Field of the invention

The invention relates to a computer-implemented rewards method and to a computerised rewards system. The rewards system may be applied in a delivery fulfilment platform, such as an online food delivery platform.

Background to the invention

The Applicant is part of a group of companies that has developed and commercialised a food delivery platform known in the market as “Dryvar Foods”. The Applicant’s platform is configured to connect customers to a broad range of merchants, including restaurants and grocery stores offering food and other products.

The Applicant’s platform works by linking customers, merchants and delivery partners to each other. A customer downloads a customer-facing application which allows the customer to select products sold by merchants via the platform. Merchants sign up to the platform to allow the platform to offer their products to customers, and delivery partners download a delivery partner-facing application which allows orders to be allocated to the delivery partners for delivery.

In basic terms, once an order has been placed by a customer, the relevant customer and merchant are connected to a delivery partner on the platform such that the delivery partner can pick up the product/s from the merchant and deliver the product/s to the customer. Payments to merchants and delivery partners are effected via the platform using conventional techniques.

While the Applicant’s platform has significant commercial potential, the Inventor identified a need for a technological solution which can assist in driving adoption of the food delivery platform and other similar ordering/delivery platforms across the globe. Platforms of this nature are referred to as “delivery fulfilment platforms”, or “delivery management platforms”, and the term “delivery fulfilment platform” is used in this specification. Embodiments of the present invention aim to address the abovementioned need, at least to some extent.

Summary of the invention

In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer- implemented rewards method for a delivery fulfilment platform, the method comprising: generating, by a referral identifier module of the delivery fulfilment platform, a unique referral identifier; associating, by the referral identifier module, the referral identifier with a first account of a first customer in a database; transmitting, by a transmitting module of the delivery fulfilment platform, the referral identifier to a first customer device associated with the first account; receiving, by a receiving module of the delivery fulfilment platform, a sign-up request from a second customer device associated with a second customer, wherein the sign-up request of the second customer is a request to sign up to or join the delivery fulfilment platform and includes the referral identifier associated with the first customer; establishing, by an account creation module of the delivery fulfilment platform, a second account associated with the second customer and storing a record of the second account in the database; creating, by a referral link module of the delivery fulfilment platform, a first referral link in the database between the second account and the first account based on the inclusion of the referral identifier in the sign-up request of the second customer, wherein the first referral link is a permanent referral link created such that the first account is rewarded each time an order is submitted or completed against the second account; in response to the second customer submitting or completing an order on the delivery fulfilment platform against the second account, allocating, by a rewards module of the delivery fulfilment platform, a first referral reward to the first account based on the first referral link; transmitting, by the transmitting module, a reward notification to the first customer device indicative of the first referral reward allocated to the first account; receiving, by the receiving module, a sign-up request from a third customer device associated with a third customer, wherein the sign-up request of the third customer is a request to sign up to or join the delivery fulfilment platform and includes the referral identifier associated with the first customer; establishing, by the account creation module, a third account associated with the third customer and storing a record of the third account in the database; creating, by the referral link module, a second referral link in the database between the third account and the first account based on the inclusion of the referral identifier in the sign-up request of the third customer, wherein the second referral link is a permanent referral link created such that the first account is rewarded each time an order is submitted or completed against the third account, and wherein the first referral link and the second referral link co-exist, thereby creating a permanent one-to-many relationship between the referral identifier, at one end, and the second and third accounts, at another end; in response to the third customer submitting or completing an order on the delivery fulfilment platform against the third account, allocating, by the rewards module, a second referral reward to the first account based on the second referral link; and transmitting, by the transmitting module, a reward notification to the first customer device indicative of the second referral reward allocated to the first account.

The or each referral reward allocated to the first account may be in the form of cash, account credit, a voucher, a token, discount, points, coins, digital currency, or the like. The referral reward may be calculated as a percentage of a value of the order.

The referral identifier may be a code, preferably a unique code.

The first, second and third customers may communicate with the delivery fulfilment platform via software applications installed on the first, second and third customer devices.

The rewards module may also be configured to allocate loyalty points to customers based on their own orders. The method may include: in response to the second customer submitting or completing the order on the delivery fulfilment platform against the second account, allocating, by the rewards module, loyalty points to the second account; and/or in response to the second customer submitting or completing the order on the delivery fulfilment platform against the third account, allocating, by the rewards module, loyalty points to the third account. The second account is used as an example below to summarise features relating to the loyalty points, but the below features may apply equally to all accounts.

