Software patents part 2

Picking up where we left off yesterday. Only two more patents to go.




US 6,339,780. Granted patent published 15 January 2002. Filed 6 May 1997.

Claim 37 (Claims 1-36 presumably deleted during examination)

1. A hypermedia browser embodied on a computer-readable medium for execution on an information processing device having a limited display area, wherein the hypermedia browser has a content viewing area for viewing content and is configured to display a temporary graphic element over the content viewing area during times when the browser is loading content, wherein the temporary graphic element is positioned over the content viewing area to obstruct only part of the content in the content viewing area, wherein the temporary graphic element is not content and wherein content comprises data for presentation which is from a source external to the browser.

Another potted summary of the patent, although in this case the actual patent is fairly short. Web browsers at that time often included a little animated icon to indicate that a web page was being downloaded. On a small screen, this is a waste of screen space. Solution, draw animated icon over the main viewing area of the browser while the page is loading, then get rid of it once the page has loaded.

My thoughts on this are remarkably similar to my thoughts on US 5,778,372 aka the 'prioritise important stuff' first patent.

US 6,891,551. Granted patent published 25 July 2002. Earliest filing date 10 November 2000

Claim 1.

1. A method for selecting portions of electronic data on a display device, comprising the steps of:

generating a selection area identifying a first portion of said electronic data, wherein said selection area includes one or more selection handles;

receiving an input from a user associated with said one or more selection handles; and

resizing said selection area responsive to said user input.

OK, this is quite an interesting one and looks rather similar to the method used for selecting text in recent versions of iOS. Indeed the rationale behind this invention was very similar. Clicking and dragging to select text on a computer screen isn't particularly accurate, so lets add resizing handles so that the user can tweak an existing selection box, rather than starting over from scratch if the wrong text has been selected.

Without knowing much about the state of the art back in 2000, I'm not really sure how novel this is. Certainly, the only similar example of a similar system, I can think of is in the far more recent iOS. With regard to inventiveness, my first thought was 'well if you want to resize a selection box, how else would you do it.' Then after a couple more minutes thought, it was clear that there were a number of other ways. For example you could use keyboard cursor keys to manipulate selection box instead of using the resizing handles, or use alternative mouse controls, e.g shift-clicking, to move the boundaries of the selection box.

As I commented in my previous post on the Apple slide-to-unlock patent, the presence of alternatives doesn't necessarily mean that your chosen option isn't obvious but it does make it harder to argue that it is obvious without some kind of steer from the prior art. Also, like the slide-to-unlock patent, I find it difficult to get too worked up about this one. The patent describes a useful invention (arguably more so than slide-to-unlock), which is narrowly claimed and fairly straightforward for competitors to invent around.


So where does that leave us. One patent that I don't honestly feel I can offer an opinion on and two which are - not exactly poster children for software patents as a driver of innovation. One more which I'd quibble about but which I'm prepared to concede does disclose a useful invention. Finally one which looks like it should be lumped in with the 'poster children' at first glance but which doesn't look too bad when considered in a bit more detail.


All in all, not a particularly inspiring bunch but one which collectively doesnt quite deserve the scorn heaped upon it by assorted internet commentators.