WO2002008958A1

WO2002008958A1 - Global information network invention publication system

Info

Publication number: WO2002008958A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/022714
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas J. Colson; John E. Cronin; Thomas F. A. Bibby, Jr.; David T. Punia; Samuel C. Baxter; Timothy G. Northrup; Nathalia V. Britvikhina; Robert Cantrell
Original assignee: Ip.Com, Inc.
Priority date: 2000-07-21
Filing date: 2001-07-18
Publication date: 2002-01-31
Also published as: AU2001280612A1

Abstract

A system and a method fo publishing an invention disclosure document for a client for the purpose of publicly disclosing an invention to end users on the Global Information Network. The system (90) includes a publication Web site 100 having a publicly accessible database (140) for storing invention disclosure documents received from clients. Invention disclosure documents preferably include primary text files and attachment files, such as drawing files. Invention disclosure documents can be marked with one or more invention disclosure documents attribute symbols. The Web site (100) also includes a search engine accessible to the end users. The search engine is in electronic communication with the database and can receive a search request from an end user, allowing the end user access to one or more of the invention disclosure documents. The invention disclosure document attribute symbols are displayed when the end user accesses the invention disclosure document. The invention dislosure documents are digitally fingerprinted.

Description

GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK INVENTION PUBLICATION SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of electronic publishing; more specifically, it relates to a method and system for publishing an invention by placing documents describing the invention in a searchable database via the Global Information Network (also known as the Internet).

BACKGROUND ART Patent portfolios are now regarded by many companies as an invaluable and necessary business asset. A patent portfolio is typically designed to cover a company's key technology, and often includes many patents related to the inventions surrounding the key technology. For example, if company's core technology involves a special type of laser, the company may patent the special type of laser, as well as inventions related to the laser, such as methods for coating the laser mirrors, methods for fabricating devices using the laser, apparatus that uses the laser for particular applications (e.g., photolithography) and the like.

One reason for patenting the related inventions surrounding the core technology is to maintain freedom of action in practicing the core technology. For example, if the laser requires specially coated mirrors and another company or individual obtains patents on the method for coating the mirrors and the mirrors as an article of manufacture, then the value of the core laser patent is diminished because use of the laser will require licensing the laser mirror patents.

Unfortunately, the cost of preparing, filing, obtaining, and maintaining a single United States Patent can cost many thousands of dollars. Filing corresponding patents in other counties around the world further increases the cost. Thus, when large numbers of patents are involved, as is the case of a patent portfolio, the costs can become prohibitive, even for large companies.

One approach to reducing the cost of maximizing the value of core technologies is patenting the core inventions and publishing articles or papers disclosing the related inventions. While disclosing the related invention donates the related inventions to the public, if done correctly, the core technology is protected and the related inventions will not be of much use to others outside the context of the core patent(s). More importantly, the related inventions will not be patentable by others since they are already in the public domain.

However, a difficulty with this approach is finding a convenient place to publish descriptions of inventions. While technical societies publish journals and other related publications, the subject matter of inventions is generally not appropriate for such publications. Moreover, such journals and technical publications have limited capacity.

Another difficulty with existing publications, especially non-technical society publications, or those of more obscure societies, is that competitors may have difficulty finding the publication. Generally speaking, it is preferable that the publication describing the invention be readily found by others (e.g., potential competitors) to provide notice that the invention is in the public domain and therefore not patentable.

Some traditional invention publication services exist, such as the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin. However, these publications tend to be relatively expensive, and for smaller companies and individual inventors, the cost of publication, while less than the cost of patenting, is still prohibitive for many.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The method and system of the present invention allow for publishing searchable documents that describe an invention (hereinafter, an "invention disclosure document" prior to publication and an "invention publication document" after publication) for the purpose of disclosing the invention in a manner that makes the invention part of the public domain and thus not patentable by another. Such invention publications can serve an important role in protecting inventions related to or surrounding a core technology. A database of such invention publications can also serve the inventor community as a readily accessible Global Information Network source of searchable prior art. Moreover, the invention publications can be published anonymously so that competitors are prevented from triangulating the position of an organization's intellectual property efforts or strategy.

A first aspect of the present invention is a method of publishing an invention disclosure document for a client for the purpose of publicly disclosing the invention to end users. The method includes the steps of providing a Web site system and a publicly accessible database for storing invention disclosure documents, providing a search engine to the end user for locating one or more of the invention disclosure documents in the database according to a search request by the end user, and allowing the end user access to the located invention disclosure document(s). The method also includes receiving an invention disclosure document from a client, marking the document with one or more invention disclosure document attribute symbols, and adding the invention disclosure document to the database. The invention disclosure document attribute symbols are displayed when an end user accesses the invention disclosure document. A second aspect of the present invention is a system for publishing an invention disclosure document received from a client's computer for the purpose of publicly disclosing the invention to end users via end users' computers connected to the Global Information Network. The system includes a Web site system having a computer system in communication with a publicly accessible database. The computer system is operable to receive an invention disclosure document from the client's computer, mark the invention disclosure document with one or more invention disclosure document attribute symbols, and add the invention disclosure document to the database. The computer system is in further communication with a search engine for receiving a search request from an end user's computer and locating one or more invention disclosure documents from the database based on the search request. The computer system transmits located invention disclosure documents to the end user's computer and displays the invention disclosure document attribute symbols corresponding to the transmitted invention disclosure documents.

A third aspect of the present invention is a system for fingerprinting and notarizing invention disclosure electronic documents for the purpose of verifying chain of custody and publication dates.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a system for periodically checking or auditing electronic invention disclosure documents to confirm integrity and chain of custody.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a system for permitting authors and owners of intellectual property to independently verify integrity and chain of custody of electronic invention disclosure documents stored in a remote database by a third party.

These and other aspects, objects and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention, the drawings, and attached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a high level architectural drawing illustrating the primary components of a system that operates in accordance to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an architectural drawing illustrating the publication site of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of creating a client account in the publication Web site according to the present invention; FIGS. 4 through 8 illustrate URL formats used to embed referral links within Web documents according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps for a client to sign-on to the publication site according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of uploading an invention disclosure document to be published via a Global Information Network connection according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating uploading of an invention disclosure document to be published via an FTP connection according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating client preparation and upload of an invention disclosure document to be published according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of downloading software for preparation of an invention disclosure document by a client and uploading of the invention disclosure to be published according to the present invention; FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of receiving and publishing an invention disclosure document to be published by the publication site according to the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating the step of FIG. 14 of validation of the uploaded invention disclosure document, according to the present invention; FIG. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of FIG. 14 of extraction of the uploaded invention disclosure document and creation of a searchable document, according to the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating the step of FIG. 14 of preparation of a bibliographic data file, according to the present invention; FIG. 18 is a flow diagram illustrating the step of FIG. 14 of creating a invention publication document file, according to the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrating the step of FIG. 14 of notarization of the invention publication document file, according to the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps of FIG. 14 of activating the invention publication document, according to the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of searching the invention publication document database, according to the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of purchasing publication slots, according to the present invention; FIG. 23 is a flow diagram illustrating the optional steps of the method of client management of invention publication documents on the publication site searchable database, according to the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of maintenance and accounting routines, according to the present invention; FIG. 25 is a flow diagram illustrating the method steps of determining and assembly of the publication Web site display screens, according to the present invention;

FIGS. 26 A and 26B are a flow diagrams illustrating an alternative method of notarizing the invention disclosure documents, according to the present invention; FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating the organization of exemplary screen displays, according to the present invention;

FIG. 28 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site homepage, according to the present invention;

FIG. 29 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site sign- in page, according to the present invention;

FIG. 30 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site registration page, according to the present invention;

FIG. 31 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site registration terms and conditions page, according to the present invention; FIG. 32 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site registration update page, according to the present invention;

FIG. 33 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site purchase publication page, according to the present invention;

FIG. 34 is an exemplary screen display illustrating the publication Web site purchase publication confirmation page, according to the present invention;

FIGs. 35 through 42 are exemplary screen displays illustrating the publication Web site publishing wizard pages, according to the present invention;

FIGS. 43 through 48 are exemplary screen displays illustrating the publication Web site search pages, according to the present invention; FIGS. 49 and 50 are flowcharts of a fingerprinting method of the invention;

FIG. 51 is a screen capture illustrating the contents of a ZIP file published by the invention;

FIG. 52 is a screen capture of a representative email message sent by a publishing house to a submitter; and FIG. 53 is a screen capture of a readme.txt file which would be sent to a submitter after a document has been published.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of electronic publishing; more specifically, it relates to a method and system for placing invention disclosure documents in a publicly accessible and searchable database via the Global Information Network.

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms The following terms and acronyms are used throughout the detailed description:

Server: A program that responds to a request from another program, typically a Web browser, in a distributed system in which a program at one site sends a request to a program at another site and waits for a response. Typically the server responds by transmitting Web pages. Web browser: A program that sends requests to another program in a distributed system in which a program at one site sends a request to a program at another site and waits for a response. Typically the Web browser receives Web pages from the server. Hyperlink: A navigational link from one document to another. Typically, a hyperlink is displayed as an underlined word or phrase that can be selected by clicking on it using a mouse, which causes the Web browser to display the linked document.

Global Information Network: A collection of interconnected public and/or private networks that are linked together by a set of standard protocols such as TCP/IP and HTTP, to form a global, distributed network. The term "Global Information Network" is also intended to encompass changes and additions to existing standard protocols that may be made in the future.

