Acacia Prior Art: alt.binaries.multimedia newsgroup...
 

I assume folks doing research on the Acacia patents have already researched Apple (quicktime, hypercard, etc) and Amiga, in particular various popular animation formats, such as ANIM, those folks were discussing and using...found discussions of animation/moving video with compression as far back as 1987 on internet newsgroups - so presumably some of these folks were using the internet to transmit/view them too.

Anyways, some have wondered...ok, the formats, etc may have existed, but what about the internet transmission issue?...well, consider researching newsgroups...in particular the alt.binaries hierarchy...

Below is a copy of control newgroup messages for alt.binaries.multimedia (I've separated and sorted the entries...in particular, note the first one dated Nov-22-1990...and it's possible the group existed as early as late 1989/early 1990?, but those newgroup control messages weren't archived)...

It's noteable, not just that the newsgroup was created, but it was explicitely clear from the control articles, in particular the first one, what the newsgroup was specifically intended for...the posting (which implies transmission to other computers and endusers...readers who could access them on demand as with any newsgroup post!) of video, audio, etc...imagine that! :)

From: [email protected] (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: alt.binaries.multimedia.ctl
Subject: newgroup alt.binaries.multimedia
Date: 22 Nov 90 21:04:00 GMT
Control: newgroup alt.binaries.multimedia
Distribution: world
Organization: Sugar Land Unix - Houston
Lines: 3
Approved: [email protected]

As per the discussion in alt.config:

alt.binaries.multimedia Multimedia documents (text/video/audio/etc...)


From [email protected] Wed Jun 19 22:07:52 1991
Path: rpi!think.com!samsung!caen!ox.com!math.fu-berlin.de!fub!ivcmd!tumif!news


From: [email protected] (News-Administrator)
Newsgroups: alt.binaries.multimedia.ctl
Subject: newgroup alt.binaries.multimedia
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 18 Jun 91 20:03:27 GMT
Control: newgroup alt.binaries.multimedia
Distribution: UniDo
Organization: IVC Magdeburg
Lines: 0
Approved: [email protected]


From [email protected] Fri Aug 2 01:06:22 1991
Path: rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!sugar!peter


From [email protected] Sat Oct 24 04:36:49 1992
Control: newgroup alt.binaries.multimedia
Newsgroups: control
Path: rpi!news.ans.net!europa.asd.contel.com!uunet!psgra in!hippo!ucthpx!aim1!news
From: [email protected] (Net News Admin)
Subject: newgroup alt.binaries.multimedia
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1992 19:40:36 GMT
Distribution: general
Organization: Aztec Information Management
Lines: 1

Create alt.binaries.multimedia locally.


Defacto "official" newgroup control archive:

ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/control/

Ron Bennett

so your point is.... ?

More information for folks seeking prior art in regards to Acacia's patents.

Ron