text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jan 23, 2001
|Filing date
|Jul 15, 1997
|Priority date
|Jul 15, 1997
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Lee Evan Nakamura, Stewart Eugene Tate
|Original Assignee
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (5), Non-Patent Citations (4), Referenced by (40), Classifications (5), Legal Events (6)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for presenting, over a network, materials contained in a single computer file.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet, as it is popularly known, has become an important and useful tool for accessing a wide variety of information. One component of the Internet is the World Wide Web (hereinafter, the web). In recent years the web has become an increasingly popular vehicle for providing information to virtually anyone with access to the Internet. Many sites (hereinafter, web sites) have been established to provide information in many different forms, such as text, graphics, video and audio formats over the web.
A typical web site includes system and application software programs installed on a web server that is connected to the Internet. By connecting the web server to the Internet, clients that are connected to the Internet can access the web site via the web server. Usually a client is located remotely from the web server, although the client and server can be at the same location. Also, a web server can be connected to a private intranet, as opposed to or in addition to the public Internet, in order to make a web site privately available to clients within an organization.
A client typically accesses the web site by using a web browser. The web browser is a software program which runs on the client and receives from the server information formatted in a known manner. A very popular format for information sent over the web from a server to a client, is the hypertext mark-up language (HTML). HTML is a tag based script format, in which tags surround the information to be presented. By tagging the information to be sent to a browser, the browser can interpret the tags and handle the presentation of the information sent from the server. It is left to the web browser, at the client, to determine the specific formatting of the information, based on the tags included in the HTML information sent from the server. For example, information to be displayed at a client might include header information followed by a list of other information. FIG. 1A shows a portion of HTML code with such a header and list. When the HTML information is received by a client and interpreted by a web browser, the information is displayed, as is shown in FIG. 1B, for example, in which a header 10 and list 12 are presented to a user at the client.
The HTML information sent by the server does not specify the particular size, font and placement of the header 10 and the list 12. Rather, the header and list information are surrounded by HTML tags which identify that information as a header and a list, respectively. It is the responsibility of the web browser at the client to determine how the information is presented.
Over the past several years, HTML-compliant web browsers have proliferated at a great rate. Accordingly, a large install base of HTML-compliant web browsers has been established worldwide.
HTML supports the use of links, which allow a web browser user to link from one source of information to another, easily and rapidly. A link provides a user with the means to navigate the web, and even navigate within a specific web site. The server, when sending HTML information to a web browser, would include a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in information associated with the link. Typically, a link would be displayed to a user in a special format, such as being highlighted. The user could select that link, for example, by moving a pointing device such as a computer mouse to position a cursor over the link and selecting that link by pressing a button on the mouse. When a user selects a link, the web browser sends a request for the corresponding URL. The URL identifies a specific web resource, such as a specific web page at the web site. The server receives the request for the URL, determines the information to be sent to the client, accesses that information and then sends that new information to the client for presentation. The client receives the new presentation information sent by the server, which is typically HTML formatted information, and presents it to the user via the web browser. In this manner, the World Wide Web can be navigated by selecting links presented by the web browser, in which the links identify HTML web pages in a web site.
A web site generally includes more than one web page. Typically, each web page is defined in a single computer file, containing only the contents of that web page. In other words, the web page is defined in a flat HTML file. When the server receives a message containing a request for a URL, that URL generally identifies the file for the requested web page. The server, in response to the message, retrieves the file for the requested web page and transmits the contents of the retrieved file to the client. In this manner, the web pages are maintained separately for ease of access. However, using a separate file for each web page introduces problems with maintaining multiple files. As a web site becomes larger and more complex, the number of web pages generally would increase. Accordingly, the number of HTML flat files becomes larger. With the increase in the number of HTML flat files comes added complexity for the document creator or webmaster to manage those files.
A solution to the problem of managing a large number of HTML flat files is to include a plurality of a web site's pages in a single file. Here, each time the client requests one of the plurality of pages, the server would download to the client the entire single file containing the requested page as well as the other pages stored in the same file but not requested. Accordingly, when a client requests any of the web pages in the site, the entire file containing the requested page would be sent to the requesting client, including some non-requested pages. For a very small web site, a single file which contains all the web pages of the site could be used. Although, while storing all the pages in a single site may be feasible, as the size of the web site grows, the size of the single file would grow. Transmitting a large file containing all the web pages, or even a plurality of web pages, would likely cause the performance of the web site to be degraded, manifesting itself in long response times at the client, and increased network traffic.
Accordingly, in the conventional environment described above, an HTML document creator, or webmaster, is faced with either the system administration headache of managing and maintaining multiple, flat HTML files, or subjecting users to downloading one, potentially very large document for each request.
Also, a limitation of earlier versions of HTML-compliant web browsers is that only a single web page could be presented to a user at any particular time. Although the web provides tremendous capabilities for presenting a wide variety and great depth of information, this limitation of existing web browsers to display only a single page of information at a time limits the usefulness, and the power of the web.
A solution to this problem has been to include in web browsers a feature known as frames, as used in some of the NAVIGATOR products manufactured by Netscape Communications Corp. A frame-capable web browser, such as NAVIGATOR 3.0, allows a client to display, via the web browser, more than one frame at a time. This feature allows a user to display one set of information in one frame, while displaying another set of information in another frame, so that both frames are displayed by the web browser at the same time. FIG. 2 shows an example of a display generated by a frame-capable web browser. The display shown in FIG. 2 includes four frames of information displayed at the same time. As depicted in FIG. 2, a table of contents frame 20, shown on the left-hand side of the display, would list items related to the table of contents of a document. A header frame 22, shown in the upper portion the display, would contain information identifying the information shown in a main frame 24, depicted in the middle of the display of FIG. 2. The main frame 24 would contain detailed information related to the item selected in the table of contents frame 20. A footer frame 26 may also be included to present information at the bottom of the display, such as footnotes, or a number of links, for example.
In this frame-based environment if a user selects one of the items contained in the table of contents frame, a request for a URL is sent to the web server to direct it to send new information to be displayed in the main frame relating to that specific URL. For example, if the user selects an item in the table of contents frame, the web browser, in response, sends to the web server a request for a URL unique to that selected item. The web server receives the request for the URL which might identify a separate computer file on the server. The information in that file is transmitted to the web browser and the web browser displays the received information in the main frame.
In order to manage and identify the frames in which the information is to be displayed, the server requires that specific frames be identified in the HTML structure of the files at the server. For example, Table 1 shows an example of HTML source code necessary for creating the frames shown in FIG. 2. For example, frame tags are required in the HTML source code to identify a frame. Those frame tags include a frame source name (SRC) and attributes about the frame such as the location for display by the web browser (e.g., row and column sizes). Here for example, the table of contents frame is located in a separate file named TOC.HTM. The frame tag identifies the size of the frame and location of the frame. Similarly, the frame tags for the header, main and footer frames identify those frames as well as the relative positions of those frames for display by the web browser. Upon receiving these special frame tags, the frame-capable web browser decodes those frame tags. The web browser then displays the information relating to each frame in the corresponding frame. That information is displayed in areas at the location and relative size specified by the frame tags.
HTML Source Code for A Frame Based Web Browser
<TITLE>Title of Web Page With Frames</TITLE>
<FRAME SRC="header.htm">
<FRAME SRC="toc.htm">
<FRAME SRC="main.htm">
<FRAME SRC="footer.htm">
File: HEADER.HTM
Header Frame
File: TOC.HTM
Table of Contents Frame
File: MAIN.HTM
Main Frame
File: FOOTER.HTM
Footer Frame
Although use of frames provides another dimension of functionality for display of web-based information, web sites that use frames require web browsers to support the frame feature, in order to have information presented in the frames. While displaying information according to a frame paradigm can be useful in displaying web-based information, the size of the install base of non-frame-capable web browsers limits the use of frames. That is, in order to use frames, a frame-capable web browser must be installed on the client. However, because of the large number of installed web browsers which are not frame-capable, use of frames on web sites is often avoided, or else HTML code is included to generate both frame-based and non-frame-based web pages for transmission to frame capable and non-frame-capable web browsers. Creating two sets of data, one for frame-capable browsers and another for non-frame capable browsers, creates difficulties in managing and maintaining the redundant information.
Another problem with the use of presenting information in frames, is that a single, unified background image cannot be presented by a web-browser that presents frames of information.
The present invention is directed to solving the above problems. That is, the present invention is directed to presenting information over the World Wide Web in a manner such that information from different files or from the same file can be displayed at the same time in a related manner, but without requiring a frame-capable web browser.
An object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for managing internet presentation materials in a single file format for ease of administration while presenting to an internet requester only those portions of the file requested, for maximum performance.
Another object is to provide a system and method for presenting internet information using borderless presentation areas, where the background specification is decoupled from the presentation area specification.
Yet another object is to provide a system and method for using a dynamic web page builder to generate and manage multiple simultaneous presentation areas, including where one presentation area includes table of contents information covering other content on a web site and where the table of contents information is maintained continuously on-screen for ease of navigation through the web site.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method and system for generating presentation materials for transport over a network to a browser, in which the browser is not capable of handling frames.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a web macro, which is computer-readable and embodied on a tangible medium, and which directs generation of pages of presentation materials, wherein only a single instance of information is maintained, yet that information is used in generating a plurality of the pages of presentation material.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
FIGS. 1A and B respectively depict HTML source code for a web page and a display generated by a web browser based on that source code, as is known in the prior art;
FIG. 2 depicts frames produced by a frame-capable web browser, as is known in the prior art;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a client/server system for transmitting presentation materials from a web-based server to a client according to the invention;
FIG. 4 shows presentation of materials on a web browser according to the invention;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for describing a process of generating the presentation materials shown in FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 shows presentation of other materials on a web browser according to the invention;
FIG. 7 shows a display of materials with pseudo-frames, according to the invention; and
FIG. 8 shows a plurality of presentation areas with a uniform background across all the presentation areas.
A preferred embodiment of a method, system and article of manufacture for managing internet presentation materials in a single file format according to the present invention is described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is directed to a method, system and article of manufacture for managing internet presentation materials in a single file format. The invention takes advantage of properties of a dynamic HTTP application software 32 program which runs on a web server 30, as shown in FIG. 3. An example of a preferred dynamic HTTP application is NET.DATA manufactured by IBM Corp., although, other programs capable of dynamically creating internet/intranet information can be used. The dynamic HTTP application 32 allows information on a web page to be created or changed dynamically, while the application program is running, as opposed to maintaining merely static information which can be changed only by a system administrator, or similarly authorized person. The dynamic HTTP application 32 operates according to a web macro 34.
The web macro 34 includes programming statements and is an embodiment of the single file format of the present invention. The web macro can be stored on a tangible, computer-readable medium, such as a computer-readable disk or tape. However, the web macro 34 is not limited to those media and may be recorded on any media which can be read so that the programming statements are supplied to the dynamic HTTP application 32. Table 2 shows an example of a portion of a web macro according to the present invention. The web macro can be recorded in a single file and includes two sections. The first section of the web macro is a definition section, typically beginning with a statement of the form %define{variable_name={variable_value%}%}.
Web Macro with a Plurality of HTML Sections
% define {
header = {
IBM Internet Yellow Pages
% }
contents = {
Table of Contents

