1. A method for diagnosing ignition system performance of an internal combustion engine having a plurality of spark plugs; a plurality of ignition coils, each one having a secondary winding coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of spark plugs, each one of the plurality of ignition coils having a primary winding; and an engine control unit, such method comprising:
operating the engine control unit to produce a sequence of spark ignition current pulses through the primary winding of the plurality of ignition coils, such current pulses producing voltage pulses across electrodes of the spark plugs, such voltage pulses producing sparks across the electrodes of the spark plugs and flyback voltages across the primary windings;
producing, in response to the flyback voltages, digital signals representative of the time durations of the sparks; and
comparing the digital signals to determine whether the spark time duration of one of the spark plugs is substantially different from the spark time durations of the other ones of the plurality of spark plugs.
2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the time duration is the time between the rise of the initial breakdown voltage, through the sustaining voltage, to the falling edge of the sustaining voltage.
3. A method for diagnosing ignition system performance of an internal combustion engine having a plurality of spark plugs; a plurality of ignition coils, each one having a secondary winding coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of spark plugs, each one of the plurality of ignition coils having a primary winding; and an engine control unit, such method comprising:
operating the engine control unit to produce a sequence of spark ignition current pulses through the primary winding of the plurality of ignition coils, such current pulses producing voltage pulses across electrodes of the spark plugs, such voltage pulses producing sparks across the electrodes of the spark plugs and flyback voltages across the primary windings;
producing, in response to the flyback voltages, output pulses having time durations related to the time durations of the sparks produced across the electrodes of the spark plugs;
producing, in response to each one of the output pulses, a digital signal representative of the spark time duration of a corresponding one of the sparks produced across the electrodes of the corresponding one of the spark plugs; and
comparing the digital signals to determine whether the spark time duration of one of the spark plugs is substantially different from the spark time durations of the other ones of the plurality of spark plugs.
4. The method recited in claim 3 wherein the time duration is the time between the rise of the initial breakdown voltage, through the sustaining voltage, to the falling edge of the sustaining voltage.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A computer-implemented method of providing incentive information, comprising:
receiving, at a network server, an access request from a device associated with a user;
transmitting from the network server, to an incentive host server, a first identifier associated with the access request and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
receiving at the network server, from the incentive host server, incentive information corresponding to one or more available incentives, wherein the one or more available incentives were determined based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmitting from the network server, to the device, the incentive information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the access request from the device, includes:
receiving a request for a document stored at least in part on the network server.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the document comprises a web page.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining whether the user has subscribed to receive the incentive information.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the user has subscribed, includes:
transmitting from the network server, to the device, a subscriber request; and
receiving at the network server, from the device, a response including the first identifier.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the device associated with the user.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the user.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting from the network server, to the device, the incentive information, comprises:
generating a document including the incentive information; and
transmitting from the network server, to the device, the document.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the document comprises a web page.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
15. A system for providing incentive information, comprising:
a network server, the network server comprising a processor configured to:
receive an access request from a device associated with a user;
transmit, to an incentive host server, a first identifier associated with the access request and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
receive, from the incentive host server, incentive information corresponding to one or more available incentives, wherein the one or more available incentives were determined based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmit, to the device, the incentive information.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the access request comprises a request for a document stored at least in part on the network server.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the document comprises a web page.
18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine whether the user has subscribed to receive the incentive information.
19. The system of claim 18, wherein, to determine whether the user has subscribed, the processor is further configured to:
transmit from the network server, to the device, a subscriber request; and
receive at the network server, from the device, a response including the first identifier.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
21. The system of claim 15, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the device associated with the user.
22. The system of claim 15, wherein the first identifier corresponds to the user.
23. The system of claim 15, wherein the first identifier comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
24. The system of claim 15, wherein to transmit from the network server, to the device, the incentive information, the processor is configured to:
generate a document including the incentive information; and
transmit from the network server, to the device, the document.
25. The system of claim 24, wherein the document comprises a web page.
26. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
27. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
28. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
29. A computer-implemented method of providing incentive information, comprising:
receiving, at an incentive host server, a request from a network server including a first identifier and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
determining, at the incentive host server, one or more available incentives based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the network server, incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
storing incentives in a repository associated with the incentive host server.
31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
receiving at the incentive host server, from a device associated with a user, a request to create an account;
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account;
receiving at the incentive host server, from the device, information to create an account in response to the transmitted request;
creating an account for the user;
determining a unique identifier to be associated with the created account; and
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, the unique identifier to be stored on the device.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account, further comprises:
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a registration form.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein receiving at the incentive host server, from the device, information to create an account in response to the transmitted request further comprises:
receiving at the incentive host server, from the device, information in response to the transmitted registration form.
34. The method of claim 31, wherein the account includes demographic information corresponding to the user.
35. The method of claim 31, wherein the account includes personal information corresponding to the user.
36. The method of claim 29, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a user.
37. The method of claim 29, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
38. The method of claim 29, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a device associated with the user.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
40. The method of claim 29, further comprising:
transmitting from the incentive host server, to a user device associated with the first identifier, the incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
41. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
42. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
43. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
44. A system for providing incentive information, comprising:
an incentive host server, the incentive host server comprising a processor configured to:
receive a request from a network server including a first identifier and a network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
determine one or more available incentives based at least on the first identifier and the NID; and
transmit, to the network server, incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
45. The system of claim 44, further comprising:
a repository associated with the incentive host server for storing incentives.
46. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive at the incentive host server, from a device associated with a user, a request to create an account;
transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account;
receive at the incentive host server, from the device, information to create an account in response to the transmitted request;
create an account for the user;
determine a unique identifier to be associated with the created account; and
transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, the unique identifier to be stored on the device.
47. The system of claim 46, wherein, to transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, a request for information to create an account, the processor is further configured to:
transmit from the incentive host server, to the device, a registration form.
48. The system of claim 47, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive at the incentive host server, from the device, information in response to the transmitted registration form.
49. The system of claim 46, wherein the account includes demographic information corresponding to the user.
50. The system of claim 46, wherein the account includes personal information corresponding to the user.
51. The system of claim 44, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a user.
52. The system of claim 44, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises a unique subscriber identifier.
53. The system of claim 44, wherein the first identifier received at the incentive host server, from the network server, comprises an identifier that uniquely identifies a device associated with the user.
54. The system of claim 53, wherein the first identifier is stored in a cookie on the device.
55. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit from the incentive host server, to a user device associated with the first identifier, the incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.
56. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more available incentives include coupons.
57. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more available incentives include discounts.
58. The system of claim 44, wherein the one or more available incentives include awards.
59. A computer-implemented method of providing incentive information, comprising:
receiving, at an incentive host server, registration information from a device associated with a user;
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, a Unique ID (UID);
receiving at the incentive host server, from a network server of a plurality of network servers, a request for incentives, the request for incentives including an associated UID and network server identifier (NID) associated with the network server;
determining, at the incentive host server, one or more available incentives based at least on the UID and the NID; and
transmitting from the incentive host server, to the device, incentive information corresponding to the one or more available incentives.