Abstract:
An online marketplace is established where sellers compete by offering to sell a mass quantity of a specific product, referenced by a unique product ID. A successful sale is determined at a time that maximizes a group of buyers&#39; offers for the specific product. At the determined time, both the sellers&#39; offers and the buyers&#39; offers for the specific product are separately sorted from the lowest price offer to highest price offer. Competing sellers are awarded sales contingent on one or more buyer offers remaining after each seller having a lower sell price is satisfied for its entire quantity. Sells for each successful seller are satisfied starting from a buyer&#39;s offer having a lowest buy price and increasing to successively higher buy prices of the remaining buyers&#39; offers, until the seller&#39;s entire quantity of the listed product is satisfied.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This is a continuation of provisional U.S. patent application No. 61/162,979, filed on Mar. 24, 2009, incorporated herein by reference, and this application claims the benefit thereof. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    At least certain embodiments of the invention relate generally to online auctions and marketplaces, and more particularly, to a technique for sellers to compete over the Internet to sell large quantities of a particular product to one or more buyers. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Auctions are a mechanism used to buy and sell goods by offering a good for sale, taking offers from buyers to purchase the good, and determining a buyer with a winning offer. Auctions provide a process to competitively affect a purchase price of a product by, for example, raising a purchase price by placing increasingly higher bid prices until a highest bid is accepted for the product by the seller, in a forward auction. In a reverse auction, multiple sellers compete to sell a product to a buyer by bidding the purchase price of the product down to a price agreeable to the buyer. 
         [0004]    Competition in driving down the purchase price is related to, for example, the number of sellers participating in the sale. The greater the number of sellers offering a product for sale increases a probability that the sellers will successively decrease the purchase price in order to win a sale while still realizing profit. A problem of traditional reverse auctions is accumulating enough sellers offering to sell identical goods in such a quantity to meaningfully decrease purchase prices. 
         [0005]    Another problem of traditional reverse auctions is insufficient buyer aggregation. A dearth of bids associated with poor buyer aggregation makes selling products impractical because the sellers&#39; profits are negligible without an adequate number of buyers placing upward pressure on an ultimate purchase price. 
         [0006]    Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    An online marketplace is established where a seller competes with other sellers by offering to sell a mass quantity of a particular product to one or more buyers. The marketplace contains a list of products that a seller can offer to sell at the marketplace to the one or more buyers. A seller submits an offer to the marketplace to sell a designated quantity of a specific product listed in the marketplace. A product listed in the marketplace is identified by a unique product identifier, such as a Universal Product Code (UPC), so that all sellers and all buyers bid on a single representative product. 
         [0008]    Individual sellers offering to sell the same product as other sellers are not aware of the specific selling terms of the other sellers. However, some terms, such as the total number of bids received and an average bid-price, for example, may be shown to the seller to encourage the seller to lower their sell price to achieve a successful sell. Buyers place an offer, including at least a price and duration, for a listed product. Individual buyers offering to buy the same product as other buyers are not aware of the specific purchase terms of the other buyers; however, some statistics may be shown to the buyer to encourage a successful purchase. 
         [0009]    A successful sale between a buyer and a seller for a particular product listed in the marketplace is determined at a time that maximizes the group of buyers bidding for the particular product. At the determined time, both the sellers&#39; offers and buyers&#39; offers for the particular product are separately sorted: sellers&#39; offers are listed, based on sell price, from lowest-to-highest; and buyers&#39; offers are listed, based on buy price, from lowest-to-highest. 
         [0010]    A seller with the lowest sell price is awarded sales for each of that seller&#39;s quantity of the particular product. Sells are satisfied starting from a buyer offer having a lowest buy price and increasing to successively higher buy prices of the remaining buyers&#39; offers, until the seller&#39;s entire quantity of the listed product is satisfied. Other competing sellers are awarded sales contingent on one or more buyer offers remaining after each seller with a lower sell price is satisfied for its entire quantity of the listed product. 
