Patent Publication Number: US-2023141014-A1

Title: System and method for distribution of digital currency using a centralized system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority from the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application no. 63/270,271 filed on Oct. 21, 2021, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTION OF DIGITAL CURRENCY USING A CENTRALIZED SYSTEM”, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the generation and distribution of digital currency. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Typically, countries mandate the printing of money and the national mint creates validated serial numbers for the issued units of currency. However, printed/coined currency has a number of disadvantages, as there is limited ability of a government to track physical currency throughout an economy, which can present several serious threats to sovereign nations. These threats can include issues such as but not limited to: inability to automatically detect and confiscate compromised currency (i.e. counterfeited), inability to easily confiscate existing physical currency which held or otherwise used by nefarious individuals/organizations; increasing cost of printing money, as physical money requires physical minting; possible counterfeiting as physical money security measures (e.g. watermarks, etc.) continue to be overcome by improved counterfeiting methods; tax evasion as money and transactions cannot always be tracked to an individual person/organization; inefficiencies in the collection of taxes at point of purchase; money laundering; increasing costs of international money remittance and international payments as the physical currency requires intermediary US or foreign banks to facilitate the international movement of money; and difficulties in auditable physical currency transfers for both local and international transactions. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for generating and distributing digital currency that obviates or mitigates at least some of the problems described above. 
     SUMMARY 
     Printed/coined currency has a number of disadvantages, as there is limited ability of a government to track physical currency throughout an economy, which can present several serious threats to sovereign nations including difficulties in auditable physical currency transfers for both local and international transactions. 
     In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for generating encrypted digital currency using a computer processor for executing a set of instructions stored on a computer readable medium to; generate a plurality of unique serial IDs and corresponding currency denominations for the digital currency, each of the currency denominations associated with at least one of the plurality of unique serial IDs; store the plurality of unique serial IDs and corresponding currency denominations in a centralized list; access the list and generate the encrypted digital values using each associated pair of the plurality of unique serial IDs and corresponding currency denominations for the digital currency, each of the encrypted digital values representing the encrypted digital currency; and send one or more of the encrypted digital values to an institution over a communications network for storage in a financial account as an account deposit of the one or more of the encrypted digital values. 
     In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for generating encrypted digital currency comprising: a computer processor for executing a set of instructions stored on a computer readable medium to; generate a plurality of unique serial IDs and corresponding currency denominations for the digital currency, each of the currency denominations associated with at least one of the plurality of unique serial IDs; store the plurality of unique serial IDs and corresponding currency denominations in a centralized list; access the list and generate the encrypted digital values using each associated pair of the plurality of unique serial IDs and corresponding currency denominations for the digital currency, each of the encrypted digital values representing the encrypted digital currency; and send one or more of the encrypted digital values to an institution over a communications network for storage in a financial account as an account deposit of the one or more of the encrypted digital values. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the following drawings in which: 
         FIG.  1    is block diagram of a digital currency system infrastructure including a number of networked components; 
         FIG.  2    is an example of a generated digital currency using the system of  FIG.  1   ; 
         FIG.  3    is an example transaction implemented for the digital currency of  FIG.  2   ; 
         FIG.  4    is an example flowchart for the generation and distribution of the digital currency provided by the system of  FIG.  1   ; and 
         FIG.  5    is an example computer system to implement any one or more of the network components of  FIG.  1   . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIG.  1   , shown is a digital currency generation system  10  having a cryptographic processor  12 , a list of serial numbered units of currency  14  (containing a plurality of line items  22  with respectively assigned unique serial numbers  26 —see further below), a repository/storage  16  of the generated digital currency  28  (e.g. represented as a series of encrypted digital values associated with the unique serial numbers  26 ), and a currency distributor  18  (i.e. a system used to release the generated digital currency  28  into general money circulation as further described below). The list  14  can be generated by a centralized financial institution  20 , such as a national mint of a country or other designated entity used to generate new currency (i.e. not in previous circulation in an established financial system—e.g. banking system) for a particular country, also referred to as a central bank of the specified country (for example the U.S. Department of the National Treasury for the United States of America). For example, the centralized financial institution  20  can operate the system  10  (e.g. the components  12 ,  14 ,  16 ,  18 ) and/or can outsource one or more of the components  12 , 14 , 16 , 18  to a third party system. As such, it is envisioned that all of the components  12 , 14 , 16 , 18  and bank  20  are coupled to one another via a communications network  101  (see  FIG.  3   ). 
