阅读说明：本技术 在视频会议期间修改参与者的外观 (Modifying the appearance of participants during a video conference ) 是由 贾纳汗·维韦卡南丹 弗兰克·彼得森 托尔·卡朋特 于 2013-03-13 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开的实现方式总体上涉及在视频会议期间修改参与者的外观。在一些实现方式中,一种方法包括：从媒体流获得至少一个帧,其中,所述至少一个帧包括第一面部,并且其中,所述第一面部是与用户相关联的面部的图像。所述方法也包括：确定在所述至少一个帧内的多个坐标。所述方法也包括获得至少一个媒体内容项目。所述方法也包括基于所述多个坐标向所述至少一个帧增加所述至少一个媒体内容项目。(Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to modifying the appearance of participants during a video conference. In some implementations, a method includes: at least one frame is obtained from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a first face, and wherein the first face is an image of a face associated with a user. The method also includes: a plurality of coordinates within the at least one frame is determined. The method also includes obtaining at least one media content item. The method also includes adding the at least one media content item to the at least one frame based on the plurality of coordinates.)

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining at least one frame from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a first face associated with a user;

determining a plurality of coordinates within the at least one frame, wherein the plurality of coordinates includes coordinates of one or more face elements of the first face;

obtaining at least one media content item comprising a substitute face;

obtaining one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item;

tracking changes in the plurality of coordinates;

modifying the at least one media content item based on the one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item and the change in the plurality of coordinates;

adding the at least one modified media content item to the at least one frame based on the plurality of coordinates by replacing the first face with the substitute face;

obtaining at least one audio content item representing a modification to audio from the user based on speech characteristics associated with the substitute face; and

adding the at least one audio content item to the media stream.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one frame further comprises a background, and adding the at least one modified media content item to the at least one frame comprises preserving the background.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters define at least one of: a size and dimension of the substitute face, a shape of the substitute face, or one or more facial elements of the substitute face.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the plurality of coordinates is performed using a facial recognition algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternate face is different from the first face.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the substitute face is associated with a person other than the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the substitute face is associated with an animated version of the first face.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the increase of the at least one media content item comprises one or more of:

superimposing the at least one media content item on the at least one frame; and

replacing at least a portion of the one or more frames with the at least one media content item.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining at least one audio content item associated with the at least one media content item; and

adding the at least one audio content item to the media stream.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution by the one or more processors and when executed operable to perform operations comprising:

obtaining at least one frame from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a first face associated with a user;

determining a plurality of coordinates within the at least one frame, wherein the plurality of coordinates includes coordinates of one or more face elements of the first face;

obtaining at least one media content item;

obtaining one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item;

tracking changes in the plurality of coordinates;

modifying the at least one media content item based on the one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item and the change in the plurality of coordinates;

adding the at least one modified media content item to the at least one frame based on the plurality of coordinates;

obtaining at least one audio content item representing a modification to audio from the user; and

adding the at least one audio content item to the media stream.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of coordinates comprises coordinates of the first face.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the determination of the plurality of coordinates is performed using a facial recognition algorithm, and wherein the plurality of coordinates includes coordinates of the first face.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and wherein the substitute face is different from the first face.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and wherein the substitute face is associated with a person other than the user.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and wherein the substitute face is associated with an animated version of the first face.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the increase of the at least one media content item comprises one or more of:

superimposing the at least one media content item on the at least one frame; and

replacing at least a portion of the one or more frames with the at least one media content item.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to modifying the appearance of participants during a video conference.

Background

Video conferencing is often used in commercial settings and enables participants to share video and audio content with each other in real time in geographically dispersed locations. The communication devices at each location typically use a video camera and microphone to transmit video and audio streams, and a video monitor and speaker to play the received video and audio streams. Video conferencing involves the digital compression of video and audio streams transmitted in real time over a network from one location to another. The communication device performs compression and decompression of the video and audio streams and maintains the data link via the network.

