U.S. patent application number 11/263773 was filed with the patent office on 2006-03-09 for system and method for portable emulation of operating environment.
Invention is credited to Neal Brooks, Scott Hillyard, Todd Marcusen, James Rhodes, Michael Sexton, Robert Sinclair.
Application Number | 20060052999 11/263773 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35517901 |
Filed Date | 2006-03-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060052999 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Brooks; Neal ; et
al. |
March 9, 2006 |
System and method for portable emulation of operating
environment
Abstract
The invention embeds an emulation module in removable media, for
use in replicating an operating environment on a laptop or other
remote machines. The emulation module prompts the user to capture
environmental settings on an originating machine, such as display
settings, network settings, input/output, applications, working
data files and other parameters on a removable media. The user may
then insert the removable media in a compatible reader attached to
the laptop or other secondary or host machine, and upon activation
of the emulation module reproduce the screen display, applications,
data files and other resources on the host machine. When the user
is finished working on the host machine, the emulation module may
restore the settings of the operating environment on that machine
to their preexisting state. Working data may be synchronized
between the originating and host machines.
Inventors: |
Brooks; Neal; (Alto, TX)
; Hillyard; Scott; (Nibley, UT) ; Marcusen;
Todd; (South Ogden, UT) ; Rhodes; James;
(Nacogdoches, TX) ; Sexton; Michael; (Roy, UT)
; Sinclair; Robert; (Madison, UT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
IOMEGA CORPORATION
PATENT DEPARTMENT
10955 VISTA SORRENTO PARKWAY
SAN DIEGO
CA
92130
US
|
Family ID: |
35517901 |
Appl. No.: |
11/263773 |
Filed: |
November 1, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09808351 |
Mar 15, 2001 |
6985849 |
|
|
11263773 |
Nov 1, 2005 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
703/27 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 9/455 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
703/027 |
International
Class: |
G06F 9/455 20060101
G06F009/455 |
Claims
1. A removable storage device comprising storage media, wherein the
removable storage device stores a set of operating environmental
variables defining a first operating environment from a first
machine on the storage media, the removable storage device being
adapted to connect to a second machine to modify a second operating
environment of the second machine based on the stored operating
environmental variables so the modified operating environment of
the second machine emulates the first operating environment of the
first machine independent of the operation of the first
machine.
2. The removable storage device of claim 1, wherein the second
operating environment is modified upon connection of the second
machine to the removable media.
3. The removable storage device of claim 1, wherein the second
operating environment of the second machine is restored upon
termination of the emulation.
4. The removable storage device of claim 1, wherein the storage
media is adapted to reconnect to the first machine and synchronize
data between the storage media and the first machine.
5. The removable storage device of claim 1, wherein the storage
media is solid state media.
6. The removable storage device of claim 1, wherein the set of
operating environmental variables includes applications available
on the first machine.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The subject matter of this application a continuation of
U.S. application Ser. No. 09/808,351 file Mar. 15, 2001 which is
related to the subject matter of U.S. application Ser. No.
09/360,337 filed Jul. 26, 1999, entitled "Self Contained
Application Disk for Automatically Launching Application Software
or Starting Devices and Peripherals", assigned or under duty of
assignment to the same entity as this application, and which
application is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to the field of computer software, and
more particularly to replication of desktop settings, file
structures and other aspects of a computer operating environment
from a primary computer or other client to a notebook computer or
other portable device via removable media.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The advent of the Internet as well as network operating
systems such as Novell Netware.TM. and Microsoft Windows NT.TM. and
2000 have encouraged users to become more mobile in their computing
habits. Many business people have or make use of a primary desktop
computer and a portable computer or other device for email, word
processing, spreadsheet and other purposes while traveling. Home
users increasingly may use both stationary desktop and laptop-class
devices as well. Often, the primary and portable computers may
share the same or similar operating system or environment, so that
the user may work on the same data files and use the same or
compatible applications, both at the office or home and on the
road.
[0004] While the sharing of data and also the application suite
between primary and host or secondary machines is a widespread
practice, there is as yet no way in which the operating environment
itself may be mirrored between the two platforms via removable
media. For instance, a person's office computer may run on the
Windows.TM. 2000 operating system, their laptop may run on the
Windows.TM. 95 platform. When switching from one environment to the
other, the application suite may run compatibly on both machines,
but the desktop and other environmental variables presented to the
user on each may be different.
