Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/232,839, entitled System and Method for the Cascading Definition And Enforcement of EDI Rules, filed Sep. 22, 2005, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,475,051, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/612,140, filed Sep. 22, 2004, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     For speed of communications and cost effectiveness, individuals, businesses, and other organizations frequently exchange electronic data through e-mail, the Internet, and other networks and systems. Companies increasingly rely on third-party applications on the Internet to accomplish a wide range of intended purposes, often involving the exchange of electronic documents. 
     Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 
     To help establish compatibility for electronic data exchanges, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) has developed a set of standards for electronic data interchange (EDI) called the X12 standards, which defines the content and structure for data contained in electronic data files. For example, in EDI X12, a standard HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) “837P” interchange document represents an electronic data file used for filing patient claims to a health insurer. 
     Example of an EDI Document 
     An EDI document is a flat list of text, the divisions of which are not easy to determine. The following, abbreviated code shows a typical EDI interchange document: 
     
       
         
               
             
           
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 ISA*00*  *00*    *ZZ*WEBIFYSE   *ZZ*00AAA 
               
               
                 *020220*1243*U*00401*100000034*0*T*:~GS*HS*WEBIFYSE*00AAA*20020220*2314 
               
               
                 *123456789*X*004010X092Al~ST*270*3120~BHT*0022*13*10001234*19990501*103045 
               
               
                 *RT~HL*1**20*1~NM1*PR*2*Sample 
               
               
                 BCBS*****FI*999999999~HL*2*1*21*1~NMI*1P*2*Sample 
               
               
                 Clinic*****FI*888888888~REF*1J*0035~HL*3*2*22*0~TRN*1*93175- 
               
               
                 012547*9323233345~NMl*IL*1*SMITH*JOHN*M***MI*333440623~DMG*D8*19510918 
               
               
                 ~DTP*472*RD8*20031201- 
               
               
                 20031201~EQ*30**FAM*GP~SE*14*3120~GE*1*123456789~IEA*1*100000034~ 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In this interchange document, the elements ST and SE represent the start and end of a business transaction that may contain many additional elements. 
     An EDI document may be associated with more than one entities. 
     Example of EDI Transaction Segment 
     The following line shows a typical segment of an EDI business transaction in an 837P interchange document:
         NM1*H*DOE*JOHN*78747       

