The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 02, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 04, 1996
Robert A Potterveld, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Thomas G Bartz, Loveland, CO (US);
Andrew Zander, Queensland, AU;
Brian J Atkins, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system with associated data structures for providing management of topological associations between objects. The methods define an application programs interface (API) which specifies a consistent approach for the design of application programs to manage topological associations between objects. Objects each represent an aspect of a resource which is useful to a particular application program. Application programs define a resource aspect type for each object to be managed by the API. Objects are specified to the API by application programs along with resource names to identify a resource. The methods and structures of the present invention automatically recognize when the resource names of an object to be managed identify the same resource as other managed objects to thereby allow information to be more readily shared among disparate application programs and to reduce redundant storage of information by those programs.