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 that instantly Reset the OS into the normal state it would be in after a successful boot, without the need to boot at all;
b. A mechanism that automatically scans 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 that prevents other programs from snatching the focus while the user is typing;
d. A mechanism that allows 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;
h. Improved versions of at least one of Word processors and Internet browsers and/or other applications.
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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 change the state after a boot are 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. The application covers also improvements that are related for example to Word processing (since for example in Microsoft Windows, Word behaves like an integral part of the system) and things that are related to the user'"'"'s Internet surfing experience (This is important since for example in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer is practically an integral part of the OS). The invention deals also with some preferable improvements in the performance of the hard disk.
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Citations
40 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 that instantly Reset the OS into the normal state it would be in after a successful boot, without the need to boot at all;
b. A mechanism that automatically scans 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 that prevents other programs from snatching the focus while the user is typing;
d. A mechanism that allows 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;
h. Improved versions of at least one of Word processors and Internet browsers and/or other applications. - View Dependent Claims (5, 8, 9, 14, 17, 19, 22, 23, 29, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39)
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5. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
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a. When copying a large group of files the user also has an option of “
No to all”
if he is asked if to overwrite files with the same name;
b. When the user searches for files on the computer the “
find files”
window allows him/her to enter also more than one file name at the same time, so that all the files can be searched for during the same disk access;
c. The user can request to run various procedures also on lists of variables defined by exclusion;
d. The user can mark a group of links in the history list and/or in the bookmarks list of the browser, and/or in any web page that contains links, so that after the user marks the desired group or groups of links, the browser can automatically open multiple windows so that each window accesses automatically one of the marked links and/or the browser can save multiple files automatically;
e. If multiple files are saved automatically, they are saved by default with their original names, or the user can define a group name which is incremented automatically to differentiate between the files in the group, and/or the system can automatically read he title in each of the files or web pages and use that as the name;
f. The user can easily reduce or increase the size of the printed fonts, by at least one of;
A specific command when printing, and reducing or increasing the size of the fonts on the screen so that this affects automatically also the printing;
g. Reducing or increasing of fonts can be also done for a specific web page and/or for a specific site instead of Globally, since for example in Netscape the changed size remains also when;
h. The same command that reduces or increase the font size on the page (and/or another command) can cause also the images to automatically grow or shrink in addition to or instead of the fonts, and this can be done independently of changing the size of the Window;
i. The http protocol is improved so that images are automatically saved by web servers in more than one size and the browser can automatically request the same image again with some parameter that tells the server to send it in a larger size and then the server automatically sends again the same image in a larger size;
j. The user can mark a group of links in the history list and/or in the bookmarks list of the browser, and/or in any web page displayed by the browser that contains links, and can automatically print the group;
k. In sites where the user has to print separately each page in a document, the browser can allow the user to define a set of steps to be performed automatically, such as pressing the icon or link that leads to the next page and then printing it, so that after pressing the “
next page”
link and printing it, the user can activate a command that tells the browser for repeat the last N actions an additional M times and/or until it is no longer possible;
l. When pressing a Javascript button which designates a link with the right mouse key, the same options are available as when pressing the right mouse button over normal links, such as Open in a new Window instead of in the current window, or Save the link target instead of opening it;
m. When typing one or more words or part of a url address in the location window of the browser, the browser does not attempt to go automatically to the “
.com”
address, but can check also if the address can be resolved also to other Top Level Domains or domain extensions, and then preferably the browser opens e a scroll Window of the existing addresses and lets the user choose the desired one, and/or the browser can also check automatically in the background, which of these possibilities shows up higher and then sort the options by popularity or even choose automatically the most popular option;
n. The user can tell the OS and/or the browser and/or the service that the user acquired domain names from, to automatically perform all the actions necessary to renew one or more specific domains on time even if the user forgets to do it, by at least one of the following methods;
1—
The browser can automatically login to the site and perform the necessary actions for renewal, 2—
The service is instructed to renew it automatically like a subscription if the user does not cancel the automatic renewal until the automatic renewal time;
o. The OS and/or the browser can automatically sense the width or size of the screen and/or the resolution and/or number of fonts available, so that if a table does not fit in the page and necessitates creating automatically a horizontal scroll bar, the browser and/or the OS can decide automatically to reduce the font size accordingly so that the scroll bar is not needed and/or reduce only the width of the fonts, so that the fonts become thinner.
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8. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists regarding changing the size of fonts and/or icons and/or images:
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a. The user can reduce the size of fonts and/or icons and/or images on the computer'"'"'s desktop by a command that affects the entire desktop and/or a marked section in it by any desired factor, and without having to restart the computer to see the change, and the change is seen instantly, like when increasing or reducing the font size in the browser;
b. If increasing the size of fonts and/or of icons on the desktop causes a problem that some icons no longer fit on the desktop, this is automatically handled by at least one of;
1. Creating vertical and/or horizontal scroll bars at the edge of the desktop, like in a normal directory window in which there items that don'"'"'t fit in the Window, so that the user can drag items back in and/or resize the desktop in order to get rid of the scroll bars;
2. The system can automatically reduce spaces between icons and/or recommend to the user the maximum size that can be used without problems;
c. The OS supplies the user with an Undo command and/or a Redo command for changes in the desktop icon sizes and/or for moving icons;
d. The OS supplies the user with an Undo command and/or a Redo command for changes of moving and/or resizing icons in a directory and/or in other windows;
e. The undo of moving and/or resizing icons is incremental, so that the user can roll back till the start of the changes;
f. The OS automatically prevent the possibility that reducing the resolution and/or increasing the system font size can cause the window that asks if to keep the new resolution to appear outside of the desktop and/or cause the text is various system message windows to appear truncated, by automatically calculates the new size and ratios and thus makes sure that all the message windows appear in a visible area and that the text size in them fits the message window;
g. If the user changes the screen resolution, the fonts and/or icons on the desktop and/or in other places or applications by default remain more or less the same size, by automatically correcting for the changes caused by the changed resolution, so that if the user increases the resolution the fonts and/or icons and/or images can be automatically increased in size to compensate for this and if the user decreases the resolution the fonts and/or icons and/or images can be automatically reduced in size to compensate for this, with or without keeping the aspect ratio between height and width;
h. The user can also undo or redo changes such as for removing or adding or changing the position of items that constantly appear near the task bar;
i. By default at least the distances between the icons are corrected in each direction by its appropriate ratio of change.
