AU2007201777A1 - Accounting software - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me: ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention generally relates to accounting software.

BACKGROUND

For business owner, and users of accounting packages generally, there is a real challenge in being able to effectively keep accurate, reconciled financial records, especially for smaller business person and the lay person who hasn't the training or resources such as in house accountants to assist them with the process. Even with training, many business owners and other users can find accounting packages too difficult and complicated to use effectively, to get accurate, reconciled information to produce meaningful reports.

Many business owner's have their tax returns prepared by an accountant.

Traditionally, business owner's delivered their paper accounting records to their accountant who, in turn, prepared a tax return based upon those records.

Invariably, the paper records were incomplete, disordered and in need of deciphering which greatly added to the accountant's workload.

In recent years, accounting software products have been made available which enable a computer user to enter their financial information in a reconciled manner. In turn, this financial information can be used to generate financial reports which, in turn, can then be presented to the accountant in an orderly form. However in reality, such accounting software products are often too complicated for business owner's (and small business owner's in particular) to use and understand. Furthermore, the entering of financial information can be a laborious and time consuming task which dissuades business owners from using existing accounting software products. Even with training, many users of accounting software products find them too complicated to use effectively.

2 It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for facilitating usability of accounting software products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for generating a financial report, the method including the steps of: receiving, with a computational device, an unclassified group of unclassified financial transaction records; (ii) classifying each unclassified financial transaction record of the unclassified group into a class to form a classified group; and (iii) generating the financial report using the classified group.

Preferably, the steps are restricted to being performed in that order.

The step of receiving may involve displaying a window on a display of the computational device into which the unclassified group can be copied. The step of receiving may further involve receiving the unclassified group in the window as a copy from a user's financial account. The method may further include the step of displaying a balance of the copied group so that the user can verify that the balance matches a balance of the user's financial account.

Between said steps of classifying and generating, the method may further include the step of generating a balance sheet or trial balance using the classified group. The step of generating the financial report may involve generating the financial report using the generated balance sheet or trial balance.

Between said steps of classifying and generating, the method may further include the step of determining that another unclassified group of unclassified financial transaction records is to be classified.

Between said steps of determining and generating, the method may further include the steps of: receiving, with the computational device, the other unclassified group of unclassified financial transaction records; and classifying each unclassified financial transaction record of the other unclassified group into a class to form another classified group.

The step of generating may further involve generating the financial report using the other classified group.

The unclassified group may include a list of unclassified transaction records.

The step of receiving may involve receiving the unclassified group from a remote server via the Internet.

The step of classifying may include the steps of: receiving, with the computational device and from a user, classification input relating to an unclassified transaction record of the unclassified group; classifying the unclassified transaction record using the received classification input; and automatically classifying one or more other unclassified transaction records in the unclassified group using the received classification input.

Further user input need not be provided between the steps of receiving and classifying.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for classifying unclassified financial transaction records of an unclassified group, the method including the steps of: receiving, with a computational device and from a user, classification input relating to an unclassified transaction record of the unclassified group; classifying the unclassified transaction record in accordance with the received classification input; and automatically classifying one or more other unclassified transaction records in the unclassified group in accordance with the received classification input.

The step of receiving may involve receiving the classification input selected from a set of possible classification inputs by the user. Alternatively, the step of receiving may involve receiving the classification input from a keyboard of the computational device.

The step of classifying the unclassified transaction record may involve setting a classification field of the unclassified transaction record to match the received classification input. Said step of classifying the unclassified transaction record may further involve displaying a code identifier corresponding to the set classification field. Said step of classifying the unclassified transaction record may further involve displaying a visual indicator to indicate that the unclassified transaction record has been classified.

