LEAKAGE DETECTION"

TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of water distribution monitoring systems and methods. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection through a common network.

BACKGROUND

[002] Typically water meters which are placed in residential houses, commercial locations, industries, condominiums, and office buildings provide the data of total consumption of water. The ability to identify leaking water fixtures can be difficult as these leaks are often very subtle. The conventional water meters do not provide a means to identify the water leakage. Also the conventional meters do not provide a comprehensive configuration for efficiently tracking the water consumption and simultaneously detect the leakage.

[003] In the light of the aforementioned discussion, there exists a need for certain system and method for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection through a common network.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[004] The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding to the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and it does not identify key/critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[005] In some embodiments, a system and method for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection are disclosed. The system comprises of a smart water meter, a gateway, a network, a computing device, and a server or a cloud. The server may be a server positioned in the location or a remote server. The cloud here may be referred a cloud or a physical server located in a remote location. The smart water meter may be connected to a pipe or each water outlet branch pipe of the water supply in either invasive or non-invasive way. The smart water meter is connected to the gateway for collecting water metrics by using a RF protocol or any other known in the art of future implemented short range or long range network employing wireless communication protocols. The water metrics here may include but not limited to volume of the water, start time of water flow, stop time of water flow, water flow rate, water pressure, leakage detection event, temperature of the water, quality of the water, water consumption metrics, and water leakage metrics, without limiting the scope of the disclosure. The gateway is configured to collect the water metrics from the smart water meter and transmit the collected data to the server through the network. The computing device may access the server through the network. The computing device is configured to allow the user for monitoring the water metrics. The server may be configured to analyse the water metrics for every locations as well as water leakage. For example, the locations may include, but not limited to, a flat, PER FLAT and PER ROOM within the flat consumption.

[006] In some embodiments, the system is used for providing a break-up of the consolidated time slot data and shows water consumption data of all of the individual water usage areas (for example a house or an apartment).

[007] In some embodiments, the system is configured to provide a display that facilitates to identify how much water is consumed in each rooms/sub-units, in that particular hour.

[008] In some embodiments, the system considers time into account for water travel into consideration so that same physical water content is measured from upstream to downstream and further downstream meters.

[009] In some embodiments, the system is configured to consider total water flow through the downstream stream meters to be equal to the upstream meter reading, if there is no leakage. If they are not equal, the difference is equal to the leakage amount in this segment of the pipeline. Furthermore, the leakage detection happens even at a particular location wherever the smart water meter is installed, by monitoring the water usage patterns and then through the servers.

[010] In some embodiments, the system comprises at least one smart water meter connected to at least one pipe either in an invasive format and non-invasive format way and at least one smart water meter comprising at least one flow sensor configured to detect the water flow through at least one pipe, at least one flow sensor configured to convert the detected signals into suitable electrical signals based on the amount of water flow.

[Oi l] In some embodiments, the system comprises a first processing device configured to receive the electrical signals from at least one flow sensor and calculate water metrics.

[012] In some embodiments, the system comprises at least one gateway configured to receive the calculated water metrics from the first processing device through a first communication module and at least one gateway comprising at least one second processing device configured to process the water metrics.

[013] In some embodiments, the system further comprises at least one server configured to receive water metrics from at least one second processing device through a second communication module.

[014] In some embodiments, the second processing device communicated with at least one server through at least one second communication module and at least one computing device and at least one server configured to analyse the aggregated data and transmit the analysed data to at least one computing device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[015] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals have been used to designate like elements, and wherein:

[016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting an environment for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection at locations, in some embodiments.

[017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting a system for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection at multiple locations, in some embodiments.

[018] FIG. 3 A is a block diagram depicting the smart water meter shown in the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

[019] FIG. 3B is a block diagram depicting the gateway shown in the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

[020] FIG. 3C is a diagram depicting the server shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

[021] FIG. 4 is an example diagram, depicting a process for estimating the water leakage using the system, in some embodiments.

[022] FIG. 5A is an example screen, depicting a graphical representation of water consumption, in some embodiments.

[023] FIG. 5B- FIG. 5C are example screens, depicting water consumption in various sub-units or rooms, in some embodiments.

[024] FIG. 5D-5E are example screens, depicting the water consumption data of the activity, in accordance with one or more embodiments. [025] FIG. 6 is an example flow diagram, depicting a method for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection, in some embodiments.

