U.S. patent application number 10/707708 was filed with the patent office on 2005-06-09 for [method for resotoring backup data].
Invention is credited to Wang, Zhong-Yang, Yu, Lindeng.
Application Number | 20050125460 10/707708 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34632301 |
Filed Date | 2005-06-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050125460 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Yu, Lindeng ; et
al. |
June 9, 2005 |
[METHOD FOR RESOTORING BACKUP DATA]
Abstract
A method for restoring backup data in an electronic system is
provided. The method provides a backup data file, and the backup
data file includes at least one record of application data. Then,
an application program corresponding to the application data is
searched within a registry of the electronic system. If it is
found, the application data is restored; otherwise, the application
data is not restored. The present invention further provides a
method for restoring backup data in a mobile system. The method
provides a backup data file, and the backup data file includes a
self-restore program. Then, the self-restore program is performed
in the mobile device to restore data. Therefore, the present
invention can restore data to the mobile device without having to
install additional restore program.
Inventors: |
Yu, Lindeng; (Taipei Hsien,
TW) ; Wang, Zhong-Yang; (Taipei Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
JIANQ CHYUN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE
7 FLOOR-1, NO. 100
ROOSEVELT ROAD, SECTION 2
TAIPEI
100
TW
|
Family ID: |
34632301 |
Appl. No.: |
10/707708 |
Filed: |
January 6, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 ;
707/999.203 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/1469 20130101;
G06F 11/1464 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
707/203 |
International
Class: |
G06F 017/30 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 4, 2003 |
TW |
92134148 |
Claims
1. A method suitable for an electronic system for restoring a
backup data, comprising: providing a backup data file comprising at
least an application data; and searching an application program
corresponding to the application data within a registry of the
electronic system, if it is found that there is an application
program corresponding to the application data, the application data
is restored; if it is found that there is no application program
corresponding to the application data, the application data is not
restored.
2. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 1, wherein the
backup data file further comprises a Personal Information Manager
(PIM) data, and the method for restoring the backup data further
comprises: reading and restoring the Personal Information Manager
(PIM) data to the electronic system.
3. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 2, wherein the
backup data file further comprises an original model data, and the
method for restoring the backup data further comprises: reading an
current model data of the electronic system; and comparing the
current model data with the original model data, and if they are
matched, all backup data in the backup data file are restored.
4. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 1, wherein the
electronic system is a mobile device.
5. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 4, wherein the
mobile device is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
6. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 5, wherein the
PDA is a Pocket PC.
7. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 4, wherein the
mobile device is a Smart Phone.
8. A method used in a mobile device for restoring a backup data,
comprising: providing a backup data file comprising a self-restore
program; and executing the self-restore program and performing the
data restore in the mobile device.
9. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 8, wherein the
step of executing the self-restore program and performing the data
restore comprises: determining whether the backup data is existed
in the backup data file, and if there is no backup data, the
executing of the self-restore program is terminated.
10. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 9, wherein
the backup data file further comprises an original model data, and
the step of executing the self-restore program and performing the
data restore further comprises: reading an current model data of
the mobile device; and comparing the current model data with the
original model data, and if they are matched, all backup data in
the backup data file are restored.
11. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 10, wherein
the backup data file further comprises a Personal Information
Manager (PIM) data, and the step of executing the self-restore
program and performing the data restore further comprises: reading
and restoring the Personal Information Manager (PIM) data to the
mobile device.
12. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 11, wherein
the backup data file at least comprises an application data, and
the step of executing the self-restore program and performing the
data restore further comprises: searching an application program
corresponding to the application data within a registry of the
mobile device, if it is found that there is an application program
corresponding to the application data, the application data is
restored; and if it is found that there is no application program
corresponding to the application data, the application data is not
restored.
13. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 8, wherein
the mobile device is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).
14. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 13, wherein
the PDA is a Pocket PC.
15. The method for restoring the backup data of claim 8, wherein
the mobile device is a Smart Phone.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan
application serial no. 92134148, filed Dec. 4, 2003.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a method for restoring
backup data, and more particularly, to a method for restoring
backup data in a mobile device (e.g. PDA).
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Various electronic apparatus are commonly used in modern
life to process our daily activities, such as communication,
calendar management, and document preparation. Accompanying with
the technology progress, various electronic apparatus are made
thinner and smaller for easy carry. The mobile device, such as the
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and the mobile phone are the
electronic apparatus that are made in consider of easy carry.