[0005] For instance, the desktop pixel size, color depth,
wallpaper, icon set, font settings, task bar placement, mouse
settings, screen savers, power options, keyboard settings, time
settings, files and directory structure, network settings, password
settings, printer settings, audio defaults, browser settings, file
associations, backup settings, other system or application settings
and other environmental variables may differ on a desktop and
portable machine. While some of those environmental settings may
not affect the operation of applications or ability to access and
save data files, the lack of consistency between machines may
hinder other functions, such as ability to print, dial up or
otherwise access the Internet or other network resources, scan for
disk integrity or other functions. Any attempt to reconcile these
parameters when traveling must now be done manually by the user,
which is a tedious and error-prone process, or both machines must
be directly connected via cabling or other techniques to image one
drive to another. Other drawbacks exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The invention overcoming these and other drawbacks in the
art relates to a system and method for portable emulation of an
operating environment which in one regard permits a user to load a
removable media such as an Iomega Zip.TM., Jaz.TM., or Peerless.TM.
or other drive on an originating machine, selectively load
environmental variables on the media, and insert the media into a
portable or other host or secondary machine to activate an
emulation module. The emulation module may execute on the host or
secondary machine to read and deploy the stored environmental
variables, such as desktop pixel size, color depth, wallpaper, icon
set, font settings, task bar placement, mouse settings, screen
savers, power options, keyboard settings, time settings, file and
directory structure, network settings, printer settings, audio
defaults, browser settings, file associations, backup settings,
other system or application settings and other environmental
variables on the host or secondary machine.
[0007] When the user has completed and saved their work on the host
or secondary machine, the media may be removed and the temporary
environmental settings may be returned to the existing defaults on
the portable or other host or secondary machine. A synchronizer
module may conform application data sets on both the originating
and host machines.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] The invention will be described with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which like elements are referenced with
like numerals.
[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates the emulation of an originating machine
on a host machine via removable media according to one embodiment
of the invention.
[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates mechanisms of the emulation module
operating to secure the environmental variables of the originating
machine via removable media according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0011] FIG. 3 illustrates deployment of the removable media in the
host machine according to an embodiment of the invention to
transform the environment of that machine.
[0012] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart for overall replication
processing according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0013] As illustrated in FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the
invention an originating machine 102 may be equipped with a media
reader 108 to read and write to removable media 110. The removable
media 110 may be or include, for instance, an Iomega Zip.TM.,
Jaz.TM., or Peerless.TM. disk, a rewritable CD ROM (CDRW) disk, a
floppy disk or other magnetic, optical, solid state or other
media.
[0014] The originating machine 102 may be or include, for instance,
a desktop computer running the Microsoft Windows.TM. 95, 98,
Millenium.TM., NT.TM., or 2000, Windows.TM.CE.TM., PalmOS.TM.,
Unix, Linux, Solaris.TM., OS/2.TM., BeOS.TM., MacOS.TM. or other
operating system or platform. Originating machine 102 may include a
microprocessor such as an Intel x86-based device, a Motorola 68K or
PowerPC.TM. device, a MIPS, Hewlett-Packard Precision.TM., or
Digital Equipment Corp. Alpha.TM. RISC processor, a microcontroller
or other general or special purpose device operating under
programmed control. Originating machine 102 may furthermore include
electronic memory such as RAM (random access memory) or EPROM
(electronically programmable read only memory), storage such as a
hard drive, CDROM or other magnetic, optical or other media, and
other associated components connected over an electronic bus, as
will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art.
[0015] Originating machine 102 may also be or include a
network-enabled appliance such as a WebTV.TM. unit, radio-enabled
Palm.TM. Pilot or similar unit, a set-top box, a networkable
game-playing console such as Sony Playstation.TM. or Sega
Dreamcast.TM., a browser-equipped or other network-enabled cellular
telephone, or other TCP/IP client or other device.
[0016] The originating machine 102 may include a display device 106
such as a cathode ray tube or liquid crystal display, upon which an
operating environment 104 may be presented. The operating
environment 104 may include, for instance, a graphical user
interface (GUI) depicting the state of the machine, its file and
other storage, applications and execution state, and other elements
or resources. The operating environment 104 may furthermore include
desktop pixel size, color depth, wallpaper, icon set, font
settings, task bar placement, mouse settings, screen savers, power
options, keyboard settings, time settings, files and directory
structure, network settings, password settings, printer settings,
audio defaults, browser settings, file associations, backup
settings and other variables
[0017] Elements of the operating environment 104 may be selectable
by a user via an operating system setting, command or resource such
as via a Windows.TM. Registry entry, a Windows.TM. initiation
(.INI) file, a Windows.TM. autoexecution (Autoexec) file, a
Windows.TM. configuration (Config) file, a UNIX "sentenv" or
"unsetenv" command or other parameters.