[026] FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram, depicting the computer implemented method for water consumption analysis and graphical representation, in some embodiments.

[027] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the details of digital processing system 800 in which various aspects of the present disclosure are operative by execution of appropriate software instructions

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[028] It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

[029] The use of "including", "comprising" or "having" and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. The terms "a" and "an" herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. Further, the use of terms "first", "second", and "third", and the like, herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another.

[030] Referring to FIG. 1 is a block diagram 100, depicting an environment for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection at individual locations, in some embodiments. The block diagram 100 includes a smart water meter 102, a gateway 104, a network 106 and a server 108, a computing devicel lO.The smart water meter 102 may work using a renewable energy. The renewable energy may be obtained to a battery through solar panels, generators, and the like. The renewable energy may be harvested from electromagnetic waves for supplying power to the smart water meter 102. The battery is connected to the smart water meter 102. The smart water meter 102 may also be powered by means of power generated by capturing the vibrations. The smart water meter 102 may include a software application. The software application may be utilized to water data collection, system health status collection and the like without limiting the scope of the present disclosure. The smart water meter 102 may have data communication capabilities by the software application installed in it.

[031] The smart water meter 102 may be connected to the pipe or each water outlet of the water supply in either invasive or non-invasive way. The pipe may include, but not limited to, a normal pipe, a branch pipe. The smart water meter 102 may be a wireless device which is connected to the gateway 104 for transmitting the water metrics by using a RF protocol, for example.For convenience, the present disclosure discusses about only one smart water meter 102. However, it should be understood that in practice there may be any number of smart water meters arranged as similar as 102. Therefore the present disclosure is not limited in the number of smart water meters, at may be included and/or supported the disclosed embodiments. In some cases, the smart water meter 102 may communicate to the server 108 directly without the gateway 104 through the network 106. The server 108 may also be configured to capture any specific water usage activity even without the smart water meter 102 for any of the water outlet points (e.g., appliance or faucet). The water metrics data may be measured by the combination of the server 108 and the granular capturing of water consumption data through the smart water meter 102.

[032] The gateway 104 may be a sensor hub which is configured to collect the water metrics from the smart water meter 102 and transmit the collected data to the server 108 through the network 106. Here the network 106 may include, but not limited to, an Ethernet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN), a ZigBee wireless network, a Bluetooth wireless network, a WIFI communication network e.g., the wireless high speed Internet, or a combination of networks methods, GSM/GPRS/LTE methods, a cellular service such as a 4G (e.g., LTE, mobile WiMAX) or 5G cellular data service and the like. The server or cloud 108 may be a server positioned in the location or a remote server. The cloud here may be referred a cloud or a physical server located in a remote location. [033] The computing device 110 is a user device which is configured to allow a user for monitoring the water metrics. Here, the computing device 110 may include a computer, a laptop, a smart mobile, a tablet, a personal digital assistant and the like without limiting the scope of the disclosure.The computing device may include, but not limited to, a mobile application, a web application, a voice enabled application, and /or other software application and the like.

[034] Referring to FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200, depicting a system for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection at apartments and office buildings, water transmission pipelines in public or private water distribution system, and the like in some embodiments. The system 200 includes a smart water meter 202a, a smart water meter 202b.... a smart water meter 202n, a gateway 204, a network 206, a server 208, computing devices 210a-210b. The smart water meters 202a, 202b...202n are connected to the branch pipes of the water supply at apartment complex. The smart water meters 202a, 202b...202n may be connected to the gateway 204 for transferring water metrics. The water metrics are collected from individual smart water meters 202a...202n.The Leakage may be detected by monitoring the water usage through the smart water meter 102 or 202a, 202b...202n either at the inlet, alternatively at the drainage outlet(s) of the pipe if the smart water meter 202a, 202b...202n is installed there, along with the server 108 or 208.

[035] The network 206 may include, but not limited to, an Ethernet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN), a ZigBee wireless network, a Bluetooth wireless network, a WIFI communication network e.g., the wireless high speed Internet, or a combination of networks methods, GSM/GPRS/LTE methods, a cellular service such as a 4G (e.g., LTE, mobile WiMAX) or 5G cellular data service and the like. The server 208 may be configured to analyse the water metrics for each and every location as well as water leakage. The location may include, but not limited to, a flat, PER FLAT and PER ROOM within the flat consumption, sub- units, or rooms and the like. The computing devices 210a and 210b may be configured to display the corresponding water metrics to the user. This solution shall result in individualised water bill generation for every resident instead of common billing. The server 108 or 208 may be accessed as mobile applications, web applications, software that offers the functionality of accessing mobile applications, and viewing/processing of interactive pages, for example, are implemented in the computing device 110 or 210a, 210b as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts by reading the disclosure provided herein.

