And/or. Occasionally the phrase “and/or” is used herein in conjunction with a list of items. This phrase means that any combination of items in the list—from a single item to all of the items and any permutation in between—may be included. Thus, for example, “A, B, and/or C” means “one of {A}, {B}, {C}, {A, B}, {A, C}, {C, B}, and {A, C, B}”.
Nothing said herein is intended to be an admission or concession that something is prior art unless explicitly and unambiguously stated otherwise. Specifically, usage of a term such as “known”, “conventional”, “old”, “existing”, “traditional”, “related art”, and so on is not an indication that the thing so described is prior art—instead, these terms merely indicate that the thing so described is an alternative approach that is known to the inventors. That something is an alternative known to the inventors does not necessarily mean it qualifies as prior art, as it may be subject to a legal exception (e.g., an exception in 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)) or might not satisfy legal criteria for being considered prior art. Furthermore, the content of the background section provides context helpful to understanding the subject matter of this disclosure, but is not necessarily, and should not be assumed to be, prior art merely because it is mentioned in or associated with the background section. For example, some descriptions in the background section may refer to aspects of the subject matter of this disclosure. As another example, some descriptions in the background section may refer to items that are not prior art because they are subject to a legal exception (e.g., an exception in 35 U.S.C. § 102(b)) or otherwise do not satisfy legal criteria for being considered prior art.