Method and apparatus for operating a host computer from a portable apparatus

Method and device for operating host computer from portable device

Cross-reference of related applications

The present invention is based on the provisional patent application serial number 60/548,576 filed on February 28, 2004, titled "Methods and devices for operating a host computer from a portable system" filed on February 28, 2004, in accordance with Article 119(e) of Chapter 35 of the United States Code. Priority, the disclosed content is incorporated here as a reference as a whole.

The present invention generally relates to the field of operating computer systems, and more particularly relates to methods and devices for operating a host computer from a portable device.

An operating environment with familiar applications is what many computer users expect. A familiar operating environment may include a set of applications, such as Internet browsers, email software, text editors, presentation software, and spreadsheet applications, as well as parameter settings for these applications, such as The browsers homepage and favorites, accounts used for inbound/outbound email software, style sheets for document editors, and templates for presentation and spreadsheet applications. More importantly, the familiar operating environment can also include a set of personal files generated from these applications. For computer users, these files are usually important and cannot be replaced. Therefore, how to maintain a consistent operating environment during software and/or hardware modification has been regarded as an important issue.

US Patent No. 6,438,749 granted to Chamberlain discloses a way to restore the computer to its original state after the software fails to be patched. US Patent No. 6,633,977 granted to Hamilton et al. discloses a method for copying user environment data from an old workstation to a new workstation. Both methods try to save the software settings on the same or similar hardware environment. None of the disclosed methods can solve how to transfer an operating environment between multiple computer systems with different hardware settings.

US Patent Publication No. 2003/0110371 filed by Yang et al. discloses a method of partially maintaining a consistent operating environment by using a USB flash memory device to store information from a specific user of the first computer system. The stored information will be temporarily loaded from the USB drive into the same application of the second computer system. This method attempts to transfer personalized computer settings between computer systems with the same or similar software environments. However, this method neither reveals how to transfer a set of familiar applications between computer systems, nor does it reveal how to transfer a set of personal files related to these applications between computer systems.

A possible solution to maintain a consistent operating environment is to store an operating system and a list of software applications and personal files in a removable data storage medium, which is then used to operate different computers . This solution can be regarded as using a portable device to operate one or more host computers. The portability mentioned here not only refers to the physical mobility of the device, but also refers to the adaptability of the system to operate the host computer with different hardware settings. Therefore, the host computer must be able to boot from the portable device.

An operating system and a list of software applications and personal files can be burned to CD-ROM. The ISO 9660 specification of a bootable CD-ROM format provides a new boot function for personal computers. The ISO 9600 specification describes how the BIOS boot process can be enhanced to support CD-ROMs using the INT 13 calling protocol to make CD-ROMs behave like "A" drive or "C" drive without a device driver. To boot. US Patent No. 6,122,734 issued to Jeon discloses a bootable CD-ROM disc manufacturing system. The disclosed CD-ROM restricts users from being able to modify or delete software applications, install new applications, and store personal files on the CD-ROM.

US Patent No. 6,016,402 to Thomas et al. discloses a method for integrating a removable media drive into an operating system, in which the removable media drive is first identified as a fixed disk type , And then recognized as a floppy disk type. U.S. Patent No. 5,694,600 to Khenson et al. discloses a device that uses a removable media drive to boot a computer. US Patent No. 6,385,707 to Maffezzoni discloses a device for copying files containing an operating system between disk drives of a computer system to produce a reliable bootable disk drive. However, the use of bootable media drives in these methods and devices is limited to providing diagnostic support or backup in the event of system failure, and it only needs to be accessed in the hard drive inside the computer in question. The file system instead of completely operating the computer system and its peripheral devices.

US Patent No. 6,170,055 issued to Meyer et al. discloses a solution that a computer generates a subset of the operating system in a removable high-capacity media drive for use in disaster recovery of the computer. The removable high-capacity media contains all necessary operating system components to fully load the operating system and graphical user interface, and provide users with access to all computer peripherals. Since the removable high-capacity disc contains files of all specific machines of a computer system, this rescue disc is only suitable for operating the original computer system or computers with similar hardware settings.

U.S. Patent No. 6,601,139 to Suzuki discloses an information processing device based on a single-media-enabled platform architecture, which is operated by a removable data storage medium containing all necessary software and content. Another removable data storage medium with different software and content can also operate the same device. However, the removable data storage medium is designed to operate an information processing device with a specific architecture, rather than a computer with different hardware settings.

US Patent No. 6,718,463 to Malik discloses a device and method for booting a data processing system from a removable medium. The first boot will identify the file system of the first data processing system and the file system of the removable media. The necessary drivers, registration information, and application programs required to operate the hardware of the first data processing system will then be copied to the removable medium. The removable medium with the copied hardware information will be ready to boot a second data processing system with hardware settings similar to the first data processing system. Gere's US Patent Publication No. 2004/0019778 also discloses a method and system for implementing a bootable operating system on a computer system by recording a piece of hardware and software configuration information into a stored Operating system environment. Both solutions create an environment that can fully control the hardware of a specific computer on a portable device, which may limit the portability of the device to only a few main computers, because when the number of main computers increases At times, the required driver and its parameter settings may cause confusion. Although Malik reveals a way to clean up the copied information, the time overhead of copying the information to create a bootable environment will greatly increase the processing time for booting the host computer.

To put it simply, although there are various methods for booting the computer system using removable media drives, there is still no simple and convenient method for making the portable device suitable for multiple host computers. Therefore, in this technology, there is still a need for an efficient way of using a portable device to establish an operating environment in the host computer. In particular, the main computer may be a common main computer in schools, libraries, Internet cafes, business lounges of airports, and other places.