World Wide Web ("Web"): A distributed collection of interlinked, user- viewable hypertext documents, commonly referred to as Web documents or Web pages, that are accessible via the Global Information Network. Currently, the primary standard protocol for allowing applications to locate and acquire Web documents is HTTP, and the Web pages are encoded using HTML. The term "Web" is also intended to encompass changes and additions to existing standard protocols that may be made in the future. Web Site: A computer system for serving informational content over a network using the standard protocols of the World Wide Web. Typically, a Web site corresponds to a particular Global Information Network domain name, such as "IP.COM," and includes the content associated with a particular organization. As used herein, the term is generally intended to encompass both the hardware/software server components that serve the informational content over the network, and additional hardware/software components, including any non-standard or specialized components, that interact with the server components to perform services for Web site users.

SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language): An international standard (ISO 8879) published in 1986. SGML prescribes a standard format for embedding descriptive markup within a document. SGML also specifies a standard method for describing the structure of a document. SGML forces each element in the structure, which is labeled with descriptive markup such as "chapter," "title" and "paragraph," to fit in the logical, predictable structure of the document.

XML (Extensible Markup Language): A document and data description language that is a subset of the SGML, yet provide the web transmission function of the HTML. It is not a fixed grammar, as is HTML, but is extensible, as is SGML. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): Computer software codes for attaching presentation and linking attributes to informational content within documents. Documents sent to the Web browser contain HTML codes (referred to as "tags") embedded within the informational content of the document. When the Web document (or HTML document) is subsequently received by a Web browser, the codes are interpreted by the browser and used to parse and display the document. Additionally

HTML tags can be used to create links to other Web documents (commonly referred to as "hyperlinks").

HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol): The standard World Wide Web protocol used for the exchange of information (such as HTML documents, and Web browser requests for such documents) between a browser and a Web server. HTTP includes a number of different types of messages, which can be sent, from the client to the server to request different types of server actions. For example, a "GET" message, which has the format GET, causes the server to retiirn the document or file located at the specified URL. URL (Uniform Resource Locator): A unique address that fully specifies the location of a file or other resource on the Global Information Network. The general format of a URL is protocol://machine address:port/path/filename. The port specification is optional. Branded Web page: A Web page having at least one of the display attributes of a channel partner Web page. Examples of display attributes include a logo, a color, a layout, fonts and styles.

Co-branded Web page: A Web page having at least one display attribute of a channel partner's Web page and a publication Web site logo.

Global Information Network Invention Publication System Turning to FIG. 1, Global Information Network publishing system 90 includes a publication Web site 100 comprising a Web server 110 having a firewall 120 linked to a computer program 130 which in turn is linked to an invention publication document database 140, a search database 150, a temporary storage unit 160, and an accounts database 170. Global Information Network system 90 also includes a client computer 180 comprising a Web browser 190, such as Microsoft's Global Information Network

Explorer or Netscape's Navigator, a set of client document files 200, and an optional FTP client 210. Client computer 180 may link to publication Web site 100 via Global

Information Network 220 using standard HTTP protocol or using FTP (File Transfer

Protocol) more directly. Global Information Network publication system 90 further includes a commerce site 230 comprising a commerce Web server 240 linked to a commerce computer program 250. Commerce computer program 250 is in turn linked to a commerce database 260. Commerce site 230 links to publication Web site 100 via

Global Information Network 220.

Global Information Network publication system 90 may also include an optional channel partner Web site 270. A channel partner Web site includes hyperlinks to publication Web site 100. A channel partner is an organization that will place a link to publication Web site 100 on their own Web site in order to direct potential clients to publication Web site 100. The operation and relationship between publication Web site 100 and channel partner Web site 270 is described in United States Patent Application

S/N 09/609,605, filed on June 30, 2000, which Patent Application is hereby incorporated by reference. Channel partner Web site 270 comprises a channel partner Web server 275 linked to a channel partner computer program 280. Channel partner computer program 280 is in turn linked to a Web page forms database 285 containing Web page forms with embedded hyperlinks to publication site 100. The embedded hyperlinks contain URL's to allow identification of channel partner Web site 270 by publication Web site 100. Channel partner Web site 270 may communicate with client computer 180 and publication Web site 100 via Global Information Network 220.

Global Information Network publication system 90 may include an optional auxiliary Web site 290 comprised of an auxiliary Web server 292 linked to an auxiliary computer program 294 linked to an auxiliary database 296.

Global Information Network publication system 90 further includes a notarization vender Web site 300 comprised of a notary Web server 302 linked to a notary computer program 304 linked to a notary database 306. In FIG. 2 publication site 100 further comprises a network hub 310 linking Web server 110 to a group of publication site servers. The publication site servers include a commerce server 320 for communicating with commerce site 230, an FTP server 330 for communicating with client computer 180 using FTP protocol, a database server 340 linked to invention publication document database 140, one or more publish servers 350 linked to account database 170, a file server 360 linked to temporary storage 160, and a search server 370 linked to search database 150. Database server 340 includes an SQL database such as ORACLE 8™, MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 7.0 ™, or IBM DB2 ™, allowing data and files to be shared between all servers in publication Web site 100.

In the descriptions of FIGs. 3 through 26, it is to be understood that either a client or a user is linked to publication Web site 100 via their respective computers. Clients are defined as those parties wishing to publish invention disclosure documents. Users are defined as those parties who wish to search the publication Web site and optionally view and/or download invention disclosure documents. Referring to FIG. 3, only clients are required to register. A client clicking a register link on the home page of the publication Web site displayed on client computer 180 initiates the method. In step 400, an account number is assigned to the client. In step 402, the client enters information needed to establish the account using client computer 180. This information includes the client name, company, title, address, and e-mail address. This is further illustrated in FIG. 30 and described below. Next, in step 404, a legal notice having conditions of use of Web site 100 is displayed. The client has a choice to accept or decline the conditions outlined in the legal notice. This is further illustrated in FIG. 31 and described below. Then, in step 406, the client's account is created. In step 408, the URL is examined to determine if the client was referred to the publication site by a channel partner via channel partner Web site 270. If the URL indicates no channel partner referral, then step 410 branches to step 412 and the home page 900 (see FIG. 27) is displayed. If the URL indicates a channel partner referral, then step 410 branches to step 414 and the channel partner information is added to the client account. Then, in step 412, home page 900 is displayed. FIGS. 4 through 8 illustrate URL formats used to embed referral links within Web documents. Illustrated in FIG. 4 is a non-referral URL 420. Only the publication Web site address appears, in this case "ip.com," in the URL. Illustrated in FIG. 5, is a first type of referral URL 422. A first type referral section 422A, indicated by "partner," carries the channel partner information. Illustrated in FIG. 6 is a second type of referral URL 424. A second type referral section 424A indicated by "partner," carries the channel partner information. Illustrated in FIG. 7 is a third type of referral URL 426. A third type referral section 426A indicated by "partner?id=partner," carries the channel partner information. Illustrated in FIG. 8 is a fourth type of referral URL 428. A fourth type referral section 428A indicated by "partner.com," carries the channel partner information. In FIG. 9, a client clicking a sign-on link on the home page of the publication Web site displayed on client computer 180 initiates a method to sign-on to publication Web site 100. In step 430, the client enters his or her username and password on a sign-on screen. This is illustrated in FIG. 29 and described below. In step 432, accounts database 170 is checked for a valid username and password. If a valid username and password are found, then, in step 434, access is granted to publication Web site services for the duration of the active session. Next, in step 436, the home page of the publication Web site is displayed. Returning to step 432. If the username and password are invalid then, in step 438, an error message is generated and, in step 440, the client is invited to try again. If, in step 440, the user selects "try again," then the sign-on screen is displayed in step 430. If, in step 440, the user decides not to try again then, in step 442, an error message is displayed and, in step 436, the home page of the publication Web site is displayed.

FIGS. 10 through 20 illustrate the publication process of the present invention. Additional descriptions of this process are illustrated in FIGs. 33 through 42 and described below. In FIG. 10, a client clicking a publish link on the home page of publication Web site 100 displayed on client computer 180 initiates the method. In step 444, a check is performed to determine if publish access exists for the session, i.e., if a registered client is signed on and logged in. If, in step 446, access is not granted then, in step 448, an error message is displayed on client computer 180 and, in step 450, the home page of the publication Web site is displayed. However, if in step 446, access is granted then, in step 452, a check is performed of accounts database 170 to determine if publish slots are available to the client.

A publish slot is a pre-purchased reservation to upload and subsequently place on invention publication document database 140 a client invention disclosure document. It should be understood, while the present invention is described with the requirement to purchase publication slots, these slots could be made available without charge to selected or all clients.

If, in step 454, it is determined that publish slots are available, then a slot is allocated in step 455. Next, in step 456, a check is made to determine if the client was a partner referral. If in step 458, the client was a partner referral, then in step 460, a referral credit for the partner is indicated in accounts database 170. Next, in step 462, the client is permitted to upload his or her invention disclosure document to temporary storage unit 160. As part of the upload process a series of screens must be filled out. These are illustrated in FIGs. 35 through 42 and described below. If the client was not a partner referral, then step 460 is skipped and the process proceeds directly to step 462. Following upload of the invention disclosure document, the publishing process is started as indicated in step 464. Returning to step 454, if no publish slots are available, then in step 466, an error message is displayed. Next the client may purchase publish slots in step 468 and the client's credit card is charged in step 470. The credit card is verified and charged through commerce site 230. If the credit card is accepted in step 472 the process resumes at step 455. If the credit card is not accepted in step 472, then in step 474, an error message is displayed, and in step 476, the homepage of the publication Web site is displayed.

The method illustrated in FIG. 11 is similar to that described above for submission via the Global Information Network, except that account information and passwords must be transmitted along with the invention disclosure documents themselves. In step 478, the client, using client computer 180, transmits the invention disclosure document file(s) to publication Web site 100 using FTP. In step, 480, the document(s) are received by publication Web site 100 and placed in temporary storage unit 160. Next, in step 482, a check is performed to determine if the document(s) are from a registered client and if publish slots are available for the client. If, in step 484, it is determined that the client has a valid account and publish slots are available, then in step 486, a slot is allocated. Next, in step 488, a check is made to determine if the client was a partner referral. If, in step

490, the client was a partner referral, then in step 492, a referral credit for the partner is indicated in accounts database 170. Next, in step 494, the publication process is started. If the client was not a partner referral, then step 492 is skipped and the process proceeds directly to step 494. Returning to step 484, if the account is invalid or no publish slots are available then, in step 496, an e-mail message is sent to the client informing them of the problem and how remedy the problem. If no response is received from the client after a predetermined "X" number of days, then in step 498, a second e-mail message is sent to the client informing them that in predetermined "Y" number of days, their uploaded invention disclosure document(s) will be expunged from publication Web site 100, that is, deleted from temporary storage unit 160. In one example "X" and "Y" are 30 days each. Finally, in step 500, if no response is forthcoming from the client, the client's invention disclosure document(s) are deleted from temporary storage unit 160 and the client informed by e-mail.

Referring now to FIG. 12, in step 502 the client prepares a primary invention disclosure document file (primary.doc). This usually is a text document. In step 503, the client prepares one or more attachment files (attach.xxx). One example of an attachment file is a drawing file. An additional feature of the publication Web site 100 is the ability for a client to mark the invention disclosure document with one or more invention disclosure document attribute symbols. Invention disclosure document attribute symbols are displayed whenever a user accesses the invention publication document or the invention publication document or title is displayed. When a user clicks on an invention disclosure attribute symbol, informational text boxes or a hyperlink are displayed or one or more invention disclosure document information files are activated and displayed. Examples of invention disclosure document information file types include audio, video and graphics files. Examples of the content of invention disclosure document information files include discussions, photographs and animations of the subject matter of the invention publication document or of subj ect matter related to the invention publication document. Examples of invention disclosure document attributes are illustrated in FIG. 39 and described below. If the invention disclosure document attribute symbol chosen by the client displays an invention disclosure document information fϊle(s), then in step 498, the client should also prepare the invention disclosure document information file (inform.xxx). In step 504 the client fills in the bibliographic material online from client computer 180. Also in step 504, the client selects invention disclosure document attribute symbols. A fee may be charged for marking invention disclosure document with invention disclosure document attribute symbols. In step 505, a lookup of the fee schedule is performed for the invention disclosure document attribute symbols selected by the client. Different fees can be charged dependent upon the symbol chosen, or there may not be a fee for the use of some symbols. The credit card associated with the account is then charged the appropriate fee. The method of charging the client's credit card is the same as illustrated in steps 470, 472, 474, and 476 of FIG. 10 and described above. In step 506, a bibliographic data file (bio.xml) is created. File type XML is preferred. The bibliographic data file comprises a document owner, a document title, an abstract of the document, names of persons affiliated with the document with e-mail, phone and a description of their relationship to the document, any client copyright information, a publication country, a publication language, a list of related documents and an anonymous key. If the anonymous key is set to full, all authorship information is included in the published invention disclosure. If the anonymous key is set to anonymous, all authorship material will not be included in the published invention disclosure. In step 507, a compressed invention disclosure document file (doc.zip), containing the primary document file, attachment file(s), and the bibliographic data file is created by publication Web site 100. Finally, in step 508, the client, using client computer 180, uploads the compressed invention disclosure document file. In the case of the client using FTP to upload the files to publication Web site 100, the bibliographic and compressed invention disclosure document files will need to be prepared by the client, and then transmitted to publication Web site 100 via client computer 180. In an alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13, the client may download software from publication Web site 100 to facilitate preparation and packaging of the invention disclosure for upload to publication Web site 100. In step 509, the client prepares attachment files. The attachments are generally drawings or tables, but again, can comprise any material, in any format, that the client wants to disclose to the public. The client also prepares invention disclosure document information files as described above. In step 510, the client downloads to client computer 180, software such as DISCLOSURE WRITER™ from publication site 100, using client computer 180. DISCLOSURE WRITER™ is software that allows a client to create an invention disclosure by entering information about their invention into a series of text boxes in screen displays, and is described in United States Patent Application S/N 09/589,995, filed on June 8, 2000, which Patent Application is hereby incorporated by reference. Using client computer 180, in step 512, the client bibliographic material, and the text description of the invention into DISCLOSURE WRITER™, and the path/filename(s). In step 513, a lookup of the fee schedule is performed for the invention disclosure document attribute symbols selected by the client. The credit card associated with the account is then charged the appropriate fee. The method of charging the client's credit card is the same as illustrated in steps 470, 472, 474, and 476 of FIG. 10 and described above. In step 514, DISCLOSURE WRITER™ creates the compressed invention disclosure document file containing the bibliographic data file, the primary text document file, the attachment file(s) and the invention disclosure document information file(s). Finally, in step 516, DISCLOSURE WRITER™ uploads the compressed invention disclosure document file to publication Web site 100. Alternatively, the client may save the compressed invention disclosure document file and later upload the compressed invention disclosure document file to publication Web site 100 using FTP.

Turning to FIG. 14, in step 518 the compressed invention disclosure document file is received from client computer 180 by publication Web site 100. In step 520, the compressed invention disclosure document file is de-compressed and reformed into the bibliographic data file, the primary text document file, the attachment file(s) and the invention disclosure document information file(s). In step 522, the bibliographic data file, the primary text document file, the attachment file(s) and the invention disclosure document information file(s) are placed in temporary storage unit 160. In step 524, a validation is performed. The validation process is illustrated in FIG. 15, and described below. In step 526, the text that will be displayed when a user views the invention disclosure is extracted from the primary document into a display document file (display.doc). The display document file comprises HTML fragments for display. Tables are kept in table format, lists in list format, and indentations are preserved. In step, 528, search text is extracted from the display document file into a search document file (search.doc). The search document file comprises text in the form of sentences. Cells in tables are converted to sentences, and formatting is removed from ordered lists. The search document file is accessed when a user wants to search for documents on publication Web site 100. Of course, it is possible to search the display document file or the primary document file directly, but using a specially organized search document file with pointers to the display document file is more efficient. The extraction and creation of the display and search document files is illustrated in FIG. 16 and described below. In step 530, a bibliographic document (bio.doc) is created from the bibliographic data file. This process is illustrated in FIG. 17, and described below. In step 532, the bibliographic document file, the search document file, and the display document file are written to temporary storage umt 160. In step 534, an un-compressed invention publication document file (invention.zip) containing the bibliographic document file, the display document file, and the attachment file(s) are created. Next, in step 536, the compressed invention publication document file is notarized and time-stamped. A notary file (doc.snr) is returned from the notarization vender. Notarization is required if the invention publication is to meet the requirements of a "published" document. The notarization process is illustrated in FIG. 19, and described below. In step 538 the compressed invention disclosure document file, a read-me document file (readme.txt) and optionally the notary file are compressed into an invention publication document file (publish.zip) and written to invention publication document database 140. If the notary file is not included in the invention publication document file, then the read-me file will contain information on how to obtain it. Next, in step 540, the user is informed of successful publication and in step 542, cleanup operations performed.

FIG. 15 illustrates in greater detail the method step 524 of FIG. 14. In step 544, a check is performed for viruses in the uploaded file. If the check is determined to be negative in step 546 then in step 548, it is determined if the primary invention disclosure document file is an open-able file. If, in step 546, a virus was found, then in step 550 an attempt to remove the virus is performed. If in step 552, the attempt was successful, the process continues at step 548 otherwise in step 554, the client is e-mailed informing them of the virus, and the file discarded. If in step 556, the file is determined to be open-able, then in step 558, the file is opened and a check for links to external objects performed. If, in step 556, the file is not open-able, then in step 560, the client is sent an e-mail informing them of the problem and the file discarded. If in step 564, no links are found, then in step 566, the primary invention disclosure document file and any invention disclosure document information files are checked for controlled vocabulary and URLs.

Controlled vocabulary includes words that are deemed offensive or improper to an invention publication. Should, in step 564, URL links be found, they are removed in step 568 and the process continues at step 566. If in step 570, no controlled vocabulary or URLs were found then the validation process is complete. If URL's are found then in step 572, they are removed. If controlled vocabulary is found, in step 574, the client is e- mailed informing them of the situation and the file discarded.

FIG. 16 illustrates the method steps 526 and 528 of FIG. 14 in more detail. In step 576, the primary invention disclosure document file is retrieved from temporary storage unit 160 and, in step 578, is converted to an HTML document. In step 580, all HTML tags are removed, and in step 582 all "headers" removed. Next, in step 584, the document is scanned for embedded scripts. If scipts are found in step 586 then they are removed in step 588; otherwise, in step 590, closing HTML tags are removed. Next, in step 592, the displayable text is extracted and, in step 594, written to the display document file as previously discussed. Then, in step 596, the searchable text is extracted and, in step 598, written to the search document file as previously discussed.

FIG. 17 illustrates the method step 530 of FIG. 14 in more detail.. In step 600, the bibliographic data file is retrieved from temporary storage unit 160 and the bibliographic document file created as previously described. If in step 602 the anonymous key is set to full, then in step 604, the document owner, the document title, the abstract of the document, the names of persons affiliated with the document and their relationship to the document, any client copyright information, the publication country, the publication language, the list of related documents and the invention disclosure document attribute symbol selection are extracted from the bibliographic data file and, in step 606, added to the bibliographic document file. If however, in step 602, the anonymous key is set to anonymous then, in step 608, only selected bibliographic material and the invention disclosure document attribute symbol selection are extracted from the bibliographic data file. Selected bibliographic material includes the document owner, the document title, the abstract of the document, the publication country, the publication language, and the list of related documents. Then, in step 606, the selected bibliographic material is added to the bibliographic document file. In step 610, a document number and a copyright notice are added to the bibliographic document file. Finally, in step 612, the bibliographic document file is written to temporary storage unit 160.

