Abstract:
The systems, methods and apparatuses described herein provide for consumer feedback input and retention management, allowing feedback providers to provide inputs using electronic devices. According to the present disclosure, feedback providers are able to provide feedback to a wide variety of feedback recipients, and an application running on the user&#39;s device may automatically locate and deliver these inputs via the correct communications channel associated with a specific feedback recipient location. Feedback recipients may be able to manage the inputs, listen, read voice to text translation, and respond to inputs with emails and/or coupons. Feedback recipients may be able to use the given inputs to feed positive and negative comments back to employees, add comments, set priorities for internal uses, and extract transcripts to combine with existing analyses of customer complaints and service measurements. The systems, methods and apparatuses described herein may also allow customers to provide feedback on specific products by requesting a product identifier and assisting customers in locating product production codes.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0001]    The systems, methods and apparatuses described herein relate to the general field of customer service and provide for the improved provision and receipt of positive and negative feedback between a consumer and a provider. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Customer feedback is valuable information for service and product providers, governmental and non-profit organizations, and other types of businesses. However, research conducted for the White House Office of Consumer Affairs from 1978-1986, based on a cross-sectional survey of the US population, confirms that most consumers choose not to provide feedback for a variety of reasons. “Consumer Complaint Handling in America: An update Study,” provided under U.S. Government Contract No. HHS-100-84-0065. 
         [0003]    Furthermore, what limited feedback is provided is often difficult to analyze and may not provide simple methods by which the provider can respond to the consumer. It is well-known that current complaint and feedback mechanisms present a number of barriers to easy communication between consumers and providers. Strategic Customer Service, ISBN-13:978-0-8144-1333-3, AMACOM, American Management Association (NY, N.Y. 2009). 
         [0004]    From the perspective of the consumer, these barriers include:
       1. The effort required to find the communication channel;   2. A fear of confrontation with an employee or manager if feedback is given in person;   3. The time required to provide feedback and the expectation that the communication channel will have a time-wasting queue or will be closed; and   4. A belief that even if the communication is made that the feedback recipient will not be responsive or not care.       
 
         [0009]    From the perspective of the provider, these barriers include:
       1. The expense of running a communication channel, providing quality customer service, and providing broad hours when organizations and individuals are using the product or service, especially for smaller feedback recipients;   2. The vagueness of consumer feedback;   3. The complexity of the organization effectively responding to the individual&#39;s feedback;   4. The level of detail that information that must be collected to ensure proper routing to the responsive party of the feedback recipient; and   5. That the structure of most customer surveys focus on the negative and burden the feedback provider when the majority of feedback provider experiences are positive; this results in very few positive surveys being submitted, depriving feedback recipients of feedback that could be used for encouraging and recognizing high performing employees. Positive feedback is a huge motivator that is, in some cases, worth more to employees than salary increases.       
 
         [0015]    Additionally, one of the crucial data points needed by a business when providing support for a product is the product production identifier. Depending on the product, this identifier is known as the serial number or production code. Without this number, businesses cannot track a pattern of problems and link the specific product problem with any known problems or to identify trends or do the necessary research to identify the root cause of the problem. Thus, when a customer attempts to provide feedback by, e.g., engaging product support, a considerable amount of time is spent on having the customer find the location of the identifier and provide this identifying information. 
         [0016]    Two common methods of acquiring consumer feedback are the use of customer surveys and the use of 1-800 numbers. However, both methods do little to mitigate common barriers to useful feedback. Surveys often receive very few responses, and in some cases the responses received are incomplete. 1-800 numbers require the consumer to copy down a phone number and then, often, will require the consumer to wait in a long phone queue. 
         [0017]    One company that has attempted to break down these barriers is Chick-Fil-A, which has posted the cell phone number of owner/operators on signs in some stores. This eliminates some of the barriers but still requires the consumer to copy down the number or actually submit the complaint while he remains in the store, which could result in a confrontation with a store employee or owner/operator. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0018]    The systems, methods and apparatuses described herein provide for consumer feedback, input and customer retention management, allowing feedback providers (consumers and customers) to effortlessly provide inputs using electronic devices, such as mobile devices. According to the present disclosure, feedback providers are able to provide feedback to a wide variety of feedback recipients, and an application running on the user&#39;s device may automatically locate and deliver these inputs via the correct communications channel associated with a specific feedback recipient location. Feedback recipients such as businesses owners will be able to manage the inputs, listen, read voice to text translation, and respond to inputs with emails and/or coupons. Feedback recipients such as businesses/owners may be able to use the inputs to transmit positive and negative comments back to employees, add comments, set priorities for internal uses, and extract transcripts to combine with existing analyses of customer complaints and service measurements. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an exemplary system according to the present disclosure. 
