Patent Publication Number: US-2015081463-A1

Title: System and method for fundraising and charitable giving at a point of sale

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/879,442 entitled “System and Method for Fundraising and Charitable Giving at a Point of Sale,” filed on Sep. 18, 2013, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The present disclosure relates to systems and methods raising funds for charitable giving at a point of sale. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods that associate charitable giving with sale of a product, where the purchaser directs the charitable giving. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Companies offering products for sale in a retail environment strive to leverage retail shelf space in a manner that attracts a customer&#39;s or consumer&#39;s attention to its products. However, with the abundance of retail shelf space presented to customers and consumers in retail establishments, it can be difficult to distinguish a certain product from its competitors. For any type of product, customers and consumers may be presented with numerous marketing or “shelf talker” materials. Companies are continuously challenged with trying to differentiate their products and brands at the point of sale in order to entice customers and consumers to select their products and increase product turns at shelf. Typical strategies for drawing customer&#39;s and consumer&#39;s attention to specific products include the use of signs, advertisements, and other marketing materials that describe the product. However, such marketing materials, which are merely informative, may not be sufficient to differentiate a particular product from other products on the shelf and to therefore drive shelf turns. 
     One strategy for enticing customers and consumers to purchase goods in a retail environment is to associate fundraising or charitable giving with the purchase of goods. Existing fundraising systems often require customers and consumers to mail in rebate forms, mail in proofs of purchase, enter information into a form on a website, or perform other similar administrative tasks after the sale is complete. This may be time consuming and inconvenient for customers and consumers, which limits the number of customers and consumers that take advantage of the charitable giving opportunity. In addition, existing fundraising systems do not enable customers and consumers to select charities the customer and consumer believes are most deserving of benefiting from the fundraising. Typically, fundraising systems offer a limited number of charities that can receive funds. Finally, existing systems may not associate fundraising with purchasing particular products but rather with purchasing items generally from a retailer. Such a system does not enable companies to differentiate their products from other products in the retail store. 
     SUMMARY 
     A system and method for fundraising and charitable giving at a point of sale is disclosed herein. In one example of a method for fundraising and charitable giving at a point of sale includes the steps of: a customer selecting a product from a store shelf; the customer removing a fundraising tag from the product; the customer completing the information on the fundraising tag, which can include designating an organization to benefit from the fundraising; and a retailer processing the fundraising tag after receiving the completed tag from the customer at the point of sale. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the accompanying drawings, structures are illustrated that, together with the detailed description provided below, describe example embodiments of the claimed invention. Where appropriate, like elements are identified with the same or similar reference numerals. Elements shown as a single component may be replaced with multiple components. Elements shown as multiple components may be replaced with a single component. The drawings may not be to scale. The proportion of certain elements may be exaggerated for the purpose of illustration. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example system for fundraising at a point of sale. 
         FIG. 2  is an example fundraising tag associated with an example product. 
         FIG. 3  is a view of the back of the example fundraising tag of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  illustrates another example system for fundraising at a point of sale. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates another example system for fundraising at a point of sale. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates another example system for fundraising at a point of sale. 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart illustrating an example method for fundraising at a point of sale. 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of an example computing system for implementing an example system for fundraising at a point of sale. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     This disclosure includes a number of definitions that are identified at the end of this detailed description. For this disclosure, the terms “computing device,” “computer readable media,” “logic,” “software,” and “user” will include the definitions hereinafter provided in this detailed description. 
     Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a sequence of operations that produce a result. The operations may include physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, the physical quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a logic and the like. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system  100  for fundraising at a point of sale. As used herein, the term “fundraising” can include donations, gifts, aid, assistance, contributions or any other suitable form charitable giving. As used herein, the phrase “fundraising at the point of sale” means that a customer can direct charitable giving, either by the retailer, the manufacture, or any other entity, to a charity or organization of the customer&#39;s choice. 
     The system  100  enables a manufacturer to distinguish a manufacturer&#39;s product  102  (hereinafter referred to as “the product”) on a store shelf  104  from another product  106  on the store shelf  104  by offering a customer  108  the opportunity to fundraise at the point of sale when customer  108  purchases the product  102 . 
