System and method for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in operating systems, such as for example windows
First Claim
1. A System for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in Operating Systems, comprising at least one of:
- a. A mechanism for instant Resetting of the OS into the normal state it would be in after a successful boot, without the need to boot at all. b. A mechanism for automatically scanning the nonvolatile memory in the background without significantly slowing down the computer after a boot or a Reset while allowing the user to immediately start working after the boot or Reset. c. A mechanism for preventing other programs from snatching the focus while the user is typing. d. A mechanism for allowing the user to install a new Operating System in another partition or directory with copying the desktop of the original system to the new system and automatically converting as many programs as possible to work in the new system. e. An automatic rollback feature that is adapted to enable undoing any changes on the non-volatile memory. f. Independent access mechanisms to at least one rollback area, so as not to adversely affect speed of access to the normal data areas. g. Independent access mechanisms to at least one FAT area, so as not to adversely affect speed of access to the normal data areas.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Although MS Windows (in its various versions) is at present the most popular OS (Operating System) in personal computers, after years of consecutive improvements there are still various issues which need to be improved, which include for example issues of efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability. The present invention tries to solve the above problems in new ways that include considerable improvements over the prior art. Preferably the system allows for example a “Reset” function, which means that preferably an Image of the state of the OS (including all loaded software) is saved immediately after a successful boot on the disk or other non-volatile memory and is preferably automatically updated when new drivers and/or software that changes the state after a boot is added, so that if the system gets stuck it can be instantly restarted as if it has been rebooted. Other features include for example solving the problem that the focus can be grabbed while the user is typing something, allowing the user to easily define or increase or decrease the priority of various processes or open windows, a powerful undo feature that can include preferably even any changes to the hard disk, improved undo features in word processing, improved file comparison features, being able for example to track changes retroactively, improved backup features, and many additional improvements.
62 Citations
51 Claims
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1. A System for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in Operating Systems, comprising at least one of:
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a. A mechanism for instant Resetting of the OS into the normal state it would be in after a successful boot, without the need to boot at all. b. A mechanism for automatically scanning the nonvolatile memory in the background without significantly slowing down the computer after a boot or a Reset while allowing the user to immediately start working after the boot or Reset. c. A mechanism for preventing other programs from snatching the focus while the user is typing. d. A mechanism for allowing the user to install a new Operating System in another partition or directory with copying the desktop of the original system to the new system and automatically converting as many programs as possible to work in the new system. e. An automatic rollback feature that is adapted to enable undoing any changes on the non-volatile memory. f. Independent access mechanisms to at least one rollback area, so as not to adversely affect speed of access to the normal data areas. g. Independent access mechanisms to at least one FAT area, so as not to adversely affect speed of access to the normal data areas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 29, 34, 35, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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3. (Canceled).
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5. (Canceled).
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9. (Canceled).
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12. (Canceled).
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15-28. -28. (Canceled).
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30-32. -32. (Canceled).
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33. The system of claim I wherein at least one of the following features exist regarding priority of processes:
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a. The user can easily define the desired priority level for a processes by clicking on the place where the priority is indicated at or near the taskbar and/or on the window of the process, by at least one of;
Defining percentages, Increasing or decreasing some default values in discrete steps, and Using more general definitions, such as “
Very high, high, medium, low, very low”
.b. The OS indicates to the user clearly the priority level of each process, at or near the task bar and/or at the top line of the window of the process, by at least one of;
Colors, numeric values, textual values, and appropriate icons, the level of priority that has been given to each process, by indicating it near or on each square in the taskbar that shows active processes or elsewhere.c. The OS remembers the priorities given by the user to various processes and uses these defaults or at least takes them into consideration for assigning automatically the priorities the next time the user does similar things or activates the same processes, unless the user again changes the priorities. d. The taskbar can show automatically how much percent of CPU is being used on average by each open process. e. The priority of background and/or foreground processes is automatically dynamically increased according to the type of the work the user is doing in the foreground window. f. If the user changes the priority by clicking on something on the process window itself, the user is asked if to keep a high priority for this process also when it is in background, or this is the assumed default and the user has to indicate if he wishes otherwise. g. If the user changes the priority by clicking at or near the taskbar then the system assumes automatically that this refers to the process when running in background.