         [0011]    The marketplace also provides a system for selling to a buyer a product not contained in the marketplace list. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    One or more embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of the online marketplace implemented using clients communicatively coupled to a marketplace server via a network; 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates a seller, located at a client, offering to sell a specific quantity of a product at a sale price, and multiple buyers, each located at a client, offering to buy, for a specific duration, the product at the designated buy price; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates a seller and multiple buyers submitting offers from a client to a marketplace server, wherein the seller is selling a product referenced by a unique product identifier, and the multiple buyers are offering to buy the product; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  depicts a processor of a marketplace server determining successful buy-offers and sell-offers for a product sold in the marketplace; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  illustrates a display of a buyer&#39;s client depicting a buyer increasing the probability of achieving a successful offer by altering the buy-offer; 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  illustrates a display of a seller&#39;s client depicting a seller increasing the probability of achieving a successful offer by altering the sell-offer; 
           [0019]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart depicting the buyer&#39;s workflow to purchase a product at the online marketplace 
           [0020]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart depicting the seller&#39;s workflow to sell a product at the online marketplace; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart illustrating how a successful buy-offer and sell-offer are determined at the online marketplace. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0022]    Sellers and buyers of a particular product are maximized into a single aggregation where selling in bulk provides buyers competitive pricing and sellers realize a profit multiplied by mass selling at an instant predetermined for maximum profit probability. Various examples of the invention will now be described. 
         [0023]    The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and enabling description of these examples. One skilled in the relevant art will understand, however, that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. Likewise, one skilled in the relevant art will also understand that the invention can include many other obvious features not described in detail herein. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail below, so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description. 
         [0024]    The terminology used below is to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific examples of the invention. Indeed, certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Description section. 
         [0025]    The following discussion provides a brief, general description of a representative environment in which the invention can be implemented. Although not required, aspects of the invention may be described below in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as routines executed by a general-purpose data processing device (e.g., a server computer or a personal computer). Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced with other communications, data processing, or computer system configurations, including: wireless devices, Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including personal digital assistants (PDAs)), wearable computers, all manner of cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and the like. Indeed, the terms “computer,” “server,” “client,” and the like are used interchangeably herein, and may refer to any of the above devices and systems. 
         [0026]    While aspects of the invention, such as certain functions, are described as being performed exclusively on a single device, the invention can also be practiced in distributed environments where functions or modules are shared among disparate processing devices. The disparate processing devices are linked through a communications network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices. 
         [0027]    Aspects of the invention may be stored or distributed on tangible computer-readable media, including magnetically or optically readable computer discs, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips (e.g., EEPROM semiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, biological memory, or other data storage media. Alternatively, computer implemented instructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data related to the invention may be distributed over the Internet or over other networks (including wireless networks), on a propagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagnetic wave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time. In some implementations, the data may be provided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuit switched, or other scheme). 
         [0028]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example architecture  90  of an online marketplace implemented using clients  110  communicatively coupled to a marketplace server  100  via a network  114 . Each client  110  has a display  112  configured to visually present data. Each marketplace server  100  has at least one processor  102 , memory  104 , network adapter  106 , and storage unit  108 . 
         [0029]    The term “client,” as used herein, can be a desktop computer, a laptop, a cell phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or any other device having communication capability to connect to the network  114 . In one example, the client  110  connects to the network  114  using one or more network adapters, terminal adapters, routers or modems or combinations of the foregoing (in converged network embodiments). 
         [0030]    In some instances, the network can be a virtual network such that two or more servers  100  are located at a single physical computing system. Or, in another virtual network instance, one or more clients  110  and one or more servers  100  can reside on a single physical computing system. 
         [0031]    In some instances, the network  114  is the Internet, allowing the client  110  to access the marketplace server  100 . In some instances, especially where the client  110  is a phone or wireless device, the network  114  may be any type of cellular, IP-based or converged telecommunications network, including but not limited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM. Environment (EDGE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), etc. 
         [0032]    A client  110  has a display  112  to present information from a marketplace server  100  to a buyer  212  and seller  210 . The display  112  can use any technology suitable for presenting data such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode display (LED), Organic Light Emitting Diode display (OLED), Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or Plasma Display Panel (PDP). 
         [0033]    The term “marketplace server” as indicated herein, refers to an individual or multiple server stations or other computing apparatus. In one embodiment, the marketplace server is a web server capable of hosting a website and storing content (e.g., various webpages) that is associated with the website. In some embodiments, the marketplace server is separate from a web server, but communicates with a web server to provide, manage, and/or control content generated by the web server. 
         [0034]    The processor(s)  102  can include central processing units (CPUs) to control the overall operation of, for example, the host computer. In certain embodiments, the processor(s)  102  accomplish this by executing software or firmware stored in memory  104 . The processor(s)  102  can be, or can include, one or more programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmable controllers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or the like, or a combination of such devices. 
         [0035]    The memory  104  is or includes the main memory of the marketplace server  100 . The memory  104  represents any form of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory (as discussed above), or the like, or a combination of such devices. In use, the memory  104  can contain, among other things, a set of machine instructions which, when executed by processor  102 , causes the processor  102  to perform operations to implement embodiments of the present invention. 
