[ba-unrev-talk] Hyperlinking Prior Art
This one has done the rounds before: (01)
(taken from the findlaw.com newsletter)
BT, PRODIGY U.S. HYPERLINK PATENT TRIAL DATE SET
A court date was set Monday in the lawsuit brought by British
Telecommunications PLC (BT) against U.S.-based Prodigy Communications
Corp. for patent infringement through the ISP's (Internet service
provider) unauthorized use of the hyperlink. Last year, BT said it had
discovered that it holds U.S. patent 4,873,662 for the invention of
hyperlink technology used on the Internet, and on Dec. 13, 2000, the
London-based telecommunication company filed suit in federal court in
White Plains, New York. (02)
Source: IDG News Service
http://www.idg.net/crd_idgsearch_732742.html (03)
At the bottom of that page is a link to the patent document. #4,873,662 ,
October 10, 1989
It was filed with the UK Post Office in 1976, and in the US in 1980. (04)
Excerpt:
"BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION (05)
"This invention relates to an information handling system in which
information is derived from a computer at a remote point and transmitted via
the public telephone network to terminal apparatus. The invention also
includes the terminal apparatus itself. (06)
"It has been proposed to provide for domestic and/or business consumers a
simplified form of computer terminal by means of which information stored in
a computer can be obtained from it via the public telephone network. The
form of the terminal is different from a conventional computer terminal,
both in the simplicity of its operation and in the form of its display. The
display is of the form of a page of data and is reproduced on a cathode-ray
tube screen which may be part of a domestic television receiver or may be a
special purpose apparatus for this function. Instead of a cathode-ray tube
screen, a special purpose alphanumeric display may be used. Initially the
data is displayed on the screen in the form of a sequence of progressively
more detailed indices by means of which an operator is enabled to key-in to
a key pad provided for the terminal numbers identifying a particular page of
information which he requires. Since the system is to be operated by
unskilled operators it is important that the key required be of self-evident
nature and inevitably this will restrict the nature of facilities which the
computer can provide. One such system is known by the name VIEWDATA, and in
which the information provided by the computer is identified by a page
number and when this page is keyed the whole of the data contained in that
page is transmitted in coded form to the terminal where it is stored and
displayed continnously, until the next page is received or the terminal
switched off. (07)
"Difficulties arise in such a system, however, because of the need to ensure
the simplicity of operation of the terminal, bearing in mind the likelihood
that the significance of particular keying inputs may need to be varied in
dependence on the data being displayed. (08)
"It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the above difficulty. (09)
"According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an
information handling system in which information is transmitted to a
terminal apparatus from a computer via a telephone line, the information
being transmitted to the terminal apparatus in packets, each of which is
displayed by the terminal apparatus as a page consisting of a plurality of
parallel lines of alphanumeric characters and/or graphical data, the
terminal apparatus including means for transmitting signals to the computer
via the telephone line indicating which packet or packets of information are
to be transmitted by the computer, wherein information is stored by the
computer in blocks each of which contains a first part consisting of the
packet of information in the form of coded groups of digits representing the
characters or graphical data forming the page to be displayed and a second
part containing in coded form details relating to the page of information
which are not displayed, means being provided for storing the second part of
a block when the first part is transmitted to the terminal apparatus. (010)
"The details relating to the page of information may be retained in the
computer, for example, in a special register provided for the purpose, so
that inputs from the terminal apparatus can be used to select items from
among the details as information or instruction data for the computer. If
the system forms part of a public telephone network, it is necessary to
provide a way of charging a subscriber's account for the block or blocks of
information transmitted to his terminal equipment. It is envisaged that
certain information may be provided at very low cost or possibly free,
whereas other information such as, for example, latest stock market prices
may be relatively expensive. In such a system the second part of a block may
include an indication of the charging rate for information supplied in the
first part, so that the computer and/or the terminal can be arranged to
record the cost of the information extracted to be charged against the
subscriber's account. (011)
"The second part of a block may include software, that is programming
information, for simplifying entries to be made by an operator on the basis
of the information displayed to him by the terminal apparatus. For example,
the page of information displayed may be an index or part of an index, and
to simplify keying each item of the index displayed may be indicated by a
single digit. When the digit against a desired item is keyed it may be used
to select full addressing information from the second part of the block,
which full information is transmitted to the computer to enable the
selection of the desired item. The second parts of the blocks of information
may alternatively be transmitted to the terminal apparatus and stored in a
special register there. (012)
"According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a terminal
apparatus for an information handling system in which information is
transmitted from a computer to the terminal apparatus via a telephone line,
the information being transmitted to the terminal apparatus in blocks each
of which is displayable by the terminal apparatus as a page consisting of a
plurality of lines of alphanumeric characters and/or graphical data, the
apparatus including means for receiving blocks of information signals from a
telephone line, storage means for storing a block of information signals,
means for repeatedly reading at least part of the storage means, means for
converting signals repeatedly read from the storage means into video
signals, means for producing a prolonged visible display in response to the
video signals, and means for transmitting signals to a telephone line
indicating to a computer which block or blocks of information are to be
transmitted, wherein the storage means has a first part for storing coded
groups of digits representing alphanumeric characters or graphical data
forming the page of information to be displayed, and a second part for
storing the remainder of the block of information representing details
relating to the page of information to be displayed. (013)
"The terminal apparatus may include data entry means, such as a manual
keyboard, and means responsive to information stored in the second part of
the storage means for modifying signals from the data entry means before
they are applied to the transmitting means. Alternatively or additionally
signals read from the second part of the storage means may be selectively,
in response to the data entry means, transmitted to the telephone line for
addressing other blocks of information stored in the computer." (014)
It would seem that the crucial term is 'telephone line'. (015)
Any tech historians think this is a wonky patent? (016)
Cheers,
Peter (017)