     For example, the list  14  can contain the unique serial numbers  26  (e.g. numerical, alphanumeric, or any other sequence of characters useful in representing a plurality of individual unique serial IDs), such that each unique serial number is associated  23  with a corresponding specified denomination  24  of currency (e.g. $8, $100, etc.). As such, it is recognised that each unit denomination of digital currency can be assigned  23  a corresponding unique serial number  26 , as provided in the list  14 . It is recognised that the denominations  24  can be predefined denominations (e.g. $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, etc.) similar to today&#39;s denominations minted/printed by central banks. 
     As such, prior to the initiation of a financial transaction  100  (see for example  FIG.  3   ) by an account holder  32 , 33 , the cryptographic processor  12  processes each list item  22  (see  FIG.  2   ) in order to generate the corresponding encrypted digital unit(s) of currency  28 , for example on demand, as needed in order to complete the financial transaction  100  (e.g. provided as a good and/or service for a specified monetary amount equal to the generated digital unit(s) of currency  28 ). These encrypted digital units of currency  28  can then be stored in the repository  16  until eventually distributed by the currency distributor  18  (e.g. sent to a financial institution  30  which then releases the encrypted digital units of currency  28  into bank/financial accounts  32 , 33  of individuals), which then can be used in subsequent transactions  100  as desired. Accordingly, serial numbers  26 , 27  can also be referred to as serial IDs. 
     Alternatively, the encrypted digital units of currency  28  can be generated dynamically in response to a denomination request  102  received by the currency distributor  18 , for example as not immediately associated with a particular financial transaction  100 . For example, the financial transaction  100  (e.g. payment of an invoice) could involve a custom denomination  25  (e.g. $105000) to be transferred between a payor account  32  and a payee account  33 . In this case, as part of the injection of new currency into general circulation, the financial institution  30  can request  102  the generation of a customized denomination  25  (e.g. $105000) to the currency distributor  18 , which would then request the centralized financial institution  20  to generate a corresponding serial number  27  for the customized denomination  25  as an added custom line item  22  in the list  14 . It is recognised that the list can be used as record in order to explicitly associate the respective serial number  26  associated  23  with the corresponding digital unit/denomination of currency  24 . 
     Given the above, it is recognised that the encrypted digital units of currency  28  can be referred to as digital fiat currency. Importantly, it is recognised that the encrypted digital units of currency  28  are not represented as cryptocurrency as they do not use a distributed ledger based processing system in their generation. Rather, the system  10  is provided advantageously as a system that “mints” serial numbered units of digital currency  28  that can be transferred between any two entities  32 ,  33  (or several sequential entities) to facilitate the financial transaction  100 . The ownership of the encrypted digital units of currency  28  actually changes hands in each transaction  100  the same way physical money does, i.e. is transferred from one financial institution account  32  to another financial institution account  33 . It is recognised that the accounts  32 ,  33  could be ewallets associated with different individuals, for example stored on a digital device such as a smartphone, as desired. 
     This transfer allows the encrypted digital units of currency  28  to be tracked as they change hands, by the corresponding serial number  26 , 27  that each denomination  24 , 25  contains, rather than relying upon a distributed ledger based system (e.g. blockchain). Further, it is recognised that each entity account  32 ,  33  is known and has at some point provided information to satisfy financial regulatory requirements. In other words, each of the entity accounts can be registered in a financial system and thus associate with a particular legal entity (e.g. individual, company, etc.). 
     One advantage of the encrypted digital units of currency  28  and associated transactions  100  is that artificial intelligence in the system  10  (or third party artificial intelligence) can analyze transaction  100  patterns to discern patterns of money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion and/or any other criminal behavior, as each of the denominations  24 , 25  is identifiable via the associated serial number  26 , 27 . Further, the serial numbered  26 ,  27  nature of the encrypted digital units of currency  28  make them identifiable in cases of theft/hacking and can be removed from circulation not unlike a stolen credit card. New encrypted digital units of currency  28  can be issued to replace stolen/hacked currency  28 . 