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9. The system of claim 1 wherein in Tablet PC'"'"'s and/or similar devices and/or other devices that accept direct input by handwriting, when the user enters text in handwriting, the system automatically solves the problem of insufficient room in a text input box or window by at least one of the following ways:
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a. Letting the user continue his/her writing even beyond the edge of the input box, and then the Operating System and/or the browser or other application automatically knows from the continuity of the written text and/or from the continuity in time that this is the continuation of the same text, and therefore interprets it correctly as if it is still in the input box even if its spills out;
b. If the user runs out of space in the input box, the System and/or the browser and/or other relevant application automatically extends the box to the appropriate direction;
c. The area where the user is writing can automatically be zoomed in, however this automatic zoom does not effect the user'"'"'s hand writing itself, so that the handwriting can remains at the same size and position;
d. At least the part of the handwriting that spills out of the input box is at least partially transparent and/or is visible only when the user hovers or positions the pen and/or cursor and/or mouse near it;
e. If the user for example is entering text by handwriting in some open text window and his handwriting exceeds the edge of the window, the System automatically recognizes by the continuity of the hand writing and/or of the temporal sequence that this belongs to the same text and thus the system keeps the focus in the current application even if the user for spills letters on another nearby window of another application.
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14. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
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a. When more than one OS is installed on the same computer the user can switch the default OS to whichever option he/she wants and/or change the order of the options (where typically the first option becomes the default) by letting the user drag an option line with the mouse to a different position in the screen that asks which system to boot;
b. When more than one OS is installed on the same computer the system automatically remembers the boot option that was last chosen and makes it automatically the default for the next boot until the user changes it;
c. When more than one OS is installed on the same computer the system automatically makes the chosen option in the boot menu into the first choice on the boot menu on the next boot;
d. Network computers in wireless networks use also automatic triangulation of the source of transmissions, so that the coordinates of the allowed space are entered into the system and/or only specific locations of known devices are white-listed, and so any intruder from an outside position cannot pretend to be an authorized user even if he succeeds in finding a vulnerability in the encryption;
e. When the user enters the task manager he/she can mark multiple programs and then tell the OS to close all of them at once;
f. When the user tries to force the closing of an application through the task manager and/or in other contexts, in case said application hasn'"'"'t been closed, the OS automatically tries again repeatedly to close it at least for a certain number of times and/or till a certain time limit;
g. Opening additional pages in the browser as additional tabs within the same window, the browser and/or OS are changed so that Alt-F4 closes only the current page (tab) and/or Alt-Tab switches also between the tabs, and/or when closing a tab page by Alt-F4 the browser or the OS warns the user or asks if he/she wants to close just that page or the entire browser window with all the open tabs;
h. In at least one of word processing programs and/or Internet browsers and/or other software the user can move any icon and/or any menu item and/or sub-menu item to any desired position by dragging it with the mouse and at least one of the following features exists;
1. The same icon and/or menu item automatically continues functioning on the new position;
2. This new position is saved automatically also after the user closes the application;
3. The user can also undo any such changes;
4. The user can also undo any such changes even after the application has been closed and reopened;
5. This feature is supported automatically for by compilers, so that the programmer does not have to do almost anything in order to enable it;
i. When Internet pages are printed, the browser and/or the OS and/or the printer driver automatically check if lines are about to be truncated in the printing and, if so, this is automatically prevented by at least one of;
1. Automatically converting to landscape mode;
2. Automatic additional line wrapping if possible;
3. Automatically reducing the left and/or right page margins;
4. Automatically reducing the font size;
5. Informing the user about the problem and asking him to choose from a number of possible solutions;
6. Allowing the user to decide to truncate less important parts on the left of the pages;
7. The user can mark just part of the displayed HTML pane and then use a command that prints only the marked area;
j. The installation disk of the OS contains also one or more typical usable disk images, so that the system can be instantly installed from the most appropriate image, and then the system automatically determines the actual computer'"'"'s configuration and simple corrects and/or adds appropriate device drivers and/or makes other necessary adjustments, as if the system was already installed on that computer and the hardware was later changed;
k. In order to save bandwidth when looking for updates, at least one of the following is done in browsers and/or the html protocol is changed;
1. The html protocol is changed so that it is possible to define “
refresh on a need basis”
, which means that the refresh command is initiated automatically by the site when there is any change in the page, so that the browser can get a refresh even if it didn'"'"'t ask for it;
2. The html protocol is changed so that the browser asks for refresh more often, but if nothing has changed then the browser sets just a code that tells it to keep the current page or window as is;
3. When the refresh is sent, it can be a smart refresh, which tells the browser only what to change on the page instead of having to send the entire page again;
4. The pare or part of it can remain open like a streaming audio or video so that the browser always waits for new input but knows how to use the new input for updating the page without having to get the whole page again and doesn'"'"'t have to do anything until the new input arrives.