     As used herein, the term “customer” refers to a customer, consumer, or any other individual or organization that purchases or considers purchasing a good or service from a provider of goods or services. For example, a customer can be an individual that visits a retail establishment and purchases an item displayed on the retail establishment&#39;s shelves. In another example, a customer can be an individual that purchases an item offered for sale on a website&#39;s “virtual” shelves. It will be understood that the term “manufacturer” is used for convenience only and can include resellers, wholesalers, distributors, consignors, or other suitable party within a supply chain that wishes to offer a customer an opportunity to purchase a good or service and perform charitable giving at a point of sale. It should be understood that, although the examples illustrated are directed to “brick-and-mortar” store shelves, the example systems and methods may similarly be implemented in a virtual or online store to enable a customer to perform charitable giving when making an online purchase. 
     In order to facilitate fundraising at the point of sale and to distinguish the product  102  from another product  106 , the product  102  can be combined with a fundraising tag  110 .  FIG. 2  is a detailed view of an example product  102  including an associated fundraising tag  110 . It should be understood that, although the example illustrates the product to be an odor eliminator sold in a retail store, the systems and methods described herein can be used to fundraise with any suitable product. For example, fundraising can be facilitated by the sale of any type of product sold in a retail store or through any other sales channel, including online or virtual stores, or any other suitable channel for selling products to customers. In another example, fundraising can be facilitated by the sale of services offered by a store or any other service provider. It should also be understood that, although the example illustrates the fundraising tag  110  positioned over the top of the product  102  wherein a portion of the product  102  protrudes through an opening in fundraising tag  110 , the product  102  can be associated with fundraising tag  110  in any suitable manner. For example, fundraising tag  110  can be secured to the product using an adhesive, a rubber band, a staple, and so on. 
     Fundraising tag  110  includes text, graphics, or any suitable combination of text and graphics for conveying a fundraising message to a customer  108 . For example, fundraising tag  110  can include text that informs customer  108  that a portion of the proceeds from sale of the product  102  can be directed to an organization of customer&#39;s  108  choice upon customer&#39;s  108  purchase of the product  102 . 
     Fundraising tag  110  can further include text, on the front, that informs customer  108  to complete details regarding the customer&#39;s choice of charitable organizations on the back of the fundraising tag  110 , in order to direct a portion of the proceeds from the sale to a specific organization.  FIG. 3  is a view of the back of an example fundraising tag  110 . The back of fundraising tag  110  can include a data entry space  302  where a customer  108  can provide suitable information such as customer&#39;s  108  name and contact information as well as a name of an organization that the customer  108  would like to designate as a beneficiary of the fundraising. The back of fundraising tag  110  can also include instructions for how to complete a fundraising process. For example, the text on the back of the fundraising tag  110  can instruct customer  108  to fill out the back and to return the fundraising tag  110  to a sales associate at the retail store at the time of purchase. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , a store associate  112  operating a point-of-sale  114  system is trained to receive the fundraising tag  110  from customer  108  after customer  108  purchases the product  102 . The store associate  112  is also trained to place the fundraising tag  110  into a collection bin  116  for later processing (the group of collected fundraising tags are referred to herein as reference number  118 ). The store associate  112 , a store manager (not shown), or any suitable person can be trained to process the collected fundraising tags  118 . In one example, processing collected fundraising tags  118  can include sending them to the manufacturer, distributor, or other source of the products. The manufacturer can then distribute raised funds to the respective organizations as indicated by the information filled out on the collected fundraising tags  118 . 
     In another example, processing collected fundraising tags  118  can include the retailer distributing raised funds to the respective organizations and then requesting reimbursement from the manufacture. In another example, the retailer can process the collected fundraising tags  118  and distribute raised funds to the respective organizations, where the charitable portion is already included in the retail cost of the product. In such example, system  100  enables customer  108  to complete the fundraising at the point of sale without the need for further action after leaving the retail store. 
