Method and apparatus for replicating a panoplex onto a storage medium from a master

• US 7,712,094 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alan Joshua Shapiro
• Original Assignee: Alan Joshua Shapiro
• Inventors: Shapiro, Alan Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam; Tuan Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAO, THUY CHAN
• Application Number:
  US11/428,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,404 Days
• Field of Search: 717173-175
• US Class Current: 717/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/162 Delete operations erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/164 File meta data generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/62 Uninstallation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/63 Image based installation; Cloning; Build to order
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99956 File allocation

Abstract

An apparatus and method for obtaining a storage medium with a deeply customizable set of installed content. Soft assets (e.g., programs, songs, videos, etc.) that form the content are selected from among a much larger set of preinstalled soft assets previously stored on storage media, such as disk drives. In some embodiments, based on a user'"'"'s selections, the non-selected assets are permanently erased from a storage medium, while the remaining assets are available as installed (wherein substantially no further processing is required to install them). In some embodiments, a new device uses the storage medium to provide its user with a fully functional device without the need to separately install the soft assets from a plurality of sources (e.g., from program-distribution CDROMS and the like). Some embodiments include the storage medium having the soft assets installed, and including a program that elicits selections from a user and erases non-selected assets.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a computer-readable master storage medium having a plurality of panoplexes stored thereon including a first panoplex that includes a first plurality of installed soft assets and a second panoplex that includes a different second plurality of installed soft assets, installed soft assets being soft assets that are integrated with an operating system in a way such that the soft assets work correctly with the operating system;

providing a first computer-readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium;

obtaining data that specifies a first selected one of the plurality of panoplexes; and

writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium, wherein at least part of actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is not written to a default location on the first end-user storage medium used by the operating system for a directory of the end-user storage medium and wherein the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium, wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets are unavailable for use unless and until execution of further operations, wherein the further operations include accessing the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex that is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium and writing at least a portion of the accessed actual directory data but less than all of the accessed actual directory data to the default location used by the operating system for the directory of the end-user storage medium, and wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets are made available for use after the execution of the further operations without moving the first plurality of installed soft assets on the end-user storage medium after the writing of the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating the first panoplex by installing the first plurality of soft assets.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

uninstalling a set of unselected soft assets from the first selected panoplex before writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

uninstalling a set of unselected soft assets from the first selected panoplex after writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a second computer-readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium;

obtaining data that specifies a second selected one of the plurality of panoplexes; and

writing the second selected panoplex to the second end-user storage medium.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

uninstalling a set of unselected installed soft assets from the first selected panoplex after writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium; and

performing at least one authorization function that enables operability of the selected installed soft assets on the first end-user storage medium only after the uninstalling of the set of unselected installed soft assets.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

performing at least one exclusion function that helps ensure that a plurality of unselected installed soft assets remains unavailable and inoperable.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing at least one exclusion function that helps ensure that a plurality of unselected installed soft assets remains unavailable and inoperable.

9. An apparatus comprising a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed information processor to use a computer-readable master storage medium having a plurality of panoplexes stored thereon including a first panoplex that includes a first plurality of installed soft assets and a second panoplex that includes a different second plurality of installed soft assets, installed soft assets being soft assets that are integrated with an operating system in a way such that the soft assets work correctly with the operating system, to modify a first computer-readable and computer- writable end-user storage medium by executing a method comprising:

obtaining data that specifies a first selected one of the plurality of panoplexes; and

writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium, wherein at least part of actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is not written to a default location on the first end-user storage medium used by the operating system for a directory of the end-user storage medium and wherein the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium, wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets are unavailable for use unless and until further operations uninstall a subset of the soft assets, wherein the further operations include accessing the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex and writes it that is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium and writing at least a portion of the accessed actual directory data but less than all of the accessed actual directory data to the default location used by the operating system for the directory of the end-user storage medium, and wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets of the first selected panoplex are made available for use after execution of the further operations without moving the first plurality of installed soft assets on the end-user storage medium after the writing of the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further has instructions to cause the method to further comprise:

creating the first panoplex by installing the first plurality of soft assets.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further has instructions to cause the method to further comprise:

uninstalling a set of unselected soft assets from the first selected panoplex before writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further has instructions to cause the method to further comprise:

uninstalling a set of unselected soft assets from the first selected panoplex after writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further has instructions to cause the method to further modify a second computer- readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium by:

obtaining data that specifies a second selected one of the plurality of panoplexes; and

writing the second selected panoplex to the second end-user storage medium.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a computer-readable master storage medium;

an interface connected to the computer-readable master storage medium, the interface configured to connect an external storage device to the computer-readable master storage medium, the computer-readable master storage medium having a plurality of panoplexes stored thereon including a first panoplex that includes a first plurality of installed soft assets and a second panoplex that includes a different second plurality of installed soft assets, installed soft assets being soft assets that are integrated with an operating system in a way such that the soft assets work correctly with the operating system, and wherein the interface is configured to connect to a first computer-readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium;

means, coupled to the interface, for obtaining data that specifies a first selected one of the plurality of panoplexes; and

means, coupled to the interface, for writing the first selected panoplex to the first end- user storage medium, wherein at least part of actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is not written to a default location on the first end-user storage medium used by the operating system for a directory of the end-user storage medium and wherein the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium, wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets are unavailable for use unless and until execution of further operations, wherein the further operations include accessing the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex that is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium and writing at least a portion of the accessed actual directory data but less than all of the accessed actual directory data to the default location used by the operating system for the directory of the end-user storage medium, and wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets of the first selected panoplex are made available for use after the execution of the further operations without moving the first plurality of installed soft assets on the end-user storage medium after the first selected panoplex is written to the first end-user storage medium by the means for writing.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for creating the first panoplex by installing the first plurality of soft assets.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for uninstalling a set of unselected soft assets from the first selected panoplex before writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for uninstalling a set of unselected soft assets from the first selected panoplex after writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for providing a second computer-readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium;

means for obtaining data that specifies a second selected one of the plurality of panoplexes; and

means for writing the second selected panoplex to the second end-user storage medium.