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17. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists in
at least one word processor: -
a. If track changes is used and the strikeout text contains letters on which it is hard to notice the strikeout, the strikeout line is automatically moved higher or lower on such characters, and/or for strikeout line is automatically made of a different thickness and/or length and/or angle and/or color;
b. Striked-out words behaves like normal words on the dictionary;
c. The user can mark one or more areas in the file and activate the “
accept changes”
command and then the “
accept all changes”
can be automatically done only in the marked areas;
d. When there are different sets of marked changes, the user can instruct the word processor to automatically accept all the changes but only from a certain date or dates or a certain source or sources;
e. The dictionary allows the users to use back arrows in order to go back to previous points in the dictionary. Another preferable improvement for example in words processors, and especially for example;
f. When the user wants to correct intermittently two or more sections in the same file, the user can press a key or combination of keys which causes the position in the word processor to jump automatically between the various last edited sections;
g. The word processor automatically checks the date in the system in short intervals and thus updates the date field automatically whenever it has changed, and not just if the user reopens file or prints it;
h. The user can mark with the mouse more than one area at the same time by pressing some key that tells the application not to remove the mark from the previous marked area or areas;
i. When track changes is used and a section is deleted and then reentered next to the deleted text, the word processor can automatically integrate then by removing the deleted redundant part;
j. Word processors and/or other applications and/or the dialogue box can remember and display automatically the last requested file pattern when the user tries to open a new file and if the user presses Enter then this last pattern is used;
k. When the user tries to make a repeated change but confirm it at each step (instead of just global change), the position of the search-and-replace dialogue box is always kept constant and the text itself is automatically always scrolled so that the relevant part is visible;
l. When the user tries to make a repeated change but confirm it at each step (instead of just global change), the position of the search-and-replace dialogue box can move, but when it moves the mouse cursor automatically jumps with it, so the user does not have to move the mouse to correct for the change is the position of the search-and-replace dialogue box;
m. If the user copies and pastes a new http link over a previous http link, the word processor (or other application) automatically replaces also the internal link to automatically comply with the visible link, or saves only the visible link and uses that information when the user tries to access the link;
n. When the thesaurus is used the dictionary shows near each newly found word of the thesaurus also its translation to the other language and/or a short description of its more precise meaning in a few words;
o. The thesaurus and/or the dictionary automatically takes into consideration the context in which the word exists in the file, so that when displaying semantic trees or groups of semantic branches the groups or branches are pre-sorted according to the most likely meaning when taking said context into consideration and/or only the most likely meaning branch is shown;
p. The automatic typing-error-correction system takes into account also the context, and at least one of;
The system chooses the word most likely according to context when there is more then one reasonable correction and/or in cases the system is not sure it shows the user that there is more than one likely correct word and asks him/her to choose the preferred one;
q. The user can activate a command which automatically indicates all the words in which spelling errors were previously automatically corrected the word processor, so that the user can check specifically these words to see if there were any such errors of changing the word to something that was not indented by the user;
r. The user can change page definitions also for a single page or range of pages and not just automatically for all the pages;
s. When using cut &
paste if the user presses by mistake again “
{circumflex over (
)}C”
(copy) instead of {circumflex over (
)}v (paste), the user can press some undo key which brings back the previous copy buffer;
t. word processors and/or editors that are used for editing software programs can mark automatically matching pairs of brackets in a way that the user can easily see the matching pairs and wherein said marking is done by at least one of;
Showing each pair in a different color and Show the matching pairs in a different style or for in a different height.
