WO2001057730A1

WO2001057730A1 - Logic-enhanced email with checklist

Info

Publication number: WO2001057730A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/003034
Authority: WO
Inventors: Navin Chaddha; Jonathan J. Traband; Peter Savich; Hemang K. Mehta; Ward R. Bell; Milan A. Thanawala; Kevin D. Johnson
Original assignee: Rivio, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-02-01
Filing date: 2001-01-30
Publication date: 2001-08-09
Also published as: AU2001234662A1

Abstract

A logic-enhanced email managed checklist (210) provides a web based system of using a checklist to communication actions in a business. The checklist (210) may be tracked so that users may know the status of action items in the checklist. The logic-enhanced email system can follow a set of rules and also respond to action items in the checklist (210) to determine recipients of the checklist and reminders. Such checklists (210) improve communications within a business and with outside vendors.

Description

LOGIC-ENHANCED EMAIL WITH CHECKLIST

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to managing a plurality of objects in a logic- enhanced email system.

hi the prior art email is used in businesses to communicate between different people in a business. Typically, an email message is sent from a sender to a recipient. Sometimes a sender may ask for a receipt or other message that allows the sender to be notified when the recipient has received, read, or deleted the message. Generally, such email does not let the sender know if the recipient has taken action on a request by the sender in the email and, usually, the sender has no control over the email after it is sent.

A manual checklist is a list of items or actions that a user uses to make sure a set of actions are done to achieve a desired goal. Usually, once the user completes one of the listed actions, the user manually notes it on the checklist. Checklists may be used in businesses to help employees make sure that they perform required actions that a business may require for a certain procedure.

Databases that utilize email are also known. Such databases typically send an email message when triggered by an event.

In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an automated checklist that automatically communicates between users to ensure that actions in the checklist are completed. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates, in one embodiment, to a computer-based method for using an automated checklist in a logic-enhanced email based system to enable a group of users to perform the actions in the automated checklist and to communicate the status of the actions.

Another embodiment of the invention provides checklists with more than one item (action or object) for a logic-enhanced email system.

These and other features of the present invention will be described in more detail below in the detailed description of the invention and in conjunction with the following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic view of a network used to implement a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. IB and IC illustrate a computer system, which forms part of the network, and is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a data schema for a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a screen display of a checklist listing.

FIG. 4 is a screen display of a checklist.

FIG. 5 is a screen display of a selected item in a checklist.

FIG. 6 is another screen display of a checklist.

FIG. 7 is a screen display of an updated checklist. FIG. 8 is another screen display of an updated checklist.

FIG. 9 is a screen display of a "New Checklist Item" form.

FIG. 10 is a screen display of another updated checklist.

FIG. 11 is a screen display of a note section of a checklist.

FIG. 12 is a screen display of a logic-enhanced email attachment page.

FIG. 13 is a screen display to create a new logic-enhanced email.

FIG. 14 is a verification screen display.

FIG. 15 is a screen display of an Office Supplies checklist.

FIG. 16 is another screen display of an Office Supplies checklist.

FIG. 17 is a screen display of an approved checklist.

FIG. 18 is a screen display of a listing of checklists.

FIG. 19 is a screen display of a New Hire-Manager checklist.

FIG. 20 is a screen display of a Food & Beverage Request checklist.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart of the rules for a New Hire Approval checklist.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to a few preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, hi the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known process steps and/or structures have not been described in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention. To facilitate discussion, FIG. 1A depicts a network 10 connected to an Internet system 12 used in the practice of the invention. In this example, a first browser 14, a second browser 15, a third browser 16, and fourth browser 17 are connected to the network 10. A fifth browser 18 and a sixth browser 19 are connected to Internet system 12. The first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth browsers 14-19 may be any device that is able to send and receive messages over the internet or intranet. More preferably, the first to sixth browsers 14-19 are devices that are able to access the World Wide Web, such as personal computers with web browsing software, or palm pilot devices with browsing capabilities, or a wireless phone with web browsing capabilities. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the network 10 is a web server connected to the Internet that runs a checklist feature of a logic-enhanced email based system.

FIGS. IB and IC illustrate a computer system 900, which forms part of the network 10 and is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present invention. FIG. IB shows one possible physical form of the computer system. Of course, the computer system may have many physical forms ranging from an integrated circuit, a printed circuit board and a small handheld device up to a huge super computer. Computer system 900 includes a monitor 902, a display 904, a housing 906, a disk drive 908, a keyboard 910 and a mouse 912. Disk 914 is a computer-readable medium used to transfer data to and from computer system 900.

FIG. IC is an example of a block diagram for computer system 900. Attached to system bus 920 are a wide variety of subsystems. Processor(s) 922 (also referred to as central processing units, or CPUs) are coupled to storage devices including memory 924. Memory 924 includes random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). As is well known in the art, ROM acts to transfer data and instructions uni- directionally to the CPU and RAM is used typically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. Both of these types of memories may include any suitable of the computer-readable media described below. A fixed disk 926 is also coupled bi- directionally to CPU 922; it provides additional data storage capacity and may also include any of the computer-readable media described below. Fixed disk 926 may be used to store programs, data and the like and is typically a secondary storage medium

(such as a hard disk) that is slower than primary storage. It will be appreciated that the information retained within fixed disk 926, may, in appropriate cases, be incorporated in standard fashion as virtual memory in memory 924. Removable disk 914 may take the form of any of the computer-readable media described below.

CPU 922 is also coupled to a variety of input/output devices such as display 904, keyboard 910, mouse 912 and speakers 930. general, an input/output device may be any of: video displays, track balls, mice, keyboards, microphones, touch- sensitive displays, transducer card readers, magnetic or paper tape readers, tablets, styluses, voice or handwriting recognizers, biometrics readers, or other computers. CPU 922 optionally may be coupled to another computer or telecommunications network using network interface 940. With such a network interface, it is contemplated that the CPU might receive information from the network, or might output information to the network in the course of performing the above-described method steps. Furthermore, method embodiments of the present invention may execute solely upon CPU 922 or may execute over a network such as the Internet in conjunction with a remote CPU that shares a portion of the processing.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention further relate to computer storage products with a computer-readable medium that have computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program code, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer code include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter.

FIG. 2 is a data schema for a checklist system of a logic-enhanced email system on the network 10. The data schema has a company specific data model 202 with a company identification. A company models class 204 contains data belonging to many different customer companies. A model class 206 provides the checklist data model. A catalog class 208 provides the ability to create a collection of Item Definitions that have the same item type. Catalogs can then be selected as a source for creating item objects from the item definitions contained within the category. Categories themselves are constrained by the item type defined within the checklist template selected as the basis for a user checklist. A checklist class 210 contains specific items or actions (set of actions or objects). A person data model 212 provides specific user information. A folder data model 214 provides personal or checklist folder information. An item description class 216 provides item descriptions based on a catalog listing, a customized item, or a checklist template collection. A checklist items class 218 provides items (actions or objects) created from the item description class 216.

hi this example, the users of browsers 14-17 may work for a company and may be connected together through the network 10, which forms an intranet. The users of browsers 18-19 may be outside vendors to the company, who can communicate to the network 10 through the Internet 12.

A user of the first browser 14, named Alice Jones, browses a web page on the network 10. In this example a web browser is used as a logic-enhanced email front end. In another embodiment other logic-enhanced email front ends may be used. Alice Jones logs onto the logic-enhanced email based system. A logic-enhanced email system is disclosed in the commonly assigned Application No.: 09/495,618 entitled "Logic-Enhanced Emails and Methods Therefor" (Attorney Docket No.: BHUBP013 ), filed on even date herewith and incorporated herein by reference.

