Rapid access to data on a powered down personal computer

• US 20040030878A1
• Filed: 08/08/2002
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hunt, Peter D., Ali, Valiuddin, Salazar, Pablo
• Granted Patent: US 7,882,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments provide rapid access to information stored on a personal computing device even though the personal computing device is powered off or otherwise in a low-power consumption state such as a sleep state or hibernation state. An software component gathers user data in a location such as a non-volatile memory associated with a host computer. A browser component accesses the stored data and makes it available to the user when the host computer is powered down or otherwise in a state of low power consumption.

Claims

1. A system for providing rapid access to data, comprising:

a software component that is adapted to execute on a host system and to collect user data when an application program is executing on the host system and store the user data in a storage device; and

a browser that is adapted to read the user data stored in the storage device when the host system is powered off or in a state of reduced power consumption.

2. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein the browser is adapted to read the user information from the storage device without powering the host system on or awakening it from the state of reduced power consumption.

3. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein the software component is adapted to collect a plurality of types of user data and store the user data of each type in a different file.

4. The system set forth in claim 3 wherein the system is adapted to process the stored user data using a style sheet.

5. The system set forth in claim 3 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is calendar data.

6. The system set forth in claim 3 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is email data.

7. The system set forth in claim 3 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is task data.

8. The system set forth in claim 3 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is calendar contact.

9. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein the user data is stored on the storage device in HTML format.

10. The system set forth in claim 1 wherein the browser is a BIOS-based browser.

11. A computer system that is adapted to execute an application program and to be placed in a powered off state and at least one state of reduced power consumption, the computer system comprising:

an software component that is adapted to execute on the computer system and to collect user data when the application program is executing on the computer system and store the user data in a storage device; and

a browser that is adapted to read the user data stored in the storage device when the computer system is in the powered off state or in the at least one state of reduced power consumption.

12. The computer system set forth in claim 11 wherein the browser is adapted to read the user information from the storage device without powering the computer system on or awakening it from the at least one state of reduced power consumption.

13. The computer system set forth in claim 11 wherein the software component is adapted to collect a plurality of types of user data and store the user data of each type in a different file.

14. The computer system set forth in claim 13 wherein the system is adapted to process the stored user data using a style sheet.

15. The computer system set forth in claim 13 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is calendar data.

16. The computer system set forth in claim 13 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is email data.

17. The computer system set forth in claim 13 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is task data.

18. The computer system set forth in claim 13 wherein one of the plurality of types of user data is calendar contact.

19. The computer system set forth in claim 11 wherein the user data is stored on the storage device in HTML format.

20. The computer system set forth in claim 11 wherein the browser is a BIOS-based browser.

21. A method for providing rapid access to data in a host system, comprising the acts of:

creating a plurality of files, each of the plurality of files adapted to store a type of user data;

updating the contents of at least one of the plurality of files responsive to changes in user data of the type stored in the at least one of the plurality of files;

generating a unified file adapted to store data corresponding to the user data stored in each of the plurality of files; and

storing the unified file in a storage device that is adapted to be accessed when the host system is powered off or in a state of reduced power consumption.

22. The method of claim 21 comprising the act of reading at least a portion of the unified file from the storage device without powering the host system on or awakening it from the state of reduced power consumption.

23. The method of claim 21 comprising the act of processing the unified file with a style sheet.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the unified file is stored on the storage device in HTML format.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein one at least one of the plurality of files is adapted to receive calendar data.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein one at least one of the plurality of files is adapted to receive email data.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein one at least one of the plurality of files is adapted to receive task data.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein one at least one of the plurality of files is adapted to receive contact data.