I feel kinda guilty about this

[mdlbear]

United States Patent: 7451236
Savitzky , et al. November 11, 2008
Document distribution and storage system

Abstract

A document storage and distribution system includes distributing documents in accordance with a distribution list. Each copy of the distributed document is identified with an identifier that includes the information indicative of the computer system in which it was created. Modifications to the document can be uploaded to the system from any computer system to which the document had been distributed. The modified documents are then re-distributed from the computer system in which it was originally created.

... it's a pure software patent, so it's probably invalid. But the (rather small, but welcome) bonus check is valid, so I'm not complaining.

Comments

Congrats

[capplor.livejournal.com]

And frame that patent document for your glory wall.

Re: Congrats

[mdlbear]

This isn't one of the ones I'm proud of, unfortunately.

[hms42]

Congratulations!

[mdlbear]

Thanks.

Congratulations,

[brmj.livejournal.com]

you've gone over to the dark side. A software patent?! I guess there is the whole "having to eat" thing, but still...

(Sorry about that. I get to claim the moral high ground today because I just got rid of a little over 60% of the non-free software on my laptop, and plan to dispose of the rest of it as soon as possible.)

Re: Congratulations,

[mdlbear]

$WORK has to play the game according to the current rules, whatever those are. They've recently changed, but this was filed a long time ago.

Not all my patents are for pure software.

Re: Congratulations,

[brmj.livejournal.com]

I understand completely. However, that doesn't mean I have to like it.

"Not all my patents are for pure software."
Just out of curiosity, what else do you have patents on?

Re: Congratulations,

[mdlbear]

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=0&f=S&l=50&d=PTXT&RS=IN%2Fsavitzky&Refine=Refine+Search&Query=IN%2Fsavitzky+and+IN%2Fstephen

Re: Congratulations,

[brmj.livejournal.com]

Thanks. A few of these, such as 6012083, were very interesting.

Re: Congratulations,

[mdlbear]

Actually the one I'm proudest of is 6,571,271, mainly because it isn't fundamentally a software patent.

Re: Congratulations,

[brmj.livejournal.com]

That one was actually my second favorite. It's a clever idea, to be sure. It is also something that could be implemented with some preexisting software and a reasonably simple script, if I'm not mistaken. I have to wonder about the viability of kiosks such as it describes, though; There might not be enough demand, given that the same tasks can be accomplished on almost any modern computer with standard software and only slightly more difficulty. I suppose the image hosting sites and photo album software I am used to simply wasn't more innovative at the time. Around when this was filed, though, so it was probably quite a bit I also noticed that the browser in figure four was labeled "404". Funny coincidence.

Also, it should be noted I was remarking on the ideas described in the patent, not the patent itself. I may object to software patents both on principal and for practical reasons, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate an idea that has been patented. I find some of the ideas described in 6012083 interesting, even though it is basically a software patent (unless one counts the discussion of possible future electronics in the appendix, which I don't for this purpose).

(Edited and reposted for poor word choice, and something important I missed the first time.)

Re: Congratulations,

[mdlbear]

Note that it was filed in 1999, so it predates all but the earliest digital cameras. Certainly there were no digital picture frames, which is what it comes closest to.

...083 was sort of interesting, but more as a way of thinking about the problem of serving web pages dynamically. What it amounted to was an interpretor for a lisp-like language with XML syntax there was an open-source implementation at http://www.risource.org but it appears to have gone stale. Deservedly so; it had most of the problems of PHP, but with a clumsier language.

Re: Congratulations,

[brmj.livejournal.com]

First, I noticed a mistake in my last comment. A whole section of text didn't get included. That's the peril commenting while sleep deprived, I guess. Here is something a bit closer to what I meant to type: "I suppose the image hosting sites and photo album software I am used to simply weren't around back then, so it was considerably more innovative at the time."

"Note that it was filed in 1999..."
Wow. In that case, great patent.

"083 was sort of interesting, but more as a way of thinking about the problem of serving web pages dynamically."
Yeah. That's a large part of what I was inarticulately trying to get at.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

cool!

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

Peter "6,926,576" Alway

[mdlbear]

Thanks!

Nice invention.

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

congrats...

[mdlbear]

Thanks

[mithriltabby]

Congratulations! As long as the competition can have software patents, I support grabbing as many as you can get— it creates more pressure to reform the system and keeps your company viable in the meantime.