Patent Publication Number: US-9432190-B2

Title: Computational systems and methods for double-encrypting data for subsequent anonymous storage

Description:
If an Application Data Sheet (ADS) has been filed on the filing date of this application, it is incorporated by reference herein. Any applications claimed on the ADS for priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119, 120, 121, or 365(c), and any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of such applications, are also incorporated by reference, including any priority claims made in those applications and any material incorporated by reference, to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistent herewith. 
     CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is related to and/or claims the benefit of the earliest available effective filing date(s) from the following listed application(s) (the “Priority Applications”), if any, listed below (e.g., claims earliest available priority dates for other than provisional patent applications or claims benefits under 35 USC §119(e) for provisional patent applications, for any and all parent, grandparent, greatgrandparent, etc. applications of the Priority Application(s)). In addition, the present application is related to the “Related Applications,” if any, listed below. 
     PRIORITY APPLICATIONS 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/199,832, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LINKING USERS OF DEVICES, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 7 Sep. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/199,829, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LINKING USERS OF DEVICES, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 9 Sep. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/200,806, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DISAMBIGUATING SEARCH TERMS CORRESPONDING TO NETWORK MEMBERS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 30 Sep. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/200,810, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DISAMBIGUATING SEARCH TERMS CORRESPONDING TO NETWORK MEMBERS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 30 Sep. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/373,542, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 16 Nov. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/373,572, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 17 Nov. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/373,871, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 2 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/373,872, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 2 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,247, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 16 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,246, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 16 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,428, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 27 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,429, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING A COMMUNICATIONS PARTNER, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 27 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,532, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 29 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,535, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 29 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,534, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 29 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,530, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 29 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,513, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 30 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,526, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REGULATING INFORMATION FLOW DURING INTERACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 30 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,528, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VERIFYING PERSONAL INFORMATION DURING TRANSACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 30 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
     For purposes of the USPTO extra-statutory requirements, the present application constitutes a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/374,523, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR VERIFYING PERSONAL INFORMATION DURING TRANSACTIONS, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 30 Dec. 2011 which is currently co-pending, or is an application of which a currently co-pending application is entitled to the benefit of the filing date. 
    
    
     RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/830,331, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREPARING DATA FOR DOUBLE-ENCRYPTION AND ANONYMOUS STORAGE, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 14 Mar. 2013, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/830,343, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ENCRYPTING DATA FOR ANONYMOUS STORAGE, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 14 Mar. 2013, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/830,366, entitled COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ANONYMIZED STORAGE OF DOUBLE-ENCRYPTED DATA, naming Marc E. Davis, Matthew G. Dyor, William Gates, Xuedong Huang, Roderick A. Hyde, Edward K. Y. Jung, Jordin T. Kare, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, Qi Lu, Mark A. Malamud, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Satya Nadella, Daniel Reed, Harry Shum, Clarence T. Tegreene, and Lowell L. Wood, Jr. as inventors, filed 14 Mar. 2013, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/385,598, entitled RIGHT OF INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 12 Jul. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/653,222, entitled LEVEL-ONE ENCRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 16 Oct. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/677,634, entitled LEVEL-ONE ENCRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 15 Nov. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/660,848, entitled LEVEL-TWO ENCRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 25 Oct. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/664,265, entitled LEVEL-TWO ENCRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 30 Oct. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/707,427, entitled PRE-EVENT REPOSITORY ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 6 Dec. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/708,651, entitled PRE-EVENT REPOSITORY ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 7 Dec. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/720,360, entitled LEVEL-TWO DECRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 19 Dec. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/724,941, entitled LEVEL-TWO DECRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 21 Dec. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/731,751, entitled LEVEL-TWO DECRYPTION ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION VIA DOUBLE ENCRYPTED LOCK BOX, naming Edward K. Y. Jung, Royce A. Levien, Richard T. Lord, Robert W. Lord, and Mark A. Malamud as inventors, filed 31 Dec. 2012, is related to the present application. 
     The United States Patent Office (USPTO) has published a notice to the effect that the USPTO&#39;s computer programs require that patent applicants reference both a serial number and indicate whether an application is a continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parent application. Stephen G. Kunin, Benefit of Prior-Filed Application, USPTO Official 5 Gazette Mar. 18, 2003. The USPTO further has provided forms for the Application Data Sheet which allow automatic loading of bibliographic data but which require identification of each application as a continuation, continuation-in-part, or divisional of a parent application. The present Applicant Entity (hereinafter “Applicant”) has provided above a specific reference to the application(s) from which priority is being claimed as recited by statute. 
     Applicant understands that the statute is unambiguous in its specific reference language and does not require either a serial number or any characterization, such as “continuation” or “continuation-in-part,” for claiming priority to U.S. patent applications. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Applicant understands that the USPTO&#39;s computer programs have certain data entry requirements, and hence Applicant has provided designation(s) of a relationship between the present application and its parent application(s) as set forth above and in any ADS filed in this application, but expressly points out that such designation(s) are not to be construed in any way as any type of commentary and/or admission as to whether or not the present application contains any new matter in addition to the matter of its parent application(s). 
     If the listings of applications provided above are inconsistent with the listings provided via an ADS, it is the intent of the Applicant to claim priority to each application that appears in the Priority Applications section of the ADS and to each application that appears in the Priority Applications section of this application. 
     All subject matter of the Priority Applications and the Related Applications and of any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of the Priority Applications and the Related Applications, including any priority claims, is incorporated herein by reference to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistent herewith. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This description relates to data capture, data handling, and data security techniques. 
     SUMMARY 
     An embodiment provides a system. In one implementation, the system includes but is not limited to circuitry for receiving level-one encrypted data and at least one associated encrypted identifier; circuitry for encrypting with a level-two encryption key at least a part of the level-one encrypted data to produce level-two encrypted data; circuitry for receiving a hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier; circuitry for associating the hash with the level-two encrypted data; and circuitry for transmitting the level-two encrypted data and associated hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier. In addition to the foregoing, other system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. 
     In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are not limited to circuitry and/or programming for effecting the herein-referenced method aspects; the circuitry and/or programming can be virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware configured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending upon the design choices of the system designer. 
     In one or more various aspects, related systems include but are not limited to computing means and/or programming for effecting the herein-referenced method aspects; the computing means and/or programming may be virtually any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware configured to effect the herein-referenced method aspects depending upon the design choices of the system designer. 
     An embodiment provides a computer-implemented method. In one implementation, the method includes but is not limited to receiving level-one encrypted data including at least one associated encrypted identifier; encrypting with a level-two encryption key at least a part of the level-one encrypted data to produce level-two encrypted data; receiving a hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier; associating the hash with the level-two encrypted data; and transmitting the level-two encrypted data and associated hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. 
     An embodiment provides an article of manufacture including a computer program product. In one implementation, the article of manufacture includes but is not limited to a signal-bearing medium configured by one or more instructions related to receiving level-one encrypted data including at least one associated encrypted identifier; encrypting with a level-two encryption key at least a part of the level-one encrypted data to produce level-two encrypted data; receiving a hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier; associating the hash with the level-two encrypted data; and transmitting the level-two encrypted data and associated hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier. In addition to the foregoing, other computer program product aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. 
     An embodiment provides a system. In one implementation, the system includes but is not limited to a computing device and instructions. The instructions when executed on the computing device cause the computing device to receive level-one encrypted data including at least one associated encrypted identifier; encrypt with a level-two encryption key at least a part of the level-one encrypted data to produce level-two encrypted data; receive a hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier; associate the hash with the level-two encrypted data; and transmit the level-two encrypted data and associated hash of the at least one associated encrypted identifier. In addition to the foregoing, other system aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure. 
     In addition to the foregoing, various other method and/or system and/or program product aspects are set forth and described in the teachings such as text (e.g., claims and/or detailed description) and/or drawings of the present disclosure. 
     The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, inclusions, and/or omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is NOT intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, features, and advantages of the devices and/or processes and/or other subject matter described herein will become apparent in the teachings set forth herein. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       With reference now to  FIG. 1 , shown is an example of a system for linking users of devices in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates certain alternative embodiments of the system for linking users of devices of  FIG. 1 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 3 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to linking users of devices, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 9  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 10  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 11  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 12  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 13  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 14 , shown is a partial view of an example article of manufacture including a computer program product that includes a computer program for executing a computer process on a computing device related to linking users of devices, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 15 , shown is an example device in which embodiments may be implemented related to linking users of devices, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 16  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 3 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 17 , shown is an example of a system for regulating information flow during interactions in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 18 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 19  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 18 . 
         FIG. 20  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 18 . 
         FIG. 21  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 18 . 
         FIG. 22  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 18 . 
         FIG. 23  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 18 . 
         FIG. 24  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 18 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 25 , shown is a partial view of an example article of manufacture including a computer program product that includes a computer program for executing a computer process on a computing device related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 26 , shown is an example device in which embodiments may be implemented related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 27 , shown is an example of a system for regulating information flow during interactions in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 28 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 29  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 28 . 
         FIG. 30  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 28 . 
         FIG. 31  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 28 . 
         FIG. 32  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 28 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 33 , shown is a partial view of an example article of manufacture including a computer program product that includes a computer program for executing a computer process on a computing device related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 34 , shown is an example device in which embodiments may be implemented related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 35 , shown is an example of a system for regulating information flow during interactions in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 36 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 37  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 36 . 
         FIG. 38  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 36 . 
         FIG. 39  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 36 . 
         FIG. 40  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 36 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 41 , shown is a partial view of an example article of manufacture including a computer program product that includes a computer program for executing a computer process on a computing device related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 42 , shown is an example device in which embodiments may be implemented related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 43 , shown is an example of a system for regulating information flow during interactions in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 44 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 45  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 44 . 
         FIG. 46  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 44 . 
         FIG. 47  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 44 . 
         FIG. 48  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 44 . 
         FIG. 49  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 44 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 50 , shown is a partial view of an example article of manufacture including a computer program product that includes a computer program for executing a computer process on a computing device related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 51 , shown is an example device in which embodiments may be implemented related to regulating information flow during interactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 52 , shown is an example of a system for verifying personal information during transactions in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 53 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to verifying personal information during transactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 54  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 53 . 
         FIG. 55  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 53 . 
         FIG. 56  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 53 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 57 , shown is a partial view of an example article of manufacture including a computer program product that includes a computer program for executing a computer process on a computing device related to verifying personal information during transactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 58 , shown is an example device in which embodiments may be implemented related to verifying personal information during transactions, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
         FIG. 59  includes a grid or map illustrating how 12 figures comprising  FIGS. 59 -A through  59 -L (described below) can be assembled to produce a single figure illustrating an example system in which embodiments may be implemented. 
       With reference now to  FIGS. 59A-L , shown is an example of a system for double-encryption and anonymous storage in which embodiments may be implemented, perhaps in a device and/or through a network, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. 
       With reference now to  FIG. 60 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to preparing data for double-encryption and anonymous storage, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. Context for the operations of  FIG. 60  may be found in  FIG. 59 . 
         FIG. 61  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 60 . 
         FIG. 62  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 60 . 
         FIG. 63  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 60 . 
         FIG. 64  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 60 . 
         FIG. 65  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 60 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 66 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to preparing data for double-encryption and anonymous storage, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. Context for the operations of  FIG. 66  may be found in  FIG. 59 . 
         FIG. 67  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 66 . 
         FIG. 68  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 66 . 
         FIG. 69  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 66 . 
         FIG. 70  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 66 . 
       With reference now to  FIG. 71 , shown is an example of an operational flow representing example operations related to preparing data for double-encryption and anonymous storage, which may serve as a context for introducing one or more processes and/or devices described herein. Context for the operations of  FIG. 71  may be found in  FIG. 59 . 
         FIG. 72  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 71 . 
         FIG. 73  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 71 . 
         FIG. 74  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 71 . 
         FIG. 75  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 71 . 
         FIG. 76  illustrates an alternative embodiment of the example operational flow of  FIG. 71 . 
     
    
    
     The use of the same symbols in different drawings typically indicates similar or identical items unless context dictates otherwise. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As a courtesy to the reader, and with reference to the accompanying figures herein, in general “ 100  series” reference numerals will typically refer to items first introduced/described by  FIG. 1 , “ 200  series” reference numerals will typically refer to items first introduced/described by  FIG. 2 , “ 300  series” reference numerals will typically refer to items first introduced/described by  FIG. 3 , etc. 
     In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings, similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting. Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an example system  100  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  100  includes a unique identifier unit  102 . The unique identifier unit  102  may contain, for example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  and network-participation identifier acceptor module  106 . Unique identifier unit  102  may communicate over a network or directly with device-identifier custodian  110  to accept device-identifier data  108 . Unique identifier unit  102  may also communicate over a network or directly with network-participation identifier custodian  114  to accept network-participation identifier data  112  associated with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the at least one communication device. Optionally, unique identifier unit  102  may also accept geodata  116  or financial account data  118 . Unique identifier unit  102  may also include identity prediction module  122  for associating network-participation identifier data with a verified real-world user  120  associated with a communication device. 
     In  FIG. 1 , unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier based on accepted device-identifier data  108  and accepted network-participation identifier data  112 . Optionally, unique identifier unit  102  may assign geodata  116  and/or financial account data  118  to an assigned unique identifier. 
     In  FIG. 1 , the unique identifier unit  102  is illustrated as possibly being included within a system  100 . Of course, virtually any kind of computing device may be used to implement the special purpose unique identifier unit  102 , such as, for example, a workstation, a desktop computer, a networked computer, a server, a collection of servers and/or databases, a virtual machine running inside a computing device, a mobile computing device, or a tablet PC. 
     Additionally, not all of the unique identifier unit  102  need be implemented on a single computing device. For example, the unique identifier unit  102  may be implemented and/or operable on a remote computer, while a user interface and/or local instance of the unique identifier unit  102  are implemented and/or occur on a local computer. Further, aspects of the unique identifier unit  102  may be implemented in different combinations and implementations than that shown in  FIG. 1 . For example, functionality of a user interface may be incorporated into the unique identifier unit  102 . The unique identifier unit  120  may perform simple data relay functions and/or complex data analysis, including, for example, fuzzy logic and/or traditional logic steps. Further, many methods of assigning unique identifiers described herein or known in the art may be used, including, for example, algorithms used in generating globally unique identifiers, universally unique identifiers, other random number generation methods. In some embodiments, the unique identifier unit  102  may assign unique identifiers based on device-identifier data  108  and/or network-participation identifier data  112  available as updates through a network. 
     Unique identifier unit  102  may access data stored in virtually any type of memory that is able to store and/or provide access to information in, for example, a one-to-many, many-to-one, and/or many-to-many relationship. Such a memory may include, for example, a relational database and/or an object-oriented database, examples of which are provided in more detail herein. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates certain alternative embodiments of the system  100  of  FIG. 1 . In  FIG. 2 , The unique identifier unit  102  may also include unique identifier compiler logic  238  and or encryption protocol logic  240 . Unique identifier unit  102  may communicate over a network or directly with device-identifier custodian  110  to accept device-identifier data  108 , perhaps in the form of device identifier  230  from communication device  228 . Unique identifier unit  102  may also communicate over a network or directly with network-participation identifier custodian  114  to accept network-participation identifier data  112  associated with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the at least one communication device, perhaps from social network  232 , business network  234 , and/or other network  236 . 
     In this way, the unique identifier unit  102  may generate a compiled and/or encrypted list of unique identifiers that are optionally coded with or otherwise linked to geodata and/or financial account data. 
     In some embodiments, unique identifier compiler logic  112  may create a compiled set of composite identifiers that can be used to disambiguate search results in the network based on device-identifier data, network participation identifier data, and/or geodata, for example. Unique identifier unit  102  can be operated by a telecom company or by a social or other network owner, or by both in cooperation with each other. A compiled list of unique identifiers as discussed herein can represent all or substantially all unique user devices in a given social network or other communications network, e.g., wireless network, email network, or the like. 
     A directory of uniquely-identified devices can serve as the foundation for searching within a social network, and for facilitating financial transactions via the device for members of the social network associated with the device. 
     In some embodiments, unique identifier unit  102  may also include identity prediction module  122  for associating network-participation identifier data with a verified real-world user  120  associated with a communication device  228 . Identity prediction module  122  may include various search and/or matching functions for associating network-participation identifier data  112  with a verified real-world user  120  associated with a communications device  228 . For example, identity prediction module  122  may include de-anonymization module  244 , which in turn may include real-name profiling module  246 . Identity prediction module  122  may also include web history tracking module  248 , media content tracking module  250 , and/or app list tracking module  252 . 
     For the purposes of this application, SIM as used herein includes mini-SIM, micro-SIM, Universal Subscriber Identity Module, CDMA Subscriber Identity Module, Universal Integrated Circuit Card, Removable User Identity Module, virtual SIM, and other variants of the subscriber identity module described herein and understood by those of ordinary skill in the art. 
     As referenced herein, the unique identifier unit  102  may be used to perform various data querying and/or recall techniques with respect to the device-identifier data  108  and/or network-participation identifier data  112 , in order to assign a unique identifier. For example, where the network-participation identifier data  112  is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more user accounts such as social network, email, or the like, unique identifier unit  102  may employ various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques to assign a unique identifier. Similarly, for example, where device-identifier data  108  is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more device-identifier custodian  110 , various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques may be performed by unique identifier unit  102  to assign a unique identifier. 
     Many examples of databases and database structures may be used in connection with the unique identifier unit  102 . Such examples include hierarchical models (in which data is organized in a tree and/or parent-child node structure), network models (based on set theory, and in which multi-parent structures per child node are supported), or object/relational models (combining the relational model with the object-oriented model). 
     Still other examples include various types of eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) databases. For example, a database may be included that holds data in some format other than XML, but that is associated with an XML interface for accessing the database using XML. As another example, a database may store XML data directly. Additionally, or alternatively, virtually any semi-structured database may be used, so that context may be provided to/associated with stored data elements (either encoded with the data elements, or encoded externally to the data elements), so that data storage and/or access may be facilitated. 
     Such databases, and/or other memory storage techniques, may be written and/or implemented using various programming or coding languages. For example, object-oriented database management systems may be written in programming languages such as, for example, C++ or Java. Relational and/or object/relational models may make use of database languages, such as, for example, the structured query language (SQL), which may be used, for example, for interactive queries for disambiguating information and/or for gathering and/or compiling data from the relational database(s). 
     For example, SQL or SQL-like operations over one or more device-identifier data  108  and/or network-participation identifier data  112  may be performed, or Boolean operations using a device-identifier data  108  and/or network-participation identifier data  112  may be performed. For example, weighted Boolean operations may be performed in which different weights or priorities are assigned to one or more of the device-identifier data  108  and/or network-participation identifier data  112 , including various network participation aliases associated with a particular verified real-world user, perhaps relative to one another. For example, a number-weighted, exclusive-OR operation may be performed to request specific weightings of network participation identifiers. 
     Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementation and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-component operations or additional component operations building on one or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation of a flowchart presenting an example implementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easy understanding of the various process implementations. In addition, those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the style of presentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/or object-oriented program design paradigms. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an operational flow  300  representing example operations related to linking users of devices. In  FIG. 3  and in following figures that include various examples of operational flows, discussion and explanation may be provided with respect to the above-described system environments of  FIGS. 1-2 , and/or with respect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flows may be executed in a number of other environments and contexts including that of  FIG. 15 , and/or in modified versions of  FIGS. 1-2 . Also, although the various operational flows are presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. 
     After a start operation, operation  310  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or device-identifier acceptor module  104  can accept device-identifier data  108  from a telecommunications carrier  220 , for example in the form of a Unique Device Identifier (UDID) for an iPhone or iPod Touch. The UDID is a sequence of 40 letters and numbers that is specific to each iPhone or iPod Touch. It may look something like this: 2b6f0cc904d137be2e1730235f5664094b831186. Other examples of sources of device-identifier data  108  include voice-over-internet-protocol service providers such as Skype (peer-to-peer VoIP), and wireless carriers such as Verizon Wireless (CDMA-based wireless communication). Other examples of device-identifier data  108  include Media Access Control addresses (MAC address) and International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers (IMEI). 
     Operation  320  depicts accepting network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept from Facebook a username associated with a verified real-world user having an iPhone and corresponding account with a telecommunications company. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept from LinkedIn the name of a person associated with a videoconferencing device and corresponding account with a videoconferencing service such as WebEx Web conferencing. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept from Google the email address of a person associated with an Android phone and corresponding account with a wireless carrier. 
     In some embodiments, network-participation identifier custodian  114  and device-identifier custodian will cooperate to provide the necessary network-participation identifier data  112  and device-identifier data  108  to unique identifier unit  108 . For example, Facebook may provide usernames, images, birthdates, telephone numbers, or other data that it has about the verified real-world users of its social network to a consortium of telecommunications carriers  220  (this may optionally involve an opting-in step whereby users of Facebook affirmatively approve this action), who may provide device-identifier data  108 . Assigning a unique identifier (discussed below) for each network-user-associated device across each of the carriers in the consortium may result in a directory that is particularly valuable for the telecommunications carriers, who can then provide directory searching, support, and disambiguation for a potentially large fraction of the Facebook social network. Such a directory will likely be of equal interest and value to networks including Facebook in this example, for the same reasons. For example, a cross-carrier directory of Facebook members with associated phone numbers would be an added feature for Facebook that could significantly enhance the social information provided by the network. 
     Operation  330  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data. For example, unique identifier unit  102 , upon accepting device-identifier data  108  and network-participation identifier data  112  associated with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the at least one communication device, may assign a randomly-generated 32-bit unique identifier. In the iPhone example above, unique identifier unit  102  may accept the iPhone&#39;s unique device identifier (UDID) as the device-identifier data  108 , accept an iTunes username associated with a user with a valid credit card and security code as the network-participation identifier data  112  associated with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the at least one communication device, and assign a unique identifier to the device and username pair. 
     As another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept the MAC address of a networked computer as the device-identifier data  108 , accept an Outlook email address associated with a user with a verified biometric measurement as the network-participation identifier data  112  associated with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the at least one communication device, and assign a unique identifier to the computer and email address pair. 
     As another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept a mobile phone&#39;s integrated circuit card ID (ICC-ID) as the device-identifier data  108 , accept a Facebook username associated with a user with a valid Facebook Credits account as the network-participation identifier data  112  associated with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the at least one communication device, and assign a unique identifier to the mobile phone and Facebook username pair. 
     In some embodiments, unique identifier unit  102  may include an identity prediction algorithm such as a de-anonymization algorithm, a real-name profiling algorithm, a web history tracking algorithm, media content tracking algorithm, and/or an app list tracking algorithm. These algorithms may aid in the association of network-participation identifier data with a verified real-world user  120  associated with the communication device  228 , where those associations are not provided directly by a device-identifier custodian  110  and/or a network-participation identifier custodian  114 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 4  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  310  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  400 ,  402 ,  404 , and/or operation  406 . 
     Operation  400  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one of a mobile phone, a wired telephone, a voice-over-internet-protocol telephone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a networked television. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept device-identifier data corresponding to at least one of a mobile phone, a wired telephone, a voice-over-internet-protocol telephone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a networked television. For example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept a mobile phone&#39;s mobile equipment identifier, a land line&#39;s telephone number, or a networked computer&#39;s media access control address (MAC address) or internet protocol address (IP address). 
     Device-identifier data  108  may be accepted in different forms depending on the device identified. For example, an IP address or MAC address may be used to identify a computer. 
     Every device connected to the public internet is assigned a unique number known as an internet protocol address (IP address). IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods (also called a “dotted-quad”) and look something like 127.0.0.1. Since these numbers are usually assigned to internet service providers within region-based blocks, an IP address can often be used to identify the region or country from which a computer is connecting to the Internet. An IP address can sometimes be used to show the user&#39;s general location. An IP address may also be assigned to a Host name, which may be easier to remember. Hostnames may be looked up to find IP addresses, and vice-versa. At one time internet service providers issued one IP address to each user. These are static IP addresses. With the increased number of issued IP addresses, internet service providers now issue IP addresses in a dynamic fashion out of a pool of IP addresses using dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), which provides a central database for keeping track of computers that have been connected to the network. This prevents two computers from accidentally being configured with the same IP address. These are referred to as dynamic IP addresses. In addition to users connecting to the internet, with virtual hosting, a single machine can act like multiple machines, with multiple domain names and IP addresses. 
     MAC addresses are unique identifiers assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment. They are most often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface card (NIC) and are stored in its hardware, the card&#39;s read-only memory, or some other firmware mechanism. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer&#39;s registered identification number and may be referred to as the burned-in address. It may also be known as an Ethernet hardware address (EHA), hardware address, or physical address. A network node may have multiple NICs and will then have one unique MAC address per NIC. 
     A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module (SIM) is an integrated circuit that securely stores the service-subscriber key or international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices (such as mobile phones and computers). A SIM card typically contains its unique serial number (integrated circuit card identifier or ICCID), an internationally unique number of the mobile user (IMSI), security authentication and ciphering information, temporary information related to the local network, a list of the services the user has access to and two passwords: a personal identification number (PIN) for usual use and a PIN unlock code (PUC) for unlocking A SIM card may also store other carrier-specific data such as the SMSC (Short Message Service Center) number, Service Provider Name (SPN), Service Dialing Numbers (SDN), Advice-Of-Charge parameters and Value Added Service (VAS) applications. 
     A SIM card&#39;s ICCID is stored in the SIM card and also engraved or printed on the SIM card body. The ICCID is typically composed of an issuer identification number (IIN), an individual account identification number, and a check digit. 
     SIM cards are identified on their individual operator networks by a unique international mobile subscriber identity number or IMSI. Mobile operators connect mobile phone calls and communicate with their market SIM cards using their IMSIs. The format is: the first 3 digits represent the Mobile Country Code (MCC), the next 2 or 3 digits represent the Mobile Network Code (MNC), and the next digits represent the mobile station identification number. 
     SIM cards may also orthogonally store a number of SMS messages and phone book contacts. A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which can be transferred between different mobile devices. 
     Operation  402  depicts accepting telephony device-identifier data including a telephone number associated with the telephony device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept a ten-digit telephone number or a seven-digit telephone number from a telecommunications carrier  220  as the device-identifier data  108 . The number contains the information necessary to identify uniquely the intended endpoint for the telephone call. Each such endpoint must have a unique number within the public switched telephone network. 
     Operation  404  depicts accepting at least one of subscriber identity module data or integrated circuit card identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) from a mobile phone&#39;s SIM card from a telecommunications carrier  220  as the device-identifier data  108 . As another example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept from a wireless communications service  222  an integrated circuit card identifier number from a SIM card for a mobile phone. 
