TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present subject matter relates generally to a shipping container and more specifically to a temperature-controlled shipping container.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The conventional options for shipping temperature- sensitive materials include use of dry ice or cold packs in single-use polyurethane or polystyrene boxes, or transport through a separate logistics chain that includes refrigerated trucks and storage, for example. However, such methods may not be suitable for transport of more sensitive materials that may require ongoing monitoring for temperature control. For example, blood samples must be cooled for transport but cannot be allowed to freeze. Thus, what is needed is a container with an active cooling/heating system for better temperature control for use in the transport of more sensitive materials such as biological materials.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] The embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:

[0004] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a temperature-controlled shipping container having a closed lid.

[0005] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the temperature-controlled shipping container of FIG. 1 having an open lid.

[0006] FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of the temperature-controlled shipping container of FIG. 2.

[0007] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the lid shown in FIG. 3.

[0008] FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an access panel assembly shown in FIG. 3.

[0009] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the container shown in FIG. 3.

[0010] FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the thermal sleeve assembly shown in FIG. 6.

[0011] FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the container shown in FIG. 1

[0012] FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the thermal sleeve sub-assembly coupled to heat sinks.

[0013] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the heat sink assembly.

[0014] FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view of container illustrating the battery pack and access plate. [0015] FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional side view taken through section 12-12 of FIG. X.

[0016] FIG. 13 is a cross-scctional front view taken through section 13-13 of FIG. X.

[0017] FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a network system for implementing the methods described herein.

[0018] FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a computing device configured as a control module for implementing the methods described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] A shipping container is described as having a thermal sleeve that employs Thermoelectric Coolers (TECs), which are conventional thermal devices that can be utilized as described herein to provide a refrigerant-free, lightweight solution for temperature-controlled transit of sensitive cargo, such as a vial of blood or other biological material. Applicant has described other shipping container embodiments using TECs in U.S. Patent App. No. 17/874187 also entitled Temperature-Controlled Shipping Container, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The description of an embodiment herein is intended to be illustrative and not limiting. Various design choices may be made for many of the components, and different samples, sizes and transport requirements can be accommodated using the concepts and principles described herein.

[0020] FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of a temperature-controlled shipping container 5, generally cuboid in shape, with a hinged top portion 10 in the closed position over the bottom portion 20 as shown in FIG. 1 and the top portion in the open position as shown in FIG. 2. The container 5 includes a closure mechanism 30 affixed to the container for latching the top portion 10 to the bottom portion 20 and sealing the container for transport of a sample package. A vent plate 40 having bezelled diagonal openings 41 is affixed on both sides of the bottom portion 20 to provide ventilation and physical protection for the heat sinks that are inset behind the vent plate as part of the container sub-assembly installed in the bottom portion. An adhesive seal 50 is placed over the sample before closing the lid. A recess formed on the front of the bottom portion 20 includes a barrel jack 23 for receiving a charging cord, and an LED 24 for indicating the charging status: blinking when charging and solid when fully charged.

[0021] In this embodiment, the description contemplates a standard vial used for blood samples as the sample package, such as the BD Microtainer® blood collection tube, which measures 10.5 mm in diameter by 48 mm in length. In accord with applicable regulations and guidelines, the temperature of the blood sample should be maintained at a target temperature for transport of 5 °C +/- 3°C. In addition, the container for transport of a blood sample must have three different scaling solutions for containing the sample: a primary watertight inner receptacle: a secondary watertight inner receptacle; absorbent material between the primary and secondary rcccptablcs; and a scaled outer package. All three sealing solutions are described herein.

[0022] Referring also to FIGS. 3 and 4, the top portion 10 is separated from the bottom portion 20, revealing a layered construction of the top portion including a lid 150, a gasket 152 or seal, rigid foam insulation layer 154, and top portion access plate 156. The foam insulation layer 154 fits inside the seal 152 and is held in place within the lid 150 by having the access plate 156 fastened to the lid. A channel or groove (not shown) is formed in the underside of the lid 150 and the seal 152 is pushed into the channel. The seal 152 is the third and final sealing point for the container 50, providing positive contact against the corresponding access panel 202 on the bottom portion 20 when the lid is closed and latched.

[0023] The lid 150 is a molded plastic component; the gasket 152 is a conventional EPDM rubber seal (available, e.g., from McMaster-Carr); the insulation is a molded foam block ; and the access plate is ABS plastic. The lid 150 also includes brass heat-set inserts 151 pressed into each inside comer of the lid in well-known manner for receiving and securing fasteners received through the access plate 156.

[0024] In this embodiment, a keeper 158 is affixed to the lid 150 with fasteners and heat-set inserts as shown as part of the latch mechanism 30 (such as Southco No., K2-3005-89) for engaging with the bottom portion 20. All fasteners (to affix the keeper, access plates, etc.) may be stainless steel, tamper resistant, flat head Torx® screws or equivalent. A hinge 160 is formed as a rear part of the lid 150 with tabs 162 extending from the plate, the tabs having through holes 164 for receiving a pair of hinge pins 166, such as a stainless steel spring pin. The tabs 162 engage with corresponding structure 162b on the bottom portion 20 and the hinge pins 166 secure the hinge components together for functional operation of the lid 150.

[0025] Advantageously, the lid 150 is molded to include a short rim 16 around its perimeter defining a recess 17 within the rim to allow for stacking of multiple such container units, as well as drain openings 18 in the rim to allow run-off of rain water or other liquids and avoid puddling.

[0026] The bottom portion 20 of container 5 is shown fully assembled in FIG. 1 and will be primarily described through the disassembly shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 - 11. In FIG. 3, the top portion 10 is removed is removed from the bottom portion 20. The bottom portion 20 includes an outer case 200 formed of molded plastic; a plastic access panel 202 for accessing the sub-assembly of the bottom portion 20, shown as lifted off the sub-assembly; and foam insulation 206 that surrounds the sample is lifted mostly out of the sub-assembly.

[0027] The access panel 202 is secured to the sub-assembly by Torx screws or equivalent and using heat-set inserts. Upon manufacture of the container 5, a pull-tab 203 is inserted through a slot 204 in the access panel 202 to separate the terminals of an electrical switch contained on a printed circuit board below the access panel (see FIG. 5). Removing the pull-tab 203 allows the terminals to contact thereby switching on the container control system.

[0028] Turning to FIG. 5, a first printed circuit board (“PCB”) 206 is configured as an on/off switch, engaged through terminals 206a, 206b that are initially separated by the pull-tab 203 as noted above. A second PCB 208 in one comer is configured for enabling data communication capability, e.g., WiFi and/or Bluetooth, by depressing the button. In this example, the data button is recessed to provide more limited access to that button. A third PCB 210 in the other comer is configured with “lid closed” detection button 211. Heat-set inserts are installed between the PCBs 206, 208, 210 and the access plate 202 and the circuit boards are fastened to the underside of the access plate, for example, with stainless steel flanged button head screws or equivalent.

[0029] In FIG. 6, components from inside the case 200 are shown in exploded view as lifted up and out of the case. The case has large openings 220 on both sides for securing the vent plates 40 to the case. As previously described, a small recessed opening 22 is formed on the front face of the case 200 for accommodating a barrel jack 23 for hard- wired connection for charging the battery back, as well as an LED 24 that blinks when charging and glows solid when fully charged. Appropriate recesses, shapes and/or cutouts are provided on the molded case as necessary to securely fit and hold components.

[0030] A fourth PCB 230 is the primary electronics control board for the container 5 and is sandwiched between two foam insulating layers 231, 232. Each of the foam insulating layers is molded to have appropriate shapes and cutouts as necessary to securely fit and hold components. Foam insulation is typically extruded rigid polystyrene (XPS) wherever used. A sleeve subassembly 240 is affixed to the case 200 through cutouts in the insulation layers, and is illustrated in more detail with reference to FIG. 7.

[0031] The sleeve sub-assembly 240 is the main thermal system including a thermal sleeve 241, configured in this example for receiving a single standard blood vial of cylindrical shape. Other sample types and shapes of packages could be accommodated with appropriate modifications to the geometry of the thermal sleeve 241 and the sleeve sub-assembly 240. The thermal sleeve 241 is fastened to a bridge-shaped bracket 242, which in turn fastens the entire sub-assembly 240 to the case 200 as noted above. The bridge shaped bracket 242 may be formed of molded ABS plastic or nylon, for example, and serves to position the thermal sleeve 241 as desired within the container thus allowing for optimum and uniform placement of insulation surrounding the thermal sleeve and vial.

[0032] A thermal element 246 is positioned between the bracket 242 and the thermal sleeve 241. The thermal element is a conventional device, such as a Peltier thermoelectric cooling unit (“TEC”), e.g., CUI Devices No. CP20151, that transfers heat from one side to the other when a DC voltage is applied. In the typical use case for a sample blood vial, the thermal element is used to transfer heat away from the thermal sleeve thereby cooling it. However, by reversing the polarity of the applied voltage, heat can be transferred into the thermal sleeve to warm the sample if required by the use case. Thus, the thermal element 246 effectively creates a cold side that, in this embodiment, keeps the thermal sleeve 241 cool by removing heat, and a hot side where the heat is removed and sent to the heat sinks.

[0033] An evaporator block is formed by placing a first metal block 244, e.g., aluminum, on top of the bracket 242, with lateral through holes formed in the first block therein for receiving heat pipes 264 (see FIG. 9). An insulator block 245 is placed on top of the first block 244, and the thermal element 246 is placed on top of the insulator with its electrical connections 246a connected to the control PCB 230. The thermal sleeve 241 includes a square base 241b that sits on top of the thermal element. The fasteners to assemble the thermal sleeve 241, evaporator block 244, insulator 245 and thermal element 246 to the bracket are preferably glass-filled nylon socket head screws secured by conical washers with glass-filled nylon hex nuts, or equivalent, with plastic spacers used under the nuts that secure the thermal sleeve to the bracket. Thus, any heat generated by the thermal sleeve 241 is transported from the evaporator block 244 to the heat sinks 260. If polarity to the thermal element is reversed, the thermal sleeve is heated, and the evaporator block takes cold exhaust from the container.

[0034] FIG. 8 shows the vent plate 40 removed from case 200 to reveal the heat sink subassembly 260. The sides of the case 200 are symmetrically constructed but only one side is shown and described, as the description applies to both sides. The case 200 is formed to have an interior opening 199 to receive and provide room to couple the heat sink sub-assembly 260 with the thermal sleeve sub-assembly 240. A circular recess 198 is formed adjacent the opening 199 for receiving an EDPM O-ring 261 . The O-ring 261 and heat sink sub-assembly 260 are held in place by fastening the vent plate 40 to the case 200.

[0035] The heat sink sub-assemblies 260 from each side couple to the sleeve sub-assembly 240, as shown in FIG. 9. FIG. 10 illustrates the detail of the heat sink sub-assembly 260, including the heat sink fins 262 formed as an aluminum extrusion, for example; a copper heat pipe 264 shaped to be affixed to the back of the fins; a clamp 265 to secure the heat pipe to the fins, e.g., with stainless steel flanged button head screws or equivalent. Returning to FIG. 9, the heat pipes 264 are coupled to the through holes in the evaporator block 244 in order to transport heat from the evaporator block 244 to the heat sink sub-assemblies 260. Temperature sensors 252, such as thermistors, are coupled to each of the heat sink sub-assemblies 260, and temperature sensors 250, 251 are positioned on the hot side and cold side, respectively, of the thermal element 246, and each sensor is connected to the control circuit board 230.

[0036] In FIG. 11, a battery pack 270 is secured to the bottom of the case through an opening (not shown) and secured by a plastic case bottom access plate 272. A first foam insulator 273 is placed between the access plate 272 and the battery pack 270, and a second foam insulator 274 is placed between the battery pack and the underside of foam layer 231 (see FIG. 6). The second foam insulator 274 has a cutout to allow a connection between the battery pack 270 and control PCB 230. [0037] FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view from the side of the container 5 and FIG. 13 a cross- sectional view from the front of the container. The thermal sleeve sub-assembly 240 includes the thermal element 246 and temperature sensors 250, 251 positioned on the hot side and cold side, respectively, of the thermal element interface. Temperature sensors 252, 253 are located on either side of bracket 242 but coupled into the heat sink 260 (see FIG. 9). All temperature sensors are coupled to control PCB 230 and logged into memory as temperature input data to provide an indication of internal and external temperatures of the container 5 including the ambient temperature around the sample package inside the thermal sleeve 241 for the control scheme. The container 5 may also incorporate other types of useful sensors, including a geo-tracking device coupled to the control PCB 230, e.g., a global positioning system device having an integrated accelerometer (not shown), and a hygrometer for measuring humidity within the container. The data from the geo-tracking device and accelerometer may be used by control PCB 230 to acquire and log the position and movement of container 5. External communication with the control PCB 230 to obtain the logged data from a memory store may be initiated by depressing button 209 on the access plate 202 when the lid is open to use a wireless communication protocol such Bluetooth or WiFi for data transfer, as discussed below.

[0038] As shown in FIGS. 12 - 13, the package, namely a blood vial 280 having an attached cap 282 as the first seal required for containment, is placed into the thermal sleeve 241. Absorbent foam 284 formed to fit snugly around the exposed portion of the vial and cap, as required for blood transport. The seal 50 is adhered over the top of the opening in access plate 202 to provide the second required seal for blood sample transport. A non-adhesive tab 52 extends from the seal 50 for removing the seal when the sample when it reaches its laboratory destination. After seal 50 is placed, the lid 10 is closed and latched thereby depressing the lid detection button 211 and activating a start-up routine for PCB 230 that initiates pre-programmed random or periodic polling of the various installed sensors. The collected data is logged into memory and used in simple control schemes focused on maintaining the sample package at or near its desired temperature for the duration of transport.

[0039] In an embodiment, control PCB 230 is configured with software instructions to control and manage a number of key functions. One function is the control of power supplied to thermal element 246 on the basis of temperature readings. For example, a software routine can read temperature information from the various temperature sensors, and if the readings are within a specified range, no action is taken. But if the readings are outside the specified range, an adjustment is made to supply power to the thermal element 246 to either cool the thermal sleeve and contained sample (in the usual case for the blood vial sample), or, by reversing polarity of the power supplied to the thermal element, to warm the thermal sleeve and sample .

[0040] Another function is to periodically log data from the various sensors in communication with the control PCB 230, such as internal and external temperature data, global position data, acceleration data, and internal and external humidity data. Such data may be logged at customizable intervals and provides important feedback for optimizing and/or improving the control system. In addition, control PCB 230 may be configured to communicate, e.g., via Bluetooth or WIFI or mobile carrier, to connect with and provide data to a database on a network-enabled server. Similarly, the memory storage on control PCB 230 may be queried to access on-board data including location and temperature, and to adjust settings as necessary.

[0041] Hardware interrupts may be implemented in the circuitry of control PCB 230 to alert or wake up the controller if the ambient temperature of the container fluctuates outside of a set range for the specified sample. [0042] Routines for the control of the thermal environment can be pre-programmed into the control PCB 230 based on the parameters associated with the sample package of interest.

[0043] The control PCB 230 may be configured to connect to the Internet directly through a WiFi connection or indirectly through a networked device such as smart phone or tablet, and send data to a software platform, e.g., software platform 316 in a server-based host 312 as shown in FIG. 14. For example, while a blood sample will normally need to be kept cool, in a very cold ambient environment, freezing of the blood sample must be avoided. Thus, in an embodiment, control PCB 230 may be configured to reverse the polarity of the DC power supplied to the thermal element 246 if the temperature is colder than the desired range, which reverses the direction of heat flow from one side to the other in the thermal element. Therefore, the cold side of the thermal element would instead produce heat to warm the thermal sleeve and the hot side would absorb external warmth from the heat pipes.

[0044] FIG. 14 is an exemplary block diagram depicting a distributed computer network 300 which includes a number of computing devices 310a - 3 lOf, and one or more server systems 312 coupled to a communication network 360 via a plurality of wired or wireless communication links 330. Communication network 360 provides a mechanism for allowing the various components of distributed network 300 to communicate and exchange information with each other. Control PCB 230 in container 5 may be configured to communicate data to server 312 via communication network 360, and such data stored in some manner by server 312 and/or shared with other devices as appropriate to the circumstances.

[0045] Communication network 360 may be comprised of one or more interconnected computer systems and communication links. Communication links 330 may include hardwire links, optical links, satellite or other wireless communications links, wave propagation links, or any other mechanisms for communication of information. Various communication protocols may be used to facilitate communication between the various systems shown in FIG. 14. These communication protocols may include TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP protocols, wireless application protocol (WAP), BLUETOOTH, Zigbee, 802.11, 802.15, 6L0WPAN, LiFi, Google Weave, NFC, GSM, CDMA, other cellular data communication protocols, wireless telephony protocols, Internet telephony, IP telephony, digital voice, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, Voice over IP (VoIP), vendor- specific protocols, customized protocols, and others. While in one embodiment, communication network 360 is the Internet, in other embodiments, the communication network may be any suitable communication network including a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless network, a cellular network, a personal area network (such a Bluetooth or 802.15.4., or ZigBcc), an intranet, a private network, a near field communications (NFC) network, a public network, a switched network, a peer-to-peer network, and combinations of these, and the like.

[0046] In an embodiment, the server 312 is not located near a user of a computing device, and therefore communications must occur over a network. In a different embodiment, the server 312 is a device that a user can carry upon his person, or can keep nearby. In an embodiment, the server 312 has a large battery to power long distance communications networks such as a cell network or Wi-Fi. The server 312 communicates with the other components of the network 300 via wired links or via low powered short range wireless communications such as Bluetooth. In an embodiment, one of the other components of the network 300 plays the role of the server, e.g., the watch 310b, the head mounted device or glasses or virtual reality or extended or augmented reality device 310d, the phone or mobile communications device 310f, the tablet 310a, the PC 310e, and/or the vehicle (e.g., an automobile, or other manned or unmanned or autonomous vehicle for land or aerial or aquatic operation) 310c. Other types of computing devices 310 include other wearable devices, devices incorporated into clothing, implantable or implanted devices, ingestible devices, or ‘things’ in the internet of things (loT), which may be sensors or actuators or mobile or sessile devices, or hubs or servers controlling such ‘things’ or facilitating their communications.

[0047] Distributed computer network 300 in FIG. 14 is merely illustrative of an embodiment and is not intended to be limiting. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize other variations, modifications, and alternatives. For example, more than one server system 312 may be connected to communication network 360. As another example, a number of computing devices 310a - 3 lOf may be coupled to communication network 360 via an access provider (not shown) or via some other server system.

[0048] Computing devices 310a - 3 lOf typically request information from a server system such as server 3112 that provides the requested information. Server systems typically have much more computing and storage capacity than many computing devices, which are often such things as portable devices, mobile communications devices, or other computing devices that typically play the role of a client in any client-server operation. However, a particular computing device may act as both a client and a server depending on whether the computing device is requesting or providing information. Aspects of the embodiments may be embodied using a client-server environment or a cloud-cloud computing environment. [0049] Server 312 is responsible for receiving information requests from computing devices 310a - 3 lOf, for performing processing required to satisfy the requests, and for forwarding the results corresponding to the requests back to the requesting computing device. The processing required to satisfy the request may be performed by server system 312 or may alternatively be delegated to other servers connected to communication network 360 or to other communications networks. A server 312 may be located near the computing devices 1110a - 3 lOf or may be remote from the computing devices. A server 312 may be a hub controlling a local enclave of things in an internet of things scenario.

[0050] The computing devices enable users to access and query information or applications, such as applications 314, 315 or 316 installed on different computing devices. Some example computing devices include portable electronic devices (e.g., mobile communications devices) such as the Apple iPhone®, the Apple iPad®, or any computing device running the Apple iOS™, Android™ OS, Google Chrome OS, Symbian OS®, Windows 10, Windows Mobile® OS, or any of various operating systems used for Internet of Things (loT) devices or automotive or other vehicles or Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS), such as the RIOT OS, Windows 10 for loT, WindRiver VxWorks, ARM Mbed OS, Embedded Apple iOS and OS X, the Nucleus RTOS, Green Hills Integrity, or Contiki, or any of various Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) operating systems such as Microware OS-9, VxWorks, QNX Neutrino, FreeRTOS, Micrium pC/OS-II, Micrium pC/OS-III, Windows CE, TI-RTOS, RTEMS. Other operating systems may be used. In a specific embodiment, a “web browser” application executing on a computing device enables users to select, access, retrieve, or query information and/or applications stored by server system 312. Examples of web browsers include the Android browser provided by Google, the Safari® browser provided by Apple, the Opera Web browser provided by Opera Software, the BlackBerry® browser provided by Research In Motion, the Internet Explorer® and Internet Explorer Mobile browsers provided by Microsoft Corporation, the Firefox® and Firefox for Mobile browsers provided by Mozilla®, and others.

[0051] FIG. 15 is an exemplary block diagram depicting a computing device 400 of an embodiment. Computing device 400 may be any of the computing devices 310a - 3 lOf from FIG. 11. Computing device 400 may include a display, screen, or monitor 405, housing 410, and input device 415. Housing 410 houses familiar computer components, some of which are not shown, such as a processor 420, memory 425, battery 430, speaker, transceiver, antenna 435, microphone, ports, jacks, connectors, camera, input/output (I/O) controller, display adapter, network interface, mass storage devices 440, various sensors, and the like. Computing device 400 may represent server 312, less any elements that one of skill would not expect to be associated with a server. [0052] Input device 415 may also include a touchscreen (e.g., resistive, surface acoustic wave, capacitive sensing, infrared, optical imaging, dispersive signal, or acoustic pulse recognition), keyboard (e.g., electronic keyboard or physical keyboard), buttons, switches, stylus, or combinations of these.

[0053] Mass storage devices 440 may include flash and other nonvolatile solid-state storage or solid-state drive (SSD), such as a flash drive, flash memory, or USB flash drive. Other examples of mass storage include mass disk drives, floppy disks, magnetic disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, fixed disks, hard disks, SD cards, CD-ROMs, recordable CDs, DVDs, recordable DVDs (e.g., DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, HD-DVD, or Blu-ray Disc), battery-backed-up volatile memory, tape storage, reader, and other similar media, and combinations of these.

[0054] Embodiments may also be used with computer systems having different configurations, e.g., with additional or fewer subsystems. For example, a computer system could include more than one processor (i.e. , a multiprocessor system, which may permit parallel processing of information) or a system may include a cache memory. The computer system shown in FIG. 15 is but an example of a computer system suitable for use with the embodiments. Other configurations of subsystems suitable for use with the embodiments will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, in a specific implementation, the computing device is a mobile communications device such as a smartphone or tablet computer. Some specific examples of smartphones include the Droid Incredible and Google Nexus One, provided by HTC Corporation, the iPhone or iPad, both provided by Apple, and many others. The computing device may be a laptop or a netbook. In another specific implementation, the computing device is a non-portable computing device such as a desktop computer or workstation.

