Data processing: software development – installation – and managem – Software program development tool – Translation of code
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-28
2001-08-28
Chaki, Kakali (Department: 2122)
Data processing: software development, installation, and managem
Software program development tool
Translation of code
C713S002000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282710
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to automatic execution of media placed in removable disc drives. In particular, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for externally initiating automatic execution of media inserted into basic removable disc drives.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Current personal computer systems support a variety of storage device drives. These drives may store information on magnetic discs, a.k.a. floppy discs, or on optical discs, such as CD-ROMs or a re-writable phase change discs (PD). Storage discs may be internal; i.e. permanently incorporated into the drive, or the discs may be removable. The drives themselves may be permanent fixtures of a particular computer system or they may be removable. As used herein, the phrase “removable disc drive” means any drive, internal or removable, that accepts removable discs.
Some CD-ROM disc drives provide an internal mechanism to automatically execute programs residing on a CD-ROM upon insertion of the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. This mechanism searches the root directory of the CD-ROM to locate a file called “autorun.inf”. A typical “autorun.inf” file looks like the following:
[AutoRun]
Load=ProgramName.exe
Icon=ProgramName.ico
In response to an “autorun.inf” file the CD-ROM disc drive causes the computer operating system to display the icon for ProgramName and to automatically execute ProgramName.exe.
In contrast to these CD-ROM disc drives, most removable disc drives lack an internal mechanism to automatically initiate execution of autorun.inf files, forcing computer users to take some positive action to initiate execution of programs residing on discs inserted into a removable disc drive. Hereinafter, removable disc drives lacking an internal mechanism to initiate automatic execution of programs stored on removable discs shall be referred to as basic removable disc drives.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The computer readable memory of the present invention enables a computer to initiate automatic execution of removable discs placed in basic removable disc drives. The computer readable memory stores a first, second, and third set of instructions. The first set of instructions directs a computer to determine whether a removable disc has been inserted into a basic removable disc drive. The second set of instructions directs the computer to inform the operating system that the removable disc has been inserted into the basic removable disc drive, causing the operating system to automatically execute an autorun.inf file on the removable disk without any user input. The third set of instructions directs the computer to repeat the execution of the first and second set of instructions while the computer does not seek to power down.
Because the AutoRun functionality of the present invention is realized via software, the present invention avoids both hardware changes to basic removable disc drives and changes to existing operating systems. Users of the present invention need not replace any of their existing system hardware or software to obtain the AutoRun functionality of the present invention. Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and detailed description that follows.
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patent: 5732266 (1998-03-01), Moore et al.
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patent: 6119153 (2000-09-01), Dujari et al.
Livingston, “Have you lost your Autorun capability? Here's a simple fix”, InfoWorld, Jun. 1997, pp 38.*
Mitchell , “Microsoft uses AutoPlay to woo developers”, Computer Retail Week, Jan. 1995, pp 115.*
Jasco, “Multimedia in Windows 95”, Computers in Libraries, Nov. 1995, pp 63.*
Livingston, “Show your users how to configure Win95 shutdown and auto-play”, InfoWorld, Aug. 7, 1995, pp 29.*
Jeffrey Richter, “Q &A Win32”, Microsoft Systems Journal, Sep. 1998, pp. 1-7.
Carr & Ferrell LLP
Chaki Kakali
Veritas Software Corp.
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