[0018] According to the invention, an executable emulation module
122 may be embedded on the removable media 110 for use in
replicating the operating environment of originating machine 102 to
the host machine 114. The emulation module 122 may be configured to
autorun upon insertion of the removable media 110 into the media
reader 108, or in another embodiment be configured to execute when
activated by the user or otherwise.
[0019] As illustrated for instance in FIG. 2, when activated, the
emulation module 122 may present the user with selections on
display 106 to capture desired portions of the operating
environment 104 and reproduce those features on another machine.
For example, the user may be queried whether they wish to store
display characteristics and other aspects of the originating
machine 102 for replication. Those elements and resources may
include, for example desktop pixel size, color depth, wallpaper,
icon set, font settings, task bar placement, mouse settings, screen
savers, power options, keyboard settings, time settings, files and
directory structure, network settings, password settings, printer
settings, audio defaults, browser settings, file associations,
backup settings and other variables.
[0020] A user may select one, some or all of the available settings
from operating environment 104 for capture on removable media 110.
A user may also select desired data files, data directories or
other data resources to replicate via removable media 110, for
instance word processing files for remote editing or others. The
emulation module 122 may record the selected aspects of the
operating environment 104 and desired data in environmental
variables file 120 on removable media 110.
[0021] Once a user has selected all desired characteristics from
operating environment 104 and identified desired data for
transport, the emulation module 122 may be terminated and the
removable media 110 removed from media reader 108.
[0022] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the removable media 110 may then
be taken by the user for use in the host machine 114 or other
client for use. The host machine 114 may be, for instance, a device
or client similar to originating machine 102, and may
illustratively be a laptop or notebook computer, a network-enabled
cellular telephone or other stationary, mobile or other device. As
illustrated in FIG. 3, the host machine 114 may be equipped with a
media reader 112, also compatible with the removable media 110 for
reading, writing and other operations.
[0023] Overall processing according to an embodiment of the
invention is illustrated in FIG. 4. In step 402, processing begins.
In step 404, the emulation module 122 may be loaded on removable
media 110, for instance at time of manufacture, via an Internet
download, or otherwise. In step 406, the removable media 110 may be
inserted in the media reader 108 attached to the originating
machine 102. In step 408, the emulation module 122 may be executed
from the removable media 110, for instance by autorun or by user
prompt. In step 410, the user may be queried to select the desired
features of operating environment 104 and working data which they
wish to replicate, and the user's input may be received to identify
those elements to store on removable media 110. In step 412, the
selected resources may be processed and stored in environmental
variables file 120 on removable media 110.
[0024] In step 414, the user may retrieve the removable media 110
and insert the removable media 110 in the media reader 112 of the
host machine 114. In step 416, the emulation module 122 may execute
on host machine 114 to retrieve and process the environmental
variables file 120 from removable media 110. In step 418, the
emulation module 122 may trap and reconcile any incompatibilities
between the captured portions of the operating environment 104 of
the originating machine 102 and the host machine 114. For instance,
if the captured screen size or color depth is not available on host
machine 114, the emulation module may select a nearest match for
that variable to reconcile the mirrored environment with the
original resources. Other solutions may be used.
[0025] In step 420, the emulation module 122 may temporarily
reconfigure the operating environment of the host machine 114 to
emulate the operating environment 104 of the primary machine 102,
for instance by adjusting Windows.TM. Registry settings, control
panel settings or using other system resources. In step 422, the
host machine 114 may be operated by the user in an emulation of the
operating environment 104 of the originating machine 102. For
instance, working data may be accessed and updated using word
processing, database or other applications on a desktop whose
appearance mirrors that of the originating machine 102.
[0026] In step 424, the user may exit the emulation mode on host
machine 114 by terminating emulation module 122, as part of which
emulation module 122 may restore all parameters of the operating
environment of the host machine 114 to their preexisting values. In
step 426, if data files have been updated during the emulation
session and the user so selects, the data files located on
removable media 110 may be synchronized with those on primary
machine 102, for instance upon reinsertion of the removable media
110 in the media reader 108 of the originating machine 102. In step
428, processing ends.
[0027] The foregoing description of the system and method of the
invention is illustrative, and variations in configuration and
implementation will occur to persons skilled in the art. For
instance, while the invention has generally been described in terms
of a single originating machine whose environmental variables may
be recorded for emulation on a single portable or other host
machine, more than one secondary machine may receive the emulation
data from the removable media to simulate that machine. More than
one originating machine environment could also be stored on a given
removable media.
[0028] Similarly, while the invention has generally been described
in terms of an originating machine consisting of a stationary
desktop machine whose environment is emulated on a portable
secondary or host machine, the originating machine could be a
laptop or other portable computer, a network-enabled cellular
telephone or other client device, while the host machine could
likewise be a desktop computer or other client device.
* * * * *