     In this example, the letters “DOE” might represent the last name of a specific individual. The field where “DOE” appears might indicate the last name of a patient submitting a claim. Similarly, the numbers “78747” might represent a specific individual&#39;s zip code and the field where “78747” appears might indicate the zip code of a patient filing a claim. 
     Implementation Guides 
     To promote standardization in the formats used in EDI documents, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) organization has created implementation guides of standard rules. For example, the implementation guide for an EDI document might stipulate that for NM 1, a valid zip code of five characters needs to exist. An implementation guide requirement for a different part of the same EDI document might be that a payer identification number needs to be 45 characters long. 
     Companion Guides 
     Implementation guides, however, do not cover the different, often changing requirements of regulatory bodies and individual companies. For example, the states of Florida and Texas would require different ranges of zip code numbers in patient claims. The American Medical Association may have guidelines for patient claims that change over time. And requests to different companies would, of course, require different company names or payer identification numbers. If a company changes its name, a different name or identification number might have to be supplied in patient claims. 
     To be able to use the EDI documents they receive, companies therefore typically create rulebooks, for example companion guides, to be used on top of implementation guides, to stipulate their particular requirements and the requirements of the bodies that govern them. In  FIG. 1 , for example, the company at payer server  1   170  may have companion guide  1   410 . The company at payer server  2180  may have a different companion guide  420 . 
     Companion guides, which are usually PDF files, are not machine readable, and each, may contain thousands of rules, making them difficult to read and comply with. For example, with over 600 insurance companies in the United States alone, companies that have to send EDI documents to numerous insurance companies have great difficulty identifying and meeting all the requirements in different companion guides. Moreover, other types of EDI documents in other areas of business have similar implementation guides and companion guides for different companies services, so that that challenge of interoperability through different industries is quite large. 
     Clearing Houses 
     Business entities, such as health insurance payers, often use third party clearing houses to validate that the EDI documents being sent to the entities from companies such as health care providers comply with the entities&#39; rulebooks or companion guides. 
     Typically these clearing houses manually write programs or use manually programmed third party engines to identify the requirements in each companion guide and then to automatically analyze each EDI document to discover whether the EDI document meets the requirements of the appropriate companion guide. Such a process is unnecessarily laborious, expensive, and time consuming, because the rules shared among many companion guides have to be written many times. 
     Therefore there is a need for a method and system that provides a more automatic method to validate the compliance of EDI documents with companion guides. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     These and other needs are addressed by the present invention. The following explanation describes the present invention by way of example and not by way of limitation. 
     According to various aspects of the present invention, computer program products and systems are provided to validate a plurality of electronic data interchange (EDI) documents, where each EDI document is associated with at least one of a plurality of entities. 
     Computer usable mediums and systems are provided for implementing the creation of an inventory of all rules, the inventory including a common set of rules for the plurality of entities. Dynamic adjustment of the inventory of all rules is facilitated based upon entity specific rules where the entity specific rules are derived from a plurality of companion guides, each companion guide associated with one of the plurality of entities. Moreover, determination of a profile for each of the plurality of entities is facilitated, where each profile indicates that entity&#39;s companion guide rules and provides pointers to select rules in the inventory of all rules that are associated with the current rule set of that entity. The profile for each companion guide is stored in a storage. 
     In operation, received EDI documents are checked for validation, where each checked EDI document is associated with a corresponding entity. To check received EDI documents for validation, a runtime checker checks the storage for a current rule set based upon the profile for the corresponding entity, where the current rule set comprises rules from the inventory of rules required by the companion guide associated with the corresponding entity. The received EDI document is also compared with the associated current rule set retrieved from storage. The received EDI document is forwarded to an associated destination entity if the received EDI document matches the associated current rule set, wherein the received EDI document is validated and the received EDI document is returned to the sender if the received EDI document does not match the associated current rule set, wherein the received EDI document is invalidated. Accordingly, received documents associated with the plurality of entities are checked for validation. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The following embodiment of the present invention is described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing an operating environment in which embodiments of the present invention may be employed; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart showing a process for validating the compliance of EDI documents with companion guides; 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  are flow charts showing a process for setting up a system to validate the compliance of EDI Documents with companion guides; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart showing a process for employing an organizer of CG rules; 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing a process for using a rule set to validate an EDI document; and 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram that illustrates a typical computer system, representing a server on which embodiments of the present invention can be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following description explains a system to provide an automatic method to validate the compliance of EDI documents with rulebooks such as companion guides. The details of this explanation are offered to illustrate the present invention clearly. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the concepts of present invention are not limited to these specific details. Commonly known elements are also shown in block diagrams for clarity, as examples and not as limitations of the present invention. 
     Operating Environment 
     An embodiment of the operating environment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 1 . A party uses server  1   100  to operate a clearing house service for providers such as provider server  1   150  and provider server  2   160  and entities such as payer server  1   170  and payer server  2   180 . 
     Payer  1   170  has companion guide  1   410  that stipulates its particular requirements for EDI documents and the requirements of the bodies that govern it. In the same way, payer server  2   180  has companion guide  2   420 . 
     Provider server  1150  has EDI document  1   310  and provider server  2   160  has EDI document  2   320 . 
     Server  100  can communicate with servers  150 ,  160 ,  170 , and  180  via a wired or wireless link  142 , a wired or wireless network  130 , and wired or wireless links  144 ,  145 ,  146 , and  148 . The servers  100 ,  150 ,  160 ,  170 , and  180  may be personal computers or larger computerized systems or combinations of systems. 
     The network  130  may be the Internet, a private LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless network, a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) network, or other communications system, and can comprise multiple elements such as gateways, routers, and switches. Links  142 ,  144 ,  145 ,  146 , and  148  use technology appropriate for communications with network  130 . 
     Through the operating environment shown in  FIG. 1 , a clearing house service at server  1   100  can be used to validate that EDI documents, such as  310  and  320 , sent from providers, such as  170  and  180 , comply with payers&#39; companion guides, such as companion guide  1   410  and companion guide  2   420  and the rules of the associated implementation guide. 
     Process 
     The following discussion explains an embodiment of a process to validate the compliance of EDI documents with companion guides. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the process employs the following main steps:
         Step  1000  in FIG.  2 —Setting up a system to validate the compliance of EDI documents with companion guides;   Step  2000  in FIG.  2 —Employing an organizer of CG rules  520  to add rules to the inventory of rules  620 ;   Step  3000  in FIG.  2 —Using the organizer of CG rules  520  to create CG profiles  610 ;   Step  4000  in FIG.  2 —Validating an EDI document  310 .       