     Referring again to  FIG.  1   , the list  14  can be referred to as a centralized ledger  14  (or general ledger  14 ), therefore not a distributed ledger, as the list  14  contains all denominations  24 , 25  and their associated  23 /assigned serial numbers  26 , 27  as the line items  22  in the central ledger  14 . It is recognised that the serial numbers  24 , 25  are also encrypted and therefore included as part of the encrypted digital units of currency  28 , as processed by the cryptographic processor  12 . A representative example of the generation of the encrypted digital units of currency  28  by the cryptographic processor  12  is shown in  FIG.  2    (i.e. the $50 denomination  24  with the serial number  26  as an individual line item  22  in the list  14 ). Further, the encrypted value 278583830991122 represents the encrypted digital unit of currency  28 , such that decryption of the value 278583830991122 would allow the identification of the encrypted digital unit of currency  28  to contain the denomination  24  of $50 and the serial number  26  of 209039, by example. 
     Cryptography of the cryptographic processor  12  is used to inhibit counterfeiting of the currency  28 . Further, more traditional systems such as block chain (utilizing a distributed ledger system) and/or other storage mediums can be used to record the history of ownership (e.g. via transactions  100 ) of every individual encrypted digital unit of currency  28 . However, it is recognised that the list  14  is embodied as a centralized ledger (or plurality of centralized ledgers  14 ) used to record the associations  23  between the unique serial numbers  26 ,  27  and the corresponding denominations  24 ,  25  (i.e. via the plurality of individual line items  22  in the centralized ledger(s)  14 ). 
     Cryptographic Processor  12   
     It is recognised that the cryptographic processor  12  can use any algorithm  13  desired, such as a specified function (e.g. hash) in combination with (or as an alternative to) a selected cryptographic key scheme (e.g. private/public key cryptography), in order to generate the encrypted digital units of currency  28 . 
     For example, a function of the algorithm  13  (e.g. including a function) can take an input (i.e. including the denomination  24 , 25  and the associated  23  serial number  26 , 27 ) and produce an output (i.e. the encrypted digital unit of currency  28 ). An input can generally be part of a whole. For example, the part can be a few numbers, whereas the whole in this case would be the entire integer set. The whole is also called the “domain”. Some common examples of domains are: integers, UTF-8 character set, all prime numbers. For example, if you feed N inputs to a function and if it produces N outputs, then the function is called a map function. Example: square(1, 2, 3, 4)=(1, 4, 9, 16). If you feed N inputs to a function and if it produces exactly 1 output, then the function is called a reduce function. Example: sum(1, 2, 3, 4)=10. In terms of hashing, hashing can be referred to as basically the act of using a hash function in order to produce a hash output. Examples of popular hash functions are SHA256, MD5, Bcyrpt, RIPEMD. A hash function takes an input of any size (e.g. the individual line item  22  contents). The output of a hash function is of fixed size (say, a 64-character text). The output is also called a digest used to represent the encrypted digital unit of currency  28 . In hashing, given an input, it is easy to compute the output. But it is practically impossible to reverse engineer a hash output and derive the input. Hence a hash function can also be called a one-way function. It is recognised that in general, one may not use hashing for encryption and decryption (as decryption could be impossible due to the one-way nature). Technically, encryption/decryption functions are map functions (N to N). A hash function can be referred to as a reduce function (N to 1). So fundamentally, cryptography and hashing can be different methods, though they may be combined for certain applications (such as public key cryptography). A hash output can be useful to represent an input. This representation is called a fingerprint. This is useful if you want to make sure your data is not tampered or corrupted when it travels in a network. The hash of “sent data” should always equal the hash of “received data”. Basically, comparison of data is the most common use of hashing. In this way, for example, the receiver of the encrypted digital units of currency  28  would be able to use the same hash function (used in its generation of the encrypted digital units of currency  28 ), in order to ascertain the validity of the encrypted digital units of currency  28 . 
