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.

Date of Patent:
Feb. 24, 2009

Filed:

Apr. 23, 2004
Applicants:

Marion Lee Blount, Mahopac, NY (US);

Paul C. Castro, White Plains, NY (US);

Norman Howard Cohen, Suffern, NY (US);

John S. Davis, Ii, New York, NY (US);

Maria Rene Ebling, White Plains, NY (US);

Barry Leiba, Cortlandt Manor, NY (US);

Archan Misra, Irvington, NY (US);

Apratim Purakayastha, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);

Wolfgang H. Segmuller, Valhalla, NY (US);

Inventors:

Marion Lee Blount, Mahopac, NY (US);

Paul C. Castro, White Plains, NY (US);

Norman Howard Cohen, Suffern, NY (US);

John S. Davis, II, New York, NY (US);

Maria Rene Ebling, White Plains, NY (US);

Barry Leiba, Cortlandt Manor, NY (US);

Archan Misra, Irvington, NY (US);

Apratim Purakayastha, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);

Wolfgang H. Segmuller, Valhalla, NY (US);

Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 7/00 (2006.01); G06F 17/30 (2006.01); G06F 17/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

Improved discovery techniques are provided. For example, in one aspect of the invention, a technique for making providers of a particular kind of data available to an application program includes the following steps/operations. The technique discovers whether one or more data providers are capable of providing the particular kind of data, wherein a discovered data provider is either a connected data provider or a virtual data provider. When a data provider capable of providing the particular kind of data is discovered and the discovered data provider is a virtual data provider, the technique instantiates the virtual data provider. When a data provider capable of providing the particular kind of data is discovered, the technique makes a data-provider handle for the discovered data provider available to the application program, with a common interface.


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