A platform independent object and object viewer loader and method

Claim 2

The method of claim 1, wherein step e includes firstly determining whether a viewer program associated with said retrieved data type is stored in said second computer (314), and when said determination is negative, secondly determining whether a viewer program associated with said retrieved data type is stored in any of a predefined set of other computers (322, 323), and when said second determination is positive, performing steps f1 through f3.

Claim 3

A distributed computer system having a plurality of distinct computers, comprising: a first computer (254), including: a first memory (274) for storing objects (282) and viewer programs (284), each stored object including data type information associated with said each object; and a second computer (252), including: a second memory (262) for storing viewer programs (298), each viewer program in said first and second computers enabling a user of said second computer to view objects of an associated data type; a user interface control program (258) for enabling said user to select a reference to one of said objects stored in said first memory of said first computer; and an inter-computer link control program for responding to user selection of said object reference by establishing a first communication link (304) between said second computer and said first computer and initiating retrieval of said one object from said first computer including retrieving data type information associated with said object (306); said user interface control program including viewer search instructions for determining whether said viewer programs stored in said second computer include a viewer program associated with said retrieved data type (308), and, when said determination in is negative, for attempting to locate a viewer program associated with said retrieved data type in a set of other computers that includes said first computer (312,314,322,323); and said inter-computer link control program including viewer downloading instructions for loading a copy of said viewer program associated with said retrieved data type into said second computer (315) when said viewer search instructions locate in said other computers said viewer program associated with said retrieved data type.

Claim 4

The system of claim 3, said second computer further including a verification procedure for determining whether said copied viewer program meets predetermined operand stack usage criteria (317), and program enabling instructions for enabling executing said copied viewer program so as to enable said user to view said object when said verification procedure determines that said copied viewer program meets said predetermined criteria (335).