Creating file systems within a file in a storage technology-abstracted manner
First Claim
1. In a computing environment, a method of creating a file system within a file in a storage technology abstracted manner so that that file system can be easily applied to varying storage technologies, the method comprising:
- accessing packages containing image data to install to a first storage medium, wherein at least some of the packages are operating system image components, and wherein the packages include an update loader component, a kernel component, an operating system files component, and a user data component;
accessing a description of partitions to which the package contents are to be written, the description of the partitions comprising information correlating each package to a particular partition, wherein the description of partitions comprises an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file; and
based on the accessed packages and the description of the partitions, generating an output file to a second storage medium, the output file being an image file and containing a plurality of partitions wherein each partition corresponds to a file system, but not implementing file system logic for a particular storage technology, with the contents of each package stored in one of the plurality of partitions based on the description of the partitions, and wherein the output file comprises;
a first partition, wherein the first partition comprises binary code implementing an update loader;
a second partition, the second partition being a kernel partition, and storing at least one of a random access memory (RAM) image or a read only memory (ROM) image;
a third partition, the third partition being a system partition and comprising operating system files;
a fourth partition, the fourth partition being a user partition specified for user data storage.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described is a system and method used in manufacturing computer devices, in which a single manufacturing image file contains an internal partition and file system layout into which individual operating system component packages are written. The image file is independent of any particular storage technology. To generate the file, a disk image utility tool inputs a memory configuration file and a package-to-partition mapping file to create the partitions/file systems within the image file. The operating system components (package) are written into the partitions. To store (e.g., flash) the image file'"'"'s data on a particular storage device, the image file is post-processed to customize the data for a particular storage device.
235 Citations
27 Claims
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1. In a computing environment, a method of creating a file system within a file in a storage technology abstracted manner so that that file system can be easily applied to varying storage technologies, the method comprising:
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accessing packages containing image data to install to a first storage medium, wherein at least some of the packages are operating system image components, and wherein the packages include an update loader component, a kernel component, an operating system files component, and a user data component; accessing a description of partitions to which the package contents are to be written, the description of the partitions comprising information correlating each package to a particular partition, wherein the description of partitions comprises an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file; and based on the accessed packages and the description of the partitions, generating an output file to a second storage medium, the output file being an image file and containing a plurality of partitions wherein each partition corresponds to a file system, but not implementing file system logic for a particular storage technology, with the contents of each package stored in one of the plurality of partitions based on the description of the partitions, and wherein the output file comprises; a first partition, wherein the first partition comprises binary code implementing an update loader; a second partition, the second partition being a kernel partition, and storing at least one of a random access memory (RAM) image or a read only memory (ROM) image; a third partition, the third partition being a system partition and comprising operating system files; a fourth partition, the fourth partition being a user partition specified for user data storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. In a computing environment, a method of generating an image for installation to a storage medium of a computing device, the image being generated from a file storing a plurality of partitions in a storage technology abstracted manner allowing the file to be easily applied to variety of storage technologies, the method comprising:
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accessing the file that contains a plurality of partitions, wherein the plurality of partitions contained in the file are stored in a storage technology abstracted manner without reference to any particular storage technology, and not implementing file system logic for a particular storage technology, and wherein a description of the file that contains the plurality of partitions is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file, and wherein each partition contains image data to install to a storage medium and wherein each partition corresponds to a file system, the file comprising; a first partition, wherein the first partition comprises binary code implementing an update loader; a second partition, the second partition being a kernel partition, and storing at least one of a RAM image or a ROM image; a third partition, the third partition being a system partition and comprising operating system files; a fourth partition, the fourth partition being a user partition specified for user data storage; and processing the file to introduce any modifications to the plurality of partitions and file system layout as required to convert the plurality of partitions and file system layout from a storage technology abstracted manner to a specific storage technology. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. In a computing environment, a computer program product comprising computer readable storage media having stored thereon components for creating a storage technology abstracted file containing partitions corresponding to file systems and for processing the storage technology abstracted file to generate a storage technology specific image file, the components comprising:
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a disk image utility process that inputs a partition-to-package mapping file containing partition information and package information, and based on the data in the partition-to-package mapping file, wherein the partition-to-package mapping is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file outputs an image file using packages identified in the package information, wherein at least some of the packages are operating system image components, and wherein the packages include an update loader component, a kernel component, an operating system files component, and a user data component, the image file comprising a plurality of partitions identified in the partition information, wherein each of the plurality of partitions corresponds to a distinct file system, with the contents of each package stored in one of the partitions based on the description, wherein the data contained in the output image file is maintained in a storage technology abstracted manner, without implementing file system logic for a particular storage technology, so that there is no dependence on any particular storage technology and wherein the output file comprises; a first partition, wherein the first partition comprises binary code implementing an update loader; a second partition, the second partition being a kernel partition, and storing at least one of a RAM image or a ROM image; a third partition, the third partition being a system partition and comprising operating system files; a fourth partition, the fourth partition being a user partition specified for user data storage; and a post-process that processes the image file to introduce any modifications to the image as required by a specific storage technology thereby resulting in a storage technology specific image file. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification