U.S. patent application number 11/124339 was filed with the patent office on 2005-09-01 for tangible icon representing network objects.
Invention is credited to Meyers, Stephan.
Application Number | 20050193339 11/124339 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34634684 |
Filed Date | 2005-09-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050193339 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Meyers, Stephan |
September 1, 2005 |
Tangible icon representing network objects
Abstract
A tangible icon is permanently encoded with a URL of a first
network object. Links ("shortcuts") to other network objects are
assigned as the contents of the first network object. A person in
possession of the tangible icon can gain access to the other
network objects without having to remember or enter their URLs, but
need only present the physical icon to a reader. The system and
method uses the URL encoded on the tangible icon to access the
network object and to resolve the links contained therein to
provide the contents of the linked objects. The number and size of
the other network objects the user can access are virtually
unlimited. The user gains access to the current version of an
object.
Inventors: |
Meyers, Stephan; (Los
Angeles, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
COHEN, PONTANI, LIEBERMAN & PAVANE
551 FIFTH AVENUE
SUITE 1210
NEW YORK
NY
10176
US
|
Family ID: |
34634684 |
Appl. No.: |
11/124339 |
Filed: |
May 6, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11124339 |
May 6, 2005 |
|
|
|
09828763 |
Apr 9, 2001 |
|
|
|
6907568 |
|
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/700 ;
707/E17.112; 715/741; 715/866 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 16/955
20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/700 ;
715/741; 715/866 |
International
Class: |
G06F 003/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A system for providing access to objects on a computer network
comprising: a provider server on the computer network; a phicon
comprising a machine-readable tag having a resource identifier
encoded thereon, wherein said resource identifier identifies a
memory location at the provider server; a phicon-reading appliance
for reading the resource identifier encoded on the machine-readable
tag on the phicon; a data processor connected to the phicon-reading
appliance and connected to the computer network, said data
processor for receiving the read resource identifier from the
phicon-reading appliance and for accessing a network object in the
provider server at the memory location identified by the read
resource identifier, wherein said network object is capable of
containing a plurality of pointers providing access to a plurality
of data objects having arbitrary sizes; a means operable on said
data processor for placing at least one pointer in the network
object, said at least one pointer identifying at least one data
object; a means for presenting the at least one data object
identified by the at least one pointer to a user; and a means by
which a user may interact with the presented at least one data
object identified by the at least one pointer.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the means operable on said data
processor comprises at least one of software, hardware, and
firmware.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for presenting
comprises: a means operable on said data processor for creating a
graphical user interface (GUI) in which at least one manipulatable
display icon represents at least one of the network object, the at
least one pointer, and the at least one data object identified by
the at least one pointer, wherein manipulating said at least one
manipulatable display icon effects the subject the at least one
manipulatable display icon represents; and a display for displaying
the GUI.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein moving, on the GUI, an icon
representing at least one data object into, on top of, or otherwise
inside an icon representing the network object causes at least one
pointer identifying the at least one data object to be created
within the network object.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the means by which the user may
interact with the presented at least one data object identified by
the at least one pointer comprises: a means operable on said data
processor for modifying the at least one data object identified by
the at least one pointer.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the means operable on said data
processor for modifying can also change a size of the at least one
data object identified by the at least one pointer.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the means by which the user may
interact with the presented at least one data object identified by
the at least one pointer comprises: a means operable on said data
processor for deleting at least one of the network object, the at
least one pointer, and the at least one data object identified by
the at least one pointer.
8. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a means operable on
said data processor for adding at least one other pointer to the
network object.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one data object
comprises at least one of software, a document file, a spread sheet
file, a video file, an image file, an audio file, and a hyperlink
to another data object.
10. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means operable on
said data processor for presenting the network object.
12. The system of claim 1, further comprising: means operable on
said data processor for presenting the at least one pointer.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein the phicon is first initialized
when presented to the phicon-reading appliance by (i) contacting
the provider server using the resource identifier read from the
phicon by the phicon-reading appliance, and (ii) creating the
network object at the memory location identified by the resource
identifier.