Usually, the data recorded in the electronic apparatus is critical
to the users, if the data recorded in the electronic apparatus is
damaged due to any accident, it will be a great loss and will bring
a significant inconvenience to the users. Therefore, frequently
backing up data becomes a routine job for the users using the
electronic apparatus.
[0006] For example, since the characteristic of smaller size and
versatile functions, the PDA is gradually accepted by the users. In
the PDA, the user can build up customer information, send/receive
e-mail, manage calendar, roughly edit/read document, and perform
like operation with the help of a Personal Information Manager
(PIM). The PDA also provides a function similar to the Personal
Computer (PC) for allowing user to install various application
programs. The PDA can further provide multimedia functions, such as
playing MP3 and movies by installing the relevant application
programs. Therefore, the important PIM data and the application
data generated by various application programs (e.g. Word document
files and MP3 music files) are recorded in the PDA. In order to
prevent the data from carelessly damaging, a backup program is
commonly installed in the PDA for users to backup the important
data. The backup data mentioned above is commonly saved outside the
PDA, for example, it is saved in a PC which is connected to the PDA
via a link.
[0007] Analyzing the data/program saved in the PDA, it is found
that they can be roughly classified into following categories: the
system file/device driver, the registry, the user-installed
application program and its related dynamic-link library (DLL), the
application data generated by the application program, and the PIM
data. The user can restore the backup data to the original PDA at
any time with the help of non-regularly backing up the internal
data of the PDA. However, it is common that we have to load the
backup data of the original PDA into another PDA and restore it
therein, for example, in the case of replacing the PDA with a new
one. FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram illustrating the backing
up data between different PDAs. FIG. 1B is a schematic block
diagram illustrating a PDA 2 of FIG. 1A after the data had been
restored to it using a conventional technique. Referring to both
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, it is assumed that the data in the PDA 110 is
to be backed up and the backup data file 130 is to be obtained, the
data of the PDA 110 is restored into the PDA 120 by using the
backup data file 130. Wherein, the system file/device driver 112 is
commonly embedded in a read only memory (ROM) inside the PDA 110,
thus it is not possible to rewrite it, and it will not disappear
due to the PDA hardware reset. Therefore, its backup is not
required.
[0008] When performing the backup operation, the PDA 110 copies its
registry 111, the PIM data 114, the user-installed application
program DLL 113, and various application programs and its
application data 115 into the backup data file 130. After the
backup data file 130 is loaded into the PDA 120, the data in the
backup data file 130 is restored, such that the registry 121a, the
PIM data 124a, the application program DLL 123a, and various
application programs and its application data 125a are replaced
with the registry 121b, the PIM data 124b, the application program
DLL 123b, and various application programs and its application data
125b.
[0009] The system setup and hardware device drivers among different
PDAs are not all the same. Therefore, if the data is just roughly
restored (replaced) by using the above method, the system may be
crashed due to the difference among the PDA hardware, the system
file/device driver, the registry, the application program as well
as the difference existed in various application programs.
[0010] Further, even the system crash problem mentioned above does
not exist, for example, in the case of restoring the backup data to
the same PDA, in the conventional art, in order to restore the
data, it is required to install a backup/restore program which is
used in generating the backup data file (it is because all programs
are disappeared after the hardware is reset). Therefore, it is very
inconvenient to the user.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0011] In the light of the above problems, it is an object of the
present invention to provide a method for restoring backup data.
The method detects a correlation between the system to which the
data is restored and the system where the data is backed up from
previously, then it is determined which backup data can be
restored, so as to avoid the system crash problem due to the
inconsistency between the restore data and system.
[0012] It is another object of the present invention to provide a
method for restoring backup data. With such method, the mobile
device can execute a self-restore program included in the backup
data file and perform the data restore operation without having to
install additional restore program.
[0013] The present invention provides a method for restoring backup
data in an electronic system. The method comprises providing a
backup data file, and the backup data file includes at least one
record of application data. Then, an application program
corresponding to the application data is searched within a registry
of the electronic system. If it is found, the application data is
restored; otherwise, the application data is not restored.
[0014] According to a method for restoring backup data described in
an embodiment of the present invention, the backup data file
further comprises a Personal Information Manager (PIM) data, and
the method for restoring backup data further comprises a step of
reading and restoring the PIM data to the electronic system.
[0015] According to a method for restoring backup data described in
an embodiment of the present invention, the backup data file
further comprises an original model data, and the method for
restoring backup data further comprises reading the model data of
the electronic system; and comparing the model data with the
original model data, if they are matched, all backup data in the
backup data file are restored.
[0016] The present invention further provides a method for
restoring backup data in a mobile device. The method comprises
providing a backup data file, and the backup data file comprises a
self-restore program. Then, the self-restore program is executed in
the mobile device to restore data.
[0017] According to a method for restoring backup data described in
an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the step of
executing the self-restore program and performing the data restore
further comprises determining whether the backup data file contains
the backup data or not, if it dose not, the execution of the
self-restore program is terminated.
[0018] According to a method for restoring backup data described in
an embodiment of the present invention, the backup data file
further comprises a PIM data, and the step of executing the
self-restore program and performing the data restore further
comprises a step of reading and restoring the PIM data to the
mobile device.
[0019] According to a method for restoring backup data described in
an embodiment of the present invention, the backup data file
further comprises at least one record of application data. In
addition, the step of executing the self-restore program and
performing the data restore further comprises searching an
application program corresponding to the application data within a
registry of the mobile device. If it is found, the application data
is restored; otherwise, the application data is not restored.
[0020] With the present invention, since which backup data can be
restored is determined by detecting the target system to which the
data is restored before restoring the backup data, the present
invention can prohibit the restoring (overwriting) data which is
inconsistent with the target system to the target system, and
further prevents the system crash problem from happening. In
addition, the present invention further provides a self-restored
backup data file which can restore the backup data without having
to install the restore program.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0021] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further
understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate
embodiments of the invention, and together with the description,
serve to explain the principles of the invention.
[0022] FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram illustrating the
backing up data between different PDAS.
[0023] FIG. 1B is a schematic block diagram illustrating a PDA 2 of
FIG. 1A after the data had been restored to it using a conventional
technique.
[0024] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for restoring
backup data according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0025] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal data
of a PDA 2 in FIG. 1A after the data had been restored to it
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0026] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating another method for
restoring backup data according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0027] FIG. 5 is a structure diagram of a backup data file
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0028] Since the system setup and hardware device drivers among
different electronic systems are not all the same. Therefore, if
the data is just roughly restored by using the above method, the
system may be crashed due to the existing difference. The PDA is
exemplified for describing the present invention hereinafter.
However, the present invention is not necessarily limited by it.
The data/programs saved in the PDA are roughly classified into
following categories: the system file/device driver, the registry,
the user-installed application program and its related dynamic-link
library (DLL), the application data generated by the application
program, and the PIM data. Wherein, the system file/device driver
is commonly embedded in a read only memory (ROM) inside the PDA,
thus it is not possible to rewrite it, and it will not disappear
due to the PDA hardware reset. Therefore, its backup is not
required. The registry is a configuration data file of the entire
system, and the registry is not suitable for other PDA, thus the
registry cannot be just roughly restored/replaced. The application
program and its related DLL may be relevant to the system, in order
to avoid the system crash; it cannot be just roughly
restored/replaced. These files may be restored through the
re-installation. Since the application data and the PIM data are
the user's specific personal data, and the lose will not be
recovered once it is lost/damaged, these are the data most
concerned by the user. Therefore, it is required to irregularly
backup the application data and the PIM data, such that the
recovering of the important data at any time is possible.
[0029] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for restoring
backup data according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal data of a
PDA 2 in FIG. 1A after the data had been restored to it according
to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1A,
FIG. 2, and FIG. 3, at first, a backup data file is provided (step
S201). The backup data file may be generated by backing up the
internal data/file of the same PDA previously, or may be generated
by backing up the internal data/file of another PDA. For example,
the PDA 110 in FIG. 1A backs up its internal data, which comprises
a registry 111, a DLL 113, a PIM data 114, and a plurality of
application data 115 (wherein these application data corresponds to
the application program A, B, and C, respectively), and generates a
backup data file 130. Meanwhile, the data of the PDA 120 before the
data is restored to it comprises a registry 121a, a DLL 123a, a PIM
data 124a, and a plurality of application data 125a (wherein these
application data corresponds to the application program B, C, and
D, respectively).
