Does US Patent 863 enable Web O/S?

[Lane Friesen]

(second of three postings for May 31 deadline on Open Source offer)

I've developed a new form of client-based, secure 'Web Memory' that
uses the JAVA or dotNET VM to launch a 'terminate and stay
resident' program fragment that maintains persistence between web
pages by program reloading. Web Memory is the basis for an Open Source
e-commerce front end that could reduce web congestion and simplify
online shopping.

A web-based operating system might now be possible. I am releasing this
application of Web Memory also to Open Source, with a May 31 deadline
for acceptance of this offer, as described in the referenced text
below.

If too many people use this technique, then it will not work for
anyone. Bandwidth for Web Memory is now protected by US Patent
6,636,863, granted to me on Oct. 21, 2003 - *it appears to describe Web
Services as well as Web Memory, and could extend to portions of the
Internet*. I would like advice from the Open Source community in
particular: How can this patent best benefit the Internet end user?

Information:
http://209.87.142.42/webmemory/

Background:
* I originally published in June of 2000 on javaboutique
(http://javaboutique:internet.com/articles/shoppingcart/index.html) and
released the code for an e-commerce front end as Open Source.

* The article was mirrored on Linux Today
(http://linuxtoday.com/news/2000070200204OSSW).

* I filed for a US patent before publishing these articles - in
September, 1999. There are years of waiting before the US Patent and
Trademark Office can even begin to process an application - during this
time, aspects of my patent were developed independently by the Internet
community, as Web Services.

* On Oct. 21, 2003, after a lengthy process including a quality review
by a number of patent examiners, I was granted US Patent 6,636,863
based on this work (to read the text, go to
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm and input the patent
number).

* Web Memory is secure, client-based, user-specific memory, based in
the JAVA VM present in computers, cell phones, Palm Pilots and chips.
It works in dotNET as well. The bandwidth for this technique has been
protected by patent. Is Web Memory the missing component, with Web
Services, for a distributed Web O/S?

Lane Friesen
e-mail: lanefriesen (at) hotmail.com

 

[Mark Preston]

[snip] Bandwidth for Web Memory is now protected by US Patent
6,636,863, granted to me on Oct. 21, 2003 - *it appears to describe Web
Services as well as Web Memory, and could extend to portions of the
Internet*. I would like advice from the Open Source community in
particular: How can this patent best benefit the Internet end user?

You should be aware that US Patents and in particular those awarded for
software do not apply to any of Europe and the EU and are totally
ignoerd by huge areas of the world such as China, Indonesia and so on.
In short, it may be useful in the USA but since the USA is not the
"home" of open source software it unlikely to be at all relevant to open
source developments except when they are used within the USA.

 

[Malte]

If too many people use this technique, then it will not work for
anyone.

So why bother?

 

[HK]

I've developed a new form of client-based, secure 'Web Memory' that
uses the JAVA or dotNET VM to launch a 'terminate and stay
resident' program fragment that maintains persistence between web

From the article in LinuxToday it sounds this requires

Java running in my webbrowser ... beware. I like
Java very much, but applets are a pest. For a start, I
seldomly come across one which works. Part of the reason
may be clueless web designers who should better stick
to HTML. Apart from that: why not provide a proper
Java application in the first place.

Harald.