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:
Jul. 03, 2001
Filed:
Sep. 10, 1998
Antony S. Williams, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Walter L. Hill, Kirkland, WA (US);
Mark B. Grossman, Kirkland, WA (US);
Crispin Goswell, Redmond, WA (US);
Craig H. Wittenberg, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
An assembly method and system for assembling components into an assembly. An assembly provides connectors through which the components can be exported and through which an external entity can be imported. An exported component can be connected to another assembly by importing that exported component into that other assembly. A connector can both expose components to be exported and expose connections through which an external entity can be imported. The assembly provides a mechanism through which the connectors can be exposed to external entities. An external entity can use the connector providing mechanism to retrieve a connector and then use the retrieved connector to export components and establish connections by importing external entities. In addition, the use of a standard connector and of a standard connector providing mechanism allows predefined components to be assembled into assemblies that can expose certain behavior of the components through the connectors in a predefined manner.