On-the-fly repair of a computer

• US 7,096,381 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2001
• Issued: 08/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vir2us, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Self Repairing Computers Incorporated
• Inventors: More, Anthony B., Largman, Kenneth, Blair, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Manoskey, Joseph D.
• Application Number:
  US10/075,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20020194534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: 714/2, 714/7, 714/13, 714/19, 714/20, 714/23, 714/38, 713/200
• US Class Current: 714/20
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1417 Boot up procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1456 Hardware arrangements for backup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1662 the resynchronized component or unit being a persistent storage device re-synchronization of failed mirror storage G06F11/2082; rebuild or reconstruction of parity RAID storage G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1666 where the redundant component is memory or memory area
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/20 using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/568 eliminating virus, restoring damaged files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/81 by operating on the power supply, e.g. enabling or disabling power-on, sleep or resume operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/85 interconnection devices, e.g. bus-connected or in-line devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment

Abstract

An apparatus and method of supporting the backup and recovery of a computing device. The computing device typically includes both a user computing environment and a supporting environment which enhances the stability and functionality of the user computing environment.

Claims

1. A computer that self-repairs to maintain an operational status at any time during operation, the computer comprising:

a main computer hardware box;

at least one CPU disposed within the main computer hardware box;

at least one random access memory disposed within the main computer hardware box and coupled to the at least one CPU;

the at least one CPU and random access memory providing at least one user computing environment and a supporting computing environment substantially isolated from the user computing environment and operative to enhance the stability and functionality of the user computing environment by monitoring processes running or enabled within the user computing environment;

first and second controllers for respective first and second data storage devices disposed within the main computer hardware box of the computer prior to a need for repair, the first data storage device storing programs and data for the user computing environment and the second data storage device being associated with the supporting computing environment and containing at least one backup snap-shot; and

means for controlling the self-repair of the computer cooperatively coupled with said at least one CPU, said at least one random access memory, and said first and second controllers;

wherein the supporting environment is operative to interact with the user computing environment and is operative to initiate or cause the user computing environment to shut-down, restart, log off, log on, or terminating applications executing on the computer.

2. A computer as in claim 1, wherein the user computing environment and the supporting environment function in different computing systems physically residing in the main computer hardware box.

3. A computer that self-repairs to maintain an operational status at any time during operation, the computer comprising:

a main computer hardware box;

at least one CPU disposed within the main computer hardware box;

at least one random access memory disposed within the main computer hardware box and coupled to the at least one CPU;

the at least one CPU and random access memory providing at least one user computing environment and a supporting computing environment substantially isolated from the user computing environment and operative to enhance the stability and functionality of the user computing environment by monitoring processes running or enabled within the user computing environment;

first and second controllers for respective first and second data storage devices disposed within the main computer hardware box of the computer prior to a need for repair, the first data storage device storing programs and data for the user computing environment and the second data storage device being associated with the supporting computing environment and containing at least one backup snap-shot; and

means for controlling the self-repair of the computer cooperatively coupled with said at least one CPU, said at least one random access memory, and said first and second controllers;

wherein the user computing environment system comprises a separate data storage device, random access memory, and processor from the supporting computing environment, and a video processor.

4. A computer as in claim 3, wherein the supporting computing environment system comprises a master template data storage device, a random access memory, and a processor.

5. A computer as in claim 4, wherein the computing environment system data storage devices and the supporting computing environment system data master template data storage device may be linked as needed to perform repairs on the computer system, optionally including performing a copy operation from the supporting computing environment to the user computing environment.

6. A computer as in claim 3, wherein the computer further comprises means for obtaining a snap-shot of the user computing environment and means for subsequently using the snap-shot to restore, analyze, or enhance the stability of the user environment.

7. A computer that self-repairs to maintain an operational status at any time during operation, the computer comprising:

a main computer hardware box;

at least one CPU disposed within the main computer hardware box;

at least one random access memory disposed within the main computer hardware box and coupled to the at least one CPU;

the at least one CPU and random access memory providing at least one user computing environment and a supporting computing environment substantially isolated from the user computing environment and operative to enhance the stability and functionality of the user computing environment by monitoring processes running or enabled within the user computing environment;

first and second controllers for respective first and second data storage devices disposed within the main computer hardware box of the computer prior to a need for repair, the first data storage device storing programs and data for the user computing environment and the second data storage device being associated with the supporting computing environment and containing at least one backup snap-shot;

means for controlling the self-repair of the computer cooperatively coupled with said at least one CPU, said at least one random access memory, and said first and second controllers;

means for obtaining a snap-shot of the user computing environment; and

means for subsequently using the snap-shot to restore, analyze, or enhance the stability of the user environment;

wherein the snap-shot includes at least one of;