According to a feature of the present invention, a portable operating system installed on a first data storage medium includes a first command set, and when the first command set is loaded, a portable operating system is effectively connected to the first data When the host computer of the storage medium is configured, the first command set is configured to generate an operating environment, which is combined with a hardware configuration file containing hardware information about the host computer, wherein the first data is stored The medium is detachable from the main computer, the main computer includes a second data storage medium, and the hardware configuration file is stored in the second data storage medium.

According to another feature of the present invention, a portable operating system installed on a first data storage medium includes a first command set, and when the first command set is loaded, a portable operating system is effectively connected to the first When the designated host computer of the data storage medium is configured, the first command set is configured to generate an operating environment combined with a hardware configuration file containing hardware information about the designated host computer, where The designated host computer is a component of a computer network, the first data storage medium can be removed from the computer network and from the designated host computer, and the hardware configuration file is stored in a second data In the storage medium, and the computer network includes the second data storage medium, or the designated host computer includes the second data storage medium.

According to still another feature of the present invention, a portable device includes a removable data storage medium, and a communication that establishes an effective connection between a host computer and the removable data storage medium A device and at least one portable operating system installed on the removable data storage medium.

According to another feature of the present invention, a data processing system includes a host computer having at least one processor coupled to at least one memory, and at least one portable computer operatively connected to the host computer A device, the at least one portable device includes: a removable data storage medium; a communication device that establishes an effective connection with the host computer, and at least one installed on the removable data storage medium The operating system on the above, the at least one operating system can be used to load into the host computer; a removable storage medium for selecting and identifying the at least one portable device as one of the removable storage media for the host computer The bootable disc device, whereby the portable device containing the selected removable storage medium is selected as the designated portable device; an input/output device is used to load the at least one operation The system is used to select and load the at least one operating system from the designated portable device to the host computer; a hardware configuration file, which is a first non-removable stored in the host computer Data storage medium, a second removable data storage medium that is effectively connected to the host computer, or a third data storage medium that is effectively connected to the host computer through a computer network, the hard disk The configuration file includes hardware information about the host computer; and a device for generating an operating environment by combining the hardware configuration file when loading the at least one operating system.

According to still another feature of the present invention, a data processing system includes a computer network, which has a plurality of host computers that are effectively connected in a network, and each host computer is coupled to At least one processor of at least one memory; at least one portable device operatively connected to the computer network, the at least one portable device includes: a removable data storage medium; one and the computer The network establishes an effective connection communication device; and at least one operating system installed on the removable data storage medium, the at least one operating system can be used to load at least one of the plurality of host computers One of the host computers; one for selecting a host computer on the computer network to act as a device for the designated host computer of the at least one portable device; one for selecting and identifying the at least one portable device One of the removable storage media is used as the device for the boot disc of the specified host computer, thereby selecting the portable device containing the selected removable storage media as the specified portable Device; an input/output device, which is used to load the at least one operating system or to select and load the at least one operating system from the designated portable device to the designated host computer; a hardware The hardware configuration file is stored in the designated host computer, one of the plurality of host computers, or a network storage device on the computer network. The hardware configuration file contains information about the designated host computer. Hardware information of the computer; and a device for generating an operating environment by combining the hardware configuration file when loading the at least one operating system.

According to another feature of the present invention, a computer program set for booting a data processing system includes a host computer and at least one portable device operatively connected to the host computer. The computer program The group includes: a first command group for selecting and identifying a first removable storage medium of the at least one portable device as a bootable disc for the host computer; at least one operating system, which is Is installed on the selected removable storage medium; a second command set, which loads the at least one operating system, or selects and loads one of the at least one operating system to the host computer , To generate an operating environment; and a third command group, which combines a hardware configuration file containing hardware information about the host computer into the operating environment; wherein the hardware configuration file is stored in the host computer A second non-removable data storage medium in the computer, a third removable data storage medium that is effectively connected to the host computer, or one that is effectively connected to the host computer through a computer network The fourth data storage medium.

According to another feature of the present invention, a computer program set for booting a data processing system includes a computer network having a plurality of hosts that are effectively connected to the network A computer and at least one portable device effectively connected to the network, the computer program set includes: a first command set for selecting a host computer on the computer network to function as a The designated host computer of the at least one portable device; a second command group that selects and identifies a first removable storage medium of the at least one portable device as the designated host computer power disc; at least one operating system, which system is mounted on a first removable storage medium that can be selected; and a third instruction set, which based carrier into the at least one operating system, or the selection and loading One of the at least one operating system to the designated host computer to generate an operating environment; and a fourth command group, which combines a hardware configuration file containing hardware information about the designated host computer to In the operating environment; where the hardware configuration file is stored in a second non-removable data storage medium in one of the plurality of host computers, and one is effectively connected to the plurality of host computers A third removable data storage medium of a host computer, or a fourth network storage device on the computer network.

According to still another feature of the present invention, a method for operating a data processing system includes the steps of: providing a data processing system including a host computer with a hardware profile And at least one portable device having a removable storage medium; selecting and identifying one of the removable storage media of the at least one portable device as the boot disc for the host computer, thereby Select the portable device containing the selected removable storage medium as the designated portable device; load an operating system from the designated portable device to the host computer; and when loading the job In the system, the hardware configuration file is combined to generate an operating environment.

