Self-Contained Application Disk for Automatically Launching Application Software or Starting Devices and Peripherals

Abstract

A system and method for automatically executing a participating application upon insertion of a removable media into a computing device. When the computing device detects that the removable media containing has been inserted, a task disk control file is read from the removable media. The task disk control file contains all of the configuration information necessary to run the participating application from the removable media The participating application is then launched for use by a user. After the user is finished using the participating application, the removable disk is automatically ejected. In addition to monitoring for insertion of the removable media, events such as a completion of the self-contained application and a request to eject the media are monitored. When a completion event is encountered, all data files are saved, temporary files deleted and configuration information removed prior to the removable disk ejection. When an ejection event is encountered, the computing device is instructed to wait until the completion events are executed prior to actual ejection of the removable media.

1 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a task list control file comprising: a pre-run section containing instructions to be executed by a computer-implemented device prior to launching a predetermined participating application; an application run section data containing instructions to launch said participating application; and a clean-up section containing instructions to be executed upon closing said participating application.  
   
   
       2 . The task list control file of  claim 1 , wherein said pre-run section comprises instructions to configure registry information such that the operating system is aware of at least one of a path, environmental variables and commands to launch said participating application.  
   
   
       3 . The task list control file of  claim 2  further comprising instructions to specify files to be copied to a hard drive of said computer-implemented device to execute said participating application.  
   
   
       4 . The task list control file of  claim 1 , wherein said application run section comprises instructions for the operating system to load said participating application for use.  
   
   
       5 . The task list control file of  claim 1 , wherein said clean-up section removes all registry information added by the pre-run section.  
   
   
       6 . The task list control file of  claim 5 , wherein said clean-up section removes from the hard drive the files copied thereto to execute the participating application as specified by said pre-run section.