(i) a stable image of the operating system, software applications, and user data;

(ii) an idealized or stable version of a data storage device utilized by the user environment;

(iii) a subset of the data storage device of the user environment such as an individual partition of a hard disk drive data storage device;

(iv) an idealized version or image of the user system random access memory;

(v) an idealized version or image of the user system disk drive;

(vi) an idealized version or image of the user system partition image, memory of the video card, or any other memory stored or utilized in the user computing environment.

8. A computer as in claim 7, wherein the monitoring includes monitoring of the utilization of the user computing environment data storage device and data contained on the user computing environment data storage device.

9. A computer as in claim 8, wherein the monitoring of the user computing environment by the supporting computing environment identifies undesired changes and potential problems with the user computing environment.

10. A computer as in claim 9, wherein the supporting computing environment detects at least one of a freeze and an undesirable change within the user computing environment.

11. A computer as in claim 10, wherein when a freeze or other undesirable change is detected in the user environment, the supporting environment attempts to recover or restore or repair the user environment.

12. A computer as in claim 7, wherein the supporting computing environment is operative to re-enable the user environment, the enabling selected from the set consisting of:

resetting a locked user environment keyboard, resetting connections, resetting and clearing devices, replacing defective software components, switch hardware components and/or devices, and combinations of these.

13. A computer as in claim 12, wherein the supporting computing environment obtains at least one snap-shot and subsequently copies all or part of the data from one or more of the at least one snapshots to recover or restore or repair the user environment.

14. A computer that self-repairs to maintain an operational status at any time during operation, the Computer comprising:

a main computer hardware box;

at least one CPU disposed within the main computer hardware box;

at least one random access memory disposed within the main computer hardware box and coupled to the at least one CPU;

the at least one CPU and random access memory providing at least one user computing environment and a supporting computing environment substantially isolated from the user computing environment and operative to enhance the stability and functionality of the user computing environment by monitoring processes running or enabled within the user computing environment;

first and second controllers for respective first and second data storage devices disposed within the main computer hardware box of the computer prior to a need for repair, the first data storage device storing programs and data for the user computing environment and the second data storage device being associated with the supporting computing environment and containing at least one backup snap-shot;

means for controlling the self-repair of the computer cooperatively coupled with said at least one CPU, said at least one random access memory, and said first and second controllers; and

means for running a plurality of different programs at the same time on one computing system where the data and applications for each of the plurality of different programs are isolated from one another but share output and/or input devices.

15. The computer of claim 14, wherein the self-repair is initiated by a signal indicating a need for repair that is either:

(i) self-generated by the computer without human intervention by the monitoring the processes running or enabled within the user computing environment;

or (ii) generated by the computer in response to a single action by an external user, said single action selected from the set of actions consisting of;

pressing a key or combination of keys on a keyboard of the computer and pressing or changing the state of a physical switch different from an on-off switch of the computer and exposed on an exterior surface of the main computer hardware box of the computer.

16. The computer of claim 14, wherein the repairing comprises:

automatically repairing software on the first storage device according to preset preferences without further direction from the user, the preset preferences designating to repair the computer according to whether;

to recover data, to run a virus check, to reformat the first storage device, to revert to a backup, or to run diagnostics.

17. The computer of claim 14, wherein the repairing comprises:

reformatting the first storage device and then copying software onto the first storage device;

or resetting parameters in a persistent memory and then copying software onto the first storage device.

18. A computer as in claim 14, further comprising means for backing up programs and data on the computer and recovering the computer to a predetermined state in the event of a viral, hacker, or other malicious code contamination of the computer.

19. A computer as in claim 18, wherein the means for backing up includes means for obtaining at least one snap-shot of data on the computer.

20. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the self-repairing of the computer to a specified operational state is performed on-the-fly during normal operation without user intervention.

21. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the computer in operation automatically executes a plurality of individual computing processes selected from the set of computing processes consisting of monitoring the user computing environment, tracking the user computing environment, predicting the stability of the user computing environment, backing-up the user computing environment, restoring the user computing environment, and recovering attributes within the user computing environment.

