Patent ID: 6088516
Filing Date: 2000-07-11
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
In an electronic mail network comprising at least a source terminal and at least one clone terminal coupled together via a communications link, each of said terminals comprising a CPU, a disk drive, and a memory, the source terminal including, in memory, a source comunications package containing a source identifier uniquely identifying the source terminal from other terminals within the network, the source communications package managing and controlling communications of the source terminal upon the network, a method for producing a clone communications package operative upon a clone terminal to enable said clone terminal to communicate upon the network, said method comprising the steps of:activating a cloning feature at the source terminal within the source communications package;copying the source communications package, from the source terminal, to a clone disk in the disk dxive; andwriting a clone identifier to the disk over the source identifier contained with the copy of the source communications package on the disk to convert the copy of the source communications package to a clone communications package to be installed on a clone terminal to identify the clone terminal uniquely within the network, wherein said step of writing the clone identifier to the disk comprises the substeps of:locating an identification block containing a source identifier within the communications package stored on the disk;determining whether said identification block contained a source identifier corresponding to the source communications package;creating the clone identifier uniquely identifying the communications package stored on the disk; andwriting said clone identifier to said identification block on the disk over the source identifier within said identification block.