     Operation  406  depicts accepting mobile equipment identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept a mobile equipment identifier corresponding to a mobile handset from a telecommunications carrier  220  or wireless communications service  222 . A Mobile Equipment IDentifier (MEID) is a globally unique 56-bit identification number for a physical piece of mobile equipment. Equipment identifiers are “burned” into a device and are used as a means to facilitate mobile equipment identification and tracking Additionally, MEIDs are coordinated with International Mobile Equipment Identifiers (IMEIs), facilitating global roaming and harmonization between 3G technologies as a universal mobile equipment identifier. The MEID is a 14-digit hexadecimal value. The MEID is capable of being transmitted over the air upon a request from the network. The MEID is composed mainly of two basic components, the manufacturer code and the serial number. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 5  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  310  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  500 ,  502 , and/or operation  504 . 
     Operation  500  depicts accepting international mobile subscriber identity data corresponding to at least one communication device. For example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) from a mobile phone&#39;s SIM card from a wireless communications service  222  as the device-identifier data  108 . An International Mobile Subscriber Identity or IMSI is a unique identification associated with all GSM and UMTS network mobile phone users. It is stored as a 64-bit field in the SIM inside the phone and is sent by the phone to the network. It is also used for acquiring other details of the mobile device in the Home Location Register (HLR) or as locally copied in the Visitor Location Register. To prevent eavesdroppers identifying and tracking the subscriber on the radio interface, the IMSI is sent as rarely as possible and a randomly-generated temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) is sent instead. The IMSI is used in any mobile network that interconnects with other networks. This number is kept in the phone directly or in the removable user identity module (R-UIM) card, a card developed for CDMA handsets that extends the GSM SIM card to CDMA phones and networks. 
     Operation  502  depicts accepting electronic serial number data corresponding to at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept an electronic serial number from a mobile phone&#39;s SIM card from a telecommunications carrier  220  as the device-identifier data  108 . As another example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept from a wireless communications service  222  an electronic serial number from a SIM card for a CDMA-based mobile phone. 
     Operation  504  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept a mobile equipment identifier from a mobile phone&#39;s SIM card from a telecommunications carrier  220 , the MEID corresponding to a billing account for a subscriber of a wireless service provided by the telecommunications carrier  220 . As another example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept from a wireless communications service  222  an IMSI from a SIM card for a mobile phone, the IMSI corresponding to a billing account for a subscriber of the wireless communications service  222 . 
       FIG. 6  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIGS. 3 and 5 .  FIG. 6  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  504  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  600 ,  602 , and/or operation  604 . 
     Operation  600  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises a cable telecommunications billing account. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept a computer user&#39;s MAC address or IP address as the device identifier data  108 . In this example, the MAC address or IP address of the computer may be linked to a Skype account for billing purposes. 
     Operation  602  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises a wireless telecommunications billing account. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept from a wireless service provider an IMEI for a mobile phone linked to a billing account for an individual subscriber. 
     Operation  604  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one wireless telecommunications billing account comprises a satellite telecommunications billing account. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept from a satellite-based wireless service provider such as LightSquared, a device-identifier for a mobile phone linked to a billing account for an individual subscriber. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIGS. 3 and 5 .  FIG. 7  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  504  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  700 ,  702 ,  704 , and/or operation  706 . 
     Operation  700  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises a physical address. For example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept from a wireless communications service  222  an IMSI from a SIM card for a mobile phone, the IMSI corresponding to a billing account for a subscriber of the wireless communications service  222  at a specific street, city, and country address. 
     Operation  702  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises a bank account. For example, device-identifier acceptor module  104  may accept from a wireless communications service  222  an iPhone or iPod Touch device identifier, the identifier corresponding to a bank account number for a subscriber of the wireless service to the iPhone or iPod Touch device. 
     Operation  704  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises an electronic payment account. To continue the previous example involving the iPhone or iPod Touch device, the wireless service subscription may be linked to a bank&#39;s electronic payment service, wire transfer service, or the like. 
     Operation  706  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one electronic payment account, wherein the electronic payment account comprises at least one of a Google Checkout account, an Amazon Payments account, a PayPal account, or a mobile PayPal account. For example, a unique identifier unit  102  may accept a mobile device ID for an Android mobile phone from an Android app such as “Android Device ID” available for download from the Android Market. The Android mobile device ID, perhaps derived from a wireless network socket, for the mobile phone may correspond to a Google Checkout account for the subscriber of the wireless service to the mobile phone. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIGS. 3 and 5 .  FIG. 8  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  504  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  800 ,  802 , and/or operation  804 . 
     Operation  800  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises a credit card account. For example, a wireless device&#39;s service subscription may be linked to a user&#39;s credit card account. 
     Operation  802  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account comprises a virtual account. For example, to continue the Google Checkout example above, a unique identifier unit  102  may accept a mobile device ID for an Android mobile phone from an Android app such as “Android Device ID” available for download from the Android Market. The Android mobile device ID for the mobile phone may correspond to a virtual account such as a Facebook credit account. 
     Operation  804  depicts accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one virtual account, wherein the virtual account comprises at least one of a virtual wallet or a virtual prepaid credit card. For example, to continue the Google Checkout example above, a unique identifier unit  102  may accept a mobile device ID for an Android mobile phone from an Android app such as “Android Device ID” available for download from the Android Market. The Android mobile device ID for the mobile phone may correspond to a virtual wallet account such as Google wallet. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 9  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  320  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  900 ,  902 ,  904 , and/or operation  906 . 
     Operation  900  depicts accepting network-participation identifier data associated with at least one of a user&#39;s social security number, a user&#39;s national identification card, a user&#39;s biometric measurement, a user&#39;s passport number, a user&#39;s tax identification number, a user&#39;s internet domain, or a user&#39;s authentication certificate. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept network-participation identifier data associated with at least one of a user&#39;s social security number, a user&#39;s national identification card, a user&#39;s biometric measurement, a user&#39;s passport number, a user&#39;s tax identification number, a user&#39;s internet domain, or a user&#39;s authentication certificate. For example, network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a Facebook username as network-participation identifier data, the username associated with a photograph of the user as a biometric measurement verifying that a real-world user is associated with the username. In some embodiments, an image recognition system may be employed to associate an image with a specific user. In some embodiments, the real-world user may be a corporation. 
     In another example, network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept an email address as network-participation identifier data, the email address associated with a social security number on file with a telecommunications company with which the user has a service subscription. 
     As used herein, “network-participation identifier data” may refer to a signifier of belonging in a network, such as an email address; a username, such as a social networking user name; or other mark such as an image, number, or writing that signifies participation in a particular network. 
     Operation  902  depicts accepting social networking data corresponding to at least one verified real-world user of the at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a Google+ username as a network-participation identifier datum, wherein the Google+ username is associated with a photograph of the user having the username. In some embodiments, the photograph of the user may be analyzed by image recognition technologies to identify a person having specific geographic, demographic, or other identifying characteristics. 
     Operation  904  depicts accepting social networking data corresponding to at least one verified real-world user of the at least one communication device, wherein the social networking data comprises at least one of a username, an @-tagged twitter handle, a corporate login, or a website uniform resource locator (URL). For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a blogger&#39;s website URL as a network-participation identifier datum, wherein the website URL is associated with a photograph and/or description of the blogger on the website at the website URL. 
     Operation  906  depicts accepting social networking data corresponding to at least one verified real-world user of the at least one communication device, wherein the social networking data comprises at least one of Facebook data, Twitter data, or LinkedIn data. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a LinkedIn username as a network-participation identifier datum, wherein the username is associated with a public profile of a user of the business-related social networking site LinkedIn. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIGS. 3 and 9 .  FIG. 10  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  902  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  1000 ,  1002 , and/or operation  1004 . 
     Operation  1000  depicts accepting social networking data corresponding to at least one verified real-world user of the at least one communication device, wherein the social networking data comprises at least one of image data, constellation of social contact data, or user input data. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a list of social contacts from a social network such as Facebook or LinkedIn as the network-participation identifier data. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a list of email contacts grouped as friends or family from an email contact list as the network-participation identifier data. 
     Operation  1002  depicts accepting social networking data corresponding to at least one verified real-world user of the at least one communication device, wherein the social networking data comprises data accumulated from multiple sources. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a plurality of usernames sourced from various social networks, each corresponding to the same verified real-world user of the at least one communication device as the data accumulated from multiple sources. As another example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a set of photographs of the same verified real-world user of the at least one communication device, sourced from various social networks as the data accumulated from multiple sources. 
     Operation  1004  depicts accepting social networking data corresponding to at least one verified real-world user of the at least one communication device, wherein the social networking data comprises at least one of data used to create additional data or data used to find additional data. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a website URL of a social networking site&#39;s videoconferencing or videochat feed as data (website URL) used to create additional data (streaming video of network participants). In another example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept a user image or alias that can be used to find other data, for example as a search term in an reverse-image query or a text query, respectively. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 11  illustrates example embodiments where the assigning operation  330  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  1100 ,  1102 , and/or operation  1104 . 
     Operation  1100  depicts assigning at least one of a multi-digit decimal number, a multi-digit hexadecimal number, or a randomized code as the unique identifier. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign at least one of a multi-digit decimal number, a multi-digit hexadecimal number, or a randomized code as the unique identifier. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier using an algorithm(s) known in the art to generate unique multi-digit decimal numbers or unique multi-digit hexadecimal numbers. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,010,587 (hereby incorporated by reference). 
     Operation  1102  depicts further comprising encrypting the unique identifier. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or encryption protocol logic  240  may encrypt the assigned unique identifier. Encrypting the unique identifier may be desirable in cases where telecommunications carriers sharing a directory comprised of unique identifiers for the purpose of locating and disambiguating users of one or more networks, can share the unique identifiers but still protect them and the underlying data from access by undesirable entities such as spammers and telemarketers. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may encrypt the assigned identifier or associated sensitive personal and/or financial information according to encryption schemes described herein and known in the art. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,010,791 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,010,786 (hereby incorporated by reference). 
     Operation  1104  depicts further comprising encrypting the unique identifier, wherein the encrypting the unique identifier includes performing at least one of symmetric key encryption, public key encryption, hybrid digital signature encryption, using a one-way hash function, using a random identifier, or using a pseudo-random identifier. For example, unique identifier unit  102  and/or encryption protocol logic  240  may encrypt the assigned unique identifier using a one-way hash function, which is easy to compute on every input, but hard to invert given the image of a random input. 
       FIG. 12  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 12  illustrates example embodiments where the assigning operation  330  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  1200 ,  1202 ,  1204 , and/or operation  1206 . 
     Operation  1200  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, further comprising assigning to the unique identifier geo-locator data from the at least one communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept geodata  116  from a mobile phone, and then assign that geodata to an assigned unique identifier corresponding to a device and a network participant. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept geodata  116  in the form of a computer&#39;s IP address, and then assign that geodata to an assigned unique identifier corresponding to the computer and a verified network participant associated with that computer. 
     Operation  1202  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, further comprising assigning to the unique identifier geo-locator data from the at least one communication device, wherein the geo-locator data is assigned via a global positioning satellite function of the communication device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept geodata  116  from a mobile phone having a gps receiver, and then assign that geodata to an assigned unique identifier corresponding to a device and a network participant. 
     Operation  1204  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, further comprising assigning to the unique identifier geo-locator data from the at least one communication device, wherein the geo-locator data is derived from at least one of cellular phone tower proximity, Wi-Fi use, user-entered location data, or proximity to at least one other device. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept geodata  116  from a smart phone using a Wi-Fi network contained in a database that contains location information for the Wi-Fi network, and then assign that geodata to an assigned unique identifier corresponding to a device and a network participant. 
     Operation  1206  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, further comprising assigning to the unique identifier geo-locator data from the at least one communication device, wherein the geo-locator data is derived from at least one of a detected vehicle use, a detected user activity, or a detected user location. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may derive geo-locator data from detected automobile use, based on, for example, last known location and predicted range of travel of the automobile. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may receive or deduce geo-locator data from a detected user activity, for example, checking in with foursquare at a specific location or searching for driving directions in a web browser, respectively. 
       FIG. 13  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 13  illustrates example embodiments where the assigning operation  330  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  1300 ,  1302 ,  1304 , and/or operation  1306 . 
     Operation  1300  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, wherein the unique identifier represents multiple communication devices associated with a single user. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, wherein the unique identifier represents multiple communication devices associated with a single user. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept device-identifier data from a mobile phone, a desktop computer, and a laptop computer, each of which is associated with a single user, for example by virtue of an IMSI or other SIM data, email data, billing account data, or social networking data. 
     Operation  1302  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, wherein the unique identifier represents a single communication device associated with multiple users. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, wherein the unique identifier represents a single communication device associated with multiple users. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept device-identifier data from a mobile phone, the device-identifier data associated with a multiple users, for example members of a family by virtue of different login data used for access to the device and/or different social networking usernames used on the device. 
     Operation  1304  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, wherein the unique identifier represents a single communication device associated with a single user. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, wherein the unique identifier represents a single communication device associated with a single user. As another example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier at least partly based on a videoconferencing device ID, such as an IP address or a MAC address, and at least partly based on a username and password for the videoconference, accompanied by a video image of a user associated with the username and password, verifying that a real-world user is associated with the videoconferencing device. 
     Operation  1306  depicts assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, and then adding an assigned unique identifier to an inter-service-provider directory of unique identifiers. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data, and then adding an assigned unique identifier to an inter-service-provider directory of unique identifiers. In another example, unique identifier unit  102  may assign a unique identifier at least partly based on SIM data identifying a user&#39;s mobile phone, and at least partly based on subscriber&#39;s participation in the wireless network, as verified, for example, by a social security number for the user on file with the wireless carrier for the mobile device, for example, Verizon. Verizon may similarly create unique identifiers for all of the other verified real-world users of its network and their associated devices. Other wireless carriers may similarly create unique identifiers for their subscribers and associated devices. 
     If many wireless carriers agree to share their unique identifier lists and keep them in the same format for use as a global directory of mobile phone users, a comprehensive “white pages” of communications device users becomes possible, across potentially all service providers. Such a directory could also be keyed to social networking data such as username or user image, such that, for example, Facebook users could easily find each other&#39;s device contact information and possibly location information. Inclusion of users&#39; device information in such a directory could be done on an opt-in basis. 
     As used herein, a unique identifier based on a device-identifier and a network-participant identifier may be keyed to that underlying data. That is, having the unique identifier corresponding to specific device data and specific network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device will permit the creator of the unique identifier to use it to call up the specific device data and specific network participation identifier data. This may allow, for example, a telecommunications carrier to disambiguate one user from another having similar or identical network participation identifier data. This can be done on the basis of different device identifier data for the two users with similar or identical network participation identifier data, for example. 
       FIG. 14  illustrates a partial view of an example article of manufacture  1400  that includes a computer program  1404  for executing a computer process on a computing device. An embodiment of the example article of manufacture  1400  is provided including a signal bearing medium  1402 , and may include one or more instructions for accepting device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device; one or more instructions for accepting network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device; and one or more instructions for assigning a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data. The one or more instructions may be, for example, computer executable and/or logic-implemented instructions. In one implementation, the signal-bearing medium  1402  may include a computer-readable medium  1406 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  1402  may include a recordable medium  1408 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  1402  may include a communications medium  1410 . 
       FIG. 15  illustrates an example system  1500  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  1500  includes a computing system environment. The system  1500  also illustrates a user  1512  using a device  1504 , which is optionally shown as being in communication with a computing device  1502  by way of an optional coupling  1506 . The optional coupling  1506  may represent a local, wide-area, or peer-to-peer network, or may represent a bus that is internal to a computing device (e.g., in example embodiments in which the computing device  1502  is contained in whole or in part within the device  1504 ). A storage medium  1508  may be any computer storage media. In one embodiment, the computing device  1502  may include a virtual machine operating within another computing device. In an alternative embodiment, the computing device  1502  may include a virtual machine operating within a program running on a remote server. 
     The computing device  1502  includes computer-executable instructions  1510  that when executed on the computing device  1502  cause the computing device  1502  to (a) accept device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device; (b) accept network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device; and (c) assign a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data. As referenced above and as shown in  FIG. 15 , in some examples, the computing device  1502  may optionally be contained in whole or in part within the device  1504 . 
     In  FIG. 15 , then, the system  1500  includes at least one computing device (e.g.,  1502  and/or  1504 ). The computer-executable instructions  1510  may be executed on one or more of the at least one computing device. For example, the computing device  1502  may implement the computer-executable instructions  1510  and output a result to (and/or receive data from) the computing device  1504 . Since the computing device  1502  may be wholly or partially contained within the computing device  1504 , the device  1504  also may be said to execute some or all of the computer-executable instructions  1510 , in order to be caused to perform or implement, for example, various ones of the techniques described herein, or other techniques. 
     The device  1504  may include, for example, a portable computing device, workstation, or desktop computing device. In another example embodiment, the computing device  1502  is operable to communicate with the device  1504  associated with the user  1512  to receive information about the input from the user  1512  for performing data access and data processing, and assign a unique identifier at least partly based on the device-identifier data and the network-participation identifier data. 
       FIG. 16  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  300  of  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 16  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  320  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  1600 ,  1602 , and/or operation  1604 . 
     Operation  1600  depicts accepting network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, further comprising associating network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with the at least one communication device. To continue an example of operation  302  above in which unique identifier unit  102  and/or network-participation identifier acceptor module  106  may accept from Facebook a username associated with a verified real-world user having an iPhone and corresponding account with a telecommunications company, the unique identifier unit  102  and/or identity prediction module  122  may search one or more identity databases for associations between the username and a real-world user, and for associations between that real-world user and the iPhone. Sources of data for associating a user with network-participation data and/or a communication device may include, for example, information that is provided by the user. For example, social network, message boards, internet forums, and the like may contain a link between a username and a phone number, a real-world name, birth date, gender, age, or other identifying attribute. Private sources of data may also include information provided by the user, such as private social networks, e-commerce websites, or any websites to which a consumer provides sign-up information. Publicly available sources may contain unique consumer information, including for example, vehicle registration records, real estate records, driving records, voting records, political donations, health information, government related data, technographics, or any other online sources disclosing information about people. Examples of algorithms that may be employed to perform these associations can be found in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0088313 “Data Source Attribution System,” hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. See also U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0010993 “Distributed Personal Information Aggregator,” also hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. 
     In the example above, the Facebook username may be used as a search query by identity prediction module  122  to find the same username on a blog containing a real-world name and mobile phone number associated with the username, the mobile phone number being assigned to the iPhone associated with the now-verified real-world user associated with the Facebook username. 
     Operation  1602  depicts associating network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, including at least one of performing the association using identity prediction, performing the association using de-anonymization, or performing the association using real-name profiling. For example, unique identifier unit  102 , identity prediction module  122 , de-anonymization module  244 , and/or real-name profiling module  246  may associate network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, including at least one of performing the association using identity prediction, performing the association using de-anonymization, or performing the association using real-name profiling. For example, accept from LinkedIn the name of a person associated with a videoconferencing device and corresponding account with a videoconferencing service such as WebEx Web conferencing. If the association between the LinkedIn subscriber and a real-world user associated with the videoconferencing device is missing, identity prediction module  122  may search relevant identity databases for matches to the subscriber&#39;s username or other profile data. In this way, verification of the real-world user can be accomplished, and association between the network-participation identifier data and the user associated with the communications device can be performed. 
     Operation  1604  depicts associating network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, including at least one of performing the association using web history tracking, performing the association using media content tracking, or performing the association using app data tracking. For example, unique identifier unit  102 , Web history tracking module  248 , media content tracking module  250 , and/or app data tracking module  252  may associate network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, including at least one of performing the association using web history tracking, performing the association using media content tracking, or performing the association using app data tracking. For example, unique identifier unit  102  may accept from Google the email address of a person associated with an Android phone and corresponding account with a wireless carrier. In this example, app data tracking module  252  may match the email address with device ID from the phone, e.g., SIM data, and make the association between the email address and the phone. Additionally, web history tracking module  248  may search public databases for verification that a real-world user is associated with the email address, for example by searching department of motor vehicle records or real estate records. 
     Regulating Information Flow During Interactions 
       FIG. 17  illustrates an example system  1700  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  1700  includes a persona creation unit  1706 . The persona creation unit  1706  may contain, for example, personal information request acceptor module  1708 , which may in turn contain identification request acceptor module  1710 , financial information request acceptor module  1712 , and/or web page parser module  1714 . Web page parser module  1714  may contain X/Y coordinate web page reader  1716 , web page image reader  1718 , and/or screen scraper module  1719 . Persona creation unit  1706  also may contain, for example, transaction analysis logic  1730  and/or persona compiler module  1720 , which may in turn contain personal information anonymizer module  1722 , persona creation ruleset module  1724 , vendor-specific persona database  1726 , and/or personal assistant-mediated persona compiler module  1728 . Persona creation unit  1706  may communicate over a network or directly with user  1701  to accept indication of interaction  1704  reflecting interaction  1702  with interaction partner  1703 . Persona creation unit  1706  may also communicate over a network or directly with user  1701  and/or interaction partner  1703  to present persona  1740 . 
     In  FIG. 17 , persona creation unit  1706  may accept indication of interaction  1704  by direct inspection of interaction  1702  or from user  1701  and/or interaction partner  1703 . Optionally, persona creation unit  1706  may accept indication of interaction  1704  such as a request for personal information, a transaction indication, and/or a call from user  1701  for a persona. 
     In  FIG. 17 , the persona creation unit  1706  is illustrated as possibly being included within a system  1700 . Of course, virtually any kind of computing device may be used to implement the special purpose persona creation unit  1706 , such as, for example, a workstation, a desktop computer, a networked computer, a server, a collection of servers and/or databases, a virtual machine running inside a computing device, a mobile computing device, or a tablet PC. 
     Additionally, not all of the persona creation unit  1706  need be implemented on a single computing device. For example, the persona creation unit  1706  may be implemented and/or operable on a remote computer, while a user interface and/or local instance of the persona creation unit  1706  are implemented and/or occur on a local computer. Further, aspects of the persona creation unit  1706  may be implemented in different combinations and implementations than that shown in  FIG. 17 . For example, functionality of a user interface may be incorporated into the persona creation unit  1706 . The persona creation unit  1706  may perform simple data relay functions and/or complex data analysis, including, for example, fuzzy logic and/or traditional logic steps. Further, many methods of establishing different online personas described herein or known in the art may be used, including, for example, algorithms commonly used in web page analysis may be used to determine a transaction scale as a basis for creating an appropriate persona containing an appropriate level of personal information for that transaction. In some embodiments, the persona creation unit  1706  may create a persona based on indications of interaction available as updates through a network. 
     Persona creation unit  1706  may access data stored in virtually any type of memory that is able to store and/or provide access to information in, for example, a one-to-many, many-to-one, and/or many-to-many relationship. Such a memory may include, for example, a relational database and/or an object-oriented database, examples of which are provided in more detail herein. 
     As referenced herein, the persona creation unit  1706  may be used to perform various data querying and/or recall techniques with respect to the indication of interaction  1704  and/or the interaction  1702 , in order to create and present an appropriate persona  1740 . For example, where indication of interaction  1704  elements are organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more web page analysis tools, or the like, persona creation unit  1706  may employ various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques to determine the appropriate level of information to place in a persona to be created. Similarly, for example, where user personal information is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more persona creation rulesets, various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques may be performed by persona creation unit  1706  to create an appropriate persona. 
     Many examples of databases and database structures may be used in connection with the persona creation unit  1706 . Such examples include hierarchical models (in which data is organized in a tree and/or parent-child node structure), network models (based on set theory, and in which multi-parent structures per child node are supported), or object/relational models (combining the relational model with the object-oriented model). 
     Still other examples include various types of eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) databases. For example, a database may be included that holds data in some format other than XML, but that is associated with an XML interface for accessing the database using XML. As another example, a database may store XML data directly. Additionally, or alternatively, virtually any semi-structured database may be used, so that context may be provided to/associated with stored data elements (either encoded with the data elements, or encoded externally to the data elements), so that data storage and/or access may be facilitated. 
     Such databases, and/or other memory storage techniques, may be written and/or implemented using various programming or coding languages. For example, object-oriented database management systems may be written in programming languages such as, for example, C++ or Java. Relational and/or object/relational models may make use of database languages, such as, for example, the structured query language (SQL), which may be used, for example, for interactive negotiation of persona content and/or for gathering and/or compiling data from the relational database(s). 
     For example, SQL or SQL-like operations over one or more indications of interaction  1704  and/or interaction  1702  may be performed, or Boolean operations using indications of interaction  1704  and/or interaction  1702  may be performed. For example, weighted Boolean operations may be performed in which different weights or priorities are assigned to one or more of the indications of interaction  1704  and/or interaction  1702 , including various transaction identifier elements, locations, and/or contexts, perhaps relative to one another. For example, a number-weighted, exclusive-OR operation may be performed to request specific weightings of elements found on a check-out page of an e-commerce web page (e.g., dollar amount in cart, web site name, payment type). 
     Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementation and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-component operations or additional component operations building on one or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation of a flowchart presenting an example implementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easy understanding of the various process implementations. In addition, those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the style of presentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/or object-oriented program design paradigms. 
       FIG. 18  illustrates an operational flow  1800  representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions. In  FIG. 18  and in following figures that include various examples of operational flows, discussion and explanation may be provided with respect to the above-described system environments of  FIG. 17 , and/or with respect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flows may be executed in a number of other environments and contexts including that of  FIG. 26 , and/or in modified versions of  FIG. 17 . Also, although the various operational flows are presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. 
     After a start operation, operation  1810  depicts accepting at least one indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a network. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , personal information request acceptor module  1708 , and/or persona compiler module  1720  may accept indication of interaction  1704  from a user  1701 , for example in the form of auction bid dollar amount, a website name, or a purchase item name or dollar value. In another example, persona creation unit  1706  or transaction analysis logic  1730  may accept markup language code (e.g., HTML or XML) corresponding to a web page as the indication of interaction  1704 . 
     Operation  1820  depicts creating a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , personal information request acceptor module  1708 , and/or persona compiler module  1720  may create a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. In one embodiment, persona creation unit  1706  may accept markup language code from a checkout webpage as the indication of interaction  1704 . In this example, the code may indicate a dollar value of a purchase or auction bid. Based on that dollar value, the persona compiler module  1720  may present a specific persona containing specific personal information about the user for use in the interaction. In some embodiments, persona compiler  1720  may present a limited persona or alias of the user where the interaction is deemed by persona creation unit  1706  and/or transaction analysis logic  1730  to be of low dollar value. For financial interactions such as purchases or auctions, transaction analysis logic  1730  may detect a dollar value and assign a dollar value category for the interaction, for example low dollar value, intermediate dollar value, or high dollar value. 