           [0020]      FIGS. 2-8  illustrate exemplary methods for providing, receiving and processing feedback according to the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    Certain illustrative aspects of the systems, apparatuses, and methods according to the present disclosure are described herein in connection with the following description and the accompanying figures. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the disclosure may be employed and the present disclosure is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the disclosure may become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the figures. 
         [0022]    In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. In other instances, well known structures, interfaces, and processes have not been shown in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that those specific details disclosed herein need not be used to practice the disclosure and do not represent a limitation on the scope of the disclosure, except as recited in the claims. It is intended that no part of this specification be construed to effect a disavowal of any part of the full scope of the disclosure. Although certain embodiments of the present disclosure are described, these embodiments likewise are not intended to limit the full scope of the disclosure. 
         [0023]    The present disclosure comprises systems, methods and apparatuses for the solicitation of feedback (e.g., complaints, suggestions, compliments etc.) from a feedback provider (e.g., a consumer, employee, manager, etc.) to a feedback recipient (e.g., a service or product provider, governmental or non-profit organization, sole proprietorship, partnership, etc.). Exemplary feedback recipients may include home service or repair technicians, private tutors, doctors, teachers, and gym instructors. 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary system according to the present disclosure. As shown on  FIG. 1 , a system according to the present disclosure may comprise one or more consumer feedback devices  101 . A consumer feedback device  101  may provide an easy-to-use channel for a consumer to provide feedback. In another aspect, the consumer feedback device  101  also may permit the feedback recipient to display a response received from the feedback recipient. 
         [0025]    In certain embodiments, a suitable consumer feedback device  101  may be a mobile electronic device, such as a mobile phone or smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a tablet, or any other device capable of storing and transmitting feedback. A consumer feedback device  101  may comprise, for example, at least one processor  105  and at least one memory  106 , configured to run an operating system and one or more applications. 
         [0026]    The consumer feedback device  101  may further comprise one or more user input interfaces  110  by which it may capture and input user feedback. A user input interface may comprise one or more buttons, a keyboard (which may be a physical keyboard or a virtual keyboard implemented through a touch sensitive display), a camera  111  for capturing video or still images, a microphone  112  capable of recording audio feedback (e.g., voice). The user interface may further comprise a QR reader  113 , capable of capturing QR codes. 
         [0027]    The consumer feedback device  101  may further comprise a display device  114  for reviewing and viewing feedback input. In an aspect, the consumer feedback device  101  may comprise a speaker  115  or similar output function to provide for reviewing audio feedback. 
         [0028]    The consumer feedback device  101  may further comprise one or more communications ports  116 , by which it may transmit and receive media content, identifying information, digital data, and other information. The one or more communication ports may be comprised of any combination of hardware and/or software appropriate for establishing and maintaining two-way communications, including, but not limited to, wired protocols such as serial, parallel, Ethernet, and USB, and wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, near field communications, infrared, various flavors of IEEE 802.11, and/or custom connectors/protocols. The device  101  may further comprise a GPS transceiver  117 . 
         [0029]    It is to be understood that these components are illustrative and need not necessarily be included in every embodiment of a consumer feedback device  101 . 
         [0030]    The consumer feedback device  101  may be configured to run a feedback application  102  according to the present disclosure. The feedback application  102 , as is described in further detail below, may receive feedback input  118  from a consumer via the device  101  and create a feedback message  119 . 