Said step of classifying one or more other unclassified transaction records may involve classifying one or more other similar unclassified transaction records. The transaction records may be similar because the descriptive prefixes (or some other component) of descriptors of the transaction records match.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium containing machine readable instructions for execution by one or more computational devices to thereby perform a method as claimed in any one or more of the preceding claims.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided at least one computational device which is loaded with computer readable instructions to perform a method as claimed in any one or more of the preceding claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Preferred features, embodiments and variations of the invention may be discerned from the following Detailed Description which provides sufficient information for those skilled in the art to perform the invention. The Detailed Description is not to be regarded as limiting the scope of the preceding Summary of the Invention in any way. The Detailed Description will make reference to a number of drawings as follows: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a computer system for performing a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing the computer system of Figure 1 interfaced to a bank via the Internet; Figure 3 is a flowchart showing a method for generating financial reports using the computer system of Figure 1 and in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; Figures 4a to 4e are schematic diagrams of an input field transaction window showing sequential steps of the method of Figure 3, by way of an example; and Figure 5 is a flowchart showing a method for classifying financial transaction records which is performed during the method of Figure 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present embodiment provides an accounting software program that teaches itself to process the user's financial information with minimal interaction from the user. Also, unknown to the user, the program forces the user to interact with the program much the same as an accountant would do, to produce coded, classified and reconciled financial information, from which, a wide variety of financial reports can be produced such as a Trial Balance, Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet and Business Activity Statements.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is depicted a block diagram of a conventional computer system 3 of a type suitable for performing a method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Computer system 3 includes a computer case 2 which houses a processor 8 k (or one or more processors) that accesses RAM 12, ROM 14 and various secondary data storage devices 16 such as hard disk drives. The processor 8 executes an accounting software product 18 stored in data storage 16 that contains instructions for implementing a method according to the present invention. The software product can be provided on an optical or magnetically readable medium 28 such as a CD-ROM or floppy diskette, though it might also be provided in a ROM or other electronic circuit as firmware or downloaded over a computer network such as the Internet. The software Sproduct 18 includes instructions for system 3 to implement a method that will be explained.

By means of conventional interfacing circuitry located on a mainboard within case 2, the processor 8 receives commands from input field devices such as keyboard 4 and mouse 20. A display 6 is provided in the form of a screen display. Processor 8 controls and communicates with a number of peripheral devices including, for example, a scanner 24 for converting documents into electronic file format, a printer 26 for converting electronic files into paper hardcopy 32 and an optical disk writer 22 for permanently writing files to a removable optical disk 28.

Turning to Figure 2, the computer system 3 (and therefore processor 8) may communicate with remote financial transaction data servers 39 of a bank (or other financial institution or organization) 38 via a network such as the Internet 36. In this manner, a computer user 30 can access their bank account, credit card account details, and other financial details stored remotely on the financial transaction data servers 39 of the bank 38 using computer system 3.

Method for generating financial reports A method 50 for generating financial reports 32 by executing the accounting software product 18 on the computer system 3 is now described in detail below with reference to Figure 3. In this manner, the user 30 can perform the method 50 to generate financial reports 32, including a business activity report (BAS), a trial balance sheet (sometimes referred to by accountants as a "trial balance") and/or a profit and loss report (which may form part of the trial balance sheet). These financial reports 32 can then be printed using printer 26 for use by the user and/or the user's accountant, or provided in electronic softcopy format. A BAS is a form which Australian businesses use to report some of their tax entitlements and obligations, including the amount of GST they have paid and collected.

At step 52, the user 30 operates the computer system 3 to execute the accounting software product 18. The computer system 3 accesses, via Internet 36, the user's bank account records stored on server 39 of bank 38.

At step 54, an input window 80 is displayed by the accounting software product 18 on the display 6. The user 30 manually copies a transaction record list 82 from their bank account records and then pastes the list 82 into the input window 80. In an alternative embodiment, the list 82 may be automatically copied into the input window 80 when the computer system 3 accesses the user's bank account records stored on server 39.

Figure 4a shows an example input window 80, generated by the software product 18, having a grid of un-editable output fields into which the values of the tabularized transaction record list 82 have been pasted. The skilled person will understand that the tabularized transaction record list 82, including any entered values, is generally mirrored as a 2D array in memory 12 of the computer system 3. Each row in the transaction record list 82 corresponds to a respective financial transaction record 84. Each transaction record 84 includes a transaction date output field 86, a descriptor output field 88 describing the nature details) of the transaction, a transaction amount output field 90, a running balance output field 94, a classification input field 92, a manual classification input field 96 and a classification status output field 98.