     Alternatively, many intermediate levels of interaction value may be assigned based on a detected value present in the code or other attribute of the interaction. In these embodiments, a minimal persona containing few elements of personal information may be presented. In cases where a negotiation is initiated, subsequent presentations of personas containing progressively more personal information may be presented with the goal that an acceptable persona may be presented to the interaction partner which provides only that amount of personal information which is sufficient for completion of the interaction/transaction. This approach attempts to avoid gratuitous dissemination of potentially valuable personal information. For example, for low dollar transactions, persona compiler logic  1720  may be programmed to put together a persona for the user  1701  containing only a name and a device identifier, such as a telephone number. For some interaction partners, such a minimal persona will provide enough trust in the credit-worthiness of the user  1701 , perhaps via a check with a telecommunications carrier that the name matches the telephone number. In other, higher dollar value transactions, a persona containing more detailed personal information may be necessary. For example, for a car purchase, a persona including credit information, credit history, and personal financial asset data may be presented by persona compiler logic  1720 . 
     In some embodiments, user  1701  will provide indication of interaction  1704  to persona creation unit  1706 . In another embodiment, user  1701  may grant access to interaction  1702 , for example by an affirmative step of opting-in or by not opting-out of a request by persona creation unit  1706 . Personal information may be obtainable as a matter of course by persona creation unit  1706 . For example, personal information of a user  1701  may be directly entered into persona creation unit  1706  for the purpose of allowing the unit to create personas, or alternatively, persona creation unit  1706  may indirectly access personal information through access to various accounts of user  1701 , such as bank accounts, social network accounts, or telecommunications accounts. In some embodiments, some of the personal information may be publicly available. 
     Operation  1830  depicts presenting the persona for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , upon creating a persona based on an indication of interaction  1704 , may present the persona for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. For example, persona creation unit  1706  may accept a request for personal information from an interaction partner such as amazon.com. Persona creation unit  1706  may then assess the interaction  1702  based on dollar amount or personal information requested, and create a persona accordingly, perhaps according to a persona creation ruleset pre-programmed into persona creation ruleset module  1724 . Persona creation unit  1706  may then present the persona to user  1701  for use in interaction  1702 , or directly present the persona to the interaction  1702 , perhaps in the form of filling in personal information fields on an e-commerce website. Such fields are equivalent to requests for personal information. 
     In some embodiments, persona creation unit  1706  may include a persona compiler algorithm such as an anonymization algorithm, a user-defined persona creation algorithm (i.e., ruleset), a vendor-specific persona creation algorithm, and/or a personal assistant-mediated persona compiler algorithm. These algorithms may aid in the creation of personas that are appropriate to a given interaction  1702 . 
     In some embodiments, both for detecting the specifics of an interaction or transaction on a web page and for placing data into fields on a web page, it may be useful to perform web scraping or web page image analysis on the web page. 
     Web scraping is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. Usually, such software programs simulate human exploration of the World Wide Web by either implementing low-level Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or embedding certain full-fledged Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Web scraping may involve the transformation of unstructured data on the Web, typically in HTML format, into structured data that can be stored and analyzed in a central local database or spreadsheet. Specific techniques for web scraping include text grepping and regular expression matching, which extracts information from Web pages based on the UNIX grep command or regular expression matching facilities of programming languages (for instance Perl or Python). 
     Another web scraping tool is HTTP programming wherein static and dynamic web pages can be retrieved by posting HTTP requests to a remote web server using socket programming. 
     Another web scraping tool is DOM (document object model) parsing: By embedding a full-fledged web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla web browser, programs can retrieve dynamic content generated by client-side scripts. These web browser controls may also parse web pages into a DOM tree, based on which programs can retrieve parts of the web pages. 
     Another web scraping tool is HTML parsing, wherein semi-structured data query languages, such as XQuery and HTQL can be used to parse HTML pages and to retrieve and transform web content. 
     There are many web-scraping software tools available that can be used to customize web-scraping solutions. These programs may attempt to automatically recognize the data structure of a page or provide a web recording interface that removes the necessity to manually write web-scraping code, or some scripting functions that can be used to extract and transform web content, and database interfaces that can store the scraped data in local databases. 
     Another web scraping tool is a vertical aggregation platform. These platforms create and monitor a multitude of “bots” for specific verticals with no man-in-the-loop, and no work related to a specific target site. The preparation involves establishing a knowledge base for the entire vertical, and then the platform creates the bots automatically. The platform&#39;s robustness is measured by the quality of the information it retrieves (usually number of fields) and its scalability (how quick it can scale up to hundreds or thousands of sites). This scalability is mostly used to target sites that common aggregators find complicated or too labor intensive to harvest content from. 
     Another web scraping tool is semantic annotation recognizing, wherein web pages may contain metadata or semantic markups/annotations which can be made use of to locate specific data. If the annotations are embedded in the pages, as Microformat does, this technique can be viewed as a special case of DOM parsing. In another case, the annotations, organized into a semantic layer, may be stored and managed separately from the web pages, so the web scrapers can retrieve data schema and instructions from this layer before scraping the pages. 
     Another tool for web page analysis is iMacros, a program that harvests web data automatically, which can do automatic form-filling. For example, iMacros works with every website; even the most complicated websites that use dialog boxes, frames, Javascript and AJAX can be automated. It has high data extraction speed: on a typical computer, 20-50 instances of iMacros can be run at once (“multi-threading”). It has full web-crawling support. iMacros can be scheduled to run in the background of other programs or in lean traffic hours. iMacros permits change of IP addresses programmatically with full PROXY support. After harvesting the web data, actions may be performed on it, it can be transferred to any application, or it can be used in another process. iMacros integrates with every Windows scripting or programming language. iMacros can connect to any database or software application. iMacros provides visual recording of all web activities and the extraction macros. iMacros has full unicode support, and iMacros can extract text in all languages, including Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. 
     In addition to working with the website source code like a “normal” software program, iMacros can also look at the website like a human does: iMacros&#39; image recognition support allows a user to automate and test websites using images instead of X/Y coordinates: a user can tell iMacros what a button looks like and iMacros can find it on the page. Even when the button has moved or if it has changed color or screen resolution. The iMacros Image Recognition Wizard functions with web sites that use non-HTML technologies such as Flash applets, Java applets, Movie Player Applets, ActiveX controls or any other technology. Since the software relies only on the images that are rendered in the browser, it works independently of the underlying technology. 
     The creation of personas described and claimed herein may function as a control feature of the unique identifier described above. In one embodiment, cascaded personas give more and more access to your real-world assets information. These personas may be uniquely or semi-uniquely linked to a real user. A credit bank such as Visa may manages these online personas—from something with little personal information such as “white male” to detailed real-life identity information. Because there is a direct link to personal information, provided by a telecommunications carrier via the device, it is possible to protect previously vulnerable web surfers who are at risk for having their personal information taken at will by snoopers. A user may look online and find a persona on the internet that is uniquely associated with them. 
     Under the persona creation environment described herein, opt-in may no longer be binary because a user may opt in to a set of circumstances around a persona or a type of identification. In this environment a user will have a true identity—SIM data and all that goes with it—that may or may not be communicated to an interaction partner  1703  depending upon the nature of interaction  1702 . Accordingly, in the herein envisioned personas/relationships a user may have an unfolding level of envelopes that increases exposure to their personal information as you go deeper into the value of an interaction. 
     In one embodiment, a user interface with persona creation unit  1706  will specify—easily and preferably visually—exactly what type of commercial obligations and/or identity personas/relationships he/she is entering when he/she consents to assume a particular persona template. 
       FIG. 19  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  1800  of  FIG. 18 .  FIG. 19  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  1810  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  1900 ,  1902 ,  1904 , and/or operation  1906 . 
     Operation  1900  depicts accepting from at least one member of a network an indication of an interaction involving the at least one member of a network. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept from user  1701  an indication of interaction  1704  such as a request for a persona to give to iTunes for the purchase of an MP3 file. As another example, personal information request acceptor module  1708  may forward from user  1701  a request for personal information from an e-commerce website such as Groupon relating to a potential purchase. In some embodiments, user  1701  may send a message to persona creation unit  1706  telling it that an interaction requiring a persona is happening, the message including a URL or other venue for the interaction, from which persona creation unit  1706  can extract the information necessary to evaluate the interaction and create an appropriate persona. Such a message may be sent by voice, text, touch, or other user interface mechanism. 
     Operation  1902  depicts accepting from an eBay user an indication of interest in an online auction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept from user  1701  an indication of interest in an online auction. For example, personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept a URL for an eBay auction page as the indication of interest in an online auction. Alternatively, eBay user  1701  may provide to persona creation unit  1706  a URL for an eBay auction page, and a URL for an eBay sign in page having fields for a User ID and Password as the indication of interest in an online auction. 
     Operation  1904  depicts accepting a request for personal information as the at least one indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a network. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept a request for personal information as the at least one indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a network. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept a request for personal information on an e-commerce sign up page, such as name, address, email address, or credit card information. The request for personal information may be in the form of field on a web page, perhaps bearing an asterisk indicating required personal information, or appearing in red type indicating required personal information. In another embodiment, a request for personal information may be in the form of a field(s) asking for a shipping address. 
     Operation  1906  depicts accepting a request for at least one of name, physical address, email address, phone number, or credit card information as the personal information. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept a request for at least one of name, physical address, email address, phone number, or credit card information as the personal information. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  1708  may accept a request for personal information on an e-commerce check out page, such as name, address, email address, or credit card information. For example, identification request acceptor module  1710  may accept a request for a user name and password from an e-commerce website such as Amazon.com or iTunes. 
       FIG. 20  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  1800  of  FIG. 18 .  FIG. 20  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  1810  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  2000 ,  2002 ,  2004 ,  2006 ,  2008 , and/or operation  2010 . 
     Operation  2000  depicts accepting an indication of an online transaction involving at least one member of a network. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , identification request acceptor module  1710 , and/or financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept an indication of an online transaction involving at least one member of a network. For example, identification request acceptor module  1710  may analyze a URL provided by a user  1701  corresponding to a social network sign up page such as the Facebook sign up page (e.g., http://www.facebook.com) having fields for first name, last name, email address, gender, age and password. In another example, web page parser module  1714  may accept a URL for a sign-in page, such as the sign-in page for Google mobile (e.g., m.google.com), and parse the markup language code to identify fields requesting a username and password. Other embodiments may involve transactions that are financial, as discussed below. 
     Operation  2002  depicts accepting an indication of an online financial transaction involving at least one member of a network. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept an indication of an online financial transaction involving at least one member of a network. In one embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for an eBay user&#39;s PayPal account information as the indication of an online transaction involving at least one member of a network. In another embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for an iTunes user&#39;s credit card information as the indication of an online transaction involving at least one member of a network. In another embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for an Amazon.com user&#39;s credit card information as the indication of an online transaction involving at least one member of a network. 
     Operation  2004  depicts accepting an indication of at least one of a sign-up page, a login page, or a checkout page involving at least one member of a network. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , identification request acceptor module  1710 , financial information request acceptor module  1712 , and/or web page parser module  1714  may accept an indication of at least one of a sign-up page, a login page, or a checkout page involving at least one member of a network. In one embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a login page request for information from a member of the Amazon Prime network. In another example as discussed above, web page parser module  1714  may accept a URL for a sign-in page, such as the sign-in page for Google mobile (e.g., m.google.com), and parse the markup language code to identify fields requesting a username and password. 
     Operation  2006  depicts accepting an indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a social network. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , identification request acceptor module  1710 , and/or financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept an indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a social network. For example as discussed above, identification request acceptor module  1710  may analyze a URL provided by a user  1701  corresponding to a social network sign up page such as the Facebook sign up page (e.g., http://www.facebook.com) having fields for first name, last name, email address, gender, age and password. In another example, web page parser module  1714  may accept a URL for a sign-in page, such as the sign-in page for Google+(e.g., plus.google.com), and parse the markup language code of the sign-in page to identify fields requesting a username and password. 
     Operation  2008  depicts accepting an indication of an interaction between a registered member of a commercial website and the commercial website. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , identification request acceptor module  1710 , and/or financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept an indication of an interaction between a registered member of a commercial website and the commercial website. In one embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for a registered eBay user&#39;s PayPal account information in an interaction between the registered eBay user and the eBay website. In another embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for a registered member of iTunes&#39; credit card information in an interaction between the registered iTunes user and the iTunes website. In another embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for information from amazon.com during a transaction between a member of Amazon Prime and the amazon.com website. 
     Operation  2010  depicts accepting an indication of an interaction between a registered member of amazon.com and the amazon.com website. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , identification request acceptor module  1710 , and/or financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept an indication of an interaction between a registered member of amazon.com and the amazon.com website. In one embodiment, financial information request acceptor module  1712  may accept a request for information from Amazon.com during a transaction between a registered member of amazon.com and the amazon.com website, perhaps at the sign-in page on which the web page has fields for, e.g., username and password. 
       FIG. 21  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  1800  of  FIG. 18 .  FIG. 21  illustrates example embodiments where the creating operation  1820  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  2100  and/or operation  2102 . 
     Operation  2100  depicts creating a set of personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the set of personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or persona compiler module  1720  may create a set of personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the set of personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. In one embodiment, persona creation unit  1706 , having accepted an indication of interaction  1704  may compile a set of personal information for user  1701  to use in the interaction  1702 . The set of personal information may be commensurate with the scale of the interaction. A general rule to protect personal information from possible identity thieves, advertisers, and spammers is to reveal as little personal information as possible within the requirements of the interaction. 
     As discussed above, individuals commonly have large amounts of personal information online that is publicly available, leaving them open to profiling by advertisers and those with even less honorable intentions such as identity thieves. Accordingly, as a way of mitigating the risk of spam and identity theft, it will be desirable for those interacting with websites to limit the dissemination of personal information, particularly when an interaction or transaction does not absolutely require transfer of certain personal information. For example, low dollar value online transactions ought not require detailed personal information about the buyer. If sufficient trust in payment is available, for example via an anonymous telecommunications carrier account, unique identifier as discussed above, or device identifier as security for the transaction, that ought to suffice. Conversely, high dollar value transactions will still require that detailed personal information be provided as security for the transaction, but a large range of intermediate dollar value transactions may benefit from a smart system of providing as little personal information possible during the transaction. 
     Operation  2102  depicts creating a set of anonymized personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the set of anonymized personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , persona compiler module  1720 , and/or personal information anonymizer module  1722  may create a set of anonymized personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the set of anonymized personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. In one embodiment, personal information anonymizer module  1722  may, for a low dollar value transaction, create an anonymized set of personal information for user  1701  to use in buying a staple object online. This may provide for anonymous private sales online, in which the security of the transaction for the seller is provided by, for example, a Verizon account number associated with a mobile device on which the transaction is taking place. In some embodiments, such an account number may be associated with an alias for the actual account holder to enhance privacy in the transaction. 
     In some embodiments, user  1701  may want to have multiple aliases, each having a different amount of personal information detail as appropriate for use in various online activities. 
       FIG. 22  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  1800  of  FIG. 18 .  FIG. 22  illustrates example embodiments where the creating operation  1820  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  2200 ,  2202 ,  2204 , and/or operation  2206 . 
     Operation  2200  depicts creating a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least partly based on a persona-creation ruleset. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , persona compiler module  1720 , and/or persona creation ruleset module may create a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least partly based on a persona-creation ruleset. In one embodiment, persona compiler module  1720 , having accepted an indication of interaction  1704  may access persona creation ruleset module  1724  to find out whether the indication of interaction  1704  matches a predefined rule. For example, persona creation ruleset module  1724  may contain a rule stating that online purchases for items having a value of 25 dollars or less should automatically trigger the creation and presentation of a persona for user  1701  that includes only a name and necessary payment information, such as an Entropay prepaid virtual Visa card number. In some cases, the name may be an alias, especially in cases where using an alias comports with the terms of service of a vendor&#39;s website. 
     Operation  2202  depicts creating a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least one ruleset defining thresholds for assigning personal information to a persona. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , persona compiler module  1720 , and/or persona creation ruleset module may create a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least one ruleset defining thresholds for assigning personal information to a persona. In one embodiment, persona compiler module  1720 , having accepted an indication of interaction  1704  may access persona creation ruleset module  1724  to find out whether the indication of interaction  1704  matches a predefined rule establishing a threshold. For example, persona creation ruleset module  1724  may contain a rule stating that online purchases for items under 5 dollars in value using virtual currency or credit may be made using “persona A,” whereas online purchases for items that are 5 dollars to 50 dollars in value using virtual currency or credit may be made using “persona B.” Personas A and B may differ in, for example, the amount of personal information provided, the virtual account to be accessed for payment. 
     Operation  2204  depicts creating a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least one ruleset defining dollar amount thresholds for assigning personal information to a persona. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , persona compiler module  1720 , and/or persona creation ruleset module may create a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least one ruleset defining dollar amount thresholds for assigning personal information to a persona. In one embodiment, persona compiler module  1720 , having accepted an indication of interaction  1704  may access persona creation ruleset module  1724  to find out whether the indication of interaction  1704  matches a predefined rule establishing a dollar amount threshold. As in the previous example, persona creation ruleset module  1724  may contain a rule stating that online purchases for items having a value of 25 dollars or less should automatically trigger the creation and presentation of a persona for user  1701  that includes only a name and necessary payment information, such as an Entropay prepaid virtual Visa card number. A dollar value threshold may also include a range, for example, transactions between 1,000 and 5,000 dollars in value. In this case, persona compiler module  1720  may consult a rule in persona creation ruleset module  1724  that assigns name, telephone number, physical address, and credit card information to the persona to be presented. The ruleset may also specify that the credit card information to be included in the persona should be checked to confirm that the available credit line is higher than the dollar value of the transaction, so as to avoid having the credit card declined. 
     Operation  2206  depicts creating a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least one ruleset defining thresholds for assigning personal information to a persona at least partly based on a context of the interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706 , persona compiler module  1720 , and/or persona creation ruleset module may create a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction and at least one ruleset defining thresholds for assigning personal information to a persona at least partly based on a context of the interaction. In one embodiment, persona compiler module  1720 , having accepted a request for a “check-in” from a social networking app such as foursquare as the indication of interaction  1704  may access persona creation ruleset module  1724  to find out which persona to use in going forward with the check-in. In this example, some users may set as a rule using an alias as their persona for checking in geographically if they do not want everyone in their social graph knowing that they are checking in at a certain location. This would allow the user to check in, but in a way that is context-sensitive. Similarly, the context of a specific website could be a rule to use a certain persona on that website. For example, different personas could be pre-configured for websites such as amazon.com, eBay, and iTunes. When persona creation unit  1706  accepts data indicating an interaction with one of these websites, amazon.com, e.g., persona creation unit  1706  may consult persona creation ruleset module  1724  to call out a pre-programmed persona for use with a transaction on the amazon.com website. The context can be even more detailed by adding other contexts such as dollar value context, time of day context, and/or device context. For example, if a user  1701  shares a device like a smart phone with family members and has a shared e-commerce account on, e.g., eBay, persona creation unit  1706  may detect the smart phone, consult persona creation ruleset module  1724  to find a ruleset for that smart phone, and apply the appropriate persona. In this example, a parent may place an upper limit on all transactions made from the device so as to prevent a child from buying something that is too expensive. This control may be manifested by persona creation unit  1706  creating and presenting a persona for use with eBay on the smart phone which is associated with a payment means such as a credit card or PayPal account having the desired upper limit. 
       FIG. 23  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  1800  of  FIG. 18 .  FIG. 23  illustrates example embodiments where the creating operation  1820  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  2300 ,  2302 ,  2304 , and/or operation  2306 . 
     Operation  2300  depicts creating a minimal set of personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the minimal set of personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or personal information anonymizer module  1722  may create a minimal set of personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the minimal set of personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  may accept from user  1701  an indication of interaction  1704  in the form of a web address linking to a page for the purchase of a music cd on the bestbuy.com website. In some embodiments, as a default setting, persona creation module  1706  may monitor the web pages visited by a member of a network, e.g., user  1701 , and identify likely web pages or interactions  1702  in which a persona would be useful. For example, if persona creation module  1706  has access to the web pages visited by user  1701 , it can examine the code of those pages looking for telltale signs of an e-commerce transaction or other transaction in which a persona could be useful. Such telltale signs may include words associated with a purchase such as payment type, credit card type, dollar amount, “cart,” “buy now,” tax, shipping, or the like. Alternatively, telltale signs may include personal information categories that typically appear on sign-up or sign-in pages such as name, username, password, and email address. In the above example, for a minor purchase such as a music cd or mp3, personal information anonymizer module  1722  may anonymize certain personal information of user  1701  under the theory that bestbuy.com does not need very much personal information to be assured of payment for the music. Assurance of payment may be obtained from, for example, a telecommunications carrier, credit card account, or virtual payment. 
     Operation  2302  depicts creating a persona including name, physical address, and device identifier data corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on an indication of a low-dollar-cost transaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or personal information anonymizer module  1722  may create a persona including name, physical address, and device identifier data corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on an indication of a low-dollar-cost transaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  may accept from user  1701  an indication of interaction  1704  in the form of a check-out page having fields for payment including credit card information, where the dollar amount is under ten dollars. For example, in a low-dollar-cost transaction, persona creation unit  1706  may provide only name, physical address, and device identifier data in satisfying security concerns of the vendor. In one embodiment, payment may be secured through the telecommunications carrier associated with the device identifier data (e.g., SIM data, MEID, or other device identifier discussed above). In another embodiment, payment may be secured through a credit card account held by the telecommunications carrier associated with the device identifier data. In yet another embodiment, payment may be secured through a service like Portapayments, which creates quick response (QR) codes for PayPal payments. Scanning one of their QR codes with a mobile device takes a user  1701  to PayPal with the recipient and amount of the transaction automatically filled out. The user  1701  need only approve the payment to complete the interaction. PortaPayments allows customers to purchase goods by scanning a 3D bar code with their phone. Two types of codes are available: one is free and requires the use of PortaPayments&#39; application to scan and pay; the other, called a universal code, has a fee associated with it and will work with any QR code scanner that can scan and direct users to website URLs. 
     Operation  2304  depicts creating a detailed set of personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the detailed set of personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  may create a detailed set of personal information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the detailed set of personal information is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction. For example, persona creation unit  1706  may accept an indication of interaction  1704  in the form of an e-commerce cart website on which is shown an item to be purchased having a price of 1500 dollars. The interaction partner  1703  in this transaction may require a relatively detailed set of personal information before approving the sale. For example, to circumvent fraud, personal information including a credit card number (perhaps with a card security code), valid email address, name matching that on the card, and physical address matching the billing address of the credit card. 
     Operation  2306  depicts creating a persona including real name, physical address, credit card information, and device identifier information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on an indication of a high-dollar-cost transaction. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  may create a persona including real name, physical address, credit card information, and device identifier information corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on an indication of a high-dollar-cost transaction. To continue the above example, persona creation unit  1706  may accept an indication of interaction  1704  in the form of an e-commerce cart website on which is shown an item to be purchased having a price of 1500 dollars. The interaction partner  1703  in this transaction may require a relatively detailed set of personal information before approving the sale. For example, personal information including a credit card number (perhaps with a card security code), valid email address, name matching that on the card, and physical address matching the billing address of the credit card. However, persona creation unit  1706  may also include device identifier information, perhaps in lieu of other elements of personal information. In some embodiments, device identifier information in combination with other personal information such as telecommunications account number may provide security for payment to the vendor, perhaps even to the extent that a credit card number is not necessary where the telecommunications carrier stands in as the guarantor for the value of the transaction. 
       FIG. 24  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  1800  of  FIG. 18 .  FIG. 24  illustrates example embodiments where the presenting operation  1830  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  2400 ,  2402 ,  2404 ,  2406 , and/or operation  2408 . 
     Operation  2400  depicts placing elements of the persona into fields of an online form for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  and/or vendor-specific persona database  1726  may create a persona for user  1701  based on an interaction  1702  with an amazon.com checkout page. Upon approval by the user  1701 , the individual information elements of the created persona may be placed in the appropriate fields/boxes on the amazon.com checkout web page. This may be facilitated by vendor-specific persona database  1726 , which may, in addition to having information about what personal information is required, may contain information as to where on the checkout page various personal information should go, perhaps in the form of markup language code, ordinary web page text, or XY coordinates, for example. 
     Operation  2402  depicts presenting the persona to an online vendor for use in securing credit for an online purchase from the online vendor. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  may present the persona to an online vendor for use in securing credit for an online purchase from the online vendor. To continue the embodiment above, persona creation unit  1706  may create a persona for user  1701  based on an interaction  1702  with an amazon.com checkout page as the interaction partner  1703 . In this example user  1701  may be a member of the Amazon Prime network, Facebook, or the hotmail email network. In some embodiments, membership in the network may help secure low-dollar-value transactions. More specifically, verified membership in an exclusive private network such as Sermo for physicians or LinkedIn for professionals may suffice as security for low-dollar-value transactions, perhaps with only name and email address in addition. 
     Operation  2404  depicts presenting the persona at a vendor&#39;s physical establishment for use in securing credit for a purchase from the vendor. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  may present the persona at a vendor&#39;s physical establishment for use in securing credit for a purchase from the vendor. In one embodiment, a mobile device having a persona creation unit  1706  (either on the client or on a server perhaps as a cloud service) may be used to broker a transaction for a user  1701  at a device reader at a physical location of an interaction partner  1703 . In this example, a vendor equipped with a near field communications reader may use the reader to communicate with the reader&#39;s device to exchange details of a purchase and a created persona. For example, for low-dollar-value purchases, a persona associated with a Google wallet account, even if the vendor&#39;s terminal is not PayPass enabled. For some transactions, the Google wallet account-associated persona may suffice as security for the transaction, perhaps through a transfer of virtual currency or credit. Another example of this may employ a persona associated with the Entropay prepaid virtual credit technology described above. 
     Operation  2406  depicts presenting the persona via a computer-implemented personal assistant for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  may present the persona via a computer-implemented personal assistant for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. In one embodiment, a mobile device having a persona creation unit  1706  (either on the client or on a server perhaps as a cloud service) through a personal assistant interface may be used to broker a transaction, such as an online purchase, for a user  1701 . Natural language processing has advanced to the point where speech recognition and response by a mobile device is able to mediate persona management in the context of a transaction with only minimal input from the user  1702 , and that by voice alone. For example, user  1701  may say to his mobile device “create a persona for buying a New York Times subscription on my iPad.” The persona creation unit  1706  may accordingly access the web to find the cost of such a subscription so as to provide a persona with the appropriate amount of personal information. If subscriptions for different time periods are found, the personal assistant may ask user  1701  which he is interested in, for example one year. The personal assistant may then present a persona or two to the user  1701 , the user may select one, and then the personal assistant may then open the New York Times subscription ordering web page and complete the appropriate fields according to the persona selected. The user may retain final confirmation of the purchase by voice command via the personal assistant. 