Purpose

Overview

Hot New Technology
% }
purpose = {
To rapidly communicate material and . . .

This internet site is updated . . .
% }
overview = {
IBM's Internet Yellow Page Solution is a
collection of IBM software and hardware
products . . .

Using IBM's award-winning database,
% }
footer = {
IBM home page|
Order|
Search|
% }
% }
% HTML(purpose) {
% }
% HTML(overview) {
% }
% }
Variables are defined within the %define section of the web macro. For example, five variables are defined in the %define section of the web macro shown in Table 2. The first variable defined in this example is the variable "header," followed by the variable "contents." Here, the value of the "contents" variable is text describing a table of contents for a series of charts used in a presentation. This example uses charts as the content of the web pages, merely to illustrate that the value of a variable can be essentially any type of information. Here, the Table of Contents includes at least three items, namely, Purpose, Overview and Hot New Technology. The third variable is named "purpose." The value of the variable "purpose" is text describing the purpose of the subject matter of the charts. As shown in Table 2 the value of the variable "purpose" is simply some paragraphs of text information. The fourth variable shown in this web macro is named "overview." Here too, the value of the variable "overview" is text information. The text in the "overview" variable is to be presented on the web page as part of the charts for presentation at the client. The fifth variable in the web macro is named "footer" and includes links for a menu bar displayed at the bottom of the page.
The second section of the web macro is the portion of the macro for generating HTML. In the example shown in Table 2 the statement %HTML{ . . . %} encompasses the HTML statements which are generated by the dynamic HTTP application. In the example shown in Table 2, the HTML generated is based on substitution of the contents of four variables for those variables. See %HTML(purpose){ . . . %} for example. The first variable is "header" which provides header information for a header to be included in the web page to be generated. The second variable is "contents." Here, the value of the variable "contents," which is discussed above, is inserted in the web page. Accordingly the variable "contents" in this example provides the Table of Contents to be displayed on the left-hand column of the web page, as shown in FIG. 4. In a frame-based system, which would require a frame-capable browser, the Table of Contents would correspond to a separate frame for displaying table of contents information. However, as seen here, separate frames are not required since the information can be displayed in a single web page generated by the dynamic HTTP application 32. The third variable in the HTML section is the variable "purpose". Here, the value of the variable "purpose" is inserted into the web page by the dynamic HTTP application, when the macro is interpreted. As shown in FIG. 4, the paragraphs defined as the values of the variable "purpose" are included in the HTML for the web page sent to the client 36. Accordingly, the web browser 38 displays those paragraphs in an area that would correspond to a main frame in a frame-based system. The last variable in the HTML section for this example is the variable "footer". Here, a footer is produced by generating corresponding HTML tags for the web page by substituting the contents of the variable "footer", resulting in a footer being displayed on the web page. The footer in FIG. 4 is a menu bar 59 shown at the bottom of the display.
Multiple HTML-input sections can be included in the web macro. In the example shown in Table 2, two HTML sections are defined. The first HTML section defines the case where a user has selected the "Purpose" item listed in the Table of Contents presented by the web browser. The result is an HTML web page generated which contains a header, a table of contents, a Purpose section presented in the middle portion of the display, and a footer, as shown in FIG. 4.
The web page shown in FIG. 4 includes a first area 50 (Table of Contents) and a second area 56 (Purpose), which are associated by the list of items in the first area.
Operation of the web macro according to the invention is described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5. When a requestor selects the Purpose item 52 listed in the table of contents area 50 of the display shown in FIG. 4, the first HTML section of the web macro shown in Table 2 is interpreted, thereby generating HTML for a web page. More specifically, when the Purpose item 52 is selected by the requester (step S100), the web browser 38 generates a message including a request for a URL, which is sent to the web server 30 to link to the Purpose page. The web server 30 passes the request for the URL to the dynamic HTTP application 32 (step S110). The dynamic HTTP application 32 invokes the web macro 34 and supplies the variable "purpose" to the web macro's HTML sections (step S120). In this case, the first HTML section corresponds to "purpose," and accordingly that portion of the HTML part of the web macro is interpreted by the dynamic HTTP application 32. When the first HTML section is interpreted, the value of the variable "purpose" is substituted for the variable "purpose", along with values of other specified variables being substituted (step S130). The result is the web page shown in FIG. 4 being generated (step S140). The web page shown in FIG. 4 includes the header 58, the table of contents 50, and the footer 59, and it also includes in a middle portion, or main area 56, the purpose information that is defined for the "purpose" variable. Here, the value of the "purpose" variable is shown in the middle portion of the display and includes the word "Purpose" and two paragraphs of text. In this manner when a requester selects an item from the first area 50, corresponding to the Table of Contents in this example, a request is sent to the web server 30 and ultimately to the dynamic HTTP application 32 to generate another web page which includes not only the information of the first area 50 (e.g., the table of contents information) but also second information corresponding to information displayed in the main area 56, here, the Purpose information. Once the HTML web page is generated and transmitted from the web server 30 to the client 36 (step S150), the web browser 38 displays the HTML page as shown in FIG. 4 (step S160). Other information such as header 58 and footer 59 information can also be included in the generated web page, for presentation at the client by the web browser.
Only portions of the web macro 34 requested by the user, are interpreted. Accordingly, a plurality of web page definitions can be stored and managed in a single file, i.e., the web macro, yet only those portions requested by a user are included in the web page generated from the web macro 34.
As another example, when the user selects the Overview item 53 in the Table of Contents 50, a URL is generated which identifies the "overview" variable. The corresponding request for the URL is transmitted to the web server 30. The web server 30 passes the request for the URL to the dynamic HTTP application which generates a new web page by interpreting the second HTML section of the web macro 34. Here the second HTML section, which is selected when the "overview" variable is identified, is interpreted since the URL identifies the variable "overview." As described above, a web page is then generated having the same header 58, footer 59 and Table of Contents information 50 as before, and also having an Overview portion 66, which is presented in a main area of the web browser display, as shown in FIG. 6. Here, the contents of the "overview" variable are substituted in the HTML generated for the requested web page. Similarly, the values of the other variables specified for the selected HTML section, are substituted when generating the requested web page. That requested web page, generated by the dynamic HTTP application, is passed to the server which transmits it to the client. The client 36 receives the generated HTML for the web page, passes it to the web browser 38 which displays it, thereby presenting the same header 58, footer 59 and table of contents 50 presented in the previous page, but now also presenting new information shown in the main area, namely, the Overview information 66.
In the manner described above, information is defined only once, in the variable definitions, and can be maintained in a single file, yet multiple web pages can be generated from that single instance of the information. Accordingly, the information which is used in multiple web pages can be maintained in only a single location, thereby eliminating the need to maintain a separate copy of that information for each web page in which it is used. Maintaining all the information for the web site in a single computer file simplifies the webmaster's task of having to keep track of all the separate files which comprise a web page, or web site. Moreover, by only providing those portions of the web page requested by a user, maintaining all the information for the web page or web site does not impact performance, since only the requested portions are transmitted. Furthermore, the single instance of the information stored in the web macro can be handled and presented with a non-frame capable web browser. Such a non-frame capable web browser can present the information, maintained in a single instance, because the client receives a complete web page in response to each selection of an item in the first area, rather than receiving only a frame of information. Accordingly, a web page generated according to the present invention and presented at the client using a non-frame capable web browser, gives the appearance of consisting of logical frames, without requiring the web browser to be capable of supporting frame tags. This appearance is a result of the information being dynamically updated at various locations of the display, yet the web browser does not need to support frame tags and must only be able to receive and present a single page of web information. Accordingly, the present invention provides the capability of giving the appearance of presenting information in frames, but does not require a frame-capable web browser to be installed on the client in order to present that information.
In another embodiment of the present invention the web macro 34 can include only a single HTML section, yet support generation of web pages that give the appearance of including a plurality of frames. Table 3 shows an example of a web macro 34 for the same web pages shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, but employs only a single HTML section. Here, the %define section of the web macro is the same as in the embodiment discussed above, in which the "header", "contents" and "footer" variables are defined the same as in the previously described embodiment. However, the variables for the main area of display are included in an "if" structure. Here, when the dynamic HTTP application 32 receives a request for a URL from the web browser 38 which indicates a particular item selected from the first area (e.g., the Table of Contents area), the variable in the "if" structure, corresponding to the received URL request, is evaluated to generate the HTML information to be transmitted to the client 36. For example, if a requester selects the Overview section, a request for the URL for "overview" is sent to the web server 30 which pass it to the dynamic HTTP application. The dynamic HTTP application executes the HTML section and evaluates the "if" statement. Accordingly, the value of the variable "overview" is substituted for the $(overview) statement in the HTML section of the web macro, since the argument passed to the HTML section is "overview." In this manner the same HTML section can be used for all the items listed in the Table of Contents area of the web page.
Web Macro with Single HTML Section
% define {
header = {
IBM Internet Yellow Pages
% {
contents = {
Table of Contents

