Software firm Bitstream Inc. said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded the company a third patent for its ThunderHawk mobile browsing technology.

The patent covers the technology that controls how Web pages are retrieved and displayed on mobile instruments.

Cambridge, MA-based Bitstream claims ThunderHawk is the first browser to offer a full HTML browsing experience between mobile and desktop environments.

Per a statement from the company, the issued patent covers technology that displays digital content such as a Web site by accessing it, laying it out at a virtual pixel resolution and then displaying a portion of that layout at a smaller display resolution.

This displays the layout's images and text at a scaled-down resolution size, with displayed text composed from font bitmaps having character shapes, sizes and pixel alignments selected to improve readability at the scaled-down size, Bitstream said.

"The technology covered in this patent supports a critical part of the ThunderHawk user experience: the ability to see information on a mobile device the same way you see it on a desktop," said Anna Chagnon, president/CEO of Bitstream, in a statement.