         [0031]    As shown on  FIG. 1 , a system according to the present disclosure may further comprise an automatic linkage device  103 . The automatic linkage device  103  may comprise a server with remote and local communication capabilities running an automatic linkage application. The automatic linkage device  103  may be configured to access databases to correlate the feedback received from the feedback application  102  with a feedback recipient. In an aspect, the automatic linkage device  103  may be configured to obtain information on the consumer&#39;s location or product identification and look up contact information for the feedback recipient from a local system using a local communication capability. In another aspect, the automatic linkage device  103  may be configured to create a new entity and store the feedback. The automatic linkage device  103  may further be configured to extract data from an external database using a remote communication capability (e.g., through Google, Yellowpages or any other public database). In another aspect, the contact information may be manually added to the automatic linkage device  103 . The automatic linkage device  103  may be configured to extract provide the contact information to the management module  104  via a remote or internal communication capability. In an aspect, the automatic linkage application may be configured to exchange information to the feedback application  102  and from the feedback application  102 . In an aspect, the automatic linkage application may be configured to exchange information to the management module  104  and from the management module  104  using remote or internal communication capabilities. 
         [0032]    Once the feedback application  102  (running on a feedback device  101 ) has created a feedback message, an automatic linkage device  103  may automatically find contact information or any suitable form of communications link  120  (e.g., email address, phone number, mailing address, web site, drop box, bulletin board, call center, social media service, etc.). In order to do so, the automatic linkage device  103  may integrate multiple data sources to identify the appropriate communications link to assure feedback delivery. 
         [0033]    Also as shown on  FIG. 1 , an exemplary system according to the present disclosure may comprise a management module  104  configured to automatically deliver feedback messages to a feedback recipient. A management module  104  may comprise a server configured to run a management application. In an aspect, the remote server may comprise remote and local communication capabilities. In an aspect, the server may comprise a processor and memory configured to run the management module  104  and the automatic linkage application. In an aspect, the management module application and automatic linkage application may share remote and local communication capabilities and be able to share access to local database resources. In an aspect, the management module application may be configured to exchange information to the feedback application  102  and from the feedback application  102 . In an aspect, the management module  104  may be configured to exchange information to the automatic linkage application and from the automatic linkage application using remote or internal communication capabilities. As will be described in greater detail below, the linkage device  103  and the management module  104 , working together, may operate to deliver feedback messages even when the feedback recipient has not provided a solicitation message or publicized the availability of a communications link. In certain embodiments, the management module  104  may enable the business owner to transmit feedback to employees to enhance motivation. 
         [0034]      FIGS. 2-7  illustrate exemplary methods for providing, receiving and processing feedback according to the present disclosure. 
         [0035]    As shown on  FIG. 7 , the feedback device  101  may be configured to run the feedback application  102  for the purpose of receiving consumer feedback. The feedback application may run upon activation by a single touch to a feedback button located on the feedback device  101 . In other embodiments, as described in further detail below, the feedback device  101  may be configured to run the feedback application  102  when the consumer enters an area, such as a restaurant, designated to receive feedback. The feedback device  101  then may be prompted to indicate to the consumer that the recipient would like feedback. This may occur, for example, by a pop-up message or display appearing on the feedback device  100 . In certain embodiments, feedback application  102  may request the feedback provider to provide both positive and negative feedback. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the consumer feedback device  101  may contain a Quick Response (QR) code and a solicitation message. This aspect of the feedback device might include, for example, a sign or table tent card with a solicitation message that breaks down the barrier of consumer belief that the business owner does not care and then provides the effortless channel of the QR code to submit the feedback. 
         [0036]    With reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , a wide variety of information is available to allow the consumer to select the appropriate feedback recipient, depending upon whether the intended feedback recipient has previously elected to participate in solicitations in accordance with the present disclosure. If the business is participating, the feedback application  102  may automatically select the business. For example, as described in greater detail below, in situations in which a recipient is participating and has registered with the system a QR code, a text code, or both may be used to identify the recipient. 