Disclosure of Invention

Implementations generally relate to modifying the appearance of participants during a video conference. In some implementations, a method includes: at least one frame is obtained from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a first face, and wherein the first face is an image of a face associated with a user. The method also includes: a plurality of coordinates within the at least one frame is determined. The method also includes: at least one media content item is obtained. The method also includes: adding the at least one media content item to the at least one frame based on the plurality of coordinates.

Further to the method, in some implementations, the plurality of first coordinates includes coordinates of the first face. In some implementations, the determining of the plurality of coordinates is performed using a facial recognition algorithm, and the plurality of first coordinates includes coordinates of the first face. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and the substitute face is different from the first face. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and the substitute face is associated with a person other than the user. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and the substitute face is associated with an animated version of the first face. In some implementations, the method further includes: one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item are obtained. In some implementations, the increase in the at least one media content item includes one or more of: superimposing the at least one media content item on the at least one frame, and replacing at least a portion of the one or more frames with the at least one media content item. In some implementations, the method further includes: obtaining at least one audio content item associated with the at least one media content item and adding the at least one audio content item to the media stream.

In some implementations, a method includes: at least one frame is obtained from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a first face, and wherein the first face is an image of a face associated with a user. In some implementations, the method also includes: determining a plurality of coordinates within the at least one frame, wherein the plurality of first coordinates includes coordinates of the first face, and wherein the determining of the plurality of coordinates is performed using a facial recognition algorithm. In some implementations, the method also includes: obtaining at least one media content item, wherein the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and wherein the substitute face is associated with an animated version of the first face. In some implementations, the method also includes: one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item are obtained. In some implementations, the method also includes: adding the at least one media content item to the at least one frame based on the plurality of coordinates, wherein the addition of the at least one media content item includes one or more of: superimposing the at least one media content item on the at least one frame, and replacing at least a portion of the one or more frames with the at least one media content item.

In some implementations, a system includes one or more processors and logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution by the one or more processors. When executed, the logic is operable to perform operations comprising: at least one frame is obtained from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a first face, and wherein the first face is an image of a face associated with a user. The logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising: a plurality of coordinates within the at least one frame is determined. The logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising: at least one media content item is obtained. The logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising: adding the at least one media content item to the at least one frame based on the plurality of coordinates.

Further to the system, in some implementations, the plurality of first coordinates includes coordinates of the first face. In some implementations, the determining of the plurality of coordinates is performed using a facial recognition algorithm, and the plurality of first coordinates includes coordinates of the first face. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and the substitute face is different from the first face. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and the substitute face is associated with a person other than the user. In some implementations, the at least one media content item includes at least one substitute face, and the substitute face is associated with an animated version of the first face. In some implementations, the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising: one or more parameters associated with the at least one media content item are obtained. In some implementations, the increase in the at least one media content item includes one or more of: superimposing the at least one media content item on the at least one frame, and replacing at least a portion of the one or more frames with the at least one media content item. In some implementations, the logic when executed is further operable to perform operations comprising: obtaining at least one audio content item associated with the at least one media content item and adding the at least one audio content item to the media stream.

Drawings

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example network environment that can be used to implement implementations described herein.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example simplified flow diagram for modifying the appearance of participants during a video conference, according to some implementations.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example simplified user interface according to some implementations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example server apparatus that can be used to implement implementations described herein.

Detailed Description

Implementations described herein enable media streams, such as video, audio, and chat streams, to be used to simulate different appearances of participants during a video conference. For example, participants may choose to represent their preferences or appearances by particular alternate faces, such as animated faces, celebrity faces, or avatars.

