Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/982,828, filed Dec. 30, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Technical Field 
         [0003]    Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to methods and systems for facilitating financial transactions and, more particularly, to enabling a global network for providing instant bank fund transfers that is economical for low-value transactions. 
         [0004]    Related Art 
         [0005]    The International Standards Organization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies. The ISO International Standard ISO 20022, “Universal Financial Industry Message Scheme”, is intended to provide the financial industry with a common platform for the development of messages in a standardized XML (Extensible Markup Language) syntax, using: 1) a modeling methodology (based on UML—Unified Modeling Language) to capture in a syntax-independent way financial business areas, business transactions and associated message flows; and 2) a set of XML design rules to convert the messages described in UML into XML schemas. This flexible framework allows communities of users and message development organizations to define message sets according to an internationally agreed approach and to migrate to the use of common XML-based syntax. 
         [0006]    Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a global banking network (SWIFTNet) system for funds transfers between banks that is generally economical for individual users but requires a few business days, typically three, for the settlement of transactions, e.g., fund transfers, in which the recipient of funds may experience delay in the funds becoming available for use. 
         [0007]    Real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS) are funds transfer systems where money is moved from one bank to another in “real-time” and on “gross” basis. Settlement in “real time” means the payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period; the transactions are settled as soon as they are processed. Settlement on “gross” basis means each transaction is settled on a one-to-one basis without netting or grouping with any other transactions. In general, RTGS, typically used by companies, organizations, and institutions, is the fastest possible way to transfer money. Once processed, payments are final and irrevocable, but also require a significant fee from the user. RTGS systems may vary from country to country and is usually maintained and controlled by the Central Bank of a country. For example, Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS) is used in the United Kingdom, while Fedwire is used in the United States. Compared, for example, to SWIFTNet, the RTGS system is suited for low-volume, high-value transactions, and thus may be prohibitively expensive for individual users. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, methods and systems for real-time global bank funds transfers include a new payment system for real-time global bank fund transfers, a funds transfer network, and a method to allow global real-time fund transfers among banks. In one or more embodiments, a Financial Service Provider (FSP) has accounts or agreements with, for example, Bank A and Bank B. A first user with an account at Bank A makes a request for a fund transfer to a second user at Bank B. The request goes through the FSP, which can confirm the first user. If confirmed, the FSP sends funds to Bank B instantaneously, so that the second user receives the money right away. The first user does not “see” the FSP at all, but instead makes the payment through his own bank (e.g., Bank A) to another bank (e.g., Bank B). The FSP then waits the standard 3-5 days for money from Bank A (e.g., settlement of transaction). 
         [0009]    In one or more embodiments, a system includes: a first cash account managed by a computer at a partner bank of a financial service provider (FSP) and owned by the FSP; a second cash account managed by a computer at the partner bank of the FSP and owned by a financial institution; and an application programming interface (API) for communication of financial transactions between the partner bank of the FSP and the financial institution so that instant funds transfer between the partner bank and the financial institution is accomplished via the API and internal transactions between the first cash account and the second cash account. 
         [0010]    In another embodiment, a method includes: maintaining a first cash account, owned by a financial service provider (FSP), at a partner bank; maintaining a second cash account, owned by a financial institution, at the partner bank; invoking an application programming interface (API) for transfer of funds between the financial institution and the partner bank; and accomplishing instant funds transfer between the partner bank and the financial institution via the API and internal transactions in the partner bank between the first cash account and the second cash account. 
         [0011]    In a further embodiment, a computer program product comprises a computer readable medium having computer readable and executable code for instructing a processor to perform a method that includes: maintaining a first cash account, owned by a financial service provider (FSP), at a partner bank; maintaining a second cash account, owned by a financial institution, at the partner bank; invoking an application programming interface (API) for transfer of funds between the financial institution and the partner bank; and accomplishing instant funds transfer between the partner bank and the financial institution via the API and internal transactions in the partner bank between the first cash account and the second cash account. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a system diagram illustrating a system for financial transactions in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a system diagram illustrating a transaction in a system for financial transactions in accordance with an embodiment. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a system diagram illustrating operation of a system for financial transactions in accordance with an embodiment. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating a method for funds transfer in a system for financial transactions in accordance with an embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    Embodiments of the present invention relate to providing a global network for instant transfer of funds between financial institutions that enables immediate, or “real-time”, funds transfers between financial institutions (e.g., banks) regardless of whether the banks are in the same country or different countries. For brevity “bank” has been used for the more general term “financial institution” (FI) in the illustrative examples that follow, but no limitation of financial institutions only to banks is intended unless specifically stated. “Instant” means the payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period; the transactions are settled as soon as they are processed, comparable to real-time settlement systems such as RTGS. Transactions conducted using the instant global funds transfer network according to one or more embodiments may be more economical for use by individuals than RTGS systems yet provide faster settlement than transactions that clear through SWIFTNet. 
