Multi-partition USB device that re-boots a PC to an alternate operating system for virus recovery

• US 7,930,531 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2007
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Super Talent Technology, Corporation
• Original Assignee: Super Talent Electronics, Inc.
• Inventors: Chu, Tzu-Yih, Shen, Ming-Shiang, Lee, Charles C., Chow, David Q., Yu, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rehman; Mohammed H
• Application Number:
  US11/838,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20080052507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/568 eliminating virus, restoring damaged files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2153 Using hardware token as a secondary aspect

Abstract

A multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device has a flash memory with multiple partitions of storage. Some partitions are for different operating systems and store OS images. Another partition has a control program while a user partition stores user data and user configuration information. The control program can test the multi-partition USB device and instruct the host computer BIOS to mount a partition from its flash memory as a drive of the host computer. The host computer can then be rebooted. The OS image from the flash memory is loaded into main memory during rebooting, and the host computer executes a new operating system using the new OS image. The user can press buttons on the multi-partition USB device to select which OS to load, and to begin rebooting. Virus removal programs in the alternate OS can help recover from a virus in the primary OS.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to switch operating systems comprising:

detecting when a user inserts a multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device into a USB socket on a host computer when the host computer is executing a primary operating system;

executing a basic input-output system (BIOS) on the host computer when the multi-partition USB device is inserted and linking a control program stored on the multi-partition USB device to the BIOS;

passing control to and executing the control program on the multi-partition USB device;

testing the multi-partition USB device and determining a memory size of a USB memory on the multi-partition USB device by executing the control program;

mounting the USB memory on a file system of the host computer when testing passes;

rebooting the host computer from the multi-partition USB device;

copying an alternate OS image from an alternate-OS partition of the USB memory to a main memory of the host computer;

passing control to the alternate OS image copied to the main memory and executing application programs in an alternate operating system using the alternate OS image; and

detecting a button press by the user of a button on the multi-partition USB device, wherein the button press indicates a request to switch the host computer to the alternate operating system;

wherein the button press selects the alternate-OS partition or a primary-OS partition to mount to the file system;

wherein the button press selects among the alternate operating system and the primary operating system for loading during rebooting;

wherein mounting the USB memory on a file system of the host computer when testing passes comprises mounting the alternate-OS partition to the file system when a button for the alternate operating system is pressed, and comprises mounting the primary-OS partition to the file system when a button for the primary operating system is pressed,

whereby buttons select an operating system and whereby the host computer is rebooted from the multi-partition USB device to load the alternate operating system.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

decompressing the alternate OS image when copying the alternate OS image from the alternate-OS partition of the USB memory to the main memory of the host computer,

whereby compressed OS images are decompressed.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

waiting for the user to press a reboot button on the multi-partition USB device before rebooting the host computer from the multi-partition USB device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

reading an Ethernet media-access-controller (MAC) address from the host computer before rebooting and storing the Ethernet MAC address on the multi-partition USB device;

sending the Ethernet MAC address from the multi-partition USB device to the host computer after copying the alternate OS image from the alternate-OS partition of the USB memory to the main memory of the host computer;

whereby the Ethernet MAC address is captured by the multi-partition USB device before rebooting.

5. A computer-implemented method to switch operating systems comprising:

detecting when a user inserts a multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device into a USB socket on a host computer when the host computer is executing a primary operating system;

executing a basic input-output system (BIOS) on the host computer when the multi-partition USB device is inserted and linking a control program stored on the multi-partition USB device to the BIOS;

passing control to and executing the control program on the multi-partition USB device;

testing the multi-partition USB device and determining a memory size of a USB memory on the multi-partition USB device by executing the control program;

mounting the USB memory on a file system of the host computer when testing passes;

rebooting the host computer from the multi-partition USB device;

copying an alternate OS image from an alternate-OS partition of the USB memory to a main memory of the host computer;

passing control to the alternate OS image copied to the main memory and executing application programs in an alternate operating system using the alternate OS image; and

executing a virus scanning and removal program on the alternate operating system to remove malware from the host computer;

wherein the malware executes using the primary operating system and is not executable using the alternate operating system;

whereby the host computer is rebooted from the multi-partition USB device to load the alternate operating system and whereby malware is removed using the virus scanning and removal program that executes on the alternate operating system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the alternate operating system is a Linux operating system and the primary operating system is a Microsoft Windows operating system.