According to another feature of the present invention, a method for synchronizing files in two portable devices in a data processing system includes the steps of: providing a data processing system, the data processing The system includes two portable devices; accesses files in each portable device in the data processing system; and performs a file processing function on at least one of the files.

These and other features, viewpoints and advantages of the present invention will become easier to understand with reference to the following drawings, descriptions, and the scope of the patent application.

In the following detailed description of the present invention, many specific details are set forth in order to provide a complete understanding of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can obviously be implemented without these specific details. In other cases, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the features of the present invention, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail. Most of the detailed descriptions are presented in terms of programs, logic blocks, processing, and other symbols that are directly or indirectly similar to the actions of the data processing device coupled to the system. The descriptions and representations of these processes are used by those familiar with this technology to convey the essence of their results to other people familiar with this technology in the most effective way.

The "one embodiment" referred to herein means that a specific feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. The term "in one embodiment" appearing in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but it is not an individual or alternative embodiment that is mutually incompatible with other embodiments. Furthermore, the order of the blocks in the method flowcharts or drawings representing one or more embodiments of the present invention does not inherently indicate any specific order, nor does it imply any limitation on the present invention.

Now please refer to the drawings, where the same component symbols refer to parts of the same nature in several figures, and Figure 1 shows an example of an operating environment. In particular, the environment includes an interface, such as a Microsoft Windows XP operating system interface including a taskbar 102. The shortcuts of multiple software applications are displayed on the left hand side of the interface. Adobe Acrobat 104 is used to read files in Adobe's portable document format, and Windows Internet Explorer 106 is used to browse the Internet. Microsoft Access 108 is used to edit spreadsheet files, Microsoft PowerPoint 110 is used to design presentations, Microsoft Word 112 is used to write Word files, Windows Media Player 114 is used to play multimedia files, and the resource recycling bin 116 It is used to temporarily store discarded files. An e-mail account pop-up dialog box 118 displays e-mail settings, in which incoming e-mails are served by a POP3 server 120 with account information 122, and outgoing e-mails are served by an SMTP server 124 service.

The present invention provides a portable device that can operate different main computers while maintaining a consistent operating environment. The operating environment generated by the portable device according to the present invention preferably includes a list of software applications installed by the user and the user's favorite parameter settings for those applications. When working on different main computers, having a consistent operating environment will not only allow users to work on familiar applications, but also avoid boring parameter settings. More importantly, the familiar operating environment can also include a set of personal files generated by these software applications. For computer users, this set of personal files is usually important and cannot be replaced.

Traditionally, the user can use the floppy disk 202 to share the set of personal files among multiple computer systems such as the work computer 204, the home computer 206, and the laptop computer 208 shown in FIG. 2. In order to provide a similar operating environment to users, all computer systems 204, 206, and 208 may have installed the same set of basic software applications. A major disadvantage of this solution is that some information may be restricted by a specific application and cannot be easily shared. One example is an inbox that contains past incoming emails in an email application. The user must go through the boring export and import procedures in order to share this information among the computer systems 204, 206, and 208.

Recently, the capacity of external storage devices has been greatly increased. Compared with the storage capacity of the floppy disk 202, it allows more information to be stored. Several examples of removable data storage media are shown in Figure 3, especially the 3.5-inch USB/Firewire combo external hard drive 302, USB flash drive 304, secure digital flash memory card 306, and 2.5-inch external USB/Firewire combo external hard drive 308. These removable data storage media can store information ranging from hundreds of megabytes to hundreds of billions of bytes. In addition to being used as additional storage media, these removable data storage devices have also been used as backup systems for systems stored on the internal hard drives of computers.

A necessary condition for the backup system is to be able to boot from a copied media containing the internal system. Many developments in the field of booting from external storage devices have been achieved through connections such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Firewire. One example is the new Intel Desktop Boards that support booting from USB devices. This feature, which is famous for USB booting, is a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) function that allows a PC to boot from a USB device. Although this solution provides a way to operate the computer from a system stored in a removable device, it can be regarded as a portable device with limited portability, because the backup system can only be used To operate a computer with a specific hardware configuration.

The main challenge of portable devices is to be able to cope with multiple host computers with different hardware settings. Figure 4 shows an example of the device manager 402 for the host computer, which includes a list of, for example, a keyboard 404, a mouse 406, a screen 408, a DVD/CD-ROM device 410, and a network interface card 412 Information about your hardware device. The devices 404, 406, 408, 410, and 412 may be manufactured by different manufacturers, and therefore require drivers to be provided by the manufacturers for installation. An example of a network interface card 412 with a wireless PC card 414 is to use a specific driver 416 loaded in the system. The manufacturer can also provide a utility to configure the driver. For example, the driver 416 for the wireless PC card may need to specify the access point, encryption length, encryption phrase, and other parameters. Similar examples can also be applied to other peripheral devices, such as network or local printer settings and local area network TCP/IP settings.

The operating system provides an interface between the computer's hardware and the application software that the user runs on the computer. The operating system also performs basic tasks, such as recognizing input from keyboard 404, sending output to screen 408, tracking files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. Figure 5 shows an example of operating system 502, which can be operated to control hardware and software applications 504 such as desktop computer 506, screen 508, mouse/keyboard 510, printer 512 and scanner 514 . The drivers required for the communication between the operating system 502 and the hardware can be installed in a specific location, for example, C:\Windows\System32\Drivers. Alternatively, the information needed to find the installed driver for the operating system 502 can be stored in a database like a Microsoft Windows registry. Due to the interrelationship between the installed drivers and other installed software of specific hardware, the installed drivers and other installed software of specific hardware can be regarded as being used by the operating system 502 The hardware layer is aimed at a part of the physical system resources controlled by an independent system that operates a computer with a system.

