Abstract: A method of embossing a sheet material includes: heating at least a portion of the sheet directly or indirectly with radiant energy from a radiant energy source; pressing a tool against the heated portion of the sheet, thereby patterning a surface of the sheet; and separating the sheet and the tool. The radiant energy may travel through a solid material that is relatively transparent to radiation, on its way to being absorbed by a relatively-absorptive material. The relatively-transparent material may be an unheated portion of the sheet, and the relatively-absorptive material may be either the tool or the heated portion of the sheet. Alternatively, the relatively-transparent material may be the tool, and the relatively-absorptive material may be all or part of the sheet. The method may be performed as one or more roll-to-roll operations.

Abstract: A method performable over the Internet is disclosed, wherein a prospective purchaser is presented with a series of product configuration choices. A computer performing the method receives a series of product configuration choices from the prospective user, consults a database to determine whether the selected choices result in a permissible combination, and displays advice to the prospective purchaser about whether the choices result in a permissible combination and, if not, about the nature of the impermissibility. The computer then receives a new series of product configuration choices from the prospective user, with the new choices having been affected by the prospective user's consideration of the advice about the nature of the impermissibility of the previous, impermissible combinations of product configuration choices.