FIG. 18 illustrates the method step 534 of FIG. 14 in more detail. In step 614, the bibliographic document file is retrieved from temporary storage unit 160. In step 616, the display document file is retrieved from temporary storage unit 160. In step 618, the attachment file(s) is retrieved from temporary storage unit 160. Next, in step 620, the bibliographic document file, the display document file, and the attachment file(s) are combined into the un-compressed invention publication document file. Then, in step 622, the un-compressed invention publication document file is written to temporary storage unit 160.

FIG. 19 illustrates the method step 536 of FIG. 14 in more detail. In step 624, the un-compressed invention publication document file is retrieved from temporary storage unit 160. Then, in step 626, -invention publication document file is used to create a fingerprint file (fingerprint. file). This is accomplished using software supplied by the notarization vender. Two such notarization venders are Surety.com and First Use.com. Next, in step 628, the fingerprint file is electronically sent to the notarization vender, and in step 630, a notary file is received by publication Web site 100. In step 632 a read-me document file is created. The next step 634, involves combining and then compressing the read-me document file with the un-compressed invention publication document to create the compressed invention publication document file. Then, in step 636, the uncompressed invention publication document is written to invention publication document database 140. Step 640 is an optional replacement step for step 634. In step 640, the read-me document file, the un-compressed invention publication document, and the notary file are combined and then compressed to create the compressed invention publication document file. One more series of events must occur before the document may be considered published, as illustrated in FIG. 20, and described below.

FIG. 20 illustrates the method step 538 of FIG. 14 in more detail. In step 646, the search document file and the display document file are moved from temporary storage unit 160 to search database 150. In step 648, the bibliographic file and any invention disclosure document information files are moved from temporary storage unit 160 to search database 150. In step 650, the compressed invention disclosure document file (uploaded by the client), the primary invention disclosure document file, the attachment file(s) and the un-compressed invention publication document file are deleted from temporary storage 160. In step 652, an index entry of the document number is added to an index file (docid.inx) on search database 150. The index file links search document files to the corresponding compressed invention publication files. Also in step 652, links to the invention disclosure document attribute symbol selections are created as well as links to the associated invention disclosure document information files. Then the bibliographic data file is deleted from temporary storage 160. In step 654, the created index entry is written to search database 150, after which the client is notified according to step 656, preferably by e-mail, that the invention has been published. Step 658 may be performed in addition to step 654 or as an alternative to step 654. In step 658, the search document file and the index entry are electronically sent to a search provider. The search site may be a Global Information Network based Web site or an in-house user/subscriber.

Turning to FIG. 21, in step 700 publication Web site 100 receives a search request containing text to be searched and search criteria from a user's computer. Six types of searches may be performed depending upon the search criteria selected by the user. In step 702, the search text is searched across all titles of invention publication documents in search database 150. In step 704, the search text is searched across all dates of publication (or range) of invention publication documents in search database 150. In step 706, the search text is searched across all abstracts of invention publication documents in search database 150. In step 707, the search text is searched across the full text of invention publication documents in search database 150. In step 708, the search text is searched across all invention publication document numbers of documents in search database 150. In step 709, the search text is searched across all persons affiliated with or owners of invention publication documents in search database 150. In step 710, a selected invention disclosure document attribute symbol is searched across all invention publication documents in search database 150. In step 711, the invention publication document number (as a hyperlink), publication date, title, abstract of matching documents and invention disclosure document attribute symbols are displayed on the user's computer. If the user clicks on an invention disclosure document attribute symbol, any associated invention disclosure document information file will be displayed. In step 712, the user selects the link to an invention publication document and, in step 714, the display document is displayed on the user's computer. In step 715, a record is made of a "hit" against the invention publication document. A hit is simply a record that a user has selected the document for viewing. The record may be stored in either accounts database 170, or invention publication document database 140. No other information is collected, and the user remains anonymous. Next, in step 716, the user may elect to download the invention publication document. If the user elects to download the invention publication document then, in step 718, the invention publication document is retrieved from invention publication document database 140 and a copy is electronically sent to the user's computer and, in step 719, a record made of a "download" against the document.

Again, no other information is collected, and the user remains anonymous. Again, the record may be stored in either accounts database 170, or invention publication document database 140. "Hit" and "download" records are collected as an indication of the availability of the document to the public. "Hit" and "download" records may be time/date stamped. Then, in step 720, the user may select another invention publication document to display by returning to step 712. If the user decides not to download the displayed invention publication document in step 716, the user may still choose, in step 720, to select another invention publication document to display by returning to step 712. If, in step 720, the user chooses not to display another invention publication document, then in step 722 the user may choose to perform another search. If the user elects to perform another search, the process returns to step 700. Otherwise, the search session is ended.

Referring to FIG. 22, in step 730, the client enters his or her account information (generally account number/name and password) using client computer 180 after linking to publication Web site 100. In step 732, the account information is verified by checking the information entered against the accounts listed in accounts database 170. If, in step 734, the account information does not match an existing account, then in step 736 an error message is displayed on client computer 180 and the client is prompted to register or re- enter their account information in step 730. If, in step 734, the account information is verified as an existing account, then in step 738, the client has the choice to either reassign a publication slot(s) to another registered user or purchase an additional slot(s). If, in step 738, the client chooses to reassign publication slots, then in step 740, the user enters the account number/name of the account to receive the publication slot(s). Next, in step 742, the number and accounts of the slot reassignment are displayed on client computer 180. If the client chooses, in step 738, to purchase an additional publication slot(s), then in step 744, the client is requested to enter a credit card number and commerce site 230 is contacted in step 748. If, in step 750, the credit card number is not accepted, then in step 752, an error message is displayed on client computer 180. If, in step 750, the credit card number is accepted then, in step 754, additional slots are allocated and in step 756, the total number of slots available to the account is displayed on client computer 180.

Turning to FIG. 23, in step 760 the client enters their account information (generally account number/name and password) using client computer 180 after linking to publication Web site 100. In step 762, the account information is verified by checking the information entered against the accounts listed in accounts database 170. If, in step 764, the account information does not match an existing account, then in step 766 an error message is displayed on client computer 180 and the client is prompted to register or re- enter their account information in step 760. If, in step 764, the account information is verified as an existing account, then in step 768, the client has the choice to either review active documents or expired invention publication documents.

An expired invention publication document is an invention publication document disabled in search database 150. The process of renewing expired publications is used only for invention publication documents placed on invention publication document database 140 under an agreement for a fixed term. Invention publication documents are normally placed on invention publication document database 140 for an indeterminate term with no fixed expiration date.

If, in step 768, the client chooses to review active documents then in step 770, a list of active invention publication document numbers, their invention publication document titles, and associated invention disclosure document attribute symbols that are registered with the account is displayed. In step 771, if the client clicks on the invention disclosure document attribute symbol, the associated invention disclosure document information file(s) or links are displayed. Then, in step 772, the client may select an invention publication document for display or download. If, in step 768, the client chooses to review expired documents then in step 774, a list of expired invention publication document numbers, their invention publication document titles, and associated invention disclosure document attribute symbols that are registered with the account is displayed. In step 775, if the client clicks on the invention disclosure document attribute symbol, the associated invention disclosure document information file(s) or links are displayed. In step 776, the client may select an invention publication document for renewal. Next, in step 778, a check for a publication slot available to the account is performed. If, in step 780, a publication slot exists, then in step 782, the slot is reassigned to renew and, in step 784, the expired invention publication document is activated.

Returning to step 780, if no publish slot is available, then in step 781, the client may purchase a publish slot using a credit card in step 783. Fees for renewal may differ from fees for the initial publication. The credit card is verified and charged through commerce site 230. If, in step 785, the credit card is accepted then, in step 787, a publication slot is allocated and in step 789, the expired document is activated. Enabling the invention publication document in search database 150 activates the expired invention publication document. If, in step 785, the credit card is not accepted, then in step 786, an error message is displayed on client computer 180. Turning to FIG. 24, in step 790 a maintenance scan is started. Maintenance scans are performed to a preset schedule to perform such functions as, but not limited to, checking the age of invention publication documents, determining fees due, if any, to channel partners, reviewing cases of inappropriate content, and to compile statistics. In step 792, the notary dates (publication dates) of invention publication documents on invention publication database 140 are checked. Then, in step 794, those invention publication documents, which have not been placed on invention publication database 140 and search database 150 for longer than the statutory time limit(s) to file a patent application with various patent offices worldwide, are selected and, in step 796, the invention publication document owner(s) are notified of the time remaining. In step 798, those invention publication documents which have been placed on invention publication database 140 and search database 150 for longer than the statutory time limit(s) to file a patent application with various patent offices worldwide, are selected. In step 800, the invention publication document owner(s) notified that the deadline to file a patent application is past. Next, in step 802, invention publication documents that have been withdrawn

(made non-searchable) since the last scan (e.g. for offensive or inappropriate content) are selected and, in step 804, the invention publication document owner(s) notified.

Next, in step 806, invention publication documents added to publication database within a pre-selected timeframe (for example within the last month) are selected. In step 808, it is determined if the client was a referral from a channel partner. If the referral was from a channel partner then, in step 810, any fees due the channel partner are calculated and, in step 812, payment sent to the channel partner. Payment may be electronic or by check. Next, in step 814, a search for soon-to-expire publication slots in client accounts in accounts database 170 is performed, and in step 816, those clients are notified electronically, about how many slots will expire and when.