         [0017]    For example, the RTGS system is suited for low-volume (e.g., less than a hundred per day per institution), high-value (e.g., more than $10,000) transactions. RTGS systems are an alternative to systems of settling transactions at the end of the day, also known as net settlement systems, for example, Automated Clearing House (ACH) or SWIFTNet. In a net settlement system, all the inter-institution transactions during the day are accumulated. At the end of the day, the accounts of the institutions are adjusted. 
         [0018]    A system according to one or more embodiments may be more convenient for users than a typical net settlement system. For example, transactions may be conducted on-line rather than the user having to walk up to a bank counter or teller window; the funds recipient may receive funds right away so that the user&#39;s transaction may be completed more quickly; and errors may be detected and corrected right away instead of taking perhaps as long as a week to correct, as in some conventional systems, during which time neither the user nor the recipient may have use of the money. For banks or financial institutions, the faster service provided by an embodiment may allow the bank to charge more for the faster service than for a conventional net settlement system funds transfer. Also, suitability for low-value funds transfers using an embodiment may lead to wider usage than that of RTGS, increasing volume of business for the bank providing the faster service. 
         [0019]      FIG. 1  illustrates a system  100 , according to one embodiment, for facilitating financial transactions, e.g., transactions involving money in any of its various forms supported by system  100 , in which a buyer  102  and seller  104  may wish to conduct a transaction  106 , which may include sending money from buyer  102  to seller  104 . Buyer  102  may be able to use any of several different mechanisms for sending money from an account at a bank (or other financial institution or financial service provider), for example, of the buyer  102  to seller  104  for accomplishing transaction  106 . For example, buyer  102  may use an eCheck  108 , an integrated electronic fund transfer (iEFT)  110 , or a manual electronic funds transfer (mEFT)  112  to fund the transaction  106 . Note that buyer and seller are used as an example, as any payer and payee may use features herein to effect instant money or fund transfers. 
         [0020]    Using eCheck  108 , buyer  102  may perform a credit/debit transaction that is similar to the use of a regular bank check, generally familiar to most people. Like a regular bank check, an eCheck  108  may be settled using the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network and may generally take 3 to 5 business days to clear, e.g., to be settled, meaning that the bank account of the recipient, also referred to as “creditor”, e.g., seller  104 , has been credited (recipient has full use of the money) and the bank account of the payer, also referred to as “debtor”, e.g., buyer  102 , has been debited (payer no longer has use of the money). With eCheck  108  the money may be paid to seller  104  from an account of buyer  102  by direct debit, which is a method of ACH collection in which the debtor, e.g., buyer  102 , gives authorization to debit the account of buyer  102  upon the receipt of an entry issued by the creditor, e.g., seller  104 . 
         [0021]    A financial service provider (FSP)  120 , such as PayPal, Inc. of San Jose, Calif., may provide a service (e.g., acting as an intermediary between buyer  102  and seller  104 ) that insulates buyer  102  from seller  104  by allowing completion of transaction  106  through the FSP  120  via transaction  122 , between buyer  102  and FSP  120 , and transaction  124 , between seller  104  and FSP  120 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . For example, FSP  120  may provide an eCheck  108  transaction in which buyer  102  sends money to FSP  120 , and FSP  120  may then send the money to seller  104  via using a transaction  124  between FSP  120  and seller  104  that is agreeable to both parties. In this way, information need only pass between seller  104  and FSP  120  without seller  104  needing to know any financial information about buyer  102 . Using this eCheck service, buyer  102  may give authorization to debit the account of buyer  102  upon the receipt of an entry issued by the FSP  120 . The authorization may be enabled, for example, by buyer  102  providing the FSP  120  with appropriate information about the bank and account of buyer  102 . 