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19. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
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a. If the user aborts a virus scan and later wants to continue, the program can automatically continue from the last point reached;
b. The user can add to a portable computer a mini-keyboard which completes for the side keypad and/or any other keys in a way that tells the portable computer not to regard it as a replacement keyboard that disables the portable'"'"'s built-in keyboard but regard it as adding certain keys to the internal keyboard;
c. The user can use the combined fax/printer/scanner and/or a normal scanner to send faxes directly through the Internet through the computer'"'"'s Internet connection, which is enabled by a change in the device'"'"'s firmware and/or by adding the appropriate software to the computer, so that the user can send faxes directly and instantly the same as he/she would be sending them through a normal phone line, except that the fax is sent through the Internet;
d. If the user for closes an application window he/she can still press some undo button which automatically reopens the last closed file, and this is enabled by the relevant applications and/or the OS creating automatically a temporary backup of the open window or file when the user closes it;
e. When trying to delete a directory through a command prompt window the OS tells the user that it is a directory and tells him/her also the number of subdirectories and/or the total number of files in that directory tree and/or the total size;
f. The user can tell the OS not to enter sleep mode until a specific application has finished running;
g. The user can tell the OS not to enter sleep mode until a specific application has finished running by clicking on the applications window or for example on the square that represents it in the task bar and marking the relevant option in a menu;
h. If the user does not find a certain file name the OS automatically checks for similar names and shows the user the list of closest file names available, sorted by closeness;
i. When an internal Window of a program is in front of a background window of that program and does not allow accessing the background window until the front window is closed, the OS automatically allows the user at least to move the previous window and/or perform at least other acts that do not change the way the software behaves but allows the user at least to control the view of the background window;
j. The fax logs automatically indicate near each communication also the resolution that was used in the transmission and/or if the fax was in B/W or in color;
k. The user can indicate example that the firewall should not close the web and/or the screen saver should not be activated until a certain application has finished performing some operation;
l. When a computer becomes compromised by a Trojan and becomes a spam-relay station, there are special sites or routers which identify the attacking computers and can send the users who'"'"'s compromised computers have participated in the attack automatic warning messages, directly to their IP address or to their email;
m. IP addresses of compromised computers are automatically updated in one or more special URLs in real time and the OS and/or the browser automatically checks regularly in one of these official sources and sees if the IP address fits the real current IP address of the current user'"'"'s computer and then warns the user;
n. The firewall and/or the Security system and/or the OS can also indicate to the user automatically whenever some application is trying to download a file, or the user is warned only if an apparently executable file is being downloaded;
o. The firewall allows the user to change the permissions of multiple applications at the same time in the firewall'"'"'s table by marking entire columns or other areas and then changing automatically the permissions in the marked areas, p. In the dialogue box that allows the user to choose directories and files and/or in the explorer Window file extensions are shown even when the associated application is known;
q. In the dialogue box that allows the user to choose directories and files and/or in the explorer Window in addition to the icon that shows the associated application the window shows also an additional Icon that represents the general type of the file regardless of the associated application;
r. The user can change the position of the normal boxes on the taskbar that represent normally running programs by draging them with the mouse, so that the user can conveniently re-arrange their position without having to close and reopen these programs.
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22. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
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a. When uploading a file while submitting form in an Internet browser, the browser specifically warns the user about the file name and/or path and/or size, so that the warning is more specific about such files, instead of or in addition to the normal warning if the user really intends to submit the form itself;
b. When the user types text for entering in some field in a form, the browser and/or the OS can keep it automatically in some buffer, so that if the user starts to type before the actual form field is reached, the typing is not lost but is added automatically the browser or by the OS to the beginning of the input line;
c. The user can perform commands that affect a group of open windows, such as entering a command that prints all of them or that saves all of them or that bookmarks all of them—
by entering the global command in one of the open windows of the same application, or by marking multiple boxes in the task bar and then entering the command;
d. The user can perform commands that affect a group of open windows, and in this mode the user choose automatic carrying out of the global command or to be prompted for each of the windows with the option to choose yes or no in each case;
e. The internet browser lets the user to darken with the mouse a group of checkboxes and then with one command mark or unmark the entire group;
f. The internet browser lets the user drag the mouse over a group of checkboxes, so that dragging it with the left button pressed immediately marks each box on the way and dragging it with the other button pressed unmarks each checkbox on the way, or vice versa;
g. When the user is filling Online forms, the Internet browser can automatically take into account the language of the text near each form field and automatically accept by default the input in the appropriate language;
h. The user can unmark a radio button by clicking on it again or by using another mouse key;
i. If there are more than once CD and/or DVD installed on the same computer they can be connected to a common audio connector in parallel or with some multiplexor, or cables from more than one drive can lead to a common connector or multiplexor near or at the sound card;
j. No direct connection to the sound card is needed from any of the drives, and each CD or DVD that contains sound is played by activating the sound card directly through the software that plays the data, in the same way that the sound is played from an avi file on the hard disk.
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23. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following steps is used to protect the user from phishing attempts:
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a. The browser or the email client automatically indicates to the user when the real href is different from the http address that is visibly shown in a link, or warns the user about this after he/she clicks on the link and gives him/her a chance to cancel before actually going to the link;
b. The browser or email client automatically indicates to the user also the real url that is within the href in the normal display of the page—
next to the link or superimposed on it;
c. The browser automatically makes sure that the url in the location window is indeed displayed exactly like the actual url that it connects to, and if there are unprintable characters then they are marked with some sign and do not effect the printing of the rest of the url;
d. If there is any attempt by Javasrcipt or Active-X or some other portable code or any other program on the user'"'"'s computer to put other data on top of the location Window then this is automatically prevented by the browser and/or the OS and/or the computer'"'"'s Security System;
e. If there is any attempt by Javasrcipt or Active-X or some other portable code or any other program on the user'"'"'s computer to put other data on top of the location Window then this is automatically prevented by automatically preventing other programs from putting any windows in front of the browser window unless the user explicitly transfers the focus to them, and/or by automatically intercepting windows that have a suspect size or shape or location or that otherwise have suspicious or unusual qualities;
f. Email messages that contain clearly misleading hrefs where the visible link does not fit the real link can be automatically blocked by spam filters, thus not reaching the user at all;
g. Normal spam filters are also improved to identify automatically for example typical patterns of mixing digits with letters in a way that tries to bypass word filters;
h. When the browser enters a site it automatically checks also a relevant WHOIS database and displays to the user automatically also the name under which that domain is registered and/or the country and/or other details that can easily indicate to the user if a site is phony.