Alice Jones navigates through the logic-enhanced email based system to her checklist listing. FIG. 3 is a screen display of a checklist listing (checklist status window) for Alice Jones. The checklist listing displays all of the checklists, which are either, initiated by the user of the first browser 14 or which require an action by the user of the first browser 14. The display has a "New" button 40, which allows the creation of a new checklist. A "Delete Checked" button 42 deletes any selected checklist. Below the buttons the checklists are listed by type, title, originator, status, and approval, hi this example, the user of the first browser 14 selects the checklist titled "Docs I need to rent my corp. apt."

FIG. 4 is a screen display of the selected checklist titled "Docs I need to rent my corp. apt." The checklist lists a set of actions (objects), which in this checklist is a list of documents that are needed by item and category. The term action means it is an item that can be selected or completed in a checklist, hi the logic-enhanced email system in the preferred embodiment of the invention, each action maybe represented as an object in a computer implementation. Only a single document (item, action, or object) is listed in the present checklist. The checklist also lists the checklist title, the originator, a due date of the checklist and whether the checklist is completed, A

"Save" button 44 allows any changes to the checklist to be saved. A "New" button 46 allow the creation of a new "document request" type checklist. A "Delete" button 47 allows the deletion of the checklist. A "Return" button 48 allows the display to return back to the screen display for the checklist listing shown in FIG. 3. A "Note" button 49 allows the addition and viewing of any extra notes. A "Done" button 50 is used to indicate that a selected action in the checklist was completed. A "Remove" button 51 is used to remove a selected action in the checklist. An "Add Item" button 52 allows the addition of an action to the checklist. A menu bar 53 allows an added action to either come from a catalog of preprogrammed actions (objects) or to be created by the checklist originator. In this example, the "Verification of Employment Letter" item is selected.

FIG. 5 is a screen display of the selected item, which lists the item (action) name 54, category 55, a description of the item 56, and whether the item has been delivered 57 (or done). The display also has a "Save" button 58 to save the item and a "Return" button 59 to return to the checklist. The "Return" button 59 is selected to return to the checklist shown in FIG. 4. The menu bar 53 is set to "From Catalog" as shown in FIG. 4 and the "Add Item" button 52 is selected to add an item (action).

FIG. 6 is a screen display which results from selecting the addition of items from the catalog. The catalog is a list previously programmed and stored on the network 10. The catalog lists a series of items which are listed by item name and category. Two items, "Bank References" and "Employee's W-2 (Copy)," are selected. The catalog has an "Include Checked Items" button 62, which adds the selected items to the checklist and returns to the checklist.

FIG. 7 is a screen display of an updated checklist. The "Bank References" and the "Employee's W-2 (Copy)" have been added to the checklist. Alice Jones selects "Bank References" and then selects the "Remove" button 51. FIG. 8 is a screen display of the updated checklist. The item "Bank References" has been removed. Alice Jones sets the menu bar 53 to "Of My Own" and then selects the "Add Item" button 52. FIG. 9 is a screen display of a "New Checklist Item" form, which allows a user to add an item that is not preprogrammed in the catalog, and may not follow an item model. The form has fields to enter an item name 65, category 66, description 67, and to indicate if the action has been done 68. The item name, category, and description are supplied. The "Save" button 69 is selected, and the item is saved and the web server retransmits the checklist web page.

FIG. 10 is a screen display of the updated checklist. The "Note" button 49 is selected, which scrolls down to a note section shown in FIG. 11. A note is added and a "top" button 70 is selected to scroll back to the display as shown in FIG. 10. The "tMail" button 71 (tMail is a brand name of a logic-enhanced email system) is selected, which causes the server to send a tMail attachment page as shown in FIG. 12, since the checklist has not been attached to a tMail (logic-enhanced email message). The attachment page has a "Create New tMail" button 73 which allows a new message to be created to which the checklist is attached, an "Attach to Existing tMail" button 74 which allows the checklist to be attached to an existing message, and a "Cancel" button 75, which causes the checklist not to be attached to any message. The "Create New tMail" button 73 is selected, which causes the web server on the network 10 to send a message creation page as shown in FIG 13. The message creation page has a recipient section 78, a notification box 79, a subject box 80, a progress box 81, a priority section 82, a due date section 83, a reminder section 84, and a note section 85. Julie Harris is designated as the recipient, as instructed by the checklist as shown in FIG. 10. Alice Jones selects the notification box 79, so that she will be notified when the checklist is completed. A subject, due date, and note is provided. A reminder date is also selected, so that if the checklist is not completed by the reminder date, an alert is sent to the originator. The "Send" button 87 is selected. The message is transmitted to the recipient and a verification display as shown in FIG. 14 is sent from network 10 to the first browser 14. The verification display shows the name of the checklist, items that were sent, the recipient, due date, status, and priority.

h this example, the recipient Julie Harris is the user of the second browser 15.

When Julie Harris logs onto the web server on the network, the logic-enhanced email based system sends the message to the second browser 15. When each item is delivered, Julie Harris indicates it on the checklist. The web server allows Alice Jones to have access to the checklist, so that she can check to see the status of each action, since the message resides on the network as a web page. Therefore, unlike traditional email, where once the email is sent the only minimal tracking of the email is provided, the logic-enhanced email system on network 10 allows those involved to have a continuous ability to view the status of a message. Therefore, if each item in the checklist is provided by a different person in Human Resources, Julie Harris could forward the message and checklist to each person responsible for the required documents. Alice Jones, Julie Harris, and the three new recipients could all browse the message and find the status of the items, hi this example, Julie Harris manually forwards the message to recipients responsible for each document. In a preferred embodiment, each item (or action) is represented by an object. The logic-enhanced email based system may apply a set of rules to each object and automatically forward the logic-enhanced email to the proper recipients, allowing for a more automatic implementation of the business policies. The use of a checklist allows for three independent objects to be processed independently within a single logic-enhanced email message.

hi another example, beginning with FIG. 3 Alice Jones at the first browser 14 creates an Office Supplies checklist as shown in FIG. 3. The "Office Supplies" checklist is selected, so that the network transmits an Office Supplies checklist web page as displayed in FIG. 15. In this example, for each item in the checklist, an item name, vendor, quantity, unit size, cost, and category is provided. For office supplies, the catalog would have the item name, category, vender, part number, unit size, and cost. The checklist has a title box, a checklist originator box, an approval box, a due date section, and a status box. The logic-enhanced email system looks at the checklist and determines that it is an "Office Supplies" type. The logic-enhanced email system looks at the logic-enhanced email rules and determines that "Office Supplies" type checklists need approval. The logic-enhanced email based system looks at the originator's name and the originator's data in the personal data model 212 and determines from the rules in the logic-enhanced email based system that the originator does not have the authority to approve the purchase of office supplies, and therefore indicates that the approval is needed and that the person to approve the checklist for Alice Jones is Jack Burns. Such an indication is provided by having a "Not Approved" label 90, without providing a pull down menu, and instructions 91 that the message must be sent to an administrator for approval. Additional instructions 92 instruct the user to send the message to Jack Bums, based on the personal information of Alice Jones. Therefore, Alice Jones sends the checklist to her administrator, Jack Burns, who must first approve the request, hi another embodiment the logic-enhanced email system automatically addresses the email to Jack Burns.

In this example, Jack Bums is the user of the third browser 16. When Jack

Burns logs onto the web server on the network 10, he receives the checklist as shown in FIG. 16. Jack Bums' display of the Office Supplies checklist is similar to Alice Jones'. However, the checklist display for Jack Bums has a pull down menu 93 to allow Jack Burns to approve the checklist, and a statement that approval is required. After "approval" is selected, Jack Burns saves the checklist. The logic-enhanced email based system applies a set of rules to Jack Bums' personal information to each item (action or object) in the checklist, and since Jack Bums is not able to approve supply items over $1,000, the logic-enhanced email based system determines that the approved checklist must go to Jack Bums' supervisor for further approval, and routes the checklist there. Jack Bums' supervisor is a user of the fourth browser 17. Jack Bums' supervisor also approves and saves the checklist., which places the finally approved checklist on the web server on the network 10, replacing the unapproved checklist so that when Alice Jones views the page for the checklist, she will see that it is now approved, as shown in FIG. 17.