         [0022]    Returning to  FIG. 1 , using iEFT  110 , buyer  102  may perform an integrated electronic fund transfer through the FSP  120 . To use the iEFT service provided by FSP  120 , buyer  102  may or may not provide the FSP  120  with appropriate information about the bank and account of buyer  102 . Using this iEFT service, the buyer  102  may initiate the transaction  106  on a website of FSP  120  and the buyer  102  may be redirected to an on-line banking web page of the bank of buyer  102 , Bank A. Buyer  102  may log on to Bank A at the on-line banking web page, and Bank A may provide buyer  102  the capability to confirm the payment and the amount. Once the buyer  102  confirms the payment and amount, the FSP  120  may receive instant payment verification, e.g., the payment is approved, authorization is completed, and it may be guaranteed to FSP  120  to receive payment within, for example, 2 to 3 days. At that time, because the money is deemed safe, FSP  120  may make immediate payment to the seller  104 , e.g., release the funds or credit the funds to the seller  104 . 
         [0023]    Referring again to  FIG. 1 , using mEFT  112 , buyer  102  may perform a manual electronic funds transfer through the FSP  120 . To use the mEFT service provided by FSP  120 , buyer  102  may or may not provide the FSP  120  with appropriate information about the bank and account of buyer  102 . Using this mEFT service, the buyer  102  may provide FSP  120  with funds to be kept with FSP  120  in a user account of buyer  102 . In effect, funds for the transaction  106  will be prepaid into an account with FSP  120  by the buyer  102 . Having prepaid appropriate funds to FSP  120  (e.g., via transaction  122 ), buyer  102  may initiate the transaction  106  on a website of FSP  120 . FSP  120  may then send the money to seller  104  using an appropriate method for accomplishing transaction  124 . In this way, information need only pass between seller  104  and FSP  120  without seller  104  needing to know any financial information about buyer  102 . With mEFT, as with iEFT, because the money is deemed safe, FSP  120  may make immediate payment to the seller  104 , e.g., release the funds or credit the funds to the seller  104 . 
         [0024]    Returning again to  FIG. 1 , seller  104  may have several options for receiving the money sent by buyer  102  in transaction  106  from FSP  120  and putting the money into a bank account of seller  104 . In one option, the seller  104  may maintain a seller account with FSP  120 . Once the FSP  120  has provided the money from transaction  106  to the FSP seller account of seller  104 , seller  104  may then withdraw the money (withdrawal  111 ) from the FSP seller account and, for example, deposit it with the bank of seller  104 , Bank B. 
         [0025]    FSP  120  may provide financial services that allow instant fund transfers, e.g., fund transfers in real time—such as those accomplished by RTGS systems—but adapted to low value transfers—such as those accomplished by SWIFTNet or ACH transfers. The instant fund transfers may, however, be provided more economically than by RTGS and more quickly than by SWIFTNet. Some of the financial services are illustrated in  FIG. 1  as an instant top-up  114 , an instant account confirmation (using withdrawals)  115 , an instant direct debit  116 , and an instant funds out (withdrawal)  117 . 
         [0026]      FIG. 2  illustrates a portion of system  100  for facilitating financial transactions according to one embodiment. Financial service provider  120  may provide system  100  as a bank-to-bank fund transfer network to which Bank A and Bank B belong, enabling instant or real-time transfer transaction  106  between Bank A and Bank B. The network of system  100  may be global, and Bank A and Bank B may be in the same or different countries. Transaction  106  may occur from a user (e.g. buyer  102  or ultimate debtor) of Bank A and a user (e.g., seller  104  or ultimate creditor) of Bank B, and in the case that user  104  is identical to user  102  it may be understood that user  102  is thus able to transfer money between his or her own accounts at different banks using system  100 . 