         [0037]    In other situations, the feedback recipient may not have registered to receive feedback or otherwise may not be immediately “selectable” via the application  102 . In such cases, a variety of information known about the intended feedback recipient can be used to identify it for the purposes of the application  102 . For example, the feedback application  102  may use location information  202  to identify the appropriate feedback recipient. Exemplary locations may include stores, hotels, apartments, hospitals, and department stores. In another aspect, the information may comprise a sub-location  203 . In an aspect of the present disclosure a sub-location may include, as non-limiting examples, a room in a hotel, a department within a store, an exhibit hall within a museum. Sub-locations according to the present disclosure may provide tunable granularity (e.g., provide feedback for different levels or subdivisions of business owner offerings, e.g., different locations of restaurants, departments within a store or specific bathrooms within a museum) to any business. In another aspect of the present disclosure, the information may be a product  204 . In some aspects of the disclosure, the product  204  may be a medication, food product, clothing, a book, or sports equipment. The product  204  may comprise and include warning information, pricing information, counter-indications, storage and preparation instructions, sources and alternatives. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the information may be a person  205 . In an aspect of the present disclosure, the person  205  may be a politician, a judge, a candidate, or a celebrity. In other aspects of the disclosure, the information may be a rental  206 . In an aspect, the rental  206  may be a rental of a durable good, for example, a rental car, a truck, heavy equipment, a boat, a tool, or sporting equipment. In yet another aspect, the information may be related to a scheduled service  207 . Scheduled services according to the present disclosure may comprise, as non-limiting examples only, flights, bus rides, subway rides and train rides. In another aspect of the present disclosure, the information may be about an event  208 . Events according to the present disclosure, by way of non-limiting example, include sport events, concerts, kids&#39; shows, and conferences. 
         [0038]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , this information may be combined with information in publicly-available databases for greater recipient identification capability. For example, the business might be identifiable based on its geo-location. In an aspect of the present disclosure, the geo-location may obtained from a GPS transceiver within the consumer feedback device  101 . The geo-location may be used to query a geo-location service  303  by a communications port connected to the internet. In an aspect of the present disclosure, locations may be found using the mobile devices location by searching in geo-location databases such as Google Places, Foursquare, Yellow Pages and factual.com. In another aspect of the present disclosure, the consumer feedback device  101  may obtain information using a standard codes database  304 . In an aspect, the product  204  may be located by scanning standard codes such as UPC, ISBN, and EAN and locating the contact information in a standard code database. In a further aspect of the present disclosure, consumer feedback device  101  may comprise functions to search an event database  305 . In an aspect of the present disclosure, an event  208  may be located by searching an event database  305 . An exemplary, non-limiting example of an event database  305  may comprise Ticketmaster. 
         [0039]      FIG. 4  shows a diagram of an exemplary mechanism for using the feedback device  101  and the feedback application  102  to collect feedback and to create a feedback message according to the present disclosure. A feedback input  401  according to the present disclosure may comprise different kinds of content  402 . In one aspect, the feedback provider may record oral feedback, such as a voice memo  403 , via a microphone. In another aspect, the feedback provider may type text  404  by either a physical or virtual keyboard. The feedback provider may review recorded feedback either through a visual display device or through a speaker and the feedback provider may re-record or revise the input if desired or dispatch the feedback to the feedback recipient. A feedback provider may also attach a photo  404  or a video  405  taken with the consumer feedback device  101 . For example, a photo might be used to in a restaurant context to report problems such as a very small portion size, raw chicken, or overcooked hamburger. In a further aspect of the present disclosure, the input  401  may be linked to a ranking  408 . In an aspect, the ranking  408  may be determined by the time of receipt of input  401 . In another aspect, ranking  408  may comprise a ranking based on a selection of the feedback provider. In another aspect, ranking  408  may comprise a ranking assigned by the feedback recipient. In a further aspect, the ranking  408  may be provided by other feedback providers by selection or vote. In an aspect, ranking  408  may be fixed or may be dynamic. 
         [0040]    Additionally, in certain embodiments, the feedback application  102  also may incorporate the consumer&#39;s contact information into the feedback input, if the consumer desires or is willing to give permission to be contacted  406  by the feedback recipient. This information may be used according to the present disclosure by the management system to facilitate two-way communication. 
         [0041]    A final component of the feedback input may be a product or service identifier  409 . In an aspect, the identifier may be based, for example, on the code of the feedback device  101 , a product bar code, a location code, etc., which might be used to research the feedback recipient contact information. 
         [0042]    It will be understood that a consumer may use the feedback device  101  and the feedback application  102  to enter all of this information while at the service provider&#39;s location (e.g., a restaurant) without directly engaging any employees or other personnel. This will allow the user to provide instant feedback with very little effort, while the experience is still fresh in his or her mind, without risking confrontation. 