     Setting Up a System to Validate the Compliance of EDI Documents with Companion Guides 
     An embodiment of a process for setting up a system on server  100 , shown in  FIG. 1 , to validate the compliance of EDI Documents with companion guides is shown in  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B . 
     Step  1002  in FIG.  3 —Creating a validation application  900 . 
     A validation application  900  is a proprietary software program used to validate the compliance of an EDI document with a payer&#39;s companion guide  410 . For the data transfers in this process, validation application  900  uses a controller  190 . 
     Step  1004  in FIG.  3 —Setting up a portal Web page  200 . 
     A portal Web page  200  is a Web page that payers can access to review and modify their CG profiles  610 , as explained below. 
     Step  1006  in FIG.  3 —Creating an organizer of CG (companion guide) rules  520 . 
     An organizer of CG rules  520  is a proprietary software program that contains human-readable hierarchies of rules from companion guides and their associated implementation guide and that is used for efficiently creating CG profiles  610  for payers. 
     Step  1008  in FIG.  3 —Creating a rules analyzer  522 . 
     A rules analyzer  522  is a proprietary software program used by the organizer of CG rules  520  to help analyze the content of companion guides  410  and  420  and to build an organizer of CG rules  520 . 
     Step  1010  in FIG.  3 —Employing a companion guide analyzer  540 . 
     In an embodiment, a companion guide (CG) analyzer  540  is a human operator who uses the organizer of CG rules  520  and his or her own efforts to analyze companion guides  410  and  420  for common and different rules and uses this information to create and update the entries in the inventory of rules  620 . In another embodiment, a companion guide analyzer  540  may comprise a fully automated software program. 
     Step  1012  in FIG.  3 —Creating a profiles engine  560 . 
     A profiles engine  560  is a proprietary software program used to create a current rule set  720  for a payer. 
     Step  1014  in FIG.  3 —Setting up a metadata storage  600 . 
     A metadata storage  600  may comprise non-volatile storage used to store CG profiles  610  and an inventory of rules  620 . 
     Step  1016  in FIG.  3 —Creating CG profiles  610 . 
     CG profiles  610  are one or more files  612  and  614  that indicate payers&#39; companion guide rules and the associated implementation guide rules, providing pointers to the rules stored in the inventory of rules  620 , which is described below. 
     Step  1018  in FIG.  3 —Creating a runtime checker engine  700 . 
     A runtime checker engine  700  is a proprietary software program used to validate an EDI document such as  310  by comparing it to the current rule set  720  and CG profile  612  for a Payer&#39;s companion guide  410 . 
     Step  1020  in FIG.  3 —Creating an inventory of rules  620 . 
     An inventory of rules  620  is a proprietary software program that contains all the rules defined by the organizer of CG rules  520 . 
     Step  1022  in FIG.  3 —Creating a rule set  720 . 
     In an embodiment, a rule set  720  is an instance in a cache  710  that shows the current set of rules required by a payer&#39;s companion guide  410 . A rule set  720  is created by the profiles engine  560  the first time a CG profile  612  is accessed during the validation process and is used subsequently each additional time that CG profile  612  is accessed. Each time CG profile  612  is updated, a new rule set  720  is created, which becomes the current rule set. 
     Step  1024  in FIG.  3 —Employing an implementation guide  800 . 
     An implementation guide  800  is a set of standard rules for EDI documents in an industry and is available from the WEDI Web site. 
     Step  1026  in FIG.  3 —Employing a controller  190 . 
     A controller  190  is a software program that controls data transfers for validation application  900 . 
     In other embodiments, these elements may be located separately in more widely dispersed systems involving multiple servers. Moreover, in another embodiment these elements could be located on a payer&#39;s server  170 , shown in  FIG. 1 , and the validation process could be carried out by the payer and without a clearing house. 
     Employing an Organizer of CG Rules  520   
       FIG. 4  shows an embodiment of a process for employing an organizer of CG rules  520 . 
     Step  2002  in FIG.  4 —Downloading an implementation guide. 
     In an embodiment, the clearing house at server  100 , shown in  FIG. 1 , downloads an electronic copy of an implementation guide  800  for a specific industry, such as health care insurance, from the WEDI Web site. 
     Step  2004  in FIG.  4 —Adding implementation guide rules to the organizer of rules  520 . The validation application  900  uses the CG analyzer  540  to add the rules from the implementation guide  800  to the organizer of CG rules  520 . For the example, if the implementation guide  800  contains 1000 rules, these 1000 rules will form the base content of the organizer of CG rules  520 . 
     Step  2006  in FIG.  4 —Analyzing companion guides  410 ,  420 . 
     Subsequently, the clearing house at server  100  receives a copy of a companion guide  1   410  from payer server  1   170  in electronic form. Validation application  900  then uses the rules analyzer  522  and the companion guide analyzer  540  to analyze the contents of companion guide  410  for the following contents in comparison with the content of the organizer of CG rules  520 : 
     Content not found 
     Similar content 
     Identical content 
     For example, companion guide  1   410  may contain 10 new rules not covered in the 1000 rules from the implementation guide  800 . The rules analyzer  522  and the companion guide analyzer  540  thus add the 10 new rules to the organizer of CG rules  520 . The current organizer of CG rules  520  then contains 1010 rules. 
     Later, the clearing house at server  100  receives a copy of companion guide  2   420  from payer server  2   180  in electronic form. Validation application  900  then uses the rules analyzer  522  and the companion guide analyzer  540  to analyze the contents of companion guide  2   420  in comparison with the current contents of the organizer of CG rules  520 . For example, companion guide  2   420  may use only five of the ten new rules found in companion guide  1   410  and two new rules in addition. The rules analyzer  522  and the companion guide analyzer  540  thus add the two new rules from companion guide  2   420 , so that the current organizer of CG rules  520  contains 1012 rules. The same process continues with any additional companion guides that the clearing house at server  100  receives. 
     Example 
     Entities with Common Similar and Unique Rules 
     The following example illustrates one embodiment of a rules analyzer portion of the current invention. 
     In this example, there are 600 entities designated as e 1 , e 2 , e 3  . . . e 600 . Each entity has about 200 rules. Entity e 1  has 200 rules, entity e 2  has 195 rules, entity e 3  has 202 rules, and e 600  has 200 rules. 
     The table below shows a small portion of the approximately 120,000 rules set from all entities and all rules. The first column “reference” is used for discussion of this example. The second column “rule” is designated as e i r j  where “i” represents an entity and “j” represents a particular rule. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 Reference 
                 Rule 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                  1 
                 e 1 r 1   
                 X &gt; 50 
               