     In terms of Public Key Cryptography, a network transaction  100  involves: a sender, the network pipe and a receiver. A network transaction  100  happens when a unit of data (encrypted digital units of currency  28 ) is moved at a particular point of time. Securing contents of a transaction  100  is of importance. By securing, we mean that confidentiality and tamper-proofing is taken care of. Public key cryptography solves the problem of signing, confidentiality and tamper-proofing of the contents (e.g. encrypted digital units of currency  28 ) of the network transactions  100 . Confidentiality is achieved by garbling (mixing up) the data in motion. A key is a number or a function that can be used to garble a piece of data (e.g. encrypted digital units of currency  28 ). This is called encryption. A key can be used to reconstruct the original data (e.g. the denomination  24 ,  25  and/or the serial number  26 , 27 ) from the garbled data. This is called decryption. If you use the same key for both encryption and decryption, then it is called symmetric cryptography. These key is private and is held only by the sender and the receiver. Asymmetric cryptography can be used to facilitate key-sharing for the cryptography algorithm  13 . Here, one would use one key for encryption and a different key for decryption. In public key cryptography, there are typically 5 elements: the actual data (e.g. encrypted digital units of currency  28 ), sender&#39;s public key, sender&#39;s private key, receiver&#39;s public key and receiver&#39;s private key. A public key is announced and known to the world. A private key is stored in the owner&#39;s mind or in a physical/digital safety locker. Private key is otherwise called a secret key. At a given point, a sender can make use of 3 keys: sender&#39;s private key, sender&#39;s public key and the receiver&#39;s public key. Similarly, a receiver can make use of receiver&#39;s private key, receiver&#39;s public key, and the sender&#39;s public key. Needless to say, one party can never know another party&#39;s private key. The combination of public &amp; private keys is called a key-pair. This pair can be generated by a computer. It does not matter the order in which you use the keys. You can encrypt a piece of data with a public key, but the decryption can be done only with its corresponding private key. The reverse is also true. You can encrypt data with your private key. But it can be decrypted only with your public key. A sender (e.g. the cryptographic processor  12 ) could always start with the receiver&#39;s public key for encryption. The receiver (e.g. the account  32 ,  33  holder) would use its own (receiver) private key for decryption. This fulfills the goal of confidentiality (data scrambling &amp; reconstruction). So confidentiality is achieved by using the receiver&#39;s key-pair. Additionally, the transaction  100  could utilize signing, as the receiver may not know who sent the data. It could have been sent by a hacker. So the sender could let the receiver know that the data is indeed sent by the sender. This process is called signing. 
     Signing can be done by attaching a small piece of additional data to the encrypted digital units of currency  28 ) called the signature. For example, it is recognised that a signature can be created by using the sender&#39;s key-pair. In this process, the sender first encrypts the data with sender&#39;s private key. Lets call the result sender-privkey-encrypted-data (this is the signature). Now sender combines the signature and the data. Let&#39;s call this “data+sender-privkey-encrypted-data”. The sender will again encrypt the “data+sender-privkey-encrypted-data” with the receiver&#39;s public key. Lets call this result receiver-pubkey-encrypted-data. This “wrapped and encrypted” data is sent over the network (note that message in transit is twice the intended size, and this problem is “fixed” later). No intruder can decipher this message as only the receiver&#39;s private key can decrypt receiver-pubkey-encrypted-data. The receiver would now take the receiver-pubkey-encrypted-data and decrypt it (for the first time) with the receiver&#39;s private key. The result would be “data+sender-privkey-encrypted-data”. Receiver alone can see the “data”, hence confidentiality is achieved. The receiver would now decrypt (for the second time) only the “sender-key-encrypted-data” using the sender&#39;s public key. Let&#39;s call this “data2”. If the “data2” matches with “data”, then receiver is sure that the message was indeed sent by the sender (because only sender&#39;s private key could have encrypted “data” to create “data2”). Data matching can also facilitate that message of the transaction  100  is not corrupted. Overall, a double-encryption process can be used in order to send the encrypted digital units of currency  28  via the transaction  100  (or to otherwise transfer the encrypted digital units of currency  28  from the currency distributor  18  to the financial institution  30 ). The sender needs to sign (with sender&#39;s private key) and sender needs to encrypt (with receiver&#39;s public key). Note that the message in transit can be twice the size of the intended message. This is because of the signature “sender-privkey-encrypted-data”. The size of the signature can be compressed by hashing the actual data and then encrypting only the hash. Hence, instead of encrypting a huge “data+sender-privkey-encrypted-data”, we can encrypt only the “data+sender-privkey-encrypted-hash”. 
