Patent Publication Number: US-2005138408-A1

Title: Autonomic self-configuring alternate operating system environment which includes personalization

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to processing systems and more particularly to utilizing a processing system when its primary operating system environment is malfunctioning.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Currently it is typical for computer users to encounter situations where the computer&#39;s operating system, such as Windows (OS &amp; applications), does not function properly. A malfunction of the personal computing environment may be caused by a virus, a recently installed application, fragmentation of the file storage, or some unknown source. The range/effects of dysfunction may include degraded performance, blue screens, and the computer&#39;s operating system no longer booting, to the worst case of a complete hard drive failure.  
      For example, a person may be working away from their office on their laptop computer, when suddenly the operating system fails or malfunctions. Typically it will not be possible for the user to view files or applications on the computer, and the user must then wait until their return to office or home, and/or possibly diagnosis and repair by a technician. Although there are other modes of operation that may be available, such as “safe mode” in Windows, such modes of operation do not necessarily allow the user to access needed files or applications, and they frequently do not preserve the personalized nature of information on the user&#39;s computer (e.g., the user&#39;s specific configurations of appearance and content of applications and browser programs in use, or the user&#39;s desktop appearance and files). Many problems eventually progress to the stage where booting the computer even to safe mode is no longer possible and thus the user is typically without any assistance for resolving their immediate or longer term difficulties.  
      Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for allowing the computer user to have access to files and applications on the computer after a malfunction of the operating system has made these files and applications inaccessible to the user of a personal computer.  
      The system and method needs to be able to allow the user easily and quickly to be able to utilize information on the computer, with content available in a format and appearance that is familiar and similar to the computer operating system environment utilized by the user before the malfunction took place. The presentation of the information must also be straight forward enough to eliminate confusion as the user begins to utilize this new alternate environment, often for the first time and often under emotional duress. The present invention addresses such a need.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A method and system for utilizing a processing system, when a primary operating environment within the processing system is not functioning correctly is disclosed. The method and system comprises invoking an alternate operating system environment within the processing system. The alternate operating system environment includes personalization from the primary operating system environment.  
      Accordingly, in a system and method in accordance with the present invention, when a user experiences a malfunction while working in a primary operating system environment, an alternate operating system environment which is highly reliable and can function as a substitute for the primary operating system environment is invoked. The alternate operating system environment can offer both rescue capabilities aimed at providing emergency productivity and file access, as well as recovery for those who wish to attempt to restore the failed system back into a stable state. In the case of rescue capability, the availability of network connectivity including a browser, email and instant messaging provided by the alternate operating system environment can greatly ease the consequences of an operating system malfunction or hard drive failure. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system in accordance with the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart which illustrates the operation of the policy block in accordance with the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      The present invention relates to processing systems and more particularly to utilizing a processing system when its primary operating system environment is malfunctioning. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment and the generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.  
      Utilizing a system and method in accordance with the present invention, when a user experiences a malfunction while working in a primary operating system environment, an alternate operating system environment which is highly reliable and can function as a substitute for the primary operating system environment is enabled. The alternate operating system environment can offer both rescue capabilities aimed at providing emergency productivity and file access, as well as recovery for those who wish to attempt to restore the failed system back into a stable state. In the case of rescue capability, the availability of network connectivity including a browser, email and instant messaging provided by the alternate operating system environment can greatly ease the consequences of an operating system malfunction or hard drive failure.  
      The usefulness of such an alternate operating system environment is primarily related to two factors:  
      1. Preserving and making easily available personalization information such as browser URLs, recently accessed files, and network settings in a format and appearance which is familiar to the user and similar to that provided by the primary operating system environment; and  
      2. The fact that users are typically either unwilling and/or unable to manage the personalization information required to enhance the user&#39;s experience (e.g., dragging and dropping to prepare for an emergency before a computer emergency takes place).  
      Therefore, the easy access and immediate availability of always up to date personalization information in the alternate operating system environment is highly desirable, and can significantly reduce the user&#39;s barriers to the adoption of the alternate operating system environment.  
      During normal operation of the computer, the continuous updating of the personalization state must be managed transparently from the user&#39;s standpoint. If updating the personalization is left up to the average user, it will not be current or available when needed during some future emergency.  
      Accordingly, a system and method of the present invention creates a transparent means of providing personalization from a primary operating system environment to an alternate operating system environment within a processing system assuming that the data on the operating system partition may or may not be available. To describe the features of the present invention in more detail, refer now to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying figures.  