         [0043]      FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary method by which a communications link may be set up between the identified feedback recipient (identified, e.g., in accordance with the methods described with respect to  FIGS. 2 and 3 ) and the consumer for the purpose of transmitting the feedback entered into the feedback device  101  (e.g., in accordance with the method described with respect to  FIG. 4 ). The linkage device  103  may be configured to provide any necessary communications information to the feedback device  101  for the purpose of receiving a feedback message. If the feedback recipient is already in the system  503 , the linkage device  103  may automatically correlate and associate the feedback input with the existing feedback recipient  503 . 
         [0044]    In another aspect, if a feedback recipient has not previously elected to participate in the system, the linkage device  103  may automatically find contact information from an external database. Contact information for an unregistered feedback recipient may be obtained in a variety of ways. In one aspect according to the present disclosure, communications information for a feedback recipient may be obtained from publicly-available information. For example, public databases may contain this information, such as Angie&#39;s list, service magic, and Craigslist. Then, the linkage device  103  may create a new entity  504  and automatically store the contact information and the feedback  505 . 
         [0045]    In certain embodiments, the linkage device  103  may assign a label or tag  407  to the feedback for the purpose of feedback analysis or response. In one aspect, the tag  407  may comprise one or more input codes based on input codes on the consumer feedback device  101 . In another aspect, the tag  407  may comprise one or more input codes defined by the management module  104 . In yet another aspect the tag  407  may be defined by search or location data associated with the feedback recipient. 
         [0046]    As noted previously, in certain embodiments, the consumer may have provided his or her contact information along with his or her feedback. In such embodiments, the feedback content  402  may be linked via the linkage device  103  to feedback provider contact information  406 . Also as noted previously, in another aspect, the content  402  may be linked via a linkage device ( FIG. 5 ) to a product or service identifier  409 . This identifier  409  may be a unique identifier, and in certain embodiments may be dynamically assigned. 
         [0047]      FIG. 6  shows an exemplary method by which feedback may be received from a consumer, via the feedback device  101 , application  102  and linkage device  103 , and distributed to a feedback recipient via the management module  104 . A management module  104  according to the present disclosure may be able to perform some or all of the following four tasks: (1) Receive consumer feedback from a feedback device  101  via the linkage device  103 , and format a feedback message to the feedback recipient with appropriate consumer contact information ( 604 ); (2) Provide any information about the feedback recipient to the linkage device  103  in order to locate the feedback recipient contact information ( 508 ); (3) Manage any contact to the feedback recipient based on the information from the linkage device ( 606 ); and (4) Manage the aggregate reporting of feedback messages to the feedback recipient. For example, in one embodiment, the management software may take the contact data from the linkage device and transmit the offer of consumer feedback. In another embodiment according to the present disclosure, the management software may transmit an audio file  403  of any verbal dictations provided by the consumer as well as any appended images  404  or videos  405 . 
         [0048]    In embodiments in which the consumer has provided his contact information, the management module  104  also may receive and process the consumer&#39;s contact information, and may manage any response from the feedback recipient to the consumer. In an aspect according to the present disclosure, the feedback recipient may be able to send an email and, if desired, allow the feedback provider to print out a coupon or refund voucher  608 . 
         [0049]    The management module  104  may then correlate the feedback recipient identifier information with existing feedback recipients. In another aspect, the management module  104  may create and store information relating to new feedback recipients. 
         [0050]    According to the present disclosure, the management module  104  may provide the information received by the feedback application  102  (e.g., location information and product or feedback device code), combined with the application subscriber&#39;s information to the linkage device  103 , to support location of the feedback recipient and its sub-unit or product if multiple locations or products are involved. 
         [0051]    In an aspect according to the present disclosure, the management module  104  may produce tabulations of feedback and where appropriate, classify feedback tabulations by whether positive or negative product, staff member and location codes. The feedback recipient may use this information to provide both positive and negative feedback to its staff. 
         [0052]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , certain embodiments may allow a customer to scan a product code of a product for which he desires to give feedback. This may allow customers to easily find and provide product identifiers such as production codes or serial numbers that are critical to the actionability of the feedback to the business owner quality function. Feedback recipients may save valuable time and efforts otherwise required to explain to consumers how to locate the same identifier. 