         [0027]    Bank A may offer interbank, instant funds transfers for banks in the network of system  100  as a product through on-line banking. A user (e.g., buyer  102  or ultimate debtor) having an account at Bank A may, for example, log on to an on-line banking web page of Bank A, and choose the global instant funds transfer service. The buyer  102  may then be presented, for example, with a drop down list of banks in the network of system  100  to which a transfer can be made. Upon the buyer  102  providing enough information (e.g., transfer amount, destination bank, destination account number, or seller  104  identification), Bank A may invoke an application programming interface (API)  151  to accomplish the transfer transaction  106 . API  151 , as well as APIs  152 ,  153 , and  154 , may be pre-defined such as ISO 20022 “FIToFICreditTransfer”. API  151  may communicate with API  152  for performing transaction  122 . Based on the information received by API  152  from Bank A, API  152  may chain to API  153  to communicate with API  154  at Bank B to perform transaction  124  so that transaction  106  between user  102  and user  104  may be completed. By chaining APIs in this manner, FSP  120  may form the network of system  100  and enable instant global interbank funds transfer via the network of system  100 . 
         [0028]    As seen in  FIG. 2 , transfer transaction  106  may be completed in several steps or links through FSP  120 , which may be transparent to user  102  and user  104  as indicated by the dashed line representing transaction  106  in  FIG. 2 . In other words, user  102  may perceive that user  102  only needs to deal with Bank A in order to accomplish the entire transaction  106 , without user  102  being aware of FSP  102  or partial transactions  122  and  124 . On the other hand, Bank A may display, for example, on its on-line banking webpage that enables use of the funds transfer service, a trademark or logo of FSP  120  to indicate affiliation of the network of system  100  or the funds transfer service provided by Bank A with FSP  120 . Such information may be displayed by Bank A for purposes of using the good will associated with the name of FSP  120  in encouraging trust of user  102  in system  100  and the funds transfer service provided by Bank A. 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example of various operations of system  100  for financial transactions. In system  100 , according to one or more embodiments, instant bank funds transfers can be made, on behalf of various users, between financial institutions, which in the example of  FIG. 3  are illustrated by banks Bank A, Bank B, and a partner bank  121  of FSP  120 . Users may be different users of the same or different banks, for example, or the same user may wish to transfer funds between that user&#39;s own accounts at different banks. As shown in  FIG. 3 , Bank A may be a bilateral bank, meaning there is an established bilateral relationship between Bank A and FSP partner bank  121 . FSP partner bank  121  may provide a hosting service for cash accounts, e.g., business checking accounts, some of which are owned by banks in the system  100 , e.g., Bank A cash account  172  owned by Bank A, and some of which are owned by FSP  120 , e.g., FSP cash account  182 . 
         [0030]    For example, if a user of Bank A wishes to transfer money to a user of Bank B (e.g., transaction  106  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), the Bank A user may so instruct Bank A and Bank A may begin a transaction  171  for transfer of funds using API  161  and API  162  to move funds (e.g., transfer  185 ) from the user&#39;s account at Bank A to Bank A′s cash account  172  at FSP partner bank  121 . FSP partner bank  121  may then make an internal transfer  181  of funds between Bank A&#39;s cash account  172  and FSP cash account  182 . FSP partner bank  121  may use cash accounts  172 ,  174 , and  182 , by which multiple transactions—such as transfers  181 ,  183 , and  185 —are netted to maintain an aggregate balance for each cash account. The financial institutions in system  100 , e.g., Bank A and FSP partner bank  121 , may use a due to-due from accounting model for operating the network of system  100 . Due to-due from accounts (as opposed, e.g., to transfer accounts) generally are similar to liability accounts in that they appear on the Balance Sheet of year-end statements and maintain a balance at the end of the year that is carried forward to the next year. This type of account is usually used for transferring money between companies. By way of contrast, transfer accounts generally are similar to expense accounts in that their balance is closed into the fund balance account at the end of the year and they appear on the Income Statement. This type of account is usually used for balancing transactions across funds. 
         [0031]    Continuing the example (e.g., transaction  106  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), subsequent to internal transfer  181 , the funds transfer from the user of Bank A to the user of Bank B (which may be the same or a different user) may be completed via internal transfer  183  to Bank B&#39;s cash account  174  and transfer  187  (accomplished, e.g., via transaction  173 ) to the account of the user of Bank B at Bank B. Transaction  173  may be made using API  164  and API  163 . 