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system  100  in accordance with the present invention. The system  100  includes a primary operating system environment  102 . The primary operating system environment  102  includes personalization information  104  for the primary operating system  102 , an application  106 , customization information  108  for the application  106 , a browser  110  and an information packer  112 . The browser also includes personalization information such as “My Favorites”, etc. The information packer  112  receives data from the personalization information customization  108  and the browser  110  and provides a mechanism for continuously updating the user information. The information packer  112  sends information therewithin periodically to a safe area  114 .  
      The system  100  further includes an alternate operating system environment  116 . Included within the alternate operating system environment  116  is a browser  118  and a retriever/unpacker  120 . In this embodiment, the browser  118  includes personalization information  119 . It should be readily understood that the browser personalization information  119  is just an example. Accordingly, other personalization information such as a MOST RECENT DOCUMENTS list is just as relevant. The alternate operating system environment  116  is separate from the primary operating system environment  102 . It can be identical to the primary operating system environment  102 . Typically, the alternate operating system environment  116  contains a subset of the primary operating system environment  102  components. The retriever/unpacker  120  obtains information related to the primary operating system environment  102  from the information packer  112  or a safe area  114  which will be described in more detail hereinbelow. The retriever/unpacker  120  further includes policy block  122 .  
      Referring back to  FIG. 1 , the system  100  facilitates a transparent continuous movement of user personalization state information  104  during normal computer operation from the primary operating system environment  102  (such as Windows) the information packer  112  and the safe area  114 , a location that is readable by the alternate operating system environment  116  in the event of a significant failure of the primary operating system environment  102 . Personalization information  104  includes, for example, customizations (IE favorites), files (recent documents), and settings (network connection profiles). The retriever/unpacker  122  searches for customization and personalization information  104  in either the information packer  112  or the safe area  114  in accordance with policy block  122 .  
      Policy  
      Policy block  122  is a set of guidelines and rules. It can be updated during the lifetime of a processing system and can differ across systems. In the preferred implementation, all policy will be managed by standard IT system management capabilities. This will be accomplished through the primary operating system environment and then indirectly applied to the alternate operating system environment. Direct management of the alternate operating system environment will typically be avoided. The policy block  122  determines how the data resources should be prioritized or combined to produce a composite personalization result. In one embodiment the policy block can be defaulted to a simple scheme and altered only if required by the appropriate IT administrator.  
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart which illustrates the operation of the policy block  122  in accordance with the present invention. First, it is determined where the best place/location is to retrieve data, via step  202 . If the version of the data indicated by policy is available, for example the latest version, or the first version, or the smallest version, via step  204 , then the process is completed. If this data is not available, via step  204 , then other locations, such as external storage devices and network devices are searched for data, via step  206 . The results are combined utilizing a predetermined policy, via step  208 . Next, access is determined via the policy controls access, via step  210 . There will be a simple default policy for the version of data, typically the latest version. This policy can be overwritten repeatedly as required.  
      Accordingly, the policy block also establishes searching priorities, typically searching in the best spot first if available (the primary OS file system), searching in other spots if required (external storage devices, network storage), combining the results according to policy, controlling access and providing a constant view to applications of a single file interface.  
      Since all the personalization will be derived directly from the user&#39;s primary operating system environment, in order to eliminate any additional management, the primary operating system will always be a valid source of information whenever accessible. The system and method in accordance with the present invention does not depend on access to the primary operating system environment. However, it does acknowledge by default the contents of the primary operating system environment as the most likely source of the best information if accessible.  
      System Restore Backups (of the RRU type) of the system image represent another viable source for this information. These may be located on a safe area, such as the local HDD, removable media or remote network media. Since backup data is intentionally exported outside the operating system partition, it is reliably accessible even if the operating system is not. Of course data on the HDD is not accessible if the drive itself fails, but information in the network or removable media is still reliable.  
      Finally, there can be a special form of exported information, essentially a mirrored cache of selective components of personalization such as URL favorites, recent documents and network settings. Like the backup archive, this selectively mirrored data can be exported to any combination of a safe area such as the local HDD, removable media and remote network storage. Accordingly, the alternate operating system environment could be invoked via system booting from HDD, external media (CD/DVD/USB), hibernation swapping and hypervisor swapping (hardware and software types).  
      At the time the alternate operating system environment is invoked, the best composite version of the personalization data is assembled according to policy rules for the combination. This policy can be defaulted to a simple combination with removal of redundancy to a hierarchical view. In this way, the user experiences the alternate operating system environment as a living extension to their primary operating system environment (typically Windows).  
      When the browser is invoked in the alternate operating system environment, the most recent set of favorites last viewed in Windows are automatically loaded and presented in the alternate operating system experience as well. The same is true for recent documents, access connections profile information, global dialer password, etc.  
      Although the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and those variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.