At step 55, the user 30 verifies that the balance of the copied list 82 matches the account balance of the bank account from which the list 82 was copied.

Elaborating further, an opening balance input field 81 (Figure 4b) receives an 0 0 opening balance value $5,000) entered by the user 30 which corresponds to an opening balance (not shown) of the user's bank account.

The accounting software product 18 then updates the running balance output C 5 field 94 for each transaction record 84 so that the running balance output fields 94 match corresponding fields of the user's bank account. The user can then visually verify that the balances 94 for the final transaction records 84 in the list 82 match corresponding running balances of the bank account.

r7- 10 At step 56, the user 30 can sequentially classify transaction records 84 in the Olist 82, starting at the top of the list 82. Elaborating further, the user 30 selects the classification input field 92 of each transaction record 84 with the mouse In turn, the accounting software product 18 causes the display 6 to display a pop-up picklist window 100 (shown in Figure 4c) including a list of possible classifications 102 denoting types classes) of transactions. The user can select one of the displayed possible classifications 102 with the mouse or, alternatively, enter a suitable classification value into classification input field 92 with the keyboard 4.

Once a classification Insurance) is selected and assigned to a transaction record 84, the accounting software product 18 then automatically classifies any similar financial transaction records 84 which have not yet been classified in the list 82, as described in detail below and shown in Figure 4d.

Upon classification of a transaction record 84, the corresponding classification status output field 98 indicates that the transaction record 84 has been "classified" and the accounting software product 18 displays a unique value 32) in a code identifier output field 99 of the classified transaction record 84. Figure 4e shows the list 82 after all of the transaction records 84 in the list 82 have been classified by the user At step 58, the accounting software product 18 generates a trial balance sheet (not shown) for the classified list 82 shown in Figure 4e. The trial balance sheet typically displays the total amounts corresponding to each code identifier 99 (or classification input field 92), including the goods and services (GST) component of those amounts. The trial balance sheet may also display groups of itemized lists corresponding to respective code identifiers 99. The trial balance sheet should have an overall total balance of zero.

At step 59, the accounting software product 18 awaits input field from the user as to whether there is another transaction record list 82 to be entered.

Examples of other transaction record lists to be entered may include credit card transaction record lists,cash transaction record lists, including journals, or other like financial transaction record lists stored in a database. If the computer system 3 receives input from the user 30 that no further transaction lists 82 need to be entered, the method 50 proceeds to step 60. Alternatively, if the computer system 3 receives input from the user 30 that an additional list 82 must be entered, the method 50 returns to step 54 where steps 54 to 58 can be repeated for the additional list 82.

At step 60, the accounting software product 18 generates financial reports 32 using the trial balance sheets generated at step 58. Accordingly, the financial reports 32 are generated using the transaction lists 82 classified at step 56.

As previously discussed, the financial reports may include a BAS, and a profit and loss report which can be printed in hard copy format 32 using printer 26 or saved in soft copy format onto disk 28. Furthermore, a consolidated trial balance report may be generated using each of the trial balance sheets generated at step 58.

At step 62, the accounting software product 18 terminates.

The software product 18 restricts the order in which the method steps of method 50 are performed, to the order shown in Figure 3. Typically, the display 6 displays a user control a "next" step button) which the user must activate to proceed to the next step in the method 50. Accordingly, the user 30 instructs the software product 18 that the present method step is completed by activating the user control, and the software product 18 only then allows the next sequential step in the method to be performed. In this manner, the software product 18 regulates the manner in which the user can progress through the steps of method The foregoing method 50 provides a method for execution on a computer system 3 computational device) to collate the user's financial information for presentation to their accountant or for their own purposes. The software product 18 is a surrogate for an accountant whereby it elicits information from the user in much the same way as an accountant. The software product 18 enables the compilation of classified and reconciled financial information and, in turn, generates a wide variety of financial reports using that information.