Purpose

Overview

Hot New Technology
% }
purpose = {
To rapidly communicate material and . . .

This internet site is updated . . .
% }
overview = {
IBM's Internet Yellow Page Solution is a
collection of IBM software and hardware
products . . .

Using IBM's award-winning database,
% }
footer = {
IBM home page|
% }
%if ( "$(arg)" == "purpose" )
%elseif ( "$(arg)" == "overview")
% }
In still another embodiment the web browser 38 is controlled by the web macro and web server to make the presentation of the information in the web macro 34 appear even more like frames, by including borders around the various logical frames, or presentation areas, of the web page, as shown in FIG. 7. More specifically, the HTML generated based on the web macro 34 causes the web browser to create a pseudo-border 82 around each of the presentation areas defined in the HTML section, as shown in FIG. 7. Here, a border is drawn around one or more of the presentation areas of the web page. The border is defined by the HTML generated to produce the web page. The web page is constructed by the dynamic HTTP application 32 so that the client continues to receive a full web page upon each request. However, in this embodiment borders are also produced to more clearly delineate the boundaries between the different presentation areas displayed at the client.
In yet another embodiment, the web macro 34 allows a web page to be generated which include a plurality of presentation areas and a background. Here, the background is decoupled from the plurality of presentation areas so that the background appears uniform across the presentation areas. For example, if the web macro includes a background tag for pages that are generated, upon receiving a request for the Purpose information discussed above, the dynamic HTTP application would generate a web page having header, footer, Table of Contents and Purpose presentation areas, along with a single uniform background defined in the web macro. FIG. 8 shows an example of a web page created in which the macro, in the HTML section for the requested information, defines a background 80 to be displayed. As can be seen in FIG. 8, the background 80 appears uniform across all the presentation areas. This capability would not be possible were the web page implemented with frame tags.
In still yet another embodiment, the variables are defined in one or more different files. By use of "include" statements, the values of the variables can be retrieved from the files in which they are stored and included in the single web macro containing the HTML sections when that macro is invoked.
Other modifications and variations to the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing disclosure and teachings. Thus, while only certain embodiments of the invention have been specifically described herein, it will be apparent that numerous modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the present invention is described in terms of generating HTML as a language for producing the web page. However, the present invention is not limited to only the HTML language. Rather, the present invention includes any other language capable of being dynamically generated to express materials to be presented at a client. Also, the present invention is not limited to an HTTP application, but includes any other dynamic application capable of dynamically substituting values of variables to create presentation materials.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Feb 13, 1996
|Sep 1, 1998
|Microtouch Systems, Inc.
|Interactive system for authoring hypertext document collections
|Apr 11, 1997
|Feb 9, 1999
|Mercury Interactive
|Software system and associated methods for facilitating the analysis and management of web sites
|Apr 23, 1996
|Apr 13, 1999
|Infospinner, Inc.
|System for managing dynamic web page generation requests by intercepting request at web server and routing to page server thereby releasing web server to process other requests
|Sep 9, 1996
|Apr 20, 1999
|Design Intelligence, Inc.
|Design engine for automatic reformatting for design and media
|Mar 25, 1997
|Aug 31, 1999
|Premiere Communications, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for adding and altering content on websites
|"Net.Data Programming Guide", IBM Corp. 1997, pp. i-64.
|Derbort et al, "NETHELP User Friendly Interface", IEEE, Proceedings of Southeastcon '91, vol. 2, pp. 746-750, 1991.
|Lewis, Rita, "The Adobe PageMill 2.0 Handbook", Hayden Books, pp. 165-186, Dec. 1996.
|Newsome et al, "HyperSQL: Web-based Query Interfaces for Biological Databases", Proceedings of the Thirtieth Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, vol. 4, pp. 329-339, 1997.
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Jan 10, 2000
|Aug 14, 2001
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method and system for generating materials for presentation on a non-frame capable web browser
|Jan 26, 1999
|Oct 1, 2002
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method and system for searching web browser history
|May 22, 2000
|Aug 26, 2003
|Openwave Systems Inc.
|Method and system for providing resource access in a mobile environment
|Jan 5, 1999
|Jan 20, 2004
|Fujitsu Limited
|File management method, file display method, and file storage medium that enables display of an index file having a frame structure by both browsers that support and browsers that do not support frame functionality
|Jun 9, 2003
|Mar 30, 2004
|Openwave Systems Inc.
|Method and system for providing resource access in a mobile environment
|Dec 29, 1998
|Apr 20, 2004
|Fujitsu Limited
|Laying out markup language paragraphs independently of other paragraphs
|Feb 13, 2001
|Jul 5, 2005
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Customizing a graphical user interface of a host application
|Oct 10, 2000
|Sep 27, 2005
|Mshift, Inc.
|System for converting wireless communications for a mobile device
|Jan 10, 2000
|Sep 5, 2006
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method and system for generating materials for presentation on a non-frame capable web browser
|Jul 7, 2000
|Apr 3, 2007
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Live connection enhancement for data source interface
|Oct 16, 2003
|Jul 3, 2007
|Fujitsu Limited
|System, method and program for printing an electronic document
|Dec 6, 2002
|Sep 11, 2007
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method and system for playback of dynamic HTTP transactions
|Feb 23, 2010
|Philip R Krause
|Electronic text reading environment enhancement method and apparatus
|Jan 24, 2007
|Jul 6, 2010
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method, system and program for displaying pages downloaded from over a network in an application window
|Oct 19, 2007
|Oct 12, 2010
|Openwave Systems Inc.
|Apparatus for accessing a common database from a mobile device and a computing device
|Oct 19, 2007
|Feb 8, 2011
|Openwave Systems Inc.
|Mobile device for accessing a common database and a computing device
|Jul 15, 2008
|Feb 7, 2012
|Helmut Emmelmann
|Interactive server side components
|Mar 10, 2009
|May 29, 2012
|Tencent (Bvi) Limited
|Instant messaging system and method
|Mar 30, 2009
|May 29, 2012
|Tencent (Bvi) Limited
|Instant messaging system and method
|Mar 30, 2009
|Apr 2, 2013
|Tencent (Bvi) Limited
|Instant messaging system and method
|Nov 24, 1999
|Apr 9, 2013
|Helmut Emmelmann
|Interactive server side components
|Jan 17, 2007
|Sep 10, 2013
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Live connection enhancement for data source interface
|Mar 30, 2009
|Oct 15, 2013
|Tencent (Bvi) Limited
|Instant messaging system and method
|Mar 30, 2009
|Oct 22, 2013
|Tencent (Bvi) Limited
|Instant messaging system and method
|Dec 28, 2000
|Nov 12, 2013
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Data source interface enhanced error recovery
|Dec 17, 1999
|Dec 16, 2014
|Portus Singapore Pte Ltd
|Local and remote monitoring using a standard web browser
|Sep 9, 2013
|Apr 28, 2015
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Live connection enhancement for data source interface
|Oct 21, 2013
|May 26, 2015
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Data source interface enhanced error recovery
|May 15, 2001
|Nov 22, 2001
|Awele Ndili
|System for providing network content to wireless devices
|Dec 28, 2000
|Jan 17, 2002
|Lynh Nguyen
|Data source interface log files
|Jun 27, 2001
|May 9, 2002
|Murugan Palaniappan
|Menu infrastructure apparatus and method
|Dec 6, 2002
|Jun 10, 2004
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method and system for playback of dynamic HTTP transactions
|Oct 16, 2003
|Jul 1, 2004
|Fujitsu Limited
|System, method and program for printing an electronic document
|Dec 15, 2004
|May 5, 2005
|Awele Ndili
|System for converting wireless communications for a mobile device
|Jun 29, 2011
|May 10, 2012
|Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
|Display apparatus, remote controller and control method thereof
|Dec 20, 2012
|Microsoft Corporation
|Selection mapping between fetched files and source files
|Sep 27, 2012
|Mar 27, 2014
|Gururaj B. Shetty
|Automatically Creating Tables of Content for Web Pages
|Feb 4, 2010
|Jul 22, 2014
|Unwired Planet, Llc
|Method and apparatus for accessing a common database from a mobile device and a computing device
|Jan 25, 2002
|Sep 12, 2002
|Method and system for publishing a message on the internet using a dynamic page builder tool
|Aug 25, 2005
|Mar 2, 2006
|Thales Sa
|Method for rapidly navigating in a limited display computer system
|U.S. Classification
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Jul 11, 1997
Owner name: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, NEW Y
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:NAKAMURA, LEE EVAN;TATE, STEWART EUGENE;REEL/FRAME:008652/0872
Effective date: 19970709
|Jul 12, 2004
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Jul 9, 2008
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8
|Sep 3, 2012
|Maintenance fee reminder mailed
|Dec 31, 2012
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 12
|Dec 31, 2012
|Surcharge for late payment
Year of fee payment: 11