14. A phicon comprising: a machine-readable tag having a resource
identifier encoded thereon, said resource identifier identifying a
memory location at a provider server, wherein: said resource
identifier encoded in said machine-readable tag may be read by a
phicon-reading appliance; and when said resource identifier is read
by said phicon-reading appliance, a network object at the memory
location identified by the resource identifier is accessed, said
network object being capable of containing a plurality of pointers
providing access to a plurality of data objects having arbitrary
sizes, and at least one manipulable display icon representing at
least one of said network object, a pointer in said network object,
and/or a data object identified by a pointer in said network object
is presented on a Graphical User Interface (GUI); whereby said
phicon can provide access to an arbitrary number of data objects of
arbitrary size in arbitrary memory locations.
15. The phicon of claim 14, when said resource identifier is read
for the first time by said phicon-reading appliance, said network
object is created at the memory location identified by the resource
identifier in the provider server.
16. The phicon of claim 14, when said resource identifier is read
for the first time by said phicon-reading appliance, said network
object already exists at the memory location identified by the
resource identifier in the provider server.
17. The phicon of claim 14, wherein the phicon is first initialized
when presented to a phicon-reading appliance by (i) contacting the
provider server using the resource identifier read from the phicon
by the phicon-reading appliance, and (ii) creating the network
object at the memory location identified by the resource
identifier.
18. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, said
computer program being operative for creating a Graphical User
Interface (GUI) on a display, comprising: processor-executable
instructions for creating at least one manipulatable display icon
in the GUI, wherein the at least one manipulatable display icon
represents at least one network object, at least one pointer,
and/or at least one data object, and wherein manipulating said at
least one manipulatable display icon in the GUI effects the subject
represented by the at least one manipulatable display icon; wherein
each of the at least one network object is at a unique memory
location on a provider server, said memory location being
identified by a machine-readable tag on a phicon, and each of the
at least one network object is capable of containing a plurality of
pointers providing access to a plurality of data objects having
arbitrary sizes; and wherein, when a phicon-reading appliance reads
a machine-readable tag on a phicon, the GUI created by said
computer program is displayed on a display and at least one
manipulatable display icon is displayed in the GUI, said at least
one manipulatable display icon representing at least one of a
network object at the memory location identified by the
machine-readable tag on the phicon, at least one pointer in said
network object, and/or at least one data object identified by a
pointer in said network object; whereby, when a user moves an icon
representing at least one data object into, on top of, or otherwise
inside an icon representing a network object in the GUI, a pointer
identifying said at least one data object is created within said
network object.
19. A server for providing access to data objects using a phicon
comprising: a plurality of memory locations, each memory location
being identified by a resource identifier encoded in a
machine-readable tag on the phicon, each memory location capable of
having a network object, said network object being capable of
containing a plurality of pointers providing access to a plurality
of data objects having arbitrary sizes; and means for communicating
via a connection to the computer network, wherein a phicon-reading
appliance for reading the resource identifier encoded on the
machine-readable tag on the phicon can be connected to a data
processor which can be connected to the computer network, and
wherein said data processor can receive the read resource
identifier from the phicon-reading appliance and access a network
object in the server at the memory location identified by the read
resource identifier; wherein a user using the phicon can access an
arbitrary number of data objects of arbitrary size in arbitrary
memory locations on the computer network by means of said
phicon-reading appliance, said data processor, and said server.
20. The server of claim 19, wherein the server initializes the
phicon by using the resource identifier read from the phicon by the
phicon-reading appliance, and creating the network object at the
memory location identified by the resource identifier.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/5828,763, filed on
Apr. 9, 2001. The aforesaid patent application is incorporated by
reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a tangible user interface,
and particularly to a system and method for providing a user, by
means of a tangible icon, with access to provider-selected
arbitrary-sized objects on a data network.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] The present-day paradigm in which a person uses a discrete
manifestation of "a computer" (workstation, desktop computer,
laptop computer, palmtop computer, personal data assistant, game
player, etc.) to relate to computation is beginning to give way to
"pervasive computation", in which computation becomes part of the
environment. See W. Mark, Turning Pervasive Computing into Mediated
Spaces, IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 38, No. 4, 1999. The emerging
relationship between people and pervasive computation is sometimes
idealized as "smart space": the seamless integration of people,
computation, and physical reality.
