Personality switch hard drive shim
First Claim
1. A program product comprising:
- a computer useable medium having computer readable program code stored therein, the computer readable program code in said program product being effective when executing to;
accept personality selection input provided by a user to the computer which has a storage device adapted to store various data files and to assume a selected personality in the computer based on the provided input;
tag files to be stored in the storage device according to the selected personality; and
implement a filter which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality and removes the tags applied by the code which is effective to tag files and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A program product, method and an apparatus is disclosed to quickly and easily hide and expose and store and retrieve locally stored data. A personality switch is employed in controlling the visibility and usability of files stored on a hard disk or other storage device included in the apparatus. A user selects from a plurality of personality modes. Based on a selected personality, files become visible and accessible or hidden and inaccessible. The files can be encrypted/decrypted on the disk and the encryption/decryption can be done in a transparent manner. The cryptology functions can also be tied to a cryptographic processor if one is available in the system. Authentication can be utilized to switch in-between personality modes.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A program product comprising:
a computer useable medium having computer readable program code stored therein, the computer readable program code in said program product being effective when executing to;
accept personality selection input provided by a user to the computer which has a storage device adapted to store various data files and to assume a selected personality in the computer based on the provided input;
tag files to be stored in the storage device according to the selected personality; and
implement a filter which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality and removes the tags applied by the code which is effective to tag files and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A program product comprising:
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a computer useable medium having computer readable program code stored therein, the computer readable program code in said program product being effective when executing to;
accept and authenticate input provided by a user selected from a plurality of personality selection inputs to a computer which has a storage device adapted to store various data files and assume a selected personality in the computer based on the provided input;
tag files to be stored in the storage device according to the selected personality wherein the contents of the tagged files are stored in an encrypted format on the storage device; and
implement a filter which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality and removes the tags applied by the code which is effective to tag files and decrypts the contents of tagged files which have been stored in an encrypted format on the storage device and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality;
wherein, when at least one application is executed in the computer, a change in the selected personality based on newly provided input does not require termination of the at least one application. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method comprising the steps of:
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accepting personality selection input provided by a user to a computer which has a storage device adapted to store various data files and assuming a selected personality in the computer based on the provided input;
tagging files to be stored in the storage device according to the selected personality; and
implementing a filter which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality and removes the tagging applied in said tagging step and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A method comprising the steps of:
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accepting and authenticating input provided by a user selected from a plurality of personality selection inputs to a computer which has a storage device adapted to store various data files and assuming a selected personality in the computer based on the provided input;
tagging files to be stored in the storage device according to the selected personality wherein the contents of the tagged files are stored in an encrypted format on the storage device; and
implementing a filter which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality and removes the tagging applied in said tagging step and decrypts the contents of tagged files which have been stored in an encrypted format on the storage device and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality;
wherein, when at least one application is running in the computer, a change in the selected personality based on newly provided input does not require termination of the at least one application. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. Apparatus comprising:
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a personality switch which accepts personality selection input provided by a user and which indicates a selected personality based on the provided input in a computer having a storage device capable of storing various data files;
a tagger which is coupled to said personality switch and which tags files to be stored in the storage device by modifying the names of the files according to the selected personality as indicated by said personality switch; and
a filter which is coupled to said personality switch and which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality by restoring each file name to the name existing prior to the modification performed by said tagger and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. Apparatus comprising:
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a personality selector which accepts and authenticates input provided by a user selected from a plurality of personality selection inputs and which indicates a selected personality based on the provided input to a computer having a storage device capable of storing various data files;
a tagger which is coupled to said personality selector and which tags files to be stored in the storage device by modifying the names of the files according to the selected personality as indicated by said personality selector and which stores the contents of the tagged files in an encrypted format on the storage device; and
a filter which is coupled to said personality selector and which (a) passes files tagged according to the selected personality by restoring each file name to the name existing prior to the modification performed by said tagger and by decrypting the contents of tagged files which have been stored in an encrypted format on the storage device and which (b) blocks files not tagged according to the selected personality;
wherein, when at least one application is running in the computer, a change in the selected personality based on newly provided input does not require termination of the at least one application. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification