Title: System and method for efficient provision of a voicemail message indicator signal over a computer data network
Abstract: A system and method for providing an indication of a telephone voicemail message over a computer network is provided. A table of updated voicemail subscriber message information is generated that includes voicemail subscriber identifier information and voice mailbox message status for each respective subscriber. Web-based requests are received from subscribers for voice mailbox status information. For each request from a subscriber, subscriber-specific data is retrieved from the table and an Internet web page incorporating the retrieved information is provided. A web page is then generated for a subscriber and downloaded over the subscriber's web browser to provide an updated voice mailbox message status. An additional embodiment is described in which a cache in the router is utilized to store updates of the voice mailbox message status.
Patent Number: 6,940,952 Issued on 09/06/2005 to Kleinfelter, et al.
| Inventors:
|
Kleinfelter; Kevin P. (Atlanta, GA);
Littrell; Kim (Marietta, GA)
|
| Assignee:
|
Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (Wilmington, DE)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
202005 |
| Filed:
|
July 25, 2002 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
379/88.12; 379/88.17 |
| Intern'l Class: |
H04M 001/64 |
| Field of Search: |
379/8812,881.7,882.2,882.3,882.5,882.7,900,671
709/203,206,209,200-202,228
370/351-356,428,429
707/8,104
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
| 5675507 | Oct., 1997 | Bobo, II.
| |
| 5963618 | Oct., 1999 | Porter.
| |
| 6052367 | Apr., 2000 | Bowater et al.
| |
| 6181781 | Jan., 2001 | Porter et al.
| |
| 6282269 | Aug., 2001 | Bowater et al.
| |
| 6282270 | Aug., 2001 | Porter.
| |
| 6421545 | Jul., 2002 | Christal.
| |
| 6421708 | Jul., 2002 | Bettis.
| |
| 6623127 | Sep., 2003 | Bhat.
| |
Primary Examiner: Foster; Roland
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Walters; Bambi F., Zimmerman; Scott
Claims
1. A method for providing an indication of a telephone voicemail message over
a computer network, comprising the steps of:
receiving a request in a cache server in a network from a subscriber's browser
for voicemail message waiting indicator information associated with the subscriber,
wherein the request is directed to an http-based proxy server and redirected to
the cache server;
notifying the proxy server of the subscriber's request;
while the subscriber remains active, receiving in the cache server voicemail
message waiting indicator information associated with the subscriber from the proxy
server, wherein the voicemail message waiting indicator information is pushed to
the cache server, and the proxy server retrieves the message waiting indicator
information from a voicemail server;
determining whether requests are received within an acceptable range of time,
wherein no requests received during the acceptable range of time indicates that
the subscriber is no longer active and;
upon receiving an indication that the subscriber is no longer active, notifying
the proxy server to discontinue sending the voicemail message waiting indicator
information to the cache server.
2. The new method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber's browser resides on a web-enabled
personal digital assistant.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber's browser resides on a web-enabled
wireless telephone.
Description
BACKGROUND
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of telephony network voicemail
messaging systems, and more particularly to the provision of voicemail message
waiting indicator signals to users of a computer data network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Voice messaging services generally fall into two categories. First, answering
machines or other customer premises equipment ("equipment") may be connected directly
to a telephone subscriber's telephone line. Such devices record messages from callers
if a call has not been answered after a pre-determined number of ring-intervals.
Typically, the equipment provides a visual and/or audible message waiting indicator
to alert the subscriber that a message has been received. However, a drawback to
such equipment-based systems is that calls must be received by the subscriber's
equipment before callers can leave a message. Accordingly, such equipment is not
useful for recording messages when a caller receives a busy signal. To overcome
this problem, among others, telephone service providers have implemented the second
category of voice messaging service: telephony network-based voicemail messaging
server ("VMS") systems.
In a telephony-based VMS system, when a call is not answered or cannot be connected
to a subscriber's telephone line, intelligence within the telephone network routes
the call to a centralized VMS system. The advantages of such centralized telephony-based
VMS services are well-known in the art. For example, the subscriber may receive
voicemail messages while he is using his telephone line to speak to another person
or for a connection to an online data service. Moreover, because of the centralized
nature of the VMS system, the telephone service provider may provide power and
data system backups to increase reliability and availability of the VMS system.