The logic-enhanced email system sees that the checklist is approved and that there are three uncompleted items (actions or objects) on the checklist. The logic- enhanced email based system is able to go through each item in the checklist and generate a message to each vendor specifying the item to be purchased and the person to receive the item. The two outside vendors are Office Max and Office Depot. In this example, Office Max is the user for the fifth browser 18 and Office Depot is the user for the sixth browser 19. The users of the fifth and sixth browsers 18 and 19 are able to access the web server on the network 10 through an Internet connection 14 with the network 10. The users of the fifth and sixth browsers 18, 19 are able to see the web based message of items that they are to supply. When the items have been mailed, the vendors check such items as being sent, which generates a message to the checklist and updates the checklist to indicate that the different actions have been done, hi an alternative embodiment, instead of the vendors checking action items on the checklist as being done when they send the items, Alice Jones may designate items as being completed when she receives the items.

h creating a new checklist, Alice Jones may go to a listing of checklist types, as shown in FIG. 18. The listed checklists types are Office Supply Request, Computer Request, Company Form Request, Document Request, New Hire-Employee, New Hire-Manager, Facilities Request, Disciplinary Procedure, Exit Interview, and Blank, which allows the user to create a custom checklist. In this example, Alice Jones selects a "New Hire-Manager" checklist, which is a checklist managers use when they hire a new employee.

A New Checklist display for a New Hire-Manager checklist is shown in FIG.

19. The New Hire-Manager checklist has a title box 96, an originator box 97, a due date section 98, a status section 99, and a list of action items (objects) 100. Alice Jones is able to delete action items that are not applicable to the new hire. Each action item has an item name, category, and selection box. hi this example, the categories are time dependent and some of the events may be sequential. The time dependence is shown that some of the items occur "Pre-Hire". Others are "Pre- Arrival". Later items are "First Day" with the latest ""Post Hire". A sequential event may be obtaining business cards. To obtain business cards, knowledge of the cell phone number and email address is required. The logic-enhanced email based system is able to step through the action items on the checklist and notify different departments required to perform the different actions about the actions that must be done for the new hire.

Again this is done by the web server, so that when different departments check the web server, each department will see a web page notifying the department of the need for a particular action. The logic-enhanced email system is also able to handle the sequential items. The logic-enhanced email based system may have a set of rales which causes the logic-enhanced email based system not to send a request for business cards until the email address action and cell phone action is completed. After the logic-enhanced email based system receives the email address and cell phone number of the new hire, the new email address and cell phone number are placed in the personal information of the new hire and the logic-enhanced email based system sends a request to the business card vendor with the data of the new hire. Alice Jones is able to view her checklist as a web page that allows her to know the status of each action item.

FIG. 20 is a screen display for a Food & Beverage Request checklist. This checklist is sent in a message to all members of a scheduled meeting. The checklist has lunch or dim er selected. The members each fill in their checklist designating entree, vegetarian or non- vegetarian, and beverage. The logic-enhanced email based system collects all checklists and processes the information according to rules previously set up. The rules may specify that each member's choice is met and messages are sent to different vendors, such as a pizza place, Thai caterer, etc., so that each member is able to have the food they specified. An alternative set of rules may use one vendor and tally the entrees so by a vote one entree is selected and only one Vendor is contacted. In addition, the logic-enhanced email based system could also use information in a personal profile to make decisions about a personal checklist. For example, if in a personal profile certain food allergies are indicated, the logic- enhanced email based system may delete choices that contain such foods from a customized checklist.