The loyalty points allocated to the second account, i.e. a value of the loyalty points allocated, may be calculated based on a current membership tier associated with the second account. Likewise, the loyalty points allocated to the third account may be calculated based on a membership tier associated with the third account.

Each membership tier may have a threshold value. If a loyalty points balance of an account exceeds reaches or passes the threshold value for a particular member tier, the account may be promoted to that membership tier, e.g. from “silver” to “gold”.

The method may include checking, by the rewards module, a loyalty points balance of the second account and, in response to determining that the loyalty points balance has reached or exceeded a threshold value associated with a higher membership tier, adjusting the membership tier of the second account so as to promote the second account to a higher membership tier.

Loyalty points issued in embodiments of the invention may have an expiry date/time associated therewith. The method may include updating, by the rewards module, a loyalty points balance of the second account to reflect expiry of loyalty points and, in response to determining that the loyalty points balance has reached or dropped below a threshold value associated with a current membership tier of the second account, adjusting the membership tier of the second account so as to demote the second account to a lower membership tier.

The method may include permitting a customer to redeem loyalty points against an order, e.g. use loyalty points to pay for an order or part thereof.

In some embodiments, the reward and/or loyalty points is/are only allocated once the relevant order has been marked complete, e.g. by a delivery partner responsible for delivering the order.

The method may include generating a unique referral identifier for each new customer account established on the delivery fulfilment platform. The referral identifier may be generated and/or shared with the relevant customer at the time of (or shortly after) signing up to the delivery fulfilment platform, allowing the customer to share their referral identifier with prospective customers. Accordingly, the method may include generating a second referral identifier and associating the second referral identifier with the second account, and generating a third referral identifier and associating the third referral identifier with the third account.

The software application may be configured to allow each customer to access and share the customer’s own unique referral identifier with other individuals.

The method may include receiving, by the receiving module, a referral identifier sharing request from the first customer device, and in response to receiving the referral identifier sharing request, permitting the referral identifier to be shared with or transmitted to the second customer device or the third customer device from the first customer device.

Transmitting the reward notification may include causing a total amount or total value of all referral awards allocated against the first account to be displayed to the first customer via the first customer device.

The method may further include permitting, by the rewards module, part or all of the referral rewards to be applied towards payment for an order placed by the first customer on the delivery fulfilment platform.

In some embodiments, the delivery fulfilment platform is an online food delivery platform, and the first, second and third customer device each has a customer-facing software application associated with the online food delivery platform installed thereon, the software application being configured to link customers to merchants and delivery partners via the online food delivery platform.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a computerised rewards system for a delivery fulfilment platform, the rewards system including a computer system which comprises: a referral identifier module for generating a unique referral identifier and associating, in a database, the referral identifier with a first account of a first customer; a transmitting module for transmitting the referral identifier to a first customer device associated with the first account; a receiving module for receiving sign-up requests from a second customer device associated with a second customer and a third customer device associated with a third customer, wherein each sign-up request is a request to sign up to or join the delivery fulfilment platform and includes the referral identifier associated with the first customer; an account creation module for establishing a second account associated with the second customer and a third account associated with the third customer, and storing records of the second account and the third account in the database; a referral link module for creating, in the database, a first referral link between the second account and the first account based on the inclusion of the referral identifier in the sign-up request of the second customer, and for creating, in the database, a second referral link between the third account and the first account based on the inclusion of the referral identifier in the sign-up request of the third customer, wherein each referral link is a permanent referral link created such that the first account is rewarded each time an order is submitted or completed against the second account or the third account, and wherein the first referral link and the second referral link co-exist, thereby creating a permanent one-to-many relationship between the referral identifier, at one end, and the second and third accounts, at another end; and a rewards module for, in response to the second customer submitting or completing an order on the delivery fulfilment platform against the second account, allocating a first referral reward to the first account based on the first referral link, and in response to the third customer submitting or completing an order on the delivery fulfilment platform against the third account, allocating a second referral reward to the first account based on the second referral link, wherein the transmitting module is configured to transmit a reward notification to the first customer device indicative of the first referral reward and/or the second referral reward allocated to the first account.

The computer system may comprise a server.