     Advantages of the system  10  include that a government implementing the technology can facilitate the country&#39;s national mint  20  to issue their national currency in a digital format, i.e. the encrypted digital units of currency  28 . Accordingly, the system  10  uses the serial numbers  24 , 25  and uses cryptography (the algorithm  13  via the cryptographic processor  12 ) to generate units of legal digital currency  28 . Unlike crypto currency, the system  10  creates actual units of trackable currency, i.e. such that each unit of digital currency  28  has a serial number  26 ,  27  associated  23  with the specified denomination  24 ,  25 . Both the serial number  26 ,  27  and the specified denomination  24 ,  25  are encrypted as part of the code embodying the encrypted digital unit of currency  28 . Further, unlike cryptocurrency, the encrypted digital units of currency  28  uses a centralized ledger  14  to list the unique serial numbers  26 , 27  of each of the plurality of denominations  24 , 25  itemized in the list. For example, the list  14  can contain a plurality of unique serial numbers  26  associated  23  with a same value denomination  24  (e.g. different unique serial numbers  26  for each unit of the same denomination  24  value, thus representing a plurality of a defined denomination present in the list  14 ). For example, the centralized institution  20  can issue a plurality of the same denominations  24  (e.g. $20), each having a different unique serial number  26 . 
     As such, it is recognised that the system  10  can integrate into the existing currency minting processes of a country for the creation of a national currency, albeit in a digital format (e.g. encrypted digital units of currency  28 ). The can provide for a seamless creation of manageable, counterfeit proof, and trackable digital currency  28 . Further, the ability to track digital currency  28  throughout an economy can provide a long list of benefits and can solve several serious existing threats to sovereign nations, including the ability to detect and rescind compromised currency  28  units (i.e. counterfeited), as well as to cancel or otherwise recall existing digital currency  28  which is expected to be held or otherwise used by nefarious individuals/organizations. A further advantage of the encrypted digital units of currency  28  is that the currency  28  can be transferred without requiring any of the existing banking or credit card payment rails. 
     Other advantages of the currency  28  can include: reducing cost of printing money, as digital money  28  doesn&#39;t require physical minting; inhibiting possible counterfeiting as cryptographic public and private keys of the cryptographic processor  12  provide encrypted security; can reduce tax evasion as all money  28  and transactions  100  are trackable to an individual person; can facilitate governments to electronically collect taxes at point of purchase; can inhibit money laundering as artificial intelligence systems can be used to scan the transactions  100  (containing an identification of the serial numbers of the currency  28  used in the transaction  100 ) for patterns of money movement that are indicative of money laundering; reduce costs of international money remittance and international payments as the currency  28  does not require intermediary US or foreign banks to facilitate the international movement of money; can reduce losses due to theft or hacking as hacked or stolen funds can be automatically eliminated from circulation and replaced with new funds using the recall function of the system  10 ; and can improve a country&#39;s debt rating by providing the country with an auditable digital payments service for both local and international transactions  100  via the currency  28  and associated serial numbering  24 . 
     Referring to  FIG.  3   , shown is a transaction  100  process for the digital currency  28  using an electronic communication network  101  to distribute the digital currency  28  from the system  10  to a final destination of a retailer  40  (e.g. proving goods/services). As such, the digital currency  28  is purchased  1  or otherwise is deposited 2 into a sender&#39;s account  32 , once generated by the system  10 . It is recognised that the generation of the currency  28  can be asynchronous or synchronous, with respect to a request  102  by the sender. For example, in an asynchronous mode, the digital currency  28  can be generated and stored in the storage  16  (see  FIG.  1   ) as a predefined denomination  24  ($10, $20, etc.), before the system  10  eventually distributes the currency  28  via the currency distributor  18  at a later time/date. Alternatively, the system  10  can receive a custom request  102  from the sender (see  FIG.  1   ), which specifies the desired custom denomination  25  amount. Once requested, the system  10  can generate the currency  28  (with associated  23  serial number  27  and custom denomination  25 ) and then send  2  to the sender via the currency distributor  18  (see  FIGS.  1 ,  3   ). It is recognised that the distributor  18  can provide  2  the generated digital currency  28  to the sender due to the custom request  102 , can provide  2  the generated digital currency  28  to the sender due to a purchase request  1  (see  FIG.  3   ) for standardized (i.e. predefined) denomination(s)  24 , or can provide  2  the generated digital currency  28  to a financial institution  30  as part of the currency float distributed to financial institutions  30  overseen by the centralized bank  20 . 
     Further,  FIG.  3    shows an example distribution of the digital currency  28  to a recipient&#39;s account  33 , as another example of the transaction  100 . As such, the transaction  100  can represent a transfer of digital currency between sender/recipient, can represent a transfer of digital currency  28  between the system  10  and the sender&#39;s account  32 , and/or can represent the purchase of goods/services using the digital currency  28 . 
