12 Nov
1999
12 Nov
'99
2:57 p.m.
OK, that just how the date was entered, not how it was
stored internally,
but it's not that different. I would claim this is certainly 'prior art'.
And I doubt if this is the first time it was done either.
Just because it was done before doesn't mean that a patent won't
be granted, especially when it comes to patenting algorithms. Witness
the discussions in comp.arch earlier this year about IBM patenting
a well-known (has been in textbooks since the 1960's) algorithm for
converting multi-digit decimal numbers to binary.
Tim.