Figure 6 shows an example of a portable device 602 supporting three host computers 604, 606, and 608. In order to allow the host computers 604, 606, and 608 to use the portable device 602 to fully operate, a possible solution of the prior art involves making the drivers for the host computers 604, 606, and 608 and other specific hardware The physical software is installed in the portable device 602. In this example, when the portable device 602 communicates with any specific hardware of any host computer 604, 606, and 608, the hardware layer of the operating system in the portable device 602 can find the appropriate entity system resource. However, this conventional technical solution may be quite troublesome, especially when more than one host computer 604, 606, and 608 use the same driver with different parameter settings. For example, the host computers 604, 606, and 608 may all use the same wireless PC card as the network interface card, but different encryption methods may be specified in their access points.

FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the portable device 702 and the host computer 704 according to the present invention. The portable device 702 may include at least one operating system 706 and a list of installed applications 708, which provides a user with a consistent operating environment among multiple host computers. The drivers and other specific hardware software required for the portable device 702 to operate the host computer 704 can be stored in a storage medium drive connected to the host computer 704. In particular, a hardware configuration file 710 can be generated and stored in a non-removable storage media drive of the host computer 704, so that the portable device 702 and the host computer 704, such as the screen 714, slide When the mouse/keyboard 716, the printer 718, and the peripheral device 712 of the scanner 720 communicate, it allows at least one operating system in the portable device 702 to recognize appropriate physical system resources. The hardware profile 710 may include, for example, It is applicable to the parameter setting of at least one operating system in the portable device 702 and the hardware information of the device driver. In another embodiment, the hardware configuration file 710 can be stored in another removable data storage medium that is effectively connected to the host computer 704, or in a data storage medium that is effectively connected through a computer network. To the data storage medium of the host computer 704.

Furthermore, the hardware layer of at least one operating system 706 in the portable device 702 needs to be combined with the physical system resources contained in the hardware profile 710 related to the host computer 704. Before a computer can execute an operating system, it must load the operating system from a storage medium to the computer's working memory, which is usually random access semiconductor memory (RAM). This is performed through a process known as "booting up" the computer. Booting occurs automatically when the computer is turned on for the first time during a process called "cold boot", and booting can be triggered when the computer is executing in a process called "warm boot". One embodiment of incorporating the hardware profile 710 into at least one operating system 706 is executed during the boot sequence of the host computer 704.

Fig. 8 shows an example of the method used in the boot sequence of the prior art. The first step 802 is called Power-on Self Test (POST). The POST step 802 can check whether basic hardware components such as memory, keyboard, display card, etc. are preset, and initialize these components to an operating state. The second step 804 is called boot initialization. During this step 804, the first sector of the storage medium is checked to find the master boot record and partition table that will be loaded by the computer in the operating system. The first two steps 802 and 804 can be controlled by firmware stored in one or more basic input/output system (BIOS) chips inside the computer. Although the following discussion is for the BIOS of IBM-compatible computers, similar discussions can also be applied to the extendable firmware interface shells of Itanium-based computers, the SRM consoles of computers used in Alpha systems, and other types of Similar devices/programs in your computer. The parameter setting in the BIOS specifies the order of checking the storage media drives during the startup initialization. One possible sequence would be drive "A" to determine whether it contains a formatted floppy disk, if the floppy drive is empty, then hard drive "C". After finding a valid boot record, the BIOS program loads the first sector of the disc into RAM and transfers control to the boot record. The boot record can instruct the computer to load other operating system files into RAM to execute other parts of the boot sequence.

In the hardware configuration step 806, information about the system and attached devices can be collected. In particular, a root directory of the boot disk is searched for a configuration file, for example, CONFIG.SYS for windows, which contains commands to instruct the operating system how to deal with problems that may be connected to the computer but not recognized by the BIOS The device driver of the hardware device. A kernel program (the kernel program of the operating system) is then loaded into RAM in step 808. The system can be further initialized by executing a batch file in step 810, for example, AUTOEXEC.BAT in the window, the batch file contains every time the computer is turned on, it will be executed by the computer The name of a series of commands or programs. Finally, the system is ready for use in step 812 and can wait for the first user to log in.

Figure 9 shows an example of the boot sequence of a data processing system including a portable device 902 and a host computer 904 according to the present invention. The portable device 902 includes at least one installed on a removable data storage medium In the portable operating system. In particular, after the POST step 906, the BIOS in the host computer 904 will designate the storage medium of the portable device 902 as the boot drive in the initialization step 908 of booting. In one embodiment, the portable device 902 can be set in the BIOS of the host computer 904 as the first drive to be checked, which utilizes the aforementioned "USB boot" feature. In another embodiment, the BIOS may first load a boot record from a storage drive connected to the host computer 904. Then, the loaded boot record will designate the portable device 902 as the replacement master boot record for the rest of the boot sequence. In another embodiment, the loaded boot record will wait and periodically detect to check whether the portable device 902 has been inserted into the host computer 904. Once the portable device 902 is identified, the loaded boot record will designate the portable device 902 as the replacement master boot record for the rest of the boot sequence. In the hardware configuration step 910, the information in the configuration file of the portable device 902 and the hardware information in the host computer 904 will be collected by the at least one operating system. During the loading 912 of the core program, a designated location in the host computer 904 can also be searched to further integrate hardware information. In one embodiment, the hardware information can be mounted in a loaded kernel program, and links or shortcuts can be generated in the loaded kernel program to combine the hardware information of the host computer 904. After the system is initialized in step 914, applications familiar to the user from a list of portable devices will be prepared in step 916 for the user to use.