[036] The water consumption analytics may run in the server 208. The consumption data is any data that indicates a quantity of water that flows through a pipe installed with hardware capable of collecting the amount of water consumed. The water consumption analytics data may be any data related to water usage or consumption by resident in apartment, garden, field, farms, orchards, reservoirs, industries, and the like. In an example, water consumption data is data associated with water received from a utility (for example, the total water received by a residence including water used in cooking, cleaning, showers, irrigation, toilet use, drinking as well as water wasted such as leaks).

[037] In some embodiments, the water consumption may provide information for usage of different appliances (e.g., washing machine, dishwasher, taps, showers and the like).The water consumption data may be presented to the user in the form of a line graph, a bar graph, pie chart, or numerical values, and the like without limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[038] The water consumption data from a location, such as the home may be transmitted over a wireless network to the server 208. The registered user may then interact with the water consumption information to characterize time periods of water usage, detect leaks, and/or change behaviors to conserve water. The information related to water consumption may be transmitted from a smart water meter 202a, 202b ...202n to the server 208 installed at various locations.

[039] In some embodiments, aggregate the water consumption data from the smart water meter 202a, 202b...202n into one consolidated number for every time slot in the server 208. The server 208 may analyze the aggregated data and transmit the analyzed data to the computing device 210a-210b. The computing device 210a-210b may be configured to show the analyzed data in graphical formats. Based on the graphical analysis of trend pattern, the user identifies which time slot is of concern or area of interest, from abnormal water consumption point of view. Once concern area is identified, the user may tap or click, and the like, to an appropriate area of the trend graph in future. The computed water consumption data analytics may be used for predicting water requirements, projecting billing and the like without limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, optimization of smart water meter 202a, 202b ...202n field maintenance, may also be achieved using the server 208using intelligent algorithms, simulations, analytical programs and the like without limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[040] In some embodiments, the consolidate time slot data may break-up by the server 208 and shows water consumption data of all of the individual water usage areas of the location. In this way, the user may see how much water is getting used by each of the rooms or sub-units of the location, in that particular period of time. Further the server 208 enables the user to identify and track the amount of water consumed for each activity. (For example, the amount of water consumed for washing the dishes). This enables the user analyse and take necessary steps to plug the water misuse by any person or appliance within the house.

[041] In some embodiments, the smart water meter 202a, 202b ...202n may be configured to send and process its own health information (e.g., battery level, humidity, temperature, and the like) through the gateway 204 to the server 208. Based on the health of the smart water meter, appropriate corrective action may be taken. In some cases, the smart water meter 202a, 202b ...202n may communicate to the server 208 directly without the gateway 204 through the network 206.

[042] Referring to FIG. 3 A is a block diagram 300a depicting the smart water meter 102 or 202a, 202b...202n shown in the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments. The smart water meter 102 or 202a, 202b...202n may include a flow sensor 302, a first processing device 304, a first communication module 306, a first power source 308, and a first display 310. The flow sensor 302 connected to the first processing device 304 for sensing the water flow through the pipe. Based on the amount of water flow, the flow sensor 302 may convert into suitable electrical signals. The first processing device 304 includes, but is not limited to, a microcontroller (for example ARM 7 or ARM 11), a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic device, a state machine or a logic circuitry. The first processing device 304 may be configured to receive the signals from the flow sensor 302 and calculate the water flow volume and few other parameters. The first communication module 306 may be configured to establish communication between the first processing device 304 and the gateway 104 or 204. The first communication module 306 may also be configured to establish communication between the first processing device 304 and the server 108 or 208. The first communication module 306 may collect the data from the first processing device 304 and transmit the collected data to the gateway 104 or 204 or directly to the server 108 or 208 without the gateway 104 or 204 through the network 106 or 206. The first power source 308may include a battery or solar panel or an electrical grid, or combination of these, without limiting the present disclosure. The power source 308 may be configured to power the flow sensor 302, the first processing device 304, the first display 310 and other electronic components of the smart water meter 102 or 202a, 202b...202n. The first display 310 may be configured to exhibit the relevant water consumption data along with metrics, and health information of the smart water meter.