text:
Palestinians in Gaza speak of life under Israeli occupation.
"My Nigeria is my earth, my material, my jokes"
10 Feb 2013 16:28 GMT | Europe, France, Romania, United Kingdom
The French and British governments have promised to punish those found responsible for selling horse meat in beef products at the heart of a growing scandal that started in Britain but is quickly spreading to France.
Benoit Hamon, French consumer affairs minister, said on Saturday that an investigation had found that the horse meat had originated in Romania, although there were links with French, Dutch and Cypriot firms and a factory in Luxembourg.
Owen Paterson, UK environment minister, said more cases of contaminated food could emerge as British retailers conducted tests for horse meat on processed beef products.
The scandal threatens to affect consumer confidence in Europe's giant food industry, with pressure rising for greater checks.
The British unit of frozen foods group Findus began a recall this week of its beef lasagne from retailers on advice from its French supplier, Comigel, over concerns that some packs contained high levels of horse meat.
Findus France said it too had recalled lasagne and two other products after discovering that they included horse meat from Romania rather than beef from France as it had thought.
Sanctions warning
Hamon said an EU-wide alert had been sent out and that it was not yet clear whether there had been an intentional fraud or the meat had been sold as beef by accident.
"I can assure you that, whether it's a question of negligence or direct responsibility, there will be sanctions," Hamon said on iTele television.
Separately, Matthieu Lambeaux, Findus France's director-general, said in a statement the company would file a legal complaint on Monday.
"We thought we had certified French beef in our products. But in reality, we were supplied with Romanian horsemeat. We have been deceived," Lambeaux said.
Hamon said a Luxembourg factory had been supplied by the French firm Poujol, which had bought the meat frozen from a Cypriot trader, who in turn sub-contracted the order to a Dutch trader supplied by a Romanian abattoir.
However, Findus's supplier Comigel, a frozen foods producer based in eastern France, told a newspaper it had bought the meat from another French company, supplied from a Romanian abattoir.
In Britain Findus said it believed the contamination was deliberate.
"The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly suggests that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not accidental," it said.
London meeting
Findus's product recall was followed in Britain by supermarket chain Aldi, which withdrew two frozen beef products supplied by Comigel after they tested positive for horse meat.
Paterson summoned Britain's leading food retailers and representatives of food processors to an emergency meeting at his office in London on Saturday to discuss the crisis.
He said participants were determined to get to the bottom of a scandal which he said was either caused by "gross incompetence or what I suspect is an international criminal conspiracy".
Britain's government is under pressure to appear on top of the scandal, which comes less than a month after supermarket chain Tesco and fast food outlet Burger King found horse meat in beef burgers from an Irish supplier.
Britons generally do not eat horse meat, regarding its consumption as a quirk of French appetites.
However, the meat has also fallen out of favour with consumers in France.
Source: Agencies
In Britain and Sweden, horse meat is being passed off as beef in burgers as well as frozen products.
Business & Economy, Europe, Sweden, United Kingdom
Thanks to an innovative relocation programme, the Alameens' lives have changed dramatically after fleeing the war.
Refugees, Germany, Syrian crisis
After extending air war against fighters in Iraq, London contemplates military targets in Syria as well.
War & Conflict, United Kingdom, Middle East
Monsoon storms have wreaked havoc on Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims.
Rohingya, Human Rights, Weather
Critics lament New Delhi's fading pro-Palestinian stance at solidarity convention as Israel relations flourish.
Palestine, India, Gaza: After the war
Austrian police confirm final death toll, saying the refugees included eight women and four children.
Refugees, Politics, Europe, Mediterranean, Austria
Officials say 82 dead and at least 100 missing after boat sinks off Libyan coast in latest in series of disasters.
Humanitarian crises, Human Rights, Africa, Europe, Refugees
People & Power investigates South Korea's disturbing rise in suicides, particularly among the elderly.
Health, Poverty & Development, South Korea
A story of political skulduggery in Yemen and the high cost to the presidency of alleged collusion with the Houthis.
War & Conflict, Politics, Yemen
South Sudan's president talks about the ongoing violence, internal rivalries, and the future of his country.
Politics, South Sudan, Sudan
The comedian gives an insight into his street-smart Nigerian life as he gets his act together and grows his brand.
Arts & Culture, Africa, Nigeria

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Seven Deadly Synths (p. 40) Ex. 1: Virus_Demosong This onboard track demonstrates the distinctive sound of theAccess Virus, though you'll probably want to delete it to makeroom for additional Programs. Ex. 2: Neuron Anatomy The Hartmann Neuron's more ethereal timbres make the most of itshigh-quality reverb effect. Ex. 3: Sun Synthesis The Jomox SunSyn sounds quite good anywhere you might want a realanalog synth. Ex. 4: Supernova_Demo The Novation Supernova II Pro-X shows off its stuff in one of threefactory demos. Ex. 5: V-Synthable Roland's first all-DSP instrument, the V-Synth is capable ofsounds that no other synth can produce. Ex. 6: Tranquility8 The Omega 8, the flagship synth from American manufacturer StudioElectronics, sounds like a true analog synth because it is. Ex. 7: Waldorf_Zipfelchen Waldorf's onboard demo track only hints at the versatility ofthe Q+.
Adobe Audition Masterclass (p. 65) Use the file honkguitar.mp3 to try out AdobeAudition's powerful Parametric Equalizer tool, following the stepsdescribed in "Master Class: Passing the Audition."
Novation KS4 review ( p. 114). Read David Battino's extensive additional content, featuringdownloads, mp3s, pictures and more right here.
LinPlug Virtual Instruments VST Modular Synths ( p.126) CronoVoX.mp3 is an example of aspeech clip that was processed with LinPlug's CronoX 2 sample-basedmodular synth.
These are my comments.
Supro Royal Reverb Combo Reviewed
David Gilmour Plays the Blues | VIDEO
The Top Five Rarest Boss Compact Pedals | VIDEO
Eagles of Death Metal Announce New Album, Hit the Road With Bassist Matt McJunkins
Kiesel Guitars Announces Icon 2.0 Electric Basses
Michael Monroe Releases 'Blackout States' With Sami Yaffa on Bass
At last, a box to convert MIDI to old-school DIN sync and back again
Roland launches System-100 plug-out synthesizer
Malcolm Cecil among highlights at Chicagoland synth meet Knobcon 4
Gary Clark Jr. Premieres "Grinder" Music Video
Ghost Pedal Creates Wah Effect Without Physical Pedal | Video
Gabriella Quevedo Plays Fingerstyle Arrangement of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" | Video
Listen to Doomy New Slayer Song, 'Cast the First Stone'
Protest the Hero Announce 'Kezia' 10th Anniversary Tour
Agusa Premiere New Music Video, "Gånglåt från Vintergatan"
Slayer Premiere New Song, "Cast the First Stone"
Roth Erupts and Van Halen Stop Show When Fan Throws Beer Onstage — Video [NSFW]
The Byrds' 10 Greatest Guitar Moments
Copyright ©2015 by NewBay Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 28 East 28th Street, 12th floor, New York, NY 10016 T (212) 378-0400 F (212) 378-0470