Below is a detailed discussion of how Figure 9 is used for different types of operating systems. The first one to be discussed is an example of the boot sequence for the Windows 95/98/ME operating system. The boot record loaded in the initialization step 908 of booting will further load two system files, namely, IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS. IO.SYS loads CONFIG.SYS in step 910 of the hardware setting and executes AUTOEXEC.BAT. In one embodiment, the CONFIG.SYS will point to a designated location in the disk storage associated with the host computer 904 for loading the hardware driver. In another embodiment, a script or program is included in AUTOEXEC.BAT, which will scan the entire disk storage associated with the host computer to be installed in the portable operating system Create links or shortcuts. The core program loaded in step 912 can be combined with the hardware device in the host computer through the links generated. In another embodiment, a modified core program is introduced, which will scan the entire disk storage associated with the host computer or by loading the disk storage associated with the host computer The specific file in the location can be directly combined with the hardware device in the host computer. The hardware information incorporated into the operating system loaded from the portable device 902 is called the "hardware profile" of the host computer 904.

In another example of the boot sequence for the Windows NT operating system, the loaded boot record will be loaded into the memory in the initialization step 908 of booting. In the hardware detection/setting step 910, the loaded NTLDR will be further loaded into NTDETECT.COM for hardware detection, where the detected information will be placed in the dynamic registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\ Under DESCRIPTION, and the loaded NTLDR will continue to be read into the registry section of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM (a section is a file containing a registry subtree), the registry section contains the information of the device driver . NTLDR further loads the core file NTOSKRNL.EXE into the memory. At the same time, NTLDR also loads the hardware abstract library HAL.DLL into the memory, which will separate the core program from the hardware. After that, NTLDR finds the core program functions in the copy in the memory of NTOSKRNL.EXE, and transfers control to NTOSKRNL.EXE in step 912. In one embodiment, a text or program is called by NTLDR, which will modify the registration section for the device driver according to the hardware configuration file in the host computer 904. In another embodiment, a modified NTLDR will load an additional login section containing the hardware profile from the host computer 904. In another embodiment, a customized HAL.DLL is loaded to incorporate the hardware configuration file of the host computer 904.

In another example of the boot sequence for the LINUX operating system, the loaded boot record will load a boot loader in the initialization step 908 of booting, for example, LILO for IBM compatible computers /GRUB, ABOOT for Alpha-based computers and ELILO for Itanuim-based computers into memory. The boot loader will first load the kernel program into the memory in step 912. Then, the loaded kernel program will initialize the device driver for the hardware setting in step 910. In one embodiment, a modified core program is introduced, which will be directly combined with the hardware configuration file of the host computer 904.

Summarizing the example depicted in Figure 9, a portable operating system may include at least one operating system stored in the first data storage medium or the portable device 902, and the at least one operating system is stored in the second The data storage medium or the hardware profile 710 in the host computer 904 is loosely coupled. During the boot sequence, the loaded at least one operating system can be combined with the hardware profile 710, which allows the loaded system to operate the hardware device connected to the host computer 904. The portable device 902 may include a removable data storage medium having the at least one installed portable operating system. The host computer 904 can include a data processing device with a stored hardware profile 710 that can be booted from the portable device 902. In one embodiment, the portable device 902 may include multiple installed portable operating systems for different types of hardware profiles and/or different types of host computers.

Since the portable device 902 is implemented in a removable data storage medium, access verification is considered to be an important feature for protecting data in the event of loss of the system. Figure 10 shows an example in which a system according to the present invention is divided into a public part 1002 and a secret part 1004. The common part 1002 can be used to store the at least one operating system and application program. The confidential part 1004 can be used to store confidential information. For example, password protection, fingerprint verification, or voice-activated access verification can be implemented during user login. If the portable device 902 is not a boot drive in the computer system, the confidential part 1004 may require authentication during access, or it may be completely excluded from the file system. Figure 10 also shows a list of possible portable devices. Among them, the 3.5-inch USB/Firewire combo external hard drive 1006, USB flash drive 1008, secure digital flash memory card 1010, and 2.5-inch external USB/Firewire combo external hard drive 1012 are for data only Stored devices. In PDA The hard disk drive included in 1014 and the MP3 player 1016 can be configured as a portable device 902 to operate the host computer 904. Furthermore, the internal hard disk drive of the laptop computer 1018 can also be configured as a portable device 902 to operate the host computer 904, especially in an environment with restricted hardware access rights. One example is when a visitor with a laptop computer 1018 needs to use the Internet. In order to avoid access to the companys internal network, the portable device 902 installed in the internal hard drive of the laptop computer 1018 will use a specific IP address defined in the hardware configuration file. Operate the host computer 904 provided by the company, which only allows the Internet to be used.

