Inferring residential home characteristics based on energy data

The present disclosure relates generally to energy conservation and more specifically to identifying information about an energy user's home, including the fuel type used for heating and whether or not the home has an air conditioner, based on energy data.

When comparing an energy user's energy usage with that of other energy users, more accurate comparisons can be made when certain characteristics are known about the home in which the energy user resides, such as the fuel type used for heating (e.g., electricity, gas, heating oil, or a combination) and whether or not the home has an air conditioner. This is because heating and cooling usage is often a significant driver of energy use.

Information about an energy user's home may be obtained from a variety of sources, including utilities, third party parcel data providers, and the energy users themselves. However, when this information is not available for an energy user, the energy user's customer experience may be degraded because the comparison of the energy user's energy usage with other energy users may not be accurate and energy efficiency tips provided may not be relevant.

A general architecture that implements the various features of the disclosure will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and not to limit the scope of the disclosure. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are reused to indicate correspondence between referenced elements.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for identifying a fuel type used for heating by a building associated with an energy user, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for using information about average daily energy usage during a heating season and information about average daily energy usage during a shoulder season to identify a fuel type used for heating by a building associated with an energy user, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a scatter plot showing data points from a first example data set, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a scatter plot showing data points from a second example data set, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a scatter plot showing data points from a third example data set, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a system for identifying a fuel type used for heating, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system upon which the system for identifying a fuel type used for heating may be implemented, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a network including servers upon which the system may be implemented and client machines that communicate with the servers.

Identifying information about a building associated with an energy user (e.g., the energy user's home) may be useful in making comparisons of the energy user's energy use with that of other energy users and providing relevant energy efficiency tips. Such information may include, for example, a heating fuel type (e.g., electricity, gas, heating oil, coal, or other heating fuel) used by one or more climate control systems (e.g., a heating-ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system) in the building and whether or not the building has an air conditioner. For example, comparisons may be more relevant when the other energy users to whom the energy user is compared are selected based upon shared building characteristics such as the heating fuel type used or whether or not the building has an air conditioner. These energy usage comparisons may be provided to the energy users along with tips on how to save energy, in order to help the energy users understand their energy consumption and to promote more efficient energy usage and/or other conservation goals.

Resource usage comparisons between different energy users or of different buildings having different heat fuel types or resource usage comparisons between those that have air conditioners and those that do not having air conditioners are less useful because resource usage (e.g., energy usage) varies greatly based on these building characteristics. Ignoring these characteristics when making resource usage comparisons may therefore degrade the customer experience and reduce the effectiveness of programs encouraging customers to become more energy efficient.

In order to create more useful comparisons, information about characteristics of a building associated with an energy user may be obtained from one or more data sources, including the energy user, the utility, rate code (e.g., a rate code for electric heat users means that the energy user probably uses electricity for heating), parcel data, or inferences based on energy usage. This information about the characteristics of a building, obtained from the one or more data sources, may be stored as values for a particular site data element (e.g., fuel type used for heating or presence of an air conditioning system), and associated confidence levels may also be stored. According to an embodiment, the associated confidence levels may be received from the one or more data sources, or may be determined by the system based upon an actual or assumed reliability of the data source, or based on any other criteria. Alternatively, the associated confidence levels may be inputted by a user of the system.

For example, information about a fuel type used by a building's heating system may be received from multiple sources, including (1) the utility company, (2) the utility customer, and/or (3) a third party parcel data provider. The information provided by the utility company may indicate that the building's heating system uses natural gas, and the information from the utility company may have an associated confidence level of 95%, indicating that there is a 95% certainty that the information is correct and the building's heating system uses natural gas. The information provided by the utility customer may indicate that the building's heating system uses natural gas, and the information received from the utility customer may have an associated confidence level of 99%, indicating that there is a 99% certainty that the information is correct and the building's heating system uses natural gas. The information provided by the third party parcel data provider may indicate that the building's heating system uses natural gas (or, alternatively, may indicate a different fuel type that is inconsistent with the information received from other data sources), and the information received from the third party parcel data provider may have an associated confidence level of 60%, indicating that there is a 60% certainty that the information is correct and the building's heating system uses natural gas.