[0030] In step S202 and S203, the PDA model data stored in the
backup data file 130 is compared with the model of the PDA that
performs the restore. If they are matched, the inconsistent problem
of the backup data and the system does not exist, and the step S208
is performed, in which step all backup data in the backup data file
130 are restored to the PDA that performs the restore (for example,
a conventional restore method is used in this part of the
work).
[0031] If the PDA model data stored in the backup data file 130 is
different from the model of the PDA that performs the restore, in
order to avoid the system crash, the backup data cannot be easily
restored. In such case, the PIM data is restored first (step S204).
As shown in FIG. 3, the backup data of the PDA 110 is restored to
another PDA (a PDA 320) according to an embodiment of the present
invention. Meanwhile, the PIM data 324 is replaced with the PIM
data of the PDA 110. Since the model of the PDA 110 is different
from the model of the PDA 320, the registry 321 and the DLL 323
cannot be replaced.
[0032] The step S205 is then performed, in which step the
application program corresponding to the application data 115
stored in the backup data file 130 is searched within a registry
321 of the PDA 320. If the application program corresponding to the
application data stored in the backup data file 130 is founded in
the PDA 320, the step S206 is performed to recover the
corresponding application data. Otherwise, the application data is
not restored (step S207). In the present embodiment, the
application program B, C, and D had been installed in the PDA 320,
thus the data corresponding to the application program B, C in the
application data 115 stored in the backup data file 130 is
restored. It is emphasized that in the present embodiment, the
application data corresponding to the application program B, C in
the PDA 110 is restored. However, the original application data in
the PDA 320 (e.g. the application data 325a and the application
data 325b shown in the diagram) is not overwritten. In addition,
the application data 325c, which is an original application data in
the PDA 320 is also reserved in the present embodiment.
[0033] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention,
another embodiment is exemplified hereinafter. FIG. 4 is a flow
chart illustrating another method for restoring backup data
according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to
FIG. 4, at first, a backup data file is provided (step S401).
Similar to the backup data file 130 in the previous embodiment, the
backup data file, for example, comprises a registry, a DLL, a PIM
data, and a plurality of application data. Comparing with the
backup data file in the previous embodiment, the backup data file
in the present embodiment further comprises a self-restore program.
The backup data file of the self-restore program is such as a file
complying with a Portable Executable (PE) format, and the detail
information of the PE file format please referring to the related
documents from Microsoft. FIG. 5 is a structure diagram of a backup
data file according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 5, the backup data file 500 comprises a
self-restore program 501, a backup data file head 502, a backup
document data 503, a backup document information 504, a backup
database data 505, a backup database information 506, a backup
registry data 507, and a backup registry information 508.
[0034] When it is required to restore the backup data, the
self-restore program 501 in the backup data file is executed (step
S402). The backup data file head 502 records how many records of
data and the length of each record of the data in the backup data
file 500. Thus, in step S403, it is determined whether the backup
data is existed in the backup data file 500 by checking the file
head 502. If it is determined that there is no backup data in the
backup data file 500, in step S404, the data backup and restore
process is terminated. Otherwise, the step S405 is performed. Since
the process of steps S405.about.S411 are the same as in the
previous embodiment, its detail description is omitted here.
[0035] In is known from the above embodiments that the method
provided by the present invention can dynamically query the file
types supported by the object system (e.g. PDA), recover the
supported relevant file and data as well as all PIM data.
Therefore, the present invention can avoid the system crash due to
the system hardware difference, and successfully restore the
important user data back to the system.
[0036] In addition, if the backup data file dose not support the
self-restore function, it is required to use a restore program to
restore its data. In considering the physical user environment,
since the software of the mobile device is generally installed via
a PC, thus once in the case that the mobile device cannot find a PC
to install its software and the data has to be immediately
restored, the advantages of the present invention is more obvious.
Moreover, since the backup data file can be self-restored, it is no
need to install the restore program, it makes the data restore more
convenient.
[0037] Although the invention has been described with reference to
a particular embodiment thereof, it will be apparent to one of the
ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described
embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit of the
invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention will be defined
by the attached claims not by the above detailed description.
* * * * *