Another important feature of the portable device 902 is the function of duplicating a backup system or synchronizing two systems, because it is physically easy to implement the portable device 902 in a removable data storage medium. Was damaged. Figure 11 depicts a method of synchronizing two systems, where the two systems can be two portable devices 902. The user first specifies two systems 1106 and 1108 in the synchronization program 1102. A feature 1110 in the program 1102 will list all files in the system 1106 but not in the system 1108 in a dialog box 1104. The user then selects an updated list of files to add from the system 1106 to the system 1108. Before updating the system 1108 in step 1114, a malware check procedure 1112 for finding malicious software can be applied to the selected file in the update list. In order to copy a backup system, the user can insert an empty portable device into the system 1108, and add all the files in the system 1106 to the system 1108. A similar procedure 1116 can also be applied to files located in the system 1108 but not in the system 1106. A procedure 1118 for synchronizing modified files at the file level will list files with the same path and name but with different file sizes and/or modification times in the two systems. The user can update a system by importing a file with a later modified time from another system. A procedure 1120 for synchronizing modified files at the content level will list files with the same path and name but with different file contents in the two systems. Users can also update one system by selecting files in the list from another system.

A data processing device for synchronizing files can include a host computer 904 and at least two portable devices 902. A program can be introduced to select one of the portable devices 902 as the designated portable device 902 to boot the host computer 904. Another portable device 902 is then selected to go back and forth to the designated portable device 902 to update the file. As mentioned earlier, access verification and malware search may be required before performing file processing.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the borrowed host computer can be operated by a portable device 902. In order to protect the content in the internal system of the borrowed host computer, at least one operating system in the portable device 902 can be configured in a non-intrusive manner to the borrowed host computer. An example of the configuration setting may be to restrict the loaded at least one operating system to only be able to read the hardware profile 710 and access the devices listed in the profile.

Although the foregoing embodiments have focused on one portable device 902 to operate multiple host computers 904, a major advantage of the present invention is that a large number of portable devices 902 share a smaller number of host computers 904. Cost reduction brought by time. One example is the computer laboratory of a school that has a certain number of computers shared by students. Since the cost of the portable device 902 may be only a small part of the cost of the main computer 904, compared to providing each student with a main computer system 904, it will be lighter to provide the student's own portable device 902 Economic burden. Students can also use their portable device 902 on the main computer 904 at home, and the main computer 904 can also be shared by other family members. A similar situation can also be applied to a centralized service facility such as a call center, where many operators working in different shift hours share the same main computer 904. The concept of portable device 902 and host computer 904 brings great flexibility in organizing such facilities. Other similar situations where the main computer 904 is shared may also include libraries, Internet cafes, business lounges in airports, and other places.

Figure 12 shows an example of an environment with multiple host computers 1216, 1218, 1220, and 1222 supporting multiple portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214. Since different users may continue to use one of the main computers 1216, 1218, 1220, and 1222, a cleaning procedure may be required to avoid leaving any unintentional residual information in the main computer. This procedure can be implemented during the user's logout phase. Furthermore, a public host computer may need to include multiple hardware profiles 1224 in order to support different types of portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214, as well as portable devices of different release versions. 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214. One of the host computers 1216, 1218, 1220, and 1222 can also contain multiple permission settings 1224 to restrict access rights to certain portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214, for example, only Some users have the right to use the printer in the business lounge.

Certain removable data storage media may be easily stolen when the user temporarily leaves the public main computer. In one embodiment, all portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 can be connected to a computer network through a component such as a USB hub, and are centralized in a monitored Environment. When a user logs in a portable device 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 in this environment, a host computer will be assigned to the portable device 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214. The designated host computer is effectively connected to the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 via the computer network. In this environment, a server computer may also be required to manage the assignments between the host computers 1216, 1218, 1220, and 1222 and the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214. Furthermore, centralized hardware configuration files or permission settings can also be stored in the server computer or other data storage media connected to the computer network.

Another embodiment to prevent the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 from being stolen is to have a built-in component of a card reader such as a flash memory card in the host computer. The host computer can be effectively connected to one of the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 through this component. The manual eject function of the connecting element is disabled when one of the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 is operating the host computer. When the user temporarily leaves the host computer, he only needs to enable the password-protected screen saver. Another embodiment is to use a snapshot in the swap space of the host computers RAM or hard drive during the current operating phase to implement a standby mode, which allows the user to temporarily remove the portable from the host computer. Type devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214. When the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 are plugged back into the host computer in standby mode, the host computer will verify the inserted portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208 , 1210, 1212, and 1214 and/or request a password before resuming the operation phase.

Consider a data processing system including at least one portable device 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 and a plurality of host computers 1216, 1218, 1220, and 1222 that are effectively connected through a computer network. An effective connection can be established between one of the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 and a designated host computer. In one embodiment, the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 can actually pass through devices such as FireWire, USB, SCSI, RS-232, PCMCIA, PS/2, EPP, and ECP. Connect to the designated host computer. In another embodiment, the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 and the designated host computer are connected through the use of Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a, 802.11a, and 802.11a. b, 802.11g, Bluetooth, and CDPD are connected to the computer network to effectively connect. When at least one operating system among the portable devices 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, and 1214 is loaded into the designated host computer, the loaded at least one operating system is combined with a The hardware configuration file for the hardware information of the specified host computer. The hardware configuration file can be stored in the designated host computer, one of a plurality of host computers 1216, 1218, 1220, and 1222, or a network storage device on the computer network.