     In one example, a sales associate reads information from the back of a fundraising tag  110  and enters the information directly into a point of sale system. As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , in a system  400  for fundraising at a point of sale, a store associate  112  operating a point-of-sale  402  system is trained to receive the fundraising tag  110  from customer  108  after customer  108  purchases the product  102 . Rather than collecting the fundraising tag  110  into a collection bin for later processing as described in  FIG. 1 , the store associate  112  can be trained to input information read from the back of the fundraising tag  110  into point of sale system  402  via a user interface  404 . Point of sale system  402  is configured to store the fundraising information provided by the store associate  112  in a fundraising database  406 . 
     The store associate  112 , a store manager (not shown), or any suitable person can be trained to later process the fundraising data stored in the fundraising database  406 . In one example, processing stored fundraising data can include communicating the data to the manufacturer. The manufacturer can then distribute raised funds to the respective organizations as indicated by the information in the received data. In another example, processing stored fundraising data can include the retailer distributing raised funds to the respective organizations, where the distributed funds are either already accounted for in the price of the product or the retailer can request reimbursement from the manufacture. In one example, a manufacturer and a retailer can share the cost associated with distributing the funds based on any business agreement reached by the manufacturer and retailer. 
     System  400  can be arranged so that the system  400  can enable customer  108  to complete the fundraising at the point of sale without the assistance of a store associate or other store employee or the need for further action after leaving the retail store. For example, a monitor or credit card reader used by the customer can be arranged so that the monitor or credit card reader displays options to the consumer and the customer can directly enter information regarding the customer&#39;s choice of charity or other organization. The customers choices are handled by the system  400  without the need for an employee to handle information or data. 
     In one example, a customer may not be required to fill out any information at the point of sale. Rather, raised funds can be distributed based on a customers predefined preferences for fundraising. For example, a customer can preregister with a fundraising program through a retailer&#39;s website, mobile application or a third-party hosted online portal, website, or mobile application by providing a name, email address, or other suitable account information as well as at least one preferred organization for receiving funds raised. Registration can be performed from any computing device including a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a mobile phone, a store kiosk, and so on. A customer can register for a the fundraising program before arriving at the retail store or at the retail store using a mobile phone or an in-store kiosk for example. In addition, a customer can register for the fundraising program during an visit to a retail store, for example, during a previous point of sale transaction. Once registered, customer information, including fundraising preferences, can be stored by the retailer for use with subsequent customer point of sale transactions. 
     Registering for the fundraising program can include specifying a single organization for receiving all raised funds. Alternatively, registering can include selecting more than one organization for receiving raised funds. In such an example, a customer can predefine the organizations that benefit from particular purchases. For example, a customer can specify that all purchases made at a first store should benefit a first organization while all purchased made at a second store should benefit a second organization. Alternatively, a customer can define how raised funds are distributed based on product categories, geographic location of purchase, amount of purchase, or by any other suitable categorization of a purchase. In another alternative, the customer can specify that the funds are distributed to charities chosen on a rotating basis. 
     In such an example, a fundraising tag may not include space on the back for entering information manually by a customer. Rather, the fundraising tag can include a barcode, an RFID tag or other computer readable source of information that identifies the product as one which should be processed for fundraising. In another example, a fundraising tag can include both space on back for entering information manually by a customer and a barcode, RFID tag or other computer readable source of information. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates such an example system  500  for fundraising at a point of sale. A store associate  112  operating a point-of-sale  504  system is trained to receive the fundraising tag  502  from customer  108  after customer  108  purchases the product  102 . Rather than manually enter fundraising information into point of sale system  402  as described in  FIG. 4 , the store associate  112  is trained to scan a barcode, for example, of a fundraising tag  502  using a point of sale scanner  506 . The scanning of the barcode of the fundraising tag  502  indicates to point of sale system  504  that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the product  102  should be directed to a selected organization. 
     In order to determine a selected organization for receiving the raised funds associated with the sale of the product  102 , point of sale system  504  can be configured to receive information about the identity of the customer  108  and to communicate with a fundraising server  508  to retrieve the identified customer&#39;s  108  predefined preferences for fundraising. A sales associate  112  can identify a customer  108  by asking the customer for an email address or for other suitable identifying information and by manually entering the identifying information into point of sale system  504 . 