Next, in step 818, invention publication documents added to publication database within a pre-selected timeframe (for example within the last month) are selected. In step 819, the document owner is notified electronically. In step, 820, those invention publication documents selected in step 819 are placed on a recently published list, while older invention publication documents are removed.

Finally, in step 821, a review of recent "hits" and "download" records is performed, and statistics compiled. In step 822, the statistics associated with a given invention publication document may be made available to the document owner.

In FIG. 25, the method steps are described for a homepage screen, but the process is applicable to all screens. In step 823, client computer 180 links to publication Web site 100. In step 824, it is determined if the link in step 823 was a referral from a channel partner. If the link in step 823 was not from a channel partner then, in step 826, a homepage form is retrieved. In step 828, the publication Web site logo is added. In step

830, the homepage HTML document sent to client computer 180. If, in step 824, it is determined that the link in step 823 was a referral from a channel partner then, in step 832, the channel partner is identified. In step 834, the channel partner display type and property is retrieved and, in step 836, a homepage is assembled. Next, in step 838, it is determined if the homepage is to be branded (only channel partner display properties are used) or co-branded (a publication Web site logo is added). If, in step 838, the homepage is co-branded then, in step 842, the publication Web site logo is added and, in step 830, the homepage HTML document sent to client computer 180. If, in step 838, the homepage is not co-branded then, in step 830, the homepage HTML document sent to client computer 180.

FIGS. 26 A and 26B illustrate alternative methods of notarizing the invention disclosure documents. FIG. 26 A illustrates the activities of publication Web site 100 acting through Web server 110. FIG. 26B illustrates the activity of auxiliary Web site 290 that acts as an intermediary between publication Web site 100 and notary Web site

300.

Turning first to FIG. 26 A, in step 850 documents are accepted from client computer 180 for publishing. The documents include the bibliographic data file, the primary invention disclosure document file, attachment files and invention disclosure document information files. Then, in step 852, the validation process shown in FIG. 15 and described above is performed. Next, in step 854, the display document file and the search document file are created. In step 856, the compressed invention publication document file is created which includes the read-me file, the bibliographic data file, the primary invention disclosure document file, and the attachment file(s). Finally, in step 858, a publication number is assigned and the search document and display document files are written to search database 150 and the compressed invention publication document file written to invention publication document database 140.

Turning next to FIG. 26B, in step 870 a delay period is invoked (e.g. less than one second) to regulate polling of publication Web site 100 for new invention publication documents. In step 872, auxiliary Web site 290 polls publication Web site 100 for a new invention publication document(s) via Global Information Network 220. If, in step 874, a new invention publication document(s) is/are found, then in step 876 a copy of the new invention publication document(s) is/are downloaded from publication Web site 100. If, in step 874, no new invention publication document(s) is/are found, then the process loops back to delay step 870. Returning to step 876, after this step, in the next step 878, a digital fingerprint of the invention publication document(s) is sent to notary Web site 300 and a notary file is received back. Next, in step 880, the notary file is stored on auxiliary database 296. In step 882, publication Web site 100 notified of the notarization event date and time. Optionally, the file name of the notary file is included in the notification. In FIG. 27, a homepage 900 contains links to a sign-on page 902, a register page 904 linked to a registration terms and conditions page 906, a registration update page 908, a purchase publication page 910 linked to a purchase publication confirmation page 912, a set of publishing wizard pages 914, 916, 918, 920, 921, 922, 924 and 925, a recent publications page 926 linked to a to a set of search pages 928, 929, 930, 932, and 934.

Each page is illustrated and described below. It should be understood, in the descriptions that follow, that the client or user is entering information or clicking links or buttons from a Web browser on their own client computer 180, which is linked to Global Information Network 220. In FIG. 28, homepage 900 is illustrated as displayed on Web browser 190 of client computer 180. Web browser 190 includes a forward button 192 and a back button 194, which may be used to navigate publication Web site 100 web pages. On homepage 900 are a set of information links 950 and a set of site navigation links 960. "Clicking" on one of the site navigation links causes the corresponding publication site web page to be displayed.

In FIG. 29, sign-on page 902 is for use by clients already registered with publication Web site 100 use. Sign-on page 902 includes a user name text box 1000 and a password text box 1002. After filling user name text box 1000 and password text box 1002, the client clicks "submit" button 1004 to initiate a session on publication Web site 100. Sign-on screen 902 also includes a help link 1006.

In FIG. 30, registration page 904 is for use by those who do not have an account but that wish to avail themselves of the publication facilities of publication Web site 100. Registration page 904 includes a name text box 1006, a company text box 1008, a title text box 1010, a pair of address text boxes 1012 and 1014, a city text box 1016, a state/province text box 1018, a zip/postal text box 1020, an e-mail text box 1022, a user name text box 1024, and a password text box 1026. After filling in the aforementioned text boxes, the client clicks on "register" button 1028 to start creation of an account. Register page 904 also includes a help link 1030.

In FIG. 31, registration terms and conditions page 906 includes a registration terms and contains a decline button 1034 and a registration terms and conditions agree button 1035. The user, by clicking registration terms and conditions "decline" button 1034 terminates the creation of an account process without creating an account. The user, by clicking registration terms and conditions "agree" button 1035, completes the creation of an account process.

In FIG. 32, registration update page 908 is for use by registered clients needing to make changes to their account. Registration update page 908 includes a name text box 1036, a company text box 1038, a title text box 1040, a pair of address text boxes 1042 and 1044, a city text box 1046, a state/province text box 1048, a zip/postal text box 1050, an e-mail text box 1052, a user name text box 1054, and a password text box 1056. After filling in the aforementioned text boxes, the client clicks on "update" button 1058 to update his or her account. Registration update page 908 also includes a help link 1060.

In FIG. 33, purchase publication page 910 includes a document quantity text box 1062, a payment method text box 1064, a credit card number text box 1066, an expiration month text box 1068, an expiration year text box 1070, a cardholder's name text box

1072, a pair of address text boxes 1074 and 1076, a city text box 1078, a state/province text box 1080, and a zip/postal text box 1082. After filling in the aforementioned text boxes, the client clicks on "purchase" button 1084 to complete the purchase. Purchase publication page also includes help link 1086. In FIG. 34, purchase publication confirmation screen 912 includes "your account" button 1088. Clicking "your account" button 1088 will bring up a page indicating the number of publication slots credited to the client's account.

FIG. 35 illustrates first publishing wizard page 914. First publishing wizard page 914 includes a step counter 1090, a forward button 1092, an owner text box 1093, a document title text box 1094, and an abstract text box 1095, a "publish with authorship" button 1096, a "publish anonymously" button 1097, and a "next" button 1098. Clicking "publish with authorship" button 1096 will include the information entered in owner text box 1093 in the published document. Clicking "publish anonymously" button 1097 will exclude the information entered in owner text box 1093 in the published document. Clicking either "forward" button 1092 or "next" button 1098 will display second publishing wizard page 916.

Illustrated in FIG. 36 is second publishing wizard page 916. Second publishing wizard page 916 includes step counter 1090, "forward" button 1092, a "back" button 1099, a name text box 1100, an e-mail text box 1102, a phone number text box 1104, a relation text box 1106, an other information text box 1108, a previous button 1110, a "next" button 1112, and a "add fields" button 1114. The purpose of the aforementioned text boxes is to collect information on the inventors of the invention to be disclosed in the invention publication document. Of course, if "publish anonymously" button 1097 was clicked previously, this information will be excluded from the published document.

Clicking "add fields" button 1114 brings up another set of text boxes for additional inventors. Clicking either "forward" button 1092 or "next" button 1112 will display third publishing wizard page 918. Clicking either "previous" button 1110 or "back" button 1099 will display first publishing wizard page 914. Illustrated in FIG. 37 is third publishing wizard page 918. Third publishing wizard page 918 includes step counter 1090, "forward" button 1092, "back" button 1099, a copyright text box 1116, an publication country text box 1118, a publication language text box 1120, a "previous" button 1122, and a "next" button 1124. Clicking either "forward" button 1092 or "next" button 1124 will display fourth publishing wizard page 920. Clicking either previous button 1122 or back button 1099 will display second publishing wizard page 916.

Illustrated in FIG. 38 is fourth publishing wizard page 920. Fourth publishing wizard page 920 includes step counter 1090, "forward" button 1092, "back" button 1099, a set of related document ID text boxes 1126A, 1126B, 1126C, 1126D, 1126E, and 1126F, a set of related document type text boxes 1128A, 1128B, 1128C, 1128D, 1128E, and 1128F, a "previous" button 1130, a "next" button 1132, and an "add fields" button 1134. Document ID 's are publication site invention publication document numbers. Clicking "add fields" button 1134 brings up additional related document ID and document type text boxes. Clicking either "forward" button 1092 or "next" button 1132 will display fifth publishing wizard page 921. "Clicking" either previous button 1130 or back button 1099 will display fourth publishing wizard page 918.

Illustrated in FIG. 39 is fifth publishing wizard page 921. Fifth publishing wizard page 921 includes step count 1090, "forward" button 1092, and "back" button 1099. Fifth publishing wizard page 921 also includes a set of invention disclosure document attribute symbols 1040, an associated set of invention disclosure document attribute symbol selection buttons 1041, and an associated set of invention disclosure document attribute symbols descriptions 1042. A client, by selecting one or more invention disclosure document attribute symbol selection buttons 1041, marks their disclosure with the associated invention disclosure document attribute symbol.

