Patent Document ID: 8762835
Application ID: 12429289
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of employing an electronically manipulative object that is usable in a plurality of different electronic documents, the object comprising at least one electronically stored property that includes an associated rule that affects the object, the at least one property and associated rule being elements of the object, the object being manipulated in a manner that would violate the rule or in a manner that would not violate the rule, and wherein the object and the at least one property and associated rule exists outside of an electronic document that the object is used in, the rule associated with the at least one property being enforced in the plurality of different electronic documents, the method comprising: (a) importing a copy of the object, including the object's at least one electronically stored property that includes an associated rule, into an electronic document from outside of the electronic document; and (b) enforcing the rule associated with the at least one property of the object imported in step (a) in the electronic document, wherein if the object is manipulated in a manner that would violate the rule, the at least one property is automatically set to a value that does not violate the rule.