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29. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
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a. When the user asks Windows to create a restoration point, the user has a choice of indicating if he/she wants a normal restoration point or also creating a full snapshot of the main system and registry files and/or the user can define in general if and/or when snapshot or normal restoration point will be generated when the system automatically creates them and/or the system automatically creates the snapshot files whenever it is about to make highly significant changes for example in the system;
b. Rollback info is saved automatically in more than one place, together with a copy of a sufficient reference base-point, so that the system has a much better chance of restoring it even if the registry becomes seriously damaged;
c. The registry entries are made independent of each other so that even if part of the registry is damaged it will not effect anything else;
d. The system uses transaction sequences in the registry and/or in other important system files or system areas like in a normal database with automatic rollback in case the transaction has not been completed;
e. If when trying to boot the system discovers that the system needs to load a previous snapshot of the registry and/or other critical system files, during boot the user is advised of the situation and can automatically view a list of the most recent snapshots and/or otherwise possible restoration points and can choose the most referred ones to attempt and then the system restores it automatically and continues to boot;
f. At least one of the registry and other critical system files that are needed for snapshots are always automatically kept in at least two copies so that if one copy becomes unusable there is always an immediate backup of the most up to date version;
g. During boot the system uses the wasted time on the part of the user to display to the user at least one of;
Details about the number of safe restoration points that exist, various indicators of the health of the system, the current automatic back-up policy that exists, the amount of remaining free space on the disk, and the percent of disk fragmentation;
h. The user can use a fax card or a combined fax-scanner-printer which is connected to the computer in order to actually send digital data files eventhough the connection starts like a fax communication, and at least one of the following features exists;
1. The sending device can send one or more pseudo fax images which are actually digital data, and when it is transmitted by Fax the sending device uses a special code to tell the receiving device that one or more pseudo page images are actually a digital file, and the receiving fax is either a computer with a fax/modem card or for example a combined fax-scanner-printer which is also connected to a computer and thus can transmit the digital file to the computer as a digital file;
2. The two devices can automatically recognize each other during the handshake as having more than Fax communication capabilities, and thus can automatically switch to some other electronic file transfer protocol between them for exchanging digital files.
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31. The system of claim 1 wherein the system includes a firewall which allows giving specific applications differently rights for downloading and/or uploading information from the Internet and/or through all available communication channels or through specific communication channels and wherein the different upload versus download permissions are enabled by at least one of:
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a. Automatically showing the user the statistics of sending/receiving information near each application that has been allowed to access the Internet;
b. Defining a maximum ratio between upstream and downstream for each application;
c. Defining a maximum ratio between upstream and downstream for each application and automatically blocking excess uploading and/or warning the user and/or asking for his/her authorization;
d. Defining a maximum-absolute amount of information that can be sent out per time;
e. Programs that the user wants to allow only to download data but not upload data are automatically prevented from any real access to the web, and the OS and/or the firewall and/or the security system intercept any attempt that these application make to contact the web and send the requests instead, and so only valid normal protocol requests for accessing web pages and/or for downloading data which are recognized by the firewall or other intermediate agent are allowed to go through;
f. The firewall or other agent for example cal also notice other suspect behaviors, such as requesting a web page with an unreasonable large parameters line or frequent repeated similar connections with parameter lines that keep changing.
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33. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
-
a. The hard disk has one or more separate heads which are used only for checking the media for errors and move automatically all the time or periodically once in a while to check this without interfering with the normal function of the hard disk;
b. The task manager automatically shows near each process also to which program and/or path and file name it belongs;
c. The OS and/or the word processor can identify automatically incremental updates of the same file according to at least one of the beginning of the file name and/or sequential numbering and/or date and time and/or by keeping automatically a log of the sequence of updating a file incrementally;
d. The OS and/or the word processor can use the knowledge of the update sequence of a series of files to search for each section or sentence when was the first time that it was entered;
e. The word processing program can ask the user automatically if various changes in the way the word processor operates are intended only for the current file or for all the files in the same directory or all the files of the same sequence or all files in general;
f. The word processor is improved so that when automatically saved files are offered after a crash, even if the user closes automatically offered files, he/she can still activate an option that restores them, even if the user in the meantime closes the word processor and then later reopens it;
g. The word processor keeps one or more buffers which point to the automatically saved files and has an indication which groups of files belong together and/or to which crash event they are related, and these files are kept in the original directories of the relevant files and/or in a special directory at least for a certain time period and/or as long as there is sufficient disk space and/or until their cumulative total space exceeds some value;
h. In the word processor the user can mark one or more sections and then toggle automatically between modes so that automatic numbers and/or letters can become manual letters and/or numbers and vice versa;
i. When the user searches for a specific file or file pattern in the windows explorer and/or in similar utilities either the files are displayed by default before the directory names or the user can easily indicate if he/she prefers the directory names before the file names or vice versa;
j. After programs finish installing and request a restart, by default the OS automatically determines if a full restart is needed and then the OS automatically performs just logoff and logon instead of a full restart whenever it can determine that this is sufficient;
k. Program installers are improved so that the software vendors can easily indicate if after installation logoff-logon is sufficient instead of full restart;
l. When the user himself/herself initiates a restart command, the OS automatically asks the user if he/she really wants a full reboot and, if not, offers the user to automatically perform logoff-logon instead;
m. The logon/logoff is added also to the normal Restart/Turnoff menu, so that for instead of showing only 3 options (Standby, Turnoff and Restart) the option of fast Logoff/Logon is also added;
n. If the user chooses full reboot and/or even if he/she chooses just logoff and the system begins to close applications, first of all only user applications are closed and not system processes, and the user can still press some key if he/she changes his/her mind in order to abort the reboot, and then the attempt to reboot is aborted if it has not gone too far, and/or the system can automatically undo the process and even return the OS to the state it was before the reboot was requested;
o. The user can have two or more Operating systems running at the same time so that the user can lump between them by pressing some key or key combination or clicking on some icon, instead of having to shut down Windows and reboot, without using emulation, and at least one of the following features exists;
1. There is a mirror image of the loaded and running OS like in sleep mode, so that while the user is in one OS the other OS is dormant;
2. The user can switch between the OS'"'"'s after entering sleep mode;
3. Both Operating systems can be actually running at the same time and one or more additional OS elements are operating below the two (or more) Operating Systems and are in charge of the resource sharing between them;
4. Both Operating systems can be actually running at the same time and in this mode certain functions are automatically disabled or are available to only one OS.