However, such telephony-based VMS systems have difficulty notifying the subscriber
when he has new messages waiting to be heard on the server.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a conventional system for alerting a
telephony-based voicemail subscriber that a voice mail message has been received
on the telephony voicemail system. In FIG. 1, voicemail messages are processed
and stored in telephony network 100 by VMS 102. When a caller leaves
such a voicemail message for a subscriber, VMS 102 alerts the subscriber
via central office 104. Central office 104 sends a signal to the
subscriber's telephone to provide an alert to the subscriber. If the telephone
is part of an integrated system, such as telephone 106, a voicemail message
waiting indicator ("MWI") may be displayed or provided directly on the telephone
device. Alternatively, a separate MWI system 108 may be attached to telephone
110, as shown in FIG. 1. Central office 104 may also generate
a pre-determined tone (e.g., "stagger tone") on the subscriber's line to alert
the subscriber that a message has been received.
Because the conventional MWI system as shown in FIG. 1 relies on the subscriber's
equipment, it suffers from some of the same problems as described above for conventional
answering machines. That is, although callers now may leave a voicemail message
through the centralized VMS system even when the subscriber's telephone line is
unavailable (speaking with another caller or using an online data service) the
subscriber's telephone line must be available to send a notification signal to
the equipment. Thus, if the line is busy, the subscriber will not be informed when
new messages are waiting on the voicemail server.
FIG. 2A depicts a conventional system by which message waiting indicators can
be provided to a subscriber while connected to an online data service, via a display
on the computer that is connected online. Such a system may be useful, for example,
when the subscriber's telephone line is unavailable to callers because it is connected
to data network 202 using a dial-up connection. In such a situation, the
conventional MWI system shown in FIG. 1 does not enable the central office to send
the MWI signal over the subscriber's telephone line until after the subscriber
has disconnected from the data network. With this system, as shown in FIGS. 2A-2C,
the subscriber can be notified fairly quickly of a new voicemail message even while
online, through notification over a computer network to the subscriber's computer.
The conventional system of FIG. 2A includes client computer 200 and voicemail
server system 206. Client computer 200 can include a processor 220
coupled via bus 222 to network port 224, and memory 226. Specialized
software is installed in memory 226 of client computer 200 for connecting
to voicemail server system 206 to receive MWI information on the client
computer 200. Client computer 200 can communicate with voicemail
server system 206 via network 202. Server 206 can include
a processor 230 coupled via bus 232 to network port 234, and
memory 236.
In this system, a message waiting indicator may be sent from VMS system 204
to server system 206 for transmission over network 202 to client
200, as shown in FIG. 2A. Server 206 includes database 209
for storing and processing MWI messages received from VMS 204. Alternatively,
VMS system 204 may be connected within network 202 and configured
to send message waiting indicators directly to client 200. In either case,
special software installed on client computer 200 opens a connection to
server 206 when the subscriber logs onto network 202. In response
to this open connection, server 206 sends MWI messages to client computer
200. These messages are to be sent periodically in accordance with the specialized
software, upon requests from client computer 200.
In a conventional TCP/IP socket-based system, this can be accomplished by the
client opening a TCP connection to a predefined port on the server 206 and
waiting for data to arrive via that connection. The server responds with a record
of a predefined format, with content indicating whether a message is waiting. The
client computer 200 continues to monitor the connection for additional records,
in case that a message is received subsequent to a request.
The specialized client software may operate in any suitable manner to display
the alert message to the subscriber via display area 208 on client 200.
For example, in FIG. 2B, a small client window 210 may be opened in a non-intrusive
place within display 208. In this example, the specialized client software
runs independently of any other applications. That is, window 210 need not
be run from within another application and the window may be moved and resized
according to the subscriber's preferences. Window 210 may provide a graphical
or textual indicator to alert the subscriber. Alternatively, computer 200
may provide an audible indicator. As another example, an icon may be incorporated
into the system tray or other display location in display area 208. For
example, icon 212 on system menu bar 214 may be used, as shown in
FIG. 2B. Icon 212 may be further configured to blink or change colors
to indicate that a message waiting indicator signal has been received.