In accordance with a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product for allocating referral rewards in a delivery fulfilment platform, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by at least one computer to cause the at least one computer to carry out the method substantially as described above. The computer-readable storage medium may be a non- transitory storage medium.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a rewards system according to the invention, wherein the rewards system is implemented as part of a food delivery platform;

Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating certain steps and processes in an exemplary rewards method according to the invention, using the rewards system of Figure 1 , allowing for issuing of referral rewards;

Figure 3 is an exemplary screenshot of a mobile software application in which a referral identifier according to embodiments of the invention may be used;

Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating certain steps and processes in an exemplary rewards method according to the invention, using the rewards system of Figure 1 , allowing for issuing of loyalty points; and

Figure 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system capable of executing a computer program product to provide functions and/or actions according to at least some aspects of the invention.

Detailed description with reference to the drawings

The following description is provided as an enabling teaching of the invention, is illustrative of principles associated with the invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Changes may be made to the embodiment/s depicted and described, while still attaining results of the present invention and/or without departing from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, it will be understood that some results or advantages of the present invention may be attained by selecting some of the features of the present invention without utilising other features. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will recognise that modifications and adaptations to the present invention may be possible and may even be desirable in certain circumstances, and may form part of the present invention. Embodiments of the invention provide a computerised rewards method and system that can be applied in a delivery fulfilment system/platform. A computerised and automatically implemented rewards relationship may be established between an originator (referrer) and recipient/user of a referral identifier of the originator. Furthermore, loyalty points may be allocated and managed in an automated and dynamic manner.

In Figure 1 , a remotely accessible delivery fulfilment platform 100 includes a rewards server 110 (or any other suitable computer or computer system). It will be appreciated that the platform 100 typically includes numerous other components and systems, but only the rewards server 110 is shown in Figure 1 to illustrate certain aspects of the present invention, or embodiments thereof.

The server 110 may include the following logical/functional components: a referral identifier module 111 , a transmitting module 112, a receiving module 113, an account module 114, a referral link module 115 and a rewards module 116. These components are described in greater detail with reference to Figure 2 below.

The delivery fulfilment platform 100 is, in this example embodiment, used as an online delivery platform for food, drinks and other items. The platform 100 is designed and configured to communicate with a plurality of customers, merchants and delivery partners (sometimes referred to as “drivers”).

Figure 1 shows three customers 120, 122, 124 (“first customer 120”, “second customer 122” and “third customer 124”) each having a customer device 130, 132, 134 (“first customer device 130”, “second customer device 132” and “third customer device 134”), two merchants 140, 142 each having a merchant device 150, 152, and two delivery partners 160, 162 each having a partner device 170, 172. The devices referred to above make use of suitable Internet/data connections, e.g. the connection 175 shown in Figure 1 , in order to communicate with the platform 100. It will be appreciated that the platform 100 may be connected, in use, to a large number of customers, merchants and/or delivery partners and that only a few are shown in Figure 1 for ease of reference and understanding. The customers 120, 122, 124 have downloaded (or are interested in downloading) a customer-facing software application which allows the customers 120, 122, 124 to select, order and pay for products sold by the merchants 140, 142 via the platform 100 using their devices 130, 132. The merchants 140, 142 have signed up to the platform 100 to allow the platform 100 to offer their products for sale and communicate with the platform 100 via their devices 150, 152. The delivery partners 160, 162 have downloaded a delivery partner-facing application which allows orders to be allocated to the delivery partners 160, 162 for delivery via the platform 100. The delivery partners 160, 162 thus communicate with the platform 100 via their devices 170, 172 and the customers 120, 122, 124 and partners 160, 162 can also communicate with each other via their respective applications. For instance, the customer 120 may track an order being delivered by the partner 160 and may send messages to the partner’s device 170 via the application installed on the device 130.

The rewards server 110 is specifically configured to link customer accounts to each other for the purpose of allocating referral rewards to referring customers and thereby to drive adoption and growth of the platform 100. The block diagram 200 of Figure 2 illustrates certain steps in the process.

At an initial stage in the process, the first customer 120 signs up for an account 180 (see Figure 1) with the platform 100, using the first customer device 130, while the second customer 122 and the third customer 124 do not yet have such accounts, i.e. they are still “prospective customers”.

Signing up may involve use by the platform 100 of a unique identifier associated with the first customer device 130, e.g. a phone number, to create the account 180.

Turning to Figure 2, at stage 202 the referral identifier module 111 is used to generate a unique referral code for the customer 120. This code is uniquely associated with the account 180 of the customer 120, e.g. in an account database 117 of the platform 100, at stage 204. Stages 202 and 204 may typically occur when the customer 120 signs up or shortly thereafter.

