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:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 01, 1997
Kevin Lane Brown, Issaquah, WA (US);
Ronald Andrew Fein, Seattle, WA (US);
Eric A LeVine, Seattle, WA (US);
Thomas W Saxton, Issaquah, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A method and system for preserving document integrity between potentially partially incompatible versions of a program module by maintaining forwards compatibility and backwards compatibility. Version (n') of the program module is released after version (n). A 'saved by version (n)' bit may be activated any time that version (n) saves a file. The 'saved by version (n)' bit indicates to subsequently-released versions, such as version (n'), that the file has been saved by version (n) and, based upon this information, appropriate action should be taken by the subsequently-released version. A 'warning from future version' bit may be activated to indicate that a feature or features of the subsequently-released version is not supported by version (n). Based upon receiving this bit, version (n) may open the file with these features disabled or may take some other appropriate action.