text:
6 Comments
I do a walking "Colonial Tavern/Craft Beer" Sidetour and we see a number of the stone paved alleys along Front as we walk north towards Chestnut St. Other alleys included on the tour are named for taverns, such as Pewter Platter (now Church) just above Market from Front to Christ church as well as Black Horse Alley. We also check out Elbow Lane (connected to what is now Bank St. which formed the "elbow") where there were a number of taverns that served the twice-weekly "market" on High (Market) St.
There is one behind the houses at 2016 n howard street you should take a look
Great idea for a story. Thanks.
Loved the article. Is they're a website or book which listed all the alleys and footpaths in Philly ? I love old Philly and have often wished there was a alley tour for motorcycles and mopeds or bicycles . It's fun to discover these little places and see how people have made the most of them.
Recent Posts
Reviving The Potential Of Broad & Washington
Another development set for Broad & Washington, Old Navy flagship coming to Chestnut, Wawa to open early for Pope, Philly traffic numbers looking good, and some help on deciding which Fringe Fest events to attend > more
Courtyard Compass Reveals A City Off Axis
If you've ever feel like the city is just a tad off we have validating news for you. Philadelphia was built a few degrees left from its true north axis point. Contributor Joe Brin talks cartography and William Penn's city plan with Frank Morelli, Survey Bureau manager of the Streets Department > more
Fall Lighting Expected For North Broad Light Masts
Nutter and Clarke discuss the $8.7 million lighting of North Broad Street, committee okays further discussion on 2nd & Arch proposal, Francis Festival Grounds a more welcoming phrasing than Green Zone, and The Fillmore gets ready for October unveil > more
Global Media's Tour Of Philly To Draw Connections With Pope, Church
Preeminent tour guide preparing for global media, the Commerce Department coming through with kiosks on 52nd Street, lackluster infill by Clark Park, and life after the Fringe Fest > more
Before The Pope, The Days Of The Revivalists
Imagine if the papal visit and World Meeting of Families lasted four whole months. Harry K takes us inside the Union Tabernacle revival tent, where Protestant ministers and true believers spiritualized the city from several neighborhood locations in the mid-1800s > more
First Annual Belmont Plateau Hall of Fame Classic To Be Run This Sunday
5K will support maintenance of recently restored Belmont Plateau trails, 90% of Indego stations "healthy," Ralph Brooks Park officially open on Monday, and a neighborhood plan for Walnut Hill > more


text:
The Good Grammar leader warned that now apostrophes are gone, commas could be next
Like this page on Facebook for updates
Book review: Rustication, By Charles Palliser
Friday 15 November 2013
A spider's web of intrigue and violence is woven in this fiction
Cambridge 'Rear of the Year' competition caught out over trademark infringement
Thursday 14 November 2013
The owner of "Rear of the Year" trademark hits out at "The Cambridge Tab"
Angry Cambridge pensioner hits out at passing cyclist with bag of dog poo
Tuesday 12 November 2013
A pensioner was walking her dog in a leafy Cambridge suburb when she came up with a memorable and slightly disgusting way of dealing with the scourge of cyclists who had been winding her up for some time.
Watchdog orders sale of cinemas
Wednesday 09 October 2013
The movie giant Cineworld is being forced to sell three cinemas by the Competition Commission after its £47.3m acquisition of the arthouse group Picturehouse.
Cambridgeshire Police investigate deaths of 20 swans and ducks
Thursday 26 September 2013
It is understood there were no visible signs of injury
Planned bondage classes described as 'relationship support group meeting' cancelled after village hall mix-up
Wednesday 25 September 2013
Trustees for a village hall have cancelled planned bondage classes, saying their premises were hired under false pretences.
Mayfair developers are hoping for a happy landing with Cambridgeshire airfield project
Sunday 15 September 2013
Restaurant review: Rainbow Café, 9a King's Parade, Cambridge
Sunday 15 September 2013
Cambridge's Rainbow Café is rather better on the palette than the palate, says Amol Rajan
Stephen Hawking's on the team - but why no Bruce Willis? World's biggest brains get together to work out how to save us all from the end of the world
Thursday 12 September 2013
Leading scholars establish centre for the study of 'existential risk' in order to prepare for potentially devastating events
BBC independence at risk from NAO regulation, warns James Purnell
Thursday 12 September 2013
The BBC's journalistic independence could be threatened if the National Audit Office (NAO) is allowed to investigate the corporation at will, James Purnell, the former minister who became a high-profile BBC recruit, has warned.
Police hold 19 for museum thefts
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Seventeen men and two women have been arrested in connection with raids on museums and auction houses in which artefacts worth millions of pounds were stolen.
Countrywide police raids recover stolen museum loot worth millions
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Multiple arrests in joint police operation involving 26 forces
What's it like being at Cambridge as an American student?
Friday 06 September 2013
Deanie Vallone was catapulted from a small American college into studies at Cambridge. It was a culture shock alright - but a positive one
Exclusive: Slaughtered bodies stripped of their flesh - a gruesome glimpse of Iron-Age massacre at UK's largest hill fort
Wednesday 04 September 2013
Hundreds if not thousands stripped of their flesh and chopped up, say archaeologists
Richard III had stomach worms, research reveals
Wednesday 04 September 2013
Richard III suffered from a roundworm infection, according to research carried out on his skeleton.
Changing perceptions: the model born with a rare condition that left her with no teeth, alopecia and partially blind
Climate change: 2015 will be the hottest year on record 'by a mile', experts say
Senior British politicians tell David Cameron: When dead children are being washed up on beaches, it's time to act
Jeremy Corbyn calls Osama bin Laden's killing a 'tragedy' - but was it taken out of context?
If these extraordinarily powerful images of a dead Syrian child washed up on a beach don't change Europe's attitude to refugees, what will?
If you're not already angry about the refugee crisis, here's a history lesson to remind you why you really should be
Theresa May says migrants should be banned from entering the UK unless they have jobs lined up
- 1 Three-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jewish children told 'the non-Jews' are 'evil' in worksheet produced by London school
- 2 Moscow voted the world's unfriendliest city
- 3 The excuses your boss is most likely to believe when you call in sick
- 4 I'm pansexual – here are the five biggest misconceptions about my sexuality
- 5 More than 11,000 Icelanders offer to house Syrian refugees to help European crisis


text:
Phanteks PH-TC12DX Tower CPU Cooler Review - Packaging
The packaging is very typical of a Phanteks product with the white background and the black waves off to the left. This time however there is a cropped look at the new cooler, and a view of all four colored versions around it.
The right side of the packaging is black, and in white test it offers a full list of the coolers specifications, and the scope of delivery.
On the back there is a bit about the design and shape of the PH-TC12DX cooler and how it should improve your performance if you were to choose this over a similar cooler. It is then repeated in nine other languages.
The last panel on the packaging covers the P.A.T.S. and C.P.S.C., the fans, the SoliSku mounting, covers the pipes and their alignment, and finishes with a description of the thermal compound. At the bottom you get an image of the blue and red versions, but even here the images are distorted and skewed.
Lifting the lid on the packaging allows you a view of quite a lot of high density foam surrounding the cooler. It has a notch cut away on the left to allow the hardware box a secure place to travel in, well away from the cooler.
Removing the foam block and hardware reveals the multi-lingual paperwork that was slid down the one side of the box.
Once I removed half of the foam block surrounding the cooler, you can see that the pair of fans is kept separated from the fin body, again to make sure no damage occurs in transit. There is even a thin layer of foam shipped between the sections of fins in this split tower design.
PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.
United States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon's website.
United Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon UK's website.
Australia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at PLE Computer's website.
Canada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon Canada's website.
- We at TweakTown openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion of our content. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here.
Related Tags
Recommended for You
Latest News Posts
- Acer shows off Chromebook R 11, a convertible Chromebook
- Vantage Robotics shows off Snap, a safe drone with a 4K camera
- Star Wars: Battlefront won't have server browsers on PC
- We are looking for a professional YouTuber for video content
- Digitize Photos, Important Files, and More in 8 Seconds
Forum Activity
- Seagate Backup Plus STDA4000100 4TB External Portable HDD Review
- GA-Z97X Gaming 7 + Samsung SM951 256 gb
- SanDisk Connect Stick 64GB Wireless Flash Drive Review
- GA-EP45-UD3R doesn't boot with Dual Channel (After Clean PC)
- carvedilol 3.125 mg information. Purchase online.
Press Releases
- SilverStone Storage Devices - Mobile Series - MS08
- ASRock Z170 OC Formula Sets More Records at IDF 2015 San Francisco!
- ATTO Technology to Display Network and Storage Connectivity Portfolio at VMworld 2015