         [0032]    The overall transfer from the user of Bank A to the user of Bank B (e.g., transaction  106  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) may be completed instantly because: 1) transfer  181  and transfer  183  are internal funds transfers of FSP partner bank  121 , 2) transfer  185 , occurring between Bank A and its own cash account  172  with FSP partner bank  121 , may be accomplished by properly crediting and debiting the appropriate accounts via the use of API  161 , API  162 , and transaction  171 , and 3) transfer  187  may be accomplished, like transfer  185 , by properly crediting and debiting the appropriate accounts via the use of API  164 , API  163 , and transaction  173 , without actual movement of funds between Bank B and its own cash account  174  at FSP partner bank  121 . 
         [0033]    To facilitate immediate settlement of transactions (e.g., transaction  106  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), each financial institution (e.g., Bank A and Bank B) and the FSP  120  may take steps to ensure that each cash account in the FSP partner bank  121  maintains a large enough balance for settlement of a few days of transactions on a total aggregate basis. For example, FSP  120  may make funds transfers  189 , and Bank A and Bank B may make funds transfers  185  and  187  respectively. Thus, at the end of each day, FSP  120  may issue fund transfer instructions to FSP partner bank  121 ; for example: “Today there is net $1,000,000.00 transaction payment amount from Bank A cash account to FSP cash account hosted by FSP partner bank”. Because both cash accounts are hosted by the same bank, e.g., FSP partner bank  121 , the instruction is satisfied by an intrabank account loop transfer. An intrabank loop transfer is instant. For example, error reporting can take place immediately, e.g., if any cash account has an insufficient balance. Thus, transactions, such as funds transfer transaction  106 , may be settled immediately, e.g., do not take a number of business days to clear as with a conventional transfer made using, for example, SWIFTNet or ACH. 
         [0034]    System  100  may be scalable in the sense that a new bank (or financial institution) may integrated into the system in practicably short amount of time so that the system can grow by hundreds to thousands of new financial institutions within a moderate time horizon, for example, 100 new banks within a year rather than 1 year for each new bank. 
         [0035]    For example, integrating Bank B into system  100  may require setting up Bank B&#39;s cash account  174  to be hosted by FSP partner bank  121  for facilitating intrabank loop transfers  183 . Open APIs, that is, APIs defined by ISO rather than the FSP  120 —such as ISO 20022 APIs “FIToFICreditTransfer” —may be used so that not only the FSP  120  can implement and host appropriate APIs, but the new financial institution, e.g., Bank B for this example, can also invoke and host the appropriate APIs; thus, API invocation is bi-directional. With such an approach, integration of a new bank, e.g., Bank B, may require only configuring pre-defined APIs, e.g., configuring API  163  and API  164  for performance of transactions  173 . Configuring the open APIs can save significant amount of product development time (e.g. up to about one year in each case) that would otherwise conventionally be required on the part of FSP  120  on a customized basis for each new financial institution. 
         [0036]      FIG. 4  illustrates a method  400  for transferring funds instantly in a global financial network such as system  100  according to one embodiment. At step  401 , a user (e.g., buyer  102 ) may log in to the user&#39;s account at a financial institution (e.g., Bank A) using, for example, on-line banking provided by Bank A. For this example, the user may wish to move funds from an account with Bank A to an account at Bank B, so the transaction may be instant transfer of funds from the user&#39;s (e.g., buyer  102 ) account with Bank A to the account of a user (e.g., seller  104 ) at Bank B. The user may choose the transaction to perform at the on-line banking web page of Bank A and may provide additional choices and information—such as selecting Bank B from a drop down list of available banks that belong to the instant global funds transfer network of system  100 . A bank may be available, for example, if the bank has been integrated into instant global funds transfer network of system  100  by FSP  120  and the bank has a cash account hosted by FSP partner bank  121 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . At the end of the day, if the transaction is the only one for Bank A, that may be the only fund transfer issued to FSP partner bank  121  in that case; otherwise, several transactions may be netted against each other and an aggregate fund transfer issued to FSP partner bank  121  at the end of the day. 