     Alternatively, a customer  108  can identify himself to point of sale system  504  by presenting an electronically readable apparatus such as shopper card or credit card that includes a chip or magnetic strip electronically readable by the point of sale system  504 . In another example, a computing device such as a smartphone or other portable appliance can include electronically readable information that can identify the customer  108  to the point of sale system  504 . In one example, the customer shopper card can be presented to the sales associate  112  to be scanned by point of sale scanner  506 . In another example, a barcode can be presented to be scanned using an application on a mobile phone  510 . In another alternative, if the customer  108  is paying with a credit card, the point of sale system  504  can be arranged to identify the customer  108  by the customer&#39;s  108  credit card information. 
     Point of sale system  504  can be further configured to store, in a fundraising database  510 , customer identification information as well as the preferred organization to benefit from the fundraising, in association with the sale of a specific product. This collected and stored information can be saved for later processing by the retail store. In another example, the collected information can be communicated to a manufacturer for processing. 
     In another example, point of sale system  504  may not store information in a fundraising database  510 . Instead, point of sale system  504  can be configured to communicate, to fundraising server  508 , information about the identified customer  108  as well as information about the product  102  being purchased. In this example, fundraising server  508  is configured to identify the identified customer&#39;s  108  preferred organization for receiving the benefit of the fundraising based on information received about the product  102  being purchased and based on predefined preferences specified by the customer  108 . 
     Fundraising server  508  can be configured to process fundraising transactions by distributing funds to the associated organizations and then requesting reimbursement from respective manufacturers. Alternatively, fundraising server  508  can be configured to communicate the fundraising transactions to the respective manufacturers for payment processing. 
     In one example, a fundraising tag may not be required. Rather, a point of sale system  504  can be configured to determine that a product is associated with a fundraising program based on scanning the barcode, RFID tag, or other source of information associated with the product. In such an example, a sign, advertisement, or some other indicia can be placed near the product shelf to inform the customer  108  that a particular product is associated with a fundraising program. 
     In one example, the steps to initiate the fundraising can be performed by a customer at the store shelving unit. A point of sale system&#39;s role in such an example is to confirm purchase of a product in order for the fundraising to be processed.  FIG. 6  illustrates another example system  600  for fundraising at a point of sale. A store shelf  602  includes a shelf sign  604  or other similar marketing material or indicia to indicate to a customer  108  that a particular product  606  is associated with a fundraising program. The store shelf  602  also includes a bar code  608  positioned near the display of the product  606 . The shelf sign  604  indicates to the customer  108  that scanning the bar code  608  is required to initiate the fundraising process. In such an example, it is not necessary to attach a fundraising tag to each product. 
     A customer  108  scans the barcode with a mobile phone  610  to initiate the fundraising process. By scanning the barcode  608  on the store shelf  602 , the customer  108  is indicating intent to purchase the product and a desire to direct a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the product to a preselected organization. This information, along with the customer&#39;s identification is transferred to a fundraising server  612  for processing as described for  FIG. 5 . Alternatively, the shelving unit can include a barcode reader that the customer  108  uses to scan the product to indicate the customer&#39;s intent to purchase the product. 
     However, before fundraising server  612  can proceed with processing the distribution of proceeds to selected organizations, fundraising server  612  can first receive confirmation that the customer  108  has completed the purchase of the product  606 . This prevents fundraising from occurring in the event that a customer  108  changes his mind and decides not to purchase a product  606  after the customer  108  picked up the product from the store shelf  602  and scanned the bar code  608  with a mobile phone  610  or a barcode reader. 
     To confirm the purchase of a product  606  in order to initiate the fundraising process, a store associate  616  can be trained to receive a customer&#39;s  108  identification information, such as a name, email address, phone number, or other suitable information for identifying the customer  108 , and to enter the information into a point of sale system  614 . Similarly, the store associate  616  can be trained to receive a customer&#39;s  108  identification information by using a point of sale scanner to scan the customer&#39;s shopper card. The point of sale system  614  is configured to communicate the customer&#39;s  108  identification information along with information about which fundraising-eligible products the customer  108  purchased to the fundraising server  612 . Fundraising server  612  is configured to cross-reference the actual purchases that customer  108  made with the barcodes that the customer  108  scanned with the mobile phone  610  or with the barcode reader. After the fundraising server  612  confirms that the products associated with the scanned barcodes were purchased, fundraising server  612  is configured to process the distribution of proceeds to selected organizations. 