[043] Referring to FIG. 3B is a block diagram 300b depicting the gateway 104 or 204 shown in the FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments. The gateway 104 or 204 may include a second processing device 312, a second communication module 314, a second power source 316 and a second display 318. The second processing device 312 may be configured to receive or transmit the data from/to the second communication module 314. The second processing device 312 may process the data, and takes suitable action. The second processing device 312 may be communicated with the server 108 or 208 through the network 106 or 206, and the second processing device 312 may provide an edge intelligence to the water meters 102 or 202a, 202b...202n. The second communication module 314 may be configured to establish communication with the server 108 or 208 and the computing device 110 or 210a-210b through the network 106 or 206. The second power source 316 may include a battery or solar panel or an electrical grid, or combination of these, but not limited to these. The second power source 316 may be configured to power the second processing device 312, the second display 318, the second communication module 314, and other electronic components of the gateway 104 or 204. The second display 318 may be configured to exhibit the relevant information of the gateway; it associated water meters, water metrics, and the like. [044] Referring to FIG. 3C is a diagram 300c depicting the server 108 or 208 shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, in accordance with one or more embodiments. The server 108 or 208 may include a database 320, application programming interface module 322, a front-end module 324, an analytics module 326, and a machine learning module 328. The database 320 may be configured to store the water usage data, device management data, and the like. The application programming interface module 322 may be configured to receive acquired water data from the gateway 104 or 204 or the smart water meters 102 or 202a, 202b...202n. The acquired data from the application programming interface module 322 may be stored in the database 320 and also feed to the machine learning module 328.

[045] The application programming interface module 322 may be configured to extract proper information from the database 320, the analytics module 326 and provides the information to requesters. Here, the requesters may include the front-end module 324 and/or the computing device 110 or 210a-210b. The application programming interface module 322 may provide required functionality and data through API (e.g., REST or SOAP or any other latest mechanisms that are prevalent). The application programming interface module 322 may depend on the database 320 for data storage, and the analytics module 326 to extract intelligent, decision making information. The front-end module 324 may provide a necessary code and UI designs to be utilized in reporting the information to the user. The code for UI designs may utilize the API provided by the application programming interface module 322 to retrieve required information. The analytics module 326 may provide the analytics functionality to the Server 108 or 208. The analytics module 326 may provide a predictive analysis, a static analysis and generate the reportable information to the users (e.g., customers), which may help them take appropriate decisions. The machine learning module 328 may be configured to receive the acquired water data from the application programming interface module 322 into a data acquisition module. The machine learning module 328 then provide the data to data processing module within it to prepare the data for machine learning execution. The process may contain transformation, normalization, decoding of the data. The data processing module may also encode the data to prepare for next of the machine learning module 328. Here, the machine learning module may include a next stage. The machine learning module 328 may include data modelling where different algorithms are selected and adapted to address the problems. Once the data is prepared and the machine learning module 328 may model the algorithms to identify, and label automatically the water used by the user, or an appliance, or any water usage activity, among many water usage patterns. In this way, the user may know exactly how much water has been used by any person or an appliance based on water usage activity. The machine learning module 328 may be executed on real water data repeatedly to fine tune the algorithms.

[046] Referring to FIG. 4 is an example diagram 400, process for estimating the water leakage using the system, in some embodiments. The example diagram 400 includes a smart water meter X 402, a smart water meter Y 404 and a smart water meter Z 406. The time of water travelling through the corresponding meter such as the smart water meter X 402, the smart water meter Y 404 and the smart water meter Z 406 consideration, so that same physical water content is measured from upstream to downstream and further downstream meters.

[047] In some embodiments, a command send to the smart water meter X 402 through the network for transmitting water consumption reading at time Tl, and also send another command to the smart water meter Y 404 for transmitting the water reading at time T2, where T2=T1+ (Time for water to travel from the smart water meter X 402 to the smart water meter Y 404). Similarly, transmit a command to the smart water meter Z 406 to send its water consumption reading at time T3, where T3=Tl+(Time for water to travel from the smart water meter X 402 to the smart water meter Z 406). If the received water consumption data from different smart water meters in a time coordinated way as explained above, it may calculate the leakage by adding each of the downstream meters readings of an upstream meter. The total water flow through the downstream meters may be equal to the upstream meter reading, if there is no leakage. If they are not equal, the difference is equal to the leakage amount in this segment of the pipeline network. Thus, the water leakage may be calculated very accurately for every apartment, industry, even for entire city, and the like.