               
                  2 
                 e 1 r 2   
                 Y = ‘abc’ 
               
               
                 . . . 
               
               
                 200 
                 e 1 r 200   
                 AA = 1800 
               
               
                 201 
                 e 2 r 1   
                 X &gt; 50 
               
               
                 202 
                 e 2 r 2   
                 Y = ‘def” 
               
               
                 . . . 
               
               
                 395 
                 e 2  r 195   
                 BB = 2000 
               
               
                 396 
                 e 3 r 1   
                 X &gt; 50 
               
               
                 397 
                 e 3 r 2   
                 Y = ‘ghi’ 
               
               
                 . . . 
               
               
                 597 
                 e 3 r 202   
                 Z = 100 
               
               
                 . . . 
               
               
                 119,801    
                 e 600 r 1   
                 X &gt; 50 
               
               
                 119,802    
                 e 600 r 2   
                 Y = ‘rstuv’ 
               
               
                 . . . 
               
               
                 119,999    
                 e 600 r 199   
                 Z = 100 
               
               
                 120,000    
                 e 600 r 200   
                 CC = 2100 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In this example, the number of rules can be dramatically decreased to facilitate rules checking and update functions. 
     Expressing the Rules in a Neutral Format 
     The rules are first put into a neutral format that is machine readable so that they can be further processed. 
     Classifying and Categorizing the Rules 
     Many of the rules are “common” for two are more entities, such as reference numbers (1, 201, 396, 119801) and (597, 119999). 
     Many rules are “similar” where the rule structure is the same, but the values differ, such as (2, 202, 397, 119802). 
     Rules which are not common or similar are “unique”, such as (200, 395, 120000). 
     By grouping the rules according to common, similar, and unique rules, the number of entries may be reduced from 120,000 to perhaps less than 50,000 rules. The table below shows a grouping of rules where the “Ref” column is for discussion of the example. 
     In the table, Ref A is for a common rule shared by entities e 1 , e 2 , e 3 , and e 600 . 
     Ref B is for a common rule shared by entities e 3  and e 600 . 
     Ref C is for a similar rule of entities e 1 , e 2 , e 3 , and e 600 . 
     Ref D, E, and F are for unique rules of entities e 1 , e 2 , and e 600 , respectively. 
     This arrangement is one of many different ways to compile the rules in a rules analyzer. Once the rules are compiled, then all rules for an entity can be determined, such as by a column in the table below. The table also provides an improved method of updating rules to provide a current rule set. For instance if reference rule  202  (e 2 r 2 ) changed from Y=‘def’ to Y=‘lmnp’, the single entry at Ref C may be changed to update the table. 
     