The unique referral code generated for the customer’s account 180 (which may for instance be an alphanumerical code uniquely associated with the customer’s account 180) is made available to the customer 120 using the transmitting module 112 and it is accessible and shareable, e.g. via a “share/invite” button under a profile tab in the customer-facing application. The referral code may also be transmitted to the customer 120 using a different channel, e.g. via e-mail or text message. This allows the customer 120 to share his or her referral code with other prospective customers, such as the second customer 122. The server 100 may receive, at the receiving module 113, a referral identifier sharing request from the device 130 when the customer 120 selects “share/invite”, and in response to receiving the referral identifier sharing request, the server 110 may then permit the referral identifier to be shared with or transmitted to other devices.

The first customer 120 then invites the second customer 122 to join the platform 100 or otherwise suggests that the second customer 122 join the platform 100. In order to be acknowledged as the “referrer” and to be rewarded by the platform 100 going forward, the customer 120 shares their unique referral code with the customer 122 (in any suitable manner).

At a next stage 206 the customer 122 then signs up to the platform 100 and, as part of the sign-up process, the customer 122 provides the referral code received from the customer 120. The receiving module 113 receives this request (stage 208), typically via the customer-facing application on the second customer device 132 (e.g. the application may ask the customer 122 to enter a referral code, if any, as part of registration), and the account module 114 then establishes an account 182 for the customer 122 (stage 210).

At stage 212, which may occur during account establishment/registration or thereafter, the referral link module 115 creates a permanent referral link between the first account 180 and the second account 182, being the “first referral link” associated with the first account 180. In other words, the platform 100 identifies that the customer 122 has been referred by the customer 120 and then links the account 180 of the customer 120 to the account 182 of the customer 122.

As a result of the first referral link, the customer 120 is “rewarded” each time the second customer 122 completes an order via the platform 100 (stages 214 and 216 in Figure 2). The customer 122 may be marked “referred”, e.g. in the database 117, and in response to each order completed by the customer 122 to the “referrer” is rewarded automatically using the rewards module 116. The transmitting module 112 may transmit a reward notification to the first customer device 120 indicative of the referral reward allocated to the first account 180 (stage 218).

Figure 3 shows an exemplary “sign-up page” or “sign-up screen” 240 of the customerfacing software application where, for instance, the second customer 122 can enter the referral identifier/code of the first customer 120 in the field marked “250”.

The customer 120 may refer multiple prospective customers to the platform 100 resulting in a plurality of referral links associated with, or pointing to, the account 180. The customer 120 may then be rewarded from multiple “sources” through a one-to-many relationship between the referral identifier/code of the customer 120 and the accounts of other customers. As an example, the linking of a further account is described below.

The first customer 120 invites the third customer 124 to join the platform 100 or otherwise suggests that the third customer 124 join the platform 100. In order to be acknowledged as the “referrer” and to be rewarded by the platform 100 going forward, the customer 120 shares their unique referral code with the customer 124 (in any suitable manner).

At a next stage 220 the third customer 124 then signs up to the platform 100 and, as part of the sign-up process, the customer 124 provides the referral code received from the first customer 120. The receiving module 113 receives this request, typically via the customerfacing application on the third customer device 134 (e.g. the application may ask the customer 124 to enter a referral code, if any, as part of registration - see Figure 3), and the account module 114 then establishes an account 184 for the customer 124 (stage 222).

At stage 224, which may occur during account establishment/registration or thereafter, the referral link module 115 creates a permanent referral link between the first account 180 and the third account 184, being the “second referral link” associated with the first account 180. In other words, the platform 100 identifies that the customer 124 has been referred by the customer 120 and then links the account 180 of the customer 120 to the account 184 of the customer 124. The first customer’s referral code is now permanently linked to two accounts of other customers, creating a one-to-many relationship between the referral code, on the one hand, and the second and third accounts 182, 184, on the other hand. As a result of the second referral link, the customer 120 is also “rewarded” each time the third customer 124 completes an order via the platform 100 (stages 226 and 228 in Figure 2). The customer 124 may be marked “referred”, e.g. in the database 117, and in response to each order completed by the customer 124 to the “referrer” is rewarded automatically using the rewards module 116. The transmitting module 112 may transmit a reward notification to the first customer device 120 indicative of the referral reward allocated to the first account 180 (stage 230).