Method for classifying financial transaction records 56 As briefly discussed above in relation to step 56, the software product 18 includes instructions to enable a user 30 to classify each transaction record 84 in the list 82. The method 56 for classifying the transaction records 84 is now described in detail below, by way of example, with reference to Figures 4 and At step 122 of Figure 5, the user 30 classifies a first transaction record 84a using the pop-up picklist window 100 by setting the corresponding classification input field 92 to the value "Insurance" as shown in Figure 4c.

The computer system 3 thereby receives this value. As shown in Figure 4d, the software product 18 then displays a unique value 32) in the code identifier output field 99 for the first transaction record 84a. This unique value 32) corresponds to the classification value Insurance) received into the classification input field 92.

The transaction descriptor 88 is a description string including a descriptive prefix DIRECT DEBIT NRMA INSURANCE), and a unique identifying suffix appended by the bank and which includes numbers 009398923 MOT 1453). At step 124, the accounting software product 18 truncates the descriptor output field 88 of the first transaction record 84a leaving only the descriptive prefix without the suffix. The software performs the same function for all the transactions in the list before the user enters any classification input.

This could also be performed after the user input. As described later the k truncated descriptor may not be shown to the user. The number of characters in the retained prefix is predetermined 28) or alternatively the number of 0 5 characters of the suffix is predetermined (eg. 18) or any other appropriate combination. As shown in Figure 4d, the descriptor 88 of the first transaction record 84a in the list 82 is replaced with the descriptive prefix by the software product 18 in the present embodiment. In other embodiments, the descriptor S88 displayed on display 6may not be replaced with the descriptive prefix.

SAt step 126, the software product 18 changes the value of the class status output field 98 from "to be classified" to "classified" or left blank to provide a visual indicator to the user 30 that the transaction record 84 has been classified.

Once a classification Insurance) is selected and assigned to the transaction record 84a by the user 30, the accounting software product 18 then makes use of that initial user classification to automatically without receiving further user input) classify any similar unclassified financial transaction records 84d) in the list 82. In order to do this, at step 128, the software product 18 compares the descriptive prefix DIRECT DEBIT NRMA INSURANCE) with prefixes of the remaining unclassified transaction records 84 having a class status 98 of value "to be classified") in the list 82 to determine a match.

For each matching transaction 84d), the software product 18 identifies similar prefix values. Elaborating further, for each matching transaction (e.g.

84d), the software product 18: may replace the value in the descriptor output field 88 with the prefix DIRECT DEBIT NRMA INSURANCE), sets the classification input field 92 to match the classification input field of the first transaction record 84a in the list 82 "Insurance"), sets the class status output field 98 to the value "classified", and sets the code identifier output field 99 to match that of the first transaction record 84a #32) as shown in Figure 4d.

The transaction records 84a and 84d were deemed to be similar by the k software product 18 as they had matching descriptive prefixes. In other embodiments, other similarities may be used such as the descriptor outputs 88 of the transactions 84a, 84d including a common keyword (which may be derived by deleting the unique bank data in the transaction description, e.g.

insurance), for example. In yet further embodiments, the software product 18 may remove portions of the descriptor 88 other than the suffix.

r- 10 The foregoing automatic classification technique enables the software product Sto automatically classify unclassified transaction records 84 in the list 82 based upon classification inputs previously set by the user 30, using a classification from a drop down list, for other similar transaction records 84. In this manner, the user 30 need not manually classify each transaction record 84 which reduces the classification time, particularly when the list 82 is lengthy and contains a number of similar transactions. The user, when classifying a particular transaction, has minimum input because the program will automatically use the selection of the account code from the drop down list by the user to automatically classify similar transactions with no further input required from the user.

At step 130, the user 30 can then proceed to classify other unclassified transaction records 84 in the list 82 in a similar manner.

Referring to Figure 4e, the transaction records 84a, 84b, and 84e have been manually classified by the user 30 using the pop-up picklist window 100. As previously explained, transaction record 84d was classified by the software product 18 based upon the user's classification of the similar transaction record 84a. For each transaction record 84a, 84b, 84d and 84e, the software product 18 displayed a code identifier 99 corresponding to the assigned classification input field 92.