         [0036]    Also connected to the processor(s)  102  is a network adapter  106 . The network adapter  106  provides the marketplace server  100  with the ability to communicate with remote devices, such as the clients  110 . 
         [0037]    Also connected to the processor(s)  102  is a storage unit  108 . The storage unit  108  represents any form of magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, etc. In use, the storage unit  108  receives and retrieves information on behalf of the memory  104 , the network adapter  106  and the clients  110 . 
         [0038]      FIG. 2  illustrates an online marketplace  200  where a seller  210  and a buyer  212  interact with a client  110 . The seller  210  creates, at the client, a sell-offer  202  having a sale-price  202  and quantity  203  of a product  204  to sell at the server. The buyer  212  creates, at the client, a buy-offer  206  having a buy-price  208  and a duration  218  to purchase the product  204  from the marketplace catalogue  214 . 
         [0039]    A seller  210  desiring to sell a product  204  locates that product in a catalogue of products  214  in the marketplace server  100 . The seller creates, at the client, an offer to sell  201  the product. The offer to sell at least contains a sale-price  202  at which to sell the product and a quantity  203  of the product to sell at the sale-price. 
         [0040]    A product listed in the catalogue  214  can only receive one initial sell-offer at a given time. Once a product receives the initial sell-offer, subsequent sell-offers for that product are aggregated with the initial sell-offer to maximize all the sellers of that particular product. 
         [0041]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example process  300  of sellers submitting sell-offers  201  and buyers submitting buy-offers  206  for an offered product  302 , the offers received, at the marketplace server  100 , as numerous buy-offers  304  and sell-offers  306 . The offered product  302  represents all identical products (make, model, color, etc) currently offered for sell at the online marketplace  200 . In one embodiment, the offered product  302  is assigned and referenced by a unique product identifier  308 . The unique product identifier  308  can be any identifier, such as a Universal Product Code (UPC), skew number, bar code, or serial number that identifies all like products by a single reference. By associating an offered product with the unique product identifier  308  all sellers and all buyers compete for a single representative product, increasing the number of sellers placing sell-offers on the offered product and creating more competition driving down an ultimate purchase price. Similarly, associating an offered product  302  with the unique product identifier  308  increases the number of buyers placing buy-offers  304  for the offered product  302 . This increased pool of buy-offers in-turn allows the sellers to sell, at a single, mass transaction, higher (“bulk”) quantities  203  of the product  204  while achieving higher profitability than traditional auctions and online marketplaces. 
         [0042]    In one embodiment, each of the received buy-offers  304  submitted from the clients  110  by the buyers has a buy-price  208 . In another embodiment, each buy-offer is coupled with a duration  218  that defines a maximum time threshold that the buy-offer is valid. After the duration expires for a particular buy-offer, that buy-offer is removed from the active buy-offers  304  for the offered product  308 . 
         [0043]    The determination of successful offers  450  can be initiated at the end of a duration specified in a sell-offer (e.g. 30 days) or at a time before the end of the sell-offer duration, based on a time that maximizes the buy-offers received at the marketplace server. In one embodiment, the processor  102  calculates when a greatest number of submitted buy-offers  304  will decrease due to one or more of the buy-offers expiring and, based on that calculation, the determination of the successful offers  450  is initiated to maximize the buy-offers. In another embodiment, the determination of successful offers is initiated based on a quantity  203  of a sell-offer  201  exceeding a predetermined threshold. 
         [0044]      FIG. 4  and  FIG. 9  illustrate determining successful-offers  450  from the buy-offers  304  and the sell-offers  306  for the product  214  sold in the marketplace. In one embodiment, the sell-offers  306  are sorted  902  such that a sell-offer having a lower sale-price  416  is sorted below a sell-offer having a next-higher sale-price  418 . Similarly, the buy-offers  304  are sorted  904  such that a buy-offer having a lower buy-price  422  is sorted below a buy-offer having a next-higher buy-price  424 . 
         [0045]    Sell-offers are satisfied in an order  908  according to their position in the sorted sell-offers  306 . Each sell-offer with a lower sale-price is satisfied before one other sell-offer having a higher sale-price. Additionally, each sell-offer being satisfied is satisfied for every one of the quantity  203  available in that sell-offer before any quantity of the next sale-offer is satisfied. 
