IP Innovation L.L.C. and Technology Licensing Corporation (collectively, "Plaintiffs") have brought a patent-infringement action against Red Hat, Inc., and Novell, Inc., alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Numbers 5,072,412; 5,533,183; and 5,394,521. The patents concern a user interface that has multiple workspaces. The Plaintiffs' complaint identifies as accused products "Red Hat Linux system," the "Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop," and the "Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Server."
UPDATE: THESE THREE PATENTS WERE INVALIDATED BY THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT, EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, ON APRIL 30, 2010, IN THE ABOVE REFERENCED ACTION.
UPDATE: THESE THREE PATENTS WERE INVALIDATED BY THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT, EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS, ON APRIL 30, 2010, IN THE ABOVE REFERENCED ACTION.
Summary / Description
| Summary / Description | An application desktop/workspace switcher for the Apple Macintosh |
Basic Information
| Type of Prior Art | Source Code |
| Name/Title | Switcher |
| Publication Date | October 1, 1984 |
| Author | Andy Hertzfeld |
| URL | |
| System Type | Application Program |
| Printed Materials (Documentation, Manual, Training Guide, Literature, et cetera) | No |
| Online Source Code Repository | No |
| Online project documentation | No |
| Storage Media (Floppy disk, CD-ROM, Tape, et cetera) | No |
| Other | Yes |
| How to Locate the Evidence (e.g. Location of the System Documentation -- Product Manual, User Guide, or Training Guide) | |
| URL for Software Repository | |
| URL for Product Description | http://www.folklore.org/StoryVi... |
| Licensing Model | Other |
| Programming Language | |
Notes / To Do
| Notes | I didn't know quite how to post this prior art, but Andy Hertzfeld was one of the original software architects for the Macintosh. In late 1984, he wrote a tool that allowed users to instantiate multiple desktops so that they could run multiple programs at |
Excerpt
"In early January 1985, I got a phone call from Guy Kawasaki, one of Apple's third party evangelists, who told me that Apple was interested in buying Switcher, and that he was assigned to make that happen. The first step was arranging a demo for Steve Jobs.
I entered Steve's office with a bit of trepidation, because I thought that Switcher was worth at least a quarter of a million dollars to Apple, but I was sure that Steve would never want to pay me that much. But I was also proud of Switcher, and was interested in seeing how Steve would react to it.
I booted up my by now standard demo of MacWrite, MacPaint, MacDraw and the Finder, as well as a little maze generating program written by Steve Capps. I configured Switcher with the scrolling animation initially turned off, so it would have more impact when I showed it later. I demoed cutting and pasting between MacWrite, MacPaint and MacDraw, in seconds instead of minutes, and then I turned on the scrolling animation, and starting switching rapidly between them, in both directions."
Relevance
Claims
User interface with mulitple workspaces
A system comprising:
a display;
first and second workspace data structures relating respectively to first and second workspaces that can be presented on the display; each of the first and second workspaces including a respective set of display objects; each of the display objects being perceptible as a distinct, coherent set of display features; the display objects of each respective set being perceptible as having spatial positions relative to each other when the respective workspace is presented on the display;
display object means for generating first and second display objects; the first workspace data structure being linked to the display object means so that the first display object is in the respective set of display objects of the first workspace; the second workspace data structure being linked to the display object means so that the second display object is in the respective set of display objects of the second workspace; and
control means for accessing the first workspace data structure to cause the display to present the first workspace including the first display object; the control means further being for accessing the second workspace data structure to cause the display to present the second workspace including the second display object; the display object means generating the first and second display objects so that the second display object is perceptible as the same tool as the first display object when the second workspace is presented after the first workspace.
Relevance
Switcher is a multiple workspace environment that ran on the Apple Macintosh in 1985.
Switcher is a multiple workspace environment that ran on the Apple Macintosh in 1985.
Claim Chart
All
