Patents by Inventor Ricky A Steffens

Ricky A Steffens has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • System and method for retrieving an abstracted portion of a file without regard to the operating system of the current host computer
    Patent number: 6768996
    Abstract: A universally available system and method are used to provide information to a system user as to the contents stored in a memory. In one embodiment, a CD ROM is used to store data thereon and the data is abstracted and the abstract is stored in a HTML file as a WEB page. The abstract file is then available for viewing by any browser without regard to the operating system of the host computer. Hot link buttons on the WEB page abstract allow a user to open a file from the WEB page. Audio and video abstracts can be added and the user can participate in the creation and selection of the abstract.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2004
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Ricky A Steffens, Tomas G Wilkins, Daniel B Ashbaugh, Michael D Krause