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. 25, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 09, 1999
Alan Ruberg, Foster City, CA (US);
James G. Hanko, Redwood City, CA (US);
Benjamin H. Stoltz, Mountain View, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A distributed settings control protocol. One or more embodiments of the invention provide the ability for an application running on a server across a network to modify various settings related to the terminals such as display resolution, audio output configuration (such as volume control or headphones v. speaker), and energy saver procedures. These abilities are provided by adhering to several protocol properties. One or more embodiments may include but are not limited to the following properties: (1) a terminal maintains knowledge regarding which applications are currently viewing or accessing the terminal; (2) applications/programs and servers know the state of terminal settings (referred to as idempotence and consistency); (3) to modify a setting a server provides the correct current setting to the terminal prior to the terminal completing a change (referred to as locking compliance), (4) the settings are mobile from one terminal to another; (5) the settings on each terminal are independent of other terminals to provide for differences between terminal models and hardware (referred to as model independence); and (6) a user, a third party agent, a manufacturer, or other entity is permitted to set any desired policy related to the settings (referred to as policy free). By adhering to the above properties, the protocol of one or more embodiments ensures that settings are maintained accurately and consistently across a network while permitting multiple entities to modify and configure the settings.