices  27  may be of any type suitable for providing output to one or more users, whether remote or local to system  20 , and may include for example one or more screens for visual output, speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory  25  may be random-access memory having any structure and architecture known in the art, for use by processors  21 , for example to run software. Storage devices  26  may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor, or electrical storage device for storage of data in digital form (such as those described above, referring to  FIG. 6 ). Examples of storage devices  26  include flash memory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or the like. 
         [0056]    In some aspects, systems may be implemented on a distributed computing network, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers. Referring now to  FIG. 8 , there is shown a block diagram depicting an exemplary architecture  30  for implementing at least a portion of a system according to one aspect on a distributed computing network. According to the aspect, any number of clients  33  may be provided. Each client  33  may run software for implementing client-side portions of a system; clients may comprise a system  20  such as that illustrated in  FIG. 7 . In addition, any number of servers  32  may be provided for handling requests received from one or more clients  33 . Clients  33  and servers  32  may communicate with one another via one or more electronic networks  31 , which may be in various aspects any of the Internet, a wide area network, a mobile telephony network (such as CDMA or GSM cellular networks), a wireless network (such as WiFi, WiMAX, LTE, and so forth), or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in the art; the aspect does not prefer any one network topology over any other). Networks  31  may be implemented using any known network protocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols. 
         [0057]    In addition, in some aspects, servers  32  may call external services  37  when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additional data concerning a particular call. Communications with external services  37  may take place, for example, via one or more networks  31 . In various aspects, external services  37  may comprise web-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. For example, in one aspect where client applications  24  are implemented on a smartphone or other electronic device, client applications  24  may obtain information stored in a server system  32  in the cloud or on an external service  37  deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise&#39;s or user&#39;s premises. 
         [0058]    In some aspects, clients  33  or servers  32  (or both) may make use of one or more specialized services or appliances that may be deployed locally or remotely across one or more networks  31 . For example, one or more databases  34  may be used or referred to by one or more aspects. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that databases  34  may be arranged in a wide variety of architectures and using a wide variety of data access and manipulation means. For example, in various aspects one or more databases  34  may comprise a relational database system using a structured query language (SQL), while others may comprise an alternative data storage technology such as those referred to in the art as “NoSQL” (for example, HADOOP CASSANDRA™, GOOGLE BIGTABLE™, and so forth). In some aspects, variant database architectures such as column-oriented databases, in-memory databases, clustered databases, distributed databases, or even flat file data repositories may be used according to the aspect. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that any combination of known or future database technologies may be used as appropriate, unless a specific database technology or a specific arrangement of components is specified for a particular aspect described herein. Moreover, it should be appreciated that the term “database” as used herein may refer to a physical database machine, a cluster of machines acting as a single database system, or a logical database within an overall database management system. Unless a specific meaning is specified for a given use of the term “database”, it should be construed to mean any of these senses of the word, all of which are understood as a plain meaning of the term “database” by those having ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0059]    Similarly, some aspects may make use of one or more security systems  36  and configuration systems  35 . Security and configuration management are common information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the art now or in the future may be used in conjunction with aspects without limitation, unless a specific security  36  or configuration system  35  or approach is specifically required by the description of any specific aspect. 
         [0060]      FIG. 9  shows an exemplary overview of a computer system  40  as may be used in any of the various locations throughout the system. It is exemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Various modifications and changes may be made to computer system  40  without departing from the broader scope of the system and method disclosed herein. Central processor unit (CPU)  41  is connected to bus  42 , to which bus is also connected memory  43 , nonvolatile memory  44 , display  47 , input/output (I/O) unit  48 , and network interface card (NIC)  53 . I/O unit  48  may, typically, be connected to keyboard  49 , pointing device  50 , hard disk  52 , and real-time clock  51 . NIC  53  connects to network  54 , which may be the Internet or a local network, which local network may or may not have connections to the Internet. Also shown as part of system  40  is power supply unit  45  connected, in this example, to a main alternating current (AC) supply  46 . Not shown are batteries that could be present, and many other devices and modifications that are well known but are not applicable to the specific novel functions of the current system and method disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that some or all components illustrated may be combined, such as in various integrated applications, for example Qualcomm or Samsung system-on-a-chip (SOC) devices, or whenever it may be appropriate to combine multiple capabilities or functions into a single hardware device (for instance, in mobile devices such as smartphones, video game consoles, in-vehicle computer systems such as navigation or multimedia systems in automobiles, or other integrated hardware devices). 
         [0061]    In various aspects, functionality for implementing systems or methods of various aspects may be distributed among any number of client and/or server components. For example, various software modules may be implemented for performing various functions in connection with the system of any particular aspect, and such modules may be variously implemented to run on server and/or client components. 
         [0062]    The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications of the various aspects described above. Accordingly, the present invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.