[0006] In the present-day paradigm, there is a marked distinction
between times when one is "on the computer" and times when one is
not. When computation is part of the environment, it will be part
of everyday physical space. Computation will be embodied in things
that people ordinarily use, not in "computers". The
"Internet-ready" mobile phone is an example of this migration.
Users will become far less conscious of using computation.
[0007] Changes in the present-day paradigm are already changing the
approach to computation "on the computer". The paradigm is shifting
away from the form it had in the early years of the popularity of
the PC (personal computer, which was introduced in 1982) when
almost every PC was free-standing and independent of all other PCs,
and maintained its own program and data storage. Each computer had
to be equipped with a device which could read removable media, such
as a floppy disk drive. For a user of a computer to have access to
programs or large data files, copies of them had to be read in to
that particular computer from removable media. Programs and data
files are known generally and collectively by the name "objects".
An object may be generally defined as an information unit that can
be individually selected and manipulated.
[0008] Now computers tend to be interconnected by networks, most
notably the Internet, and to avail themselves of centralized
network storage. For a user to have access to an object stored on
the network, he must know and enter a universal resource locator
(URL) for that object. As more and more everyday items are being
stored on networks (e.g., central files of audio recordings
replacing individuals' record collections) and as computing moves
off of "computers" and becomes more and more distributed to users'
different equipments (e.g., a music player connected to a network)
which makes thinking in terms of a URL more and more abstract, and
as the proliferation of stored objects requires keeping track of
more and more URLs, a need arises for a way to enable a user to
easily gain access to objects stored on networks.
[0009] A prior-art method to provide a user with easy access to an
object is to give the user a copy of the object on some portable
medium, such as a floppy disk or CD. This frees the user from
having to navigate a network, but since a portable medium has an
inherent maximum capacity for data, the size of an object that can
be given to a user in this manner is inherently limited. According
to current trends, larger and larger objects are coming into common
use. For example, an audio-video presentation may have a storage
size on the order of Gigabytes. It may be desired to provide a user
with easy access to such a presentation, but the method of
providing it on a removable medium is inherently precluded.
[0010] While the graphical user interface (GUI), which enables a
user to interact with a computer by manipulating graphical icons,
has gone a long way to make computation easier for non-engineers,
it still represents a level of abstraction that will become
increasingly burdensome as computation becomes more distributed.
More recent is the concept of the tangible user interface (TUI) in
which tangible, physical icons ("phicons") are manipulated to
interact with a computer. A need arises for phicons that enable a
user to easily gain access to objects stored on networks, and to
easily gain access to objects of arbitrary size.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] To overcome limitations in the prior art described above,
and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon
reading and understanding the present specification, the present
invention provides for physical icons each of which is permanently
encoded with an identification of a unique object on a network
server. A user wishing to provide a recipient with easy access to
selected network objects runs software which uses a reader to read
a unique identification from a physical icon, prompts the user to
select the objects to be provided to the recipient, and contacts
the corresponding object on the network server, instructing it to
insert links to the user-selected object into the network object
identified by the physical icon. The provider then transfers
possession of the physical icon to the recipient, who runs software
which uses a reader to read the identification from the physical
icon and which accesses the corresponding network object,
instructing the network server to resolve the links contained in
the network object, thus providing the contents of the selected
files to the recipient.
[0012] One aspect of the invention is a method of providing access
to objects on a computer network, the method comprising the steps
of: a) maintaining on the computer network a plurality of first
addresses; b) recording on at least one physical icon a unique one
of the first addresses; c) reading a certain first address from a
certain physical icon; d) linking a destination address of an
arbitrary-sized object with the certain first address; and e)
providing access to the arbitrary-sized object identified by the
destination address.
[0013] Another aspect of the invention, a system for providing
access to objects on a computer network, comprises: a plurality of
physical icons, each bearing a unique machine-readable first URL
identifying a first object; a network server for providing access
to the first objects identified by the first URLs on the physical
icons; a first data appliance configured to read a first URL from a
certain physical icon, forward the first URL to the network server,
and forward to the network server a second URL of a second object
specified by a user of the first data appliance; the network server
being configured to receive the second URL, and to insert into the
first object a link to the second object; a second data appliance
configured to read the first URL from the certain physical icon,
forward the first URL to the network server, and to receive the
second object obtained by resolving the link in the first
object.
[0014] Another aspect of the invention provides a method of
providing access to objects on a computer network, comprising the
steps of: a) maintaining on the computer network a plurality of
first addresses, each indicating a certain first object; b)
machine-reading a certain first address from a certain physical
icon of a plurality of physical icons, each physical icon
containing one of the first addresses; c) accessing a certain first
object identified by the certain first address and presenting on a
user interface a representation of the certain first object; d)
storing in the first object a second address identifying an
arbitrary-size object selected in response to manipulation on the
user interface; and e) subsequently accessing the arbitrary-sized
object according to the second address.
[0015] Other objects and features of the present invention will
become apparent from the following detailed description considered
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be
understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for
purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of
the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended
claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not
necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated,
they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures
and procedures described herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] In the drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote
similar elements:
[0017] FIG. 1 depicts a phicon according to one embodiment of the
present invention;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system according to one
embodiment of the present invention, and on which a method of the
present invention may be practiced;
[0019] FIGS. 3A through 3D depict functional flow through units
depicted in FIG. 2; and
[0020] FIGS. 4A through 4D correlate the flow of FIGS. 3A through
3d with units of FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0021] In the following description of the various embodiments,
reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part
hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various
embodiments in which the invention may be practices. Its is to be
understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural
and functional modifications may be made without departing from the
scope of the present invention.
[0022] In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 1 depicts phicon (derived from "physical icon") 100 for use in
the present invention. Phicon 100 is about the size of a credit
card for convenient carrying and manipulation by a user, and is
made of plastic similar to the material typically used for credit
cards. Phicon 100 includes machine readable tag 102 containing a
destination address of a network object. In the Internet
environment, a destination address is known as a URL. A preferred
embodiment of the invention is practiced in an Internet setting,
and the term "URL" is used herein. When a phicon 100 is inserted in
a phicon reader to be discussed, the URL of the network object is
read from tag 102. The encoding of the URL on tag 102 may be any
form of machine-readable encoding, such as an RF patch antenna, OCR
or MICR characters, bar code, magnetic stripe, printed circuit,
etc.
[0023] According to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2
is a high-level block diagram of a system in which the present
invention may be practiced. FIG. 2 is primarily directed toward the
situation where a first party (here called "the provider") wishes
to provide easy access to network objects of arbitrary size to a
second party (here called "the recipient"), but those skilled in
the art will appreciate that FIG. 2 can be adapted to a situation
where the provider and the recipient are the same party; e.g., a
user wishes to set up subsequent easy access for himself to certain
network objects.
[0024] The provider and recipient have "data appliances" 202 and
1202 respectively. The term "data appliance" is used here to
connote an apparatus with sufficient intelligence to transfer data
to or from a network, and to perform some useful operation on the
data. For example, it may be a present-day PC, or it may be a music
player that can access MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group) or MP3
files from a network and play the music coded therein.
[0025] The present invention makes particular use of phicon 100.
The inventive system includes companion readers 204 and 1204 which
can read the data from a phicon 100 when it is presented to them
and which pass the data to data appliance 202 or 1202 respectively.
Each phicon is encoded with a unique URL. In the preferred
embodiment uniqueness is accomplished by giving each phicon a
unique serial-number portion. For example, a batch of two-thousand
phicons to be used with reference to a local-area network (LAN) at
ABC Corporation might be encoded with URLs
http://card.abccorp.com/cardid.asp?0000001 through
http://card.abccorp.com/cardid.asp?0002000.
[0026] The unique URL on the phicon 100 represents a unique network
object; in the present example, that object may exist on the server
whose domain name is card.abccorp.com. That object does not
necessarily exist prior to the use of a phicbn identifying it; it
may be brought into existence at the time a corresponding phicon is
used. The URLs of other objects may be stored in the object
corresponding to the phicon. Subsequent uses of the phicon may then
find those URLs of other objects and link to them through the
object corresponding to the phicon. The user may insert the phicon
into a phicon reader located on a wired network terminal, or
located on a device wirelessly connected to the network, or in
wireless communication with a network terminal such as through a
Bluetooth connection.
[0027] It will now be supposed that a provider wishes to use one of
these phicons to provide a recipient with easy access to a
Lotus-123 spreadsheet file named SS.123 located on server 210
(connected via LAN 208), and with easy access to a multi-media
presentation file named MM.HTM located on server 402, accessible
via the Internet 300. The provider takes a phicon and presents it
to reader 204, which forwards the URL encoded on the phicon 100 to
data appliance 202. The domain name portion of the URL must refer
to a domain accessible to data appliance 202. For the example of
FIG. 2, it is supposed that the domain name "card.abccorp.com"
corresponds to ABC Corporation's card server, which in the present
example is server 404 on FIG. 2. Software running on provider's
data appliance 202 forwards the URL to server 404, and in response
to the complete URL, server 404 generates a network object
corresponding to the URL, if such an object does not already exist.
(Prior to the first use of a particular phicon, there is no overt
reason for a corresponding network object to exist.)
[0028] Providers data appliance 202 then causes a graphical icon
(not shown in FIG. 2) to appear on display 206. In a preferred
embodiment the graphical icon is an image of a virtual floppy disk
drive. Using conventional file management software which permits
manipulation of graphical icons, the provider selects the files she
wishes to provide to the recipient (in this example, SS.123 on
server 210 and MM.HTM on server 402) and "drags" their icons into
the icon of the virtual floppy disk drive. In response to these
actions, server 404 inserts links ("shortcuts") into the object it
created in response to the URL coded on the phicon 100.
[0029] The phicon 100 may now be given to the recipient. The
provider might hand-write identifying material on the face of the
phicon 100--for example, "Spreadsheet and Multi-Media presentation
for Harry". The recipient presents the phicon 100 to his reader
1204 which reads the encoded URL and passes it to data appliance
1202 which in turn requests opening of the object identified by the
encoded URL. In the present example, this is the aforementioned
object on server 404. On his display 1206, the recipient sees, in a
conventional file-management presentation, representations of
SS.123 and MM.HTM, either of which he can open and view or
execute.
[0030] This example presupposes that the recipient has access to
LAN 208 (i.e., that he is in the same company as the provider) and
that he has access to servers 404 and 402. Even if the recipient
has a physical connection to LAN 208, security criteria (e.g.,
imposed in the form of password-based access rights) apply as usual
on LAN 208 and on servers 404 and 402. If the recipient would
normally be precluded from accessing objects on server 404 or from
viewing SS.123 and MM.HTM, possession of the phicon does not
override that.
[0031] No new information was recorded on the phicon 100 to enable
the recipient to have easy access to SS.123 and MM.HTM. When the
recipient is finished with the information provided to him, he
could reuse the same phicon to provide other information to yet
another recipient. He would run provider software on his data
appliance, delete SS.123 and MM.HTM from the virtual floppy disk
drive presented to him to represent the aforementioned object on
server 404, and "drag" representations of other files he wishes to
provide, thus creating links to them in the aforementioned object
on server 404.
[0032] The example above has presupposed that the providers and
recipients are all affiliated with ABC Corporation, but general
public use of the inventive system could be enabled by a company
undertaking to maintain a public card server. For example, a
company called CardCo might maintain a server (406 on FIG. 2) with
a domain name of cardco.com. Such a company would then mass-market
phicons, each coded with a unique URL comprising a domain-name
portion identifying server 406 and a unique serial-number portion.
Anyone could then use provider software to create an object on
server 406 corresponding to a particular phicon and containing
links to other selected objects. That phicon could then be used by
a recipient to easily access those objects (again, presuming that
security qualifications are met). As noted, the "recipient" might
be the same person who functioned as the "provider" in preparing
the phicon. For example, a user might wish to prepare a network
object that enables him to subsequently view a stored copy of the
movie Birth of a Nation simply by presenting to his phicon reader
the phicon he used when he prepared the network object and on which
he has handwritten "Birth of a Nation", freeing him from having to
remember and enter a probably lengthy and arcane URL connoting the
network location of the stored copy, or from having to use
file-management software to locate the copy each time he wishes to
view it. CardCo might defray its expenses and garner profit from
various sources including the sale of the phicons and revenue from
advertisers for ads presented to users of server 406 or from ads
printed on the phicons.
[0033] It is inherent in the inventive scheme that a phicon 100
indirectly addresses network objects. Thus the objects, as well as
access rights to the objects, may change after deployment of a
phicon 100. For example, in the foregoing example where a recipient
was given a phicon 100 to access a spreadsheet file named SS.123,
changes may be made to SS.123 and each use by the recipient of the
phicon 100 will result in his seeing the then-current version of
SS.123, not the version that was current at the time of deploying
the phicon 100. Similarly, if a user's access rights or an object's
access attributes change so that a recipient is no longer permitted
access to the object, his mere possession of the phicon 100 will
not override his being denied access to the object. Further, if
SS.123 should be deleted, the object referenced by phicon 100 still
appears to contain a link to SS.123, but that link will turn out to
be unresolvable.
[0034] A recipient of a phicon 100 does not necessarily have to
retain the phicon 100 in order to retain easy access to the objects
it links to. The recipient may simply copy the URL from the phicon
100 and retain that copy, for example by copying the URL into a
"bookmark" using the bookmark feature provided in popular web
browsers.
[0035] In cases where it is desired to mass-distribute access to a
network object, a large number of phicons 100 may be produced that
all contain the same URL. For example, in an advertising promotion,
phicons may be distributed as "fly sheets" inserted in magazines,
all bearing printed indications of what the offer is, and all
bearing the same coded URL leading to a network object that
contains a link to an object giving details of the offer.
[0036] Also, phicons distributed as fly sheets in a particular
issue of a particular magazine may all be encoded with a URL
uniquely associated with the magazine's title and issue number, and
pointing to a link to details of an offer, and perhaps eliciting
user response to the offer, such as making a purchase. This would
aid advertisers in identifying magazines in which advertising of
their products or services is most productive. The rate charged by
magazines for carrying the phicons may be a function of the number
of inquiries made, using the phicons, by prospective customers.
[0037] Further, the phicons may be coded in such a way as to
identify customer demographics (as by identifying a URL associated
with a particular outlet to which the magazine will be shipped for
final sale). Or, in the case of magazines sent directly to the
customer under a subscription, the included phicons may identify
the customer, as by being encoded with a URL uniquely associated
with the customer (e.g., by a serial number assigned to each
customer) and pointing to a link to the offer. For simplicity,
encoding of the phicon could be performed in the same process in
which the magazine is addressed.
[0038] When an advertiser makes an introductory or promotional
offer the fulfillment of which may actually incur a loss, it can be
advantageous to code each phicon with a unique URL, thus guarding
against misuse such as multiple acceptances of the offer by a
single party.
[0039] According to one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS.
3A through 3D show detail of a functional flow through some of the
units depicted in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 4A through 4D correlate the
details given in FIGS. 3A through 3D with some of the units
depicted in FIG. 2. FIG. 4A illustrates a phicon 100 with a
machine-readable tag 102, a user data appliance terminal 202 with
phicon reader 204 and display 206, and network servers 402 and 404.
In this example, display 206 already displays icons representing
network objects. This is the result of actions by the user prior to
the inception of the present exemplary scenario.
[0040] FIG. 3A depicts functions performed in the present exemplary
scenario, and FIG. 4B correlates these functions with the depicted
units. Each function in FIG. 3A is identified by a row-and-column
identifier, and the results of the functions are shown in FIG. 4B
each indexed to an identifier from FIG. 3A. Function 1A is the
insertion by a user of a phicon 100 in reader 204. Only one phicon
100 is depicted in FIG. 4B, but it is only one of a number of
phicons 100, each encoded with the URL of a different object. It is
supposed here, as in the scenario discussed in connection with FIG.
2, that the domain portion of the URL encoded on the selected
phicon 100 identifies server 402, though it should be understood
that the domain portion of a phicon 100 may identify any server.
Step 1C indicates that terminal 202 receives the encoded URL from
reader 204 and forwards it to server 402. Step 1C also invokes step
2B, which causes display 206 to display an icon representing the
phicon 100. In a preferred embodiment, the icon displayed to
represent phicon 100 is a representation of a 3'-inch floppy
disk.
[0041] In step 2D of FIG. 3A (not reflected in FIG. 4B), server 404
determines whether the object whose URL was coded on the selected
phicon 100 is subject to restricted access. If so, server 404
determines whether the user has provided a correct password for
access. If not, a message is sent to terminal 202 requesting the
password. If none is provided, the scenario is terminated; the user
may not access an object with the selected phicon 100.
[0042] In the present exemplary scenario, the object whose URL is
encoded on the selected phicon 100 is known as the 1.sup.st object.
The 1.sup.st object serves as a "target" object reached whenever
the phicon containing its URL is presented to a phicon reader of
the system, with no other action by the presenter. The 1.sup.st
object's purpose is to contain the URLs of 2.sup.nd objects (placed
there by a provider) in order that the presenter of a phicon has
easy access to the 2.sup.nd objects. In step 3D of FIG. 3A, server
404 determines whether the 1.sup.st object already exists. (It
would not necessarily exist if the selected phicon 100, uniquely
identifying one object, had never been used before.) If the
1.sup.st object does not exist, server 404 creates it.
[0043] The present exemplary scenario supposes that the 1.sup.st
object does exist, and contains two other URLs. In step 4D, those
two other URLs are forwarded to terminal 202, which in turn
forwards them (step 5C) to display 206, which displays them (step
5B) within the icon that represents phicon 100.
[0044] The user now has the option of manipulating the contents of
the 1.sup.st object by manipulating representations on display 206.
Referring to FIGS. 3B and 4C, the present exemplary scenario
supposes that the user wishes to add to the 1.sup.st object the URL
of a 2.sup.nd object, taken in this example to be associated with
the domain of server 402. The user would have selected the 2.sup.nd
object in the conventional manner, causing an iconic representation
of it to appear on display 206. In step 6A, the user "drags" a copy
of the 2.sup.nd object's icon into the icon representing the
selected phicon 100 and thus representing the 1.sup.st object.
Terminal 202, cognizant that step 6A has occurred, forwards the URL
of the 2.sup.nd object to server 404 (step 6C). Server 404 stores
the 2.sup.nd object's URL within the 1.sup.st object (step 6D).
[0045] FIG. 3C (not reflected in FIGS. 4A through 4D) shows the
steps that take place when a user similarly deletes an icon from
within the icon representing phicon 100 and the 1.sup.st object,
resulting in deleting the corresponding URL from within the
1.sup.st object.
[0046] The four exemplary scenarios presented in the four FIGS. 3A
through 3D may all occur in one continuous session controlled from
one terminal 202, or each may occur in a different session on the
same or different terminal equipment. It is supposed in the present
example, as in the example discussed in connection with FIG. 2,
that after a first user (the provider) has used a selected phicon
100 to select a 1.sup.st object, and has (from terminal 202) set up
that 1.sup.st object to contain the URLs of certain 2.sup.nd
objects as discussed in connection with FIG. 3A through 3C, the
first user has passed the selected phicon 100 to a second user (the
recipient). FIGS. 3D and 4D illustrate the actions occurring when
the recipient user accesses the 2.sup.nd object. The recipient user
inserts the selected phicon 100 received from the provider user,
and inserts it into reader 1204 of terminal 1202. By actions
similar to those given in FIG. 3A, the reading of the selected
phicon 100 causes an icon representing phicon 100 (and the 1.sup.st
object) to appear on display 1206. It contains icons representing
2.sup.nd objects whose URLs have previously been stored in the
1.sup.st object as discussed in connection with FIG. 3B, and
retrieved in connection with FIG. 3A.