FIG. 2C depicts a display on a client computer based upon specialized software
for providing MWI information over a web browser. In this configuration, web browser
216 is opened in display area 208, and server 206 includes
a web server to provide web pages to the web browser. The client software may be
implemented using Java or a comparable applet technology (also referred to as "mobile
code") embedded in web browser application 216. The applet may display a
message in a frame or other area 218 on web browser 216.
In the above-described conventional systems, a subscriber's client computer has
specialized software installed to directly retrieve information over a network
from voicemail system 204 through server 206. While this may allow
for a direct connection, there are also disadvantages associated with requiring
special software to be installed to receive MWI messages over a network to a client
computer. Particularly, many computing devices do not support installed client
applications. For example, Internet Appliances that operate almost exclusively
for browsing the Internet may not allow users to load client programs for persistent
memory. As another example, computers located behind corporate firewalls may not
permit traffic flow other than HTTP. Although it is possible that a Java applet
or similar code module could be downloaded across a network as necessary, Java
applets will not run unless the client computer has other software installed, such
as a Java Virtual Machine or a Macromedia Flash runtime system. In any event, Java
applets are known to be slow to execute and slow to download via limited bandwidth
connections. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for providing a
voicemail message waiting indicator to subscribers without the need for special
software on the client's computer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Systems and methods for providing a voicemail message indicator to client
devices are disclosed herein. In a disclosed embodiment, a server system, referred
to herein as a MWI proxy server, is operable to communicate with client devices
such as computers behind a firewall, PDA's, or a mobile phone, any of which may
not have persistent IM client software thereon. A client device may receive MWI
information by contacting the MWI proxy server, which acts as a go-between with
a MWI server and voicemail system. The MWI proxy server forwards requests for MWI
information originating from the client to the MWI server. Likewise, the MWI proxy
server receives MWI information from the MWI server and makes it available to the
client device.
In a disclosed embodiment, a client device, which may be any computing device
such as, for example, a general purpose computer, a personal digital assistant,
or a mobile telephone, transmits a request to the MWI proxy server to receive MWI
information. The MWI proxy server responds to the device by transmitting HTML code
for creating a frame in the web browser. The frame is defined such that it repeatedly
and at a defined periodicity requests that the displayed frame be refreshed. Thus,
the frame periodically transmits requests to the MWI proxy server for refreshed
frames with updated MWI information.
According to an aspect of the disclosed system, the functionality of the
MWI proxy server may be provided via a plurality of distributed servers. For example,
a plurality of servers, referred to herein as cache servers, may be established
for fielding requests to update MWI information in a frame in a web browser. Requests
from client devices for recently received MWI information may be re-routed according
to network routing rules to an appropriate cache server.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for providing an
indication of a telephone voicemail message over a computer network. A table of
updated voicemail subscriber message information is generated that includes voicemail
subscriber identifier information and voice mailbox message status for each respective
subscriber. Web-based requests are received from an MWI proxy server for voice
mailbox status information. For each request subscriber-specific data is retrieved
from the table and an Internet web page incorporating the retrieved information
is then generated for the subscriber and downloaded over the subscriber's web browser
to provide an updated voice mailbox message status.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method for accessing
an indication of a telephone voicemail message over a computer network. A request
is transmitted to a web server for voice mailbox status information. A table is
accessed that contains updated voicemail subscriber message information, having
subscriber identifier information and voice mailbox message status for each respective
subscriber. Subscriber-specific data is retrieved from the table and provided in
an Internet web page incorporating the retrieved information.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an indication of a telephone
voicemail message over a computer network upon receiving a request from a subscriber's
browser for the subscriber's voicemail message indicator in a router of a network.
A database check is performed in a cache connected to the router to search for
the requested subscriber information. If the requested subscriber information is
included in the cache, the voicemail message indicator is provided to the subscriber.
Otherwise a connection is routed to a web server that maintains a database of subscriber-specific
voicemail message indicators.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional voicemail message waiting indicator
system for providing an alert to a subscriber's equipment.
FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of a conventional voicemail message waiting indicator
system for providing an alert to a subscriber's computer system.