     Operation  2408  depicts presenting the persona via a computer-implemented personal assistant for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network, wherein Siri is the computer-implemented personal assistant. In one example, persona creation unit  1706  may present the persona via a computer-implemented personal assistant for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network, wherein Siri is the computer-implemented personal assistant. As described above, a personal assistant may be used at each operation of the claimed systems and methods. Siri is Apple&#39;s personal assistant included for the first time in the iPhone 4S. Siri may be used as a persona creation unit as described in the example above, for example to rapidly and easily buy apps from the iTunes App Store. Siri&#39;s knowledge of the user  1701 &#39;s device and telecommunications carrier contract details may be used to quickly and easily secure low-dollar-value transaction credit, such as for iPad apps, in terms of minimal personas that are linked to known devices and accounts for a given user  1701 . 
       FIG. 25  illustrates a partial view of an example article of manufacture  2500  that includes a computer program  2504  for executing a computer process on a computing device. An embodiment of the example article of manufacture  2500  is provided including a signal bearing medium  2502 , and may include one or more instructions for accepting at least one indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a network; one or more instructions for creating a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction; and one or more instructions for presenting the persona for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. The one or more instructions may be, for example, computer executable and/or logic-implemented instructions. In one implementation, the signal-bearing medium  2502  may include a computer-readable medium  2506 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  2502  may include a recordable medium  2508 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  2502  may include a communications medium  2510 . 
       FIG. 26  illustrates an example system  2600  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  2600  includes a computing system environment. The system  2600  also illustrates a user  2612  using a device  2604 , which is optionally shown as being in communication with a computing device  2602  by way of an optional coupling  2606 . The optional coupling  2606  may represent a local, wide-area, or peer-to-peer network, or may represent a bus that is internal to a computing device (e.g., in example embodiments in which the computing device  2602  is contained in whole or in part within the device  2604 ). A storage medium  2608  may be any computer storage media. In one embodiment, the computing device  2602  may include a virtual machine operating within another computing device. In an alternative embodiment, the computing device  2602  may include a virtual machine operating within a program running on a remote server. 
     The computing device  2602  includes computer-executable instructions  2610  that when executed on the computing device  2602  cause the computing device  2602  to (a) accept at least one indication of an interaction involving at least one member of a network; (b) create a persona corresponding to the at least one member of a network, wherein the persona is at least partly based on the indication of an interaction; and (c) present the persona for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network. As referenced above and as shown in  FIG. 26 , in some examples, the computing device  2602  may optionally be contained in whole or in part within the device  2604 . 
     In  FIG. 26 , then, the system  2600  includes at least one computing device (e.g.,  2602  and/or  2604 ). The computer-executable instructions  2610  may be executed on one or more of the at least one computing device. For example, the computing device  2602  may implement the computer-executable instructions  2610  and output a result to (and/or receive data from) the computing device  2604 . Since the computing device  2602  may be wholly or partially contained within the computing device  2604 , the device  2604  also may be said to execute some or all of the computer-executable instructions  2610 , in order to be caused to perform or implement, for example, various ones of the techniques described herein, or other techniques. 
     The device  2604  may include, for example, a portable computing device, workstation, or desktop computing device. In another example embodiment, the computing device  2602  is operable to communicate with the device  2604  associated with the user  2612  to receive information about the input from the user  2612  for performing data access and data processing, and present a persona for use in the interaction involving the at least one member of the network, e.g., user  2612 . 
     Negotiation of Personas Between Parties to a Transaction—Vendor Side 
       FIG. 27  illustrates an example system  2700  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  2700  includes a persona negotiation agent  2706 . The persona negotiation agent  2706  may contain, for example, transaction evaluation module  2708 , which may in turn contain transaction value analysis module  2710 , persona acceptor module  2712 , and/or web page parser module  2714 . Web page parser module  2714  may contain X/Y coordinate web page reader  2716 , web page image reader  2718 , and/or screen scraper module  2719 . Persona negotiation agent  2706  also may contain, for example, cost adjustment module  2728 , condition-setting module  2730 , and/or persona evaluation module  2720 , which may in turn contain identity profile module  2722 , party history evaluation module  2724 , and/or creditworthiness evaluation module  2726 . Persona negotiation agent  2706  may communicate over a network or directly with party  2701  to accept at least one persona in the context of transaction  2702 , to evaluate transaction  2702 , and to negotiate receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. 
     In  FIG. 27 , persona negotiation agent  2706  may accept persona  2704  directly from party  2701  or indirectly by inspection of transaction  2702 , for example by viewing the party&#39;s personal information in fields on a web page related to the transaction. 
     In  FIG. 27 , the persona negotiation agent  2706  is illustrated as possibly being included within a system  2700 . Of course, virtually any kind of computing device may be used to implement the special purpose persona negotiation agent  2706 , such as, for example, a workstation, a desktop computer, a networked computer, a server, a collection of servers and/or databases, a virtual machine running inside a computing device, a mobile computing device, or a tablet PC. 
     Additionally, not all of the persona negotiation agent  2706  need be implemented on a single computing device. For example, the persona negotiation agent  2706  may be implemented and/or operable on a remote computer, while a user interface and/or local instance of the persona negotiation agent  2706  are implemented and/or occur on a local computer. Further, aspects of the persona negotiation agent  2706  may be implemented in different combinations and implementations than that shown in  FIG. 27 . For example, functionality of a user interface may be incorporated into the persona negotiation agent  2706  for the benefit of personnel supervising transactions for an online vendor. The persona negotiation agent  2706  may perform simple data relay functions and/or complex data analysis, including, for example, fuzzy logic and/or traditional logic steps. Further, many methods of negotiating personas described herein or known in the art may be used, including, for example, algorithms commonly used in web page analysis may be used to determine a transaction scale as a basis for negotiating an appropriate persona containing an appropriate level of personal information for a transaction. In some embodiments, the persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate a persona based on information about a transaction available as updates through a network. 
     Persona negotiation agent  2706  may access data stored in virtually any type of memory that is able to store and/or provide access to information in, for example, a one-to-many, many-to-one, and/or many-to-many relationship. Such a memory may include, for example, a relational database and/or an object-oriented database, examples of which are provided in more detail herein. 
     As referenced herein, the persona negotiation agent  2706  may be used to perform various data querying and/or recall techniques with respect to the persona  2704  and/or the transaction  2702 , in order to negotiate an appropriate different persona. For example, where transaction  2702  elements are organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more web page analysis tools, or the like, persona negotiation agent  2706  may employ various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques to determine the appropriate level of information request and/or demand be present in a persona to be acceptable as an underpinning for a transaction. Similarly, for example, where user personal information is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more persona negotiation rulesets, various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques may be performed by persona negotiation agent  2706  to negotiate an appropriate different persona. 
     Many examples of databases and database structures may be used in connection with the persona negotiation agent  2706 . Such examples include hierarchical models (in which data is organized in a tree and/or parent-child node structure), network models (based on set theory, and in which multi-parent structures per child node are supported), or object/relational models (combining the relational model with the object-oriented model). 
     Still other examples include various types of eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) databases. For example, a database may be included that holds data in some format other than XML, but that is associated with an XML interface for accessing the database using XML. As another example, a database may store XML data directly. Additionally, or alternatively, virtually any semi-structured database may be used, so that context may be provided to/associated with stored data elements (either encoded with the data elements, or encoded externally to the data elements), so that data storage and/or access may be facilitated. 
     Such databases, and/or other memory storage techniques, may be written and/or implemented using various programming or coding languages. For example, object-oriented database management systems may be written in programming languages such as, for example, C++ or Java. Relational and/or object/relational models may make use of database languages, such as, for example, the structured query language (SQL), which may be used, for example, for interactive negotiation of persona content and/or for gathering and/or compiling data from the relational database(s). 
     For example, SQL or SQL-like operations over one or more personas  2704  and/or properties of transaction  2702  may be performed, or Boolean operations using personas  2704  and/or properties of transaction  2702  may be performed. For example, weighted Boolean operations may be performed in which different weights or priorities are assigned to one or more of the personas  2704  and/or properties of transaction  2702 , including various transaction identifier elements, locations, and/or contexts, perhaps relative to one another. For example, a number-weighted, exclusive-OR operation may be performed to request specific weightings of elements found on a check-out page of an e-commerce web page (e.g., email address, telephone number, mailing address, credit card information, dollar amount in cart, web site name, payment type). 
     Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementation and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-component operations or additional component operations building on one or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation of a flowchart presenting an example implementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easy understanding of the various process implementations. In addition, those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the style of presentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/or object-oriented program design paradigms. 
       FIG. 28  illustrates an operational flow  2800  representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions. In  FIG. 28  and in following figures that include various examples of operational flows, discussion and explanation may be provided with respect to the above-described system environments of  FIG. 27 , and/or with respect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flows may be executed in a number of other environments and contexts including that of  FIG. 34 , and/or in modified versions of  FIG. 27 . Also, although the various operational flows are presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. 
     After a start operation, operation  2810  depicts accepting at least one persona from a party to a transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706 , persona acceptor module  2712 , and/or persona evaluation module  2720  may accept persona  2704  from party  2701 , for example in the form of a set of personal information about party  2704  or in the form of an incompletely filled-out online transaction form. In another example, persona negotiation agent  2706  or persona acceptor module  2712  may accept markup language code (e.g., HTML or XML) corresponding to a transaction web page as the persona  2704 . 
     Operation  2820  depicts evaluating the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706 , transaction evaluation module  2708 , web page parser module, and/or transaction value analysis module  2710  may evaluate the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction value analysis module  2710  may analyze markup language code from a checkout webpage corresponding to transaction  2702 . In this example, the code may indicate a dollar value of an item to be purchased or to be bid on in an auction. Based on that dollar value, the persona negotiation agent  1720  may present a specific counteroffer to party  2701  asking for additional personal information as the different persona, perhaps containing additional specific personal information about the party  2701  as security for the transaction. In some embodiments, persona transaction evaluation module  2708  may accept a limited persona or alias of the user where the interaction is of low dollar value. For financial interactions such as purchases or auctions, transaction value analysis module  2710  may detect a dollar value and assign a dollar value category for the interaction, for example low dollar value, intermediate dollar value, or high dollar value. Rulesets for the persona negotiation agent  2706  to follow may be set by the vendor according to any premium that the vendor places on acquiring personal information about her customers. 
     Alternatively, many intermediate levels of interaction value may be assigned based on a detected value present in the web page code or other attribute of the transaction  2702 . In these embodiments, a minimal persona containing only a few elements of personal information may be presented by party  2701  initially as the persona that supports the transaction  2702 . After the negotiation is initiated, subsequent presentations of personas by party  2701  containing progressively more personal information may be presented with the goal that an acceptable persona may be presented to persona negotiation agent  2706  which provides only that amount of personal information needed for completion of the interaction/transaction. This approach attempts to avoid gratuitous dissemination of potentially valuable personal information. For example, for low dollar transactions, transaction evaluation module  2708  may be programmed to accept in a negotiation a minimal persona containing, e.g., only a name and a device identifier, such as a telephone number. For some vendors, such a minimal persona will provide enough trust in the credit-worthiness of the party  2701 , perhaps via a check with a telecommunications carrier that the name matches the telephone number. In other, higher dollar value transactions, a persona containing more detailed personal information may be necessary. For example, for a car purchase, a persona including credit information, credit history, and personal financial asset data may be required by persona negotiation agent  2706 . 
     In some embodiments, party  2701  will provide persona  2704  to persona negotiation agent  2706 . In another embodiment, party  2701  may grant access to transaction  2702 , for example by an affirmative step of opting-in or by not opting-out of a request by persona negotiation agent  2706 . Personal information may be obtainable as a matter of course by persona negotiation agent  2706 . For example, personal information of a party  2701  may be directly provided to persona negotiation agent  2706  for the purpose of facilitating the purchase, or alternatively, persona negotiation agent  2706  may indirectly access personal information of party  2701  through access to various accounts, such as website accounts, bank accounts, social network accounts, or telecommunications accounts. In some embodiments, some of the personal information may be publicly available. 
     Operation  2830  depicts negotiating receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  negotiate receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may accept a persona from an amazon.com customer in the course of an online purchase. Persona negotiation agent  2706  may then evaluate the transaction  2702  based on dollar amount, party  2701 , or personal information not provided, and initiate a negotiation to obtain more personal information, e.g., where the transaction has a high dollar value. This may be done according to a persona negotiation ruleset pre-programmed into persona negotiation agent  2706 . Persona negotiation agent  2706  may then accept or reject a counteroffer from party  2701 , perhaps by examining actions taken by party  2701  on the transaction webpage, such as completion of personal information fields on the webpage. Such fields are equivalent to requests for personal information. 
     In some embodiments, persona negotiation agent  2706  may include an identity profile function to further characterize party  2701  according to publicly or privately available information that might be available to persona negotiation agent  2706 . Persona negotiation agent  2706  may also consider past interactions with party  2701  and any information that might be available about the creditworthiness of party  2701 . 
     In some embodiments, both for detecting the specifics of an interaction or transaction on a web page and for placing data into fields on a web page, it may be useful for persona negotiation agent  2706  to perform web scraping or web page image analysis on the web page. 
     Web scraping is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. Usually, such software programs simulate human exploration of the World Wide Web by either implementing low-level Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or embedding certain full-fledged Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Web scraping may involve the transformation of unstructured data on the Web, typically in HTML format, into structured data that can be stored and analyzed in a central local database or spreadsheet. Specific techniques for web scraping include text grepping and regular expression matching, which extracts information from Web pages based on the UNIX grep command or regular expression matching facilities of programming languages (for instance Perl or Python). 
     Another web scraping tool is HTTP programming wherein static and dynamic web pages can be retrieved by posting HTTP requests to a remote web server using socket programming. 
     Another web scraping tool is DOM (document object model) parsing: By embedding a full-fledged web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla web browser, programs can retrieve dynamic content generated by client-side scripts. These web browser controls may also parse web pages into a DOM tree, based on which programs can retrieve parts of the web pages. 
     Another web scraping tool is HTML parsing, wherein semi-structured data query languages, such as XQuery and HTQL can be used to parse HTML pages and to retrieve and transform web content. 
     There are many web-scraping software tools available that can be used to customize web-scraping solutions. These programs may attempt to automatically recognize the data structure of a page or provide a web recording interface that removes the necessity to manually write web-scraping code, or some scripting functions that can be used to extract and transform web content, and database interfaces that can store the scraped data in local databases. 
     Another web scraping tool is a vertical aggregation platform. These platforms create and monitor a multitude of “bots” for specific verticals with no man-in-the-loop, and no work related to a specific target site. The preparation involves establishing a knowledge base for the entire vertical, and then the platform creates the bots automatically. The platform&#39;s robustness is measured by the quality of the information it retrieves (usually number of fields) and its scalability (how quick it can scale up to hundreds or thousands of sites). This scalability is mostly used to target sites that common aggregators find complicated or too labor intensive to harvest content from. 
     Another web scraping tool is semantic annotation recognizing, wherein web pages may contain metadata or semantic markups/annotations which can be made use of to locate specific data. If the annotations are embedded in the pages, as Microformat does, this technique can be viewed as a special case of DOM parsing. In another case, the annotations, organized into a semantic layer, may be stored and managed separately from the web pages, so the web scrapers can retrieve data schema and instructions from this layer before scraping the pages. 
     Another tool for web page analysis is iMacros, a program that harvests web data automatically, which can do automatic form-filling. For example, iMacros works with every website; even the most complicated websites that use dialog boxes, frames, Javascript and AJAX can be automated. It has high data extraction speed: on a typical computer, 20-50 instances of iMacros can be run at once (“multi-threading”). It has full web-crawling support. iMacros can be scheduled to run in the background of other programs or in lean traffic hours. iMacros permits change of IP addresses programmatically with full PROXY support. After harvesting the web data, actions may be performed on it, it can be transferred to any application, or it can be used in another process. iMacros integrates with every Windows scripting or programming language. iMacros can connect to any database or software application. iMacros provides visual recording of all web activities and the extraction macros. iMacros has full unicode support, and iMacros can extract text in all languages, including Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. 
     In addition to working with the website source code like a “normal” software program, iMacros can also look at the website like a human does: iMacros&#39; image recognition support allows a user to automate and test websites using images instead of X/Y coordinates: a user can tell iMacros what a button looks like and iMacros can find it on the page. Even when the button has moved or if it has changed color or screen resolution. The iMacros Image Recognition Wizard functions with web sites that use non-HTML technologies such as Flash applets, Java applets, Movie Player Applets, ActiveX controls or any other technology. Since the software relies only on the images that are rendered in the browser, it works independently of the underlying technology. 
       FIG. 29  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  2800  of  FIG. 28 .  FIG. 29  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  2810  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  2900 ,  2902 , and/or operation  2904 . 
     Operation  2900  depicts accepting a set of personal information as the at least one persona. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  and/or persona acceptor module  2712  may accept a set of personal information as the at least one persona. In one embodiment, persona acceptor module  2712  may accept from party  2701  a persona including a name and email address for the purchase of an MP3 file from the iTunes store. As another example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may accept a persona on an e-commerce website such as Groupon relating to a potential purchase. In some embodiments, party  2701  may send a message to persona negotiation agent  2706 , in effect telling it that it would like to negotiate a persona for a transaction, the message including a URL or other venue for the transaction, from which persona negotiation agent  2706  can extract the information necessary to evaluate the transaction and negotiate an appropriate persona. Such a message may be sent by voice, text, touch, or other user interface mechanism. In some instances the persona negotiation agent  2706  will be invisible or transparent to party  2701 , except for the offer/counteroffer of the negotiation. 
     Operation  2902  depicts accepting at least one persona from a prospective purchaser in an online transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  and/or persona acceptor module  2712  may accept at least one persona from a prospective purchaser in an online transaction. For example, persona acceptor module  2712  may accept an eBay username as the persona for an eBay auction page from a party  2701  interested in an online auction. Alternatively, party  2701  may provide to persona negotiation agent  2706  a URL for an eBay auction page, and a URL for an eBay sign in page having fields for a User ID and Password as the persona for the party  2701 . Access to the auction may be negotiated, in part, based on the past history of party  2701  with eBay. 
     Operation  2904  depicts accepting a persona consisting of username, email address, and device identifier from a prospective purchaser in an online transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  and/or persona acceptor module  2712  may accept a persona consisting of username, email address, and device identifier from a prospective purchaser in an online transaction. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  2706  and/or persona acceptor module  2712  may accept a username, email address, and IP address for the party&#39;s computer at an e-commerce transaction page. The persona may be in the form of information in fields on a web page as well as information detectable by software agents of the website such as the IP address of the party. 
       FIG. 30  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  2800  of  FIG. 28 .  FIG. 30  illustrates example embodiments where the evaluating operation  2820  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  3000 ,  3002 , and/or operation  3004 . 
     Operation  3000  depicts evaluating a monetary value for the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706 , transaction evaluation module  2708 , and/or, transaction value analysis module  2710  may evaluate a monetary value for the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction value analysis module  2710  may analyze a URL provided by a party  2701  corresponding to an app store order page. Transaction value analysis module  2710  may read the code on the web page, image the page, or otherwise determine the object of the transaction and the monetary value of the object (i.e., a good or service). In another example, web page parser module  2714  may accept a URL for an online pizza order form, such as an order page for Domino&#39;s pizza, and parse the markup language code or text to identify a dollar value for the pizza order (on the Domino&#39;s order page the dollar amount appears next to “Total:” and has a dollar sign with the amount). 
     Operation  3002  depicts evaluating known information about the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706 , transaction evaluation module  2708 , persona evaluation module  2720 , identity profile module  2722 , party history evaluation module  2724 , and/or creditworthiness evaluation module  2726  may evaluate known information about the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, party history evaluation module  2724  may evaluate a party&#39;s history of interaction with a website, if there is any. If there is a history of purchases and payments, that may be one factor taken into account by persona negotiation agent  2706  in arriving at a persona to support transaction  2702 : a long history of timely and diligent payments by a party may decrease personal information requirements going forward. 
     Operation  3004  depicts evaluating at least one of demographics, credit history, or transaction history about the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706 , transaction evaluation module  2708 , persona evaluation module  2720 , identity profile module  2722 , party history evaluation module  2724 , and/or creditworthiness evaluation module  2726  may evaluate at least one of demographics, credit history, or transaction history about the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, identity profile module  2722  may use available information about a party to search for additional information, perhaps based on bankruptcy filings, credit history reports, or any other indicators of financial activity by the party. Alternatively, identity profile module  2722  may search available information about the party  2701  and determine that they are in an young age bracket such that a parent&#39;s credit card information would be required to complete the transaction  2702 . Persona negotiation agent  2706  may then conduct the negotiation accordingly. 
       FIG. 31  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  2800  of  FIG. 28 .  FIG. 31  illustrates example embodiments where the negotiating operation  2830  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  3100 ,  3102 ,  3104 , and/or operation  3106 . 
     Operation  3100  depicts negotiating receipt of a persona including an indication of creditworthiness from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706 , transaction evaluation module  2708 , persona evaluation module  2720 , identity profile module  2722 , party history evaluation module  2724 , and/or creditworthiness evaluation module  2726  may negotiate receipt of a persona including an indication of creditworthiness from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. In one embodiment, creditworthiness evaluation module  2726  may notify party  2701  that valid credit card information is required to complete transaction  2702 , having first evaluated the transaction and deemed it to be one that required transfer of credit card information to ensure payment by party  2701 . 
     As discussed above, high dollar value transactions will require that detailed personal information be provided as security for the transaction, but a large range of intermediate dollar value transactions may benefit from a smart system of providing as little personal information possible during the transaction. This will benefit both party  2701  in terms of minimizing transfer of personal information, and also the vendor, who will save potentially save time and administrative costs if transactions are streamlined. 
     In one embodiment of how the persona negotiation agent  2706  may operate, it may begin by generating an offer that consists of the issues that is most important for the agent, e.g., a persona containing additional personal information. It does this because it wants to tell to the party, at the outset, which issues are the most important for the agent. After sending the offer, the agent will subsequently receive a message from the party. The party could accept the offer, refuse the offer, or propose a counteroffer. Both acceptance and refusal will result in ending the negotiations, but if the message is a counteroffer, then the agent will form a new offer to the party. 
     In one embodiment, the agent doesn&#39;t know any information regarding the party&#39;s preferences, and so it has to create a model of party utility values in order to make an offer that is acceptable to the party, while still maintaining the agent&#39;s acceptance value. An acceptance value is the value of an offer that it can accept. This value will decrease in time, since there is a limited time in negotiation. But the acceptance value will never be less than the agent&#39;s reservation value, an absolute requirement. The reservation value is the lowest utility value where the agent may still accept a counteroffer from the party, but it will accept it only if there is an impasse in the negotiation. For more information about automated negotiation agents, see U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011 0238840, Method, System, and Device for Service Negotiation; incorporated herein by reference. See also U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002 0120588, Method and Apparatus for Negotiation; also incorporated herein by reference. 
     Operation  3102  depicts negotiating receipt of a different persona including additional personal information from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction that includes a transaction value over one hundred dollars. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate receipt of a different persona including additional personal information from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction that includes a transaction value over one hundred dollars. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  2706  may, for a high dollar value transaction, e.g., one hundred dollars, negotiate receipt of a persona that includes more information than initially provided by party  2701 , perhaps identifying information such as birthdate, device identifier information, and/or credit card information. This may provide a vendor with security with which to complete the transaction. 
     Operation  3104  depicts negotiating receipt of a different persona including additional personal information from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is discounted in exchange for the additional personal information. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate receipt of a different persona including additional personal information from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is discounted in exchange for the additional personal information. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  2706  may, on behalf of a vendor that places a high value on knowing the personal information of its customers, offer a discount to party  2701  in exchange for more personal information than was initially provided during the transaction. For example, if a party  2701  fills out an online form for purchase of a book on amazon.com, persona negotiation agent  2706 , may offer a discount on the price of the book in exchange for, e.g., information about the location of party  2701 , demographics of party  2701 , or social network participation information about party  2701 . 
     Operation  3106  depicts negotiating receipt of a different persona including reduced personal information from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is increased in exchange for the reduced personal information. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate receipt of a different persona including reduced personal information from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is increased in exchange for the reduced personal information. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  2706  may offer to party  2701  to complete a transaction with a lesser amount of personal information if the party  2701  pays a higher price. For example, if a party to an online credit card transaction prefers not to provide telephone number information to the vendor, the party may agree to a slightly higher price for the transaction. In this example, the vendor is compensated for slightly higher risk of non-payment by a higher transaction return. 
       FIG. 32  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  2800  of  FIG. 28 .  FIG. 32  illustrates example embodiments where the negotiating operation  2830  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  3200 ,  3202 , and/or operation  3204 . 
     Operation  3200  depicts negotiating receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  2706 , having evaluated a transaction  2702  as one of relatively low monetary value, may permit a party  2701  to provide a minimal persona in exchange for a promise to pay using a preferred payment method within a certain period of time, for example using an Entropay prepaid virtual Visa card within one week. Such conditional virtual payments may be particularly useful for small online purchases such as apps, MP3&#39;s, and movie files. 
     Operation  3202  depicts negotiating receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition, and wherein the at least one future condition includes a promise to pay the cost of the transaction within a defined time period after an object of the transaction is delivered to the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition, and wherein the at least one future condition includes a promise to pay the cost of the transaction within a defined time period after an object of the transaction is delivered to the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, a persona negotiation agent  2706  employed by amazon.com may negotiate receipt of a specific persona in the context of a transaction to ship an item to a physical address, in exchange for an agreement by party  2701  to pay using an amazon.com credit card within 30 days of delivery of the item to party  2701 . 
     Operation  3202  depicts negotiating receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiation is concluded with an electronic signature from the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  2706  may negotiate receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiation is concluded with an electronic or digital signature from the party to the transaction. To continue the example above, persona negotiation agent  2706  employed by amazon.com may conclude its negotiation for a commitment to pay using an amazon.com credit card within 30 days of delivery of the item to party  2701  by requiring a digital signature from party  2701 . 
       FIG. 33  illustrates a partial view of an example article of manufacture  3300  that includes a computer program  3304  for executing a computer process on a computing device. An embodiment of the example article of manufacture  3300  is provided including a signal bearing medium  3302 , and may include one or more instructions for accepting at least one persona from a party to a transaction; one or more instructions for evaluating the transaction; and one or more instructions for negotiating receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. The one or more instructions may be, for example, computer executable and/or logic-implemented instructions. In one implementation, the signal-bearing medium  3302  may include a computer-readable medium  3306 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  3302  may include a recordable medium  3308 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  3302  may include a communications medium  3310 . 
       FIG. 34  illustrates an example system  3400  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  3400  includes a computing system environment. The system  3400  also illustrates a user  3412  using a device  3414 , which is optionally shown as being in communication with a computing device  3402  by way of an optional coupling  3406 . The optional coupling  3406  may represent a local, wide-area, or peer-to-peer network, or may represent a bus that is internal to a computing device (e.g., in example embodiments in which the computing device  3402  is contained in whole or in part within the device  3404 ). A storage medium  3408  may be any computer storage media. In one embodiment, the computing device  3402  may include a virtual machine operating within another computing device. In an alternative embodiment, the computing device  3402  may include a virtual machine operating within a program running on a remote server. 