As described in more detail below, in various implementations, a system obtains a frame from a media stream, where the frame includes a face of a user (e.g., a participant in a video conference). The system also determines coordinates within each of the frames, where the coordinates describe where the face and/or elements of the face are located in each of the frames. The system also obtains one or more media content items that may include images of alternate faces (e.g., animated faces, celebrity faces, avatars, etc.). The system then adds one or more media content items to each of the frames based on the coordinates.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example network environment 100 that may be used to implement implementations described herein. In some implementations, the network environment 100 includes a system 102, the system 102 including a server device 104 and a social network database 106. The term system 102 and the phrase "social networking system" may be used interchangeably. Network environment 100 also includes client devices 110, 120, 130, and 140, which may communicate with each other via system 102 and network 150.

For ease of illustration, fig. 1 shows one block for each of the system 102, the server device 104, and the social network database 106, and shows four blocks for the client devices 110, 120, 130, and 140. Blocks 102, 104, and 106 may represent a plurality of systems, server devices, and social network databases. Also, there may be any number of client devices. In other implementations, network environment 100 may not have all of the components shown, and/or may have other elements, including other types of elements instead of, or in addition to, those shown herein.

In various implementations, users U1, U2, U3, and U4 may communicate with each other using respective client devices 110, 120, 130, and 140. For example, users U1, U2, U3, and U4 may interact with each other in a multi-user video conference in which the respective client devices 110, 120, 130, and 140 transmit media streams to each other.

In various implementations, the media streams may include different types of media streams (e.g., one or more video streams and/or one or more audio streams). For example, such media streams may include video streams showing users U1, U2, U3, and U4, and may include associated audio streams. Moreover, the media streams may include media streams (e.g., one or more outbound streams and/or one or more inbound streams) that are sent in different directions relative to each client device 110, 120, 130, and 140.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example simplified flow diagram for modifying the appearance of participants during a video conference, according to some implementations. Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the method is initiated in block 202, wherein system 102 obtains at least one frame from a media stream, wherein the at least one frame includes a face of a user. In various implementations, the user may be a participant in a video conference. As such, the media stream may be a video stream associated with a video conference.

In various implementations described herein, the term "face" and the phrase "image of a face" may be used interchangeably depending on the context. For example, in some contexts (e.g., in the context of a media stream frame), a reference to a face may refer to an image of the user's face in the frame. In some contexts, reference to a face may refer to an actual face, as in "the face of a user".

FIG. 3 illustrates an example simplified user interface 300 according to some implementations. User interface 300 illustrates aspects of a multi-way video conferencing platform that allows multiple simultaneous participants to communicate through voice, typed chat, and video. The user interface 300 may be visually centered on the representation or concept of the current speaker shown in the most prominent position (large video feed) and a slide bar showing thumbnails of all participants. As shown, user U3 is among several participants in a video conference where user U3 is the current speaker, the user interface may also display a chat window that includes a chat log of the typed conversation.

The various implementations described herein are described in the context of a single frame of a media stream. These implementations are also applicable to multiple frames of a media stream. For example, as indicated above, a given media stream may be a video stream associated with a video conference. As such, system 102 can obtain multiple frames of a video stream and process an image of a given face in each of a series of frames according to the various method implementations of fig. 2.

Referring to both fig. 2 and fig. 3, in block 204, the system 102 determines coordinates within at least one frame. In various implementations, the coordinates correspond to a location of the face 302 of a user (e.g., user U3) and/or a portion of the face of the user (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth, etc.). For ease of illustration, a simplified header of user U3 is shown.

In some implementations, the system 102 can use a facial recognition algorithm or software to determine the coordinates within the frame. The coordinates may include coordinates of the user's face (e.g., the participant's face in a video conference, etc.) in a given frame, and may also include coordinates of elements of the user's face (e.g., eyes, nose, ears, etc.).

As described in more detail below, the system 102 enables users of the social network to specify and/or agree to the use of personal information, which may include the system 102 identifying people identified in the photograph using their faces in the photograph or using their identity information. In some implementations, the system 102 may use facial recognition software to determine whether the participant's mouth is open, closed, smiling, etc., whether the participant's eyes are open or closed, etc., and other facial characteristics. In some implementations, the system 102 can store information associated with the coordinates in a face library that contains information about particular positions and/or distances of face elements relative to each other, among other things.