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36. The system of claim I wherein in at least one word processor at least one of the following features exist:
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a. New changes after an undo are kept on a separate part or buffer or branch, so that making additional changes from that point on will not overwrite the original “
forward”
part of in case the user wants to redo it again, and when going again forwards the user is shown the various branches that exist and can choose the appropriate one.b. If the user types something by mistake while “
overwrite”
is pressed when he actually intended to use normal insert mode, the overwritten part is always saved automatically in some buffer and the user can press a button or buttons which instantly restore the lost text as if the mode has been “
insert”
instead of “
overwrite”
.c. The Undo in word processors is also improved so that even deleting the entire contents of the file and saving it is undoable. d. There is a file-compare feature that can show exactly the textual differences between two or more files while disregarding irrelevant data such as line breaks and fonts.
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37-42. -42. (Canceled).
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43. An Operating System wherein in at least one word processor at least one of the following features exists:
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a. Two files can be merged into a single file with highlighted changes just as if one of the files was created out of the other while keeping the “
highlight changes”
option to On.b. Cut &
paste of one file over another file and/or cut &
paste of any section over another section when “
highlight changes”
is set to ON automatically generates the highlighted changes between the two sections as if they were made by actually changing one to the other.c. The word processing program behaves consistently with cut &
paste where Internet pages are involved, so that if the links are to local images then they are automatically inserted into the document file itself, and if they are based on links to the actual Internet then they are included internally in the document and/or are saved as links, and/or the user has a choice about this.d. The word processing program remembers automatically in the “
Open file”
dialogue box and/or in the “
Save”
dialogue box if the user typed last time a filename (or path) in English or in another language and leaves this as the default for the next time.e. The user can undo the last changes even after closing and reopening a file, and this enabled by saving the undo data in the file itself, or by saving it in another local file, so that the original file only contains a link to the associated local undo file. f. The word processor program allows the user also options of searching and/or substituting based on style and/or shape and/or size instead of just character strings. g. Combining two paragraphs or deleting the empty line between them does not change the fonts or style of the first paragraph, and fonts and/or style in the 2nd paragraph change after connecting it with the 1st paragraph only if the user allows this by default or requests this specifically. h. If the user wants to mark large areas with the mouse, while the mouse key is still pressed, the user can use other location commands instead of waiting for the pages to scroll, and then the entire area till the next location becomes marked. i. The user can choose a specific font color and/or font attribute, which is kept automatically until changed again, so that this text appears wherever the user adds it to previous text, regardless of the color or other attributes of the previous text where the new text is inserted. i. In a word processor URL links are automatically and dynamically broken and restored between the lines as the paragraph chances, according to slashes and/or underlines and/or dots and/or other special characters, and when the user presses the link, it is treated as one consecutive link regardless of this automatically changing break between the lines. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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44. A System for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in Operating Systems, comprising at least one of:
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a. A mechanism for allowing the user to define at least one User which the system will enter by default and without a password if the user does not request to enter a particular User after a certain time. b. A mechanism for allowing the user to define at least one User which the system will enter by default and without a password if the user does not request to enter a particular User after a certain time, and wherein if the system enters the User without password, it enters a limited mode where it takes no commands from the keyboard or mouse or has other limitations until the user enters some password. c. A mechanism by which backup software can automatically rename the older versions of the same back-up-files on the backup media with some automatically sequenced extension, so that the user can automatically keep and track also older versions this way. d. A mechanism for automatic backup of important files to the default backup directory and/or drive, so that each relevant file that has been created or changed and has not been updated for more than a certain time period, and/or after a certain threshold amount of change even if less time has elapsed, is automatically backed-up on the default back-up media. e. A mechanism wherein during each boot the system keeps a log of all successful steps in the boot, and so even if a certain step causes a crash so that the system can'"'"'t even report the problem, in the next boot the system knows by the incomplete step in the log exactly where it crashed the last time and can automatically complete the boot this time without the problematic step and can report to the user exactly what the problem was and/or can automatically remove the problem and/or offer the user to chose among a few possible corrections to the problem. f. A mechanism for allowing the user to execute files in DOS mode also by clicking on or near their name instead of having to type it.
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46. (Canceled).
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47. (Canceled).
Specification