Layered computing systems and methods
First Claim
1. A set of computer readable media containing computer instructions for operating a layered computing environment, the set of computer readable media comprising at least one medium upon which is stored the computer instructions executable by a computing system to achieve the functions of:
- (i) receiving from applications requests to read, create, delete, or set the value of a registry setting,(ii) following receipt of a request to create, delete or set the value of a registry setting, determining whether or not the registry operation of the request is to be captured to an enabled layer,(iii) acting on a request to create a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is not to be captured to an enabled layer, causing the registry setting operation to execute in the base system registry location,(iv) acting on a request to create a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is to be captured to an enabled layer, identifying a registry creation destination layer,(v) following said identifying a registry creation destination layer, causing the registry setting to be created virtually in the registry creation destination layer,(vi) acting on a request to delete a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is not to be captured to an enabled layer, causing the registry setting deletion operation to execute in the base system registry location,(vii) acting on a request to delete a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is to be captured to an enabled layer, identifying a registry deletion destination layer,(viii) following said identifying a registry deletion destination layer, causing the registry setting to be deleted virtually in the registry deletion destination layer,(ix) acting on a request to set a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is not to be captured to an enabled layer, causing the registry setting operation to execute in the base system registry location,(x) acting on a request to set a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is to be captured to an enabled layer, identifying a registry setting destination layer,(xi) following said identifying a registry setting destination layer, causing the registry setting to be created virtually in the registry setting destination layer, and(xii) acting on a request to read a registry setting, attempting to identify an owner layer from a set of enabled layers, wherein said attempting identifies an owner layer from enabled layers found to have a virtual object corresponding to the registry setting to be read, if at least one enabled layer having such a virtual object is found, further wherein the identification of an owner layer is made without regard to whether or not the received read request originated from an application contained in an enabled layer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The inventions relate generally to computer systems having facilities for providing virtual portions of file systems and configuration settings to applications. More particularly, the inventions relate to computer systems that provide a layer organization for files and configuration settings that can be overlaid on top of an operating system. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.
90 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A set of computer readable media containing computer instructions for operating a layered computing environment, the set of computer readable media comprising at least one medium upon which is stored the computer instructions executable by a computing system to achieve the functions of:
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(i) receiving from applications requests to read, create, delete, or set the value of a registry setting, (ii) following receipt of a request to create, delete or set the value of a registry setting, determining whether or not the registry operation of the request is to be captured to an enabled layer, (iii) acting on a request to create a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is not to be captured to an enabled layer, causing the registry setting operation to execute in the base system registry location, (iv) acting on a request to create a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is to be captured to an enabled layer, identifying a registry creation destination layer, (v) following said identifying a registry creation destination layer, causing the registry setting to be created virtually in the registry creation destination layer, (vi) acting on a request to delete a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is not to be captured to an enabled layer, causing the registry setting deletion operation to execute in the base system registry location, (vii) acting on a request to delete a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is to be captured to an enabled layer, identifying a registry deletion destination layer, (viii) following said identifying a registry deletion destination layer, causing the registry setting to be deleted virtually in the registry deletion destination layer, (ix) acting on a request to set a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is not to be captured to an enabled layer, causing the registry setting operation to execute in the base system registry location, (x) acting on a request to set a registry setting, and on a determination that a registry setting is to be captured to an enabled layer, identifying a registry setting destination layer, (xi) following said identifying a registry setting destination layer, causing the registry setting to be created virtually in the registry setting destination layer, and (xii) acting on a request to read a registry setting, attempting to identify an owner layer from a set of enabled layers, wherein said attempting identifies an owner layer from enabled layers found to have a virtual object corresponding to the registry setting to be read, if at least one enabled layer having such a virtual object is found, further wherein the identification of an owner layer is made without regard to whether or not the received read request originated from an application contained in an enabled layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A set of computer readable media containing computer instructions for operating a layered computing environment, the set of computer readable media comprising at least one medium upon which is stored the computer instructions executable by a computing system to achieve the functions of:
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(i) accepting a user login, (ii) identifying a user layer corresponding to a user logged in, (iii) receiving from applications requests to read, create, delete, or set the value of a registry setting, (vi) for requests to read a registry setting, attempting to identify an owner layer from a set of enabled layers, wherein said attempting identifies an owner layer from enabled layers found to have a virtual object corresponding to the registry setting to be read, if at least one enabled layer having such a virtual object is found, further wherein the identification of an owner layer is made without regard to whether or not the received read request originated from an application contained in an enabled layer, and (v) following receipt of a request to create, delete or set the value of a registry setting, causing the registry request to be created, deleted or set virtually in the identified user layer. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A set of computer readable media containing computer instructions for operating a layered computing environment, the set of computer readable media comprising at least one medium upon which is stored the computer instructions executable by a computing system to achieve the functions of:
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(i) accepting a user login, (ii) identifying a user layer corresponding to a user logged in, (iii) receiving from applications read requests for a read operations to a file system, the read requests each containing a file reference appropriate to a file system organization, (iv) for file references of particular received read requests, attempting to identify an owner layer from a set of currently enabled layers, wherein said attempting identifies an owner layer from enabled layers found to have a virtual object corresponding to the file reference, if at least one enabled layer having such a virtual object is found, further wherein the identification of an owner layer is made without regard to whether nor not the received read request originated from an application contained in an enabled layer, (v) if, for a particular read request, an owner layer is identified for the file reference of that read request, identifying a virtual read reference referencing a corresponding file structure to the file reference of the particular read request, (vi) following an identifying of a virtual read reference, causing a read operation to execute using that virtual read reference, and (vii) if, for a particular read request, an owner layer is not identified for the file reference of that read request, causing a read operation to execute using the file reference of the particular read request, (viii) receiving from applications write requests for write operations to a file system, the write requests each containing a file reference appropriate to a file system organization, (ix) for file references of particular received write requests, determining whether or not a write request is to be directed to an identified user layer; (x) if, for a particular write request, an owner layer is identified for the file reference of that write request, identifying a virtual write reference located in an identified user layer corresponding to the file reference of the particular write request, (xi) following the identifying of a virtual write reference, causing a write operation to execute using that virtual write reference, and (xii) if, for a particular write request, an owner layer is not identified for the file reference of that write request, causing a write operation to execute using the file reference of the particular write request. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification