Abstract: An extensible set of information is defined within a Web page, which is retrievable in an ordered manner. Web page variables are defined and populated with commands and data which are executed according to the order defined by the naming convention employed in defining the Web page variable names. Within a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document, an open-ended series of commands are defined to be read and processed by a control without having to extend HTML or using an alternative language. For instance, a series of vector graphics commands can be defined using PARAM Tag statements and subsequently executed by a Web control in the specified order. Moreover, by defining an graphics object in this manner, a standard ASCII text editor can be used to review and modify the commands, and the graphics can be completely defined within the HTML document which does not require any external reference and thus reduces processing and network overhead.

Abstract: An invention for specifying and synchronously executing an extensible set of events along a single timeline is disclosed. More specifically, an invention for specifying an extensible set of multimedia events within an HTML document and for synchronously invoking the specified events along a single timeline within a Web environment is disclosed. First, a plurality of multimedia events are specified, with each event having a single or plurality of scheduled time(s) on the timeline for its invocation. After the playing of the timeline is started, events from the extensible set of events are executed at their respective predetermined time(s). Furthermore, an arbitration mechanism is provided for determining the order to execute a plurality of events scheduled to be executed at the same time, and a drop threshold mechanism is provided for not executing an event when its actual execution time has exceeded its scheduled execution time by more than a specified window of execution.

Abstract: An extensible set of information is defined within a Web page, which is retrievable in an ordered manner. Web page variables are defined and populated with commands and data which are executed according to the order defined by the naming convention employed in defining the Web page variable names. Within a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document, an open-ended series of commands are defined to be read and processed by a control without having to extend HTML or using an alternative language. For instance, a series of vector graphics commands can be defined using PARAM Tag statements and subsequently executed by a Web control in the specified order. Moreover, by defining an graphics object in this manner, a standard ASCII text editor can be used to review and modify the commands, and the graphics can be completely defined within the HTML document which does not require any external reference and thus reduces processing and network overhead.

Abstract: An extensible set of commands to be executed in an ordered manner, such as a series of vector graphics commands, is provided in a Web page written in a markup language. The commands are embedded in statements in the Web page in a format that is conventionally used to define property variables. In each of such statements with embedded commands, the command and its associated data are included as the value specified for the property variable of that statement. The names of the property variables of the statements are provided according to a predetermined naming convention such that they indicate the sequence in which their associated commands as specified by their respective values are to be executed. When a Web control reads the Web page, it extracts the commands and their associated data from the values of the property variables of the statements, and executes the commands according to the sequence indicated by the names of the property variables.