The present disclosure is generally directed towards a system and method for calculating a carbon footprint and water footprint, more particularly, calculating and tracking a carbon footprint in a logistics context.
The growth of consumer interest in environmental sustainability, and global water scarcity combined with government regulations and a stronger sense of corporate sustainability and responsibility, is raising awareness of the role which the transportation industry plays in global sustainability. Multinational corporations now track key sustainability performance metrics for their own operations and those of their suppliers. This growth in interest in environmental sustainability has led to firms such as Walmart realizing over 90% of their emissions are from their supply chain.
There is a continued global interest in improving business management through the reduction of greenhouse gases (“GHG”) that is driving sustainably focused companies to measure and manage their total carbon emissions, or carbon footprint. While environmental and social responsibility is predominately voluntary in North America, environmental mandates in regions such as the European Union have had a far reaching impact on manufacturing and logistics in the United States. The proliferation of U.S. corporate acquisitions by European and Far Eastern companies results in the sustainability policies of these parent organizations reaching around the world. In addition, suppliers of both goods and services to the leading edge sustainable organizations are beginning to see the shift from optional GHG improvement initiatives to required sustainability strategies to remain a viable supply chain partner.
For many manufacturers a significant portion of their true carbon footprint lies in the supply chains feeding materials and distributing products. Specifically, one of the largest contributors of carbon for many manufacturers carbon footprint comes from the logistics services required to properly position materials and finished products in global supply chains. Despite the relatively large contribution of transportation to an overall carbon footprint, one of the major hurdles to tracking supply chain emissions is the lack of standardization for emissions reporting.
Thus, there is a need for an accurate and reliable system and method for calculating and reporting carbon emissions associated with the logistics industry and with freight movement in general.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the above-identified problems.
The present disclosure provides a system and method for a user to enter carbon dioxide, simply called “carbon”, generating inputs based on periodic totals. These inputs may be set up to be entered manually or imported from various systems.
There are vehicle inputs (miles/gallons) and building inputs (kilowatts, cubic feet, gallons), which may be for example:
Calculations are set up to convert each input into an amount of carbon emitted. These calculations have been researched for each type of input to find a proper conversion rate. For example, depending on area of the country, region, and state, electricity could have different carbon conversion rates. These conversion rates and calculations are coded into the system or method.
The carbon data can be summarized on a totals sheet. In addition to understanding the carbon totals by input, calculations may be included that estimate the carbon and water saved in comparison to a previous time period. Additionally, a separate dashboard sheet may be provided that shows the carbon data graphically and by mode of transportation and type of truck to help the user understand where and how carbon is being reduced.
Monthly metrics may include, but are not limited to:
As disclosed herein a method for determining a total of carbon emissions for a customer of a freight carrier comprises the steps of receiving a first plurality of inputs to determine a total of carbon emissions and receiving a second plurality of inputs to determine the total of carbon emissions. The first plurality of inputs comprising sources of carbon that are controlled by the freight carrier and the second plurality of inputs comprising sources of carbon that are not controlled by the freight carrier.
The method further comprises determining, via a processor, a first amount of carbon associated with each of the first plurality of inputs based on a carbon conversion factor associated with each of the first plurality of inputs, determining, via the processor, a second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs based on a carbon conversion factor associated with each of the second plurality of inputs, determining, via the processor, an amount of carbon produced during a shipment of goods, which comprises goods of at least one customer of the freight carrier, based on the first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs and the second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs, and allocating, via the processor, the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods to the at least one customer based on weight of the at least one customer's goods, volume of the at least one customer's goods, and fuel consumed during the shipment of the at least one customer's goods.
In another preferred embodiment, the first plurality of inputs comprises an amount of fuel consumption and a number of miles driven by at least one vehicle associated with the freight carrier.
In yet another preferred embodiment, the at least one vehicle is a plurality of vehicles and the plurality of vehicles comprises vehicles associated with Less than Truckload (“LTL”) or Full Truckload (“FTL”) freight delivery.
In still another preferred embodiment, the second plurality of inputs comprises an amount of utility service expenditures by the freight carrier.
In a further preferred embodiment, the amount of utility expenditures comprises at least one of electricity, natural gas, propane, and oil.
