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:
Apr. 15, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 04, 1998
Robert Carl Barrett, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Paul P. Maglio, Santa Cruz, CA (US);
Edwin J. Selker, Palo Alto, CA (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for managing information through the use of physical objects. An Informative Thing that is a physical object stores a pointer thereon, and the pointer is used to retrieve information associated with the Informative Thing from a network-based system. The Informative Thing provides a user interface that gives the impression of storing information on the physical object, when, in reality, the system stores the information in the network. By hiding the details of information retrieval, information management is greatly simplified. By linking the physical and virtual worlds, users' highly-developed ability to work in the real world is leveraged.