       
         
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Entity 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Ref 
                 Desc 
                 e 1   
                 e 2   
                 e 3   
                 . . . 
                 e 600   
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 A 
                 X &gt; 50 
                 * 
                 * 
                 * 
                   
                 * 
               
               
                   
                 B 
                 Z = 100 
                   
                   
                 * 
                   
                 * 
               
               
                   
                 C 
                 Y 
                 ‘abc’ 
                 ‘def’ 
                 ‘ghi’ 
                   
                 ‘rstuv’ 
               
               
                   
                 D 
                 AA 
                 1800 
               
               
                   
                 E 
                 BB 
                   
                 2000 
               
               
                   
                 F 
                 CC 
                   
                   
                   
                   
                 2100 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Step  2008  in FIG.  4 —Storing the rules. 
     The organizer of CG rules  520  stores in the inventory of rules  620  all the rules it has identified. 
     After its initial creation, the organizer of CG rules  520  can thus serve as a dynamic base for efficiently analyzing all new companion guides sent to the clearing house at server  100 , so that programmers do not have to manually create an entirely new set of rules for each new companion guide but only have to add the rules not previously covered. Moreover, the organizer of CG rules  520  may be sent to other servers for use with other systems. 
     In other embodiments the clearing house at server  100  can receive hard copy companion guides in hard copy format and scan them into electronic format. 
     In addition, multiple organizers of CG rules  520  may be created from the implementation guides and companion guides of separate industries, for example the health insurance and financial industries. 
     Using the Organizer of CG rules to Create CG profiles 
     After the organizer of CG rules  520  has been created, the organizer of CG rules  520  efficiently creates a CG (companion guide) profile such as  612  for each companion guide that has been analyzed through the process described above. CG profile  612  identifies all the rules employed by its associated companion guide  410  and is stored in metadata storage  600 . 
     After a CG profile  610  has been created, the associated payer can use the portal Web page  200  to update the CG profile  610 . 
     It is important to note that CG profile  612  contains pointers to those rules stored in the inventory of rules  620  that are used in companion guide  410  and not the actual code for the rules. Take, for example, the case where companion guide  1   410  contains 10 new rules in addition to the 1000 rules from the implementation guide  800 . CG profile  612  then would contain pointers to the code for Rule  1 , Rule  2 , etc.,—all the way to Rule  1010 , which is stored in the inventory of rules  620 . 
     Continuing the example given above, companion guide  2   420  uses the 1000 rules of implementation guide  800 , only five of the ten new rules found in companion guide  1   410 , and two new rules in addition. The corresponding CG profile  614  for companion guide  2   412  may then contain pointers to the code for Rule  1 , Rule  2 , etc,—all the way to Rule  1000 , for Rules  1005 - 1010 , and for Rules  1011  and  1012 , which is stored in the inventory of rules  620 . 
     Thus, when subsequent content changes are made to the fields for rules contained in the implementation guide and companion guides, the organizer of CG rules  520  can be used to easily and efficiently update the rules stored in the inventory of rules  520  without having to update individual CG profiles, whose pointers remain accurate. This makes the process of managing the large number of rules, and the changing nature of the rules, associated with implementation guides and companion guides much more manageable. 
     Validating an EDI Document 
       FIG. 5  shows an embodiment of a process for using a rule set  720  to validate an EDI document  310 . 
     Step  5002  in FIG.  5 —Check the payer identification code. 
     After an EDI document such as  310  reaches the clearing house at server  100 , the runtime checker engine  700  reads the payer identification code in the EDI document  310  and checks metadata storage  600  for a current rule set  720  for the payer. 
     In an embodiment, a rule set  720  is a file stored in cache  710 , which shows the current set of rules required by a payer&#39;s companion guide  410 . A rule set  720  is created by the profiles engine  560  the first time a CG profile  612  is accessed during the validation process and is used subsequently each additional time that CG profile  612  is accessed. Each time a CG profile  612  is updated, the profiles engine  560  creates and stores a new rule set  720  for the CG profile  612 , and that new set becomes the current rule set  720 . 
     Step  5004  in FIG.  5 —Document matches payer&#39;s rule set? 
     The runtime checker engine  700  then attempts to validate the EDI document  310  by comparing it to the current rule set  720  for a payer&#39;s companion guide  410 . 
     Step  5006  in FIG.  5 —Send to payer. 