For each site data element (e.g., fuel type used for heating, presence of an air conditioning system, etc.), the system may store the data received from one or more data sources along with the associated confidence levels. In the scenario described above, according to an embodiment the following data records may be stored by the system:

The data records described above may be stored by the system in a database or in any other manner. The data records may be associated with a particular utility customer, building, and/or site. According to an embodiment, a plurality of records may be stored for a plurality of site data elements. According to another embodiment, confidence levels may be omitted from the data records.

According to an embodiment, other software modules may request data related to a particular site data element, and the system may be configurable to return the value with the highest confidence level, the value from a specific source, and/or the values (and their sources) that are above a specific confidence threshold.

For illustrative purposes, various embodiments described herein relate to residential energy users and the homes of the residential energy users. However, the embodiments may also be implemented with other types of energy users (e.g., utility customers, building managers, administrators, or monitoring systems) or building types (e.g., businesses, a set of structures, or other site).

Information about characteristics of a building associated with an energy user such as a fuel type used for heating may not be available from data sources such as the energy user, the utility, rate code, etc., or the confidence level (i.e., estimated level of accuracy) for the available information may not be as high as desired. Accordingly, inferring characteristics of a building associated with an energy user using resource usage information may be necessary or desirable.

A system according to an embodiment may infer characteristics of a building associated with an energy user, such as fuel type used for heating (e.g., electric or gas) or whether or not the building has an air conditioner. The system may determine these characteristics on an automated basis so that other software modules may utilize this information about home characteristics. Additionally, more relevant efficiency tips may be provided based on determined home characteristics. Optionally, according to an embodiment, the system may determine a confidence level associated with the inferred characteristics based upon an actual or assumed reliability of the inference, or based on any other criteria. Alternatively, the associated confidence level may be inputted by a user of the system.

According to an embodiment, the system may use energy or other resource usage information to make an inference about the fuel type used for heating. The determined fuel type used for heating may then be used to provide targeted energy efficiency tips to an energy user.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for identifying a fuel type used for heating by an energy user, according to an embodiment.

In block 100 , information is received about energy usage by an energy user (e.g., a utility customer, a homeowner, a tenant, a building manager, etc.). The energy usage information may be expressed as a quantity of electricity (e.g., a certain number of kilowatt-hours), a quantity of natural gas (e.g., a certain number of therms or cubic feet), or a quantity of any other resource (e.g., steam, hot water, heating oil, coal, etc.) supplied by a utility or resource provider. The energy usage information may be provided in various resolutions, including hourly, daily, monthly, or seasonal resolutions. The energy usage information may be provided by a utility, the energy user, or a third party.

In block 110 , an average energy usage during a “heating season” is determined using the received energy usage information. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 , the average energy usage may be an average daily energy usage. In other embodiments, the average energy usage may correspond to other lengths of time. The heating season may correspond to the winter season, or it may correspond to any predetermined date range during which energy users typically use heating systems. The date range of the heating season may vary by geographic location and/or climate.

In block 120 , an average energy usage during a “shoulder season” is determined using the received energy usage information. According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 , the average energy usage may be an average daily energy usage. In other embodiments, the average energy usage may correspond to other lengths of time. The shoulder season may correspond to the spring and/or fall seasons, or it may correspond to any predetermined date range(s) during which use of heating systems and cooling systems is minimal or heating system use is at least reduced as compared to during the heating season. The date range(s) of the shoulder season may vary by geographic location and/or climate. Furthermore, the date range(s) may be temporally adjacent to the heating season.

In block 130 , the information about the average daily energy usage during the heating season and the information about the average daily energy usage during the shoulder season are used to identify a fuel type used for heating, as described below with reference to FIG. 2 .

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for using information about average daily energy usage during a heating season and information about average daily energy usage during a shoulder season to identify a fuel type used for heating by a climate control system in the home of the energy user, according to an embodiment.

