Storage medium storing application programs and application initialization files and automatic launching of computer applications stored on the storage medium

• US 5,732,266 A
• Filed: 09/02/1994
• Issued: 03/24/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Brown, Norman P., Moore, Mark Douglass, Hess, Randall L., Johnson, Drew S., Burckhartt, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kriess, Kevin A.
• Application Number:
  US08/300,164
• Time in Patent Office: 1,299 Days
• Field of Search: 395/700, 395/650, 395/651, 395/652, 395/653, 395/712
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57

Abstract

A computer application stored on a storage medium (e.g., a portable storage medium such as a compact disk) is automatically launched. Initialization information expressed in accordance with a predefined syntax is stored on the storage medium. Also stored in the computer is "launching" information sufficient, together with the initialization information, to enable the computer to launch the application. The application is automatically launched, without user intervention, by reading the initialization information and using it in connection with the launching information stored in the computer.

Claims

1. A method for automatic launching of a computer application stored on a storage medium, comprising

storing, on the storage medium, initialization

information associated with the application, and expressed in accordance with a predefined syntax,

storing, in the computer, launching information which is sufficient, together with the initialization information associated with the application, to enable the computer to launch the application, and

automatically launching the application without user intervention by reading the initialization information associated with the application and using it in connection with the launching information stored in the computer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the initialization information identifies categories of computer system resources used by the application.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the launching information includes, for each available specific computer system resource, translation information associated with using that specific resource, and information, expressed in accordance with the predefined syntax, associating the specific resource with one of the categories of resources.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising automatically using the translation information stored in the computer to identify available specific resources which are associated with the categories of resources used by the application as indicated in the initialization information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the storage medium comprises a portable storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the storage medium comprises a read only medium.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the storage medium comprises a compact disk.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein the system resources comprise the following:

a modem, a memory manager, a CD-ROM driver, a sound device or a video device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising

including, in the initialization information, execution information identifying an executable file that starts the computer application, and

invoking the executable file in connection with launching the application.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising

including in the initialization information, commands to be appended to, added to, or to replace existing commands in the config.sys, autoexec.bat, or system.ini files of the computer.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the initialization information comprises a DOS file.

12. The method of claim 1 adapted for automatic launching of a selected one of multiple computer applications stored on the storage medium, the method further comprising

including, in the initialization information, computer resource information with respect to each of the applications.

13. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of storing the translation information in the computer includes storing commands for inclusion in autoexecution, system configuration, system initialization, and windows initialization files.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising including an indication, for each command, which kind of file it is to be inserted into.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising

in connection with launching the application, automatically updating autoexecution, system configuration, system initialization, and windows initialization files on the computer based on the initialization information.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising automatically updating the files with respect to optionally required resources only when there is enough memory.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically rebooting the computer in connection with launching the application.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of launching the application includes automatically running a launch program on the computer which searches for the initialization information, and translates the initialization information, using the translation information, into the specific resource information stored on the computer.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the initialization information indicates whether a resource is required for the application or is optional.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising

including in the initialization information an indication whether the computer application is intended to run under DOS and/or under Windows.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising

including, in the initialization information, information for enabling automatic determination of whether an installation or setup program must be run with respect to the application, and information about how to run it.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of launching the application includes automatically determining if an installation or setup program must be run for the application and, if so, running it.

23. A method for automatically launching a computer application stored on a storage medium, comprising

automatically searching the storage medium for an initialization file associated with the application, and

automatically using information in the initialization file associated with the application together with information stored in the computer to launch the application automatically without user intervention.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the initialization file identifies categories of computer system resources used by the application.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising using information stored in the computer to identify available specific resources which are associated with categories of resources used by the application as indicated in the initialization file.

26. The method of claim 23 further comprising automatically updating autoexecution and system configuration files in accordance with information contained in the computer.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising automatically determining if the application requires installation or setup, and if so executing the installation or setup.

28. Apparatus for automatic launching of a computer application stored on a storage medium, comprising

initialization information associated with the application, on the storage medium,

in the computer, launching information which is sufficient, together with the initialization information associated with the application, to enable the computer to launch the application, and

in the computer, a program for automatically launching the application without user intervention by reading the initialization information associated with the application and using it in connection with the launching information stored in the computer.

29. A storage medium for a computer on which is stored an application program, and

an initialization file, expressed in accordance with a predefined syntax, which

identifies categories of computer system resources used by the application, including sound resources and video resources,

includes execution information identifying an executable file that starts the application, and

includes information about installation and setup requirements of the application.

30. The storage medium of claim 29 in the form of a compact disk.

31. The medium of claim 29 wherein the initialization information includes commands to be appended to, added to, or to replace existing lines of code in the config.sys, autoexec.bat, or system.ini files of the computer.