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35. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
-
a. DVDs and/or blue-ray or High Definition DVDs and/or other larger capacity drives support also smaller pocket-size DVD'"'"'s as burn-able media and/or as ready pre-recorded media;
b. DVD capacity is further increased by using UV or extreme-UV lasers instead of red or blue;
c. The bookmarks list in the internet browser automatically shows also near each bookmark the date it was entered, and/or the bookmarks are automatically grouped by days, with a different color for each group and/or some border marked between the groups;
d. The Internet browser keeps in memory recent changes to various form fields in the same page and/or also on previous pages, so that jumping back to a previously filled field on the same page or also on a previous page or pages will still allow the user to undo changes in that field;
e. If the user wants to copy more than one application at the same time from the “
all programs”
pop-up list which is activated through the Start button, to the desktop, then the user can mark more than one item at a time and/or the list remains open even after dragging an item;
f. The user can drag a shortcut also from open applications on the taskbar and/or by dragging something from the top and/or other parts of an open window and/or from the file name as it appears in a DOS or cmd window;
g. If the user wants to uninstall more than one program at the same time, the user can mark multiple programs and then all the marked programs are uninstalled automatically;
h. The user can activate a command which automatically jumps each time to the next window in the normal task bar on in the internal group of open windows that belong to the same application or between open tabs in the same application, so that each time the user moves to the next window systematically;
i. The user can define drives and/or directories to become shared when connected by cross-linked Ethernet cable between two computers so that they become automatically not shared when connected by normal cable to the Internet;
j. If the OS gets stuck during or after the boot, the system can automatically sense it after a short time and automatically identify the driver or application that caused it to get stuck and can automatically roll-back to the state it was in before the problematic driver or application was loaded and/or before the registry change or other relevant change and can automatically continue without the problematic driver or application and/or can for automatically search for a replacement driver or application and/or automatically instruct the user what to do in order to fix the problem;
k. At least part of the OS runs below the normal OS and contains also a knowledge base about known problem that can occur, with instructions on how to solve it and automatically tries to follow those self-repairing instructions whenever possible and involves the user only if for some reason it is unable to perform whatever is necessary;
l. At least part of the kernel and/or part of the OS, which is hardware independent, is able to boot properly even if there are a lot of hardware changes, so that any adjustment problems can then be fixed after this initial boot;
m. When the OS does not allow the user to access a file because it is locked by another process, the OS also lets the user know the identity of the clashing process and the clashed resource and allows the user also options such as terminate the clashing process or freezing it temporarily until the user releases again the problematic resource;
n. When there is more than one physical hard disk on the same computer and more than one partition on at least some of these disks, the OS automatically adds some mark to each drive name that indicates to which physical hard disk it belongs.
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38. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
-
a. The user can create a copy of the OS on another partition with an automatic command, and then the system with the installed programs is automatically copied to the new partition and the drive letter references in the new installation are automatically updated to refer to the new drive letter, and the choice of the new partition is automatically added to a boot selector;
b. The user can also change the name of a boot option and/or add comments to it, while booting and/or from one or more applications that are available after the boot;
c. The user can also use an update or synchronize command, which automatically updates any differences between two or more such OS-installed partitions, so that the user can update the other partition according to additional changes made in the original partitions, and/or the opposite—
automatically correct the original partition according to one of the backup partitions, and/or the user can also request automatic undo of such updates;
d. Even the new partition itself for the automatically copies OS installation can be automatically created by the special copy command, if needed, so that the user does not even need to have a new partition ready before requesting the special OS-copy command;
e. The user can mark only one or more specific installed programs and/or drivers and/or other parts to be automatically copied to the other partition, instead of automatic full copy of all the installed elements into the other partition;
f. The user can automatically backup one or more installed programs to a back-up media, so that automatically the relevant registry entry is copied to the backup media and all the relevant components are automatically copied through the relevant registry information;
g. When activating for a command like SFC (which checks the integrity of installed system files and/or compares them to their source on the installation CD and restores them when needed), this or similar commands can be used also from another OS or another installation of the OS on another partition and/or from the installation CD or DVD itself;
h. Fax machines are programmed by default (and/or at least the user can choose this option) to respond with fax sounds only if fax sounds are heard in the incoming phone i. The receiving fax is improved so that it is preferably able to automatically identify voice calls and thus avoids making fax sounds if it identifies human voice and/or stops immediately and gets off the line even if it started making fax sounds, as soon as it identifies the human voice;
i. The ability of the scanner/copier to overcome wrinkles in papers or overcome the black stripe that appears when scanning or photocopying books when the user can'"'"'t press the book down strongly enough—
is improved by adding at least one more light source in the scanner, so that shadows are automatically reduced;
k. The user is supplied with an electronic pen which can write on normal paper and at the same time both writes with visible ink on the paper and transmits the writing sequence to the computer, so that the user can write normally while also obtaining an automatic copy on the computer;
l. In tablet PC'"'"'s and/or in digital book readers and/or in programs such as Winamp or other software media players and/or in other gadgets for playing songs or films, the software and/or the device is able to measure automatically not only which songs or films or books (or other media) are more or less liked by the user, but also which parts or sections in them are the best and/or which parts are less good or problematic, by noting user activities.