In block 200 , a difference is determined between the determined average daily energy usage during the heating season and the average daily energy usage during the shoulder season. In block 210 , a ratio is determined between the average daily energy usage during the heating season and the average daily energy usage during the shoulder season.

In block 220 , the determined difference between the determined average daily energy usage during the heating season and the average daily energy usage during the shoulder season and the determined ratio between the determined average daily energy usage during the heating season and the average daily energy usage during the shoulder season is used to identify the fuel type used for heating by the energy user.

According to an embodiment, [formula 1] below may be used to impute a fuel type used for heating using electricity usage information. The [formula 1] is a linear discriminant function that is learned from a training data set. The training data set may be represented on a scatter plot and may include, for a plurality of electricity users having known fuel types for heating, the ratio r e (the determined ratio between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season) and the difference d e (the determined difference between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season). The linear discriminant function is a function that most accurately classifies the fuel types for heating for the plurality of electricity users in the training set based on each electricity user's ratio r e and difference d e . The line across the scatter plot for the training data set in FIG. 3 (described below) represents the classification provided by the learned linear discriminant function (i.e., the linear discriminant function identifies electricity users having a ratio r e and difference d e plotted above the line as having an electric fuel type and those below the line as having an unknown fuel type for heating).

If 0.56 *r e +0.27 *d e −3.3>0, then impute electric fuel type, otherwise fuel type unknown,  [formula 1]

where r e =the determined ratio between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season; and d e =the determined difference between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season (difference d e will be positive when heating season usage is greater than shoulder season usage, and negative when shoulder season usage is greater than heating season usage).

Although [formula 1] includes certain values for constants, other values, weights, or formulas may also be used. For example, linear discriminant analysis may be used to determine alternate constants, weights, or formulas using a training data set that includes resource usage data for customers with known heating fuel types.

FIG. 3 is a scatter plot showing data points from a first example data set, according to an embodiment. The first example data set includes information about electricity usage by a set of energy users. The set of energy users may include energy users from a particular utility company, energy users living in a particular geographic area, and/or having any other shared or similar characteristic(s). Alternatively, the set of energy users may be selected in any other manner.

The set of energy users includes energy users who have a climate control system that uses only electric fuel type for heating and energy users who have a climate control system that uses a gas fuel type or other non-electric fuel type for heating. Each data point plotted on the scatter plot shows the determined difference between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season (elec_diff) and the determined ratio between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season (elec_ratio) for a particular energy user in the set of energy users. Dots represent energy users who have an electric fuel type for heating, and x's represent energy users who have a gas fuel type or other non-electric fuel type for heating. (The dots and x's represent actual fuel types, rather than imputed/calculated fuel types.)

FIG. 3 includes a line running across the scatter plot. The line divides the scatter plot into an upper region in which [formula 1] will impute an electric fuel type for heating and a lower region in which [formula 1] will impute an unknown fuel type for heating. That is, according to [formula 1], for all of the energy users having data points above the line shown running across the scatter plot illustrated in FIG. 3 , an electric fuel type for heating is imputed. For all of the energy users having data points shown below the line running across the scatter plot, the fuel type for heating is calculated to be unknown. In the first data set shown in FIG. 3 , the fuel type for heating was identified with 90% accuracy using [formula 1].

According to an embodiment, instead of using [formula 1], a linear discriminator may be trained using multiple sample data sets that include information about energy usage and known fuel types for heating. Different discriminators may be used for different utilities and/or geographic areas, or the same discriminator may be used. The discriminator may be refined by taking into account temperature and other regional variables.

FIG. 4 is a scatter plot showing data points from a second example data set, according to an embodiment. The second example data set includes information about electricity usage by a set of energy users. The set of energy users may include energy users from a particular utility company, energy users living in a particular geographic area, and/or having any other shared or similar characteristic(s). Alternatively, the set of energy users may be selected in any other manner.