19. An apparatus comprising

an interface configured to connect to a computer-readable master storage medium having a plurality of panoplexes stored thereon including a first panoplex that includes a first plurality of installed soft assets and a second panoplex that includes a different second plurality of installed soft assets, installed soft assets being soft assets that are integrated with an operating system in a way such that the soft assets work correctly with the operating system, and wherein the interface is configured to connect to a first computer-readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium;

an input device configured to receive selection data; and

an information processor coupled to the interface and the input device, wherein the information processor is configured to write the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium, wherein at least part of actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is not written to a default location on the first end-user storage medium used by the operating system for a directory of the end-user storage medium and wherein the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium, wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets are unavailable for use unless and until further operations execute to access the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex that is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium and write at least a portion of the accessed actual directory data but less than all of the accessed actual directory data to the default location used by the operating system for the directory of the end-user storage medium, and wherein the first plurality of installed soft assets of the first selected panoplex are made available for use after execution of the further operations without a move of the first plurality of installed soft assets on the end-user storage medium after the first selected panoplex is written to the first end-user storage medium.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first selected panoplex includes data in a registry stored on the storage medium, and wherein the further operations also modify the registry, and remove extraneous data from the registry after the uninstallation of the subset and the modification of the registry.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, farther comprising a mechanism to select, based on the received selection data, the first storage medium from a plurality of storage media having different panoplexes stored on respective ones of the plurality of storage media.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a grypher configured to cull unselected assets from the first storage medium based on the received selection data.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a grypher configured to cull unselected assets from the first storage medium based on the received selection data, wherein the grypher operates on the storage medium while the storage medium is connected to a new end-user device that is configured to operate based on gryphed soft-asset data on the storage medium.

24. A computerized method for modifying a storage medium to which a first panoplex has been written, wherein the first panoplex includes a first plurality of installed soft assets, the method comprising:

preventing use of the first plurality of installed soft assets unless and until a keep request is executed;

issuing the keep request including a specification of a first subset that includes a plurality of the first plurality of installed soft assets, wherein the first subset are those of the first plurality of installed soft assets that are to be kept;

erasing from the storage medium directory entries of a second subset that includes a plurality of the first plurality of installed soft assets not specified in the keep request, accessing directory entries for the first panoplex and writing directory entries for the first subset to a default location used by the operating system for the directory of the storage medium without moving the first subset on the storage medium after the first panoplex has been written to the storage medium in order to leave as available and installed the first subset of those soft assets that were specified to be kept;

permitting use of the first subset of the first plurality of installed soft assets that are kept only after the keep request is executed, wherein the first subset is unavailable for use unless and until the keep request accesses the directory entries for the first panoplex and writes the directory the storage medium without a move of the first subset on the storage medium after the first entries for the first subset to the default location; and

wherein the accessing of the directory entries for the first panoplex includes accessing from a location that is not the default location on the storage medium used by the operating system for a directory.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the issuing of the keep request is done using a single call.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the second subset of installed soft assets not in the specification of the plurality of the installed soft assets that are to be kept are considered to be non-selected, and wherein the erasing includes leaving a residue of the non- selected assets in an erased state.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

providing a computer-readable master storage medium having a plurality of panoplexes stored thereon including the first panoplex that includes the first plurality of installed soft assets and a second panoplex that includes a different second plurality of installed soft assets, installed soft assets being soft assets that are integrated with an operating system in a way such that the soft assets work correctly with the operating system;

providing a first computer-readable and computer-writable end-user storage medium;

obtaining data that specifies a first selected one of the plurality of panoplexes, wherein the first selected one is the first panoplex; and

writing the first selected panoplex to the first end-user storage medium, wherein the preventing use includes having at least part of actual directory data for the first selected panoplex not written to a default location on the first end-user storage medium used by the operating system for a directory of the end-user storage mediums and wherein the at least part of the actual directory data for the first selected panoplex is written elsewhere on the end-user storage medium.

28. The computerized method of claim 24, wherein the accessing of the directory entries for the first panoplex includes accessing from a location other than the storage medium.

29. The computerized method of claim 24, wherein the accessing of the directory entries for the first panoplex includes accessing from a location on the storage medium.

30. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for modifying a storage medium to which a first panoplex has been written, wherein the first panoplex includes a first plurality of installed soft assets, and wherein the instructions implement a computer architecture when executed on a computer having the storage medium, the computer architecture comprising:

a keep operation that includes a specification of a first subset that includes a plurality of the first plurality of installed soft assets that are specified to be kept, wherein execution of the keep operation by the computer causes directory entries of a second subset that includes a plurality of the first plurality of installed soft assets not specified to be kept to be erased from the storage medium such that space corresponding to the erased assets becomes available for storage of other data, and leaves as available and installed the first subset of those soft assets that were specified to be kept, wherein installed soft assets are soft assets that are engaged and intertwined with a specific operating system, and wherein the first subset is unavailable for use unless and until the keep operation accesses directory entries for the first panoplex and writes the directory entries for the first subset to a default location used by the operating system for the directory of the storage medium without a move of the first subset on the storage medium after the first panoplex has been written to the storage medium; and

wherein the accessing of the directory entries for the first panoplex includes accessing from a location on the storage medium that is not the default location on the storage medium used by the operating system for a directory.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, further comprising instructions such that the keep operation is a single call.