Although there have been fewer patent documents published relevant to SGML technologies this time, it is interesting to observe some trends that are already becoming apparent. Patenting activity is obviously greatest in Japan - an indication that some big companies are working behind the scenes to secure their future in textual information handling. Overall it is telecommunications companies that are applying for SGML type patents reflecting increased awareness of the importance of patent protection in this industry.
The records reproduced here are manually selected from a listing generated by a predefined search on Derwent Information's patent database. The number given next to the patent description is the patent number a unique key which allows you to order patent documents directly. The patent description is in fact Derwent's rewritten title which is designed to illuminate the obfuscated legal title of the patent and suggest what the application of the patent might be. The patentee is the organisation to which protective rights have been granted and the inventor is, of course, that person(s) who actually thought of the invention.
J09251416 Hyper media type document controller for computers - provides link between various kinds of documents using ID for each attribute file; Patentee: Fuji Xerox, Tokyo Electric Power 17pp 3/155
J09231220 Document conversion formation method using logic structure - by storing real data group, read from whole converting agency document based on designated logic component correspondence, as real data of logic component of conversion place document; Patentee: Dainippon Screen Seizo 17pp 11/155.
GB2312975 Selected hyper-link resolving to identify ultimate target of hyper-link - forming query to database of available hyper-links targets with query formulation to locate one or more hyper-link targets that satisfy query formulation; Patentee: Microsoft Corporation 52pp 5/155.
SE9600338 Formatting unformatted document using SGML - compares tags in document in document memory with tags in application memory and selects set-up of format regulators in format regulator memory for document; Patentee: Telefonaktiebolaget Ericsson 25pp19/155.
WO9731319 Querying and navigating changes in web repositories - in which differences between explored documents are computed automatically and summarised in new HTML page, and differences in link structure shown via graphical representations; Patentee: AT & T N:CA JP R:AT BE CH DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LU MC NL PT SE- 034pp 23/155.
Contact Robin Cover with corrections and updates, or to submit contributions to the ISUG online document database.