The set of energy users includes energy users who have a climate control system that uses electric fuel type for heating and energy users who have a climate control system that uses a non-electric (e.g., natural gas) fuel type for heating. Each data point plotted on the scatter plot shows the determined difference between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season (elec_diff) and the determined ratio between the determined average daily electricity usage during the heating season and the average daily electricity usage during the shoulder season (elec_ratio) for a particular energy user in the set of energy users. Dots represent energy users who have an electric fuel type for heating, and x's represent energy users who have a non-electric (e.g., natural gas) fuel type for heating. (The dots and x's represent actual fuel types, rather than imputed/calculated fuel types.)

FIG. 4 includes a line running across the scatter plot. The line divides the scatter plot into an upper region in which [formula 1] will impute an electric fuel type for heating and a lower region in which [formula 1] will impute an unknown fuel type for heating. That is, according to [formula 1], for all of the energy users having data points above the line shown running across the scatter plot illustrated in FIG. 4 , an electric fuel type for heating is imputed. For all of the energy users having data points shown below the line running across the scatter plot, the fuel type for heating is calculated to be unknown.

According to an embodiment, [formula 2] may be used to impute a fuel type used for heating using gas usage information. The [formula 2] is a linear discriminant function that is learned from a training data set. The training data set may be represented on a scatter plot and may include, for a plurality of gas users having known fuel types for heating, the ratio r g (the determined ratio between the determined average daily gas usage during the heating season and the average daily gas usage during the shoulder season) and the difference d g (the determined difference between the determined average daily gas usage during the heating season and the average daily gas usage during the shoulder season). The linear discriminant function is a function that most accurately classifies the fuel types for heating for the plurality of gas users in the training set based on each gas user's ratio r g and difference d g . The line across the scatter plot for the training data set in FIG. 5 (described below) represents the classification provided by the learned linear discriminant function (i.e., the linear discriminant function identifies electricity users having a ratio r g and difference d g plotted above the line as having an electric fuel type and those below the line as having an unknown fuel type for heating).

If 0.38 *r g +0.77 *d g +0.30>0, then impute gas fuel type, otherwise fuel type unknown.  [formula 2]

where r g =the determined ratio between the determined average daily gas usage during the heating season and the average daily gas usage during the shoulder season; and

d g =the determined difference between the determined average daily gas usage during the heating season and the average daily gas usage during the shoulder season (difference d g will be positive when heating season usage is greater than shoulder season usage, and negative when shoulder season usage is greater than heating season usage).

Although [formula 2] includes certain values for constants, other values, weights, or formulas may also be used. For example, linear discriminant analysis may be used to determine alternate constants, weights, or formulas using a training data set that includes resource usage data for customers with known heating fuel types.

FIG. 5 is a scatter plot showing data points from a third example data set, according to an embodiment. The third example data set includes information about gas usage by a set of energy users. The set of energy users may include energy users from a particular utility company, energy users living in a particular geographic area, and/or having any other shared or similar characteristic(s). Alternatively, the set of energy users may be selected in any other manner.

The set of energy users includes energy users who have a climate control system that uses a gas fuel type for heating and energy users who have a climate control system that uses an unknown or non-gas fuel type for heating. Each data point plotted on the scatter plot shows the determined difference between the determined average daily gas usage during the heating season and the average daily gas usage during the shoulder season (g_winter_diff) and the determined ratio between the determined average daily gas usage during the heating season and the average daily gas usage during the shoulder season (g_winter_ratio) for a particular energy user in the set of energy users. Dots represent energy users who have a gas fuel type for heating, and x's represent energy users who have an unknown fuel type for heating. (The dots and x's represent actual fuel types, rather than imputed/calculated fuel types.)

According to [formula 2], for all of the energy users having data points above the line shown running across the scatter plot illustrated in FIG. 5 , a gas fuel type for heating is imputed. For all of the energy users having data points shown below the line running across the scatter plot, the fuel type for heating is calculated to be unknown.