In block 206, the system 102 obtains one or more media content items. As described in more detail, the system 102 can replace the user's face with one or more media content items.

In some implementations, the one or more media content items may include a substitute face. In various implementations, the substitute face is an image of a face that the system 102 can use to substitute for an image of the user's actual face. In various implementations, the substitute face may be different from the user's face (e.g., the face of the video participant).

In some implementations, the substitute face can be associated with an animated version of the user's face. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, media content item 304 as an animated face may be a substitute face. In some implementations, the substitute face may be associated with any avatar. In some implementations, the user can select a substitute face among various substitute faces. In some implementations, the substitute face can be associated with a person other than the user. For example, as shown in fig. 3, media content item 306 that is different from the face of user U3 may be a substitute face. For example, the substitute face may be the face of a particular celebrity. In some implementations, various alternate faces may be used to make the participants anonymous.

In some implementations, the participant may scan the face of a celebrity, animation, avatar, or the like, and then upload the face to the social networking system. Note that for ease of explanation, the term face is used. In various implementations, the term face may represent various aspects and angles associated with a face or an alternate face. For example, the term face may also include elements and portions of a face (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth, facial features, etc.), elements and portions of elements around a face (e.g., ears, neck, etc.), hair elements (e.g., hair covering a head, eyebrows, beard, etc.). Moreover, implementations involving a face are also applicable to these various elements and portions, and to other body portions that may accompany a face, such as shoulder and chest regions, as in a portrait, and to arms, hands, and the like.

In various implementations, the system 102 may also obtain one or more parameters associated with each of the one or more media content items. In various implementations, the one or more parameters are associated with one or more media content items. For example, if the media content item is a face or a substitute face, the one or more parameters may be associated with and define a size and dimension of the face, a shape of the face, an element of the face and/or an element associated with the face, and/or the like.

In various implementations, the system 102 may obtain one or more media content items and/or obtain one or more parameters associated with the media content items from any suitable storage location (e.g., local storage).

In block 208, the system 102 adds one or more media content items to the at least one frame based at least in part on the coordinates. For example, the media content item 304 of fig. 3 may be added to the frame, thereby replacing the face 302 of the user U3. As noted above, although various implementations are described herein in the context of a single frame, these implementations are also applicable to multiple frames (e.g., frames of animation, etc.). For example, the system 102 may add the one or more media content items to a series of frames or a stream of frames (e.g., a series of frames in a video stream, such as that shown in fig. 3).

In some implementations, the addition of the media content item can include the system 102 superimposing at least one media content item over a portion of the frame. In various implementations, the overlay is based on coordinates within the frame, and also based on parameters associated with the one or more media content items. In some implementations, the addition of the media content items may include the system 102 replacing a portion of the frame with one or more media content items. In various implementations, the replacement is based on coordinates within the frame and based on parameters associated with the one or more media content items.

For example, the system 102 may determine where different portions of the user's face are located within the frame (e.g., using coordinates). The system 102 may then determine parameters of one or more media content items (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth, etc.). The system 102 may then replace a portion of the user's face or the entire face of the user with one or more media content items. As a result, adding one or more media content items to the frame may result in replacing the user's face with a substitute face. In another example, in a video conference, the system 102 may replace the given user's face in the video stream with an alternate face (e.g., an avatar, animated face, etc.). In various implementations, a user/video conference participant may select a preference or appearance of the participant represented by a variety of specific alternate faces, depending on the user's selection.

In some implementations, the system 102 can use a face tracking algorithm to move the substitute face on the screen to follow the user. For example, if the user moves to one side of the video camera (e.g., to the right of the viewer), the system 102 tracks the change in coordinates in order to appropriately add one or more media content items (e.g., to the right of the viewer). In some implementations, the system 102 can scale the substitute face accordingly. For example, if the user changes the distance relative to the video camera (e.g., moves closer to the video camera), the system 102 tracks the change in coordinates and modifies and adds one or more media content items as appropriate (e.g., zooms in one or more media content items to match the changed coordinates).

