SCANNING COMPUTER FILES FOR SPECIFIED CONTENT
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Scanning for computer viruses or E-mail and data content filtering is performed using a distributed programming approach. A master computer 4 serves to divide the scanning operation into a plurality of tasks that are allocated to further computers 8, 10, 12, 14, 20. These further computers then separately perform the tasks and return the results to the master computer 4. The master computer 4 can check the update status of the further computers prior to them starting operation in order to check that they have the latest data defining the scanning to be performed.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-20. -20. (canceled)
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21. A computer program product, embodied on a non-transitory, machine readable medium, that, when executed, causes a processor to perform a method comprising:
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transmitting definition or filtering data; processing at least one of a plurality of computer files, based, at least in part, on the definition or filtering data, to determine whether one or more of the plurality of computer files have one or more characteristics that indicate unwanted content, wherein the processing is divided into a plurality of tasks; performing at least one of the plurality of tasks; receiving from one or more further computers a result of at least one other of the plurality of tasks; and responsive to a detection of a computer file with the one or more characteristics indicating the unwanted content, taking a responsive action. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method implemented by an apparatus, the method comprising:
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transmitting definition or filtering data; processing at least one of a plurality of computer files, based, at least in part, on the definition or filtering data, to determine whether one or more of the plurality of computer files have one or more characteristics that indicate unwanted content, wherein the processing is divided into a plurality of tasks; performing, with a processing unit of the apparatus, at least one of the plurality of tasks; receiving from one or more further computers a result of at least one other of the plurality of tasks; and responsive to a detection of a computer file with the one or more characteristics indicating the unwanted content, taking a responsive action. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. An apparatus, comprising:
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a network interface that transmits definition or filtering data; and a processing unit configured to perform a processing of at least one of a plurality of computer files, based, at least in part, on the definition or filtering data, to determine whether one or more of the plurality of computer files have one or more characteristics that indicate unwanted content, wherein the processing is divided into a plurality of tasks, wherein the processing unit performs at least one of the plurality of tasks, the network interface receives from one or more further computers a result of at least one other of the plurality of tasks; and the processing unit, responsive to a detection of a computer file with the one or more characteristics indicating the unwanted content, takes a responsive action. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification