METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PREDICTING ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF A VEHICLE THROUGH APPLICATION OF A STATISTICAL MODEL UTILIZING SENSOR AND DATABASE DATA

Abstract

A method for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle using a statistical model. The method includes (i) predicting a set of future input vectors for the vehicle at defined time intervals corresponding to a plurality of future points in time based on a subset of a plurality of reference input vectors previously generated at the defined time intervals at a plurality of previous points in time, (ii) predicting a change in the energy level of the vehicle at the future points in time using a processor and the statistical model, and (iii) providing results corresponding to the predicted change in the energy level to an output unit of the vehicle. The change in the energy level comprises a function of corresponding future input vectors and an associated weighting vector. The change in the energy level is predicted based on a regression analysis of the energy level associated with each of the reference input vectors.

Claims

1. A method for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle using a statistical model, said method comprising: predicting a set of future input vectors for said vehicle at defined time intervals corresponding to a plurality of future points in time based on a subset of a plurality of reference input vectors previously generated at the defined time intervals at a plurality of previous points in time, wherein an energy level of said vehicle is associated with each reference input vector of said plurality of reference input vectors at each previous point in time of said plurality of previous points in time; predicting a change in said energy level of said vehicle at said future points in time using a processor and said statistical model, wherein (i) the change in said energy level comprises a function of corresponding future input vectors and an associated weighting vector, said weighting vector having been derived using said plurality of reference input vectors and associated energy levels at each point in time of said plurality of previous points in time, and representing an overall effect of each input vector on energy consumption of said vehicle, and (ii) said change in said energy level is predicted based on a regression analysis of said energy level associated with each of said reference input vectors; and providing results corresponding to the predicted change in said energy level to an output unit of said vehicle.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each reference input vector comprises a plurality of sensor data and a plurality of database data.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of sensor data is captured for at least one of a vehicle location environment, a vehicle equipment profile, and a driver behavior profile at each point in time of said plurality of points in time.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of sensor data is obtained from a plurality of sensors associated with said vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said plurality of sensors correspond to at least one of a tire pressure sensor, a regenerative braking sensor, a battery capacity sensor, a battery charge sensor, a solar radiation sensor, a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a motor temperature sensor, a lubrication level sensor, a wind resistance sensor, a proximity sensor, a weight sensor, an identity sensor, and a set of environmental sensors.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of database data is obtained for a plurality of vehicles and comprises data related to at least one of a vehicle location environment, a vehicle equipment profile, and a driver behavior profile.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said plurality of database data is obtained from a database storing previously recorded data for at least one of said vehicle location environment, said vehicle equipment profile, and said driver behavior profile corresponding to said plurality of vehicles.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of sensor data correspond to at least one of location data, time data, day data, solar radiation data, temperature data, humidity data, barometric pressure data, wind speed data, wind direction data, fuel level data, driving pattern data, and driver identity data associated with said vehicle and an environment around said vehicle.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of database data corresponds to at least one of weather data, route data, traffic data, and driving pattern data of a plurality of drivers.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said statistical model comprises at least one of a linear function, a quadratic function, a periodic function, and a rule based function of at least one of an energy level of the vehicle at each point in time, each vehicle input vector, and each database input vector for each defined time interval.

11. A system for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle using a statistical model, said system comprising: an acquisition module that obtains a plurality of input vectors at defined time intervals at a plurality of points in time; a processor that predicts (i) a set of future input vectors for said vehicle at defined time intervals corresponding to a plurality of future points in time based on a subset of a plurality of reference input vectors previously obtained at the defined time intervals at a plurality of previous points in time, wherein an energy level of said vehicle is associated with each reference input vector of said plurality of reference input vectors at each previous point in time of said plurality of previous points in time, and (ii) a change in said energy level of said vehicle at said future points in time using said statistical model, wherein the change in said energy level comprises a function of corresponding future input vectors and an associated weighting vector, said weighting vector is derived using said plurality of reference input vectors and associated energy levels at each point in time of said plurality of previous points in time, said weighting vector represents an overall effect of each input vector on energy consumption of said vehicle, and said change in said energy level is predicted based on a regression analysis of said energy level associated with each of said reference input vectors; and an output unit that displays results corresponding to the predicted change in said energy level of said vehicle.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said acquisition module acquires a plurality of sensor data for at least one of a vehicle location environment, a vehicle equipment profile, and a driver behavior profile at each point in time of said plurality of points in time, wherein said plurality of sensor data is obtained from a plurality of sensors coupled to said vehicle, wherein said plurality of database data is obtained for at least one of a vehicle location environment, a vehicle equipment profile, and a driver behavior profile for a plurality of vehicles, and wherein said plurality of database data is obtained from a database storing previously recorded data for at least one of said vehicle location environment, said vehicle equipment profile, and said driver behavior profile corresponding to said plurality of vehicles.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said acquisition module acquires said plurality of sensor data from a plurality of sensors that correspond to at least one of a tire pressure sensor, a regenerative braking sensor, a battery capacity sensor, a battery charge sensor, a solar radiation sensor, a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a motor temperature sensor, a lubrication level sensor, a wind resistance sensor, a proximity sensor, a weight sensor, an identity sensor, and a set of environmental sensors.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein said acquisition module acquires said plurality of database data corresponding to at least one of weather data, route data, traffic data, and driving pattern data of a plurality of drivers.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein said processor utilizes said statistical model comprising at least one of a linear function, a quadratic function, a periodic function, and a rule based function of at least one of a stored energy of said vehicle at each point in time, each vehicle input vector, and each database input vector for each defined time interval.

16. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a computer, and comprising a program of instructions executable by said computer to perform a method for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle using a statistical model, said method comprising: predicting a set of future input vectors for said vehicle at defined time intervals corresponding to a plurality of future points in time based on a subset of a plurality of reference input vectors previously generated at the defined time intervals at a plurality of previous points in time, wherein an energy level of said vehicle is associated with each reference input vector of said plurality of reference input vectors at each previous point in time of said plurality of previous points in time; predicting a change in said energy level of said vehicle at said future points in time using said statistical model, wherein (i) the change in said energy level comprises a function of corresponding future input vectors and an associated weighting vector, said weighting vector having been derived using said plurality of reference input vectors and associated energy levels at each point in time of said plurality of previous points in time, and representing an overall effect of each input vector on energy consumption of said vehicle, and (ii) said change in said energy level is predicted based on a regression analysis of said energy level associated with each of said reference input vectors; and providing results corresponding to the predicted change in said energy level to an output unit of said vehicle.

17. The program storage device according to claim 16, wherein each reference input vector comprises a plurality of sensor data and a plurality of database data, wherein said plurality of sensor data is captured for at least one of a vehicle location environment, a vehicle equipment profile, and a driver behavior profile at each point in time of said plurality of previous points in time, wherein said plurality of sensor data is obtained from a plurality of sensors associated with said vehicle, wherein said plurality of database data is related to at least one of a vehicle location environment, a vehicle equipment profile, and a driver behavior profile for a plurality of vehicles, and wherein said plurality of database data is obtained from a database storing previously recorded data for at least one of said vehicle location environment, said vehicle equipment profile, and said driver behavior profile corresponding to said plurality of vehicles.

18. The program storage device according to claim 16, wherein said statistical model comprises at least one of a linear function, a quadratic function, a periodic function, and a rule based function of at least one of an energy level of the vehicle at each point in time, each vehicle input vector, and each database input vector for each defined time interval.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an environment in which various embodiments herein may function;

[0016] FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle in accordance with various embodiments herein;

[0017] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for refining weight vectors associated with an input vector for predicting energy consumption of the vehicle in accordance with an embodiment herein;

[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates a system for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle in accordance with an embodiment herein; and

[0019] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of a computer architecture used in accordance with the embodiments herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

[0021] In this document, relational terms such as first and second, top, and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms comprises, comprising, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by comprises . . . a does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

[0022] The embodiments herein provide a method and system for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle using a statistical model. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 5, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown preferred embodiments.

[0023] In accordance with the embodiments herein, the statistical model utilizes current operating parameters and past operating parameters of the vehicle, location data, environmental data, and road condition information obtained from external sources to predict the energy consumption. The environmental data and the road condition information are collectively termed as database data as they are obtained from external databases such as, but not limited to, various websites and online resources that store environmental data and road data. The operating parameters correspond to, but are not limited to, fuel consumption of the vehicle, braking frequency, and average speed, and the environmental data correspond to, but are not limited to, weather conditions such as intensity of sunlight, thunder, and rain. Further, the road condition information corresponds to, but is not limited to, elevation of road and traffic on one of a known route and an unknown route.

[0024] The method and system monitors the operating parameters, environmental data, and road condition information for a plurality of points in time and creates a plurality of input vectors. Each input vector includes a plurality of variables, wherein each variable represents at least one of one or more of the operating parameters, one or more of environmental data, and one or more of road condition information for each point in time. Thereafter, the statistical model is trained with the plurality of input vectors and corresponding energy levels of the vehicle for the plurality of points in time to learn a function between the plurality of variables and the corresponding energy levels. This function is utilized for predicting precise values of the energy consumption under varying operating parameters and weather conditions.

[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates an environment 100 in which various embodiments herein may function. Environment 100 includes a plurality of weather sources 102n, a plurality of vehicle performance sources 104n, a plurality of traffic sources 106n, a plurality of road condition sources 108-n, a communication network 110, and a plurality of vehicles 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n. Further, each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n includes a plurality of sensors 114-n, an acquisition module 116, and a processor 118. As shown in FIG. 1, weather sources 102n, vehicle performance sources 104n, traffic sources 106n, and road condition sources 108-n are operatively connected to vehicles 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n through communication network 110. Weather sources 102-n provide weather information such as, but not limited to, solar radiation data, probability of rain data, temperature and direction of wind data to vehicles 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n for a plurality of points in time.

[0026] Weather sources 102-n correspond to, but are not limited to, various agencies and websites that provide the latest updates on weather and meteorological data. For instance, the weather information can be one of a weather forecast and a solar radiation data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is utilized for solar power inputs based on the location of the vehicle and a projected route. The weather information can be used by a driver to determine the suitability of driving on a particular route with known weather conditions. Vehicle performance sources 104-n provide performance data such as, but not limited to, average speed, acceleration, mileage, battery capacity, and fuel consumption of other vehicles to a vehicle 112-1, for example. Traffic sources 106-n provide traffic data of a particular route. Traffic sources 106-n correspond to, but are not limited to, online agencies and websites that provide real time data about traffic of a route through the Internet. Road conditions sources 108-n provide road condition data such as, but not limited to, road elevation, quality of road, and level of the road to vehicles 112-n.

[0027] Sensors 114-n are installed in each vehicle of the vehicles 112-1, 112-2, , 112-n for capturing a plurality of sensor data for each vehicle 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n. Each sensor of a vehicle 112-1, for example, is located at a different position within vehicle 112-1 to capture one or more sensor data of the plurality of sensor data for a particular point in time. The one or more sensor data represents operating conditions of vehicle 112-1 at the point in time. For instance, a tire pressure sensor (not shown) may be located over the tires of vehicle 112-1 to capture the tire pressure data and the wind resistance sensor may be located on a front side of vehicle 112-1 to capture the wind resistance data at a particular point in time. The sensor data corresponds to, but is not limited to, tire pressure data, location data, time data, day data, regenerative braking data, battery capacity data, solar radiation data, humidity data, outside temperature data, barometric pressure data, motor temperature data, motor lubrication level data, and wind resistance data.

[0028] The sensor data also corresponds to proximity data, environmental data, velocity, acceleration, location data, direction data, inclination data, angular momentum data, weight data of a driver, and identity data of the driver. Acquisition module 116 obtains the weather information from at least one of the weather sources 102n, the performance data of other vehicles from at least one of the vehicle performance sources 104n, the traffic data from at least one of the traffic sources 106n, the road condition data from at least one of the road condition sources 108-n, and the plurality of sensor data from sensor 114-n and delivers the obtained data to processor 118. Although, a single acquisition module 116 is considered to acquire the weather information, the performance data, the traffic data, the road condition data, and the plurality of sensor data, those skilled in the art would realize that one could use two or more acquisition modules in a vehicle 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n. Sensor 114-n corresponds to at least one of a tire pressure sensor, a regenerative braking sensor, a battery capacity sensor, a battery charge sensor, a solar radiation sensor, a humidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a motor temperature sensor, a lubrication level sensor, a wind resistance sensor, a proximity sensor, a weight sensor, an identity sensor, and a set of environmental sensors. Processor 118 then processes the obtained data and predicts energy consumption of vehicle 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n.

[0029] FIG. 2, with reference to FIG. 1, illustrates a flow diagram of a method for predicting the energy consumption of vehicle 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n in accordance with the embodiments herein. At step 202, the plurality of input vectors is obtained for vehicle 112-1, for example, for the plurality of points in time. The plurality of input vectors is obtained in the form of the weather information data, the performance data, the traffic data, the road condition data, and the plurality of sensor data. Thereafter, at step 204, the energy level associated with each input vector is captured. The energy level is captured based on the remaining battery level or a fuel level for the vehicle 112-1 for each point in time. An input vector with a corresponding energy level for a point in time represents an equation that describes a state of vehicle 112-1 in terms of the one or more of the plurality of sensor data for the point in time, the one or more of the plurality of performance data for the point in time, the one or more of the plurality of weather data for the point in time, and the one or more of the plurality of traffic data for the point in time. The equation is obtained based on a function of one or more of the plurality of sensor data for a point in time, a function of one or more of the plurality of performance data for the point in time, a function of one or more of the plurality of weather data for the point in time, and a function of one or more of the plurality of traffic data for the point in time.

[0030] A weight vector is associated with each variable of the plurality of variables and is estimated based on an overall effect of a corresponding variable on energy consumption of vehicle 112-1. Here, the weight vector is derived using a linear regression, in one example embodiment (and other techniques may also be used in accordance with the embodiments herein), wherein the linear regression derives the weight vector based on the plurality of input vectors and the corresponding energy levels. Thereafter, at step 206, the energy consumption of vehicle 112-1 is predicted based on the statistical model using regression analysis. In an embodiment, the statistical model is a linear function of the plurality of input vectors. In another embodiment, the statistical model is a quadratic function. In yet another embodiment, the statistical model is one of a periodic function and a rule based function of at least one of a stored energy at each point in time, a vehicle input vector, and a database input vector. The database input vector is generated based on the database data such as, but is not limited to, the environmental data and the road condition information, and the vehicle input vector is generated based on the plurality of sensor data.

[0031] FIG. 3, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, illustrates a flow diagram of a method for refining the weight vectors associated with an input vector for predicting energy consumption of a vehicle 112-1, for example, in accordance with the embodiments herein. At step 302, a set of input vectors are predicted at the plurality of future points in time based on a subset of the plurality of input vectors. The subset represents the most recent input vectors. Thereafter at step 304, a change in energy level for vehicle 112-1 is derived for the plurality of future points in time using the statistical model. Although, the statistical model is utilized for deriving the change in energy level, a person skilled in the art would realize the use of a functionally equivalent mathematical model for deriving the change in energy level could be utilized in accordance with the embodiments herein. After deriving the change in energy level, the actual change in energy level is captured at each point in time of the plurality of future points in time at step 306. Subsequently, the method includes a step 308 of computing a difference between the derived change in energy level and the actual change in the energy level. If the difference between the derived change in energy level and the actual change in energy level is greater than zero, then according to step 310, the weight vectors are refined in order to minimize the difference.

[0032] In an exemplary embodiment, an input vector is given as: v(t)=[a.sub.1, a.sub.2, a.sub.3, . . . a.sub.n], where [a.sub.1, . . . a.sub.n] represents values of one or more of the plurality of sensor data, one or more of the weather information, one or more of the traffic data, and one or more of road condition data collected for a point in time t. The variable v(t) represents an expansion of the input vector with expanded terms for one of a quadratic function and periodic function. A corresponding energy level for the input vector is determined as:

e(t)=f.sub.1(a.sub.1)+f.sub.2(a.sub.2)+f.sub.3(a.sub.3) . . . +f.sub.n(a.sub.n), (1)

where e(t) represents a change in energy as a function of the input vector. For a linear equation, the weight vector is defined as:

e(t)=w.sub.1*a.sub.1+w.sub.2*a.sub.2+ . . . w.sub.n*a.sub.n (2)

[0033] As the weight vector is also in a vector form [w1, w2, w3, . . . , wn], then Eq. (2) is modified to a form:

e(t)=w.sub.T*v(t) (3)

where w.sub.T represents the transform of the weight vector w.

[0034] When the values for v(t) and actual e(t) are available for enough points in time, then a value for w is derived. Thereafter, one of a future e(t) and change in energy at the future time is predicted based on the value of w and a predicted future v(t+1) for near future points in time and location.

[0035] FIG. 4, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, illustrates a system 400 for predicting the energy consumption of vehicle 112-1, for example, in accordance with the embodiments herein. System 400 includes an acquisition module 402-1 to obtain the plurality of sensor data which includes vehicle equipment profile data, location environment data, and driver behavior data from sensors 114-n. The vehicle equipment profile data corresponds to data associated with the operating status of various equipment, devices, and components of vehicle 112-1 such as, but not limited to, wear and tear of tires and the energy level of the battery or stored fuel level of vehicle 112-1. The driver behavior data corresponds to a driving pattern of the driver such as, but not limited to, the average speed, frequency of applying brakes, and driving time in a day. As shown in FIG. 4, two acquisition models 402-1 and 402-2 are configured for system 400, however a person skilled in the art would realize the use of a single or more than two acquisition modules as well in accordance with the embodiments herein. Acquisition module 402-1 is coupled to an energy meter 404 to obtain the energy level of vehicle 112-1. The energy meter 404 is a component of the vehicle 112-1 to capture the energy level of vehicle 112-1 for each input vector of the plurality of input vectors for the plurality of points in time. The energy meter 404 captures the energy level by capturing either a stored battery power or a stored fuel level of the vehicle 112-1. Thereafter, acquisition module 402-1 delivers the plurality of sensor data and the energy level to a processor 406 for processing. Additionally, an audio-video (AV) output unit 408 is coupled to energy meter 404 to provide the energy level on a display unit (not shown) of AV output unit 408 in any one of an audio format and a video format.

[0036] Acquisition module 402-2 includes network computer resources 410 to communicate through communication network 110 to obtain the database data such as, but not limited to, mapping data, traffic data, a route data, the weather information data, aggregate population data for other vehicles, and accumulated individual driving data. Acquisition modules 402-1 and 402-2 obtain the data in the form of a plurality of input vectors for the plurality of points in time. Processor 406 utilizes machine learning to generate a statistical model based on the equation for each input vector and the corresponding energy level. Machine learning is an algorithm or a program that is utilized to train a computer system to perform certain operation without any explicit direction from a programmer. The computer system is trained by learning past operations and their respective outcomes and predicts a current outcome or a future outcome based on a set of current operations that are similar to the past operations.

[0037] The method and system provided by the embodiments herein utilize the machine learning to learn respective energy levels captured for the plurality of input vectors for the plurality of points in time and derive a relationship between the plurality of input vectors and the respective energy levels. The relationship is derived in terms of the statistical model which learns varying energy levels of the vehicle corresponding to varying input vectors for the plurality of points in time. The statistical model then utilizes available input vectors to predict a future energy level of the vehicle 112-1, for example. Processor 406 derives the weight vectors associated with the plurality of input vectors using linear regression, in one example embodiment. Processor 406 includes a local data aggregation module 412 to receive data from acquisition module 402-1 and a remote data aggregation module 414 to receive data from acquisition module 402-2. The received data is then delivered to local time series database 416, which stores the received data as past input vectors and current input vectors along with their corresponding energy levels for each point in time.