     In another example, user  108  can be required to confirm the purchase of products by scanning or taking a photo of a store receipt with a mobile phone  610  and communicating the scanned receipt to the fundraising server  612 . 
     In another example, a product  606  can include an RFID tag. In such an example, system  600  can include an RFID scanner (not shown) for automatically detecting when a product  606  is being paid for and/or when the product is leaving the store. The RFID scanner can be positioned near the point of sale system  614 , near an exit, or in any suitable location for detecting that a customer  108  is leaving the store with the product  606 . The RFID scanner is further configured to communicate with the fundraising server  612  and to confirm that the customer  108  purchased the product so that fundraising server  612  can proceed with processing the distribution of proceeds to selected organizations. 
     As previously noted, although the examples provided above are directed generally to brick-and-mortar stores with physical and fixed shelves, the methods and systems described herein are also applicable to virtual stores that utilize websites, mobile applications, and other such applications to offer goods and services for sale to online customers. It will be understood that the presentation of goods or services to online customers on a website or mobile application includes providing virtual shelf space to such goods and services. For example, a website can display a number of competing products on a page to offer an online customer purchasing options. It will be understood that when an online customer selects a particular product for purchase, such a selection is the point of sale for the product. Thus, associating one of the products presented to a customer on the virtual shelf with the opportunity to fundraise at the point of sale can make the product more attractive to the online customer and make the sale of that product more likely as compared to its competing products. At the point of sale, the online customer can be asked for information regarding preferred organizations for receiving the charitable contribution. The online consumer can be asked to manually select preferences by entering text, selecting from drop down menus, radio buttons, and so on. A database of online consumers and preferences can be created by storing an online consumer&#39;s previous selections or by having the online consumer manually enter global preferences. The online consumer can be identified by name, email address, login credentials, or any other electronic indicia of the online consumer&#39;s identity. 
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart illustrating an example method for fundraising at a point of sale. At step  702 , a customer identifies a product on a store shelf as being associated with fundraising and selects the product from the store shelf. At step  704 , the customer removes the fundraising tag from the product. At step  706 , the customer completes the information on the fundraising tag by providing personal identification information and designating an organization to benefit from the fundraising. At step  708 , the retailer processes the fundraising tag after receiving the completed fundraising tag from the customer at the point of sale. 
       FIG. 8  is a block diagram of an example computing system  800  for implementing an example system for fundraising at a point of sale. The example computing system  800  is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, including laptops, desktops, handheld computers, smartphones, tablet computers, servers, and other similar types of computing devices. As shown, computing system  800  includes a processor  802 , memory  804 , a storage device  806 , and a communication port  822 , operably connected by an interface  808  via a bus  810 . 
     Processor  802  processes instructions, via memory  804 , for execution within computing system  800 . In an example embodiment, multiple processors along with multiple memories may be used. 
     Memory  804  may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory. Memory  804  may be a computer-readable medium, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk. Storage device  806  may be a computer-readable medium, such as floppy disk devices, a hard disk device, optical disk device, a tape device, a flash memory, phase change memory, or other similar solid state memory device, or an array of devices, including devices in a storage area network of other configurations. A computer program product can be tangibly embodied in a computer readable medium such as memory  804  or storage device  606 . 
     Computing system  800  may be coupled to one or more input and output devices such as a display  814 , a printer  816 , a scanner  818 , and a mouse  820 . 
     While example systems, methods, and so on, have been illustrated by describing examples, and while the examples have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. It is simply not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the systems, methods, and so on. With the benefit of this application, additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents. 
     The following includes definitions of selected terms employed herein. The definitions include various examples, forms, or both of components that fall within the scope of a term and that may be used for implementation. The examples are not intended to be limiting. Both singular and plural forms of terms may be within the definitions. 
     “Computing device,” as used herein, refers to a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, an eReader, or the like. 