In some implementations, the system 102 can capture the context of the environment of the participant without the participant present. This would facilitate the system 102 in later replacing the participant's face with a replacement face. For example, the system 102 may crop the participant's face and insert a substitute face while preserving the background.

In various implementations, audio streams may be used to move portions and/or elements of a face, such as to replace the mouth of the face. In some implementations, the audio stream may correspond to words or sounds uttered by the participant. In some implementations, the system 102 obtains at least one audio content item associated with at least one media content item. In some implementations, if the audio content item is the face of a particular celebrity, the audio content may include voice characteristics (e.g., tone, quality, etc.) of that particular celebrity. In some implementations, the system 102 can add audio content items to the media stream. In some implementations, the system 102 can blend the audio content item into the media stream. In some implementations, the system 102 can replace at least a portion of the media stream with an audio content item. As a result, when a participant utters a word or sound, the system 102 produces the same word or sound that was uttered by the user but modified to the voice of a particular celebrity.

Although the steps, operations, or computations may be presented in a specific order, this order may be changed in particular implementations. Other orderings of steps are possible depending on the particular implementation. In some particular implementations, multiple steps shown in sequence in this specification can be performed simultaneously. Moreover, some implementations may not have all of the steps shown, and/or may have other steps in place of, or in addition to, those shown herein.

Although system 102 is described herein as performing the steps described in an implementation, any suitable component or combination of components of system 102 or any suitable processor or processors associated with system 102 may perform the steps described.

Implementations described herein provide various benefits. For example, implementations enable participants to interact with each other in an interesting way. Implementations enable anonymity of participants in a video conference. Implementations described herein also increase overall dating between end users in a social network environment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an example server apparatus 400 that can be used to implement implementations described herein. For example, server apparatus 400 may be used to implement server apparatus 104 of fig. 1 and perform the method implementations described herein. In some implementations, server device 400 includes a processor 402, an operating system 404, a memory 406, and input/output (I/O) interfaces 408. The server device 400 also includes a social network engine 410 and a media application 412, which may be stored in the memory 406 or on any other suitable storage location or computer-readable medium. The media application 412 provides instructions that enable the processor 402 to perform the functions described herein and other functions.

For ease of illustration, FIG. 4 shows one block for each of processor 402, operating system 404, memory 406, I/O interface 408, social network engine 410, and media application 412. These blocks 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, and 412 may represent a plurality of processors, operating systems, memories, I/O interfaces, social network engines, and media applications. In other implementations, the server apparatus 400 may not have all of the components shown, and/or may have other elements, including other types of elements instead of or in addition to those shown herein.

In various implementations, the system 102 may utilize various recognition algorithms to recognize faces, landmarks, objects, etc. in the media. Such recognition algorithms may be integral to the system 102. The system 102 may also access identification algorithms provided by software external to the system 102 and accessed by the system 102.

In various implementations, the system 102 enables users of the social networking system to specify and/or agree to the use of personal information, which may include the system 102 identifying people identified in a photograph using their faces in the photograph or using their identity information. For example, the system 102 may provide the user with a number of options relating to specifying and/or agreeing to the use of personal information. For example, a selection regarding designation and/or consent can be associated with individual photos, all photos, individual albums, all albums, and the like. This selection may be accomplished in various ways. For example, the system 102 may cause a button or check box to be displayed upon various selections. In some implementations, the system 102 enables users of the social network to specify and/or agree to generally use their photos for facial recognition. Example implementations for identifying faces and other objects are described in more detail below.

In various implementations, the system 102 obtains reference images of users of the social networking system, where each reference image includes an image of a face associated with a known user. The user is known because the system 102 has the user's identity information, such as the user's name and other profile information. In some implementations, the reference image may be, for example, a profile image that the user has uploaded. In some implementations, the reference image may be based on a composite of a set of reference images.

