One-to-many disk imaging transfer over a network
First Claim
1. A method of transferring disk images from one computer to a plurality of computers, comprising the steps of:
- transmitting repetitions of a data stream containing a disk image over at least one network connection, the data stream having a beginning, an end, and at least one join point between the beginning and the end; and
downloading the disk image to at least two computers, wherein the downloading to at least one computer begins at a join point within a repetition of the data stream and ends in a subsequent repetition of the data stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, articles of manufacture, and signal formats are provided for transferring disk images from a transmitting computer to one or more downloading computers. The transfer is done in a manner that allows a technician to start the download to one computer while preparing a second computer for downloading or shutting down a third computer after it has finished downloading the disk image. The computers need not wait for the beginning of a data stream but can instead join the download at specified points within the data stream. This reduces the time spent waiting to begin the download, particularly when the disk image being transferred is large. Compression and connection selection may be performed in response to changes in network performance. Image file packing and error management techniques may also be used, as well as on-the-fly file system instance manipulations.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method of transferring disk images from one computer to a plurality of computers, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting repetitions of a data stream containing a disk image over at least one network connection, the data stream having a beginning, an end, and at least one join point between the beginning and the end; and downloading the disk image to at least two computers, wherein the downloading to at least one computer begins at a join point within a repetition of the data stream and ends in a subsequent repetition of the data stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer system for transferring disk images from one computer to a plurality of computers, the system comprising:
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a first computer; an obtaining means for obtaining a disk image; a second computer connectable to the first computer by at least one network connection; a transmit means for transmitting repetitions of a data stream containing the disk image over at least one network connection to the second computer, the data stream having a beginning, an end, and at least one join point between the beginning and the end; and a download means for downloading the disk image to the second computer, wherein the downloading to the second computer begins at a join point within a repetition of the data stream and ends in a subsequent repetition of the data stream. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A computer storage medium having a configuration that represents data and instructions which will cause at least a portion of a computer system to perform method steps for transferring disk images from one computer to a plurality of computers, the method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting repetitions of a data stream containing a disk image over at least one network connection, the data stream having a beginning, an end, and at least one join point between the beginning and the end; and downloading the disk image to at least two computers, wherein the downloading to at least one computer begins at a join point within a repetition of the data stream and ends in a subsequent repetition of the data stream. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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- 48. A series of data stream signal repetitions embodied in a network connection for transferring disk image data, each repetition of the data stream signal having a beginning, an end, and at least one join point between the beginning and the end, and each repetition of the data stream signal also containing disk image data.
Specification