FIG. 2B is an illustration of a display for a conventional voicemail message
waiting indicator application executed on a client computer system.
FIG. 2C is an illustration of a display for a conventional voicemail message
waiting indicator application provided via a web-based client application executing
on a client computer system.
FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of an architecture according to an embodiment
of the present invention, in which a client computer accesses message waiting indicator
information from a server system.
FIG. 3B is an illustration of an exemplary display for the system of FIG. 3A,
in which a voicemail message waiting indicator is provided in a frame on a web browser.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention
of a network architecture using a distributed caching system to reduce bandwidth
on a network providing a voicemail message waiting indicator service.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a proxy server for providing message waiting
indication information according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a process to be performed by a proxy server according
to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process by which a message waiting indicator is
generated from a voicemail system and transmitted to a subscriber's client computer
in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a web-based voicemail message waiting indicator
to a subscriber's client computer without the need for specialized software on
the client computer. Using the method and system described herein, a voicemail
subscriber who can access the Internet can receive notifications of when voicemail
messages are left in the subscriber's voicemail box. This can be useful if the
subscriber is currently occupying the telephone line, perhaps to access the Internet.
Additionally, the present invention can be utilized to provide such information
to the subscriber's PDA or wireless telephone, which may be useful to the subscriber
even if the user is not using the telephone line to access the Internet. Therefore,
if a voicemail subscriber is waiting to receive a voicemail message, but is away
from the telephone line, the voicemail subscriber can receive notification of incoming
voicemail messages on the subscriber's web-enabled PDA or wireless telephone.
In one aspect of the present invention, a system and method are described for
providing a voicemail message waiting indicator to a subscriber via a conventional
web browser. By configuring the system to provide MWI messages to conventional
browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, difficulties associated with configuring
special software can be obviated. FIG. 3A depicts a web browser environment in
which the above-described problems may be overcome by downloading a page of data
from database
309 on server
306. The page of data may include a message
waiting indicator associated with the subscriber and may be provided to the subscriber
in any suitable manner, including, for example, as a text or icon-based message
or an audio or video message. The association between the subscriber and the server
may be made, for example, via an Internet "cookie," a log-in procedure, or a network
address assigned to any of client devices
300a-
300e.
Network traffic between client
300a-
300e and network
302 are processed by MWI proxy server
310.
As shown in FIG. 3A, MWI proxy server
310, which may be, for example, a
general purpose computing system, is communicatively coupled to network
302.
MWI proxy server
310 acts as a go-between for MWI server
306 and
devices
300a-f. As examples, PDA
300e and mobile telephone
300f may have limited memory capacity and therefore may not have
capacity for MWI specialized software to reside thereon. Likewise, Internet Appliance
300d may not support persistent MWI software. Computing System Workstation
300b may be located behind a corporate firewall or operate in a high-security
mode, such as in a lab or as a public kiosk, and therefore may not be operable
to communicate via a persistent specialized MWI software. Thus, PDA
300e,
Wireless Mobile Telephone
300f, Workstation
300b and
Internet Appliance
300d may not be operable to directly request MWI
information from MWI server
306. MWI proxy server
310 operates to
allow such devices to receive such information.
Generally, devices
300a-f have web browsing software thereon
and can be used to traverse or "Surf" the World-Wide-Web (i.e., "the web"). MWI
proxy server
310 is equipped as a web server and therefore can be accessed
using conventional web browsing software on devices
300a-f. Devices
300a-f are operable to browse to MWI proxy server
310 and
navigate a log-in procedure. Specifically, the devices may be used to navigate
to an initial HTML sign-in web page on MWI proxy server
310. The operator
of devices
300a-f enter identification information into the sign-in
screen and forward the same to MWI proxy server
310, which verifies the
information by transmitting the request to MWI server
306. Once the device
is signed-in, communications with that device occur through MWI proxy server
310.
Assuming that the user is a valid voicemail subscriber, MWI proxy server
310 communicates instructions to the browser software, which may be in the
form of HTML code, instructing the device to create a frame
311 on a client
display area
312 of a client display
308, as shown in FIG.
3B.