According to an embodiment, fuel type for heating may be imputed using [formula 1] and [formula 2] if both electricity usage information and gas usage information is available. If [formula 1] indicates that electric fuel is used for heating and [formula 2] indicates that gas fuel is used for heating, then an additional linear discriminant function [formula 3] learned from a training data set may be used to determine the fuel type used for heating. The [formula 3] is a function that most accurately classifies the fuel types used for heating for the plurality of users in the training set based on each user's ratios r e and r g and differences d e and d g . For example:

If 0.56* r e +0.27* d e −3.3>0, then set e _bool=true, otherwise e _bool=false;

If 0.38* r g +0.77* d g +0.30>0, then set g _bool=true, otherwise g _bool=false;

If e _bool=false and g _bool=false, then fuel type for heating is unknown;

If e _bool=true and g _bool=false, then impute electric fuel type for heating;

If e _bool=false and g _bool=true, then impute gas fuel type for heating; and

If e _bool=true and g _bool=true, then if [formula 3]-0.94* r e −0.11* d e +0.63* r g +0.57* d g +1.82>0, then impute electric fuel type used for heating, otherwise impute gas fuel type used for heating.

Although the formulas above include certain values for constants, other values, weights, or formulas may also be used. For example, linear discriminant analysis may be used to determine alternate constants, weights, or formulas using a training data set that includes resource usage data for customers with known heating fuel types.

According to an alternative embodiment, other classification models may be used to infer a fuel type used for heating. These other classification models include supervised models that use features extracted from resource usage data and/or other building or site data and labeled data to train a series of models (e.g., logistic regression models or support vector machine models).

Additionally, unsupervised classification models may be used that cluster buildings into groups based on features extracted from resource usage data and/or other building or site data (e.g., k-means clustering models or self-organizing map models).

According to yet another embodiment, generalized ensemble models may be used to infer a fuel type for heating. The generalized ensemble models may apply more than one model and then determine best prediction for the fuel type used for heating.

According to another embodiment, in addition to or instead of inferring a home's fuel type for heating, a determination may be made as to whether or not the home has an air conditioner. In this embodiment, information is received about electricity usage, and an average energy usage during a “cooling season” is determined. The average energy usage for the cooling season may be an average daily energy usage. In other embodiments, the average energy usage may correspond to other lengths of time. The cooling season may correspond to the summer season, or it may correspond to any predetermined date range during which energy users typically use air conditioners. The date range of the cooling season may vary by geographic location and/or climate.

Additionally, an average energy usage during a “shoulder season” is determined using the received energy usage information. The average energy usage for the shoulder season may be an average daily energy usage. In other embodiments, the average energy usage may correspond to other lengths of time. The shoulder season may correspond to the spring and/or fall seasons, or it may correspond to any predetermined date range(s) during which use of heating systems and cooling systems is minimal or cooling system use is at least reduced as compared to during the cooling season. The date range(s) of the shoulder season may vary by geographic location and/or climate. Furthermore, the date range(s) of the shoulder season may be temporally adjacent to the cooling season.

According to this embodiment, if the difference between the average daily energy usage during the cooling season and the average daily energy usage during the shoulder season is greater than a predetermined amount determined based on daily usage data for similar homes with air conditioners, determined based on expected usage information for air conditioners, or determined on any other basis, then the presence of an air conditioner may be assumed. For example, a window air conditioning unit uses about 1 kW. Assuming that an energy user uses the air conditioning unit for 5 hours a day in the summer, a window air conditioning unit would be expected to increase average daily energy usage during the summer by about 5 kWh. Thus, according to an embodiment, the predetermined amount may 5 kWh/day.

According to another embodiment, energy users may be ranked by the size of their energy usage spikes during the heating season, and then the top X percent of energy users may be assumed to have a particular heat fuel type, where X is the percentage of the population in a geographic region that is known or expected to have that heat fuel type. For example, if 10% of the population in the geographic region is known or expected to use an electric fuel type for heating, the top 10% of electricity users during the heating season may be assumed to use an electric fuel type for heating. If 80% of the population in the geographic region is known or expected to use a natural gas fuel type for heating, the top 80% of natural gas users during the heating season may be assumed to use a natural gas fuel type for heating.

