Patent ID: 7752632

Claim:
A method for exposing formatting information about an embedded object to a receiving software application, comprising: receiving a request for embedding an object from a second document into a first document, whereby receiving a request for embedding an object from a second document into a first document includes receiving a request for embedding an object where the requested object includes a second embedded object embedded in the requested object; querying a server application from which the second document is generated for any file formats associated with the requested object; receiving at a client application from which the first document is generated the any file formats associated with the requested object, whereby receiving at a client application from which the first document is generated the any file formats associated with the requested object includes receiving at the client application any file formats associated with the second embedded object; reviewing a list of file formats available from a server application and reviewing particular file formats associated with the requested object to allow the client application to understand the any file formats associated with the requested object and to allow the client application to operate the embedded object according to the any file formats associated with the requested object; determining at the client application how to embed the requested object in the first document in order to comply with the any file formats associated with the requested object, wherein the determination is made by: identifying a content type for the requested object; and in response to determining the content type, determining a file extension associated with the identified content type; embedding the requested object in the first document; and exposing to the client application the any file formats associated with the requested object for allowing the client application to operate the embedded object according to the any file formats associated with the embedded object, whereby exposing to the client application the any file formats associated with the requested object for allowing the client application to operate the embedded object according to the any file formats associated with the embedded object includes exposing to the client application the any file formats associated with the second embedded object for allowing the client application to operate the second embedded object according to the any file formats associated with the second embedded object.