In yet a further preferred embodiment, determining the first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs comprises applying a carbon conversion factor for a type of fuel consumed by a vehicle.
In still a further preferred embodiment, determining the first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs comprises applying a carbon conversion factor based on a number of miles driven by a vehicle.
In another preferred embodiment, determining the second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs comprises applying a carbon conversion factor for use of a utility service.
In yet another preferred embodiment, the carbon conversion factor is associated with generation of electricity.
In still another preferred embodiment, the carbon conversion factor is dependent upon at least one of location, time of year, and type of natural resource consumed during the generation of electricity.
In a further preferred embodiment, the method further comprises generating a report, where the report summarizes the amount of carbon produced for each of a plurality of shipments of goods during a predetermined period of time.
In yet a further preferred embodiment, the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods summarized by the report is an average amount of carbon produced during a shipment of goods and is calculated on a monthly basis.
In still a further preferred embodiment, the at least one customer is a plurality of customers and wherein allocating the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods comprises allocating the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods to each of the plurality of customers based on a weight of each of the customer's goods, a volume of each of the customer's goods, and fuel consumed during the shipment of each of the customer's goods.
Also disclosed herein, a system for determining a total of carbon emissions for a customer of a freight carrier comprises at least one processor that determines a first plurality of inputs for a function to determine a carbon footprint and determines a second plurality of inputs for the function to determine the carbon footprint. The first plurality of inputs comprise sources of carbon that are controlled by the freight carrier and the second plurality of inputs comprise sources of carbon that are not controlled by the freight carrier.
Additionally, the at least one processor determines a first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs, determines a second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs, determines an amount of carbon produced during a shipment of goods, which comprises goods of at least one customer of the freight carrier, based on the first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs and the second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs, and allocates the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods to the at least one customer based on weight of the at least one customer's goods, volume of the at least one customer's goods, and fuel consumed during the shipment of the at least one customer's goods.
In another preferred embodiment, the at least one customer is a plurality of customers and each of the plurality of customers is associated with a portion of the shipment, and wherein the processor allocates the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods to each of the plurality of customers based on a weight of the portion of each customer's goods, a volume of the portion of each customer's goods, and fuel consumed during the shipment of the portion of each customer's goods.
In yet another preferred embodiment, the first plurality of inputs comprises an amount of fuel consumed and a number of miles driven by at least one vehicle controlled by the freight carrier during the shipment of goods.
In still another preferred embodiment, at least one vehicle is a plurality of vehicles and the plurality of vehicles comprises vehicles associated with Less than Truckload (“LTL”) or Full Truckload (“FTL”) freight delivery.
In a further preferred embodiment, the second plurality of inputs comprises an amount of utility service expenditures by the freight carrier.
In yet a further preferred embodiment, the amount of utility expenditures comprises at least one of electricity, natural gas, propane, and oil.
Additionally disclosed herein a system for determining a total of carbon emissions for a customer of a freight carrier comprises a non-transitory computer-readable medium that has instructions stored thereon. If executed by a processor, the instructions cause the processor to determine a first plurality of inputs for a function to determine a carbon footprint and determine a second plurality of inputs for the function to determine the carbon footprint. The first plurality of inputs comprising sources of carbon that are controlled by the freight carrier and the second plurality of inputs comprising sources of carbon that are not controlled by the freight carrier.
Further, the instructions cause the processor to determine a first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs, determine a second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs, and determine an amount of carbon produced during a shipment of goods based on the first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs and the second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs. The shipment of goods comprises goods of a plurality of customers of the freight carrier and each customer is associated with a portion of the shipment.
The instructions also cause the processor to allocate the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods of the plurality of customers based on a weight of the portion of each customer's goods, a volume of the portion of each customer's goods, and fuel consumed during the shipment of the portion of each customer's goods.
Further features, aspects, objects, advantages, and possible applications of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the exemplary embodiments and examples described below, in combination with the figures, and the appended claims.
