Method and apparatus for inspecting the properties of a computer
First Claim
1. A method for inspecting any of the properties of a computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment, comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one inspector library at said computer, said at least one inspector library comprising at least one inspector and associated methods;
sending one or more advisories from an advice provider to said computer, wherein said advisories are sent regardless of relevance to said computer;
performing an inspection with said inspector at said computer, the inspection comprising any of mathematico-logical calculations, executing computational algorithms, returning results of system calls, accessing contents of storage devices, and querying devices or remote computers to inspect any of said properties of said computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment; and
locally determining relevance at said computer of said received advisories, said relevance based on said results of said performed inspection;
wherein said computer maintains anonymity, privacy, and security by not revealing to said advice provider any ofinterest in any of said received advisories from said advice provider by any of said computer and a user of said computer,information regarding a reception of any particular advisory by any of said computer and said user, andrelevance of any of said received advisories to any of said computer and said user.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention disclosed herein enables a collection of computers and associated communications infrastructure to offer a new communications process which allows information providers to broadcast information to a population of information consumers. The information may be targeted to those consumers who have a precisely formulated need for the information. This targeting may be based on information which is inaccessible to other communications protocols. The targeting also includes a time element. Information can be brought to the attention of the consumer precisely when it has become applicable, which may occur immediately upon receipt of the message, but may also occur long after the message arrives. The communications process may operate without intruding on consumers who do not exhibit the precisely-specified need for the information, and it may operate without compromising the security or privacy of the consumers who participate.
132 Citations
45 Claims
-
1. A method for inspecting any of the properties of a computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment, comprising the steps of:
-
providing at least one inspector library at said computer, said at least one inspector library comprising at least one inspector and associated methods; sending one or more advisories from an advice provider to said computer, wherein said advisories are sent regardless of relevance to said computer; performing an inspection with said inspector at said computer, the inspection comprising any of mathematico-logical calculations, executing computational algorithms, returning results of system calls, accessing contents of storage devices, and querying devices or remote computers to inspect any of said properties of said computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment; and locally determining relevance at said computer of said received advisories, said relevance based on said results of said performed inspection; wherein said computer maintains anonymity, privacy, and security by not revealing to said advice provider any of interest in any of said received advisories from said advice provider by any of said computer and a user of said computer, information regarding a reception of any particular advisory by any of said computer and said user, and relevance of any of said received advisories to any of said computer and said user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. An apparatus, comprising:
-
means for receiving advisories at a computer from an advice provider, wherein the advisories are sent regardless of relevance to said computer; and an inspector library for performing an inspection any of the properties of said computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment, said inspector library comprising at least one inspector at said computer which is invoked as part of a continual relevance evaluation process; and one or more inspector methods for performing at said computer any of mathematico-logical calculations, executing computational algorithms, returning the results of system calls, accessing the contents of storage devices, and querying devices or remote computers to inspect any of the properties of said computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment; wherein said continual relevance evaluation process locally determines relevance at said computer of said received advisories in regard to the results of said performed inspection; and wherein said computer maintains anonymity, privacy, and security by not revealing to said advice provider any of interest in any of said received advisories from said advice provider by any of said computer and a user of said computer, information regarding a reception of any particular advisory by any of said computer and said user, and relevance of any of said received advisories to any of said computer and said user. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. In a system including computational devices connected by a communications network, said system comprising a communications apparatus for linking an advice provider to an advice consumer, said communications apparatus comprising specific units of advice to be shared, digital documents conveying said advice, said advice provider for broadcasting said advice in the form of advisories, said advice consumer for receiving said advisories, wherein advisories are broadcast over said communications network from said advice provider to said advice consumer, a communications protocol for narrowly-focused targeting of said advisories to said advice consumer by automatically matching advisories with an advice consumer for whom said advisories are relevant, and an inspector dispatcher associated with an advice client computer for any of continuously and at scheduled intervals performing relevance determination, wherein said relevance determination is driven by a database of relevance clauses which can be continually evaluated, at least one inspector library, comprising:
-
at least one inspector located at said advice client computer; and associated methods for evaluating subexpressions with said at least one inspector at said advice client computer; wherein said inspector library is invoked by said inspector dispatcher as part of said relevance determination process; wherein said inspector performs at said advice client computer any of mathematico-logical calculations, executes computational algorithms, returns the results of system calls, accesses the contents of storage devices, and queries devices or remote computers; and wherein said advice consumer comprises means for maintaining anonymity, privacy, and security by not revealing to said advice provider any of interest in any of said received advisories from said advice provider by any of said advice consumer and a user thereof, information regarding a reception of any particular advisory by any of said advice consumer and said user, and relevance of any of said received advisories to any of said advice consumer and said user. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41)
-
-
42. A method for inspecting a computer at a remote location any of the properties of said computer, said computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said computer'"'"'s storage devices, said computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said computer'"'"'s environment, comprising the steps of:
-
mandatorily receiving from a provider at said computer at said remote location one or more relevance clauses regardless of relevance of said relevance clauses to said computer; providing at least one inspector library at said computer at said remote location, said at least one inspector library comprising at least one inspector and associated methods; locally evaluating relevance of said one or more relevance clauses with said at least one inspector at said computer at said remote location; displaying relevance evaluation results to a user of said computer; allowing approval or denial by said user of an action related to said relevance evaluation results; and returning any of relevance evaluation results and user actions from said computer at said remote location to said provider only if said user of said computer is made aware of what is being transferred. - View Dependent Claims (43)
-
-
44. In a system comprising a master computer, an administrative user associated with said master computer, a slave computer, and a plurality of advisories comprising relevance clauses, a method comprising the steps of:
-
providing a slave relevance evaluator and at least one inspector library at said slave computer, said at least one inspector library comprising at least one inspector and associated methods; sending one or more of said relevance clauses from said master computer to said slave computer regardless of relevance of said relevance clauses to said slave computers; locally evaluating relevance of said relevance clauses at said slave computer with said at least one inspector without interaction with a user of said slave computer, said local evaluation of relevance in regard to any of the properties of said slave computer, said slave computer'"'"'s configuration, contents of said slave computer'"'"'s storage devices, said slave computer'"'"'s peripherals, and said slave computer'"'"'s environment; and transmitting said evaluated relevances of said relevance clauses from the slave computer to said master computer as remotely managed by said administrative user through said master computer, and without interaction with said user of said slave computer. - View Dependent Claims (45)
-
Specification