22. A computer as in claim 21, wherein the attributes may be software specific, data specific, operating system specific, or any combination of the software, data, and operating system attributes.

23. A computer as in claim 21, wherein execution of the plurality of computing processes facilitates the normal operation of the user computing environment.

24. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the user computing environment is stabilized without user intervention that would perform a user to shut-down, restart, log off, log on, or termination of applications executing on the computer.

25. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the supporting environment is operative to interact with the user computing environment.

26. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the plurality of different programs are isolated by executing the applications in separate address spaces.

27. A computer as in claim 14, wherein the plurality of different programs are isolated by utilizing a different one of plurality of separate data storage devices for each program.

28. A computer as in claim 27, wherein data from a plurality of user computing environments is isolated but the display of the plurality of user computing environments is merged onto a common display.

29. A computer as in claim 14, wherein commands are sent from one isolated data storage device or process to another isolated data storage device or process by launching an application through a shared hardware application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to the other isolated data storage device.

30. A computer that self-repairs to maintain an operational status at any time during operation, the computer comprising:

a main computer hardware box;

at least one CPU disposed within the main computer hardware box;

at least one random access memory disposed within the main computer hardware box and coupled to the at least one CPU;

the at least one CPU and random access memory providing at least one user computing environment and a supporting computing environment substantially isolated from the user computing environment and operative to enhance the stability and functionality of the user computing environment by monitoring processes running or enabled within the user computing environment;

first and second controllers for respective first and second data storage devices disposed within the main computer hardware box of the computer prior to a need for repair, the first data storage device storing programs and data for the user computing environment and the second data storage device being associated with the supporting computing environment and containing at least one backup snap-shot; and

means for controlling the self-repair of the computer cooperatively coupled with said at least one CPU, said at least one random access memory, and said first and second controllers;

wherein a first hard disk drive storage device associated with a first user computing environment that does not contain sensitive data is connected to a network but is isolated from a second hard disk drive storage device associated with a second user computing environment by means of switching, the processing for the first and second computing environments being maintained in isolated secure zones within a single computer; and

the video signals associated with the isolated first and second computing environments and the data coming from the first and second hard disk drive storage devices is merged for display onto a common computer display screen so that it appears to a user that the first and second processes were being performed on the same computer without isolation.

31. A computer as in claim 30, wherein the isolation of the first and second user computing environments prevents potentially infectious viral data or hacker code exposed from the first network connectable computing environment from contaminating the second computing environment.

32. A computer as in claim 30, wherein both the user computing environment and the supporting computing environment reside on a single computer system;

a snap-shot associated with the supporting computing environment of the operational user environment is obtained;

processes associated with the supporting environment monitor the activities and status of the user computing environment;

a monitoring function is executed that detects any degraded performance of the user computing environment and notifies the supporting environment of any degraded performance detected; and

the supporting environment performing any recovery or repair action as necessary to recover or restore the user environment, the recovery optionally including utilizing the snap-shot to recover or restore the user environment.

33. A method for repairing and maintaining operation of a computer on the fly, the method comprising:

defining at least one user computing environment and a supporting computing environment substantially isolated from the user computing environment within at least one processor and coupled random access memory, the supporting computing environment operative to enhance the stability and functionality of the user computing environment by monitoring processes running or enabled within the user computing environment and identifying a change signaling the need for a repair;

storing programs and data for the user computing environment on a first data storage device and storing a back-up snap-shot of at least portions of the first data storage device on a second data storage associated with the supporting computing environment and both the first and second data storage device disposed within the main computer hardware box of the computer prior to a need for repair;

the snap shot including at least one of;

(i) a stable image of the operating system, software applications, and user data;

(ii) an idealized or stable version of a data storage device utilized by the user environment;

(iii) a subset of the data storage device of the user environment such as an individual partition of a hard disk drive data storage device;

(iv) an idealized version or image of the user system random access memory;

(v) an idealized version or image of the user system disk drive;

(vi) an idealized version or image of the user system partition image, memory of the video card, or any other memory stored or utilized in the user computing environment;

executing a plurality of individual computing processes selected from the set of computing processes consisting of monitoring the user computing environment, tracking the user computing environment, predicting the stability of the user computing environment, backing-up the user computing environment, restoring the user computing environment, and recovering attributes within the user computing environment; and

repairing the computer using the snap-shot backup in response to the identification of the change signaling the need for a repair.