From emv%ox.com@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU Mon Sep 30 01:42:16 1991 From: emv%ox.com@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU (Edward Vielmetti) Newsgroups: comp.patents Subject: partial list of software patents Date: 30 Sep 91 03:58:56 GMT X-Mts: smtp Here's something I saved from gnu.misc.discuss. --Ed ------- Forwarded Message >Path: ox.com!caen!dali.cs.montana.edu!mintaka!mintaka!mernst >From: mernst@theory.lcs.mit.edu (Michael Ernst) >Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss >Subject: Partial list of software patents >Message-ID: >Date: 12 Jul 91 13:50:11 GMT >Sender: news@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu >Distribution: gnu >Organization: MIT Lab for Computer Science >Lines: 371 > There have been several requests recently for lists of software patents. I maintain such a list, which I've included below. Some of the information is sketchy. If you know of patents that I haven't included, or if you have more information about any of these, I would appreciate hearing about it. Patent disclosures can be acquired by sending $1.50 to Patent and Trademark Office Washington, D.C. 20231 -Michael Ernst mernst@theory.lcs.mit.edu 4,135,240 Protection of data file contents filed 7/9/73 granted 7/16/79 This is the set uid bit patent granted to Dennis Ritchie 4,197,590 Method for dynamically viewing image elements stored in a random access memory array filed 1/19/78 granted 4/8/80 inventors Josef S. Sukonick; Gred J. Tilden assignee NuGraphics, Inc. Includes claims of "XOR feature permits part of the drawing to be moved or 'dragged' into place without erasing other parts of the drawing." Twice upheld in court. [Cadtrak now owns this?] 4,398,249 Process and apparatus for converting a source program into an object program filed Aug 12, 1970 granted Aug 9, 1983 inventors Rene' K. Pardo and Remy Landau This is the natural order spreadsheet recalculation patent recently acquired by Refac, a litigation company. Draws on ideas like forward reasoning. 4,464,650 Apparatus and method for compressing data signals and restoring the compressed data signals filed 8/10/81 granted 8/7/84 Sperry Corporation (now Unisys) 4,514,818 Video image creation system which simulates a drafting tool filed 12/1/81 granted 4/30/85 4,555,775 Dynamic generation and overlaying of graphic windows for multiple active program storage areas filed 10/7/82 granted 11/26/85 owned by AT&T. Lawsuits of X window vendors threatened, since this covers backing store. This was granted to Pike, I believe. 4,558,302 High speed data compression and decompression apparatus and method filed 6/20/83 granted 12/10/85 Sperry Corporation (now Unisys) inventor Welch Covers the common "compress" algorithm published in IEEE Computer, June 1984. also see Welch's article in CACM [Is this the one? or is it ...650?] The text for patent "4,558,302 Dec. 10, 1985 Welch" can be ftped from uunet.uu.net as pub/lzw-patent.Z 4,602,286 Video processing for composite images filed 1/10/83 granted 7/22/86 4,633,416 Video image creation system which simulates a drafting tool filed 7/29/85 granted 12/30/86 4,642,764 Method of developing formal identities and program bases in an optimizing compiler filed 8/13/84 granted 2/10/87 IBM Optimizing compiler patent 4,642,765 Optimization of range checking filed 4/15/85 granted 2/10/87 4,646,250 Data Entry Screen filed 10/18/84 granted 2/24/87 assignee IBM inventor John F. Childress Required fields are highlighted until they are filled in; fields incorrectly completed are also highlighted. 4,648,062 Method for providing an on line help facility for interactive information handling systems filed 2/1/85 granted 3/3/87 inventors Steven E. Johnson; John Karat; Thomas M. Ruiz assignee IBM Pop-up window described valid choices. 4,656,582 Generating sotrage reference instructions in an optimizing compiler filed 2/4/85 granted 4/7/87 4,656,583 Method for improving global common subexpression elimination and code motion in an optimizing compiler filed 8/13/84 granted 4/7/87 owned by IBM 4,667,290 Compilers using a universal intermediate language filed 9/10/84 granted 5/19/87 4,674,040 Merging of Documents granted 6/16/87 assignee IBM This is the so-called "include file patent". It is cited in Brian Kahin's article, "The Impact of Software Patents," in the Winter 1989 issue of the EDUCOM Review (Vol. 24 No. 4). Claim 1 is: A method for merging a portion of one document into another document, said method comprising: (a) including a reference to said another document to said portion; and (b) causing said portion to be merged with said another document and displayed in merged form. It covers displaying part of one document within the display of another, in response to a kind of cross-reference. This is, of course, a basic idea of hypertext. So many hypertext systems would infringe this patent. 4,736,308 Search/retrieval system filed 7/10/85 granted 4/5/88 inventor Paul Heckel Hyperracks Inc. A system allowing parts of multiple cards to be displayed on the screen at the same time. Apple was being sued over hypercard on the basis of this patent, but settled. 4,736,866 Transgenic non-human mammals filed 6/22/84 granted 4/12/88 Harvard's mouse patent 4,742,450 Method to share copy on write segment for mapped files filed 2/16/86 granted 5/3/88 4,864,501 Word annotation system Filed 10/7/87 Granted 9/5/89 Assignee Houghton Mifflin Company Inventors Henry Kucera, Alwin B. Carus Storing words in a dictionary. 4,864,502 Sentence annalyzer Filed 10/7/87 Granted 9/5/89 Assignee Houghton Mifflin Company Inventors Henry Kucera, Alwin B. Carus Parses sentences into parts of speech. 4,864,503 Method of using a created international language as an intermediate pathway in translation between two national languages Filed 2/5/87 Granted 9/5/89 Assignee Toltram, Ltd. Inventor Bruce G. Tolin Use of interpretive steps instead of strict word-for-word translation. 