     The computing device  3402  includes computer-executable instructions  3410  that when executed on the computing device  3402  cause the computing device  3402  to (a) accept at least one persona from a party to a transaction; (b) evaluate the transaction; and (c) negotiate receipt of at least one different persona from the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. As referenced above and as shown in  FIG. 34 , in some examples, the computing device  3402  may optionally be contained in whole or in part within the device  3404 . 
     In  FIG. 34 , then, the system  3400  includes at least one computing device (e.g.,  3402  and/or  3404 ). The computer-executable instructions  3410  may be executed on one or more of the at least one computing device. For example, the computing device  3402  may implement the computer-executable instructions  3410  and output a result to (and/or receive data from) the computing device  3404 . Since the computing device  3402  may be wholly or partially contained within the computing device  3404 , the device  3404  also may be said to execute some or all of the computer-executable instructions  3410 , in order to be caused to perform or implement, for example, various ones of the techniques described herein, or other techniques. 
     The device  3404  may include, for example, a portable computing device, workstation, or desktop computing device. In another example embodiment, the computing device  3402  is operable to communicate with the device  3404  associated with the user  3412  to receive information about the input from the user  3412  for performing data access and data processing, and negotiate receipt of a different persona from the party to the transaction, e.g., user  3412 . 
     Negotiation of Personas Between Parties to a Transaction—User Side 
       FIG. 35  illustrates an example system  3500  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  3500  includes a persona negotiation agent  3506 . The persona negotiation agent  3506  may contain, for example, transaction evaluation module  3508 , which may in turn contain transaction value analysis module  3510 . Persona negotiation agent  3506  may also include, for example, personal information request acceptor module  3512 , which in turn may include web page parser module  3514 , which in turn may include X/Y coordinate web page reader  3516 , web page image reader  3518 , and/or screen scraper module  3519 . Persona negotiation agent  3506  also may contain, for example, cost adjustment module  3528 , condition-setting module  3530 , party history evaluation module  3524 , and/or persona creation module  3520 . Persona negotiation agent  3506  may communicate over a network or directly with party  3501  to accept at least one request for personal information in the context of transaction  3502 , to evaluate transaction  3502 , and to negotiate presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. 
     In  FIG. 35 , persona negotiation agent  3506  may accept a request for personal information  3503  directly from party  3501  or indirectly by inspection of transaction  3502 , for example by viewing the party&#39;s personal information fields on a web page related to the transaction. 
     In  FIG. 35 , the persona negotiation agent  3506  is illustrated as possibly being included within a system  3500 . Of course, virtually any kind of computing device may be used to implement the special purpose persona negotiation agent  3506 , such as, for example, a workstation, a desktop computer, a networked computer, a server, a collection of servers and/or databases, a virtual machine running inside a computing device, a mobile computing device, or a tablet PC. 
     Additionally, not all of the persona negotiation agent  3506  need be implemented on a single computing device. For example, the persona negotiation agent  3506  may be implemented and/or operable on a remote computer, while a user interface and/or local instance of the persona negotiation agent  3506  are implemented and/or occur on a local computer. Further, aspects of the persona negotiation agent  3506  may be implemented in different combinations and implementations than that shown in  FIG. 35 . For example, functionality of a user interface may be incorporated into the persona negotiation agent  3506  for the benefit of a user/purchaser or for personnel supervising transactions for an online vendor. The persona negotiation agent  3506  may perform simple data relay functions and/or complex data analysis, including, for example, fuzzy logic and/or traditional logic steps. Further, many methods of negotiating personas described herein or known in the art may be used, including, for example, algorithms commonly used in web page analysis may be used to determine a transaction scale as a basis for negotiating an appropriate persona containing an appropriate level of personal information for a transaction. In some embodiments, the persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate a persona based on information about a transaction available as updates through a network. 
     Persona negotiation agent  3506  may access data stored in virtually any type of memory that is able to store and/or provide access to information in, for example, a one-to-many, many-to-one, and/or many-to-many relationship. Such a memory may include, for example, a relational database and/or an object-oriented database, examples of which are provided in more detail herein. 
     As referenced herein, the persona negotiation agent  3506  may be used to perform various data querying and/or recall techniques with respect to the request  3503 , persona  3504 , and/or the transaction  3502 , in order to negotiate an appropriate persona. For example, where transaction  3502  elements are organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more web page analysis tools, or the like, persona negotiation agent  3506  may employ various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques to determine the appropriate level of information to include in a persona for it to be acceptable as an underpinning for a transaction. Similarly, for example, where user personal information is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more persona negotiation rulesets, various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques may be performed by persona negotiation agent  3506  to negotiate an appropriate persona. 
     Many examples of databases and database structures may be used in connection with the persona negotiation agent  3506 . Such examples include hierarchical models (in which data is organized in a tree and/or parent-child node structure), network models (based on set theory, and in which multi-parent structures per child node are supported), or object/relational models (combining the relational model with the object-oriented model). 
     Still other examples include various types of eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) databases. For example, a database may be included that holds data in some format other than XML, but that is associated with an XML interface for accessing the database using XML. As another example, a database may store XML data directly. Additionally, or alternatively, virtually any semi-structured database may be used, so that context may be provided to/associated with stored data elements (either encoded with the data elements, or encoded externally to the data elements), so that data storage and/or access may be facilitated. 
     Such databases, and/or other memory storage techniques, may be written and/or implemented using various programming or coding languages. For example, object-oriented database management systems may be written in programming languages such as, for example, C++ or Java. Relational and/or object/relational models may make use of database languages, such as, for example, the structured query language (SQL), which may be used, for example, for interactive negotiation of persona content and/or for gathering and/or compiling data from the relational database(s). 
     For example, SQL or SQL-like operations over one or more personas  3504  and/or properties of transaction  3502  may be performed, or Boolean operations using personas  3504  and/or properties of transaction  3502  may be performed. For example, weighted Boolean operations may be performed in which different weights or priorities are assigned to one or more of the request  3503 , persona  3504 , and/or properties of transaction  3502 , including various transaction identifier elements, locations, and/or contexts, perhaps relative to one another. For example, a number-weighted, exclusive-OR operation may be performed to request specific weightings of elements found on a check-out page of an e-commerce web page (e.g., email address, telephone number, mailing address, credit card information, dollar amount in cart, web site name, payment type). 
     Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementation and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-component operations or additional component operations building on one or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation of a flowchart presenting an example implementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easy understanding of the various process implementations. In addition, those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the style of presentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/or object-oriented program design paradigms. 
       FIG. 36  illustrates an operational flow  3600  representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions. In  FIG. 36  and in following figures that include various examples of operational flows, discussion and explanation may be provided with respect to the above-described system environments of  FIG. 35 , and/or with respect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flows may be executed in a number of other environments and contexts including that of  FIG. 42 , and/or in modified versions of  FIG. 35 . Also, although the various operational flows are presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. 
     After a start operation, operation  3610  depicts accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506 , personal information request acceptor module  3512 , and/or web page parser module  3514  may accept at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept a request for name, phone number, email address, and credit card information during a transaction to purchase an app in an app store. The request  3503  may be in the form of an online transaction form having empty fields labeled for entry of personal information. In another example, web page parser module  3514  may accept markup language code (e.g., HTML or XML) or text corresponding to a transaction web page as the request for personal information  3503 . 
     Operation  3620  depicts evaluating the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506 , transaction evaluation module  3508 , web page parser module  3514 , and/or transaction value analysis module  3510  may evaluate the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction value analysis module  3510  may analyze markup language code from a checkout webpage corresponding to transaction  3502 . In this example, the code may indicate a dollar value of an item to be purchased or to be bid on in an auction. Based on that dollar value, the persona negotiation agent  3520  may present a specific counteroffer to party  3501 , e.g., asking to complete the transaction based on a persona containing less personal information that is requested by party  3501 . In some embodiments, persona transaction evaluation module  3508  may identify transactions having an arbitrarily-defined low or high dollar value. For financial interactions such as purchases or auctions, transaction value analysis module  3510  may detect a dollar value and assign a dollar value category for the interaction, for example low dollar value, intermediate dollar value, or high dollar value. Rulesets for the persona negotiation agent  3506  to follow may be set by a user/purchaser negotiating with party  3501  according to any premium that the user places on completing the transaction and/or retaining personal information. 
     Alternatively, many intermediate levels of interaction value may be assigned based on a detected value present in the web page code or other attribute of the transaction  3502 . In these embodiments, a minimal persona containing only a few elements of personal information may be presented to party  3501  initially as the persona  3504  that supports the transaction  3502 . After the negotiation is initiated, subsequent presentations of personas to party  3501  containing progressively more personal information may be presented with the goal that an acceptable persona may be presented by persona negotiation agent  3506  to party  3501  which provides only that amount of personal information needed for completion of the interaction/transaction. This approach attempts to avoid gratuitous dissemination of potentially valuable personal information. For example, for low dollar value transactions, transaction evaluation module  3508  may be programmed to initially present in a negotiation a minimal persona containing, e.g., only a name and a device identifier, such as a telephone number. For some parties/vendors  3501 , such a minimal persona will provide enough trust in the credit-worthiness of the user, perhaps via a check with a telecommunications carrier that the name matches the telephone number. In other, higher dollar value transactions, presentation of a persona containing more detailed personal information may be necessary. For example, for a car purchase, a persona including credit information, credit history, and personal financial asset data may be required by party  3501 . 
     In some embodiments, party  3501  will provide request  3503  to persona negotiation agent  3506 . Personal information may be obtainable as a matter of course by persona negotiation agent  3506 . For example, personal information of a user/purchaser may be directly provided to persona negotiation agent  3506  for the purpose of facilitating completion of transaction  3502 , or alternatively, persona negotiation agent  3506  may indirectly access personal information of a user through access to various accounts, such as website accounts, bank accounts, social network accounts, or telecommunications accounts. In some embodiments, some of the personal information may be publicly available. 
     Operation  3630  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may accept a request for personal information from amazon.com in the course of an online purchase. Persona negotiation agent  3506  may then evaluate the transaction  3502  based on dollar amount, party  2701 , or personal information requested, and initiate a negotiation to present a persona containing an alternate set of personal information, e.g., where the transaction has a low dollar value only a few of the requested items of personal information may actually be necessary for party/vendor  3501  to go through with the transaction  3502 . This may be done according to a persona negotiation ruleset pre-programmed into persona negotiation agent  3506 . Persona negotiation agent  3506  may then accept or reject a counteroffer from party  3501 , perhaps by examining actions taken/messages left by party  3501  on the transaction webpage, or by direct message from party  3501  to a user/purchaser  4212 . 
     In some embodiments, persona negotiation agent  3506  may include a party history evaluation module  3524  to further characterize party  3501  according to, for example historical acceptance or rejection of personas in similar circumstances as those in  3502 . 
     In some embodiments, both for detecting the specifics of a transaction and for placing data into fields on a web page, it may be useful for persona negotiation agent  3506  to perform web scraping or web page image analysis on the web page. 
     Web scraping is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. Usually, such software programs simulate human exploration of the World Wide Web by either implementing low-level Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or embedding certain full-fledged Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Web scraping may involve the transformation of unstructured data on the Web, typically in HTML format, into structured data that can be stored and analyzed in a central local database or spreadsheet. Specific techniques for web scraping include text grepping and regular expression matching, which extracts information from Web pages based on the UNIX grep command or regular expression matching facilities of programming languages (for instance Perl or Python). 
     Another web scraping tool is HTTP programming wherein static and dynamic web pages can be retrieved by posting HTTP requests to a remote web server using socket programming. 
     Another web scraping tool is DOM (document object model) parsing: By embedding a full-fledged web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla web browser, programs can retrieve dynamic content generated by client-side scripts. These web browser controls may also parse web pages into a DOM tree, based on which programs can retrieve parts of the web pages. 
     Another web scraping tool is HTML parsing, wherein semi-structured data query languages, such as XQuery and HTQL can be used to parse HTML pages and to retrieve and transform web content. 
     There are many web-scraping software tools available that can be used to customize web-scraping solutions. These programs may attempt to automatically recognize the data structure of a page or provide a web recording interface that removes the necessity to manually write web-scraping code, or some scripting functions that can be used to extract and transform web content, and database interfaces that can store the scraped data in local databases. 
     Another web scraping tool is a vertical aggregation platform. These platforms create and monitor a multitude of “bots” for specific verticals with no man-in-the-loop, and no work related to a specific target site. The preparation involves establishing a knowledge base for the entire vertical, and then the platform creates the bots automatically. The platform&#39;s robustness is measured by the quality of the information it retrieves (usually number of fields) and its scalability (how quick it can scale up to hundreds or thousands of sites). This scalability is mostly used to target sites that common aggregators find complicated or too labor intensive to harvest content from. 
     Another web scraping tool is semantic annotation recognizing, wherein web pages may contain metadata or semantic markups/annotations which can be made use of to locate specific data. If the annotations are embedded in the pages, as Microformat does, this technique can be viewed as a special case of DOM parsing. In another case, the annotations, organized into a semantic layer, may be stored and managed separately from the web pages, so the web scrapers can retrieve data schema and instructions from this layer before scraping the pages. 
     Another tool for web page analysis is iMacros, a program that harvests web data automatically, which can do automatic form-filling. For example, iMacros works with every website; even the most complicated websites that use dialog boxes, frames, Javascript and AJAX can be automated. It has high data extraction speed: on a typical computer, 20-50 instances of iMacros can be run at once (“multi-threading”). It has full web-crawling support. iMacros can be scheduled to run in the background of other programs or in lean traffic hours. iMacros permits change of IP addresses programmatically with full PROXY support. After harvesting the web data, actions may be performed on it, it can be transferred to any application, or it can be used in another process. iMacros integrates with every Windows scripting or programming language. iMacros can connect to any database or software application. iMacros provides visual recording of all web activities and the extraction macros. iMacros has full unicode support, and iMacros can extract text in all languages, including Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. 
     In addition to working with the website source code like a “normal” software program, iMacros can also look at the website like a human does: iMacros&#39; image recognition support allows a user to automate and test websites using images instead of X/Y coordinates: a user can tell iMacros what a button looks like and iMacros can find it on the page. Even when the button has moved or if it has changed color or screen resolution. The iMacros Image Recognition Wizard functions with web sites that use non-HTML technologies such as Flash applets, Java applets, Movie Player Applets, ActiveX controls or any other technology. Since the software relies only on the images that are rendered in the browser, it works independently of the underlying technology. 
       FIG. 37  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  3600  of  FIG. 36 .  FIG. 37  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  3610  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  3700 ,  3702 , and/or operation  3704 . 
     Operation  3700  depicts accepting a plurality of fields on a web page as the at least one request for personal information. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  and/or personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept a plurality of fields on a web page as the at least one request for personal information. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept from party  3501  a checkout web page having fields for name, telephone number, email address, and credit card information for the purchase of an MP3 file from the iTunes store. As another example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may accept a request for personal information on an a Groupon web page relating to a potential purchase. 
     Operation  3702  depicts accepting at least one request for personal information from a vendor in an online transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  and/or personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept at least one request for personal information from a vendor in an online transaction. For example, personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept a request from eBay to provide more information where a user left a required field blank on an eBay auction page. Access to the auction may be then be negotiated, in part, based on any past history of the user with party  3501 /eBay. In some embodiments, party  3501  may send a message to persona negotiation agent  3506 , in effect telling it that it would like to negotiate a persona for a transaction, the message including a URL or other venue for the transaction, from which persona negotiation agent  3506  can extract the information necessary to evaluate the transaction and negotiate an appropriate persona. Such a message may be sent by voice, text, touch, or other user interface mechanism. In some instances the persona negotiation agent  3506  will be invisible or transparent to party  2701 , except for the offer/counteroffer of the negotiation. 
     Operation  3704  depicts accepting a request for personal information consisting of name, email address, birthdate, and credit card information from a vendor in an online transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  and/or personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept a request for personal information consisting of name, email address, birthdate, and credit card information from a vendor in an online transaction. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  3506  and/or personal information request acceptor module  3512  may accept a request for a name, email address, birthdate, and credit card information at an e-commerce transaction page. The request  3503  may be in the form of information in fields on a web page as well as direct communication such as messaging on a transaction web page, email, and/or text messaging. 
       FIG. 38  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  3600  of  FIG. 36 .  FIG. 38  illustrates example embodiments where the evaluating operation  3620  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  3800 ,  3802 , and/or operation  3804 . 
     Operation  3800  depicts evaluating a monetary value for the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506 , transaction evaluation module  3508 , and/or, transaction value analysis module  3510  may evaluate a monetary value for the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction value analysis module  3510  may analyze a URL provided by a party  3501  corresponding to an app store order page. Transaction value analysis module  3510  may read the text or code on the web page, image the page, or otherwise determine the object of the transaction and the monetary value of the object (i.e., a good or service). In another example, web page parser module  3514  may accept a URL for an online pizza order form, such as an order page for Domino&#39;s pizza, and parse the markup language code or text to identify a dollar value for the pizza order (on the Domino&#39;s order page the dollar amount appears next to “Total:” and has a dollar sign with the amount). 
     Operation  3802  depicts evaluating the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506 , transaction evaluation module  3508 , and/or party history evaluation module  3524  may evaluate the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction evaluation module  3508  may evaluate any available data regarding the name of the party  3501  and any information about whether party  3501  is amenable to negotiating the terms of the personal information that it requests in connection with transactions, including past practices of party  3501 . 
     Operation  3804  depicts evaluating transaction history about the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506 , transaction evaluation module  3508 , and/or party history evaluation module  3524  may evaluate transaction history about the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, party history evaluation module  2724  may evaluate a party&#39;s history of interaction with user/purchasers, if there is any. If there is a history of purchases and payments, particularly with user  4212 , that may be one factor taken into account by persona negotiation agent  3506  in arriving at a persona to support transaction  3502 : a history of negotiating personas by a party may increase the chances that a negotiation will occur and that it will be successful to both parties to the transaction. 
       FIG. 39  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  3600  of  FIG. 36 .  FIG. 39  illustrates example embodiments where the negotiating operation  3630  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  3900 ,  3902 ,  3904 , and/or operation  3906 . 
     Operation  3900  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona including an indication of creditworthiness to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506 , transaction evaluation module  3508 , persona creation module  3520 , and/or party history evaluation module  3524  may negotiate presentation of a persona including an indication of creditworthiness to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. In one embodiment, persona creation module  3520  may present to party  3501  valid credit card information transaction  3502 , having first evaluated the transaction and deemed it to be one that legitimately required presentation of a persona that includes credit card information. 
     As discussed above, high dollar value transactions will require that detailed personal information be provided as security for the transaction, but a large range of intermediate dollar value transactions may benefit from a smart system of providing as little personal information possible during the transaction. This will benefit both a user/purchaser in terms of minimizing transfer of personal information, and also the party  3501 /vendor, who will save potentially save time and administrative costs if transactions are streamlined according to the instant disclosure. 
     In one embodiment of how the persona negotiation agent  3506  may operate, it may begin by generating an offer that consists of the issues that is most important for the agent, e.g., a persona containing a minimum of personal information. It does this because it wants to tell to the party, at the outset, which issues are the most important for the agent. After sending the offer, the agent will subsequently receive a message from the party  3510 . The party  3510  could accept the offer, refuse the offer, or propose a counteroffer. Both acceptance and refusal will result in ending the negotiations, but if the message is a counteroffer, then the agent will form a new offer to the party. 
     In one embodiment, the agent doesn&#39;t know any information regarding the party&#39;s preferences, and so it has to create a model of party  3510  utility values in order to make an offer that is acceptable to the party  3510 , while still maintaining the agent&#39;s acceptance value. An acceptance value is the value of an offer that it can accept. This value will decrease in time, since there is a limited time in negotiation. But the acceptance value will never be less than the agent&#39;s reservation value, an absolute requirement. The reservation value is the lowest utility value where the agent may still accept a counteroffer from the party  3510 , but it will accept it only if there is an impasse in the negotiation. For more information about automated negotiation agents, see U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011 0238840, Method, System, and Device for Service Negotiation; incorporated herein by reference. See also U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002 0120588, Method and Apparatus for Negotiation; also incorporated herein by reference. 
     Operation  3902  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona including less personal information than initially requested to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction that includes a transaction value under one hundred dollars. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate presentation of at least one persona including less personal information than initially requested to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction that includes a transaction value under one hundred dollars. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  3506  may, for a low dollar value transaction, e.g., one hundred dollars or less, negotiate presentation of a persona that includes less personal information than initially requested by party  3501 , perhaps only providing a persona having a name, address, and credit card information. This may provide a party  3501 /vendor with enough security with which to complete the transaction. 
     Operation  3904  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona including more personal information than initially requested to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is discounted in exchange for the more personal information than initially requested. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate presentation of at least one persona including more personal information than initially requested to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is discounted in exchange for the more personal information than initially requested. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  3506  may, on behalf of a user that places a low value on restricting the flow of his personal information online, offer more personal information than was initially requested during the transaction in exchange for a discount. For example, if a party  3501  requests personal information on an online form for purchase of a book on amazon.com, persona negotiation agent  3506  may offer, e.g., information about the location of the user  4212 , the demographics of user  4212 , or social network participation information about party  4212  in exchange for a discount on the price of the book. 
     Operation  3906  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than initially requested to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is increased in exchange for the reduced personal information. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than initially requested to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the cost of the transaction is increased in exchange for the reduced personal information. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  3506  may offer to party  3501  to complete a transaction with a lesser amount of personal information if the user  4212  pays a higher price for the object of the transaction. For example, if a user/purchaser in an online credit card transaction prefers not to provide telephone number information to the party  3501 /vendor, the party may agree to a slightly higher price for the transaction in exchange. In this example, the party/vendor is compensated for slightly higher risk of non-payment by a higher transaction return. 
       FIG. 40  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  3600  of  FIG. 36 .  FIG. 40  illustrates example embodiments where the negotiating operation  3630  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  4000  and/or operation  4002 . 
     Operation  4000  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition. In one embodiment, persona negotiation agent  3506 , having evaluated a transaction  3502  as one of relatively low monetary value, may present to party  3501  a minimal persona and a promise to pay for the transaction using a preferred payment method within a certain period of time, for example using an Entropay prepaid virtual Visa card within one week. Such conditional virtual payments may be particularly useful for small online purchases such as apps, MP3&#39;s, and movie files. 
     Operation  4002  depicts negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition, and wherein the at least one future condition includes a promise to pay the cost of the transaction to the party to the transaction within a defined time period after an object of the transaction is delivered by the party to the transaction. For example, persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the negotiating is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition, and wherein the at least one future condition includes a promise to pay the cost of the transaction to the party to the transaction within a defined time period after an object of the transaction is delivered by the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, a persona negotiation agent  3506  may negotiate with amazon.com for presentation of a specific persona in the context of a transaction to ship an item to a physical address, in exchange for an agreement by the user/purchaser to pay using an amazon.com credit card within 30 days of delivery of the item to the user/purchaser. 
       FIG. 41  illustrates a partial view of an example article of manufacture  4100  that includes a computer program  4104  for executing a computer process on a computing device. An embodiment of the example article of manufacture  4100  is provided including a signal bearing medium  4102 , and may include one or more instructions for accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; one or more instructions for evaluating the transaction; and one or more instructions for negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. The one or more instructions may be, for example, computer executable and/or logic-implemented instructions. In one implementation, the signal-bearing medium  4102  may include a computer-readable medium  4106 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  4102  may include a recordable medium  4108 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  4102  may include a communications medium  4110 . 
       FIG. 42  illustrates an example system  4200  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  4200  includes a computing system environment. The system  4200  also illustrates a user  4212  using a device  4214 , which is optionally shown as being in communication with a computing device  4202  by way of an optional coupling  4206 . The optional coupling  4206  may represent a local, wide-area, or peer-to-peer network, or may represent a bus that is internal to a computing device (e.g., in example embodiments in which the computing device  4202  is contained in whole or in part within the device  4204 ). A storage medium  4208  may be any computer storage media. In one embodiment, the computing device  4202  may include a virtual machine operating within another computing device. In an alternative embodiment, the computing device  4202  may include a virtual machine operating within a program running on a remote server. 
     The computing device  4202  includes computer-executable instructions  4210  that when executed on the computing device  4202  cause the computing device  4202  to (a) accept at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; (b) evaluate the transaction; and (c) negotiate presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction. As referenced above and as shown in  FIG. 42 , in some examples, the computing device  4202  may optionally be contained in whole or in part within the device  4204 . 
     In  FIG. 42 , then, the system  4200  includes at least one computing device (e.g.,  4202  and/or  4204 ). The computer-executable instructions  4210  may be executed on one or more of the at least one computing device. For example, the computing device  4202  may implement the computer-executable instructions  4210  and output a result to (and/or receive data from) the computing device  4204 . Since the computing device  4202  may be wholly or partially contained within the computing device  4204 , the device  4204  also may be said to execute some or all of the computer-executable instructions  4210 , in order to be caused to perform or implement, for example, various ones of the techniques described herein, or other techniques. 
     The device  4204  may include, for example, a portable computing device, workstation, or desktop computing device. In another example embodiment, the computing device  4202  is operable to communicate with the device  4204  associated with the user  4212  to receive information about the input from the user  4212  for performing data access and data processing, and negotiate presentation of a persona to the party/vendor to the transaction. 
     Selection of a Persona Linked to a Unique Identifier 
       FIG. 43  illustrates an example system  4300  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  4300  includes a persona selection unit  4306 . The persona selection unit  4306  may contain, for example, transaction evaluation module  4308 , which may in turn contain transaction value analysis module  4310 . Persona selection unit  4306  may also include, for example, personal information request acceptor module  4312 , which in turn may include web page parser module  4314 , which in turn may include X/Y coordinate web page reader  4316 , web page image reader  4318 , and/or screen scraper module  4319 . Persona selection unit  4306  also may contain, for example, cost adjustment module  4328 , condition-setting module  4330 , party history evaluation module  4324 , and/or persona creation module  4320 . Persona selection unit  4306  may communicate over a network or directly with party  4301  to accept at least one request for personal information in the context of transaction  4302 , to evaluate transaction  4302 , to select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and to present the persona in response to the request for personal information. 
     Additionally, persona selection unit  4306  may access persona database  4350  to find personas from which to select and present according to the presently claimed inventions. Alternatively, persona selection unit  4306  may communicate with a persona custodian  4360  to find personas from which to select and present according to the presently claimed inventions. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  4306  may create personas from which to select and present according to the presently claimed inventions, for example, using persona creation module  4320 . 
     In  FIG. 43 , persona selection unit  4306  may accept a request for personal information  4303  directly from party  4301  or indirectly by inspection of transaction  4302 , for example by viewing personal information fields on a web page related to the transaction. 