[0047] In step 8A of FIG. 3D, the recipient user selects one of the
icons within the icon representing the selected phicon 100. The
selected icon might identify the URL of any object in any domain.
In the present exemplary scenario the selected icon identifies a
URL of an object in the domain of server 402 and designated
2.sup.nd object in FIG. 4D. Server 1206, cognizant of the selection
made by the user, forwards the 2.sup.nd objects URL to the server
identified by the domain portion of the URL (step 8C). In some
other scenario the 2.sup.nd object might be in the domain of server
404, in which case step 8C would dispatch to step 9D; in the
present exemplary scenario the 2.sup.nd object is in the domain of
server 402, so step 8C dispatches to step 9E, executed in server
402. If authorization is required to access the 2.sup.nd object,
step 9E (not reflected in FIG. 4D) verifies that the user has
provided an appropriate password in manner similar to that of step
2D (FIG. 3A). If there are no access restrictions, or if the user
meets the access restrictions, step 10E is reached. A copy of the
2.sup.nd object is forwarded to terminal 1202. In steps 11C and
11B, actions are performed as directed by the second object; for
example, if the 2.sup.nd object is the spreadsheet file SS.123 as
discussed in connection with FIG. 2, the spreadsheet program is run
on terminal 1202 and the data specified by file SS.123 are
presented to the user by the spreadsheet program. The user may
interact with the spreadsheet program (step 11A) in whatever
conventional means the spreadsheet program allows.
[0048] It is possible that sometime after the provider set up the
1.sup.st object to provide access to the 2.sup.nd object (e.g.,
spreadsheet file SS.123), the 2.sup.nd object may be modified, in
which case the selected phicon 100 provides the user with access to
the current (modified) version of the file. It is also possible
that sometime after the provider set up the 1.sup.st object to
provide access to the 2.sup.nd object, the 2.sup.nd object was
moved (so as to be accessible through a different URL) or deleted.
In this case the phicon 100 will no longer provide access to the
2.sup.nd object.
[0049] A phicon 100 may be reused to provide access to other
2.sup.nd objects, either in addition to or instead of 2.sup.nd
objects presently represented on it. The URL of the 1.sup.st object
stays on the selected phicon 100 and never need be rewritten. The
1.sup.st object, though, may have any number of URLs of 2.sup.nd
objects stored in it as discussed in connection with FIG. 3B, and
URLs of 2.sup.nd objects may be deleted from the 1.sup.st object as
desired, as discussed in connection with FIG. 3C.
[0050] A phicon 100 need only carry the very small volume of data
necessary to contain a URL. Even lengthy URLs rarely exceed a few
hundred bytes. Yet the 1.sup.st object may contain a large number
of URLs of 2.sup.nd objects, and the 2.sup.nd objects may be of
arbitrary size. Thus, although carrying a phicon 100 may seem to a
user to be analogous in many ways to carrying a portable data
storage medium, such as a floppy disk, the phicon 100 gives the
user access to a virtually unlimited amount of data while a
portable data storage medium has an inherent capacity limit (e.g.,
1.44 megabytes for a 31/4-inch floppy disk). Furthermore,
information stored on a floppy disk remains static while, as noted
above, objects accessed by means of a phicon 100 are the current
versions of those objects.
[0051] Thus, while there have been shown and described and pointed
out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a
preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various
omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of
the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by
those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the
invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all
combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform
substantially the same function in substantially the same way to
achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention.
Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements
and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any
disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated
in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment
as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention,
therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the
claims appended hereto.
* * * * *
References