4,956,809 Method for cononical ordering of binary data for portable operating systems filed 12/29/88 granted 9/11/90 assignee Mark Williams Co, Chicago, Ill. inventors Johann George, Trevor J. Thompson, David G. Conroy, Frederick H. Tudor ^M 3,380,029 Sorting System granted 4/23/68 assignee Applied Data Research, Inc. inventor Martin Goetz Earliest software patent? 4,200,770 Cryptographic Apparatus and Method "Diffie-Hellman" Public Key partners has exclusive sublicensing rights. 4,218,582 Public Key Cryptographic Apparatus and Method "Hellman-Merkle" Public Key partners has exclusive sublicensing rights. 4,405,829 Cryptographic Communications System and Method "RSA" Public Key partners has exclusive sublicensing rights. 4,424,414 Exponential Cryptographic Apparatus and Method "Hellman-Pohlig" Public Key partners has exclusive sublicensing rights. 4,555,772 filed 5/31/83 assignee IBM Supposedly "multiple cursors for multiple windows, using an Xor-writing technique" 4,648,044 Technowledge Inc. Supposedly on "basic AI techniques" 4,486,857 granted 12/84 inventor Paul Heckel Hyperracks Inc. A file system of more than one card, each with multiple fields, where all the fields can be scrolled independently. Apple was sued over this and settled, licensing it. 4,571,678 Register allocation and spilling via graph coloring filed 11/5/82 granted 2/18/86. Owned by IBM. Inventor is Gregory Chaitin from Yorktown Heights, NY. It's one of a group of 16 or so patents filed by IBM as result of their 801/PL.8 development. They also mention things like global common subexpression elimination and optimization of array bounds checking. 4,648,067 Footnote management for display and printing granted 3/3/87 4,648,071 Designation of footnotes and footnote reference granted 3/3/87 4,656,602 Method of control placement of image of document to be printed on paper in an interactive text processing system granted 4/7/87 4,674,042 Editing business charts granted 6/16/87 4,752,877 4,722,055 4,642,768 Patents on a computer system that calculates the amount required for one year at a particular college, informing parents how much to deposit to guarantee that a year's tuition, some years down the road, will be covered. Upheld in court. 4,807,182: "Apparatus and Method for Comparing Data Groups" dated Feb 21, 1989, owned by Advanced Software, Inc. of Sunnyvale, California. Patent on comparing text blocks by comparing hash codes and for displaying the differing sections in two windows on one CRT ("or other suitable device".) The "inventor" is listed as being a Cary L. Queen. 4,823,108 An Improved Display System and Memory Architecture and Method granted 4/18/89 (Dandekar claims June 1989, though) Quarterdeck Office Systems, Inc. Someone (Kahin?) says: An improved system for displaying images in "windows" on a computer screen. Dandekar says: Quarterdeck patents the multitasking DESQview environment sepcific process -- a method of dealing with ill-behaved software that circumvents the operating system for its displays, allowing it to work properly in a multitasking environment. 4,814,746 Miller-Wegman compression scheme granted March 1989 4,943,909 A patent is granted to AT&T on a method, based on origami, of allocating processors to parts of a problem (say, an aerodynamic analysis). Inventor is Alan Huang. Creating a split screen with a hotkey. IBM data entry screen: required fields highlighted, nonrequired fields not. Patent for the use of XOR to write a cursor to a screen and then to erase it after it has moved. This has been upheld twice in court. AT&T has a patent on backing store for displays. Interestingly, Richard Stallman implemented this three years before the patent application was filed, but didn't think it was worthwhile enough to publish a paper on. RSA patent James A. Woods (jaw@riacs.edu (or ames!jaw)) says: I am investigating, possibly for a case history to be recycled to USENET, the particulars of data compression patents. I am aware of the following patents: IBM's Miller-Wegman LZ variant, those of Telcor and ACT [losing candidates for the British Telecom modem standard], James A. Storer's work on limited lookahead as explicated in his text "Data Compression (methods and theory)", Computer Science Press, 1988, and the various patents pending associated with the Fiala and Greene CACM article of April, 1989 on textual substitution methods. If you have any lore, send it this way. 4,744,028 Method and Apparaqtus for Efficient Resource Allocation granted 1988 Bell Laboratories inventor Narendra K. Karmarkar Can help airlines schedule planes and crews more efficiently. Is this the linear programming patent? 4,646,256 Computer and Method for Solving the Discrete Bracewell Transformation granted 1987 Stanford University inventor Ronald N. Bracewell Can be used in many fields to more quickly analyze data by computers. 4,797,847 Discrete Cosine Transform granted 1989 inventor Pierre Duhamel of France Can help send electronic signals more rapidly and store video data more compactly. 4,768,159 Squared Radix Discrete Fourier Transform granted 1988 owner TRW Computer system similar to the Discrete Cosine Transform (see 4,797,847). 4,797,729 System Incorporating an Error-tolerant Picture Compression Algorithm owner Eastman Kodak Can minimize distoritions when pictures are stored in computers. Matt Vea's patent on setting and unsetting a bit in an idle loop to see whether the CPU is working or idle. (Applied for 2/86, received pre-10/90. Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.'s patent on a program to swtich its modems from transmit mode to receive mode. It won $10 million damages from three infringing manufacturers who'd reverse-engineered via clean-room techniques. - -end- ------- End of Forwarded Message ==================================================================== Peter Treloar - comp.patents Moderator patents@cs.su.oz.au