     In  FIG. 43 , the persona selection unit  4306  is illustrated as possibly being included within a system  4300 . Of course, virtually any kind of computing device may be used to implement the special purpose persona selection unit  4306 , such as, for example, a workstation, a desktop computer, a networked computer, a server, a collection of servers and/or databases, a virtual machine running inside a computing device, a mobile computing device, or a tablet PC. 
     Additionally, not all of the persona selection unit  4306  need be implemented on a single computing device. For example, the persona selection unit  4306  may be implemented and/or operable on a remote computer, while a user interface and/or local instance of the persona selection unit  4306  are implemented and/or occur on a local computer. Further, aspects of the persona selection unit  4306  may be implemented in different combinations and implementations than that shown in  FIG. 43 . For example, functionality of a user interface may be incorporated into the persona selection unit  4306  for the benefit of a user/purchaser or for personnel supervising transactions for an online vendor. The persona selection unit  4306  may perform simple data relay functions and/or complex data analysis, including, for example, fuzzy logic and/or traditional logic steps. Further, many methods of evaluating transactions and selecting personas described herein or known in the art may be used, including, for example, algorithms commonly used in web page analysis may be used to determine a transaction scale and/or quality as a basis for selecting an appropriate persona linked to a unique identifier and containing an appropriate level of personal information for a transaction. In some embodiments, the persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona based on information about a transaction available as updates through a network. 
     Persona selection unit  4306  may access data stored in virtually any type of memory that is able to store and/or provide access to information in, for example, a one-to-many, many-to-one, and/or many-to-many relationship. Such a memory may include, for example, a relational database and/or an object-oriented database, examples of which are provided in more detail herein. 
     As referenced herein, the persona selection unit  4306  may be used to perform various data querying and/or recall techniques with respect to the request  4303 , persona  4304 , and/or the transaction  4302 , in order to negotiate an appropriate persona. For example, where transaction  4302  elements are organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more web page analysis tools, or the like, persona selection unit  4306  may employ various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques to determine the appropriate level of information to include in a persona for it to be acceptable as an underpinning for a transaction. Similarly, for example, where user personal information is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more persona selection rulesets, various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques may be performed by persona selection unit  4306  to select and present an appropriate persona. 
     Many examples of databases and database structures may be used in connection with the persona selection unit  4306 . Such examples include hierarchical models (in which data is organized in a tree and/or parent-child node structure), network models (based on set theory, and in which multi-parent structures per child node are supported), or object/relational models (combining the relational model with the object-oriented model). 
     Still other examples include various types of eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) databases. For example, a database may be included that holds data in some format other than XML, but that is associated with an XML interface for accessing the database using XML. As another example, a database may store XML data directly. Additionally, or alternatively, virtually any semi-structured database may be used, so that context may be provided to/associated with stored data elements (either encoded with the data elements, or encoded externally to the data elements), so that data storage and/or access may be facilitated. 
     Such databases, and/or other memory storage techniques, may be written and/or implemented using various programming or coding languages. For example, object-oriented database management systems may be written in programming languages such as, for example, C++ or Java. Relational and/or object/relational models may make use of database languages, such as, for example, the structured query language (SQL), which may be used, for example, for selection of a persona and/or persona content; and/or for gathering and/or compiling data from the relational database(s). 
     For example, SQL or SQL-like operations over one or more personas  4304  and/or properties of transaction  4302  may be performed, or Boolean operations using personas  4304  and/or properties of transaction  4302  may be performed. For example, weighted Boolean operations may be performed in which different weights or priorities are assigned to one or more of the request  4303 , persona  4304 , and/or properties of transaction  4302 , including various transaction identifier elements, locations, and/or contexts, perhaps relative to one another. For example, a number-weighted, exclusive-OR operation may be performed to request specific weightings of elements found on a check-out page of an e-commerce web page (e.g., email address, telephone number, mailing address, credit card information, dollar amount in cart, web site name, payment types). 
     Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementation and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-component operations or additional component operations building on one or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation of a flowchart presenting an example implementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easy understanding of the various process implementations. In addition, those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the style of presentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/or object-oriented program design paradigms. 
       FIG. 44  illustrates an operational flow  4400  representing example operations related to regulating information flow during interactions. In  FIG. 44  and in following figures that include various examples of operational flows, discussion and explanation may be provided with respect to the above-described system environments of  FIG. 43 , and/or with respect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flows may be executed in a number of other environments and contexts including that of  FIG. 51 , and/or in modified versions of  FIG. 43 . Also, although the various operational flows are presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. 
     After a start operation, operation  4410  depicts accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306 , personal information request acceptor module  4312 , and/or web page parser module  4314  may accept at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept a request for name, phone number, email address, and credit card information during a transaction to purchase an app in an app store. The request  4303  may be in the form of an online transaction form having empty fields labeled for entry of personal information. In another example, web page parser module  4314  may accept markup language code (e.g., HTML or XML) or text corresponding to a transaction web page as the request for personal information  4303 . 
     Operation  4320  depicts evaluating the transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306 , transaction evaluation module  4308 , web page parser module  4314 , and/or transaction value analysis module  4310  may evaluate the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction value analysis module  4310  may analyze markup language code from a checkout webpage corresponding to transaction  4302 . In this example, the code may indicate a dollar value of an item to be purchased or to be bid on in an auction. Based on that dollar value, the persona selection unit  4306  may select an appropriate persona from, e.g., persona database  4350 . In some embodiments, persona transaction evaluation module  4308  may identify transactions having an arbitrarily-defined low, intermediate, or high dollar value. For financial interactions such as purchases or auctions, transaction value analysis module  4310  may detect a dollar value and assign a dollar value category for the interaction, for example low dollar value, intermediate dollar value, or high dollar value. Rulesets for the persona selection unit  4306  to follow may be set by a user/purchaser interacting with party  4301  according to any premium that the user places on completing the transaction and/or minimizing transmission of personal information. 
     Alternatively, many intermediate levels of interaction value may be assigned by, e.g., transaction evaluation module  4308  based on a detected value present in the web page code or other attribute of the transaction  4302 . In these embodiments, a minimal persona containing only a few elements of personal information may be selected and presented in support of transaction  4302 . In one embodiment persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona linked to a unique identifier, wherein the persona provides only that amount of personal information absolutely required for completion of the interaction/transaction. This approach attempts to avoid gratuitous dissemination of potentially valuable personal information. For example, for low dollar value transactions, persona selection unit  4306  may be programmed to select and present a minimal persona containing, e.g., only a name and a device identifier, such as a telephone number. For some parties/vendors  4301 , such a minimal persona will provide enough trust in the credit-worthiness of the user, perhaps via a check with a telecommunications carrier that the name matches the telephone number. The unique identifier associated with the persona may provide an additional dimension with which a party  4301  may gain confidence in a user&#39;s identity and ability to complete payment in a transaction. In other, higher dollar value transactions, selection and presentation of a persona containing more detailed personal information may be necessary. For example, for a car purchase, a persona including credit information, credit history, and personal financial asset data may be required by party  4301 . 
     In some embodiments, party  4301  will provide request  4303  to persona selection unit  4306 . Personal information may be obtainable as a matter of course by persona selection unit  4306 . For example, personal information of a user/purchaser may be directly provided to persona selection unit  4306  for the purpose of facilitating completion of transaction  4302 , or alternatively, persona selection unit  4306  may indirectly access personal information of a user through access to various accounts, such as website accounts, bank accounts, social network accounts, or telecommunications accounts. In some embodiments, some of the personal information may be publicly available. 
     Operation  4430  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, such as a unique ID created by a telecommunications carrier for a user based on her mobile phone&#39;s UDID and her Facebook profile. In this scenario, the unique identifier makes the user&#39;s identity known to the telecommunications carrier, but not to the party  4301  to the transaction. Accordingly, the telecommunications carrier may provide security for the transaction in this example based on their knowledge about the user&#39;s identity, even where that identity is not presented to party  4301  to the transaction. 
     Operation  4440  depicts presenting the persona in response to the request for personal information. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may present the persona in response to the request for personal information. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  4306  may accept a request for personal information from amazon.com in the course of an online purchase. Persona selection unit  4306  may then evaluate the transaction  4302  based on dollar amount, party  4301 , or personal information requested, and select a persona linked to a unique identifier which contains a specific set of personal information, e.g., where the transaction has a low dollar value only a few of the requested items of personal information may actually be necessary for party/vendor  4301  to go through with the transaction  4302 . This may be done according to a persona selection ruleset pre-programmed into persona selection unit  4306 . Persona selection unit  4306  may then present the persona  4304 , e.g., by an action taken on a transaction webpage, or by direct message to party  4301 . 
     In some embodiments, persona selection unit  4306  may include a party history evaluation module  4324  to further characterize party  4301  according to, for example, historical acceptance or rejection of personas in similar circumstances as those in transaction  4302 . 
     In some embodiments, both for detecting the specifics of a transaction and for placing data into fields on a web page, it may be useful for persona selection unit  4306  to perform web scraping or web page image analysis on the web page. 
     Web scraping is a computer software technique of extracting information from websites. Usually, such software programs simulate human exploration of the World Wide Web by either implementing low-level Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or embedding certain full-fledged Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Web scraping may involve the transformation of unstructured data on the Web, typically in HTML format, into structured data that can be stored and analyzed in a central local database or spreadsheet. Specific techniques for web scraping include text grepping and regular expression matching, which extracts information from Web pages based on the UNIX grep command or regular expression matching facilities of programming languages (for instance Perl or Python). 
     Another web scraping tool is HTTP programming wherein static and dynamic web pages can be retrieved by posting HTTP requests to a remote web server using socket programming. 
     Another web scraping tool is DOM (document object model) parsing: By embedding a full-fledged web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla web browser, programs can retrieve dynamic content generated by client-side scripts. These web browser controls may also parse web pages into a DOM tree, based on which programs can retrieve parts of the web pages. 
     Another web scraping tool is HTML parsing, wherein semi-structured data query languages, such as XQuery and HTQL can be used to parse HTML pages and to retrieve and transform web content. 
     There are many web-scraping software tools available that can be used to customize web-scraping solutions. These programs may attempt to automatically recognize the data structure of a page or provide a web recording interface that removes the necessity to manually write web-scraping code, or some scripting functions that can be used to extract and transform web content, and database interfaces that can store the scraped data in local databases. 
     Another web scraping tool is a vertical aggregation platform. These platforms create and monitor a multitude of “bots” for specific verticals with no man-in-the-loop, and no work related to a specific target site. The preparation involves establishing a knowledge base for the entire vertical, and then the platform creates the bots automatically. The platform&#39;s robustness is measured by the quality of the information it retrieves (usually number of fields) and its scalability (how quick it can scale up to hundreds or thousands of sites). This scalability is mostly used to target sites that common aggregators find complicated or too labor intensive to harvest content from. 
     Another web scraping tool is semantic annotation recognizing, wherein web pages may contain metadata or semantic markups/annotations which can be made use of to locate specific data. If the annotations are embedded in the pages, as Microformat does, this technique can be viewed as a special case of DOM parsing. In another case, the annotations, organized into a semantic layer, may be stored and managed separately from the web pages, so the web scrapers can retrieve data schema and instructions from this layer before scraping the pages. 
     Another tool for web page analysis is iMacros, a program that harvests web data automatically, which can do automatic form-filling. For example, iMacros works with every website; even the most complicated websites that use dialog boxes, frames, Javascript and AJAX can be automated. It has high data extraction speed: on a typical computer, 20-50 instances of iMacros can be run at once (“multi-threading”). It has full web-crawling support. iMacros can be scheduled to run in the background of other programs or in lean traffic hours. iMacros permits change of IP addresses programmatically with full PROXY support. After harvesting the web data, actions may be performed on it, it can be transferred to any application, or it can be used in another process. iMacros integrates with every Windows scripting or programming language. iMacros can connect to any database or software application. iMacros provides visual recording of all web activities and the extraction macros. iMacros has full unicode support, and iMacros can extract text in all languages, including Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. 
     In addition to working with the website source code like a “normal” software program, iMacros can also look at the website like a human does: iMacros&#39; image recognition support allows a user to automate and test websites using images instead of X/Y coordinates: a user can tell iMacros what a button looks like and iMacros can find it on the page. Even when the button has moved or if it has changed color or screen resolution. The iMacros Image Recognition Wizard functions with web sites that use non-HTML technologies such as Flash applets, Java applets, Movie Player Applets, ActiveX controls or any other technology. Since the software relies only on the images that are rendered in the browser, it works independently of the underlying technology. 
       FIG. 45  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  4400  of  FIG. 44 .  FIG. 45  illustrates example embodiments where the accepting operation  4410  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  4500 ,  4502 , and/or operation  4504 . 
     Operation  4500  depicts accepting a plurality of fields on a web page as the at least one request for personal information. For example, persona selection unit  4306  and/or personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept a plurality of fields on a web page as the at least one request for personal information. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept from party  4301  a checkout web page having fields for name, telephone number, email address, and credit card information for the purchase of an MP3 file from the iTunes store. As another example, persona selection unit  4306  may accept a request for personal information on a Groupon web page relating to a potential purchase. 
     Operation  4502  depicts accepting at least one request for personal information from a vendor in an online transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306  and/or personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept at least one request for personal information from a vendor in an online transaction. For example, personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept a request from eBay to provide more information where a user left a required field blank on an eBay auction page. Access to the auction may be then be obtained, for example, by selecting and presenting a persona to satisfy identification requirements of eBay. In some embodiments, party  4301  may send a message to persona selection unit  4306 , in effect telling it that it needs more personal information for a transaction, the message perhaps including a URL or other venue for the transaction, from which persona selection unit  4306  can extract the information necessary to evaluate the transaction, select, and present an appropriate persona. Such a message may be sent by voice, text, touch, or other user interface mechanism. In some instances the persona selection unit  4306  will be invisible or transparent to party  4301 , except for the offer/counteroffer of the negotiation. 
     Operation  4504  depicts accepting a request for personal information consisting of name, email address, birthdate, and credit card information from a vendor in an online transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306  and/or personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept a request for personal information consisting of name, email address, birthdate, and credit card information from a vendor in an online transaction. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  4306  and/or personal information request acceptor module  4312  may accept a request for a name, email address, birthdate, and credit card information at an e-commerce transaction page. The request  4303  may be in the form of information in fields on a web page as well as direct communication such as messaging on a transaction web page, email, and/or text messaging. 
       FIG. 46  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  4400  of  FIG. 44 .  FIG. 46  illustrates example embodiments where the evaluating operation  4420  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  4600 ,  4602 , and/or operation  4604 . 
     Operation  4600  depicts evaluating a monetary value for the transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306 , transaction evaluation module  4308 , and/or, transaction value analysis module  4310  may evaluate a monetary value for the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction value analysis module  4310  may analyze a URL provided by a party  4301  corresponding to an app store order page. Transaction value analysis module  4310  may read the text or code on the web page, image the page, or otherwise determine the object of the transaction and the monetary value of the object (i.e., a good or service). In another example, web page parser module  4314  may accept a URL for an online pizza order form, such as an order page for Domino&#39;s pizza, and parse the markup language code or text to identify a dollar value for the pizza order (on the Domino&#39;s order page the dollar amount appears next to “Total:” and has a dollar sign with the amount). 
     Operation  4602  depicts evaluating the party to the transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306 , transaction evaluation module  4308 , and/or party history evaluation module  4324  may evaluate the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, transaction evaluation module  4308  may evaluate any available data regarding the name of the party  4301  and any information about whether party  4301  is amenable to negotiating the terms of the personal information that it requests in connection with transactions, including past practices of party  4301 . 
     Operation  4604  depicts evaluating transaction history about the party to the transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306 , transaction evaluation module  4308 , and/or party history evaluation module  4324  may evaluate transaction history about the party to the transaction. In one embodiment, party history evaluation module  2724  may evaluate a party&#39;s history of interaction with user/purchasers, if there is any. If there is a history of purchases and payments, particularly with user  4212 , that may be one factor taken into account by persona selection unit  4306  in arriving at a persona to support transaction  4302 : a history of accepting certain personas in like circumstances by a party may increase the chances that a given persona will be accepted to satisfy the requirements of the transaction. 
       FIG. 47  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  4400  of  FIG. 44 .  FIG. 47  illustrates example embodiments where the selecting operation  4430  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  4700 ,  4702 , and/or operation  4704 . 
     Operation  4700  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on at least one of a user&#39;s UDID, MAC address, SIM data, IP address, or IMEI as the device-identifier data; and the user&#39;s network-participation data. For example, persona selection unit  4306 , transaction evaluation module  4308 , persona creation module  4320 , and/or party history evaluation module  4324  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on at least one of a user&#39;s UDID, MAC address, SIM data, IP address, or IMEI as the device-identifier data; and the user&#39;s network-participation data. In one embodiment, persona creation module  4320  may select for presentation to party  4301  a persona that includes a unique identifier that identifies a user based on an iPhone UDID and a Twitter handle. In one embodiment a custodian of the unique identifier may possess the details of the UDID and the Twitter handle, but not include those details in the persona. Instead the custodian of the unique identifier, upon receipt of a request from a user and verification of the user&#39;s identity, may vouch for the integrity of the persona. This process allows a user to maintain a repository for her personal information at the custodian (who is trusted), who in turn may vouch for a persona and provide security for a transaction. In this way a user may avoid spreading her sensitive personal information among online merchants, some of whom may not protect her personal information carefully. 
     As discussed above, high dollar value transactions will require that detailed personal information be provided as security for the transaction, but a large range of intermediate dollar value transactions may benefit from a smart system of providing as little personal information possible during the transaction. This will benefit both a user/purchaser in terms of minimizing transfer of personal information, and also the party  4301 /vendor, who will save potentially save time and administrative costs if transactions are streamlined according to the instant disclosure. 
     Operation  4702  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and at least one of Facebook information, Twitter information, or gmail information as the user&#39;s network-participation data. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and at least one of Facebook information, Twitter information, or gmail information as the user&#39;s network-participation data. 
     Operation  4704  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the custodian of the persona is a telecommunications carrier. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the custodian of the persona is a telecommunications carrier. In one embodiment, persona creation module  4320  may select for presentation to party  4301  a persona from Verizon as the persona custodian  4360 , where Verizon has compiled a white pages of users across telecommunication carrier networks indexed by unique identifiers based on device identifier information and network participation information, as discussed above. In some embodiments, persona selection unit  4306  may be operated by Verizon; in other embodiments, persona selection unit  4306  may be operated by a trusted third party personal information management service that may, for example, pay Verizon a nominal fee as the custodian of a set of personas for access to the personas (and perhaps to the index of unique identifiers). 
       FIG. 48  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  4400  of  FIG. 44 .  FIG. 48  illustrates example embodiments where the selecting operation  4430  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  4800 ,  4802 , and/or operation  4804 . 
     Operation  4800  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the custodian of the persona is a trusted personal information management service. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the custodian of the persona is a trusted personal information management service. In one embodiment, persona creation module  4320  may select for presentation to party  4301  a persona from a trusted personal information management service that takes steps to shield itself as much as possible from cloud-based data vulnerabilities. In this way a user&#39;s personal information may be safeguarded in comparison to large, cloud-based data storage modes that may be vulnerable to failure, hacking, viruses, malware, and/or worms. 
     Operation  4802  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the persona alone provides security for completion of the transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the persona alone provides security for completion of the transaction. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  4306  may accept a request for personal information including, credit card information, phone number, and birthdate in the context of a transaction for an app that costs $1.99 at an app store. Persona selection unit  4306  may evaluate the transaction to ascertain the low cost involved, select a persona that includes a unique identifier that is based on a user&#39;s iPhone information as device-identifier data and the user&#39;s iTunes account information as network-participation data. In this example, the persona including the unique identifier containing device-identifier data that matches that of the user&#39;s device on which the transaction is occurring may suffice to support the app purchase without transfer of any personal information other than that inherent in the persona and unique identifier. In some embodiments, a custodian of the persona and unique identifier may verify the identity of the user/purchaser and guarantee the purchase on the user&#39;s behalf, thus obviating the need for transmission of personal information. 
     Operation  4804  depicts selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the persona allows for substantially anonymous completion of the transaction. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data, and wherein the persona allows for substantially anonymous completion of the transaction. To continue the example above, persona selection unit  4306  may complete the app purchase anonymously, except for presentation of the persona containing the unique identifier, on power of the guarantee by the custodian. In such a situation, the custodian guaranteeing the purchase may charge a user a fee for the guarantee to guard against default, however verification by the custodian prior to guaranteeing a purchase will mitigate most of the risk of default. 
       FIG. 49  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  4400  of  FIG. 44 .  FIG. 49  illustrates example embodiments where the presenting operation  4440  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  4900 . 
     Operation  4900  depicts presenting the persona in response to the request for personal information, wherein the authenticity of the persona is vouched for by at least one of a telecommunications carrier, a bank, or a trusted personal information management service. For example, persona selection unit  4306  may present the persona in response to the request for personal information, wherein the authenticity of the persona is vouched for by at least one of a telecommunications carrier, a bank, or a trusted personal information management service. As in the previous example, persona creation module  4320  may presentation to party  4301  a persona from a trusted personal information management service such as a bank or telecommunication carrier with significant ability to guarantee transactions for at least small amounts of money. Other less-well established, known, and trusted personal information management services may be required to show some sort of security as a financial backing for the transaction to engender confidence in the party/vendor that a debt vouched for by the trusted personal information management service will in fact be paid. 
       FIG. 41  illustrates a partial view of an example article of manufacture  5000  that includes a computer program  5004  for executing a computer process on a computing device. An embodiment of the example article of manufacture  5000  is provided including a signal bearing medium  5002 , and may include one or more instructions for accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; one or more instructions for evaluating the transaction; one or more instructions for selecting a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data; and one or more instructions for presenting the persona in response to the request for personal information. The one or more instructions may be, for example, computer executable and/or logic-implemented instructions. In one implementation, the signal-bearing medium  5002  may include a computer-readable medium  5006 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  5002  may include a recordable medium  5008 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  5002  may include a communications medium  5010 . 
       FIG. 51  illustrates an example system  5100  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  5100  includes a computing system environment. The system  5100  also illustrates a user  5112  using a device  5114 , which is optionally shown as being in communication with a computing device  5102  by way of an optional coupling  5106 . The optional coupling  5106  may represent a local, wide-area, or peer-to-peer network, or may represent a bus that is internal to a computing device (e.g., in example embodiments in which the computing device  5102  is contained in whole or in part within the device  5104 ). A storage medium  5108  may be any computer storage media. In one embodiment, the computing device  5102  may include a virtual machine operating within another computing device. In an alternative embodiment, the computing device  5102  may include a virtual machine operating within a program running on a remote server. 
     The computing device  5102  includes computer-executable instructions  5110  that when executed on the computing device  5102  cause the computing device  5102  to (a) accept at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; (b) evaluate the transaction; (c) select a persona at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction, wherein the persona is linked to a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a user&#39;s device-identifier data and the user&#39;s network-participation data; and (d) present the persona in response to the request for personal information. As referenced above and as shown in  FIG. 51 , in some examples, the computing device  5102  may optionally be contained in whole or in part within the device  5104 . 
     In  FIG. 51 , then, the system  5100  includes at least one computing device (e.g.,  5102  and/or  5104 ). The computer-executable instructions  5110  may be executed on one or more of the at least one computing device. For example, the computing device  5102  may implement the computer-executable instructions  5110  and output a result to (and/or receive data from) the computing device  5104 . Since the computing device  5102  may be wholly or partially contained within the computing device  5104 , the device  5104  also may be said to execute some or all of the computer-executable instructions  5110 , in order to be caused to perform or implement, for example, various ones of the techniques described herein, or other techniques. 
     The device  5104  may include, for example, a portable computing device, workstation, or desktop computing device. In another example embodiment, the computing device  5102  is operable to communicate with the device  5104  associated with the user  5112  to receive information about the input from the user  5112  for performing data access and data processing, and selection and presentation of a persona to the party/vendor to the transaction. 
     Verification of a Persona Linked to a Unique Identifier 
       FIG. 52  illustrates an example system  5200  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  5200  includes a persona selection unit  5206 . The persona selection unit  4306  may contain, for example, transaction evaluation module  5208 , which may in turn contain transaction value analysis module  5210 . Persona selection unit  5206  may also include, for example, personal information request acceptor module  5212 , which in turn may include web page parser module  5214 , which in turn may include X/Y coordinate web page reader  5216 , web page image reader  5218 , and/or screen scraper module  5219 . Persona selection unit  5206  also may contain, for example, cost adjustment module  5228 , condition-setting module  5230 , party history evaluation module  5224 , persona database  5250 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or persona creation module  5220 . Persona verification unit  5252  may communicate over a network or directly with persona custodian  5260  to access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data in the context of transaction  5202 , to verify the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data, and to present the persona in response to a request for personal information. 
     Additionally, persona verification unit  5252  may access persona database  5250  to find personas from which to select, verify, and present according to the presently claimed inventions. Alternatively, persona verification unit  5252  may communicate with a persona custodian  5260  to access personas to validate and present according to the presently claimed inventions. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  5206  may create personas to access, verify, and present according to the presently claimed inventions, for example, using persona creation module  5220 . 
     In  FIG. 52 , persona selection unit  5206  may accept a request for personal information  5203  directly from party  5201  or indirectly by inspection of transaction  5202 , for example by viewing personal information fields on a web page related to the transaction. 
     In  FIG. 52 , the persona selection unit  5206  is illustrated as possibly being included within a system  5200 . Of course, virtually any kind of computing device may be used to implement the special purpose persona selection unit  5206 , such as, for example, a workstation, a desktop computer, a networked computer, a server, a collection of servers and/or databases, a virtual machine running inside a computing device, a mobile computing device, or a tablet PC. 
     Additionally, not all of the persona selection unit  5206  need be implemented on a single computing device. For example, the persona selection unit  5206  may be implemented and/or operable on a remote computer, while a user interface and/or local instance of the persona selection unit  5206  are implemented and/or occur on a local computer. Further, aspects of the persona selection unit  5206  may be implemented in different combinations and implementations than that shown in  FIG. 52 . For example, functionality of a user interface may be incorporated into the persona selection unit  5206  for the benefit of a user/purchaser or for personnel supervising transactions for an online vendor. The persona selection unit  5206  may perform simple data relay functions and/or complex data analysis, including, for example, fuzzy logic and/or traditional logic steps. Further, many methods of accessing and validating personas described herein or known in the art may be used, including, for example, algorithms commonly used in web page analysis may be used to determine a transaction scale and/or quality as a basis for accessing an appropriate persona linked to a unique identifier and containing an appropriate level of personal information for a transaction. In some embodiments, the persona selection unit  5206  may select a persona based on information about a transaction available as updates through a network. 
     Persona selection unit  5206  may access data stored in virtually any type of memory that is able to store and/or provide access to information in, for example, a one-to-many, many-to-one, and/or many-to-many relationship. Such a memory may include, for example, a relational database and/or an object-oriented database, examples of which are provided in more detail herein. 