In order to further explain in detail the different solutions for operating the host computer through a portable device, FIG. 13 shows an example of a portable device and the memory and storage management of a host computer 1302. Consider a removable media drive 1304 containing a file system, which has the information stored in the boot log 1306, at least one operating system 1308, applications 1310, and other possible files in a disc storage 1312 . During the boot process, the host computer 1302 will recognize the removable media drive 1304 as a boot device, and load the boot record 1306 to a specific location in the RAM 1322, such as 0:007Ch. The loaded boot record processed by the CPU 1318 through the cache 1320 will further instruct the host computer 1302 to load the at least one operating system 1308. The at least one operating system 1308 is designed to be loaded onto the top of the available memory in the RAM 1322, and then the degree of replication is sufficient to meet the requirements of the at least one operating system itself. The at least one operating system 1308 then goes to RAM At the bottom of the 1322 group, and start to create various driver software required to control the hardware subsystem of the host computer 1302. After the at least one operating system 1308 is completely loaded, the remaining RAM 1322 will be ready for processing and use of application programs. If the application space is full, the unused information in the RAM 1322 will be temporarily moved to the virtual memory 1324 in the hard disk.

Consider the first known technical solution, in which the hardware profile 1314 is stored in the removable media drive 1304. The hardware profile 1314 is based on the host computer 1302 during the installation of the operating system 1308 In the peripheral devices. The hardware configuration file will be loaded into the RAM 1322 during booting to allow the loaded system to operate the host computer 1302 and its peripheral devices. Due to the extremely close relationship between the portable device and the host computer 1302, the first conventional solution can only provide limited portability between the host computer 1302 with similar hardware settings. This solution is similar to the technique taught by Meyer et al. in U.S. Patent No. 6,170,055 and Suzuki in U.S. Patent No. 6,601,139.

Consider the second known technology solution. The removable media drive 1304 has an installed operating system and a first hardware configuration file stored in the disk storage 1312 of the first host computer. The second host computer also has a hardware profile 1314 stored in its disk storage 1326. In the second solution of the prior art, an update procedure is executed to copy or record the hardware profile 1314 in 1326 to the storage disk 1312 through the connection 1316. The updated device can now boot the second host computer as described in the first solution in the prior art. If there is no driver conflict, the updated device can still boot the first host computer. The possible driver conflicts mentioned earlier are the different parameter settings of the wireless access point. In this example, the update procedure needs to be executed again before starting the first host computer. The solution of the second conventional technology is similar to the technology taught by Malik in US Patent No. 6,718,463 and Gere in US Patent Publication No. 2004/0019778.

The portable device in the second known technical solution may only be suitable for operating a small group of main computers, for example, a home computer and a computer used at work. For operating a public host computer, this update program may always be required. Due to the transmission speed of information through the connection 1316 and the read/write speed of the removable media drive 1304 may be slower than the internal communication and read/write speed of the disc storage 1326 in the host computer Ten times, so it may be undesirable to perform the update procedure before each boot sequence.

An embodiment according to the present invention includes the example described previously, incorporating the hardware configuration file when the host computer loads the at least one operating system. In particular, the hardware configuration file 1314 will be stored in the host computer 1302. In one embodiment, a text or a program will be invoked during the boot sequence, which will search for the hardware configuration file in a designated location in the disk storage of the host computer. The found hardware configuration files will be loaded directly into RAM 1322. In another embodiment, the found hardware profile can be mounted to the loaded at least one operating system, and the link or shortcut can be generated in the loaded at least one operating system with Combine the hardware information of the host computer. Compared with the previously introduced solutions in the prior art, these embodiments will avoid reading/writing the hardware profile 1314 in the removable media drive 1304 through the connection 1316.

In order to further avoid reading information from the removable media drive, the operating system 1328 can also be stored in a disk storage 1326 connected to the host computer 1302. During the loading of the at least one operating system 1308 from the removable media drive to the memory of the host computer, the loaded at least one operating system 1308 may also be combined with some from the stored operating system 1328 Libraries, programs and/or files are stored in the memory of the host computer. However, it may be undesirable to integrate the information in the host computer into the loaded operating system 1308 without verification, especially when using the portable device in a public host computer, because A modified program or library may record some useful information in the portable device without notice. One to check the release version number, release date, module size, module checksum, and/or other signature verification in the module stored in the disc storage of the host computer The procedure may be necessary. After the verification, the compatible modules of the operating system 1328 stored in the host computer will be loaded into the memory of the host computer; otherwise, the modules of the operating system 1328 stored in the portable device will be Will be loaded into the memory of the host computer. Examples of these modules are 8514SYS.FON and VGASYS.FON for system fonts or GDI32.DLL for graphics device libraries.

A portable device according to the present invention includes a removable data storage medium and at least one operating system on the data storage medium. When the removable data storage medium is effectively connected to a host computer, at least one operating system in the removable data storage medium will be loaded into the host computer, and the loaded At least one operating system will operate the host computer. The portability of the portable device in the present invention not only indicates the physical mobility of the detachable device, but also indicates the adaptability of the system to operate the host computer with different hardware settings. For each host computer, when the at least one operating system is loaded, a hardware configuration file system stored in the host computer is integrated into the loaded operating system. The hardware configuration file will provide the necessary information to the loaded at least one operating system to fully operate the host computer and its peripheral devices. The dynamic combination of the hardware configuration files provides a portable device with different hardware settings to operate the portability of the host computer. The portable device in the present invention is different from a laptop computer that is also portable and has a data storage medium. More specifically, the difference is that the portable device in the present invention can be detached from the host computer including a microprocessor and memory, and other hardware peripherals such as a keyboard, a display, and a mouse. However, this manual does not restrict portable components such as PDAs, MP3 players, or even laptop computers to be configured as a portable device to operate the host computer.