[0055] A computer-implemented or computer-executable version of the program instructions useful to practice the embodiments may be embodied using, stored on, or associated with a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium may include any medium that participates in providing instructions to one or more processors for execution, such as memory 425 or mass storage 440. Such a medium may take many forms including, but not limited to, nonvolatile, volatile, transmission, non-printed, and printed media. Nonvolatile media includes, for example, flash memory, or optical or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes static or dynamic memory, such as cache memory or RAM. Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, fiber optic lines, and wires arranged in a bus. Transmission media can also take the form of electromagnetic, radio frequency, acoustic, or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

[0056] For example, a binary, machine-executable version, of the software useful to practice the embodiments may be stored or reside in RAM or cache memory, or on mass storage device 440.

The source code of this software may also be stored or reside on mass storage device 440 (e.g., flash drive, hard disk, magnetic disk, tape, or CD-ROM). As a further example, code useful for practicing the embodiments may be transmitted via wires, radio waves, or through a network such as the Internet. In another specific embodiment, a computer program product including a variety of software program code to implement features of the embodiment In the embodiment, the computer program product may include multiple software modules that cooperate to implement features of the embodiment. In the embodiment, the multiple software modules may be distributed among one or more of networked computing devices 310a - 310f.

[0057] Computer software products may be written in any of various suitable programming languages, such as C, C++, C#, Pascal, Fortran, Perl, Matlab (from MathWorks, www.mathworks.com), SAS, SPSS, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, Objective-C, Swift, Objective-J, Ruby, Python, Erlang, Lisp, Scala, Clojure, Java, Rust, Go, R, Kotlin, PHP, ECMAScript, WebAssembly. The computer software product may be an independent application with data input and data display modules. Alternatively, the computer software products may be classes that may be instantiated as distributed objects. The computer software products may also be component software such as Java Beans (from Oracle) or Enterprise Java Beans (EJB from Oracle).

[0058] An operating system for the system may be the Android operating system, iPhone OS (i.e., iOS), Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Palm web OS, Bada, MeeGo, Maemo, Limo, or Brew OS. Other examples of operating systems include one of the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems (e.g., Windows 10 or other Windows versions, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, Windows 10 Mobile), Linux, HP-UX, UNIX, Sun OS, Solaris, Mac OS X, Alpha OS, AIX, or any of various operating systems used for Internet of Things (loT) devices or automotive or other vehicles or Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS), such as the RIOT OS, Windows 10 for loT, WindRiver VxWorks, ARM Mbed OS, Embedded Apple iOS and OS X, the Nucleus RTOS, Green Hills Integrity, or Contiki, or any of various Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or Programmable Automation Controller (PAC) operating systems such as Microware OS-9, VxWorks, QNX Neutrino, FreeRTOS, Micrium pC/OS-II, Micrium pC/OS-III, Windows CE, TI- RTOS, RTEMS. Other operating systems may be used.

[0059] Furthermore, the computer may be connected to a network and may interface to other computers using this network. The network may be an intranet, internet, or the Internet, among others. The network may be a wired network (e.g., using copper), telephone network, packet network, an optical network (e.g., using optical fiber), or a wireless network, or any combination of these. For example, data and other information may be passed between the computer and components (or steps) of a system useful in practicing the embodiments using a wireless network employing a protocol such as Wi-Fi (IEEE standards 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.1 le, 802.11g, 802. Hi, and 802.1 In, just to name a few examples), or other protocols, such as BLUETOOTH or NFC or 802.15 or cellular, or communication protocols may include TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP protocols, wireless application protocol (WAP), BLUETOOTH, Zigbee, 802.11, 802.15, 6L0WPAN, LiFi, Google Weave, NFC, GSM, CDMA, other cellular data communication protocols, wireless telephony protocols or the like. For example, signals from a computer may be transferred, at least in part, wirelessly to components or other computers.

[0060] The foregoing description has been presented for the purpose of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is intended that the scope not be limited by this detailed description, but by the claims and the equivalents to the claims appended hereto.