Preferably, each customer signing up to the platform 100 receives a unique referral code or other identifier which they may provide to or share with any number of prospective customers to drive adoption of the platform 100.

The referral reward allocated to a referring customer may be in the form of cash, account credit, a voucher, a token, discount, or the like, depending on the specific implementation.

In this example embodiment, each time the second customer 122 or the third customer 124 completes an order using the account 182 or the account 184 respectively, the account 180 of the first customer 120 is credited with a percentage of the value/amount of the relevant order. The customer 120 may then choose to apply all or part of the account credit against future orders made using the account 180. The referral reward may be calculated as a percentage of a value of the order.

Preferably, the customer-facing application allows the customer 120 to check the total amount or total value of all referral rewards allocated against the account 180. Rewards may also be cashed-out or converted to other stores of value in some embodiments of the invention.

It is further envisaged that an administrator of the platform 100 may be able to configure/adjust the nature and value of rewards allocated to customers. For instance, a percentage-based reward may be adjustable and may even be dynamic, e.g. it may increase or decrease over time or depending on the number of accounts to which a referral identifier is linked. An operator of the platform 100 may access a “back-end” I “admin settings” and be able to configure how the reward is allocated, e.g. adjust the percentage or an algorithm calculating the percentage. Embodiments of the invention thus provide an efficient and useful rewards system which may be incorporated relatively seamlessly into a delivery fulfilment system in order to reward users for facilitating or driving growth of the system.

In some embodiments, all customers who refer another user will do so via a referral code. This code permanently links a customer to the account that referred them. For every order that the customer completes, the referee will receive a reward, e.g. a certain amount. When a customer signs up to the platform, a unique referral code is generated for them. This code can be accessible via a “share” or “invite” button, e.g. under their “profile” tab in the software application. The customer can then share this with other people, e.g. along with a link to the software application. When a new customer signs up and enters the referral code sent to them by the other customer, they are permanently marked “referred” in the system. Whenever this new customer completes an order, the referring customer gets a reward, e.g. a certain percentage of the order value in credit/funds. The customer may be able to view their total amount/balance of earned rewards, e.g. under a specific tab in the software application.

Embodiments of the invention further provide an efficient and useful loyalty points system which may also be incorporated relatively seamlessly into a delivery fulfilment system in order to reward users for their own orders, as described in more detail below.

In addition to (or in some embodiments as an alternative to) the rewards technique described above with reference to Figures 2 and 3, loyalty points may be allocated to customers. An example is described below again with reference to the platform 100 of Figure 1. The example below refers to the second account 182 of the second customer 122, but it will be appreciated that this technique may be applied to some or all customers in respect of their own orders.

Turning now to the flow diagram 260 of Figure 4, the second customer 122 places an order using the abovementioned software application, at stage 262. In this example the customer 122 orders food to be delivered to the customer’s home by a delivery partner 160. The partner 160 picks the food up at the relevant restaurant/shop and delivers the order to the customer 122 (stage 264). At a next stage 266, the partner 160 uses the partner device 170 to mark the order as “complete”. In response thereto, the rewards module 116 of the platform 100 checks a membership tier of the account 182 (stage 268) and allocates loyalty points to the account 182 based on the membership tier at a next stage 270.

For example, the account 182 may be on the “silver” membership tier and loyalty points equal to 10% of the monetary value of the order may be allocated to the second customer 122.

The loyalty points allocated to the account 182 may have a limited lifespan, i.e. they may have an expiry date/time. The term “loyalty points” should be broadly interpreted in this specification and the “points” may be in the form of a voucher, credit, cash, cryptocurrency, actual points, or the like, as explained with reference to the referral rewards above.

After the expiry date, points are no longer usable and the points are deducted from the loyalty points balance of the customer. In some embodiments, the platform 100 may perform a check (continuously or periodically, e.g. daily) to determine whether the membership tier of the customer must be changed based on the points balance.

Each membership tier may have a threshold value, which is the minimum number of points a customer must have to be on that specific membership tier. (Alternatively each tier may have a lower threshold and upper threshold and the customer remains on that tier as long as their points balance is between the two thresholds).

For instance, if the customer 122 is on the “silver” tier and their loyalty points balance reaches or passes the threshold value for “gold”, the account 182 may be promoted to a higher membership tier, e.g. from “silver” to “gold”, as shown in blocks 272 and 274 of Figure 4. The higher tier may provide the customer with more loyalty points, e.g. 15% of the value of an order as opposed to 10%.