Each transaction record 84 in the list 82 includes a manual classification input field 96 in which a value corresponding to the code identifier 99 can be entered directly by the user 30. The manual classification input field 96 can be used as an alternative to the classification input field 92 in instances, for example, when a suitable possible classification 102 is not included in the pop-up picklist window 100. Referring to Figure 4e, the user 30 has entered a value of 21" in the manual classification input field 96 of transaction record 84c which corresponds to a "miscellaneous" classification not available in the pop-up picklist window 100.

The software product 18 treats the manual classification input field 96 as having priority over the classification input field 92 in the event that both input fields 92, 96 contain entered values. In this manner the manual classification input field 96 can be used to override the classification input field 92.

Elaborating further, by way of example, the software product 18 may have classified a transaction record 84 by automatically setting the value in its classification input filed 92. The user 30 may deem that the value is inappropriate for that transaction 84, and can manually input a more appropriate value into the manual classification input field 96. The actual classification code 99 used for the transaction is therefore the override value in the manual classification input field 96, and not the automatic value in the classification input filed 92. Furthermore, any other automatically classified transaction records 84 in the list 82 remain unaffected by the override. This process could also be facilitated by adding a drop down list of account descriptions.

The manual classification input field 96 can also be used as an alternative to the classification input field 92.

A person skilled in the art will appreciate that many embodiments and variations can be made without departing from the ambit of the present invention.

CHART OF ACCOUNTS FEATURE In the first embodiment, the pop-up picklist window 100 included possible classifications 102 which, in turn, were associated with corresponding unique code identifier values #32) displayed in output field 99. The software product 18 accesses a stored chart of account codes, in turn, storing each possible classification 102 and its corresponding unique code identifier value.

The software product 18 allows the user 30 to access the chart and change code identifier values for the classifications 102. In turn, the software product 18 replaces any assigned values in the code identifier output field 99 (for classified transaction records 84 in the list 82), which correspond to values to be changed in the chart, with the changed code identifier values in the chart.

In this manner, the user 30 can tailor the values for the code output identifier field 99 (which is used to generate the trial balance sheets) as desired. The user may also add or delete account classifications and the associated functions such as whether GST is applicable. As previously stated, the manual classification input field 96 would have priority over any changed values corresponding to the classification input field 92 for a given transaction record 84.

In one embodiment, the user 30 may enter a previously unassigned value into the manual classification input field 96 for a given transaction record 84. In turn, the software product 18 may then assign an identical classification to all similar unclassified transaction records 84 in the list 82.

In the first embodiment at step 124, the descriptor 88 displayed on the display 6 was replaced with the descriptive prefix by the software product 18. In an alternative embodiment, a corresponding descriptor 88 stored in a memory of the computer system 3 is replaced with the descriptive prefix, whereas the original descriptor 88 displayed on the display 6 is not replaced.

In the first embodiment, the classification status field 98 was used to indicate whether a transaction record 84 was "classified" or still "to be classified". In alternative embodiments, this classification status field 98 may not be present and transactions 84 to be classified could be highlighted on display 6 whilst those which are classified could have the highlighting disabled. In yet another embodiment, the value in the status fields 98 may be set to null blank) upon classification of the transaction records 84.

In the first embodiment, the software product 18 generated multiple respective trial balance sheets at step 58. In an alternative embodiment, the software product may instead generate only one trial balance sheet the first time step 58 is performed, and update the trial balance sheet upon each subsequent execution of step 58.

In the first embodiment, the user 30 imported a list 82 from their bank 38 to the accounting software product 18 via the Internet 36 at step 54. In an alternative embodiment, the user 30 may instead scan a hard copy of the list 82 using the scanner 24 using suitable original character recognition (OCR) or other like software, and then import the scanned list 82 into the accounting software product 18 at step 54. The data could also be manually entered into the software by the user entering each individual transaction using the keyboard to type in each character of each individual transaction.

