Prior art

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 8468464, I will search the USPTO patent database for citations made by and against this patent. Prior art refers to any publicly available information that predates the effective filing date of a patent application and can show that an invention is not novel or would have been obvious (35 U.S.C. § 102 and § 103). This includes previously patented inventions, descriptions in printed or electronic publications, or inventions in public use or on sale.

Based on the patent text of US8468464, the "BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" section explicitly cites several prior art references:

• U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,170

  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but its publication date would precede the priority date of US8468464 (April 30, 2001).
  • Brief Description: This patent is cited as an example of electronically presented maps available over the Internet.
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates aspects of Claim 1 and Claim 11 related to "displaying an electronic area representation" or "displaying an electronic map." It demonstrates that electronically presented maps were known prior to US8468464.

• U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,525

  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but its publication date would precede the priority date of US8468464 (April 30, 2001).
  • Brief Description: This patent is cited as an example of electronically presented maps available over the Internet.
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US Pat. No. 4,974,170, this patent potentially anticipates aspects of Claim 1 and Claim 11 related to "displaying an electronic area representation" or "displaying an electronic map."

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,260

  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but its publication date would precede the priority date of US8468464 (April 30, 2001).
  • Brief Description: This patent is cited as an example of electronically presented maps available over the Internet.
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates aspects of Claim 1 and Claim 11 related to "displaying an electronic area representation" or "displaying an electronic map."

• U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,455

  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but its publication date would precede the priority date of US8468464 (April 30, 2001).
  • Brief Description: This patent is specifically cited for disclosing a "magnifier feature that facilitates use of an electronically presented map."
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates aspects of US8468464 related to the "magnifier feature," as mentioned in the abstract and described throughout the patent. This could include aspects of claims that involve displaying a magnified portion of the map.

• U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,379

  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text, but its publication date would precede the priority date of US8468464 (April 30, 2001).
  • Brief Description: This patent is cited for disclosing the "use of a magnifier in connection with display of an image."
  • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US Pat. No. 5,818,455, this patent potentially anticipates aspects of US8468464 related to the "magnifier feature" in a broader sense of image display, which could be relevant to claims involving a magnified view of an area representation.

The patent also mentions several websites as examples of electronically presented maps available over the Internet, including www.mapquest.com, www.mapsonus.com, www.maps.expedia.com, www.maps.yahoo.com, www.maps.com, www.maps.excite.com, and www.mapblast.com, and www.zip2.com. While these are not patent documents, they could constitute "prior art" as "printed publications" or "otherwise available to the public" under 35 U.S.C. § 102, as they were publicly accessible prior to the priority date. They collectively demonstrate the existence of electronic map displays and could potentially anticipate the broad concept of displaying an electronic map as described in Claim 1 and Claim 11.