The MWI proxy server
310 creates a frame, rather than an entire web page,
such that a user can continue to browse the World-Wide-Web and access other web
pages while still displaying the frame created by the MWI proxy server
310.
The frame is programmed to periodically request a refreshed web frame from MWI
proxy server
310 so as to alert the user of any new incoming voicemail messages
since the last refresh. The frame may be programmed to refresh about every few
seconds or minutes, depending upon whether it is critical to be notified immediately
of an incoming message. As an alternative embodiment, a user can be prompted upon
sign-in to indicate how often to refresh the MWI message frame, or to opt for high,
medium, or low priority. Depending upon the speed of the user's connection to the
Internet, choosing to receive refreshes as a high priority at every few seconds
may delay downloads of other web pages while browsing the Web. Therefore, users
may wish to elect "low" or "medium" priority if they are not expecting to receive
an urgent call.
MWI proxy server
310 tracks refresh requests received from client devices
300a-f. This tracking information is used to determine whether the
user has browsed away or discontinued an Internet connection. For example, if the
refresh interval is every 2 minutes, after 5 minutes of no requests, the MWI proxy
server
310 determines that the user has ended the session and informs the
MWI server
310 that the user has signed-off. MWI server
306 may then
terminate the session.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the functionality described herein
provided by MWI proxy server
310 may in fact be distributed to a plurality
of physical machines. For example, servicing requests for updated web frames may
be performed by a plurality of server machines. As previously noted, devices
300a-f
receive MWI alerts when web browser frame
311 thereon requests an updated
web page from MWI proxy server
310. Under circumstances where only a few
devices communicate with MWI proxy server
310 to receive voicemail alerts,
it is reasonable that MWI proxy server
310 service all requests to refresh
web frames.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the network system in FIG. 3A, adding a plurality
of cache servers to reduce network usage. Where a great number of devices sign-in
through MWI proxy server
310, a plurality of servers
400-
403,
referred to herein as cache servers, may service requests from devices
300a-f
for refreshed web frames. When cache servers
400-
403 are employed
to service web frame refresh requests, MWI proxy server
310 forwards MWI
updates to the cache servers as they are received. The requests for web frames
with updated information may then be processed at cache servers
400-
403.
The MWI proxy server will continue to send updated information to the cache servers
for particular subscribers while the subscribers remain active on the network.
This information is then sent to subscribers in response to respective requests
automatically generated from the subscribers' browsers. If no subsequent requests
are received from a particular subscriber's browser within a certain period of
time, the system "times out," indicating that the subscriber is no longer active,
and notification is provided to the MWI proxy server to discontinue sending MWI
updates to the cache server.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that while the requests from devices
300a-f for updated web frames may be addressed to MWI server
306,
they may be re-routed to an appropriate cache server
400-
403 according
to networking rules. For example, router tables located in routers throughout the
network may define rules identifying a particular cache server
400-
403
for servicing requests from a particular set of client devices, e.g., clients with
an IP address within a particular range. These rules have the effect of routing
requests that may originally be directed to MWI proxy server
310 to cache
servers
400-
403.
FIG. 5 provides a diagram depicting functional components of MWI proxy server
310. As shown, MWI proxy server
310 comprises an MWI server interface
501 for interfacing with MWI server
306. Generally, interface
501
is operable to communicate with MWI server
306 so as to register devices
with the MWI online notification service.
MWI proxy server
310 may also comprise web server
503. Web server
503 is operable to receive and respond to requests for web frames. Web server
functionality is necessary for interfacing with clients that use the proxy functionality
of MWI proxy server
310.
Device interface
502 provides an interface to devices such as PDA
300e,
Wireless Telephone
300f, Internet appliance
300d, laptop
300a, Workstation
300b, and computing system
300c
that initiate sessions through MWI proxy server
310. Device interface
502 operates to receive requests to establish sessions and forward corresponding
requests to MWI server
306. More particularly, proxy device interface
502
is operable to format received requests for web frames and upon receiving requests
for such frames, transmit it to the requesting device via web server
503,
based upon updates received from MWI server
306.
FIG. 6 provides a flow diagram of steps performed by MWI proxy server
310.
