US2003182527A1PendingUtilityA1

Write Protection State Change Initiation Sequence

44
Assignee: COLUMBIA DATA PRODUCTS INCPriority: Jan 22, 2002Filed: Jan 18, 2003Published: Sep 25, 2003
Est. expiryJan 22, 2022(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Louis Witt
G06F 2221/2153G06F 21/34G06F 13/102G07F 19/207G06F 21/57G06F 21/50G06F 11/1458G06F 21/575G06F 11/1469G06F 11/1417G07F 19/20
44
PatentIndex Score
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Cited by
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References
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Claims

Abstract

A user's intention to perform an operation is confirmed by determining within a computer configuration a change in state of a write protection status. The change in state of the write protection status may be either from enabled to disabled, or from disabled to enabled. Determining the change in state of the status includes initially checking the state of the write protection status; subsequently checking the state of the write protection status; and comparing the state determined in the initial check with the state determined in the subsequent check. A predetermined period between the initial check and the subsequent check is provided, and the subsequent check is repeated until a change in the status is determined, or until either a predetermined number of subsequent checks has occurred and/or a predetermined time period has expired. The method can be used in backing up and restoring data of a headless server.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An invention comprising a method of initiating an operation after a user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed, the method comprising the step of confirming the user's intention by determining within a computer configuration a change in state of a write protection (WP) status.  
     
     
         2 . An invention comprising a computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions for performing a method of initiating an operation after a user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed, the method comprising the steps of 
 (a) confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of a write protection (WP) status, and    (b) after the user's intention is confirmed, initiating the operation.    
     
     
         3 . An invention comprising a computer configuration in which an operation is initiated only after a user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed, the computer configuration comprising a computer-readable medium and means for confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of a write protection (WP) status.  
     
     
         4 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the operation is performed only after the user's intention to perform the operation is confirmed.  
     
     
         5 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status consists of determining a change in state of the WP status from enabled to disabled.  
     
     
         6 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status consists of determining a change in state of the WP status from disabled to enabled.  
     
     
         7 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises determining a change in state of the WP status from enabled to disabled.  
     
     
         8 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises determining a change in state of the WP status from disabled to enabled.  
     
     
         9 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein confirming the user's intention by determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises determining a change in state of the WP status either (a) from enabled to disabled, or (b) from disabled to enabled.  
     
     
         10 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status comprises, 
 (a) initially checking the state of the write protection status;    (b) subsequently checking the state of the write protection status; and    (c) comparing the state determined in the initial check with the state determined in the subsequent check.    
     
     
         11 . The invention of  claim 10 , wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status further comprises (d) waiting a predetermined period between the initial check and the subsequent check.  
     
     
         12 . The invention of  claim 11 , wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status further comprises (d) repeating the subsequent check until 
 (i) a change in the WP status is determined, or    (ii) until either, 
 (A) a predetermined number of subsequent checks has occurred, and/or  
 (B) a predetermined time period has expired.  
   
     
     
         13 . The invention of  claim 10 , wherein determining within the computer configuration a change in state of the WP status further comprises (d) repeating the subsequent check until 
 (i) a change in the WP status is determined, or    (ii) until either, 
 (A) a predetermined number of subsequent checks has occurred, and/or  
 (B) a predetermined time period has expired.  
   
     
     
         14 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the state of the WP status must be changed by the user.  
     
     
         15 . The invention of  claim 14 , wherein the state of the WP status is changed by a physical act of the user.  
     
     
         16 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the user's intention is confirmed without requiring the use of a user-input device of a computer.  
     
     
         17 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the WP status is of a computer-readable storage medium.  
     
     
         18 . The invention of  claim 17 , wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a bootstrap medium.  
     
     
         19 . The invention of  claim 17 , wherein the computer-readable storage medium is a non-removable storage medium.  
     
     
         20 . The invention of  claim 17 , wherein the computer-readable storage medium comprises a removable storage medium.  
     
     
         21 . The invention of  claim 20 , wherein the removable computer-readable storage medium is a bootstrap medium.  
     
     
         22 . The invention of  claim 20 , wherein the removable storage medium comprises one of the type of floppy disks, ZIP disks, optical discs, USB devices, serial devices, parallel devices, and SCSI devices.  
     
     
         23 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the WP status is of a logical container.  
     
     
         24 . The invention of  claim 23 , wherein the logical container comprises a virtual device.  
     
     
         25 . The invention of  claim 23 , wherein the logical container comprises a logical drive.  
     
     
         26 . The invention of  claim 23 , wherein the logical container comprises a partition.  
     
     
         27 . The invention of  claim 23 , wherein the logical container comprises a name space.  
     
     
         28 . The invention of  claim 23 , wherein the logical container comprises a folder.  
     
     
         29 . The invention of  claim 23 , wherein the logical container comprises a file.  
     
     
         30 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the operation is performed on a computer.  
     
     
         31 . The invention of  claim 30 , wherein the computer has no user-input devices connected thereto.  
     
     
         32 . The invention of  claim 30 , wherein the computer has a user-input device that is disabled or malfunctioning.  
     
     
         33 . The invention of  claim 30 , wherein the computer that has no user-output devices connected thereto.  
     
     
         34 . The invention of  claim 30 , wherein the computer comprises a laptop computer.  
     
     
         35 . The invention of  claim 30 , wherein the computer configuration includes a computer comprising a headless server.  
     
     
         36 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the operation is one of the group of hard disk drive partitioning; low level disk formatting; logical container deleting; restoring a computer to a previous, known state; reinstallation of the operating system of a computer; and performing emergency repair operations on a computer.  
     
     
         37 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein the operation includes backing up data from a computer-readable medium to a backup medium.  
     
     
         38 . The invention of  claim 37 , wherein the backup medium comprises network attached storage.  
     
     
         39 . The invention of  claim 37 , wherein the operation includes restoring data of a backup to the computer-readable medium.  
     
     
         40 . The invention of  claim 39 , wherein the computer configuration comprises a computer network and the computer-readable medium of which the backup is made comprises a headless server of the network.  
     
     
         41 . The invention of  claim 1 , wherein a change in WP status is effected by a software program.  
     
     
         42 . The invention of  claim 41 , wherein the software program that effects the change in WP status does not confirm the user's intention to perform the operation.

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