         [0037]    On day 1, in real-time, at step  402 , FSP  120  may receive the credit transfer API invocation from Bank A to transfer $100 (in this example, to illustrate that some specific amount of funds is chosen by the user, $100 is used as the chosen amount) of the user&#39;s (e.g., buyer  102 ) account balance to an account at Bank B. Because the API provides instant results, the money movement settlement is guaranteed, e.g., reliance by FSP partner bank  121  on availability of funds in Bank A cash account  172  is safe. Using the information, FSP  120  may sequence the invocations of API  162  and API  164  to accomplish the complete transaction of transferring funds from Bank A to Bank B which may be described as chaining the transactions  171  and  173  or chaining the APIs for transactions  171  and  173 . For example, FSP  120  having information from API  162  that transfer to Bank B is requested, may invoke API  164  and provide requisite information for completing the transfer of funds from Bank A to Bank B. 
         [0038]    Upon receipt of the instructions via the API, at step  403 , FSP partner bank  121  may use internal cash accounts (e.g., a general ledger account) which is hosted inside the instant global funds transfer network of system  100  (e.g., hosted by FSP partner bank  121 ) to credit the $100 to the cash account  174  of Bank B via transaction  181  and transaction  183  using, for example, intrabank loop transfers. Bank B may then transfer the money from its own cash account  174  to the account of the Bank B user (e.g., seller  104 ) at Bank B using, for example, funds transfer  187 . Thus, money may be credited to the Bank B user&#39;s account at Bank B immediately (because money movement settlement is guaranteed) even though Bank B may wait the standard 3 to 5 days for settlement. Because Bank B can credit the funds immediately to the user&#39;s account with Bank B, Bank B may release the funds immediately for completion of a transaction desired by the user of Bank A (e.g., buyer  102 ). For example, Bank B may release funds immediately to seller  104 , who then may process the order of buyer  102  and proceed immediately, for example, to ship goods to buyer  102 . 
         [0039]    In implementation of the various embodiments, embodiments of the invention may comprise a personal computing device, such as a personal computer, laptop, PDA, cellular phone or other personal computing or communication devices. The payment provider system may comprise a network computing device, such as a server or a plurality of servers, computers, or processors, combined to define a computer system or network to provide the payment services provided by a payment provider system. 
         [0040]    In this regard, a computer system may include a bus or other communication mechanism for communicating information, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as processing component (e.g., processor, micro-controller, digital signal processor (DSP), etc.), system memory component (e.g., RAM), static storage component (e.g., ROM), disk drive component (e.g., magnetic or optical), network interface component (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), display component (e.g., CRT or LCD), input component (e.g., keyboard or keypad), and/or cursor control component (e.g., mouse or trackball). In one embodiment, disk drive component may comprise a database having one or more disk drive components. 
         [0041]    The computer system may perform specific operations by processor and executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in a system memory component. Such instructions may be read into the system memory component from another computer readable medium, such as static storage component or disk drive component. In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. 
         [0042]    Logic may be encoded in a computer readable and executable medium, which may refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. In various implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magnetic disks, such as disk drive component, volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as system memory component, and transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including wires that comprise bus. In one example, transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications. 
         [0043]    Some common forms of computer readable and executable media include, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, ROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer is adapted. 
         [0044]    In various embodiments, execution of instruction sequences for practicing the invention may be performed by a computer system. In various other embodiments, a plurality of computer systems coupled by communication link (e.g., LAN, WLAN, PTSN, or various other wired or wireless networks) may perform instruction sequences to practice the invention in coordination with one another. 
         [0045]    Computer system may transmit and receive messages, data, information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e., application code) through communication link and communication interface. Received program code may be executed by processor as received and/or stored in disk drive component or some other non-volatile storage component for execution. 
         [0046]    Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosure may be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be combined into composite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be separated into sub-components comprising software, hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated that software components may be implemented as hardware components and vice-versa. 
         [0047]    Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as program code and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readable and executable mediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may be implemented using one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Where applicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may be changed, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide features described herein. 
         [0048]    The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present invention to the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. It is contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modifications to the present invention, whether explicitly described or implied herein, are possible in light of the disclosure. Having thus described various example embodiments of the disclosure, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the invention is limited only by the claims.

Technology Category: g