         [0046]    For example, of the three sell-offers  306  received at the marketplace for selling a product, “sell-offer  1 ”  416  has the lowest sale-price, followed by “sell-offer  2 ”  418 , and “sell-offer  3 ”  420 . Of the seven buy-offers  304  received for purchasing the product, “buyer-offer  5 ”  422  has the lowest buy-price, followed by “buy-offer  4 ”  424 , “buy-offer  6 ”  426 , “buy-offer  2 ”  428 , “buy-offer  3 ”  430 , “buy-offer  1 ”  432 , and “buy-offer  7 ”  444 . The processor  102  can determine which of the sell-offers  306  and the buy-offers  304  are successful  450 . 
         [0047]    In one embodiment, “sell-offer  1 ”  416  wins all buy-offers  408  having a buy-price equal to and greater than the sale-price  422  of “sell-offer  1 ” but less than a next-higher sale-price  424  of a next sell-offer  418 . In addition, for each quantity  452  remaining after satisfying the buy-offers  408 , “sell-offer  1 ”  416  wins buy-offers  410  having a buy-price equal to and less than a highest buy-price of the submitted buy-offers  304 . 
         [0048]    However, if “sell-offer  1 ”  416  is the only sell-offer for the product, “sell-offer  1 ”  416  wins all buy-offers having a buy-price equal to or greater than the sale-price  422  of the first sell-offer  416  for which there is a sufficient quantity  452  of the product. 
         [0049]    This procedure  906  is continued for the remaining sell-offers. For example, “sell-offer  2 ”  418  wins all buy-offers  412  having a buy-price equal to and greater than the sale-price  424  of “sell-offer  2 ” for which there is a sufficient quantity  454  of the product. The buy-offer  430  remaining after both the quantity of “sell-offer  1 ” and “sell-offer  2 ” are satisfied is won by “sell-offer  3 ”  420  whose quantity  456  cannot be completely satisfied from the buy-offers  304 . 
         [0050]    Unsatisfied and partially satisfied sell-offers, “sell-offer  3 ”  420 , are automatically resubmitted to the marketplace server  100  for another round of offering until the remaining quantity is satisfied or until the seller cancels the automatic resubmission of the sell-offer. 
         [0051]    In one embodiment, products not listed in the catalogue  214 , for example, “used” or one-of-a-kind products can be added to the online marketplace  200 . A buyer desiring a product not listed in the catalogue  214  can submit, from the client  110  to the marketplace server  100 , a request for the particular product not listed in the catalogue. Other buyers desiring that same product can add requests for the particular product. The buyer requests can be aggregated by the marketplace server  100  and displayed, at the client  110 , to potential sellers  210  who can respond to the demand by submitting offers to sell the desired product at the online marketplace  200 . Irrespective of the buyer requests, a seller can offer for sell a product not listed in the catalogue  214 . 
         [0052]    Once a first seller submits an offer for a one-of-a-kind product, other sellers may aggregate sell-offers for products substantially similar to the first seller&#39;s product. A lowest sale price of the aggregated, one-of-a-kind or “used” product is displayed  112  at the client  110 . A winning buy-offer having a buy-price equal to the lowest sale price wins the product associated with the lowest sale price. After each of the “used” or one-of-a-kind products are sold, the next lowest priced product of the aggregation is displayed at the client of the buyer  212 , until all similar aggregated products are sold. 
         [0053]      FIG. 5  is an example  500  of a display  112  of the client  110  presenting information  502 - 504  and statistical data  506  from the marketplace server  100  to a buyer  212 . The display includes product details  502  such as a product description, product photograph, status of a product currently under bid, and the average price of the product based on historical averages or current bidding. Additionally, specific details  504  of an active buyer-offer  304  are presented, including the buy-price  208 , the duration  218  of the buy-offer, and a method of payment. 
         [0054]    In one embodiment, the statistics  506  are presented from the marketplace server  100  to the display  112 . The statistics provide the buyer feedback of a probability of achieving a successful offer  450 . The statistics can be presented to the display as any number of numerical calculations relating to a likelihood of a successful offer or, in one embodiment, a graphical representation of the likelihood of a successful offer is displayed to the buyer. 
         [0055]    In another embodiment, the buyer  212  can interact with the statistics  506  in a manner to affect the success of the buyer&#39;s offer. For example, a buyer desiring to increase a probability of a successful bid can change a submitted buy-offer  304  by increasing the buy-price  208 , increasing the duration  218  or both. Once submitted from the client  110  to the marketplace server  100 , the updated offer will update the previously submitted buy-offer  304 . 