     Referring to  FIG.  4   , shown is an example method  300  for implementing the digital currency  28 . At step  302  generate a plurality of unique serial IDs  26 , 27  and corresponding currency denominations  24 , 25  for the digital currency, each of the currency denominations  24 , 25  associated with at least one of the plurality of unique serial IDs  26 , 27 . At step  304  store the plurality of unique serial IDs  26 ,  27  and corresponding currency denominations  24 , 25  in a centralized list  14  as associated pairs  23  (e.g. list items  23 ). At step  306  access the list  14  and generate the encrypted digital values  28  using each associated pair  23  of the plurality of unique serial IDs  26 ,  27  and corresponding currency denominations  24 ,  25  for the digital currency, each of the encrypted digital values  28  representing the encrypted digital currency. At step  308  send one or more of the encrypted digital values  28  to an institution  30  over a communications network  101  for storage in a financial account  32  as an account deposit of the one or more of the encrypted digital values  28 . 
     Other steps can include receive  310  a request to cancel a selected one of the associated pairs  23  from the list  14 , in order to remove the corresponding encrypted digital value  28  as a valid form of digital currency from the encrypted digital currency list  14 , i.e. by removing the selected/specified pair from the list  14  in response to the received  310  request. 
     Other steps can include receive  312  a request to cancel a selected encrypted digital value  28  and thereby delete the selected encrypted digital value  28  from storage in order to remove the selected encrypted digital value  28  as a valid form of digital currency from the encrypted digital currency; and regenerate a replacement encrypted digital value  28  corresponding to the selected encrypted digital value  28 ; wherein the replacement encrypted digital value is generated using the associated pair corresponding to the selected encrypted digital value. 
     Referring to  FIG.  5   , shown is an example computing device for representing individually any of the components  12 , 14 , 16 , 18  of the system  10 . Referring to  FIG.  5   , shown is such that operation of the device  99  (as implemented by any of the components  12 ,  14 ,  16 ,  18  and/or institutions  20 ,  30 ) is facilitated by the device infrastructure  504 . The device infrastructure  504  includes one or more computer processors  508  and can include an associated memory  522 . The computer processor  508  facilitates performance of the device  99  configured for the intended task (e.g. of the respective operation/functionality of any of the servers/components  12 , 14 , 16 , 18  as described) through operation of the network interface  501 , the user interface  502  and other application programs/hardware of the device  99  by executing task related instructions. These task related instructions  107  can be provided by an operating system, and/or software applications located in the memory  522 , and/or by operability that is configured into the electronic/digital circuitry of the processor(s)  508  designed to perform the specific task(s). Further, it is recognized that the device infrastructure  504  can include a computer readable storage medium  523  coupled to the processor  508  for providing instructions  107  to the processor  508  and/or to load/update the instructions  507 . The computer readable medium  523  can include hardware and/or software such as, by way of example only, magnetic disks, magnetic tape, optically readable medium such as CD/DVD ROMS, and memory cards. In each case, the computer readable medium  523  may take the form of a small disk, floppy diskette, cassette, hard disk drive, solid-state memory card, or RAM provided in the memory module. It should be noted that the above listed example computer readable mediums  523  can be used either alone or in combination. 
     Further, it is recognized that the computing device  99  can include the executable applications comprising code or machine readable instructions  107  for implementing predetermined functions/operations including those of an operating system and the modules, for example. The processor  508  as used herein is a configured device and/or set of machine-readable instructions for performing operations as described by example above, including those operations as performed by any or all of the modules. As used herein, the processor  508  may comprise any one or combination of, hardware, firmware, and/or software. The processor  508  acts upon information by manipulating, analyzing, modifying, converting or transmitting information for use by an executable procedure or an information device, and/or by routing the information with respect to an output device. The processor  508  may use or comprise the capabilities of a controller or microprocessor, for example. Accordingly, any of the functionality of the modules may be implemented in hardware, software or a combination of both. Accordingly, the use of a processor  508  as a device and/or as a set of machine-readable instructions is hereafter referred to generically as a processor/module  508  for sake of simplicity. 
     It will be understood in view of the above that the computing devices  99  may be, although depicted as a single computer system, may be implemented as a network of computer processors, as desired. 
     Although the invention has been described with reference to certain specific embodiments, various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claim