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. 18, 2008
Filed:
Apr. 20, 1998
J. Duane Northcutt, Manlo Park, CA (US);
James G. Hanko, Redwood City, CA (US);
Alan T. Ruberg, Foster City, CA (US);
Gerard a Wall, San Jose, CA (US);
Lawrence L. Butcher, Mountain View, CA (US);
Neil C. Wilhelm, Menlo Park, CA (US);
J. Duane Northcutt, Manlo Park, CA (US);
James G. Hanko, Redwood City, CA (US);
Alan T. Ruberg, Foster City, CA (US);
Gerard A Wall, San Jose, CA (US);
Lawrence L. Butcher, Mountain View, CA (US);
Neil C. Wilhelm, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The invention provides a central office metaphor to computing, where features and functions are provided by a one or more servers and communicated to an appliance terminal through a network. Data providers are defined as 'services' and are provided by one or more processing resources. The services communicate to display terminals through a network, such as Ethernet. The terminals are configured to display data, and to send keyboard, cursor, audio, and video data through the network to the processing server. Functionality is partitioned so that databases, server and graphical user interface functions are provided by the services, and human interface functionality is provided by the terminal. Communication with the terminals from various services is accomplished by converting disparate output to a common protocol. Appropriate drivers are provided for each service to allow protocol conversion. Multiple terminals are coupled to the network. Users can enable their unique session at any one of the terminals by inserting a 'smart card' into a card reader. Removing the card disables the session. Re-inserting the card into the same or any other terminal re-enables the session.