text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Mar 21, 2006
|Filing date
|Feb 18, 2000
|Priority date
|Feb 18, 2000
|Fee status
|Publication number
|James G. Douvikas, Terry R. Sheehy, Christopher W. T. McKay
|Original Assignee
|Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (38), Classifications (8), Legal Events (5)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the patent and trademark office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to electronic commerce, more specifically electronic storage and retrieval of information.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ordinary paper business card has become ubiquitous worldwide. Social rituals have even developed concerning the exchange and scrutiny of these small slips of cardboard. By some estimates, billions of business cards change hands every day, yet the cards themselves have numerous shortfalls. Each business card contains only static information on the cardholder, i.e., the person for whom the card was printed and whose name is on the card. Business cards must be reprinted every time any cardholder information (such as a phone number, electronic mail [email] address, or title) changes. Business cards consume not inconsequential amounts of space, yet lack an inherent card-to-card organization. Thus, it can be difficult to retrieve information from a stack of cards, especially if that stack numbers in the hundreds or thousands of cards.
Privacy of information is also a growing issue among modern business people. By definition, the information on a card is public, yet other information (such as a mobile or home phone number) is necessarily shared with some acquaintances. In such situations, the cardholder or recipient must fumble for a pen and the additional data must be dictated and captured.
Dynamic access to the cardholder by others is not addressed by the prior art business card, as it only shows static location information as of the last printing of the card. Thus, if a business person is based in Huntington, N.Y. but happens to be traveling to San Jose, Calif., that person's business card will not reflect the California address or phone numbers.
Electronic means of capturing and storing conventional business card data are currently known. Examples of this technology include card scanners, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices and related software, electronic address books, commercial email programs such as Microsoft� Outlook having their own electronic address books, "smart phones" or PDA/wireless communication device hybrids, Internet (also referred to as the World Wide Web, or simply "Web") based contact organizers, and the like. This technology all suffers from the same limitation in that it generally lacks multi-level privacy for users and cardholders, it cannot help locate the cardholder, it (generally) lacks the ability to seamlessly export to or import from other database systems, and (with the possible exception of some prior art Web-based contact organizers) it lacks centralized control and universal access.
What is needed is a widely-accessible electronic service and method for organizing contact information entered by cardholders, including but not limited to all of the information on a standard business card. This service must provide for the ability to export data to standard databases. Privacy of information should be configurable at an information record and field level by the cardholder so that access to some records and some fields in all records can be denied to certain people while access to other records and fields is still allowed. A location feature to allow service users to determine how to best reach a listed cardholder at a given time is also desirable. A dynamic electronic link, such as the well-known Internet hyperlink, is also needed to connect the recipients of email from a cardholder to the service.
In one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic business card (EBC) access and organization system operates from a Web-based computer system that includes a database and software for managing access, data privacy, and dynamic updates. The cardholder database, i.e., the database containing records of each registered cardholder (or "Member" of the EBC system), is accessible from any Web browser connected to the Internet. Examples of such common Web browsers are Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape� Navigator�. In an alternate embodiment, the EBC system may be installed behind a conventional network "firewall" security device and thus made accessible only to browsers connected to and authorized to use the intranet defined by and behind the firewall.
Access to and delivery of contact information in the EBC system is not limited to a Web browser interface as commonly known today. Some embodiments of the present invention provide multi-mode access interfaces, including but not limited to interfaces using voice-controlled and conventional wireless PDA and/or cell phones, two-way pagers, and wireless access protocol (WAP)-enabled devices. Further embodiments of the present invention provide data delivery interface embodiments using, for example, the common alphanumeric pager, wireless markup language (WML), or voice delivery (e.g., audio playback) systems commonly used in the art.
In some embodiments of the present invention, electronic mail sent by the cardholder is automatically formatted to contain a signature hypertext link, according to the well-known hypertext markup language (HTML) standard or any of its common variants, directing recipients of the email to the electronic business card access and organization system. This hyperlink enables the recipient of the email to rapidly access the EBC system to locate the cardholder and/or obtain additional information. In effect, receipt of an email containing the hyperlink enables the recipient to easily become a user. In some embodiments, the signature hyperlink is part of the vCard feature known and implemented in common email programs such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape Communicator�. In an alternate embodiment, the signature hyperlink is implemented using the well-known email signature block feature.
The present disclosure may be better understood and its numerous features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.
The electronic business card (EBC) access and organization system consists of a hardware complex providing the physical interface to the Internet, firewall security, web server functionality, data storage, and system redundancy protection. The hardware is controlled and operated by computer instructions (i.e., software) in various forms, including but not limited to microcode, firmware, assembly and other high-level language modules. The EBC system is the integration of the hardware and software elements to perform the functions and provide the features noted in the Summary above.
Hardware Platform
In one embodiment of the present invention, the EBC access and organization system (also referred to as ecardfile™, the Hewlett-Packard� product embodying a certain aspect of the present invention) is run on 4 N-class Hewlett-Packard 9000 computers 110, as shown in
Although an N-class Hewlett-Packard 9000 is described, those skilled in the art will realize that servers other than the N-class Hewlett-Packard 9000 can be used. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to any particular type or brand of server.
Web Servers
The two front-end web servers 110A and 110B are served by a two Cisco Systems�, Inc. Catalyst™ 5505 switches 130A and 130B, which are served by two Cisco Local Director™ units 140A and 140B, which in turn are server by two Cisco PIX� Firewall units 150A and 150B. The firewall units 150 connect through an internet service provider (ISP) local area network (LAN) 160 to the Internet 170.
The web servers are running, in one embodiment of the present invention, the Stronghold� Apache web server operating program, available from C2Net, Inc. This is a 128 bit secured web server. Other commercially-available server operating programs are also useable.
The Local Director units 140A and 140B load balance the incoming requests to the two web servers 110A and 110B by switching packets in switches 130A and 130B.
The web content (resident in web servers 110A and 110B) is dynamically built with the aid of server-side Java™ applications known as servlets. The JRun™ servlet engine (in one embodiment of the present invention, version 2.3, build 145) executes these servlets, with the aid of a dynamic loaded module within the Apache web server operating program. The servlets are written to conform to the Java Servlet Development Kit API v2.1, available from Sun Microsystems, in order to properly interface with the Apache web server software.
The biggest advantage in using servlets as opposed to other web development tools is performance. A single Java virtual machine (in one embodiment of the present invention, the HP-UX Java Virtual Machine version 126.96.36.199) runs on the server and the servlet is loaded once when it is called. It is not loaded again until the servlet changes, and a modified servlet can be re-loaded without restarting the server. The servlet stays resident in memory and is very fast. Static or persistent information can be shared across multiple invocations of the servlet, allowing the sharing of information between multiple users. For instance, a single database connection can be use by multiple browser requests.
Database Server
The database servers 110C and 110D run, in one embodiment of the present invention, Informix� Dynamic Server� Version 7.31.UC4. Other database server software packages and versions are also useable. Access to the database is via the industry standard JDBC applications programming interface (API) and Informix′ JDBC drivers (in one embodiment of the present invention, driver version 1.40.JC2). The use of JDBC ensures scalability and database and platform independence.
User Interaction
A user's interaction with the ecardfile EBC system, according to one embodiment of the present invention, is illustrated in
Interaction begins at step 200. The user starts a conventional Web browser, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, 210, and enters the ecardfile Uniform Resource Locator (URL) 215. This URL is the Internet address of the EBC system hardware described above and is defined, disseminated, and maintained through means well-known in the art. Upon receipt and processing of the URL by Internet 170 (generally speaking), the user's browser is redirected to a secure web site 218 by conventional techniques common in the art.
Once connected, ecardfile returns the web browser codes (e.g., HTML) to the user to display the Member Login screen, shown in one embodiment in
In step 230 of
The search begins 250 when the user selects the "Go" button 370 or 375 corresponding to the type of search desired in step 240. The EBC system returns results 260 in the Results Screen 410 shown in
A user may chose, at step 220 of
This selection brings up Terms screen 610 (
The selection of Continue button 630 brings up, in step 525, New User data entry screen 710 in window 310 (shown in
Although a three-level (Private, Semi-Private, and Public) privacy scheme is described, those skilled in the art will realize that privacy (or security) schemes implemented in more than three levels can be used. For example, a variety of different user groups can be defined with exclusive Semi-Private access given to some groups over others on a field-by-field basis. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to any particular number of privacy levels.
Once all requested information has been entered (or left blank, where optional as defined by the EBC system), the user chooses to continue or not at step 535. If the user decides not to continue by pressing Cancel button 740 (
If the user accepts the terms of use, and email message is automatically dispatched 550 by the EBC system to the new Member's designated authorizing email address (field 750 in
Meanwhile, the user (now a Member) receives an authorization email message by conventional means. In one embodiment of the present invention, such an email message is as shown in Table 1 below. This email authorization method provides a measure of additional security by ensuring that each Member is associated with a valid email address. The email address is also used to verify a user identity in case of a lost password: on the user's request, the password will be sent to the authorized email address only.
When the user selects the embedded hyperlink (in this example, the string beginning http://ecardfile.com . . . ) in step 570, the EBC system directs the Member (in step 580) to home page 1010 in window 310 (
TABLE 1 Welcome! You have been added as a new Member of ecardfile.com. To activate your password, please click on the Web address below: http://ecardfile.com/search?op=Confirm&eCardId=terry&createId= 0Av4Jj6nWZwA4 You can also type the above Web address into your Web browser. Once you have connected to the ecardfile.com site through the above address, your password activation is complete, and you can begin to enjoy the ease and convenience of having your business contact information on the Web. If you do not connect to ecardfile.com through the above address within two weeks, your card will be deactivated. We look forward to having you as an ecardfile.com Member! firstname.lastname@example.com