32. The medium of claim 29 wherein the initialization file indicates whether a resource is required for the application or is optional.

33. The medium of claim 29 further comprising

including in the initialization file information for enabling automatic determination of whether an installation or setup program must be run with respect to the application, and information about how to run it.

34. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information includes a list of optional resources which improve the performance of the application program.

35. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information specifies if a mouse is required to run the application program.

36. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information specifies if an amount of extended memory is required to run the application program.

37. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information indicates the executable name of the application program.

38. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information indicates whether the application program runs under Windows, DOS, or both.

39. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization file is interpretable by a configuration routine.

40. The medium of claim 29 comprising a hard disk.

41. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization file is interpretable by a disk launcher.

42. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization file contains keywords identifying resources required by the application program.

43. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization file includes an executable pathname of the application program.

44. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information includes information for application-specific configuration and autoexecution files.

45. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization information includes an installation script.

46. The medium of claim 29, further comprising a menu program linking the application program to a corresponding section of the initialization file.

47. The medium of claim 29, wherein the initialization file is created by a launch program on the computer before storage on the medium.

48. The medium of claim 29, wherein information in the initialization file is interpretable by a translation file in the computer.

49. A method of launching an application program in a computer system with no participation by a user using an initialization file, the initialization file stored along with the application program on a storage medium, and by building configuration and autoexecution files, comprising:

based on system features, making passes through an initialization file associated with the application program to determine the total memory requirements of the application program;

initializing configuration files and autoexecution files in the system;

interpreting information in the initialization file describing system resources required for the execution of the application program and for installation or setup of the application program, if necessary;

altering the configuration files and the autoexecution files in accordance with the passes through the initialization file and the interpretation of information in the initialization file; and

launching the application program in the system with no participation by the user.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising determining an amount of free memory in the system.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein making passes through the initialization file includes scanning the initialization file to determine memory requirements for the application program.

52. The method of claim 49, further comprising displaying an error message to the user if the amount of memory required by the application program as indicated in the initialization file exceeds the amount of memory in the computer which can be provided to run the application program.

53. The method of claim 49, wherein making passes through the initialization file includes determining which system resources are required for execution of the application program.

54. The method of claim 49, wherein making passes through the initialization file includes determining which optional system resources may be used to improve execution of the application program.

55. The method of claim 49, wherein making passes through the initialization file includes interpreting information in the initialization file to determine if the application program must be installed or set up.

56. The method of claim 49, further comprising determining if a translation file exists in the system which is associated with the application program.

57. The method of claim 49, further comprising determining if the application program appears in a title library in the system.

58. The method of claim 49, further comprising determining if a menu program exists in the storage medium which is associated with the initialization file.

59. A method of enabling a specific computer system resource to be used with an application to be run on a computer, the method comprising

creating information for storage on the computer, such that the information

is expressed in accordance with a predefined syntax,

defines how the specific resource is to be configured, and

associates configuration information with an identifier of a category or resource to which the specific resource belongs, the identifier corresponding to identifier information associated with the application.

60. The method of claim 59, further comprising storing the information on the computer.

61. The method of claim 59 further comprising using the information, in cooperation with initialization information associated with the application to be run, to automatically configure the specific computer system resource for proper operation with the application.

63. The method of claim 59, wherein creating information includes creating translation information associated with using the specific computer system resource.

64. The method of claim 59, wherein the identifier includes a keyword.

65. The method of claim 59, wherein the specific computer system resource comprises one of the following:

modems, memory managers, CD-ROM drivers, sound resources, and video resources.

66. The method of claim 59, wherein the identifier information associated with the application includes keywords.

67. The method of claim 59, further comprising automatically using translation information to identify specific resources which are associated with the categories of resources used by the application.

68. The method of claim 59, wherein the configuration information includes a specific command which must be executed to access the specific computer system resource indicated by the identifier.

69. The method of claim 61, further comprising searching for the initialization information and translating the initialization information into specific computer system resource information for configuring the specific computer system resource for proper operation with the application.

70. The method of claim 61, wherein the identifier information associated with the application is included in the initialization information.

62. A method for aiding automatic launching of a computer application stored on a storage medium, the method comprising

storing, on the storage medium, information for enabling automatic determination of whether an installation or setup program must be run with respect to the application, and information about how to run it, and

in connection with launching the application, automatically determining if an installation or set up program must be run for the application and, if so, running it.

71. The method of claim 62, wherein automatically determining includes automatically determining using an installation script.

72. The method of claim 62, further comprising inserting other information into an autoexecution file which aids automatic launching of the application, and interpreting code stored on the storage medium which determines if the installation or setup program must be run for the application.

73. The method of claim 72, further comprising executing directives associated with interpreting the code in order of appearance of the directives in the code.