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39. The system of claim 1 wherein in order to prevent debug features in motherboard bridges from being used for hardware-based attack below the OS, at least one of the following is done:
-
a. The motherboard chipset is changed so that such debug features and/or direct communications between hardware cards and the hard disk are enabled only if some hardware element allows it, such as a jumper or a switch which has to be manually enabled by the user;
b. The user can add a card to one of the PCI slots and/or add another external device which keeps sending commands to the bridges which can over-ride any attempt by other devices to tell the bridge to sniff on data or to communicate directly with the hard drive and/or the communication channels;
c. The OS and/or a software Security System is able, through the OS kernel or even below it, to take complete control of the bridge and give it instructions that override any undesired attempts by hardware elements to sniff data and/or access directly the hard disk and/or the communication channels;
d. If some devices need to be able to exchange data with the hard disk directly, at least any command sent from the device to the hard disk can be monitored and filtered by the OS and/or by a security system installed on the OS, so that the OS and/or the security system can control what files and/or directories can be accessed directly from the device and what commands can be transmitted to the hard disk.
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5. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
-
-
2. A method for improving the efficiency, comfort, and/or reliability in Operating Systems, based on at least one of the following steps:
-
a. Providing a mechanism that instantly Resets the OS into the normal state it would be in after a successful boot, without the need to boot at all;
b. Providing a mechanism that automatically scanns 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. Providing a mechanism that prevents other programs from snatching the focus while the user is typing;
d. Providing a mechanism that allows 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. Providing an automatic rollback feature that is adapted to enable undoing any changes on the non-volatile memory;
f. Providing independent access mechanisms to at least one rollback area, so as not to adversely affect speed of access to the normal data areas;
g. Providing independent access mechanisms to at least one FAT area, so as not to adversely affect speed of access to the normal data areas;
h. Providing improved versions of at least one of Word processors and Internet browsers and/or other applications. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 7)
-
3. The method of claim 2 wherein in at least one word processor at least one of the following features exists:
-
a. Switching the dictionary also automatically switches the language correspondingly in the small window or area where the word has to be entered;
b. When using the dictionary the user can use also forward and/or backwards movement, so that he can go back or forward to previously checked words;
c. When opening files with the windows dialogue box the dialogue box automatically adjusts its size to a size that is sufficiently large to display the full file name if one or more of the file names that are displayed is longer than the default, and/or a slide bar is added (for example at the bottom) that allows the user to scroll and see the full name;
d. When deleting a file in the dialogue box that displays existing file names, by default immediately after the deletion the display is updated so that the list of files is displayed more or less in the same position;
e. The word processor program allows the user also options of searching for the next marked changes;
f. If the user wants to mark large areas with the mouse, pressing some key can significantly increase the speed of the scrolling;
g. If the user wants to mark large areas with the mouse, moving the mouse further to a more extreme position significantly increases the speed of the scrolling;
h. If the user already marked a section for example with the mouse and then uses the mouse to click on something else and then wants to go back and increase or decrease the marked area, he/she can still use the mouse and/or other keys to go back and extend or reduce the section without having to start marking again from the beginning;
i. If the user first marks the entire file he/she can then use the mouse and/or other keys to reduce the marked section or remove parts of it;
j. The user can also search for numbers or letters of logical paragraph numbering;
k. The user can automatically reformat all the logically numbered paragraphs globally or in a marked section that contains multiple indentation levels, by at least on of;
defining the indentation for each level, and defining general incremental indentation rules.
