Patent ID: 6012071
Filing Date: 2000-01-04
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A distributed system for displaying an electronic publication, the system comprising a first computer called a client, a second computer called a server, and a computer network interconnecting the client and the server, wherein:(a) the server stores a publication outline file, the publication outline file defining a layout of the electronic publication such that the electronic publication contains at least one region, and for each region, the publication outline file containing formatting instructions for how to format information displayed within each region, the formatting instructions including at least a name of a font file containing fonts to be used in displaying text content information within the corresponding region, as well as locating instructions for how to locate content information for each respective region, the content information being stored in a file separately from the formatting instructions in a content file different from the publication outline file, and upon request from the client, the server sends the publication outline file to the client; and(b) the client executes an application program to obtain the publication outline file, and for at least one region defined therein, to obtain the content information by following the respective locating instructions to locate the content file to obtain the content information stored therein, and to determine whether a specified font file by the formatting instructions is already stored locally at the client, and if not, to download the specified font file to the client and using the specified font file in a manner such that if another program requests a list of installed fonts the specified font file appears to not be installed at the client, to format the content information according to the respective formatting instructions, including formatting text content information using the specified font file, and then to display the formatted content information at the client.