[0038] Remote data aggregation module 414 receives the data through a wireless network I/O 418 that is configured to receive an input and deliver an output through communication network 110. Local time series database 416 is coupled to a power management prediction engine 420 that is configured to receive the plurality of input vectors in order to predict the energy consumption of vehicle 112-1 by utilizing the statistical model. Power management prediction engine 420 is coupled to a local optimization engine 422 for sending the predicted energy consumption. Local optimization engine 422 is configured to optimize the weight vectors associated with each variable of each input vector of the plurality of input vectors based on the difference between the derived energy level change and the actual energy level change. The predicted energy consumption is also delivered to a driver I/O module 424, wherein the driver I/O module 424 is utilized by a driver of the vehicle (not shown) for any of entering inputs and receiving outputs related to the energy consumption of vehicle 112-1.

[0039] Processor 406 predicts a set of input vectors at defined time intervals at the plurality of future points in time based on a subset of the plurality of input vectors generated at the defined time intervals. Thereafter, processor 406 captures an actual change in energy level for each point in time of the plurality of future points in time, wherein the actual change in the energy level is based on the energy level of the vehicle 112-1, 112-2, . . . , 112-n associated with each input vector corresponding to each point in time. Processor 406 then computes a difference between the derived change in the energy level and the actual change in the energy level and refines the weight vector for minimizing the difference between the derived change in the energy level and the actual change in the energy level.

[0040] Various embodiments herein provide a method and system for predicting the energy consumption of a vehicle 112-1, for example, based on a statistical model. The method and system provide an efficient way of predicting energy consumption of the vehicle 112-1 and thereby improving accuracy of the prediction. The method and system finds its application in predicting a most energy efficient route by executing the statistical model over various possible routes and calculating the power consumed. Further, the method and system facilitates in predicting how far the vehicle 112-1 can travel along a given route based on power consumption and power generation potential of the vehicle 112-1. Furthermore, the method and system facilitate predicting whether it is cost effective to add a solar panel or other power saving or generating feature to an electric car by analyzing the driving behavior over a particular time period.

[0041] The embodiments herein can include both hardware and software elements. The embodiments that are implemented in software include but are not limited to, firmware, resident software, microcode, etc. For example, the microcontroller can be configured to run software either stored locally or stored and run from a remote site.

[0042] Furthermore, the embodiments herein can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can comprise, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0043] The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

[0044] A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution.

[0045] Input/output (I/O) devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network 104 adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public network 104s. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network 104 adapters.

[0046] A representative hardware environment for practicing the software embodiments either locally or remotely is depicted in FIG. 5, with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4. This schematic drawing illustrates a hardware configuration of an information handling/computer system 500 in accordance with the embodiments herein. The system 500 comprises at least one processor or central processing unit (CPU) 510. The CPUs 510 are interconnected via system bus 512 to various devices such as a random access memory (RAM) 514, read-only memory (ROM) 516, and an input/output (I/O) adapter 518. The I/O adapter 518 can connect to peripheral devices 511, 513, or other program storage devices that are readable by the system 500. The system 500 can read the inventive instructions on the program storage devices and follow these instructions to execute the methodology of the embodiments herein. The system 500 further includes a user interface adapter 519 that connects a keyboard 515, mouse 517, speaker 524, microphone 522, and/or other user interface devices such as a touch screen device (not shown) to the bus 512 to gather user input. Additionally, a communication adapter 520 connects the bus 512 to a data processing network 525, and a display adapter 521 connects the bus 512 to a display device 523 which may be embodied as an output device such as a monitor, printer, or transmitter, for example.

[0047] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.