     As referenced herein, the persona selection unit  5206  may be used to perform various data querying and/or recall techniques with respect to the request  5203 , persona  5204 , and/or the transaction  5202 , in order to access and verify an appropriate persona. For example, where transaction  5202  elements are organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more web page analysis tools, or the like, persona selection unit  5206  may employ various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques to determine the appropriate level of information to include in a persona for it to be acceptable as an underpinning for a transaction. Similarly, for example, where user personal information is organized, keyed to, and/or otherwise accessible using one or more persona selection rulesets, various Boolean, statistical, and/or semi-boolean searching techniques may be performed by persona selection unit  4306  to access and verify an appropriate persona. 
     Many examples of databases and database structures may be used in connection with the persona selection unit  5206 . Such examples include hierarchical models (in which data is organized in a tree and/or parent-child node structure), network models (based on set theory, and in which multi-parent structures per child node are supported), or object/relational models (combining the relational model with the object-oriented model). 
     Still other examples include various types of eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) databases. For example, a database may be included that holds data in some format other than XML, but that is associated with an XML interface for accessing the database using XML. As another example, a database may store XML data directly. Additionally, or alternatively, virtually any semi-structured database may be used, so that context may be provided to/associated with stored data elements (either encoded with the data elements, or encoded externally to the data elements), so that data storage and/or access may be facilitated. 
     Such databases, and/or other memory storage techniques, may be written and/or implemented using various programming or coding languages. For example, object-oriented database management systems may be written in programming languages such as, for example, C++ or Java. Relational and/or object/relational models may make use of database languages, such as, for example, the structured query language (SQL), which may be used, for example, for verification of a persona and/or unique identifier; and/or for gathering and/or compiling data from the relational database(s). 
     For example, SQL or SQL-like operations over one or more personas  5204  and/or properties of transaction  5202  may be performed, or Boolean operations using personas  5204  and/or properties of transaction  5202  may be performed. For example, weighted Boolean operations may be performed in which different weights or priorities are assigned to one or more of the request  5203 , persona  5204 , and/or properties of transaction  5202 , including various transaction identifier elements, locations, and/or contexts, perhaps relative to one another. For example, a number-weighted, exclusive-OR operation may be performed to request specific weightings of elements found on a check-out page of an e-commerce web page (e.g., email address, telephone number, mailing address, credit card information, dollar amount in cart, web site name, payment types). 
     Following are a series of flowcharts depicting implementations. For ease of understanding, the flowcharts are organized such that the initial flowcharts present implementations via an example implementation and thereafter the following flowcharts present alternate implementations and/or expansions of the initial flowchart(s) as either sub-component operations or additional component operations building on one or more earlier-presented flowcharts. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that the style of presentation utilized herein (e.g., beginning with a presentation of a flowchart presenting an example implementation and thereafter providing additions to and/or further details in subsequent flowcharts) generally allows for a rapid and easy understanding of the various process implementations. In addition, those skilled in the art will further appreciate that the style of presentation used herein also lends itself well to modular and/or object-oriented program design paradigms. 
       FIG. 53  illustrates an operational flow  5300  representing example operations related to verifying personal information during transactions. In  FIG. 53  and in following figures that include various examples of operational flows, discussion and explanation may be provided with respect to the above-described system environments of  FIG. 52 , and/or with respect to other examples and contexts. However, it should be understood that the operational flows may be executed in a number of other environments and contexts including that of  FIG. 58 , and/or in modified versions of  FIG. 52 . Also, although the various operational flows are presented in the sequence(s) illustrated, it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. 
     After a start operation, operation  5310  depicts accessing at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data. For example, persona selection unit  5206 , personal information request acceptor module  5212 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or web page parser module  5214  may access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  5212  may access a persona after accepting a request for name, phone number, email address, and credit card information during a transaction to purchase an app in an app store. The request  5203  may be in the form of an online transaction form having empty fields labeled for entry of personal information. In another example, web page parser module  5214  may access a persona in response to accepting markup language code (e.g., HTML or XML) or text corresponding to a transaction web page as the request for personal information  5203 . 
     Operation  5220  depicts verifying the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data. For example, persona selection unit  5206 , transaction evaluation module  5208 , web page parser module  5214 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or transaction value analysis module  5210  may verify the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data. 
     For some parties/vendors  5201 , a minimal persona will provide enough trust in the credit-worthiness of the user, perhaps via a check with a telecommunications carrier that the name matches the telephone number. The unique identifier associated with the persona may provide an additional dimension with which a party  5201  may gain confidence in a user&#39;s identity and ability to complete payment in a transaction, particularly where it is verified against, for example, information about the unique identifier held by a telecommunications carrier or a bank. 
     In some embodiments, party  5201  will provide request  5203  to persona selection unit  5206 . Personal information may be obtainable as a matter of course by persona selection unit  5206 . For example, personal information of a user/purchaser may be directly provided to persona selection unit  5206  for the purpose of facilitating completion of transaction  5202 , or alternatively, persona selection unit  5206  may indirectly access personal information of a user through access to various accounts, such as website accounts, bank accounts, social network accounts, or telecommunications accounts. In some embodiments, some of the personal information may be publicly available. 
     Operation  5330  depicts presenting the persona in response to a request for personal information. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present the persona in response to a request for personal information. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  4306  may present a verified persona linked to a unique identifier that matches the unique identifier of a second user, where the second user is making a purchase from a vendor. In this case, both personas may be linked to a unique identifier based on the same mobile phone&#39;s UDID and Facebook profile. In this scenario, the unique identifier may makes the user&#39;s identity known to the telecommunications carrier, but not to the party  5201  to the transaction. Accordingly, the telecommunications carrier may provide security for the transaction in this example based on their knowledge about the second user&#39;s verified identity, even where that identity is not presented to party  5201  to the transaction. 
       FIG. 54  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  5300  of  FIG. 53 .  FIG. 54  illustrates example embodiments where the accessing operation  5310  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  5400 ,  5402 ,  5404 , and/or operation  5406 . 
     Operation  5400  depicts accessing at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data in response to a vendor&#39;s request for personal information. For example, persona selection unit  5206 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or personal information request acceptor module  5212  may access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data in response to a vendor&#39;s request for personal information. In one embodiment, personal information request acceptor module  5212  may access a persona in response to an interaction of the second user with a checkout web page having fields for name, telephone number, email address, and credit card information for the purchase of an MP3 file from the iTunes store. 
     Operation  5402  depicts accessing at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the unique identifier represents a verified real-world user. For example, persona selection unit  5206 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or personal information request acceptor module  5212  may access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the unique identifier represents a verified real-world user. For example, personal information request acceptor module  5212  may accept a request from eBay to provide more information where a user left a required field blank on an eBay auction page. Access to the auction may be then be obtained, for example, by accessing, verifying, and presenting a verified persona to satisfy identification requirements of eBay. In some embodiments, party  5201  may send a message to persona selection unit  5206 , telling it that it needs more personal information for a transaction, the message perhaps including a URL or other venue for the transaction, from which persona selection unit  5206  can extract the information necessary to evaluate the transaction, access, verify, and present an appropriate verified persona to secure the transaction. Such a message may be sent by voice, text, touch, or other user interface mechanism. In some instances the persona selection unit  5206  will be invisible or transparent to party  5201 , except for the presentation of a persona. 
     Operation  5404  depicts accessing at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user&#39;s device-identifier data includes at least one of a UDID, MAC address, SIM data, IP address, or IMEI for a device of the first user. For example, persona selection unit  5206 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or personal information request acceptor module  5212  may access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user&#39;s device-identifier data includes at least one of a UDID, MAC address, SIM data, IP address, or IMEI for a device of the first user. 
     Operation  5406  depicts accessing at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user&#39;s network-participation data includes at least one of a Facebook information, Twitter information, LinkedIn information, or gmail information of the first user. For example, persona selection unit  5206 , persona verification unit  5252 , and/or personal information request acceptor module  5212  may access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user&#39;s network-participation data includes at least one of a Facebook information, Twitter information, LinkedIn information, or gmail information of the first user. 
       FIG. 55  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  5300  of  FIG. 53 .  FIG. 55  illustrates example embodiments where the verifying operation  5320  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  5500  and/or operation  5502 . 
     Operation  5500  depicts verifying the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user and the second user are the same person. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may verify the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user and the second user are the same person. 
     Operation  5500  depicts verifying the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user and the second user are the different people. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may verify the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data, wherein the first user and the second user are the different people. 
       FIG. 56  illustrates alternative embodiments of the example operational flow  5300  of  FIG. 53 .  FIG. 56  illustrates example embodiments where the presenting operation  5330  may include at least one additional operation. Additional operations may include operation  5600 ,  5602 ,  5604 ,  5606 , and/or operation  5608 . 
     Operation  5600  depicts presenting the persona on behalf of the second user in response to a request for personal information, wherein the persona serves as credit for a transaction cost. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present the persona on behalf of the second user in response to a request for personal information, wherein the persona serves as credit for a transaction cost. In one embodiment, a trusted custodian of a verified persona and/or a verified unique identifier, upon receipt of a request from a user and verification of the user&#39;s identity, may vouch for the integrity of the persona in a transaction. This process allows a user to maintain a repository for her personal information at the custodian (who is trusted), who in turn may vouch for a persona and provide security for a transaction. In this way a user may avoid spreading her sensitive personal information among online merchants, some of whom may not protect her personal information carefully. Additionally, the custodian may provide security to a vendor that a debt will be paid, thereby allowing for the persona to serve as credit in a transaction. 
     As discussed above, high dollar value transactions will require that detailed personal information be provided as security for the transaction, but a large range of intermediate dollar value transactions may benefit from a smart system of providing as little personal information possible during the transaction. This will benefit both a user/purchaser in terms of minimizing transfer of personal information, and also the party  5201 /vendor, who will save potentially save time and administrative costs if transactions are streamlined according to the instant disclosure. 
     Operation  5602  depicts presenting the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is verified with respect to the second user. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is verified with respect to the second user. 
     Operation  5604  depicts presenting the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is not verified with respect to the second user. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is not verified with respect to the second user. In one embodiment, where the unique identifiers of the first user and the second user do not match, an indication that the identity of the second user is not verified may be presented with or instead of the persona. 
     Operation  5606  depicts presenting the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is verified with respect to the second user by a telecommunications carrier. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is verified with respect to the second user by a telecommunications carrier. In one embodiment, persona verification unit  5252  may access, verify, and present a persona that was verified using one or more unique identifiers from Verizon as the persona custodian  5260 , where Verizon has compiled a white pages of users across telecommunication carrier networks indexed by unique identifiers based on device identifier information and network participation information, as discussed above. In some embodiments, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may be operated by Verizon; in other embodiments, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may be operated by a trusted third party personal information management service that may, for example, pay Verizon a nominal fee as the custodian of a set of personas for access to the personas (and perhaps to the index of unique identifiers). 
     Operation  5608  depicts presenting the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is verified with respect to the second user by a bank. For example, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present the persona in response to a request for personal information, including an indication that the persona is verified with respect to the second user by a bank. In one embodiment, persona selection unit  5206  and/or persona verification unit  5252  may present a verified persona that was verified using a unique identifier held by a bank as a fiduciary for the first user. Such a fiduciary entity may take strong steps to shield itself and the personal information of the first user as much as possible from cloud-based data vulnerabilities. In this way a user&#39;s personal information may be safeguarded in comparison to large, non-fiduciary, cloud-based data storage modes that may be vulnerable to failure, hacking, viruses, malware, and/or worms. 
       FIG. 57  illustrates a partial view of an example article of manufacture  5700  that includes a computer program  5704  for executing a computer process on a computing device. An embodiment of the example article of manufacture  5700  is provided including a signal bearing medium  5702 , and may include one or more instructions for accessing at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data; one or more instructions for verifying the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data; and one or more instructions for presenting the persona in response to a request for personal information. The one or more instructions may be, for example, computer executable and/or logic-implemented instructions. In one implementation, the signal-bearing medium  5702  may include a computer-readable medium  5706 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  5702  may include a recordable medium  5708 . In one implementation, the signal bearing medium  5702  may include a communications medium  5710 . 
       FIG. 58  illustrates an example system  5800  in which embodiments may be implemented. The system  5800  includes a computing system environment. The system  5800  also illustrates a user  5812  using a device  5814 , which is optionally shown as being in communication with a computing device  5802  by way of an optional coupling  5806 . The optional coupling  5806  may represent a local, wide-area, or peer-to-peer network, or may represent a bus that is internal to a computing device (e.g., in example embodiments in which the computing device  5802  is contained in whole or in part within the device  5804 ). A storage medium  5808  may be any computer storage media. In one embodiment, the computing device  5802  may include a virtual machine operating within another computing device. In an alternative embodiment, the computing device  5802  may include a virtual machine operating within a program running on a remote server. 
     The computing device  5802  includes computer-executable instructions  5810  that when executed on the computing device  5802  cause the computing device  5802  to (a) access at least one persona that includes a unique identifier that is at least partly based on a first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data; (b) verify the persona by comparing the first user&#39;s device-identifier data and the first user&#39;s network-participation data of the unique identifier to a second user&#39;s device-identifier data and the second user&#39;s network-participation data; and (c) present the persona in response to a request for personal information. As referenced above and as shown in  FIG. 58 , in some examples, the computing device  5802  may optionally be contained in whole or in part within the device  5804 . 
     In  FIG. 58 , then, the system  5800  includes at least one computing device (e.g.,  5802  and/or  5804 ). The computer-executable instructions  5810  may be executed on one or more of the at least one computing device. For example, the computing device  5802  may implement the computer-executable instructions  5810  and output a result to (and/or receive data from) the computing device  5804 . Since the computing device  5802  may be wholly or partially contained within the computing device  5804 , the device  5804  also may be said to execute some or all of the computer-executable instructions  5810 , in order to be caused to perform or implement, for example, various ones of the techniques described herein, or other techniques. 
     The device  5804  may include, for example, a portable computing device, workstation, or desktop computing device. In another example embodiment, the computing device  5802  is operable to communicate with the device  5804  associated with the user  5812  to receive information about the input from the user  5812  for performing data access and data processing, and verification and presentation of a persona to, e.g., the party/vendor to a transaction. 
     Double-Encryption and Anonymous Storage 
       FIG. 59 , including  FIGS. 59 -A through  59 -L, describe an example system in which embodiments may be implemented.  FIGS. 59 -A through  59 -L include 12 figures which can be assembled together to collectively form a single figure to illustrate the example system in which embodiments may be implemented. The first figure, labeled “ FIG. 59 ” includes a grid or map illustrating how the 12 figures comprising  FIGS. 59 -A through  59 -L can be assembled to produce a single figure illustrating the example system in which embodiments may be implemented. Briefly,  FIGS. 59 -A,  59 -B, and  59 -C assemble in that order from left to right to form a first top row.  FIGS. 59 -D,  59 -E, and  59 -F, assemble in that order from left to right to form a second row below the first top row.  FIGS. 59 -G  59 -G-H, and  59 -I, assemble in that order from left to right to form a third row below the second row.  FIGS. 59 -J,  59 -K, and  59 -L, assemble in that order from left to right to form a fourth bottom row below the third row. Assembly is also guided by slots and tabs that appear in  FIGS. 59 -A through  59 -L (e.g., slot A of  FIG. 59 -A and tab A of  FIG. 59 -B). 
       FIGS. 59 -A through  59 -L include user  5900  interacting with a user interface  5904  that accepts a user identifier, here “Private Citizen.” It should be understood that the user identifier can be anything: name, number, symbol, biometric, or signature. It can be anything that can identify user  5900  and a specific instance of data for encryption. User interface  5904  may be implemented by a user identifier encryption entity  5906 , e.g., “Name-to-Keyco.” The user identifier encryption entity  5906  or Name-to-Keyco may encrypt “Private Citizen” using public key cryptography, resulting in “Encrypted-Name.” The public key cryptography used may be traditional, involving certificated public keys; or it may be a kind of pseudo-public key cryptography, in which the public keys may not be made public, and/or in which the private keys may be held by the holder of the public keys. 
     Every instance of user data  5902  to be stored securely and anonymously could be given a different user identifier by the user identifier encryption entity (e.g., a variant of “Encrypted Name” by Name-to-Keyco) at the time each encryption/storage request is initiated. 
     Upon receipt of an instance of user data  5902  to be encrypted from a user  5900 , user identifier encryption entity  5906  may coordinate with a level-one encryption entity  5912  to associate the encrypted user identifier, e.g., “Encrypted-Name,” with level-one encrypted data  5916 . Level-one encrypted data  5916  is data that has been encrypted once, for example via public key cryptography. For security reasons, it is desirable that at least decryption keys are not shared between user identifier encryption entity  5906  (which encrypted the user identifier and/or information about the data to be encrypted other than its content) and the level-one encryption entity  5912  (which encrypted the user data  5902 ). However, in some implementations, level-one encryption entity  5912  may be the same as user identifier encryption entity  5906 , to facilitate the coordination or tracking of encrypted data and encrypted/hashed user identifiers through level-two encryption and storage. User data  5902  may be deleted subsequent to this level-one encryption. 
     The encrypted user identifier  5908 , e.g., “Encrypted-Name,” may be associated with the level-one encrypted data  5916  by either user identifier encryption entity  5906  or level-one encryption entity  5912 . Typically the association will involve attachment of the encrypted user identifier  5908  to the level-one encrypted data  5916  as metadata, for example, descriptive metadata. 
     In various embodiments, an opaque (e.g., encrypted) user identifier (e.g., “Encrypted-Name”) could be outside or inside the first encryption and/or second encryption; but typically it will stay outside encryption. That is, as, e.g., metadata, the encrypted user identifier  5908  may not be encrypted by, e.g., level-one encryption entity  5912  when it encrypts user data  5902 , but will instead remain associated “outside” the encryption of user data  5902 . 
     Level-one encryption entity  5912  may then send the level-one encrypted data  5916  and associated encrypted user identifier  5908  to a level-two encryption entity  5918  for a second level of encryption, e.g., using public key cryptography or the pseudo-public key cryptography described above, e.g., using level-two pseudo-public key  5919 . At this time, level-two encryption entity  5918  may receive a hash or one-way hash  5922  of encrypted user identifier  5908 , e.g., “Encrypted-Name.” The hash or one-way hash  5922  of the encrypted user identifier  5908  may be created by user identifier encryption entity  5906  (see  5910 ). The one-way hash  5922  may be attached as metadata to level-two encrypted data  5924 , for example by substitution of the attached metadata “Encrypted-Name.” Identification of the correct level-one encrypted data  5916  and one-way hash  5922  pair may be coordinated through level-one encryption entity  5912 , or preferably, Name-to-Keyco may give to the level-two encryptor  5918  the association between Encrypted-Name and the one-way hash  5922 , in which case encrypted user identifier  5908  (Encrypted-Name) may be used as the identifier by level-two encryptor  5918  to pair level-two encrypted data  5924  and the hash that encodes the source of that data. Level-two encryptor  5918  may or may not then purge its records of the association between encrypted user identifier  5908  and one-way hash  5922 . 
     After pairing level-two encrypted data  5924  and one-way hash  5922 , level-two encryptor  5918  may send both pieces, with one-way hash  5922  associated with level-two encrypted data  5924 , as e.g., metadata, to encrypted data repository  5926 . The repository may be run by a data services company, a telecommunications company, a bank, a government entity, or other trusted storage service provider. 
     Encrypted data repository  5926  may store the one-way hash  5922  associated with level-two encrypted data  5924  in a secure “double-encrypted lockbox”  5928 . Encrypted data repository  5926  may index the contents of the double-encrypted lockbox according to one-way hash  5922 , level-two encrypted data  5924 , or some other feature of the received encrypted data. 
     Upon receiving a request (and optionally authentication of the request) for retrieval of the one-way hash  5922  associated with level-two encrypted data  5928  in the double-encrypted lockbox, encrypted data repository  5926  may send one-way hash  5922  associated with level-two encrypted data  5924  back to level-two encryptor  5918  for level-two decryption  5938 . In this situation, if the relationship between one-way hash  5922  and encrypted user identifier  5908  had been purged by level-two encryptor  5918  as described above, level-two encryptor  5918  may need to consult user identifier encryption entity  5906 , e.g., Name-to-Keyco to re-establish “Encrypted-Name” as the associated metadata, which in this instance functions as a key-pair designator, allowing level-two decryptor  5938  to find the appropriate private key in its possession for decryption of the level-two encrypted data  5924 . 
     The encrypted user identifier, e.g., “Encrypted Name” may serve as a key-pair designator attached to the level-two encrypted data by Double Encrypt Co, e.g., as metadata. After retrieval, this allows Double Encrypt Co to match a private key with the corresponding retrieved level-two encrypted data. This works because Double Encrypt Co generated the key pair for level-two encryption/decryption, and can therefore associate the private key for decryption with “Encrypted Name,” e.g. Alternatively, the one-way hash  5922  may be used for this purpose. 
     In other words, the one-way hash  5922  may be associated in Double Encrypt Co&#39;s records with either a key-pair for decryption of the specific level-two encrypted data (e.g., as a key-pair designator) or the encrypted user identifier (e.g., “Encrypted-Name”) directly as a key-pair designator according to, e.g., public key cryptography. 
     Because a user may ask for their double-encrypted lockboxes days or years after they deposit them in an encrypted data repository, there will either need to be tracking/storage of the key pairs for first/second encryptions or cycling of the key pairs. For example, for decryption, cycling of the key pairs involves trial and error use of private keys to find the one that works. 
     Next, after level-two-decryption  5938 , level-one decrypted data  5942  with attached “Encrypted-Name” (e.g., as metadata) may be sent for level-one decryption  5944  via, e.g., public key cryptography, perhaps using pseudo-private key  5946 . At this point, encrypted user identifier  5908 , e.g., “Encrypted-Name” may be decrypted using, e.g., a private key of a public-private key pair generated by software created by the user identifier encryption entity  5906 , e.g., Name-to-Keyco. User  5900  at her machine may request that Name-to-Keyco send the private key to decrypt “Encrypted-Name”; alternatively, the “Encrypted-Name” portion could be given to Name-to-Keyco for them to cycle through their keys to find the private key that unlocks the “Encrypted-Name” as described above. Ultimately user  5900  receives her original data from storage, as unencrypted cleartext. 
     Name-to-Keyco could use this same technique to create an opaque identifier for basically any metadata, such as dates, time stamps, device identifiers, financial accounts, etc. so that the repository entity ultimately storing the doubly encrypted data, e.g., Trustco could see but not understand the content and source of the data. 
     As used herein, public-key cryptography may refer to a system requiring two separate keys, one of which is secret and one of which is public. Although different, the two parts of the key pair are mathematically linked. One key locks or encrypts the cleartext, and the other unlocks or decrypts the encrypted text. Neither key can perform both functions by itself. The public key may be published without compromising security, while the private key must not be revealed to anyone not authorized to read the messages. 
     Public-key cryptography uses asymmetric key algorithms and can also be referred to by the more generic term “asymmetric key cryptography.” The algorithms used for public key cryptography are based on mathematical relationships (the most notable ones being the prime integer factorization and discrete logarithm problems) that presumably have no efficient solution. Although it is computationally easy for the intended recipient to generate the public and private keys, to decrypt the message using the private key, and easy for the sender to encrypt the message using the public key, it is extremely difficult (or effectively impossible) for anyone to derive the private key, based only on their knowledge of the public key. This is why, unlike symmetric key algorithms, a public key algorithm does not require a secure initial exchange of one (or more) secret keys between the sender and receiver. The use of these algorithms also allows the authenticity of a message to be checked by creating a digital signature of the message using the private key, which can then be verified by using the public key. In practice, only a hash of the message is typically encrypted for signature verification purposes. 
     As used herein, a hash may refer to an algorithm that takes an arbitrary block of data and returns a fixed-size bit string, the cryptographic hash value, such that any (accidental or intentional) change to the data will (with very high probability) change the hash value. Some well known hash functions include well-known hash functions, including MD4, MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-2. A one-way hash is one for which it is impossible or nearly impossible to derive the original text from the hash string. 
     Operational/Functional Language Herein Describes Machines/Machine Control/Machine-Controlled Processes Unless Context Dictates Otherwise 
     The claims, description, and drawings of this application may describe one or more of the instant technologies in operational/functional language, for example as a set of operations to be performed by a computer. Such operational/functional description in most instances would be understood by one skilled in the art as specifically-configured hardware (e.g., because a general purpose computer in effect becomes a special purpose computer once it is programmed to perform particular functions pursuant to instructions from program software). 
     Importantly, although the operational/functional descriptions described herein are understandable by the human mind, they are not abstract ideas of the operations/functions divorced from computational implementation of those operations/functions. Rather, the operations/functions represent a specification for massively complex computational machines or other means. As discussed in detail below, the operational/functional language must be read in its proper technological context, i.e., as concrete specifications for physical implementations. The logical operations/functions described herein are a distillation of machine specifications or other physical mechanisms specified by the operations/functions such that the otherwise inscrutable machine specifications may be comprehensible to the human reader. The distillation also allows one of skill in the art to adapt the operational/functional description of the technology across many different specific vendors&#39; hardware configurations or platforms, without being limited to specific vendors&#39; hardware configurations or platforms. 
     Some of the present technical description (e.g., detailed description, drawings, claims, etc.) may be set forth in terms of logical operations/functions. As described in more detail herein, these logical operations/functions are not representations of abstract ideas, but rather are representative of static or sequenced specifications of various hardware elements. Differently stated, unless context dictates otherwise, the logical operations/functions will be understood by those of skill in the art to be representative of static or sequenced specifications of various hardware elements. This is true because tools available to one of skill in the art to implement technical disclosures set forth in operational/functional formats—tools in the form of a high-level programming language (e.g., C, java, visual basic, etc.), or tools in the form of Very High speed Hardware Description Language (“VHDL,” which is a language that uses text to describe logic circuits)—are generators of static or sequenced specifications of various hardware configurations. This fact is sometimes obscured by the broad term “software,” but, as shown by the following explanation, those skilled in the art understand that what is termed “software” is a shorthand for a massively complex interchaining/specification of ordered-matter elements. The term “ordered-matter elements” may refer to physical components of computation, such as assemblies of electronic logic gates, molecular computing logic constituents, quantum computing mechanisms, etc. For example, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction, e.g., multiple levels of abstraction, from the details of the sequential organizations, states, inputs, outputs, etc., of the machines that a highlevel programming language actually specifies. See, e.g., Wikipedia, High-level programming language, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlevel_programming_language (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:00 GMT). In order to facilitate human comprehension, in many instances, high-level programming languages resemble or even share symbols with natural languages. See, e.g., Wikipedia, Natural language, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:00 GMT). 