Export Process
The user next selects the export button 1710 (
The exported card is formatted into a pre-defined data file structure readable by one or more conventional and commercially-available contact management programs. In some embodiments, custom export file formats may also be defined by the user to provide even wider connectivity and cross-platform utility.
"Where Am I?" Contact Location Tracking
The process of setting up a temporary location pointer for a specific Cardholder/Member begins in step 1110 of
The Member then selects an icon or button denoting the function "Edit My Card." In one embodiment of the present invention, this function is iconified in button 395. In response, the EBC system displays (step 1140) a user information screen (not shown) in window 310. The Member there selects a button denoting the function "Where Am I?" in step 1150.
At this point (step 1160), the EBC system displays "Where Am I?" screen 1210 (
To exit the "Where Am I?" information dialog, the Member clicks Okay button 1220 (step 1167), to save the "Where Am I?" data, or the Back button 1230 to cancel "Where Am I?" data input. The process returns to a display of the user information screen, step 1140, and stops, step 1199.
Signature Hyperlinking
The process of exporting a signature hyperlink, shown in
Either the signature hyperlink or the vCard (which can also contain a hyperlink) can then be used by conventional email programs. Electronic mail sent by the cardholder is automatically formatted to contain a signature hypertext link, according to the well-known hypertext markup language (HTML) standard or any of its common variants, directing recipients of the email to the electronic business card access and organization system. This hyperlink enables the recipient of the email to rapidly access the EBC system to locate the cardholder and/or obtain additional information. In effect, receipt of an email containing the hyperlink enables the recipient to easily become a user. In some embodiments, the signature hyperlink is part of the vCard feature known and implemented in common email programs such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape Communicator�. In an alternate embodiment, the signature hyperlink is implemented using the well-known email signature block feature.
ecardfile Help Screens
The following topics are the subject of individual help screens, available to any EBC system user or Member by pushing (in some embodiments of the present invention) the Question Mark ("?") button 390, shown in, e.g.,
Become a Member
As an ecardfile Member, you set up your own Card Profile and establish your own unique Card ID and Password. Then, whenever you log in, you are located at your personal ecardfile and can view cards from other Members and add them into your ecardfile.
Let's walk through the process of becoming a Member.
After your membership is confirmed, you can log in to ecardfile.com using your Card ID and password. After log in, you are brought to your personal ecardfile area. Here is where you can store other Member cards and perform functions such as adding, deleting, changing the privacy level access to your Card that you have given to other Members, and exporting a card to your address book.
It's a good idea to keep your "Where Am I?" information current. To access it, click on the My Card Profile icon and scroll to the bottom of the screen.
The more people you know who join ecardfile.com, the easier it is to use this convenient way to access business information. To help get the word out, please download your personal email signature or vCard (accessible from the export button at the bottom of your Card Profile) and attach it to all your emails. When people receive email from you, they can click on your signature link and go directly to your Card Profile in ecardfile.com. From there, they can also choose to become ecardfile Members, if they are not Members already.
Set Up Your Card
When filling in your Card Profile, please keep a few concepts in mind: When selecting your Card ID, use up to 40 alphanumeric characters. Because you will be giving out this ID to your business and personal contacts, make your ID simple and easy to remember; it's use is similar to that of your email username. Although ecardfile.com also enables you to be looked up through a first name/last name search, it will usually be much faster for people to look you up by your Card ID.
When selecting your password, use up to 10 alphanumeric characters. Make your password something easy for you to remember and hard for others to guess.
As you are entering information into your Card Profile, please keep in mind that ecardfile.com gives you three levels of privacy for each field:
Level 1—Public. Information at this level will be displayed to anyone who looks up your card. This could be anyone viewing cards from the World Wide Web, whether you know them or not.
Level 2—Semi-Private. Information at this level will displayed only to other ecardfile Members who are in your personal ecardfile and who have been designated to receive your semi-private information.
Level 3—Private. Information at this level will displayed only to other ecardfile Members who are in your personal ecardfile and who have been designated to receive your private information.
All field information is set to private when you first fill out a Card Profile. Be sure to select other privacy levels for fields that are either semi-private or public.
The Email Auth field is used only by ecardfile.com for verification purposes. It is never displayed on your Card. You must enter a current email address in the Email Auth field. Once you complete the Card Profile and click "OK," ecardfile sends an email to this address and waits for your reply before authorizing your membership and enabling you to log in. This authorization process has been designed to protect your privacy and identity.
Add Others' Cards to Your ecardfile
From your personal ecardfile screen, use the Look Up fields to view the card of the Member you want to add. When the card is displayed, press the Add icon.
If you would like to give this Member access to your semi-private or private ecardfile information, be sure to change the privacy level displayed next to the Member's name. See the help topic "Set/change privacy levels" for more information.
Exchange Cards with Others
In order to protect your privacy, ecardfile.com offers several ways you can exchange cards with others.
For example, let's say a new person, Hans, has joined your project team; he works out of your company's Munich office, and you are in Los Angeles. Hans is not yet a Member of ecardfile.com.
Set Up "Where Am I?"
From your Card Profile, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on "Where Am I?" You'll have the option to input a current phone number, details about your whereabouts, and an expiration date. Note that you can specify different privacy levels for the phone number, details and expiration fields, so you might want your phone number to be public, while the details of where you are remain private. To see another Member's "Where Am I?" information, select her card from your personal ecardfile or look up her card. When the card is displayed, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on "Where Am I?"
The expiration date uses the date at the ecardfile server's location, US Pacific Standard Time (PST). The expiration date is customizable to the ecardfile Member's own location.
Set Up Your Email Signature
Use this function to download a signature file or a vCard from ecardfile.com to your email system. Access it by going to your Card Profile, scrolling to the bottom of the screen, and clicking on Export. Then follow the instructions on the screen to export to your particular email system.
A signature file has an HTML link to your Card; when downloaded, the signature file will embed the link into all of your email messages. When someone reads your message and wants to view your contact information, he just clicks on the HTML link and is immediately connected to your Card and your up-to-the-minute contact information.
A vCard is a file that holds your contact information in a standard format. Some email packages such as Microsoft Outlook and Netscape Communicator recognize this format and can treat it in a special way. Because it is not a live link, it may display old or inaccurate information, particularly if someone is reading an old email message from you.
If your email package, or more importantly the message recipient's email package, does not support HTML tags or vCards, you may cut and paste the HTML link displayed and attach it to your messages. The recipient just clicks or cut and pastes the HTML link into a browser and is immediately connected to your Card and your up-to-the-minute contact information.
Export Cards to Your Address Book
Use this function to download cards from your personal ecardfile to your email address book.
Contact ecardfile.com Support Hyperlink
Here, an email window automatically pops up if this link is selected, and ecardfile.com's technical support address is automatically inserted into the "To" field.
Get Help on a Specific Screen, Field or Icon
To get help on a specific screen or field, place the mouse arrow on the gray bar of the screen and press the "Help" key on the keyboard.
To get help on a specific icon, pass the mouse over the icon, and the icon title will display.
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that many other methods of activating context sensitive help are known in the art; the present disclosure is intended to encompass all such well-known methods and is not limited to any single form.
Set/Change Privacy Levels
ecardfile.com gives you two ways to control who sees what information about you: You can designate each field in your Card Profile with a specific privacy level that governs private, semi-private or public viewing of that field. Alternatively, you can specify which Members have access to which level of privacy about you. If a particular Member has access to your semi-private information, he or she will see all of the fields marked public or semi-private when viewing your card.
Designate Your Card Profile Privacy:
To change privacy levels on a field in your Card Profile (for example, to make your business email address, which had been public, semi-private) click on the My Card Profile icon and then click the appropriate new privacy button next to the email address field. A public field has the open padlock icon selected. A semi-private field has the partly-open padlock icon selected. A private field as the closed padlock icon selected.
Specify Member Privacy:
Let's say you want to give your new manager access to your private information.
Now, whenever your new manager accesses your Card, she will see all information you have designated as public, semi-private and private.
Software Implementation
In one embodiment of the present invention, the controlling software application providing some of the EBC system functionality is called Boomerang. The Boomerang application has five major components, shown schematically in
Boomerang is designed to scale and perform well under extreme loads. It is designed to operate on multiple processors simultaneously, i.e., with multiple instances of objects and methods. Multiple Web servers and Java virtual machines may be used as server loading and traffic demands.
In one embodiment of the present invention, most of the Boomerang application, Web server 1360 (in one embodiment of the present invention, Stronghold Apache), JRun Servlet Engine 1370, and a Remote Memory Invocation (RMI) registry will run on each of the two Web server machines 110A and 110B (
Software Components
In the following discussion, the terms "Member" and "user" are used interchangeably to refer to a person who has established a login identify in the EBC system. Strictly speaking, however, a Member is a person who has completed the New Member process and properly replied to the authorization email; user is a person who has not.
Session Manager 1310
When the system is first accessed, a session will be created. This session will be identified by a unique session ID. This ID will be used for the following tasks.
Once a user has successfully logged in, the session ID will make a record of this fact so that when a user returns to a page that requires user authentication or identification, the user will not be re-prompted to login. The session ID will be passed from Web page to page as either a hidden field in a form or by rewriting the URL, both well-known techniques in the art. Alternatively, the user may be given the option of saving authentication information in a local file, known in the art as a cookie. The system will check for this cookie prior to displaying the login page.
The session ID will expire if it has not been accessed in a time configured by the EBC system administrator.