     If the EDI document  310  matches the rule set  720 , the validation application  900  validates the EDI document  310  and sends it to the payer  170 . 
     Step  5008  in FIG.  5 —Return to provider. 
     If the EDI document  310  does not match the rule set  720 , the validation application  900  invalidates the EDI document  310  and sends it back to the provider  150 . 
     Computer System Overview 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram that illustrates a typical computer system  1400 , well known to those skilled in the art, representing a server  100 , shown in  FIG. 1 , on which embodiments of the present invention can be implemented. This computer system  1400 , shown in  FIG. 6 , comprises a network interface  1402  that provides two-way communications through a wired or wireless link  142  to a wired or wireless communications network  130  that uses any applicable communications technology. For example, the network  130  can comprise a public telephone network, a wireless network, a local area network (LAN), and any known or not-yet-know applicable communications technologies, using correspondingly applicable links. The network  130  in turn provides communications with one or more host computers  150  and, through the Internet  1424 , with one or more servers  103 . 
     The network interface  1402  is attached to a bus  1406  or other means of communicating information. Also attached to the bus  1406  are the following: 
     a processor  1404  for processing information; 
     a storage device  1408 , such as an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, or a magnet disc, for storing information and instructions; 
     main memory  1410 , which is a dynamic storage device such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores information and instructions to be carried out by processor  1404 ; 
     a bios  1412  or another form of static memory such as read only memory (ROM), for storing static information and instructions to be carried out by processor  1404 ; 
     a display  1414 , such as a liquid crystal display (LDC) or cathode ray tube (CRT) for displaying information to user of the computer system  1400 ; and 
     an input device  1416 , with numeric and alphanumeric keys for communicating information and commands to processor  1404 . In another embodiment a mouse or other input devices can also be used. 
     The computer system  1400  is used to implement the methods of the present invention in one embodiment. However, embodiments of the present invention are not limited to specific software and hardware configurations. Computer system  1400  can receive data from computer  150  and server  103  through a network  130  such as the Internet, and appropriate links  142 , such as wired or wireless ones, and its network interface  1402 . It can of course transmit data back to computers over the same routes. 
     Computer system  1400  carries out the methods of the present invention when its processor  1404  processes instructions contained in its main memory  1410 . Another computer-readable medium, such as its storage device  1408 , may read these instructions into main memory  1410  and may do so after receiving these instructions through network interface  1402 . Processor  1404  further processes data according to instructions contained in its storage device  1408 . Data is relayed to appropriate elements in computer system  1400  through its bus  1406 . Instructions for computer system  1400  can also be given through its input device  1416  and display  1414 . 
     “Computer-readable medium” refers to any medium that provides instructions to processor  1404 , comprising volatile, non-volatile, and transmission media. Volatile media comprise dynamic memory, such as main memory  1410 . Non-volatile media comprise magnetic, magneto-optical, and optical discs, such as storage device  1408 . Transmission media comprise a wide range of wired and unwired transmission technology, comprising cables, wires, modems, fiber optics, acoustic waves, such as radio waves, for example, and light waves, such as infrared, for example. Typical examples of widely used computer-readable media are floppy discs, hard discs, magnetic tape, CD-ROMs, punch cards, RAM, EPROMs, FLASH-EPOMs, memory cards, chips, and cartridges, modem transmissions over telephone lines, and infrared waves. Multiple computer-readable may be used, known and not yet known, can be used, individually and in combinations, in different embodiments of the present invention. 
     Alternate Embodiments 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that different embodiments of the present invention may employ a wide range of possible hardware and of software techniques. For example the communication between servers could take place through any number of links, including wired, wireless, infrared, or radio ones, and through other communication networks beside those cited, including any not yet in existence. 
     Also, the term computer is used here in its broadest sense to include personal computers, laptops, telephones with computer capabilities, personal data assistants (PDAs) and servers, and it should be recognized that it could include multiple servers, with storage and software functions divided among the servers. A wide array of operating systems, compatible e-mail services, Web browsers and other communications systems can be used to transmit messages among servers. 
     Furthermore, in the previous description the order of processes, their numbered sequences, and their labels are presented for clarity of illustration and not as limitations on the present invention.

Technology Category: g