     It has been argued that because high-level programming languages use strong abstraction (e.g., that they may resemble or share symbols with natural languages), they are therefore a “purely mental construct” (e.g., that “software”—a computer program or computer programming—is somehow an ineffable mental construct, because at a high level of abstraction, it can be conceived and understood by a human reader). This argument has been used to characterize technical description in the form of functions/operations as somehow “abstract ideas.” In fact, in technological arts (e.g., the information and communication technologies) this is not true. 
     The fact that high-level programming languages use strong abstraction to facilitate human understanding should not be taken as an indication that what is expressed is an abstract idea. In fact, those skilled in the art understand that just the opposite is true. If a high-level programming language is the tool used to implement a technical disclosure in the form of functions/operations, those skilled in the art will recognize that, far from being abstract, imprecise, “fuzzy,” or “mental” in any significant semantic sense, such a tool is instead a near incomprehensibly precise sequential specification of specific computational machines—the parts of which are built up by activating/selecting such parts from typically more general computational machines over time (e.g., clocked time). This fact is sometimes obscured by the superficial similarities between high-level programming languages and natural languages. These superficial similarities also may cause a glossing over of the fact that high-level programming language implementations ultimately perform valuable work by creating/controlling many different computational machines. 
     The many different computational machines that a high-level programming language specifies are almost unimaginably complex. At base, the hardware used in the computational machines typically consists of some type of ordered matter (e.g., traditional electronic devices (e.g., transistors), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), quantum devices, mechanical switches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, optical devices (e.g., optical interference devices), molecules, etc.) that are arranged to form logic gates. Logic gates are typically physical devices that may be electrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise driven to change physical state in order to create a physical reality of logic, such as Boolean logic. 
     Logic gates may be arranged to form logic circuits, which are typically physical devices that may be electrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise driven to create a physical reality of certain logical functions. Types of logic circuits include such devices as multiplexers, registers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), computer memory, etc., each type of which may be combined to form yet other types of physical devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU)—the best known of which is the microprocessor. A modern microprocessor will often contain more than one hundred million logic gates in its many logic circuits (and often more than a billion transistors). See, e.g., Wikipedia, Logic gates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_gates (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:03 GMT). 
     The logic circuits forming the microprocessor are arranged to provide a microarchitecture that will carry out the instructions defined by that microprocessor&#39;s defined Instruction Set Architecture. The Instruction Set Architecture is the part of the microprocessor architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external Input/Output. See, e.g., Wikipedia, Computer architecture, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_architecture (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:03 GMT). 
     The Instruction Set Architecture includes a specification of the machine language that can be used by programmers to use/control the microprocessor. Since the machine language instructions are such that they may be executed directly by the microprocessor, typically they consist of strings of binary digits, or bits. For example, a typical machine language instruction might be many bits long (e.g., 32, 64, or 128 bit strings are currently common). A typical machine language instruction might take the form “11110000101011110000111100111111” (a 32 bit instruction). It is significant here that, although the machine language instructions are written as sequences of binary digits, in actuality those binary digits specify physical reality. For example, if certain semiconductors are used to make the operations of Boolean logic a physical reality, the apparently mathematical bits “1” and “0” in a machine language instruction actually constitute a shorthand that specifies the application of specific voltages to specific wires. For example, in some semiconductor technologies, the binary number “1” (e.g., logical “1”) in a machine language instruction specifies around +5 volts applied to a specific “wire” (e.g., metallic traces on a printed circuit board) and the binary number “0” (e.g., logical “0”) in a machine language instruction specifies around −5 volts applied to a specific “wire.” In addition to specifying voltages of the machines&#39; configurations, such machine language instructions also select out and activate specific groupings of logic gates from the millions of logic gates of the more general machine. Thus, far from abstract mathematical expressions, machine language instruction programs, even though written as a string of zeros and ones, specify many, many constructed physical machines or physical machine states. 
     Machine language is typically incomprehensible by most humans (e.g., the above example was just ONE instruction, and some personal computers execute more than two billion instructions every second). See, e.g., Wikipedia, Instructions per second, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:04 GMT). Thus, programs written in machine language—which may be tens of millions of machine language instructions long—are incomprehensible to most humans. In view of this, early assembly languages were developed that used mnemonic codes to refer to machine language instructions, rather than using the machine language instructions&#39; numeric values directly (e.g., for performing a multiplication operation, programmers coded the abbreviation “mult,” which represents the binary number “011000” in MIPS machine code). While assembly languages were initially a great aid to humans controlling the microprocessors to perform work, in time the complexity of the work that needed to be done by the humans outstripped the ability of humans to control the microprocessors using merely assembly languages. 
     At this point, it was noted that the same tasks needed to be done over and over, and the machine language necessary to do those repetitive tasks was the same. In view of this, compilers were created. A compiler is a device that takes a statement that is more comprehensible to a human than either machine or assembly language, such as “add 2+2 and output the result,” and translates that human understandable statement into a complicated, tedious, and immense machine language code (e.g., millions of 32, 64, or 128 bit length strings). Compilers thus translate high-level programming language into machine language. This compiled machine language, as described above, is then used as the technical specification which sequentially constructs and causes the interoperation of many different computational machines such that useful, tangible, and concrete work is done. For example, as indicated above, such machine language—the compiled version of the higher-level language—functions as a technical specification which selects out hardware logic gates, specifies voltage levels, voltage transition timings, etc., such that the useful work is accomplished by the hardware. 
     Thus, a functional/operational technical description, when viewed by one of skill in the art, is far from an abstract idea. Rather, such a functional/operational technical description, when understood through the tools available in the art such as those just described, is instead understood to be a humanly understandable representation of a hardware specification, the complexity and specificity of which far exceeds the comprehension of most any one human. With this in mind, those skilled in the art will understand that any such operational/functional technical descriptions—in view of the disclosures herein and the knowledge of those skilled in the art—may be understood as operations made into physical reality by (a) one or more interchained physical machines, (b) interchained logic gates configured to create one or more physical machine(s) representative of sequential/combinatorial logic(s), (c) interchained ordered matter making up logic gates (e.g., interchained electronic devices (e.g., transistors), DNA, quantum devices, mechanical switches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, molecules, etc.) that create physical reality of logic(s), or (d) virtually any combination of the foregoing. Indeed, any physical object which has a stable, measurable, and changeable state may be used to construct a machine based on the above technical description. Charles Babbage, for example, constructed the first mechanized computational apparatus out of wood with the mechanism powered by cranking a handle. 
     Thus, far from being understood as an abstract idea, those skilled in the art will recognize a functional/operational technical description as a humanly understandable representation of one or more almost unimaginably complex and time sequenced hardware instantiations. The fact that functional/operational technical descriptions might lend themselves readily to high-level computing languages (or high-level block diagrams for that matter) that share some words, structures, phrases, etc. with natural language should not be taken as an indication that such functional/operational technical descriptions are abstract ideas, or mere expressions of abstract ideas. In fact, as outlined herein, in the technological arts this is simply not true. When viewed through the tools available to those of skill in the art, such functional/operational technical descriptions are seen as specifying hardware configurations of almost unimaginable complexity. 
     As outlined above, the reason for the use of functional/operational technical descriptions is at least twofold. First, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions allows near-infinitely complex machines and machine operations arising from interchained hardware elements to be described in a manner that the human mind can process (e.g., by mimicking natural language and logical narrative flow). Second, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists the person of skill in the art in understanding the described subject matter by providing a description that is more or less independent of any specific vendor&#39;s piece(s) of hardware. 
     The use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists the person of skill in the art in understanding the described subject matter since, as is evident from the above discussion, one could easily, although not quickly, transcribe the technical descriptions set forth in this document as trillions of ones and zeroes, billions of single lines of assembly-level machine code, millions of logic gates, thousands of gate arrays, or any number of intermediate levels of abstractions. However, if any such low-level technical descriptions were to replace the present technical description, a person of skill in the art could encounter undue difficulty in implementing the disclosure, because such a low-level technical description would likely add complexity without a corresponding benefit (e.g., by describing the subject matter utilizing the conventions of one or more vendor-specific pieces of hardware). 
     Thus, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists those of skill in the art by separating the technical descriptions from the conventions of any vendor-specific piece of hardware. 
     In view of the foregoing, the logical operations/functions set forth in the present technical description are representative of static or sequenced specifications of various ordered-matter elements, in order that such specifications may be comprehensible to the human mind and adaptable to create many various hardware configurations. The logical operations/functions disclosed herein should be treated as such, and should not be disparagingly characterized as abstract ideas merely because the specifications they represent are presented in a manner that one of skill in the art can readily understand and apply in a manner independent of a specific vendor&#39;s hardware implementation. 
     One skilled in the art will recognize that the herein described components (e.g., operations), devices, objects, and the discussion accompanying them are used as examples for the sake of conceptual clarity and that various configuration modifications are contemplated. Consequently, as used herein, the specific exemplars set forth and the accompanying discussion are intended to be representative of their more general classes. In general, use of any specific exemplar is intended to be representative of its class, and the non-inclusion of specific components (e.g., operations), devices, and objects should not be taken as limiting. 
     Although a user may be shown/described herein as a single illustrated figure, those skilled in the art will appreciate that any user may be representative of a human user, a robotic user (e.g., computational entity), and/or substantially any combination thereof (e.g., a user may be assisted by one or more robotic agents) unless context dictates otherwise. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, in general, the same may be said of “sender” and/or other entity-oriented terms as such terms are used herein unless context dictates otherwise. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specific exemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies are representative of more general processes and/or devices and/or technologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filed herewith and/or elsewhere in the present application. 
     Those having skill in the art will recognize that the state of the art has progressed to the point where there is little distinction left between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; the use of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software can become significant) a design choice representing cost vs. efficiency tradeoffs. Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet again alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles by which the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies described herein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that optical aspects of implementations will typically employ optically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware. 
     In some implementations described herein, logic and similar implementations may include software or other control structures. Electronic circuitry, for example, may have one or more paths of electrical current constructed and arranged to implement various functions as described herein. In some implementations, one or more media may be configured to bear a device-detectable implementation when such media hold or transmit a device detectable instructions operable to perform as described herein. In some variants, for example, implementations may include an update or modification of existing software or firmware, or of gate arrays or programmable hardware, such as by performing a reception of or a transmission of one or more instructions in relation to one or more operations described herein. Alternatively or additionally, in some variants, an implementation may include special-purpose hardware, software, firmware components, and/or general-purpose components executing or otherwise invoking special-purpose components. Specifications or other implementations may be transmitted by one or more instances of tangible transmission media as described herein, optionally by packet transmission or otherwise by passing through distributed media at various times. 
     Alternatively or additionally, implementations may include executing a special-purpose instruction sequence or invoking circuitry for enabling, triggering, coordinating, requesting, or otherwise causing one or more occurrences of virtually any functional operations described herein. In some variants, operational or other logical descriptions herein may be expressed as source code and compiled or otherwise invoked as an executable instruction sequence. In some contexts, for example, implementations may be provided, in whole or in part, by source code, such as C++, or other code sequences. In other implementations, source or other code implementation, using commercially available and/or techniques in the art, may be compiled//implemented/translated/converted into a high-level descriptor language (e.g., initially implementing described technologies in C or C++ programming language and thereafter converting the programming language implementation into a logic-synthesizable language implementation, a hardware description language implementation, a hardware design simulation implementation, and/or other such similar mode(s) of expression). For example, some or all of a logical expression (e.g., computer programming language implementation) may be manifested as a Verilog-type hardware description (e.g., via Hardware Description Language (HDL) and/or Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Descriptor Language (VHDL)) or other circuitry model which may then be used to create a physical implementation having hardware (e.g., an Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Those skilled in the art will recognize how to obtain, configure, and optimize suitable transmission or computational elements, material supplies, actuators, or other structures in light of these teachings. 
     The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, several portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearing medium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable type medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory, etc.; and a transmission type medium such as a digital and/or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link (e.g., transmitter, receiver, transmission logic, reception logic, etc.), etc.). 
     In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various aspects described herein which can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, and/or any combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various types of “electrical circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “electrical circuitry” includes, but is not limited to, electrical circuitry having at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specific integrated circuit, electrical circuitry forming a general purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g., a general purpose computer configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein, or a microprocessor configured by a computer program which at least partially carries out processes and/or devices described herein), electrical circuitry forming a memory device (e.g., forms of memory (e.g., random access, flash, read only, etc.)), and/or electrical circuitry forming a communications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch, optical-electrical equipment, etc.). Those having skill in the art will recognize that the subject matter described herein may be implemented in an analog or digital fashion or some combination thereof. 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize that at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a data processing system. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a data processing system generally includes one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, memory such as volatile or non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors or digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one or more interaction devices (e.g., a touch pad, a touch screen, an antenna, etc.), and/or control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing position and/or velocity; control motors for moving and/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A data processing system may be implemented utilizing suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing/communication and/or network computing/communication systems. 
     Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the art to implement devices and/or processes and/or systems, and thereafter use engineering and/or other practices to integrate such implemented devices and/or processes and/or systems into more comprehensive devices and/or processes and/or systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes and/or systems described herein can be integrated into other devices and/or processes and/or systems via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that examples of such other devices and/or processes and/or systems might include—as appropriate to context and application—all or part of devices and/or processes and/or systems of (a) an air conveyance (e.g., an airplane, rocket, helicopter, etc.), (b) a ground conveyance (e.g., a car, truck, locomotive, tank, armored personnel carrier, etc.), (c) a building (e.g., a home, warehouse, office, etc.), (d) an appliance (e.g., a refrigerator, a washing machine, a dryer, etc.), (e) a communications system (e.g., a networked system, a telephone system, a Voice over IP system, etc.), (f) a business entity (e.g., an Internet Service Provider (ISP) entity such as Comcast Cable, Century Link, Southwestern Bell, etc.), or (g) a wired/wireless services entity (e.g., Sprint, Verizon, AT&amp;T, etc.), etc. 
     The claims, description, and drawings of this application may describe one or more of the instant technologies in operational/functional language, for example as a set of operations to be performed by a computer. Such operational/functional description in most instances would be understood by one skilled the art as specifically-configured hardware (e.g., because a general purpose computer in effect becomes a special purpose computer once it is programmed to perform particular functions pursuant to instructions from program software). 
     Importantly, although the operational/functional descriptions described herein are understandable by the human mind, they are not abstract ideas of the operations/functions divorced from computational implementation of those operations/functions. Rather, the operations/functions represent a specification for the massively complex computational machines or other means. As discussed in detail below, the operational/functional language must be read in its proper technological context, i.e., as concrete specifications for physical implementations. 
     The logical operations/functions described herein are a distillation of machine specifications or other physical mechanisms specified by the operations/functions such that the otherwise inscrutable machine specifications may be comprehensible to the human mind. The distillation also allows one of skill in the art to adapt the operational/functional description of the technology across many different specific vendors&#39; hardware configurations or platforms, without being limited to specific vendors&#39; hardware configurations or platforms. 
     Some of the present technical description (e.g., detailed description, drawings, claims, etc.) may be set forth in terms of logical operations/functions. As described in more detail in the following paragraphs, these logical operations/functions are not representations of abstract ideas, but rather representative of static or sequenced specifications of various hardware elements. Differently stated, unless context dictates otherwise, the logical operations/functions will be understood by those of skill in the art to be representative of static or sequenced specifications of various hardware elements. This is true because tools available to one of skill in the art to implement technical disclosures set forth in operational/functional formats—tools in the form of a high-level programming language (e.g., C, java, visual basic), etc.), or tools in the form of Very high speed Hardware Description Language (“VHDL,” which is a language that uses text to describe logic circuits)—are generators of static or sequenced specifications of various hardware configurations. This fact is sometimes obscured by the broad term “software,” but, as shown by the following explanation, those skilled in the art understand that what is termed “software” is a shorthand for a massively complex interchaining/specification of ordered-matter elements. The term “ordered-matter elements” may refer to physical components of computation, such as assemblies of electronic logic gates, molecular computing logic constituents, quantum computing mechanisms, etc. 
     For example, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction, e.g., multiple levels of abstraction, from the details of the sequential organizations, states, inputs, outputs, etc., of the machines that a high-level programming language actually specifies. See, e.g., Wikipedia, High-level programming language, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-level_programming_language (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:00 GMT) (URL included merely to provide written description). In order to facilitate human comprehension, in many instances, high-level programming languages resemble or even share symbols with natural languages. See, e.g., Wikipedia, Natural language, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:00 GMT) (URL included merely to provide written description). 
     It has been argued that because high-level programming languages use strong abstraction (e.g., that they may resemble or share symbols with natural languages), they are therefore a “purely mental construct.” (e.g., that “software”—a computer program or computer programming—is somehow an ineffable mental construct, because at a high level of abstraction, it can be conceived and understood in the human mind). This argument has been used to characterize technical description in the form of functions/operations as somehow “abstract ideas.” In fact, in technological arts (e.g., the information and communication technologies) this is not true. 
     The fact that high-level programming languages use strong abstraction to facilitate human understanding should not be taken as an indication that what is expressed is an abstract idea. In fact, those skilled in the art understand that just the opposite is true. If a high-level programming language is the tool used to implement a technical disclosure in the form of functions/operations, those skilled in the art will recognize that, far from being abstract, imprecise, “fuzzy,” or “mental” in any significant semantic sense, such a tool is instead a near incomprehensibly precise sequential specification of specific computational machines—the parts of which are built up by activating/selecting such parts from typically more general computational machines over time (e.g., clocked time). This fact is sometimes obscured by the superficial similarities between high-level programming languages and natural languages. These superficial similarities also may cause a glossing over of the fact that high-level programming language implementations ultimately perform valuable work by creating/controlling many different computational machines. 
     The many different computational machines that a high-level programming language specifies are almost unimaginably complex. At base, the hardware used in the computational machines typically consists of some type of ordered matter (e.g., traditional electronic devices (e.g., transistors), deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), quantum devices, mechanical switches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, optical devices (e.g., optical interference devices), molecules, etc.) that are arranged to form logic gates. Logic gates are typically physical devices that may be electrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise driven to change physical state in order to create a physical reality of Boolean logic. 
     Logic gates may be arranged to form logic circuits, which are typically physical devices that may be electrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise driven to create a physical reality of certain logical functions. Types of logic circuits include such devices as multiplexers, registers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), computer memory, etc., each type of which may be combined to form yet other types of physical devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU)—the best known of which is the microprocessor. A modern microprocessor will often contain more than one hundred million logic gates in its many logic circuits (and often more than a billion transistors). See, e.g., Wikipedia, Logic gates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_gates (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:03 GMT) (URL included merely to provide written description). 
     The logic circuits forming the microprocessor are arranged to provide a microarchitecture that will carry out the instructions defined by that microprocessor&#39;s defined Instruction Set Architecture. The Instruction Set Architecture is the part of the microprocessor architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external Input/Output. See, e.g., Wikipedia, Computer architecture, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_architecture (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:03 GMT) (URL included merely to provide written description). 
     The Instruction Set Architecture includes a specification of the machine language that can be used by programmers to use/control the microprocessor. Since the machine language instructions are such that they may be executed directly by the microprocessor, typically they consist of strings of binary digits, or bits. For example, a typical machine language instruction might be many bits long (e.g., 32, 64, or 128 bit strings are currently common). A typical machine language instruction might take the form “11110000101011110000111100111111” (a 32 bit instruction). 
     It is significant here that, although the machine language instructions are written as sequences of binary digits, in actuality those binary digits specify physical reality. For example, if certain semiconductors are used to make the operations of Boolean logic a physical reality, the apparently mathematical bits “1” and “0” in a machine language instruction actually constitute a shorthand that specifies the application of specific voltages to specific wires. For example, in some semiconductor technologies, the binary number “1” (e.g., logical “1”) in a machine language instruction specifies around +5 volts applied to a specific “wire” (e.g., metallic traces on a printed circuit board) and the binary number “0” (e.g., logical “0”) in a machine language instruction specifies around −5 volts applied to a specific “wire.” In addition to specifying voltages of the machines&#39; configuration, such machine language instructions also select out and activate specific groupings of logic gates from the millions of logic gates of the more general machine. Thus, far from abstract mathematical expressions, machine language instruction programs, even though written as a string of zeros and ones, specify many, many constructed physical machines or physical machine states. 
     Machine language is typically incomprehensible by most humans (e.g., the above example was just ONE instruction, and some personal computers execute more than two billion instructions every second). See, e.g., Wikipedia, Instructions per second, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second (as of Jun. 5, 2012, 21:04 GMT) (URL included merely to provide written description). 
     Thus, programs written in machine language—which may be tens of millions of machine language instructions long—are incomprehensible. In view of this, early assembly languages were developed that used mnemonic codes to refer to machine language instructions, rather than using the machine language instructions&#39; numeric values directly (e.g., for performing a multiplication operation, programmers coded the abbreviation “mult,” which represents the binary number “011000” in MIPS machine code). While assembly languages were initially a great aid to humans controlling the microprocessors to perform work, in time the complexity of the work that needed to be done by the humans outstripped the ability of humans to control the microprocessors using merely assembly languages. 
     At this point, it was noted that the same tasks needed to be done over and over, and the machine language necessary to do those repetitive tasks was the same. In view of this, compilers were created. A compiler is a device that takes a statement that is more comprehensible to a human than either machine or assembly language, such as “add 2+2 and output the result,” and translates that human understandable statement into a complicated, tedious, and immense machine language code (e.g., millions of 32, 64, or 128 bit length strings). Compilers thus translate high-level programming language into machine language. 
     This compiled machine language, as described above, is then used as the technical specification which sequentially constructs and causes the interoperation of many different computational machines such that humanly useful, tangible, and concrete work is done. For example, as indicated above, such machine language—the compiled version of the higher-level language—functions as a technical specification which selects out hardware logic gates, specifies voltage levels, voltage transition timings, etc., such that the humanly useful work is accomplished by the hardware. 
     Thus, a functional/operational technical description, when viewed by one of skill in the art, is far from an abstract idea. Rather, such a functional/operational technical description, when understood through the tools available in the art such as those just described, is instead understood to be a humanly understandable representation of a hardware specification, the complexity and specificity of which far exceeds the comprehension of most any one human. With this in mind, those skilled in the art will understand that any such operational/functional technical descriptions—in view of the disclosures herein and the knowledge of those skilled in the art—may be understood as operations made into physical reality by (a) one or more interchained physical machines, (b) interchained logic gates configured to create one or more physical machine(s) representative of sequential/combinatorial logic(s), (c) interchained ordered matter making up logic gates (e.g., interchained electronic devices (e.g., transistors), DNA, quantum devices, mechanical switches, optics, fluidics, pneumatics, molecules, etc.) that create physical reality representative of logic(s), or (d) virtually any combination of the foregoing. Indeed, any physical object which has a stable, measurable, and changeable state may be used to construct a machine based on the above technical description. Charles Babbage, for example, constructed the first computer out of wood and powered by cranking a handle. 
     Thus, far from being understood as an abstract idea, those skilled in the art will recognize a functional/operational technical description as a humanly-understandable representation of one or more almost unimaginably complex and time sequenced hardware instantiations. The fact that functional/operational technical descriptions might lend themselves readily to high-level computing languages (or high-level block diagrams for that matter) that share some words, structures, phrases, etc. with natural language simply cannot be taken as an indication that such functional/operational technical descriptions are abstract ideas, or mere expressions of abstract ideas. In fact, as outlined herein, in the technological arts this is simply not true. When viewed through the tools available to those of skill in the art, such functional/operational technical descriptions are seen as specifying hardware configurations of almost unimaginable complexity. 
     As outlined above, the reason for the use of functional/operational technical descriptions is at least twofold. First, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions allows near-infinitely complex machines and machine operations arising from interchained hardware elements to be described in a manner that the human mind can process (e.g., by mimicking natural language and logical narrative flow). Second, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists the person of skill in the art in understanding the described subject matter by providing a description that is more or less independent of any specific vendor&#39;s piece(s) of hardware. 
     The use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists the person of skill in the art in understanding the described subject matter since, as is evident from the above discussion, one could easily, although not quickly, transcribe the technical descriptions set forth in this document as trillions of ones and zeroes, billions of single lines of assembly-level machine code, millions of logic gates, thousands of gate arrays, or any number of intermediate levels of abstractions. However, if any such low-level technical descriptions were to replace the present technical description, a person of skill in the art could encounter undue difficulty in implementing the disclosure, because such a low-level technical description would likely add complexity without a corresponding benefit (e.g., by describing the subject matter utilizing the conventions of one or more vendor-specific pieces of hardware). Thus, the use of functional/operational technical descriptions assists those of skill in the art by separating the technical descriptions from the conventions of any vendor-specific piece of hardware. 
     In view of the foregoing, the logical operations/functions set forth in the present technical description are representative of static or sequenced specifications of various ordered-matter elements, in order that such specifications may be comprehensible to the human mind and adaptable to create many various hardware configurations. The logical operations/functions disclosed herein should be treated as such, and should not be disparagingly characterized as abstract ideas merely because the specifications they represent are presented in a manner that one of skill in the art can readily understand and apply in a manner independent of a specific vendor&#39;s hardware implementation. 
     In certain cases, use of a system or method may occur in a territory even if components are located outside the territory. For example, in a distributed computing context, use of a distributed computing system may occur in a territory even though parts of the system may be located outside of the territory (e.g., relay, server, processor, signal-bearing medium, transmitting computer, receiving computer, etc. located outside the territory). 
     A sale of a system or method may likewise occur in a territory even if components of the system or method are located and/or used outside the territory. 
     Further, implementation of at least part of a system for performing a method in one territory does not preclude use of the system in another territory. 
     All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in any Application Data Sheet are incorporated herein by reference, to the extent not inconsistent herewith. 
     The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures may be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being “operably connected,” or “operably coupled,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being “operably couplable,” to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components, and/or wirelessly interactable, and/or wirelessly interacting components, and/or logically interacting, and/or logically interactable components. 
     In some instances, one or more components may be referred to herein as “configured to,” “configured by,” “configurable to,” “operable/operative to,” “adapted/adaptable,” “able to,” “conformable/conformed to,” etc. Those skilled in the art will recognize that such terms (e.g. “configured to”) can generally encompass active-state components and/or inactive-state components and/or standby-state components, unless context requires otherwise. 
     With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations are not expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity. 
     While particular aspects of the present subject matter described herein have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from the subject matter described herein and its broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to claims containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that typically a disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms unless context dictates otherwise. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be typically understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.” 
     With respect to the appended claims, those skilled in the art will appreciate that recited operations therein may generally be performed in any order. Also, although various operational flows are presented in a sequence(s), it should be understood that the various operations may be performed in other orders than those which are illustrated, or may be performed concurrently. Examples of such alternate orderings may include overlapping, interleaved, interrupted, reordered, incremental, preparatory, supplemental, simultaneous, reverse, or other variant orderings, unless context dictates otherwise. Furthermore, terms like “responsive to,” “related to,” or other past-tense adjectives are generally not intended to exclude such variants, unless context dictates otherwise. 
     While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.