!030994 Two interesting IBM software patents that include source code I recently came across two interesting IBM software patents, in terms of their use of source code. The first patent is number 4893256, titled "Interactive Video Composition and Presentation Systems", dated January 9, 1990, ".. a method of specifying and executing independent, multi-media tasks along a synchronizing time-line, preferably in the form of a spreadsheet matrix ....". Not only is it an interesting, early multimedia software patent, but the specification (at least the version on microfilm) contains 24,000 lines of C source code. If you want an inside look at one of IBM's approaches to multimedia, all you have to do is order a copy for $3 from the patent office. Cheap corporate intelligence. The second patent is number 5257345, titled "Computer System and Method for Displaying Functional Information with Parallax Shift", basically a way of displaying greater than 4-dimensional data in two dimensions (for those familiar with hypergraphs). Anyways, the patent illustrates how little you need to get a nearly pure software patent. The patent specification is just four pages with 9 drawing sheets and two claims, with some hardware thrown in. The bulk of the specification is 200 pages listing 3400 lines of Pascal along with some Fortran. Good example of the keep-it-simple, throw-in-some-hardware software patent. Greg Aharonian Internet Patent News Service