         [0053]    In order to do so, the customer may use his feedback device  101  to scan a product code (UPC, ISBN, or EIN) found on the product ( 803 ). The feedback device  101  may use any appropriate translation technique to convert the scanned code into the product type identifier. The feedback device may transmit the product type into the system ( 804 ). 
         [0054]    If the product was previously registered in the system, the system may send back the product name, the name of the business making the product, and instructions on how to find the product identifier ( 807 ). In certain embodiments, the feedback device  101  may be configured to receive the identifier ( 808 ) from the consumer, and may be able to assist the consumer to locate the identifier on the product. After the client provides the code, he can continue regularly to record and submit his feedback ( 809 ). 
         [0055]    If the product was not previously registered with a system according to the present disclosure, the system may extract the product type name, and the name of the business making the product from one or more external databases ( 806 ). The customer may then enter the product identifier, but help in locating the product may not be available ( 810 ). As a final step the customer can record and send his feedback for the product. 
       EXAMPLES 
       [0056]    In some aspects, exemplary implementations of the application may facilitate transmission of the feedback information in each of four possible situations:
       A. Consumer or feedback provider has the application and is in a participating feedback recipient or encountering a participating product or service.   B. Consumer or feedback provider does not have the application and is in a participating feedback recipient or encountering a participating product or service.   C. Consumer or feedback provider has the application and is in a non-participating feedback recipient or encountering a non-participating product or service.   D. Consumer or feedback provider does not have the application and is in a non-participating feedback recipient or encountering a non-participating product or service.       
 
         [0061]    In situation A, the consumer or feedback provider has previously used a mobile device and the application is present on the consumer feedback device  101 . In an aspect of the present disclosure, the feedback provider may use the application to find a service provider  201 . In another aspect, the feedback provider may use the application to find a specific business location  202 . In another aspect according the present disclosure, the feedback provider may identify feedback recipient information to give feedback on a product  204  or airline flight  207  or rental car location  202  described in  FIG. 2 . The Application provides several methods for identifying the business including but not limited to, for example, service provider database  302  or geo-location service  303 , depending upon whether the feedback recipient is a participating feedback recipient using a feedback device or is not a participating feedback recipient. If they are a participating feedback recipient, the feedback device may have a code  306  and also the geo-locator  303  may identify the feedback recipient as participating based on its geo-location. 
         [0062]    In situation B the feedback provider does not have the mobile device application but is in a participating feedback recipient location with a consumer feedback device  101 . In an aspect of the present disclosure, the feedback provider may use the QR code  301  found in the feedback device solicitation message to download and install it. In one aspect  705 , the feedback provider may use the mobile device application for the first time and may be presented with the option to leave an input to the feedback recipient for which he scanned the QR code. In another aspect  707 , the feedback provider may use the mobile device application to provide his input ( FIG. 4 ). In aspect  708  according to the present disclosure, after providing input the feedback provider may allow the feedback recipient to reply  607  and to contact him regarding the input. When allowed, in aspect  710 , the feedback recipient&#39;s contact information may be provided along with the input  707 . If not,  709 , his contact information may not be provided. 
         [0063]    In situation C, the feedback provider has the application and the feedback recipient may not be a participating feedback recipient, the application may locate the feedback recipient as provided, for example in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0064]    In situation D, the feedback provider does not have the application and may be in a non-participating location. In this situation the feedback provider may go to the 45 sec.com, Apple apps, or Android website and could quickly download the application. In an aspect of the present disclosure, the application may download in under 60 seconds. 
         [0065]    While specific embodiments and applications of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise configuration and components disclosed herein. The terms, descriptions and figures used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. Various modifications, changes, and variations which will be apparent to those skilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation, and details of the apparatuses, methods and systems of the present invention disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. By way of non-limiting example, it will be understood that the block diagrams included herein are intended to show a selected subset of the components of each apparatus and system, and each pictured apparatus and system may include other components which are not shown on the drawings. Additionally, those with ordinary skill in the art will recognize that certain steps and functionalities described herein may be omitted or re-ordered without detracting from the scope or performance of the embodiments described herein. 
         [0066]    The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. The described functionality can be implemented in varying ways for each particular application—such as by using any combination of microprocessors, microcontrollers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or System on a Chip (SoC)—but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0067]    The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. 
         [0068]    The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the present invention. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is required for proper operation of the embodiment, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.