Further possible exemplary embodiments are shown in the drawings. The present invention is explained in the following in greater detail as an example, with reference to exemplary embodiments depicted in drawings. In the drawings:
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for determining a carbon footprint, or total of carbon emissions, for a host institution, such as, for example, a freight carrier. As used herein, a freight carrier includes any entity that specializes in the moving, or forwarding, of freight, or cargo, from one place to another. These entities may be divided into several variant sections and include, international and domestic freight forwarders. The method of shipping goods by a freight carrier may include by air, road, sea, and/or rail.
As disclosed herein and as shown in
The first plurality of inputs comprises sources of carbon in the shipping process that are directly controlled by a freight carrier and the second plurality of inputs comprises sources of carbon in the shipping process that are not directly controlled by the freight carrier. Direct emissions can occur from sources that are owned or controlled by a company, e.g., emissions from combustion in owned or controlled boilers, furnaces, vehicles, etc.; emissions from chemical production in owned or controlled process equipment.
In this context, directly controlled refers to use of the source of the carbon emission in the first degree by a freight carrier. Such sources of carbon emission may be owned, leased, or operated by the freight carrier, its representatives, and/or its contractors during a shipping process. As an example, these emissions may include the results of combustion from boilers, furnaces, and vehicles controlled by the freight carrier along with emissions from processes performed by or products manufactured by the freight carrier.
When the carbon source is not directly controlled by the freight carrier, the source of the carbon emission is more than one degree away from the actions of the freight carrier. As an example, these emissions include carbon produced in generating electricity, where electricity is used during operations related to the shipping process. Electricity indirect emissions are from the generation of purchased electricity consumed by a company. Purchased electricity is defined as electricity that is purchased or otherwise brought into the organizational boundary of the freight carrier. These emissions physically occur at the facility where electricity is generated. Other indirect emissions may include emissions that are a consequence of the activities of a company, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the company. Nonlimiting examples of these activities include extraction and production of purchased materials; transportation of purchased fuels; and use of sold products and services.
As shown in
As in the example of
Also, the second plurality of inputs may also comprise airline travel data 121 for airline travel taken by employees of the freight carrier. Other inputs for shipments 129 may also be included such as, for example, water consumption and/or individual shipment data for a load such as weight, cube, and density. With the second plurality of inputs, the amount of carbon emissions may also consist of emissions that are not produced in transportation directly, such as those emissions generated during the loading of goods to be shipped. These emissions may be generated by the equipment for used loading goods to be shipped, such as, for example, a forklift or other equipment used at a shipping terminal, or they may consist of utility expenditures associated with buildings or structures that are associated with the freight carrier and shipping process.
In the preferred embodiment of
The shipment of goods may comprise goods of one or more customers of the freight carrier, and as such, the system/method shown in
In a preferred embodiment, allocating the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods may comprise allocating the amount of carbon produced during the shipment of goods to each of a plurality of customers based on a weight of each of the customer's goods, a volume of each of the customer's goods, and fuel consumed during the shipment of each of the customer's goods. In addition, fuel consumption may also be broken down by customer miles shipped, volume of the product, and weight of each customer load. Additionally, vehicle type as mpg per vehicle may be different for trucks and straight trucks.
The first plurality of inputs and the second plurality of inputs may be stored in and then gathered from various sources, including Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) databases, invoices records and other data sources. This can also include Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S), Environmental Management Systems (EMS), Sustainable Operating Systems(SOS), and activity based costing accounting systems, invoices records. The process of entering the information that comprises the first and second plurality of inputs may be done manually or it may be imported from various systems and/or databases as discussed herein, such as, for example, an ERP, MRP, EH&S, EMS, or SOS. As shown in the preferred embodiment of
In a preferred embodiment, the first plurality of inputs comprises an amount of fuel consumption and a number of miles driven by at least one vehicle associated with the freight carrier. The at least one vehicle may be any vehicle involved in pickup, delivery, and line haul operations of a freight carrier. Additionally, the at least one vehicle may be a plurality of vehicles and the plurality of vehicles comprises vehicles associated with Less than Truckload (“LTL”) or Full Truckload (“FTL”) freight delivery. The at least one vehicle may classified as light, medium, and heavy duty trucks including class 1 through 8 of U.S. commercial motor vehicles, which covers the full spectrum of gross vehicle weight ratings. Vehicles involved in freight delivery may include any of land, air, or sea based vehicles, such as, for example, cars, trucks, planes, trains, and boats.