Conversely, if the customer 122 is on the “silver” tier and some points expire, causing the points balance to fall below the threshold value for “silver”, the customer’s account 182 may be demoted/adjusted to a lower membership tier, e.g. from silver to bronze, as shown in blocks 276 and 278 in Figure 4. The lower tier may provide the customer with less loyalty points, e.g. 5% of the value of an order as opposed to 10%.

The platform 100 may be configured to allow the customer 122 to redeem loyalty points against the account 182 to pay for, or partially pay for, orders placed with the platform 100. An exchange rate may be applied to convert the loyalty points to a monetary value, if required, and in some embodiments the loyalty points may be “cashed out” by the customer 122.

The term “food delivery platform” should be broadly interpreted and it will be appreciated that the items delivered through such a platform may go beyond food and drink. Embodiments of the invention may also be employed in other platforms, such as ridesharing platforms, to incentivise individuals to join and market the platform to others.

The techniques described above may be implemented in or using one or more computer systems, such as the computer system 300 shown in Figure 5. The computer system 300 may be or include any suitable computer or server. The platform 100 and/or server 110 may include such a computer system 300. The computer system 300 may be implemented in distributed cloud computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloud computing environment, program modules executed by the computer system 300 may be located both locally and remotely.

In the example shown in Figure 5, the computer system 300 has features of a general- purpose computer. These components may include, but are not limited to, at least one processor 302, a memory 304 and a bus 306 that couples various components of the system 300 including the memory 304 to the processor 302. The bus 306 may have any suitable type of bus structure. The computer system 300 may include one or more different types of readable media, such as removable and non-removable media and volatile and non-volatile media.

The memory 304 may thus include volatile memory 308 (e.g. random access memory (RAM) and/or cache memory) and may further include other storage media such as a storage system 310 configured for reading from and writing to a non-removable, nonvolatile media such as a hard drive. It will be understood that the computer system 300 may also include or be coupled to a magnetic disk drive and/or an optical disk drive (not shown) for reading from or writing to suitable non-volatile media. These may be connected to the bus 306 by one or more data media interfaces.

The memory 304 may be configured to store program modules 312. The modules 312 may include, for instance, an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which may include an implementation of a networking environment. The components of the computer system 300 may be implemented as modules 312 which generally carry out functions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein. It will be appreciated that embodiments of the invention may include or be implemented by a plurality of the computer systems 300, which may be communicatively coupled to each other.

The computer system 300 may operatively be communicatively coupled to at least one external device 314. For instance, the computer system 300 may communicate with external devices 314 in the form of a modem, keyboard and display. These communications may be effected via suitable Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 316.

The computer system 300 may also be configured to communicate with at least one network 320 (e.g. the Internet or a local area network) via a network interface device 318 / network adapter. The network interface device 318 may communicate with the other elements of the computer system 310, as described above, via the bus 306.

The components shown in and described with reference to Figure 5 are examples only and it will be understood that other components may be used as alternatives to or in conjunction with those shown.

Aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method and/or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of hardware, software and/or a combination of hardware and software that may generally be referred to herein as “components”, “units”, “modules”, “systems”, “elements”, or the like.

Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable storage medium having computer- readable program code embodied thereon. A computer-readable storage medium may, for instance, be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the above. In the context of this specification, a computer-readable storage medium may be any suitable medium capable of storing a program for execution or in connection with a system, apparatus, or device. Program code/instructions may execute on a single device, on a plurality of devices (e.g., on local and remote devices), as a single program or as part of a larger system/package.

The present invention may be carried out on any suitable form of computer system, including an independent computer or processors participating on a network of computers. Therefore, computer systems programmed with instructions embodying methods and/or systems disclosed herein, computer systems programmed to perform aspects of the present invention and/or media that store computer-readable instructions for converting a general purpose computer into a system based upon aspects of the present invention, may fall within the scope of the present invention.

Chart(s) and/or diagram(s) included in the figures illustrate examples of implementations of one or more system, method and/or computer program product according to one or more embodiment(s) of the present invention. It should be understood that one or more blocks in the figures may represent a component, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the actions or functions identified in the blocks may occur in a different order than that shown in the figures or may occur concurrently.

It will be understood that blocks or steps shown in the figures may be implemented by system components or computer program instructions. Instructions may be provided to a processor of any suitable computer or other apparatus such that the instructions, which may execute via the processor of the computer or other apparatus, establish or generate means for implementing the functions or actions identified in the figures.