[048] Referring to FIG. 5A is an example screen 500a, depicting a graphical representation of water consumption, in some embodiments. The screen 500a depicts the unique and new way of drawing water consumer attention to the abnormalities of water consumption which has taken place in the house or unit. The screen 500a may depict a graph 508, where the server 108 or 208 depicts overall water consumption, by hiding the water consumption details of sub-units or rooms. The user may get an experience in drawing attention towards possible overall premises or unit water wastage time in an interval. Once the user attention is drawn to the suspicious or abnormal water consumption level, the user may know where exactly that abnormal water usage has happened. When the user selects on the graph portion 508 on the computing device 110 or 210a-210b, the water usage breakup by different sub-units or rooms may be shown on the computing device 110 or 210a-210b. The user may figure out where or by whom exactly the water wastage has happened based on the exact room or sub-unit and exact hour or minute identification. Overall, the water consumption wave graph 508 which draws attention only to overall abnormalities of water usage in the entire premises, a transition of the screen 500a may show detailed synthesises view of the usage with details constitutes a unique water conservation tool, which is unprecedented. Selective hiding and selective showing of water consumption data leads to the unique value addition to the user.

[049] The screen 500a depicts water consumption details 502, date 504, and sub-units or rooms506a-506b. The water consumption details 502 may include, but not limited to, the consumption of water may be provided in liters at particular date 504. The sub-units or rooms 506a-506b is depicted in the screen 500a may include, but not limited to, kitchen, bathroom, garden area and the like. The screen 500a further depicts a graphical representation 508 of water consumption data. The screen 500a further depicts a kid bathing time 508a and a washing machine time 508b. The graphical representation 508 depicts the consumption of water in liters versus at particular time. The water consumption data (e.g., the kid bathing time 508a (e.g., 250 liters) and the washing machine time 508b (e.g., 128 liters) may be captured by the server 108 or 208 through the smart water meters 102 or 202a, 202b...202n and the gateway 104 or 204. The graphical representation 508 may depict the water consumption in entire premises using the smart water meters 102 or 202a, 202b...202n in a granular time period. The graphical representation 508 may be drawn automatically by capturing the water consumption data from the multiple smart water meters 102 or 202a, 202b...202n. The specific water consumption activity may be identified, denoted or captured either by the user or by the server 108 or 208 automatically. The specific water consumption activity may be determined based on the periodical usage pattern of water.

[050] Referring to FIG. 5B- FIG. 5C are example screens 500a-500c, depicting the water consumption data in various sub-units or rooms, in accordance with one or more embodiments. The screen 500b-500c depicts a historical data 510a-510b in terms of hours, daily, and at a particular week, monthly, yearly, and the like. The screen 500b-500c further depicts consumption of water in particular sub-units or rooms 51 la-5 lid (e.g., 28 liters, 41 liters, 36 liters, 5 liters) at particular time 512a-512b. The particular sub-units or rooms may include the kitchen room and the bathroom.

[051] Referring to FIG. 5D-5E are example screens 500d-500e, depicting the water consumption data of the activity, in accordance with one or more embodiments. The screens 500d-500e depicts the historical data 514a-514b in terms of hours, daily, and at a particular week, monthly, yearly, and the like. The screens 500d-500e further depicts the consumption data of an activity. The water consumption activity may include the kid bath water consumption 516b (411iters), the kitchen water consumption 516a (e.g., 281iters) at particular time 518a-518b. Here, the particular time 518a-518b may be distinct. The screen 500e may depict the washing machine usage 516c (e.g., 361iters) and the water consumption in the bathroom 516d (e.g., 51iters) at particular time 518a-518b.

[052] Referring to FIG. 6 is an example flow diagram 600, depicting the method for monitoring water distribution and leakage detection, in some embodiments.As an option, the method 600 may be carried out in the context of the details of FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3A-FIG. 3C, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5A-FIG. 5E.

[053] The method starts at step 602, detect the water flow by the smart water meters through the pipes. Thereafter, at step 604, convert the detected signals into suitable electrical signals by sensors based on the amount of water flow. Thereafter, at step 606, receive the electrical signals to the processing devices and measuring the water metrics based on the received electrical signals. Thereafter, at step 608, transmit the measured water metrics to the gateways from the processing devices. Thereafter, at step 610, enable the gateways to transmit the measured metrics to the server. Thereafter, at step 612, analyse the water metrics for different locations as well as water leakage by the server. In some cases, the smart water meter can send the measured water metrics to the server directly without a gateway. [054] Referring to FIG. 7 is an example flow diagram 700, depicting the computer implemented method for water consumption analysis and graphical representation, in some embodiments. As an option, the method 700 may be carried out in the context of the details of FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3A-FIG. 3C, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5A-FIG. 5Eand FIG. 6. However, the method 700 may also be carried out in any desired environment. Further, the aforementioned definitions may equally apply to the description below.