Determining the first amount of carbon associated with the first plurality of inputs may comprise applying a carbon conversion factor for fuel consumed by a vehicle and/or applying a carbon conversion factor for a distance traveled by a vehicle. In a preferred embodiment, these values may include gallons of gasoline, diesel, or biodiesel fuel and number of miles driven by a delivery truck. In such an example, a carbon conversion for miles driven may be available from sources such as the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), which provides listings for numerous different vehicles and vehicle classes. A typical conversion factor consists of grams of a GHG gas, such as carbon, emitted on a per mile basis. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand how to calculate a proper carbon conversion factor in this context.
Additionally, determining the second amount of carbon associated with the second plurality of inputs comprises may comprise a carbon conversion factor for a specific natural resource consumed during generation or use of a utility service. The utility service provided to the freight carrier may be, as non-limiting examples, natural gas, electricity, water, or oil. In a preferred embodiment, the carbon conversion factor may be associated with generation of electricity. Carbon emissions vary with the amount and type of energy source used in producing electricity and as such, the carbon conversion factor may be dependent upon at least one of location, time of year, and type of resource consumed during the generation of electricity. The grid mix for a particular location determines the appropriate carbon conversion factor or factors that are used. The type of resource consumed may include, for example, coal, natural gas, or other material that is burned or used up during the generation of electricity. Additionally, renewable resources may be used during the generation of electricity and may allow for an offset of some of the carbon emissions caused by the use of other resources.
As shown in
According to
At 200, calculations may then be performed to generate reports based on this information. These reports may consist of any report that summarizes the amount of carbon produced or emitted as part of the operations of the freight carrier during a predetermined period of time. In the preferred embodiment of
As shown in
In addition,
Further,
Based on the reports provided in
The host system 912 may be implemented by a freight carrier, either locally or remotely, or by another host institution that maintains the system for the freight carrier. The system 912 is configured to provide network-based product and service features to users (e.g., employees of the freight carrier) associated with the clients 914. The clients 914 may include any form of mobile or portable device and any suitable network-enabled devices such as, for example, PCs, laptop computers, palmtop computers, mobile phones, mobile tablets, PDAs, etc. configured to transmit and receive information via the communications network 916 using wired or wireless connections.
Clients 914 are capable of receiving user input via an input device(s). According to exemplary embodiments, the input device(s) may be one or more of a touch-sensitive display such as a touch screen interface, a keyboard, a microphone, or a pointing device such as a mouse or stylus. Clients 914 also include a display device capable of rendering an interactive Graphical User Interface (“GUI”). The input device may allow a user to interact with a GUI that allows for the input of information as described above with regard to the first plurality and second plurality of inputs. The input device may then be used to instruct the system 900 and 1000, discussed herein with respect to
In exemplary embodiments, a client 914 can be, but is not limited to, a personal computer (“PC”), a Personal Digital Assistant “(PDA”), a tablet computing device, an iPhone™, an iPod™, an iPad™, a device operating the Android operating system (“OS”) from Google Inc., a device running the Microsoft Windows® Mobile OS, a device running the Microsoft Windows® Phone OS, a device running the Symbian OS, a device running the webOS from Hewlett Packard, Inc., a mobile phone, a BlackBerry® device, a smartphone, a hand held computer, a netbook computer, a palmtop computer, a laptop computer, an ultra-mobile PC, a portable gaming system, or another similar type of mobile computing device having a capability to communicate via the communications network 916.
In some embodiments, the host system 912 may be based on a multi-tiered network architecture, and includes a web server 918 (Tier 1), an application server 920 (Tier 2), and a database server 922 (Tier 3). The web server 918 corresponds to the first tier of the host system 912 and is configured to communicate with the communication network 916 via a border firewall 924, and with the application server 920 via an application firewall 926. The web server 918 may be configured to accept information requests, such as, for example, HTTP requests, from one or more of the clients 914 via the communication network 916 and provide responses thereto. The responses may include, for example, HTTP responses including static and/or dynamic HTML documents for providing a user interface (“UI”) to users via the clients 914. Additionally, the web server 918 may further be configured to authenticate each user before allowing access to a UI and other resources associated with the system 912. Authentication may be performed, for example, by the user inputting a user name and a password.
The application server 920 corresponds to the second tier of the system 912 and is configured to communicate with the web server 918 via the application firewall 926, and with the database server 922 via an internal firewall 930. The application server 922 may host one or more applications executing logic to provide functions regarding determining carbon emissions for a freight carrier and its customers to each client 914. The application server 922 receives user-entered information (e.g., user name and password associated with the user and a request to access particular emissions related features) from a UI of each client 914 via the web server 918. Based on this and other information received from the clients 914, applications hosted by the application server 922 may be invoked to perform transactions on emissions related data (e.g., retrieve invoices, allocate certain data to a particular customer, etc.) and generate corresponding informational content (e.g., user account creation confirmation, reporting information regarding carbon emissions, etc.). Information regarding such transactions may be communicated to the web server 918 and subsequently presented to the users using, for example, a dynamic web page of a UI. Additionally, the application server 922 may also host an application for enabling users to conduct email communication with the host of the system 912, as well as an application for enabling communications with outside parties.
The database server 922 corresponds to the third tier of the system 912 and is configured to communicate with the application server 920 via the internal firewall 930. The database server 922 manages one or more databases DB1, DB2 . . . DBi 32 (hereinafter referred to as “databases 932”), which store data to support one or more applications hosted by the application server 920 or elsewhere. Such databases may include, for example, accounting and activity based accounting databases, account information databases, account configuration databases, document identification/authentication databases, customer information databases, user identification/authentication databases, user preferences/settings databases, as well as databases for storing other settings and/or configuration data. Database information requested by a particular application is retrieved from the databases 932 by the database server 922, communicated to the requesting application, and updated by the database server 922 as needed.
The host system 912 may further be connected to a second communication network 946, which is configured to communicate with the application server 920. One or more additional clients V1, V2 . . . Vk 944 (hereinafter referred to as “clients 944”) external to the system 912 may access the system 912 via a communications network 946 and firewall 948. The communication networks 916 and 946 may be a common communication network (e.g., the Internet). The clients 944 are similar to the clients 928 in all functional aspects.
The clients 914 and 944, may be PCs and/or other network-enabled devices (e.g., cell phones, mobile phones, mobile tablets, PDAs, etc.) configured to transmit and receive information via the communication network 916, 946 using a wired or wireless connection. The clients 914 may include a suitable browser software application (e.g., Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer Mobile, Firefox, Blazer, etc.) for enabling the user to display and interact with information exchanged via the communication networks 916, 946. The clients 914 and 944 may thus access and navigate static and/or dynamic HTML documents of a UI.
As would be appreciated by someone skilled in the relevant art(s) and described below with reference to
The computer readable program code means is operable, in conjunction with a computer system, to carry out all or some of the steps to perform the methods or create the system discussed herein. The computer readable medium may be a recordable medium (e.g., hard drives, compact disks, EEPROMs, or memory cards). Any tangible medium known or developed that can store information suitable for use with a computer system may be used. The computer-readable code means is any mechanism for allowing a computer to read instructions and data, such as magnetic variations on a magnetic media or optical characteristic variations on the surface of a compact disk. The medium can be distributed on multiple physical devices (or over multiple networks). For example, one device could be a physical memory media associated with a terminal and another device could be a physical memory media associated with a processing center.
The computer systems and servers described herein each contain a memory that will configure associated processors to implement the methods, steps, and functions disclosed herein. Such methods, steps, and functions can be carried out, e.g., by processing capability on mobile devices, a processor of a computer device, a processor of a general purpose computer, or a special purpose processor designed and configured to perform the task at hand or by any combination of the foregoing. The memories could be distributed or local and the processors could be distributed or singular. The memories could be implemented as an electrical, magnetic or optical memory, or any combination of these or other types of storage devices. Moreover, the term “memory” should be construed broadly enough to encompass any information able to be read from or written to an address in the addressable space accessed by an associated processor.