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4. The method of claim 2 wherein in at least one word processor at least one of the following features exists:
-
a. The user can also search for numbers or letters of logical paragraph numbering;
b. The user can automatically reformat all the logically numbered paragraphs globally or in a marked section that contains multiple indentation levels, by at least on of;
defining the indentation for each level, and defining general incremental indentation rules.c. When the track changes feature is On and the user breaks an automatically numbered paragraph, only the new break and the change in subsequent renumbering are shown, and the part after the break is not marked as new text, and when comparing files the same consistent difference is shown;
d. When a text is marked as deleted as a result of track changes or of file comparison the user can mark the deleted text or part of it and press a key or button or otherwise execute a command which can instantly undelete it;
e. The user can mark and copy text that is marked as deleted or any part of it and can paste it back at the same place or elsewhere as normal text;
f. The user can use a command that fades (or otherwise changes) the color of the older changes so that all the new changes from that point on will stand out;
g. The user can define separate colors for displaying the changes on the screen and when printed;
h. The user can define separate colors for displaying the changes on the screen and when printed, and by default the on-screen display is the automatic colors, and the printing by default in black if a black and white printer driver is used;
i. When comparing a group of two or more files, a summary table or other type of index can be automatically generated so that the table or index indicates which color was added on which date, so that the user can clearly see which change was entered at each date;
j. When comparing a group of two or more files, the date in which each section or element was added or changed is automatically indicated near the relevant text;
k. When comparing a group of two or more files, the files are automatically sorted by date before creating the comparison, and each new section or element is dated automatically according to the first time it appeared;
l. The user can mark one or more areas in which track changes is marked as On or Off, so that different areas can be with the track changes On or Off at the same time;
m. The user can use a mode which automatically adds the words “
(Currently amended)”
when the user makes changes in a claim, and the words “
(Currently amended)”
are automatically added without track changes;
n. The user can use a mode in which deleting an entire claim automatically causes the deleted text to disappear, and the word “
(Canceled)”
to automatically appear instead, as if track chances has been temporarily suspended;
o. The user can use a mode in which when adding new claims at the end of the claims section, the track changes is automatically set to Off and the word “
(New)”
is automatically inserted at the beginning of the new claim;
p. The user can mark any area in an image or part of it and at least one of;
delete it, copy it, move it, and rotate it so that all the elements in the marked section are rotated in synchrony, etc.;
q. The copy command can also be activated cumulatively, so that a sequence of conv commands can create a cumulative buffer of consecutively pasted texts, so that afterwards for example pasting at a certain position will paste back the consecutive group of pasted texts as one sequence;
r. In searching the dictionary and/or the thesaurus the user can search for synonyms of words with a specific pattern or length, or for the word itself when partial data exists, so that for example the user can use question marks or other designation to designate unknown characters;
s. The automatic error checking includes also at least some statistical and/or semantic checking of unreasonable words or word combinations that are probably a typing error even if there is such a word and/or even if it is grammatically possible, and the word processor uses at least one of the following methods to check for such errors;
1. Using at least some taxonomy of semantic knowledge;
2. Using a database of typical texts in which words and/or word combination of up to a few words are indexed according to their frequency of appearance;
3. Learning from the user'"'"'s own behavior when such errors are made and then corrected by user.
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7. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the following features exists:
-
a. The user can disable the Autorun feature that enables programs on CD'"'"'s to start running automatically when the CD is inserted into the computer, without having to disable for that the Auto insert notification for that drive;
b. When printing Internet pages the browser or the printer driver shows the number of pages that will be printed before the user starts the actual printing;
c. The user can logically disable or change the function that pressing various keyboard keys has on the OS and/or on any programs that are running;
d. The dynamic linking possibilities are improved so that the user can call and use any Windows DLL from a DOS program and/or vice versa, so that Windows modules and DOS modules can transfer data between them without having to use intermediary file storage;
e. The dynamic linking possibilities are improved so that the user can call and use any Windows DLL from a DOS program and/or vice versa, by defining appropriate stubs and/or API interfaces that bridge between the two types, including any necessary conversions that are needed for compatibility, and/or using sockets and/or client/server connections within the same computer;
f. When the user searches for programs in the “
Start menu”
the user can request the System to automatically sort the list of installed programs in the start menu by alphabetic order, or to jump automatically to a given program in the list by typing the first letters of its name and/or a search string that is at least similar to the desired name;
g. In order to market the OS in low-income countries without damaging sales in countries where a normal price can be charged, the OS is sold at the desired low-income countries at the low price with few or no limitations that result in reduced functionality to the user, at least one of the following steps is used;
1. Limiting these cheap versions so that at least part of the interface and/or some application works only in languages that are not useful to most people outside the cheap countries;
2. Displaying a warning whenever the OS is started that it is illegal to use this version of the OS in any either countries than the list of qualifying countries, unless the user has a citizenship of one of these countries and/or is resident there;
3. The OS checks automatically when the user connects to the internet if his/her IP address is in one of the qualified countries and, if not, require some certification to be filed which proves that the user is entitled to use that version of the OS outside of those countries and/or automatically stop working or start working with only limited functionality after a certain time period if said certification has not been filed.
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3. The method of claim 2 wherein in at least one word processor at least one of the following features exists:
-
-
6. (canceled)
-
10-13. -13. (canceled)
-
15. (canceled)
-
16. (canceled)
-
18. (canceled)
-
20. (canceled)
-
21. (canceled)
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24. A portable computer wherein the computer and/or the OS and/or the relevant part of the hardware can automatically increase or decrease its power consumption according to sensing if the computer is currently connected to the network electricity or is currently running on the batteries and/or the user can request it explicitly for a short time, wherein at least one of the following is done:
-
a. The hard disk'"'"'s speed can be considerably improved;
b. The disk has at least two sets of engines or at least two sets of coils, which are used at different combinations in order to work in the low speed or in the fast speed; and
/or the disk'"'"'s DSP automatically starts working at higher MHz when the wall power is sensed, and/or more than one DSP can be used in order to speed up the processing;
c. The speed of the CPU can be improved so that it consumes more power and works faster;
d. The brightness of the screen can be increased.
-
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25-28. -28. (canceled)
-
30. (canceled)
-
32. (canceled)
-
34. (canceled)
-
36. (canceled)
-
37. (canceled)
-
40. (canceled)
Specification
- Resources
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Current AssigneeYaron Mayer
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Original AssigneeYaron Mayer
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InventorsMayer, Yaron
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Application NumberUS10/907,274Publication NumberTime in Patent OfficeDaysField of SearchUS Class Current713/2CPC Class CodesG06F 11/1441 Resetting or repoweringG06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating w...G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hiberna...G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program ini...Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing,...