FIG. 39 also illustrates several examples of invention disclosure document attribute symbols and the invention disclosure document attributes they represent. In a first example the symbol is a graduation cap 1040A representing a university, indicating the invention with patent applications filed by the university or academic institute is available for licensing. In a second example the symbol is a battleship 1040B indicating that a patent application has been filed on the subject matter of the invention. In a third example the symbol is an iceberg 1040C indicating that there are related non-published inventions under development. In a fourth example, the symbol is the text "ADOPT" 1040D indicating the subject matter is free for use by the public. In a fifth example the symbol is a wrench 1040E indicating the owner or inventors of the invention are available as consultants in the field of the invention. In a sixth example the symbol is a date 1040F, indicating the invention owner wishes to sell the rights to the invention, the date displayed being the notarization date of the publication. In a seventh example the symbol is a pistol 1040G indicating the inventors are available as expert witnesses in the field of the invention. In an eighth example the symbol is a picture frame 1040H, indicating the invention disclosed is an old or little known invention that the inventor did not invent. In a ninth example, the symbol is the text "BROKER" 10401 indicating that the document owner participates in a technology brokerage site. In a tenth example, the symbol is the text "NFP" 1040J indicating that a patent application to the subject matter of the invention has been filed, but will be made available to not-for-profit organizations free of cost.

Clicking back button 1099 will display fourth publishing wizard page 920. Publishing wizard page 921 also includes "a "next" button 1043. Clicking "next" button 1043 will display sixth publishing wizard page 922.

Illustrated in FIG. 40 is pop up screen 1144. Pop up screen 1144 is displayed when a client selects an invention disclosure document attribute symbol. Pop up screen 1144 allows the user to enter the supporting information to be associated with the selected symbol. Pop up screen 1144 includes a display box 1145 in which the selected symbol is displayed, a contact name text box 1146 A, a contact organization text box 1146B, and contact address text box 1146C, a contact telephone number text box 1146D, a hyperlink contact email address box 1146E, a website link box 1147, and a path/filename text box 1148 for entering the directory path and filename of invention disclosure document information files. Illustrated in FIG. 41 is sixth publishing wizard page 922. Sixth publishing wizard page 922 includes a step counter 1090, a "title edit" button 1150, an "absfract edit" button 1151, a "publish type edit" button 1152 a "related person(s) edit" button 1153, a "copyright edit" button 1154, a "publication country edit" button 1155, a "publication language edit" button 1156, a "related documents edit" button 1157, a "document attribute symbol" button 1158, and a "next" button 1159. Document ID's are publication site invention publication document numbers. Clicking next button 1159 will display seventh publishing wizard page 924. Clicking "back" button 1099 will display fifth publishing wizard page 920. Clicking any of the "edit" buttons brings up the corresponding document publishing wizard page on which the particular information was first entered.

Illustrated in FIG. 42 is seventh publishing wizard page 924. Seventh publishing wizard page 924 includes step counter 1090, "back" button 1099, a primary document text box 1154, a first description text box 1156, a first "browse" button 1158, an attachment text box 1160, a second description text box 1162, a second "browse" button 1164, and an "upload" button 1166. Clicking, first "browse" button 1158 allows the client to select a primary document file from client computer 180. Clicking, second "browse" button 1164 allows the client to select an attachment file from client computer 180. Multiple attachment files should be "zipped" into a single file. Clicking "upload" button 1166 transmits the data entered on the previous document publishing wizard pages, the primary document file, and the attachment file to publication Web site 100 from client computer 180. Clicking "back" button 1099 will display fifth publishing wizard page 922.

FIGS. 43 through 48 are exemplary screen displays illustrating the publication Web site search pages. FIG. 43 illustrates recent publications Web page 926. Recent publications Web page 926 displays to the user brief information about recent invention publication documents added to invention publication document database 140 within a preset, previous timeframe. Recent publications Web page 926 includes multiple title display boxes 1168, multiple publication time display boxes 1170, multiple publication date display boxes 1172, and multiple publication abstract display boxes 1174. Recent publications Web page 926 also includes, multiple "full text" buttons 1176 and multiple "file" buttons 1178. Clicking any one of the "full text" buttons 1176 allows the user to view the full text of the associated invention publication document. Clicking any one of the "file" buttons 1178 allows the user to download the associated invention publication document from invention publication document database 140. Recent publications Web page 926 further includes an invention disclosure document attribute symbol display box 1179 A and a symbol scroll bar 1179B. One invention disclosure display attribute symbol is displayed in invention disclosure document attribute symbol display box 1179A at a time. Clicking the displayed symbol, displays the supporting information files and links associated with the symbol for the publication. Symbol scroll bar 1179B allows the user to step through multiple symbols.

FIG. 44 illustrates search criteria Web page 928 for searching publication search database 150 based on a variety of search criteria. Search criteria Web page 928 includes a search text box 1180 where any search text string may be entered by the user, a pair of date range text boxes 1182 and 1184 where the user may enter a range of publication dates, and a title check box 1186, an abstract check box 1188, a persons(s) check box, 1190, and a symbol check box 1191 for searching by invention disclosure document attribute, whereby the user may limit the text string search entered in search text, text box 1180. Search criteria Web page 928 further includes, a first "search" button 1194 for initiating a text search and a first "help" button 1196. Search criteria Web page 928 also includes a document ID text box 1197 for the user to enter a publication Web site 100 invention publication document number, if known, and a second "search" button 1198 for initiating an invention publication document number search and a second "help" button 1199.

FIG. 45 illustrates symbol search Web page 929. Symbol search Web page 929 includes a set of invention disclosure document attribute symbols 1200, an associated set of invention disclosure document attribute symbol selection buttons 1201, and an associated set of invention disclosure document attribute symbols descriptions 1202. A user, by selecting one or more invention disclosure document attribute symbol selection buttons 1201, selects the symbol search criteria. Symbol search Web page 929 also includes "apply" button 1203 which launches the search.

FIG. 46 illustrates search results Web page 930. Search results Web page 930 displays to the user brief information about invention publication documents matching the search criteria entered on search criteria Web page 928. Search results Web page 930 includes an invention disclosure document attribute symbol display box 1204 A and a symbol scroll bar 1204B. One invention disclosure display attribute symbol is displayed in invention disclosure document attribute symbol display box 1204A at a time. Clicking the displayed symbol, displays the supporting information files and links associated with the symbol for the publication. Symbol scroll bar 1204B allows the user to step through multiple symbols. Search results Web page 930 further includes, multiple invention publication document JO hyperlinks 1205, multiple title display boxes 1206, multiple publication date display boxes 1208, and multiple publication abstract text display boxes 1210. Clicking any one of the multiple invention publication document ID hyperlinks 1205 displays the full text of the associated invention publication document as illustrated in FIG. 47 and described below.

FIG. 47 illustrates download Web page 932. Download Web page 932 allows the user to view and then download the invention publication document selected on the search results Web page 930. Download Web page 932 includes, an invention publication document J-D display box 1212, a publication date display boxe 1214, and a title display boxe 1216. Download Web page 932 also includes an invention disclosure document attribute symbol display box 1217A and a symbol scroll bar 1217B. One invention disclosure display attribute symbol is displayed in invention disclosure document attribute symbol display box 1217 A at a time. Clicking the displayed symbol, displays the supporting information files and links associated with the symbol for the publication. Symbol scroll bar 1217B allows the user to step through multiple symbols. Download Web page 932 further includes publication text display box 1218 and "download" button 1220. Clicking "download" button 1220 causes a document download terms and conditions pop-up screen to appear as illustrated in FIG. 48, and described below. A command button 1222 is optionally provided to enable a client to report a discrepancy in a published invention disclosure document.

FIG. 48 is an exemplary screen display illustrating a document download terms and conditions page 934. Document download terms and conditions page 934 includes a document download terms and conditions pop-up screen 1224, and further contains a

"decline" button 1226 and a document download terms and conditions "agree" button 1228. The user, by clicking download terms and conditions "decline" button 1226, terminates the document download process without downloading an invention publication document. The user, by clicking document download terms and conditions "agree" button 1228, starts the invention publication document download process from invention publication document database 140.

Verifying Integrity and Availability of Published Document The date of publication of the invention disclosure document, or a representation thereof (in HTML, PDF, or some other format) may become critical in future legal proceedings. For example, the invention disclosure document could be used as prior art to invalidate the patent of another in an infringement or reexamination proceeding. Since the proceeding may take place at a distant time in the future after initial publication of the document, it is important to be able to prove that the document printed from the web site for submission to the court or Patent Office is the same document that was originally published. The legal concept of "publication" also arguably requires that the document be publicly accessible, probably from the date of publication and continuously thereafter. Hence it is preferable, if not necessary, that the present invention provide a means of verifying both the integrity of the published document over time, and the availability of the document over time (from the time of first publication.)

The present invention uses a fingerprinting process to achieve some of the above- described objectives. A "fingerprint", "digital fingerprint" or "signature" of a document is a unique representation of an electronic file. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to replicate the fingerprint if the file is modified or tampered with. The fingerprint includes an external representation of printable characters. Although there are many proprietary and public domain fingerprinting algorithms, in a preferred embodiment, we used the MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm, created by MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and RSA Data Security, Inc. described and available on-line from www.cis.ohio- state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfcl321.html. A copy of the pertinent pages describing this algorithm is included in Appendix A of this patent.