Aspects of the present disclosure discussed in
If programmable logic is used, such logic may execute on a commercially available processing platform or a special purpose device. One of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that embodiments of the disclosed subject matter can be practiced with various computer system configurations, including multi-core multiprocessor systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, computers linked or clustered with distributed functions, as well as pervasive or miniature computers that may be embedded into virtually any device. For instance, at least one processor device and a memory may be used to implement the above described embodiments. A processor device may be a single processor, a plurality of processors, or combinations thereof. Processor devices may have one or more processor “cores.”
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are described in terms of this example computer system 1000. After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art how to implement the present disclosure using other computer systems and/or computer architectures. Although operations may be described as a sequential process, some of the operations may in fact be performed in parallel, concurrently, and/or in a distributed environment, and with program code stored locally or remotely for access by single or multi-processor machines. In addition, in some embodiments the order of operations may be rearranged without departing from the spirit of the disclosed subject matter.
The computer system 1000 includes a display 1030 connected to a communications infrastructure 1006 via a display interface 1002. In an embodiment, the display 130, in conjunction with the display interface 1002, provides a User Interface (“UI”) (not shown). The computer system 1000 also includes a processor device 1004 connected to the communications infrastructure 1006. The processor device 1004 may be a special purpose or a general purpose processor device. As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant art, processor device 1004 may also be a single processor in a multi-core/multiprocessor system, such system operating alone, or in a cluster of computing devices operating in a cluster or server farm. Processor device 1004 is connected to a communication infrastructure 1006, for example, a bus, message queue, network, or multi-core message-passing scheme.
The computer system 1000 also includes a main memory 1008, for example, random access memory (“RAM”), and may also include a secondary memory 1010. Secondary memory 1010 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 1012, removable storage drive 1014. Removable storage drive 1014 may comprise a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a flash memory, or the like.
The removable storage drive 1014 may read from and/or writes to a removable storage unit 1018 in a well-known manner. The removable storage unit 1018 may comprise a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) drive, flash drive, memory stick, etc. which is read by and written to by removable storage drive 1014. As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant art, the removable storage unit 1018 includes a non-transitory computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data.
In alternative implementations, the secondary memory 1010 may include other similar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system 1000. Such means may include, for example, a removable storage unit 1022 and an interface 1020. Examples of such means may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM, or PROM) and associated socket, and other removable storage units 1022 and interfaces 1020 which allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit 1022 to computer system 1000.
The computer system 1000 may also include a communications interface 1024. The communications interface 1024 allows software and data to be transferred between the computer system 1000 and external devices based on communication networks. The communications interface 1024 may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a PCMCIA slot and card, or the like. Software and data transferred via the communications interface 1024 may be in the form of signals 1028, which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being received by communications interface 1024. These signals may be provided to the communications interface 1024 via a communications path 1026. The communications path 1026 carries signals and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a phone line, a cellular/wireless phone link, an RF link or other communications channels.
In this document, the terms ‘computer readable storage medium,’ ‘computer program medium,’ ‘non-transitory computer readable medium,’ and ‘computer usable medium’ are used to generally refer to tangible and non-transitory media such as removable storage unit 1018, removable storage unit 1022, and a hard disk installed in hard disk drive 1012. Signals 1028 carried over the communications path 1026 can also embody the logic described herein. The computer readable storage medium, computer program medium, non-transitory computer readable medium, and computer usable medium can also refer to memories, such as main memory 1008 and secondary memory 1010, which can be memory semiconductors (e.g. DRAMs, etc.). These computer program products are means for providing software to computer system 1000.
Computer programs (also called computer control logic and software) are generally stored in a main memory 1008 and/or secondary memory 1010. The computer programs may also be received via a communications interface 1024. Such computer programs, when executed, enable computer system 1000 to become a specific purpose computer able to implement the present disclosure as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor device 1004 to implement the processes of the present disclosure discussed below. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system 1000. Where the present disclosure is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into the computer system 1000 using the removable storage drive 1014, interface 1020, and hard disk drive 1012, or communications interface 1024.
It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and not the Summary and Abstract sections, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. The Summary and Abstract sections may set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments of the present invention as contemplated by the inventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limit the present invention and the appended claims in any way.
Embodiments of the present invention have been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applying knowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the general concept of the present invention. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings and guidance.
Although the present invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range equivalents of the claims and without departing from the invention.