     “Computer-readable medium,” as used herein, refers to a medium that participates in directly or indirectly providing signals, instructions, or data. A computer-readable medium may take forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, and so on. Volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, dynamic memory, and the like. Transmission media may include coaxial cables, copper wire, fiber optic cables, and the like. Transmission media can also take the form of electromagnetic radiation, like that generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications, or take the form of one or more groups of signals. Common forms of a computer-readable medium include, but are not limited to, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, other magnetic media, a CD-ROM, other optical media, punch cards, paper tape, other physical media with patterns of holes, a RAM, a ROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, or other memory chip or card, a memory stick, a carrier wave/pulse, Phase Change Memory, and other media from which a computer, a processor, or other electronic device can read. Signals used to propagate instructions or other software over a network, like the Internet, can be considered a “computer-readable medium.” 
     “Logic,” as used herein, includes but is not limited to hardware, firmware, software, or combinations of each to perform a function(s) or an action(s), or to cause a function or action from another logic, method, or system. For example, based on a desired application or needs, logic may include a software controlled microprocessor, discrete logic like an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmed logic device, a memory device containing instructions, or the like. Logic may include one or more gates, combinations of gates, or other circuit components. Logic may also be fully embodied as software. Where multiple logical logics are described, it may be possible to incorporate the multiple logical logics into one physical logic. Similarly, where a single logical logic is described, it may be possible to distribute that single logical logic between multiple physical logics. 
     “Software,” as used herein, includes but is not limited to, one or more computer or processor instructions that can be read, interpreted, compiled, or executed and that cause a computer, processor, or other electronic device to perform functions, actions, or behave in a desired manner. The instructions may be embodied in various forms like routines, algorithms, modules, methods, threads, or programs including separate applications or code from dynamically or statically linked libraries. Software may also be implemented in a variety of executable or loadable forms including, but not limited to, a stand-alone program, a function call (local or remote), a servelet, an applet, instructions stored in a memory, part of an operating system, or other types of executable instructions. The form of software may depend, for example, on requirements of a desired application, the environment in which it runs, or the desires of a designer/programmer or the like. Computer-readable or executable instructions can be located in one logic or distributed between two or more communicating, co-operating, or parallel processing logics and, thus, can be loaded or executed in serial, parallel, massively parallel, and other manners. One form of software is an app, or an application that executes on a mobile computing device such as a mobile phone. 
     Suitable software for implementing the various components of the example systems and methods described herein may be produced using programming languages and tools like Haskell, Java, Java Script, Java.NET, ASP.NET, VB.NET, Cocoa, Pascal, C#, C++, C, CGI, Perl, SQL, APIs, SDKs, assembly, firmware, microcode, or other languages and tools. Software, whether an entire system or a component of a system, may be embodied as an article of manufacture and maintained or provided as part of a computer-readable medium. Another form of the software may include signals that transmit program code of the software to a recipient over a network or other communication medium. Thus, in one example, a computer-readable medium has a form of signals that represent the software/firmware as it is downloaded from a web server to a user. In another example, the computer-readable medium has a form of the software/firmware as it is maintained on the web server. Other forms may also be used. 
     “User,” as used herein, includes but is not limited to one or more persons, software, computers or other devices, or combinations of these. 
     It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, it is appreciated that throughout the description, terms like processing, computing, calculating, determining, displaying, or the like, refer to actions and processes of a computer system, logic, processor, or similar electronic device that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities. 
     To the extent that the term “includes” or “including” is used in the specification or the claims, it is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as that term is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “or” is employed (e.g., A or B) it is intended to mean “A or B or both.” When the applicants intend to indicate “only A or B but not both” then the term “only A or B but not both” will be employed. Thus, use of the term “or” herein is the inclusive, and not the exclusive use. See, Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 624 (2d. Ed. 1995). Also, to the extent that the terms “in” or “into” are used in the specification or the claims, it is intended to additionally mean “on” or “onto.” Furthermore, to the extent the term “connect” is used in the specification or claims, it is intended to mean not only “directly connected to,” but also “indirectly connected to” such as connected through another component or components.