shri - 9:06 am on Apr 1, 2005 (gmt 0)

>> I see it's been filed by a group of individuals some of who are (or are ex-) Google employees, but that's the only link I can actually make.

Corporations usually own the patents of the employees.

This is a very broad statement and there are exclusions. If you thought about it at work and its related to your employers business, the chances are you have assigned the rights to it, to your employer.