[055] The method starts at step 702 water metrics data may be aggregated from the smart water meter to the server. The aggregated data may be analyzed in the server, at step 704. Communications may be provided to the user account for viewing the data in a computing device, at step 706. The analyzed data may be represented in a graphical format, at step 708.

[056] Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating the details of digital processing system 800 in which various aspects of the present disclosure are operative by execution of appropriate software instructions. Digital processing system 800may correspond to computing device 110 or 210a or 210b (or any other system in which the various features disclosed above can be implemented).

[057] Digital processing system 800 may contain one or more processors such as a central processing unit (CPU) 810, random access memory (RAM) 820, secondary memory 830, graphics controller 860, display unit 870, network interface 880, and input interface 890. All the components except display unit 870 may communicate with each other over communication path 850, which may contain several buses as is well known in the relevant arts. The components of Figure 8 are described below in further detail.

[058] CPU 810 may execute instructions stored in RAM 820 to provide several features of the present disclosure. CPU 810 may contain multiple processing units, with each processing unit potentially being designed for a specific task. Alternatively, CPU 810 may contain only a single general -purpose processing unit. [059] RAM 820 may receive instructions from secondary memory 830 using communication path 850. RAM 820 is shown currently containing software instructions, such as those used in threads and stacks, constituting shared environment 825 and/or user programs 826. Shared environment 825 includes operating systems, device drivers, virtual machines, etc., which provide a (common) run time environment for execution of user programs 826.

[060] Graphics controller 860 generates display signals (e.g., in RGB format) to display unit 870 based on data/instructions received from CPU 810. Display unit 870 contains a display screen to display the images defined by the display signals. Input interface 890 may correspond to a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., touch-pad, mouse) and may be used to provide inputs. Network interface 880 provides connectivity to a network (e.g., using Internet Protocol), and may be used to communicate with other systems (such as those shown in Figure 1, FIG. 2, the network 106, 206).

[061] Secondary memory 830 may contain hard drive 835, flash memory 836, and removable storage drive 837. Secondary memory 830 may store the data software instructions (e.g., for performing the actions noted above with respect to the Figures), which enable digital processing system 800 to provide several features in accordance with the present disclosure.

[062] Some or all of the data and instructions may be provided on removable storage unit 840, and the data and instructions may be read and provided by removable storage drive 837 to CPU 810. Floppy drive, magnetic tape drive, CD-ROM drive, DVD Drive, Flash memory, removable memory chip (PCMCIA Card, EEPROM) are examples of such removable storage drive 837.

[063] Removable storage unit 840 may be implemented using medium and storage format compatible with removable storage drive 837 such that removable storage drive 837 can read the data and instructions. Thus, removable storage unit 840 includes a computer readable (storage) medium having stored therein computer software and/or data. However, the computer (or machine, in general) readable medium can be in other forms (e.g., non-removable, random access, etc.).

[064] In this document, the term "computer program product" is used to generally refer to removable storage unit 840 or hard disk installed in hard drive 835. These computer program products are means for providing software to digital processing system 800. CPU 810 may retrieve the software instructions, and execute the instructions to provide various features of the present disclosure described above.

[065] The term "storage media/medium" as used herein refers to any non-transitory media that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine to operate in a specific fashion. Such storage media may comprise non- volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical disks, magnetic disks, or solid-state drives, such as storage memory 830. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as RAM 820. Common forms of storage media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid-state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge.

[066] Storage media is distinct from but may be used in conjunction with transmission media. Transmission media participates in transferring information between storage media. For example, transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus 850. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

[067] Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment", "in an embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

[068] Although the present disclosure has been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments and illustrations thereof, other embodiments and modifications to preferred embodiments may be possible that are within the principles and spirit of the invention. The above descriptions and figures are therefore to be regarded as illustrative and not restrictive.

[069] Thus the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and includes both combinations and sub combinations of the various features described herein above as well as variations and modifications thereof, which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.