Login Servlet 1320
This servlet is activated when a function requiring user authentication is called and the user has not yet logged in. The login screen is shown and user name and password input received. The input name and password are matched against a users table. If the user name is found and the proper password supplied, the request (and session ID, if present) is passed to the Search Servlet.
Search Servlet 1330
The Search Servlet requests a session ID if one was not passed to it, or validates the ID if one was passed. If the requested operation requires user authentication and the user has not already logged in, the Login Servlet is called. All URL and form parameters are passed to the application logic of the servlet for processing.
After processing the URL and form parameters, a HTML document (e.g., a results screen) is returned to the requester, typically the browser window.
JDBC Objects/Classes 1340
These consist of generic JDBC classes that execute queries and return results in a Java hash table indexed by column name. To make more efficient use of database resources, all structured query language (SQL) statements are prepared at servlet initialization.
Also at servlet initialization, database connection pool 1390 creates a number of connections to the database, the precise number of which is configurable by the EBC system administrator. These connections are utilized by each servlet thread on an as-needed basis. Additional connections are created as demand requires; inactive connections are periodically recycled.
HTML Template Engine\
All pages displayed by the Boomerang application, including the help and information screens, are dynamically generated. The base HTML code and image links for these pages are stored as template files which are preloaded on servlet initialization. These files are parsed and custom tags replaced with data extracted from the database (or calculated) before sending the page to the requestor and display to the user.
Administration Programs
In addition to the Boomerang application, the EBC system also includes a set of shell and SQL scripts that operate on a periodic basis (i.e., are activated by cron) to perform housekeeping and maintenance tasks. In particular, the following program functions are required.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that these functions may be implemented in a single program or script or in a set of programs and/or scripts. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited by the method of implementation of these functions.
Database Schema
The notations PK, FK1, and I1–I5 represent SQL field labels. SERIAL, in particular, is a well-known data type.
Although a particular database schema and naming convention for records and fields is described, those skilled in the art will realize that schema other than that described can also be used. Accordingly, the invention is not limited to any particular type of database schema.
Alternate Embodiments
In an alternate embodiment, the EBC system may be installed behind a conventional network "firewall" security device and thus made accessible only to browsers connected to and authorized to use the intranet defined by and behind the firewall.
Access to and delivery of contact information in the EBC system is also not limited to a Web browser interface as commonly known today. Some embodiments of the present invention provide multi-mode access interfaces, including but not limited to interfaces using voice-controlled and conventional wireless PDA and/or cell phones, two-way pagers, and wireless air protocol (WAP)-enabled devices.
Further embodiments of the present invention provide data delivery interface embodiments using, for example, the common alphanumeric pager, wireless markup language (WML), or voice delivery (e.g., audio playback) systems commonly used in the art.
The EBC system also provides an advanced search function that allows users to search for records matching specific, desired characteristics. The search can be made based on one or more of a variety of database parameters, including but not limited to field value (e.g., NAME=Sheehy), date of entry, or a Boolean combination of search terms.
In an alternate embodiment of the "Where Am I?" location tracking feature, the cardholder can rapidly designate one of a pre-defined set of contact locations described by meatspace address, phone number, FAX number, and/or email address.
The order in which the steps of the processes depicted above are performed is purely illustrative in nature. In fact, the steps in each process flow can be performed in any order or in parallel, unless otherwise indicated by the present disclosure.
The method of the present invention may be performed in either hardware, software, or any combination thereof, as those terms are currently known in the art. In particular, the present method may be carried out by software, firmware, or microcode operating on a computer or computers of any type. Additionally, software embodying the present invention may comprise computer instructions in any form (e.g., source code, object code, or interpreted code) stored in any computer-readable medium (e.g., ROM, RAM, magnetic media, punched tape or card, compact disc (CD) in any form, DVD). Furthermore, such software may also be in the form of a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, such as that found within the well-known Web pages transferred among computers connected to the Internet. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to any particular platform, unless specifically stated otherwise in the present disclosure.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspect and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit of this invention.
Trademark Notices
Cisco Systems and PIX are registered trademarks and Catalyst, Local Director are trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose Calif.
Hewlett-Packard and HP-UX are registered trademarks and MC-Service Guard and ecardfile are trademarks of the Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif.
Informix is a registered trademark and Informix Dynamic Server is a trademark of Informix Software, Menlo Park, Calif.
Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. JRun is a trademark of Allure Corp., Cambridge, Mass.
Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash.
Netscape, Netscape Navigator, and Netscape Communicator are registered trademarks of Netscape Communications Corp., Mountain View, Calif.
Stronghold is a registered trademark of C2Net, Inc., Oakland, Calif.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Jun 13, 1996
|Mar 24, 1998
|Object Technology Licensing Corporation
|Method and apparatus for displaying business cards
|Jul 20, 1995
|Jun 9, 1998
|National Semiconductor Corporation
|Method for switching between a data communication session and a voice communication session
|Jun 28, 1996
|Dec 21, 1999
|Yale University
|Document stream operating system
|Dec 11, 1996
|Jan 25, 2000
|The Robert G. Uomini And Louise B. Bidwell Trust
|System for adding to electronic mail messages information obtained from sources external to the electronic mail transport process
|Dec 8, 1998
|Mar 27, 2001
|Infospace, Inc.
|On-line directory service through the internet
|Apr 23, 1997
|Aug 27, 2002
|Nortel Networks Limited
|Electronic business cards
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Aug 15, 2006
|Dec 18, 2007
|Sierra Wireless, Inc.
|Token-based web browsing with visual feedback of disclosure
|Nov 7, 2003
|Jun 17, 2008
|Plaxo, Inc.
|Viral engine for network deployment
|Jun 14, 2004
|Jul 6, 2010
|Palmsource Inc.
|Method and apparatus for importing and exporting directory and calendar information to and from personal information management applications
|Dec 29, 2004
|Jul 13, 2010
|Microsoft Corporation
|Information processing system, information processing method, program, and recording system
|Jun 30, 2006
|Aug 10, 2010
|Plaxo, Inc.
|Contact management update protocols
|Jan 24, 2003
|Mar 8, 2011
|Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
|Compressed data structure for extracted changes to a database and method of generating the data structure
|Jun 23, 2005
|Jul 5, 2011
|Microsoft Corporation
|Sending and receiving electronic business cards
|Feb 29, 2008
|Aug 9, 2011
|Plaxo, Inc.
|Enabling synchronization with a difference unaware data source
|Jun 29, 2006
|Aug 23, 2011
|Microsoft Corporation
|Electronic business card exchange system and method
|Jun 29, 2010
|Oct 4, 2011
|Plaxo, Inc.
|Contact management update protocols
|Nov 21, 2007
|Oct 4, 2011
|Sierra Wireless, Inc.
|Token-based web browsing with visual feedback of disclosure
|Dec 19, 2008
|Dec 6, 2011
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|System, method, and computer program product for utilizing a communication channel of a mobile device by a vehicular assembly
|Dec 19, 2008
|Dec 13, 2011
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|System, method, and computer program product for social networking utilizing a vehicular assembly
|Dec 19, 2008
|Feb 14, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Drill-down system, method, and computer program product for focusing a search
|Dec 19, 2008
|Feb 14, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|System, method, and computer program product for performing a search in conjunction with use of an online application
|Dec 19, 2008
|Mar 6, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|System, method, and computer program product for instant messaging utilizing a vehicular assembly
|Dec 29, 2004
|Apr 10, 2012
|Microsoft Corporation
|Terminal for exchanging electronic business cards
|May 4, 2009
|May 15, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Message board aggregator
|Feb 5, 2008
|May 22, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Systems and methods for multi-modal mobile media services
|Dec 19, 2008
|May 29, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Location-based messaging system, method, and computer program product
|Apr 17, 2008
|Jun 12, 2012
|Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab
|Method and apparatus for enabling access to contact information
|May 2, 2011
|Jul 10, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Instantaneous symbol lookup
|May 2, 2011
|Jul 10, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Instantaneous symbol lookup
|Feb 5, 2008
|Jul 17, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Systems and methods for mobile media services utilizing a short form command structure
|Dec 19, 2008
|Sep 11, 2012
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|System, method, and computer program product for communicating location-related information
|Sep 29, 2011
|Sep 18, 2012
|Plaxo, Inc.
|Contact management update protocols
|Jun 29, 2011
|Jan 8, 2013
|Stragent, Llc
|Online marketplace for automatically extracted data
|Jul 1, 2011
|Dec 31, 2013
|Plaxo, Inc.
|Enabling synchronization with a difference unaware data source
|Mar 24, 2012
|Mar 25, 2014
|Murali S. Kulathungam
|System and method to consolidate and update a user's financial account information
|Dec 12, 2008
|Mar 25, 2014
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Hyperlink with graphical cue
|Dec 12, 2008
|Mar 25, 2014
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Hyperlink with graphical cue
|Dec 12, 2008
|Apr 15, 2014
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Message board aggregator
|Feb 5, 2008
|Feb 3, 2015
|Boadin Technology, LLC
|Systems and methods for organizing content for mobile media services
|Oct 10, 2011
|Mar 31, 2015
|George Peter Kelesis
|Journaling system with segregated data access
|Mar 23, 2001
|Sep 26, 2002
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method, apparatus, and program for providing scripted electronic business cards and electronic calendars
|Jan 24, 2003
|Jul 29, 2004
|Mckay Christopher W T
|Compressed data structure for extracted changes to a database and method of generating the data structure
|Dec 15, 2010
|Dec 6, 2012
|Smart Hub Pte. Ltd.
|System and method for a global directory service
|Sep 25, 2008
|Oct 22, 2009
|Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ab
|Method and apparatus for enabling access to contact information
|U.S. Classification
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Jun 27, 2000
Owner name: HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY, COLORADO
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:DOUVIKAS, JAMES G.;SHEEHY, TERRY R.;MCKAY, CHRISTOPHER W.T.;REEL/FRAME:010956/0991;SIGNING DATES FROM 20000218 TO 20000314
|Sep 30, 2003
Owner name: HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY L.P.,TEXAS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY;REEL/FRAME:014061/0492
Effective date: 20030926
|Sep 21, 2009
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Feb 15, 2010
Owner name: FACEBOOK, INC.,CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.;HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY;SIGNING DATES FROM 20100205 TO 20100206;REEL/FRAME:023928/0768
|Aug 21, 2013
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8