As shown in step
600, MWI proxy server
310 receives a request for
a sign-in page from a client device, such as computing system
300c.
The sign-in page is then forwarded to the client (not shown). Optionally, the sign-in
page allows the user to choose a preferred rate by which updates will be sent (e.g.,
every 10 seconds, once a minute, etc.). At step
602, the user's sign-in
information is received (including username and password/passcode), and transmitted
to the MWI server
306 in step
604 for verification. If the user chose
a preferred update rate, this information is transmitted as well. The MWI server
306 checks database
309 (as shown in FIG. 3A) in step
606
to determine whether the user is an authorized voicemail subscriber. If incorrect
information was provided, the system provides notification that access is denied
in step
608, and may provide another opportunity to provide username and
password/passcode information (not shown).
Once a subscriber is authorized, the MWI proxy server transmits codes to the
device for generating frames, in step
610. The codes that are transferred
by the proxy server enables the device to receive frames without having specialized
software installed thereon.
In step
612, the MWI proxy server waits to receive requests from the authorized
device. Depending how the frame is configured, requests for updates may occur several
times a minute, once a minute, or at any other periodicity. A timer runs to detect
whether requests are received within an acceptable range of times. If it is determined
in step
614 the time has expired, the session is terminated in step
616.
Since the Internet is a connectionless system, a system can only determine if a
subscriber is still receiving information based upon the frequency of requests
for updates. Although this could be determined by requesting that the user "sign-off,"
this rarely occurs.
Once a request is received in step
618 from a web browser on a subscriber's
device, the proxy server retrieves the latest update information received from
the MWI server
306. The update information, along with other information
to be displayed in the frame, is then transmitted to the browser in step
620.
The proxy server then continues waiting for the next request from the browser,
in step
612.
FIG. 7 provides a flow diagram of how MWI information is transmitted from VMS
304 to the device (
300a-f). In step
700, a new voicemail
message is received through the voicemail system (VMS)
304. The voicemail
subscriber database
309 is updated to include the received voicemail in
step
702, and a notification is sent to a central office associated with
the subscriber's telephone line in step
704. Depending upon whether the
subscriber has an integrated system, the notification is then provided as a "staggered
dial tone" or as a visual indicator on the subscriber's telephone equipment. However,
if the user is either (i) using the telephone line with a dial-up modem to access
the Internet online or (ii) away from the telephone, this notification might not
be useful to alert the subscriber. Accordingly, after determining in step
706
whether the user has signed-in, the notification is sent to the MWI server in step
708. MWI server then transmits the MWI notification information to MWI proxy
server over the Internet, in step
710. This information may be transmitted
immediately, or otherwise as part of a batch processing with information for other
subscriber voicemail systems.
Once the information is received by the MWI proxy server, it is temporarily
stored, in step
712, until a request is received by the respective client,
in step
714. The information is stored such that it is associated with a
particular identification code for the respective client. The request includes
a particular IP address and the identification code, which triggers the proxy server
to transmit information in step
716 to enable the client device to generate
the web page frame containing the respective update information.
The above described steps in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be performed by a plurality of
server machines. Notably, the steps of handling requests to forward MWI information
may be performed by a plurality of servers such as, for example, cache servers
described in connection with FIG.
4. Requests by devices for these updates
are routed to the appropriate cache server via network enforced rules. Employing
cache servers
4 relieves a single machine from performing a function that
will likely be performed a great number of times. Further, cache servers may be
positioned in the network so as to be close to devices that may be frequently accessing them.
The present invention provides a web-based voicemail message waiting indicator
to a subscriber's client computer without the need for specialized software on
the client computer. The invention further reduces the load on the service provider's
network by moving the data to distributed systems on the network.
The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the present invention
has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended
to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many
variations and modifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent
to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. The scope
of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents.
Further, in describing representative embodiments of the present invention,
the specification may have presented the method and/or process of the present invention
as a particular sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process
does not rely on the particular order of steps set forth herein, the method or
process should not be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As
one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps may
be possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth in the specification
should not be construed as limitations on the claims. In addition, the claims directed
to the method and/or process of the present invention should not be limited to
the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art
can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within
the spirit and scope of the present invention.
*