7. A multi-partition memory peripheral comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU) for executing instructions;

a random-access memory (RAM) for storing instructions for execution by the CPU;

a bus transceiver for receiving peripheral commands and data from a host over a host bus;

a memory controller coupled to the CPU;

a mass-storage device, coupled to the memory controller, for storing non-volatile data for the host, the data in the mass-storage device being block-addressable and not randomly-addressable;

a primary operating system partition of the mass-storage device that stores a primary operating system image for execution by the host when executing application programs under a primary operating system;

an alternate operating system partition of the mass-storage device that stores an alternate operating system image for execution by the host when executing application programs under an alternate operating system;

a control program partition of the mass-storage device that stores a control program that controls loading of a selected operating system image to the host;

a selector for selecting the selected operating system image, wherein the selected operating system image is selected from the primary operating system image and the alternate operating system image; and

a memory bus having data lines for transferring data from the memory controller to the mass-storage device.

8. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 7 wherein the selector further comprises:

a first button pres sable by a user to select the alternate operating system image as a selected operating system image;

key controller means, coupled to the CPU, for detecting when the first button is pressed, and for instructing the CPU to activate the control program to mount the alternate operating system partition to the host and to not mount the primary operating system partition to the host,

whereby the first button selects mounting of the alternate operating system partition.

9. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 8 further comprising:

a second button pres sable by the user to select the primary operating system image as the selected operating system image;

wherein the key controller means further comprises second means for detecting when the second button is pressed, and for instructing the CPU to activate the control program to mount the primary operating system partition to the host and to not mount the alternate operating system partition to the host,

whereby the second button selects mounting of the primary operating system partition.

10. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 9 further comprising:

a third button pressable by the user to select reboot the host;

wherein the key controller means further comprises third means for detecting when the third button is pressed, for instructing the CPU to activate the control program to reboot the host, and to copy the selected operating system image to the host during rebooting,

whereby the third button reboots the host.

11. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 7 further comprising:

a user partition of the mass-storage device that stores user data files that are readable by application programs running under the primary operating system.

12. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 7 further comprising:

a direct-memory access (DMA) engine for transferring data among the memory controller, the RAM, and the bus transceiver, the DMA engine being programmed for a transfer.

13. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 12 further comprising:

an internal bus, the internal bus connecting to the CPU, to the RAM, to a buffer for the bus transceiver, and to the memory controller;

wherein the instructions executed by the CPU are transferred from the mass-storage device over the memory bus to the memory controller and then to the internal bus for storage by the RAM.

14. The multi-partition memory peripheral of claim 7 wherein the bus transceiver connects to the host bus which is a Multi-Media Card/Secure Digital (MMC/SD) bus, an integrated device electronics (IDE) bus, an AT-Attachment (ATA) bus, a CompactFlash (CF) bus, a Memory Stick (MS) interface bus, a Serial AT-attachment (SATA) bus, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus, a PCI-Express (PCIe) interface bus, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface bus.

15. A multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device comprising:

host interface means for connecting to a host over a host bus that is a Universal Serial Bus (USB);

processor memory means for storing instructions for execution;

processor means for executing instructions from the processor memory means;

USB memory means for storing multiple partitions of data;

internal bus means for transferring instructions and data between the host interface means, the processor means, the processor memory means, and the USB memory means;

primary operating system partition means, in the USB memory means, for storing a primary operating system image for execution by the host when executing application programs under a primary operating system;

alternate operating system partition means, in the USB memory means, for storing an alternate operating system image for execution by the host when executing application programs under an alternate operating system;

control program partition means, in the USB memory means, for storing a control program that controls loading of a selected operating system image to the host;

select means for selecting the selected operating system image, wherein the selected operating system image is selected from the primary operating system image and the alternate operating system image in response to user input processed by the processor means; and

direct-memory access (DMA) engine means for directly transferring data and instructions over the internal bus means among the host interface means, the USB memory means, and the processor means.

16. The multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device of claim 15 wherein the host interface means comprises:

host transceiver means for receiving clocked data and commands from the host bus, and for driving data onto the host bus in response to a command;

host operating register means for storing data and commands in a format specified by a host protocol specification; and

command decoder and validator means, coupled to the host operating register means, for decoding and validating a command received over the host bus by the host transceiver means.

17. The multi-partition Universal Serial Bus (USB) device of claim 16 wherein the select means further comprises:

first button means for pressing by a user to select the alternate operating system image as a selected operating system image;

key controller means, coupled to the processor means, for detecting when the first button means is pressed, and for instructing the processor means to activate the control program to mount the alternate operating system partition means to the host and to not mount the primary operating system partition means to the host,

whereby the first button means selects mounting of the alternate operating system partition.