We purposely chose a publicly available algorithm so that a submitter of an invention disclosure document can easily and independently determine the fingerprint of a published file. By "public" we mean that the algorithm for producing the fingerprint is accessible by the public either because it is public domain or because it is readily available from a third-party vendor.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a publishing house (e.g., LP.COM) receives an electronic invention disclosure document from a submitter. The document may be in any one of a variety of formats (e.g., Microsoft Word, HTML, etc.). The publishing house publishes the document on a Global Information Network (e.g., the Internet). An original fingerprint of the document is calculated using a publicly available fingerprint algorithm (such as MD5), and this fingerprint is sent to the submitter (optional step). The original fingerprint is preferably calculated immediately upon receipt and even more preferably proximate the time of publication. Thereafter, at any time after publication, a second fingerprint of the published document can be created. A comparison of the original and second fingerprint can be made. If the two fingerprints match, the document published is the same as the originally submitted and published document. If the fingerprints don't match, modification and/or tampering occurred. In a preferred embodiment, it is envisioned that the original fingerprint would be calculated by the publishing house, and the second fingerprint would be calculated by the submitter. This accomplishes two goals. First, the submitter can independently verify the integrity of the published document. Second, by downloading the published file prior to calculating the second fingerprint, the submitter is verifying that the published document is accessible to the public.

The fingerprinting method is best understood with reference to FIGs 49 and 50, which are detailed flowcharts of the process. Referring to FIG. 49, The publishing process/fingerprinting process begins upon receipt of an Electronic Invention Disclosure (EID) document from a submitter. The document includes a primary document to be published, and may include ancillary documents such as graphics files, bibliographic fields, and other related files. Upon receipt, an original fingerprint is calculated for the EID. Each document in the packet is "fingerprinted", that is, each document and related file receives its own fingerprint. Immediately thereafter, the primary document is rendered for publication. This means that a representation of the document is made in a suitable format for publishing/viewing (e.g., HTML, PDF, etc.). As an optional step, the rendered document is also fingerprinted. A ZIP file containing all the documents and related files is created and posted to the Web site. The ZIP file is also transmitted to the submitter. The ZIP file contains all of the original fingerprints. Upon posting the ZLP file to the Web site, the document is considered to have been published. Referring now to FIG. 50, the integrity and availability of the document after publication can be checked by calculating a second fingerprint of the document posted to the Web site and compared with the original fingerprint. Although the calculation and comparison could be done by the publishing house, in a preferred embodiment it is preferred that the calculation of the second fingerprint (and comparison) is done by the submitter or other third party. To accomplish this, the submitter (or third party) downloads the document to be verified from the publishing house Web site. He also downloads the fingerprint calculation software if he doesn't already have it (he can download the software either from the publishing house site itself or from another public domain site). The submitter then calculates the fingerprint (termed the "second fingerprint") and compares it to the original fingerprint. If the two fingerprints match, the document is verified. An advantage of having the submitter download the document for fingerprinting is that this serves the dual function of verifying that the document is available for download by the public. Although FIGs 49 and 50 and the accompanying claims recite a single pass through the method, it should be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that the fingerprinting process (particularly the second fingerprint calculation) can be repeated periodically (on a monthly, weekly, daily, hourly basis, etc.) to continually monitor document integrity. FIG. 51 is a screen capture of the contents of the "ZIP bundle". As seen in the screen capture, the ZIP file contains the primary document (H0000029.doc), the attached documents (*.tiff), the rendered HTML file (0_displaytext.htm), an XML file (0_properties.xml), an XML support file (0_propertiesl.0.dtd) and a readme.txt file which explains the contents of the ZIP file to the submitter. The readme.txt file is included as FIG. 53. The XML document is included as Appendix B. The fingerprints are embedded in the XML document.

Following publication, the publishing house sends an email message to the submitter. A representative email message is displayed in screen capture form in FIG. 52. Thus, it is seen that the objects of the invention are efficiently obtained. It should be appreciated, however, that the invention is not directed solely to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of various modifications, rearrangements and substitutions which should be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore it is intended that the following claims cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of publishing an invention disclosure document on a global information network, comprising the steps of: receiving said invention disclosure document; digitally notarizing said received invention disclosure document to create a document notarization record, wherein said document notarization record includes a date and time stamp; and, posting said received, notarized invention disclosure document on a web site publicly accessible via said global information network.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of separating said received invention disclosure document into a bibliographic data file, a primary text document file, and an attachment file.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said attachment file is a drawing file.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein said attachment file is a sample deposition statement.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of creating a searchable document file related to said invention disclosure document.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of saving said searchable document file in a database.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of creating a display document file from said primary text document file, wherein said display document file is suitable for posting on said web site.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of creating a searchable document file from said display document file.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of counting how many times said posted invention disclosure document is accessed via said global information network.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said document notarization record includes a digital fingerprint of said received invention disclosure document, where said digital fingerprint uniquely identifies said invention disclosure document.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein said posting of said invention disclosure document occurs on a date of first publication of said invention disclosure document.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of sending a reminder notice to alert of a deadline for filing a patent application on an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of digitally notarizing said received invention disclosure is done remotely from said web site where said posting said received, notarized invention disclosure document is done.

14. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of transmitting software via said global information network to enable preparing and assembling of said invention disclosure document.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said software enables collecting and storing of bibliographic data in said bibliographic data file, and adding said bibliographic data file to said invention disclosure document.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of published invention disclosure documents are operatively arranged to be searchable via said global information network.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein said invention disclosure document or portions thereof are composed in a language selected from the group consisting of SGML, XML and HTML.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of marking said invention disclosure document with an invention disclosure document attribute symbol selected from a plurality of available attribute symbols, and displaying said selected attribute symbol when said invention disclosure document is accessed via said global information network.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document is free for use by the public.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document is available for licensing.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document is available for sale.

22. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating a patent application has been filed regarding an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document.

23. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating that there are non-published inventions relating to an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document.

24. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating that inventors of an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document are available as consultants.

25. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating that inventors of an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document are available as expert witnesses.

26. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating that an owner of an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document participates in a technology brokerage site.

27. The method according to claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating that an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document was not invented by an owner of said invention.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein said plurality of attribute symbols includes an attribute symbol indicating a notarization date of said invention disclosure document.

29. The method according to claim 18, wherein said selected and displayed attribute symbol is operable to display information.

30. The method according to claim 18, wherein said selected and displayed attribute symbol is operable to display links.

31. The method according to claim 18, wherein said selected and displayed attribute symbol is operable to launch linked files.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving an information file relating to an invention disclosed in said invention disclosure document.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said information file is a text file.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein said information file is an audio file.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein said information file is a video file.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein said information file is a graphics file.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of charging a fee for posting said received, notarized invention disclosure document on said web site.

38. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of charging a fee for marking said invention disclosure document with said invention disclosure document attribute symbol.

39. A system for publishing an invention disclosure document on a global information network, said system comprising: means for receiving said invention disclosure document; means for digitally notarizing said received invention disclosure document to create a document notarization record, wherein said document notarization record includes a date and time stamp; and, means for posting said received, notarized invention disclosure document on a web site publicly accessible via said global information network.

40. The system according to claim 39, wherein said means for receiving said invention disclosure document comprises a web server.

41. The system according to claim 39, wherein said means for digitally notarizing said received invention disclosure document comprises a notary web server.

42. The system according to claim 39, wherein said means for posting said received, notarized invention disclosure document comprises a general purpose computer specially programmed to be accessible via said global information network.

APPENDIX A

Page 1 of5

rfcl321

Press here to go to the top of the rfc 'tree',

Network Working Group R. Rivest Request for Comments: 1321 MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and RSA Data Security, Inc.

April 1992

The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm

Status of this Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Acknowlegements

We would like to thank Don Coppersmith, Burt Kaliski, Ralph Merkle, David Chau , and. Noam Nisan for numerous helpful comments and suggestions .

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary 1

2. Terminology and Notation 2

3. MD5 Algorithm Description 3

4. Summary 6

5. Differences Between MD4 and MD5 6 References 7

APPENDIX A - Reference Implementation 7 Security Considerations 21 Author's Address 21

1. Executive Summary

' This document describes the MD5 message-digest algorithm. The algorithm takes as input a message of arbitrary length arid produces as output a 128-bit "fingerprint" or "message digest" of the input. It is conjectured that it is computationally infeasible to produce two messages having the same message digest, or to produce any message having a given prespecified target message digest. The MD5 algorithm is intended for digital signature applications, where a large file must be "compressed" in a secure manner before being encrypted with a private (secret) key under a public-key cryptosystem such as RSA. Page 2 of5

Rivest [Page 1]

□

RFC 1321 ^' MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm April 1992

The MD5 algorithm is designed to be quite fast on 32-bit machines. In addition, the MD5 algorithm does not require any large substitution tables; the algorithm can be coded quite compactly.

The MD5 algorithm is an extensio of the MD4 message-digest algorithm 1,2]. MD5 is slightly slower than MD4, but is more "conservative" in design. MD5 was designed because it was' felt that MD4 was perhaps being adopted for use more quickly than justified by the existing critical review; because MD4 was designed to be exceptionally fast, it is "at the edge" in terms of risking successful cryptanalytic attack. MD5 backs off a bit, giving up a little in speed for a much greater likelihood of ultimate security.. It incorporates some suggestions made by various reviewers, .and contains additional Optimizations. The MD5 algorithm is being placed in the public domain for review and possible adoption as a standard.

For OSI-based applications, MD5's object identifier is md5 OBJECT IDENTIFIER ::= iso(L) member-body (2) US (840) rsadsi (113549) digestAlgorithm(2) 5}

In the X.509 type Algorithmldentifier [3], the parameters for MD5 should have type NULL.

2. Terminology and Notation

In this document a "word" is a 32-bit quantity and a "byte" is an eight-bit quantity. A sequence of bits can be interpreted in a natural manner as a sequence of bytes, where each consecutive group of eight bits is interpreted as a byte with the high-order (most significant) bit of each byte listed first. Similarly, a sequence of bytes can be interpreted as a sequence of 32-bit words, where each consecutive group of four bytes is interpreted as a word with the low-order (least significant) byte given first.

Let x_i denote "x sub i". If the subscript is an expression, we surround it in braces, as in x_{i+l}.. Similarly, we use ^A for superscripts (exponentiation) , so that x^Ai denotes x to the i-th power . '

Let the symbol "+" denote addition of words (i.e., modulo-2^Λ32 addition) . Let X <« s denote the 32-bit value obtained by circularly shifting (rotating) X left by s bit positions. Let not(X) denote the bit-wise complement of X, and let X v Y denote the bit-wise OR of X and Y. Let X xor Y denote the bit-wise XOR of X and Y, and let XY denote the bit-wise AND of X and Y. Page 3 of5

RFC 1321 MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm April 1992

3. MD5 Algorithm Description

We begin by supposing that we have a b-bit message as input, and that we wish to find its message digest. Here b is an arbitrary nonnegative integer; b may be zero, it need not be a multiple of eight, and it may be arbitrarily large. We imagine the bits of the message written down as follows: m_0 m_l ... m_{b-l}

The following five steps are performed to compute the message digest of the message.

3.1 Step 1. Append 'Padding Bits

The message is "padded" (extended) so that its length (in bits) is congruent to 448, modulo 512. That is, the message is extended so that it is just 64 'bits shy of being a multiple of 512 bits long. Padding is always performed, even if the. length of the message is already congruent to 448, modulo 512.

Padding is performed as follows: a single "1" bit. is appended to the message, and then "0" bits are appended so that the length in bits of the padded message becomes congruent to 448, modulo 512. In all, at least one bit and at most 512 bits are appended.

3.2 Step 2. Append Length

A 64-bit representation of b (the length of the message before the padding bits were added) is appended to the result of the previous step. In the unlikely event that b is greater than 2 64, then only the low-order 64 bits of b are used. (These bits are appended as two 32-bit words and appended low-order word first in accordance with the previous conventions . )

At this point the resulting message (after padding with bits and with b) has a length that is an exact multiple of 512 bits. Equivalently, this message has a length that is an exact multiple of 16 (32-bit) words. Let M[0 ... N-l] denote the words of the resulting message, where N is a multiple of 16.

3.3 Step 3. Initialize MD Buffer

A four-word buffer (A, B,C,D) is used to compute the message digest. Here each of A, B, C, D is a 32-bit register. These registers are initialized to the following values in hexadecimal, low-order bytes first) : Page 4 of5

word B: 89 ab cd ef word. C: fe dc ba 98 word D: 76 54 32 10

3.4 Step 4. Process Message in 16-Word Blocks

We first define four auxiliary functions that each take as input three 32-bit words and produce as output one 32-bit word.

F(X, Y, Z) = XY v not (X) Z G(X,Y,Z) = XZ v Y not(Z) H(X, Y,Z) = X xor Y xor Z I(X,Y,Z) = Y xor (X v not(Z))

In each bit position F acts as a conditional: if X then Y else Z. The function F could have been defined using + instead of v since XY and not(X)Z will never have l's in the same bit position.) It is interesting to note that if the bits of X, Y, and Z are independent and unbiased, the each bit of F(X, Y,, Z) will be independent and unbiased. . ^•

The functions G, H, and I are similar to the function F, in that they act in "bitwise parallel" to produce their output from the bits of X, Y, and Z, in such a manner that if the corresponding bits of X, Y, and Z are independent and unbiased, then each bit of G(X,Y,Z), H(X,Y,Z), and I(X,Y,Z) will be independent and unbiased. Note that the function H is the bit-wise "xor" or "parity" function of its inputs .

This step uses a 64-element table T[l ... 64] constructed from the sine function. Let T[i] denote the i-th element of the table, which is equal to the integer part of 4294967296 times abs(sin(i)), where i is in radians. The elements of the table are given in the appendix.

Do the following:

/* Process each 16-word block. */ For i = 0 to N/16-1 do

/* Copy block i into X. */ ' For j = 0 to 15 do

Set X[j] to M[i*16+j] . end /* of loop on j V

/* Save A as AA, B as BB, C as CC, and D as DD. */

AA = A BB = B

Rivest [Page 4]

□

RFC 1321 MD5, Message-Digest Algorithm . April 1992

CC = C

DD = D

/* Round 1. */

/*" Let [abed k s i] denote the operation- Page 5 of5

a = b + ( (a + F (b, c, d) + X [ k] + T [i] ) <« s ) /* Do the following 16 operations . */ [ABCD 0 - 7 1] [DABC 1 12 2] [CDAB 2 17 3 ] [BCDA 3 22 4] [ABCD 4 7 5] [DABC 5 12 6]- [CDAB 6 17 7 ] [BCDA 7 22 8] [ABCD 8 7 9] [DABC 9 12 10] [CDAB 10- 17 11 ] [BCDA 11 22 12] [ABCD 12 7 13] [DABC 13 12 14 ] [CDAB 14 17 15] [BCDA 15 22 16]

/* Round 2 . * /

/* Let [abed k s i] denote the operation a = b + ((a + G(b,c,d) + X[k] + T[i]) <« s) /* Do the following 16 operations. */ •

[ABCD 1 5 17] [DABC 6 9 18] [CDAB 11 14 19] [BCDA 0 20 20]

[ABCD 5 5 21] [DABC 10 9 22] ^' [CDAB 15 14 23] [BCDA 4 20 24]

[ABCD 9 5 25] [DABC 14 9 26] [CDAB 3 14 27] [BCDA 8 20 28]

[ABCD 13 5 29] [DABC 2 9 30] [CDAB 7 14 31] [BCDA 12 20 32]

/* Round 3. */

/* Let [abed k s t] denote the operation a = b + ((a H(b,c,d) + X[k] + T[i.) «< s) . */ /* Do the following 16 operations. */

[ABCD 5 4 33] [DABC 8 11 34] [CDAB 11 16 35] [BCDA 14 23 36]

[ABCD 1 4 37] [DABC 4 11 38] [CDAB 7 16 39] [BCDA 10 23 40]

[ABCD 13 4 41] [DABC 0 11 42] [CDAB 3 16 43] [BCDA 6 23 44]

[ABCD 9 4 45] [DABC 12 11 46] [CDAB 15 16 47] [BCDA 2 23 48]

/* Round i . *^■/

/* Let [abed k s t] denote the operation a = b + ((a + I(b,c,d) + X[k] + T[i]) «< s) . */ /* Do the following 16 operations. */

[ABCD 0 6 49] [DABC 7 10 50] [CDAB 14 15 51] [BCDA 5 21 52]

[ABCD 12 6 53] [DABC 3 10 54] [CDAB 10 15 55] [BCDA 1 21 56]

[ABCD 8 6 57] [DABC 15 •10 58] [CDAB 6 15 59] [BCDA 13 21 60]

[ABCD 4 6 61] [DABC 11 10 62] [CDAB 2 15 63] [BCDA 9 21 64]

/* Then perform the following additions. (That is increment each of the four registers by the value it had before this block was started. ) */

A = A + AA

B =,B + BB

C = C -I- CC

D = D + DD end /* of loop on i */

Rivest

APPENDIX B

<?xml version="l.O" ?>

<!DOCJYPE DOCUMENT (View Source for full doctγpe...)> <DOCUMENT DOC_ID="20000831164049214998000000"> <TITLE>Tunnett diode and method of making</ΗT E> <1-ANGUAGE>EN</LANGUAGE>

<ABSJRACJ>A TUNNETf (tunneling transit time) electronic device comprising a very thin injector uniformly doped at a high- concentration, a thin drift region of lower doping of the same semiconductivity type, and a collector of high doping of the same semiconductivity type. A Scho-tky barrier is formed by placing a metal electrode on the injector and an ohmic contact may be made on the collector. In a preferred embodiment the injector is made of Ge grown on the drift region by vacuum epitaxy. The drift region is preferably GaAs grown by epitaxy on a GaAs collector. </ABΞTRACJ> <PROPERTY NAME="PATENT_PENDING">NO</PROPERTY>

- <RELAJED_FILE>

<FILE_NAME>H0000029.doc</FILE_NAME>

<FILE_KEY>0</FILE_ EY>

< FILE_DESC> primary document</FILE_DEΞC>

<FILE_SIGNATURE>328AllA73577F87F2E12870DB04EE64B</FrLE_ΞIGNATURE> <FILE_SIGNATURE_TYPE>MD5 message digest</FILE_SIGNATURE_JYPE> </RELATED_FILE>

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<FILE_NAME>HO0Ou029.1.tiff</FILE_NAME> < FILE_KEY> 2</FILE_KEY> <FILE_DESOImage 1</FILE_DESC>

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<FILE_NAME>H0000029.2.tiff</FILE_NAME> <FILE_KEY>3</FILE_KEY> <FILE_DESC>Image 2</FILE_DESC>

<FILE_SIGNATURE>E90C1B0CB880C7CDA9639755328ED399</FILE_SIGNAJURE> <FILE_SIGNATURE_TYPE>MD5 Message Digest</FILE_SIGNATURE_TYPE> </RELATED_FILE>

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<FILE_NAME>H0000029.3.tiff</FILE_NAME> <FILE_ EY>4</FILE_KEY> <FILE_DESC>Image 3</FILE_DESC>

<FILE_SIGNATURE>CFD690E0AFE935F6EA86A96CD9186899</FILE_SIGNATURE> <FILE_SIGNATURE_JYPE>MD5 Message Digest</FILE_SIGNATURE_TYPE> </RELATED_FILE>

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<FILE_NAME>H0000029.4.tiff</FILE_NAME>

<FILE_KEY>5</FILE_KEY>

<FILE_DESC> Image 4</FILE_DESC>

<FILE_SIGNAJURE>48E6840239259CF40199412B59F28915</FILE_SIGNATURE> <FILE_SIGNATURE_TYPE>MD5 Message Digest</FILE_SIGNATURE_TYPE>