         [0056]      FIG. 6  is an example  600  of the display  112  of the client  110  presenting information  602 - 604  and statistical data  606  from the marketplace server  100  to a seller  210 . The display includes product details  602  such as a product description, product photograph, status of a product currently under bid, and the average price of the product based on historical averages or current bidding. Additionally, specific details  604  of an active sell-offer  304  are presented, including, a total number of buy-bids received for the seller&#39;s product, the average buy-price of all the buy-offers submitted for the product  304 , and the lowest and highest buy-prices of all the buy-offers submitted for the product. 
         [0057]    In one embodiment, statistics  606  are presented from the marketplace server  100  to the display  112 . The statistics provide the seller feedback of a probability of achieving a successful offer  450 . The statistics can be presented to the display as any number of numerical calculations relating to a likelihood of a successful offer or, in one embodiment, a graphical representation of the likelihood of a successful offer is displayed to the seller. 
         [0058]    In another embodiment, a seller  210  can interact with the statistics  506  in a manner to affect the success of the seller&#39;s offer. For example, a seller desiring to increase the probability of a successful bid can change a submitted sell-offer  306  by decreasing the sale-price  202 . Once submitted from the client  110  to the marketplace server  100 , the updated offer will update the previously submitted sell-offer  304 . 
         [0059]      FIG. 7  is a process  700  illustrating one embodiment depicting a buyer workflow  702 - 716  for completing a purchase of a product at the online marketplace. At a browsing-step  702 , a buyer browses the marketplace server  100  for a particular product. Next, at a choosing-step  704 , the buyer chooses a product for submitting a buy-offer. Based on the product chosen in the choosing-step  704  or being redirected to the marketplace from a redirection-step  716 , the seller specifies the terms of a buy-offer including a buy-price and duration, in the buy-offer-step  706 . In the statistical-feedback-step  708 , the marketplace server provides to the buyer a likelihood of the buyer winning the product. If the buyer agrees to the terms for buying the product at the marketplace, agreement-step  710 , then the buy-offer is submitted and recorded by the marketplace server in the submission-step  712 . However, if the buyer desires to change the buy-offer based on the statistical-feedback-step  708 , the modification-step  714  allows the buyer to further modify the buy-offer at the buy-offer-step  706 . Once the buyer is satisfied with the buy-offer, the offer is submitted at the submission-step  712 . 
         [0060]      FIG. 8  is a process  800  illustrating one embodiment depicting a seller workflow  802 - 814  for completing a sell of a product at the online marketplace. At a browsing-step  802 , a seller browses the marketplace server  100  for active buy-offers for a product. Next, at a choosing-step  804 , the seller chooses a product for submitting a sell-offer. Based on the product chosen, the seller specifies the terms of a sell-offer and additional product information, in the sell-offer-step  806 . In the statistical-feedback-step  808 , the marketplace server provides to the seller a likelihood of achieving a successful sell of the product. If the seller agrees to the terms for selling the product at the marketplace, at agreement-step  810 , then the sell-offer is submitted and recorded by the marketplace server in the submission-step  812 . However, if the seller desires to change the sell-offer based on the statistical-feedback-step  808 , the modification-step  814  allows the seller to further modify the sell-offer and product information at the sell-offer-step  806 . Once the seller is satisfied with the sell-offer, the offer is submitted at the submission-step  812 . 
         [0061]    Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense (i.e., to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to”), as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense. As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or any variant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements. Such a coupling or connection between the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or,” in reference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list. 
         [0062]    The above Detailed Description of examples of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above. While specific examples for the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. While processes or blocks are presented in a given order in this application, alternative implementations may perform routines having steps performed in a different order, or employ systems having blocks in a different order. Some processes or blocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified to provide alternative or sub-combinations. Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performed or implemented in parallel, or may be performed at different times. Further any specific numbers noted herein are only examples. It is understood that alternative implementations may employ differing values or ranges. 
         [0063]    The various illustrations and teachings provided herein can also be applied to systems other than the system described above. The elements and acts of the various examples described above can be combined to provide further implementations of the invention. 
         [0064]    Any patents and applications and other references noted above, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts included in such references to provide further implementations of the invention. 
         [0065]    These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of the above Detailed Description. While the above description describes certain examples of the invention, and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may vary considerably in its specific implementation, while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific examples disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under the claims. 
         [0066]    While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the applicant contemplates the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. For example, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as a means-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, other aspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or in other forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. (Any claims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶6 will begin with the words “means for.”) Accordingly, the applicant reserves the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the invention.