The software product 18 may also include one or more translation modules for translating transaction lists from bank accounts, which may be in varying formats depending upon the particular bank, into the uniform tabularized format of the transaction list 82 of Figure 4.

In the first embodiment, the method 50 sequentially proceeded from steps 54 to 58 for a given list 82 bank account) and these steps could then be repeated for another transaction list credit card account). In an alternative embodiment, the software product 18 may concurrently open a plurality of input field windows 80 for entering and processing respective transaction lists 82 according to steps 54 to 58. In this manner, the user need not process the transaction lists one at a time, and can navigate between windows 80 or have a consolidated window to process the transaction lists 82 concurrently.

In the first embodiment, the accounting software product 18 was loaded onto the computer system 3. In alternative embodiments, the accounting software product 18 may instead be located at a remote server bank 38) and accessed by the user 30 of the computer system 3 via the Internet 36.

In compliance with the statute, the invention has been described in language more or less specific to structural or methodical features. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to specific features shown or described since the means herein described comprises preferred forms of putting the invention into effect. The invention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modifications within the proper scope of the appended claims appropriately interpreted by those skilled in the art.

Claims (23)

1. A method for generating a financial report, the method including the steps of: receiving, with a computational device, an unclassified group of unclassified financial transaction records; (ii) classifying each unclassified financial transaction record of the unclassified group into a class to form a classified group; and (iii) generating the financial report using the classified group.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving involves displaying a window on a display of the computational device into which the unclassified group can be copied.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of receiving further involves receiving the unclassified group in the window as a copy from a user's financial account.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the method further includes the step of displaying at least one balance of the copied group so that the user can verify that said balance matches a corresponding at least one balance of the user's financial account.

A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein between said steps of classifying and generating, the method further includes the step of generating a balance sheet or trial balance using the classified group.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the step of generating the financial report involves generating the financial report using the generated balance sheet or trial balance.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein between said steps of classifying and generating, the method further includes the step of determining that another unclassified group of unclassified financial O Stransaction records is to be classified.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein between said steps of 0determining and generating, the method further includes the steps of: receiving, with the computational device, the other unclassified group of unclassified financial transaction records; and classifying each unclassified financial transaction record of the other Sunclassified group into a class to form another classified group.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of generating further involves generating the financial report using the other classified group.

A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unclassified group includes a list of unclassified transaction records.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving involves receiving the unclassified group from a remote server via the Internet.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of classifying includes the steps of: receiving, with the computational device and from a user, classification input relating to an unclassified transaction record of the unclassified group; classifying the unclassified transaction record using the received classification input; and automatically classifying one or more other unclassified transaction records in the unclassified group using the received classification input.

13. A method for classifying unclassified financial transaction records of an unclassified group, the method including the steps of: receiving, with a computational device and from a user, classification input relating to an unclassified transaction record of the unclassified group; classifying the unclassified transaction record in accordance with the received classification input; and automatically classifying one or more other unclassified transaction 0 0 records in the unclassified group in accordance with the received classification (Ni input.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of receiving involves (Ni receiving the classification input selected from a set of possible classification inputs by the user.

A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the step of receiving involves receiving the classification input from a keyboard of the computational device.

16. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said step of classifying the unclassified transaction record involves setting a classification field of the unclassified transaction record to match the received classification input.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said step of classifying the unclassified transaction record further involves displaying a code identifier corresponding to the set classification field.

18. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said step of classifying the unclassified transaction record further involves displaying a visual indicator to indicate that the unclassified transaction record has been classified.

19. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said step of classifying one or more other unclassified transaction records involves classifying one or more other similar unclassified transaction records.

A method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the transaction records are similar because the descriptive prefixes of descriptors of the transaction records match.

21. A storage medium containing machine readable instructions for execution by one or more computational devices to thereby perform a method as claimed in any one or more of the preceding claims.

22. At least one computational device which is loaded with computer readable instructions to perform a method as claimed in any one or more of the preceding claims.

23. A method as claimed in any one or more of claims 1 to 20, and substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.