In some implementations, to identify a face in a photograph, the system 102 may compare the face (i.e., an image of the face) to a reference image of a user of the social-networking system and match the face to the reference image of the user of the social-networking system. Note that the term "face" and the phrase "image of a face" may be used interchangeably. For ease of illustration, the identification of one face is described in some of the example implementations described herein. These implementations may also be applicable to each of a plurality of faces to be recognized.

In some implementations, the system 102 can search the reference images to identify any one or more reference images that are similar to the face in the photograph. In some implementations, for a given reference image, the system 102 may extract features from the image of the face in the photograph for analysis, and then compare those features to those in one or more reference images. For example, the system 102 may analyze the relative position, size, and/or shape of facial features such as eyes, nose, cheekbones, mouth, chin, and so forth. In some implementations, the system 102 can use data collected from this analysis to match faces in the photograph with one or more reference images having matching or similar features. In some implementations, the system 102 can normalize multiple reference images and compress the face data from those images into a composite representation with information (e.g., facial feature data), and then compare the faces in the photograph to the composite representation for facial recognition.

In some cases, the face in the photograph may be similar to multiple reference images associated with the same user. As such, there will be a high probability that the person associated with the face in the photograph is the same person associated with the reference image.

In some cases, the face in the photograph may be similar to multiple reference images associated with different users. As such, there will be a moderately high but reduced probability that the person in the photograph matches any given person associated with the reference image. To handle such situations, the system 102 may use various types of face recognition algorithms to narrow the probability, ideally to one of the best candidates.

For example, in some implementations, to facilitate facial recognition, the system 102 can use a geometric facial recognition algorithm based on feature discrimination. The system 102 may also use photometric algorithms, which are based on statistical means of extracting facial features as values for comparison. A combination of geometric and photometric methods may also be used when comparing a face in a photograph to one or more references.

Other face recognition algorithms may be used. For example, the system 102 may use a facial recognition algorithm that uses one or more of principal component analysis, linear discriminant analysis, elastic bundle graph matching, hidden Markov models, and dynamic link matching. It is to be appreciated that the system 102 can employ other known or later developed facial recognition algorithms, techniques, and/or systems.

In some implementations, the system 102 can generate an output indicating the likelihood (or probability) that a face in a photograph matches a given reference image. In some implementations, the output may be represented as a metric (or value), such as a percentage associated with the confidence that the face in the photograph matches a given reference image. For example, a value of 1.0 may represent a 100% confidence in the match. This may occur, for example, when the compared images are identical or nearly identical. This value may be smaller, for example 0.5 when there is a 50% chance of a match. Other types of outputs are possible. For example, in some implementations, the output may be a confidence score for the match.

While the specification has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, these specific embodiments are merely illustrative, and not restrictive. The concepts illustrated in the examples may be applied to other examples and implementations.

It is noted that the functional blocks, methods, apparatuses and systems described in this disclosure can be integrated or divided into different combinations of systems, apparatuses and functional blocks known to those skilled in the art.

The routines of particular embodiments may be implemented using any suitable programming language and programming techniques. Different programming techniques, such as procedural or object oriented, may be used. The routines can execute on a single processing device or multiple processors. Although the steps, operations, or computations may be presented in a specific order, this order may be changed in different specific embodiments. In some particular embodiments, multiple steps shown as sequential in this specification can be performed at the same time.

A "processor" includes any suitable hardware and/or software system, mechanism, or component that processes data, signals, or other information. A processor can include a system with a general-purpose central processing unit, multiple processing units, dedicated circuitry for achieving functionality, or other systems. Processing need not be limited to a geographic location, or have temporal limitations. For example, a processor may perform its functions in "real-time", "offline", in "batch mode", and so forth. Portions of the processing may be performed by different (or the same) processing systems at different times and at different locations. The computer may be any processor in communication with a memory. The memory may be any suitable processor-readable storage medium, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), a magnetic or optical disk, or other tangible medium suitable for storing instructions for execution by the processor.