Recently, various USB disk drives such as external hard disks and flash memory hard disks provide a trend of plug-and-play storage devices. Intel also provides USB boot function. In particular, the article written by Ragland et al. published in Intels Developer Update Magazine in May 2001, "Intel Provides USB Boot in Desktop Boards" explains the technical details of the USB boot function. In an embodiment of the present invention, the host computer can dynamically detect the presence or absence of the removable data storage medium of the portable device, and automatically start the boot process after detecting the portable device.

The present invention has been described in sufficient detail with a certain degree of specificity. Those who are familiar with the art understand that the disclosed content of the existing embodiments are only examples, and can resort to various changes in the configuration and combination of components without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention. Although the embodiment discussed here may seem to include some limitations on the presentation of information units in terms of format and configuration, the present invention has applicability far beyond this embodiment, and this can be for those familiar with the art. Realized. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is defined by the scope of the attached patent application, rather than the description of the previous embodiment.

<p>102. . . Task list</p><p>104. . . Adobe Acrobat</p><p>106. . . Explorer</p><p>108. . . Microsoft Access</p><p>110. . . Microsoft PowerPoint</p><p>112. . . Microsoft Word</p><p>114. . . Windows Media Player</p><p>116. . . Recycling bin</p><p>118. . . Dialog box</p><p>120. . . POP3 server</p><p>122. . . Account information</p><p>124. . . SMTP server</p><p>202. . . Floppy disk</p><p>204. . . Work computer</p><p>206. . . Home computer</p><p>208. . . Laptop</p><p>302. . . USB/Firewire combo external hard drive</p><p>304. . . USB flash drive</p><p>306. . . Secure Digital Flash Card</p><p>308. . . USB/Firewire combo external hard drive</p><p>402. . . Device manager</p><p>404. . . keyboard</p><p>406. . . mouse</p><p>408. . . Screen</p><p>410. . . DVD/CD-ROM device</p><p>412. . . Network interface card</p><p>414. . . Wireless PC card</p><p>416. . . Driver</p><p>502. . . System</p><p>506. . . Desktop computer</p><p>508. . . Screen</p><p>510. . . Mouse/keyboard</p><p>512. . . Printer</p><p>514. . . scanner</p><p>602. . . Portable device</p><p>604, 606, 608. . . Main computer</p><p>702. . . Portable device</p><p>704. . . Main computer</p><p>706. . . System</p><p>708. . . application</p><p>710. . . Hardware profile</p><p>712. . . Peripheral device</p><p>714. . . Screen</p><p>716. . . Mouse/keyboard</p><p>718. . . Printer</p><p>720. . . scanner</p><p>802. . . Power-on self-test (POST) steps</p><p>804. . . Boot initialization steps</p><p>806. . . Hardware setup steps</p><p>808. . . Load core program steps</p><p>810. . . System initialization steps</p><p>812. . . User registration steps</p><p>902. . . Portable device</p><p>904. . . Main computer</p><p>906. . . POST steps</p><p>908. . . Initialization steps for startup</p><p>910. . . Hardware setup steps</p><p>912. . . Core program loading steps</p><p>914. . . System initialization steps</p><p>916. . . User registration steps</p><p>1002. . . Common part</p><p>1004. . . Confidential part</p><p>1006. . . USB/Firewire combo external hard drive</p><p>1008. . . USB flash drive</p><p>1010. . . Secure Digital Flash Card</p><p>1012. . . USB/Firewire combo external hard drive</p><p>1014. . . PDA</p><p>1016. . . MP3 player</p><p>1018. . . Laptop</p><p>1102. . . Synchronization program</p><p>1104. . . Dialog box</p><p>1106, 1108. . . system</p><p>1110. . . Feature</p><p>1112. . . Procedures to check for malware</p><p>1114. . . Update system steps</p><p>1116. . . Update system steps</p><p>1118. . . Procedure for synchronizing modified files at the file level</p><p>1120. . . The process of synchronizing modified files at the content level</p><p>1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, 1214. . . Portable device</p><p>1216, 1218, 1220, 1222. . . Main computer</p><p>1224. . . Hardware profile</p><p>1302. . . Main computer</p><p>1304. . . Removable media drive</p><p>1306. . . Boot record</p><p>1308. . . System</p><p>1310. . . application</p><p>1312. . . Disc storage</p><p>1314. . . Hardware profile</p><p>1316. . . Connect</p><p>1318. . . CPU</p><p>1320. . . Cache</p><p>1322. . . RAM</p><p>1324. . . Virtual memory</p><p>1326. . . Disc storage</p><p>1328. . . System</p>

Figure 1 shows a conventional technology operating environment with better e-mail settings; Figure 2 shows a conventional technology system that uses floppy disks to store files that can be shared by different computers; Figure 3 It shows a few examples of removable data storage media that can be used as a conventional technology for portable devices; Figure 4 shows a hardware management of conventional technology with better network interface card settings Figure 5 shows a conventional technology operating system that provides an interface between hardware and software applications; Figure 6 shows a conventional technology portable device that operates a different host computer; Figure 7 The figure shows a portable device according to the present invention, which is combined with a hardware configuration file stored in a host computer; figure 8 shows a procedure sequence of a conventional technology for booting a computer system; figure 9 The figure shows an example of using a portable operating system according to the present invention to boot the host computer; figure 10 shows the dividing of a removable data storage medium of a portable device into a common part according to the present invention, and An example of the confidential part; Figure 11 shows a method for synchronizing two portable devices according to the present invention; Figure 12 shows a data processing system according to the present invention, in which multiple host computers are Shared by multiple portable devices; and Figure 13 shows an example of memory and storage management of a portable device and a host computer according to the present invention.