Patent ID: 7392541

Claim:
An information appliance comprising: at least one processing logic device for executing at least one instruction; a first storage for storing first data and first program code including said at least one instruction and including a user data; a second storage for storing second data; a switching system for selectably and independently coupling and decoupling the processing logic device with the first storage and/or the second storage under automated control, the switching system receiving at least one control signal from the processing logic device for selecting a condition of the switching system; the processing logic device operating in a control configuration and in a user data configuration according to the following conditions: (i) the processing logic device may be coupled with the first storage when the processing logic is loaded with a program instruction not capable of executing a data item that has untrusted content or that did not originate within a known controlled environment; (ii) the processing logic device may not be coupled or only restrictively coupled to communicate known information with the first storage when the processing logic is loaded with a program instruction that may be capable of executing a data item that has untrusted content or that did not originate within a known controlled environment; (iii) the processing logic device may be coupled with the second storage when the processing logic is loaded with a program instruction that may be capable of executing a data item that has untrusted content or that did not originate within a known controlled environment; and (iv) the processing logic device may be coupled with the first storage and the second storage when the processing logic is loaded with a program instruction that is only capable of copying a data item from the first storage to the second storage or from the second storage to the first storage.