Patent ID: 7673174

Claim:
A method for recovering from a failure of a component executing on a computing device, by using a shadow process for impersonating the failed component during recovery but without providing the functionality of the failed component, comprising the steps of: (a) monitoring communications between the component and an extensible system on the computing device; (b) using the shadow process for storing data for the component that were received from the extensible system and were being provided to the component, where said data are derived from the communications; (c) detecting a failure of the component; (d) responsive to detecting the failure, temporarily halting interaction of the component with the extensible system and acting in place of the component that failed without providing the functionality of the component during recovery, by answering requests on behalf of the component using the shadow process; and (e) re-initializing the component using the data that were stored, so that the component is restored to full functionality and is enabled to again interact with the extensible system.