1.2) What makes a universal counter more versatile than an up counter?

Question

I tried looking up what a universal counter is but I can't find anything apart from chips which implement it but I haven't ever heard of such a thing as a universal counter.

Can someone describe to me what it is?

THANKS,

I know what an up-counter is and I had already searched for the universal counter using the keywords but it brings up products for example "Model 3820 Universal Counter"

What does universal counter mean in this context.

Answer 1

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=universal+counter&fr=slv8-msgr&pstart=1&b=1
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-msgr&p=up-down%20counter