What a prior art product must do

Hi,

Looking over just claim #1 of the '906 patent, here's my reading what a
product must do as a minimum to be prior art for the '906 patent:

1.  There must be a browser application that runs on a client computer.


2.  The browser must display documents which are supplied over
    a network from a server computer.

3.  The browser must accept a command in a document to
    display an embedded file which is also supplied by a server.

4.  An external program residing on the client computer is automatically
    loaded and executed to display the embedded file within a designated
area of the
    browser window.

5.  The browser must allow a user to interact with the external
application
    which is displaying the external.

Here's the exact language of claim 1:

1. A method for running an application program in a computer network
environment, comprising: providing at least one client workstation and
one network server coupled to said network environment, wherein said
network environment is a distributed hypermedia environment; executing,
at said client workstation, a browser application, that parses a first
distributed hypermedia document to identify text formats included in
said distributed hypermedia document and for responding to predetermined
text formats to initiate processing specified by said text formats;
utilizing said browser to display, on said client workstation, at least
a portion of a first hypermedia document received over said network from
said server, wherein the portion of said first hypermedia document is
displayed within a first browser-controlled window on said client
workstation, wherein said first distributed hypermedia document includes
an embed text format, located at a first location in said first
distributed hypermedia document, that specifies the location of at least
a portion of an object external to the first distributed hypermedia
document, wherein said object has type information associated with it
utilized by said browser to identify and locate an executable
application external to the first distributed hypermedia document, and
wherein said embed text format is parsed by said browser to
automatically invoke said executable application to execute on said
client workstation in order to display said object and enable
interactive processing of said object within a display area created at
said first location within the portion of said first distributed
hypermedia document being displayed in said first browser-controlled
window. 

Richard

Received on Saturday, 30 August 2003 16:10:30 UTC