Likewise, energy users may be ranked by the size of their energy usage spikes during the cooling season, and then the top X percent of energy users may be assumed to have an air conditioner, where X is the percentage of the population in a geographic region that is known or expected to have an air conditioner.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a system for identifying a fuel type used for heating 600 which includes an energy usage information receiver 610 , a heating season average daily usage determiner 620 , a shoulder season average daily usage determiner 630 , and a heat fuel type identifier 640 .

According to an embodiment, the energy usage information receiver 610 receives information about energy usage by an energy user. The heating season average daily usage determiner 620 uses a processor to determine the average daily energy usage during a heating season. The shoulder season average daily usage determiner 630 uses a processor to determine the average daily energy usage during a shoulder season. The heat fuel type identifier 640 uses the information about the heating season average daily energy usage and the shoulder season average daily energy usage to determine a fuel type for heating.

According to another embodiment, the heating season average daily usage determiner 620 may be replaced or supplemented with a cooling season average daily usage determiner (not shown) that uses a processor to determine the average daily energy usage during a cooling season. The shoulder season average daily usage determiner 630 uses a processor to determine the average daily energy usage during a shoulder season. The heat fuel type identifier 640 may be replaced or supplemented with an air conditioner usage determiner (not shown) that uses the information about the cooling season average daily energy usage and the shoulder season average daily energy usage to determine whether or not an air conditioner is used.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a computer/server system 700 upon which an embodiment may be implemented. The system 700 includes a computer/server platform 710 including a processor 720 and memory 730 which operate to execute instructions, as known to one of skill in the art. The term “computer-readable storage medium” as used herein refers to any tangible medium, such as a disk or semiconductor memory, that participates in providing instructions to processor 720 for execution. Additionally, the computer platform 710 receives input from a plurality of input devices 740 , such as a keyboard, mouse, touch device, touchscreen, or microphone. The computer platform 710 may additionally be connected to a removable storage device 750 , such as a portable hard drive, optical media (CD or DVD), disk media, or any other tangible medium from which a computer can read executable code. The computer platform 710 may further be connected to network resources 760 which connect to the Internet or other components of a local public or private network. The network resources 760 may provide instructions and data to the computer platform 710 from a remote location on a network 770 . The connections to the network resources 760 may be via wireless protocols, such as the 802.11 standards, Bluetooth® or cellular protocols, or via physical transmission media, such as cables or fiber optics. The network resources may include storage devices for storing data and executable instructions at a location separate from the computer platform 710 . The computer platform 710 interacts with a display 780 to output data and other information to a utility customer, tenant, or other user, as well as to request additional instructions and input from the utility customer, tenant, or other user. The display 780 may be a touchscreen display and may act as an input device 740 for interacting with a utility customer, tenant, or other user.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a network 800 including servers 820 , 840 upon which the system may be implemented and client machines 860 , 870 that communicate with the servers 820 , 840 . The client machines 820 , 840 communicate across the Internet or another wide area network (WAN) or local area network (LAN) 810 with server 1 820 and server 2 840 . Server 1 820 communicates with database 1 830 , and server 2 840 communicates with database 2 850 . According to an embodiment, one or both of server 1 820 and server 2 840 may implement a system for identifying residential home characteristics. Client 1 860 and/or client 2 870 may interface with the system and request server 1 820 and/or server 2 840 to perform processing to identify residential home characteristics. Server 1 820 may communicate with or otherwise receive information from database 1 830 or another internal or external data source or database in the process of identifying residential home characteristics at the request of a client, and server 2 840 may communicate with database 2 850 or another internal or external data source or data base in the process of identifying residential home characteristics at the request of a client.

According to an embodiment, this information may be used to generate comparisons and/or efficiency tips provided in the form of paper reports (either included with utility bills or as separate mailings), e-mails, text messages, web site content, or in other forms. According to another embodiment, an application programming interface may be provided, and a utility may pull the data and include it on customers' bills and/or use the data for other purposes. The data may also be utilized by an application developed by a utility or utility partner.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments via the use of block diagrams, schematics, and examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, schematics, and examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, or virtually any combination thereof, including software running on a general purpose computer or in the form of a specialized hardware.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the protection. Indeed, the novel methods and apparatuses described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the protection. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the protection.