ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,277,196, issued on April 15, was assigned to BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP (New York).

"System and method for electronic distribution of software and data" was invented by Gennady Slobodsky (New York), Vladimir Kliatchko (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.), Shawn Edwards (Stamford, Conn.), Claudio Storelli (New York), Satoko Highstein (New York), Thomas F. Secunda (Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.), Navanath Prabuhudessai (Hicksville, N.Y.) and Oleg Polonsky (Fair Lawn, N.J.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "According to computerized methods of distributing software and data, software components may be distributed electronically for execution in controlled environments. Such ...