In another embodiment of the invention, a New Hire Approval checklist is formed with the following actions:

1) Department head completes budget;

2) Requisition for new hire is submitted;

3) Department head provides approval. FIG. 21 is a flow chart of the rales that the logic-enhanced email based system would use to process the New Hire Approval checklist. When the checklist is created and placed in a catalog, a set of rales may also be associated with the checklist so that the logic-enhanced email based system applies the set of rules to the objects in the checklist. Alternatively, the set of rales may be a general set of rules in the logic- enhanced email based system, which are generally applied to the objects in the checklist. In this example, each object (action) of the set of objects (actions) in the checklist are accomplished serially and in order. The logic-enhanced email based system first determines if a budget has been completed (step 2104). If the budget is not indicated as completed on the checklist, the logic-enhanced email based system waits for the budget to be completed (step 2108). If the budget has been completed, then the logic-enhanced email based system determines if a requisition has been submitted (step 2112). If a requisition has not been submitted, the logic-enhanced email based system waits until a requisition is submitted (step 2116). If a requisition has been submitted, the logic-enhanced email based system sends the requisition to the department head for approval and then determines if the requisition has been approved (step 2120). If the requisition has been neither approved nor denied, the logic-enhanced email based system waits until there is an approval or denial (step 2124). If the requisition has been denied, the logic-enhanced email based system indicates that the requisition has been denied (step 2122). If the requisition has been approved, the logic-enhanced email based system determines if the requisition has been budgeted (step 2124). If the requisition has not budgeted, the logic-enhanced email based system generates a message to a vice president for approval (step 2126). If the vice president does not approve of the requisition the logic-enhanced email based system indicates that the requisition has been denied (step 2122). If the vice president approves of the requisition, the logic-enhanced email based system indicates that the requisition has been approved (step 2132). If the requisition has been budgeted, then the logic-enhanced email based system indicates that the requisition has been approved (step 2132) and approval from the vice president is not required. hi an alternative embodiment, the tliree actions may be combined to a single object, avoiding the use of a checklist. Therefore, the logic-enhanced email based system is able to carry out actions in the checklist in a sequential manner. The logic-enhanced email based system is able to apply various conditions according to a set of rules. The logic-enhanced email based system is able to generate and direct messages if further decisions are required. The logic-enhanced email based system is able to implement and enforce business procedures automatically without the employees needing to know all of the business procedures and manually implementing them.

The checklist allows for a multiple action (object) message. The actions (also called items or objects) form a set of actions that may be accomplished in serial or parallel combinations dependent on a set of rales of the logic-enhanced email system and dependent on the set of actions. The set of actions and the set of rales also may determine the recipients. The message may be sent to one or more recipients in serial or parallel combinations. The logic-enhanced email based system is able to process responses to the checklist, updating the checklist and sending such responses to new recipients. The logic-enhanced email based system can manage a checklist through a series of steps by a series of recipients until the checklist is completed.

While this invention has been described in terms of several preferred embodiments, there are alterations, permutations, and equivalents, which fall within the scope of this invention. It should also be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and apparatuses of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted as including all such alterations, permutations, and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention. The use of the term size value means one or more numbers used to indicate a size of an object.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-based method for accomplishing a set of actions between a plurality of users in a logic-enhanced email system, comprising the steps of: generating a rale based message with a set of rales; generating a checklist with a set of actions; attaching said checklist to said rale based message; examining said set of rules of said rale based message and said set of actions to determine recipients of said rule based message; sending said rale based message to said determined recipients; tracking said rale based message; determining if an action of said set of actions has been completed; indicating in said checklist when the action of said set of actions is completed; and examining said set of rales, said set of actions, and actions that are indicated as completed to determine whether said rule based message is to be sent to additional recipients; if additional recipients are determined, sending said rale based message to said additional recipients; and indicating when all actions in said set of actions are completed.

2. A logic-enhanced email system, comprising:

a checklist with a set of objects;

a logic-enhanced email to which the checklist is attached; and

a logic-enhanced email based system, comprising:

a set of rales; and

a computing device for applying the set of rales to the set of objects.

3. The logic-enhanced email system, as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of objects comprises at least two objects, and wherein the set of rales determines whether the objects are handled serially or in parallel.