Patent Application
20060129878
The present invention relates to computer restoration techniques, and more particularly, to a method and system for configuring a replacement computer of a different type or brand than that being replaced, and for restoring a computer in which some hardware has changed.
A restoration service provider backs up desired restoration information of a client computer which can be later used for restoring the client computer or for configuring a replacement computer. Such desired restoration information may include hardware configurations, installed software applications and their settings, data files, and other information associated with the client computer. It may even back up all the data in the entire hard drive and advantageously store it as an image of the hard drive. Preferably, as illustrated in
When the client computer 20 needs to be restored (e.g., after it crashes), the restoration information backed up in the server 10 is downloaded to the client computer 20 for restoration. If the client computer 20 is replaced by a new computer, the restoration information can be used to configure the new replacement computer in a manner identical same as that of the replaced one. This significantly saves labor and time for restoring the client computer or configuring the replacement computer.
However, if the client computer 20 is replaced by a computer of a different type or brand, some drivers that worked properly for the original (replaced) computer may not work for the new (replacement) computer because they are hardware specific. Thus, the driver information in the backed up restoration information may not be useful to configure a replacement computer if the replacement computer is of a different type or brand. Similarly, if some hardware of the client computer 20 is replaced with hardware of new model or brand, the restoration information may not work for all the hardware. In such situations, more human involvement is unavoidable.
Thus, there exists a need for a solution for efficiently and automatically configuring a replacement computer of a different type or brand from that of the original computer to be replaced, or a client computer in which some hardware has changed.
The present invention provides a method and system for restoring or configuring a client computer in which the restoration information obtained from an original computer is saved in a server and is provided to a client computer for restoration or configuration. In particular, as taught by the present invention, all the drivers available in an operating system in said client computer are turned on and fully activated. The backed up version of the client computer information contains fully activated drivers for various types and brands of hardware, even those not operable with the type or brand of hardware being used as the client computer. If a new type or brand of computer replaces the client computer, then the backed up version of the client computer information will still be operable, as long as the drivers associated with the new type or brand of computer are supported by the operating system.
The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will be clearer by reading the detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
As schematically illustrated in
The restoration information backed up in the storage 11 is obtained from an original computer, which may be the client computer 20 itself or may be a previous computer replaced by the client computer 20. Therefore, the restoration information can be provided to the client computer 20 either to restore it to have the previous configuration and settings if it was the same computer as the original one, or to configure the client computer 20 to have the same configuration and settings as those of the original computer replaced by the client computer 20. However, when some hardware in the client computer 20 has changed, or when the client computer 20 is of a different type or brand from that of the original computer, the driver information in the restoration information may not work for this new hardware because many drivers are hardware specific. Even though the drivers for this new hardware are available in the operating system, such as Windows, they are normally not turned on. Instead, only the drivers specific to the hardware in which the operating system is installed are turned on.
According to the teachings of the present invention, an agent software application 21 is provided to run on the client computer 20 to turn on all the drivers available in the operating system installed in the client computer 20 initially. Thus, when the client computer 20 is of a new type/brand or some hardware in the client computer 20 is changed, the drivers required for the new computer/hardware can be automatically utilized by the operating system, and the restoration/configuration process can be carried out smoothly with the downloaded restoration information.
Preferably, the agent software application 21 is downloaded from the server 10 over the data connection 12 together with the restoration information. This is particular advantageous when the client computer 20 is a new computer for replacement an original one.
In the foregoing embodiment of the invention, the remote server 10 downloads an agent to a client that turns on driver that would otherwise not normally be turned on the by the client computer.
In another preferred embodiment as illustrated in
The above has described in detail the preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, it shall be appreciated that, without departing the spirit of the present invention, numerous variations, adaptations and modifications are available to people of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the agent software application may always turn on all the drivers in the client computer no matter whether there is a change in the hardware or computer type/brand, thus omitting the determination step 203, 303. The agent software application 21 may be installed in the client computer 20 from a disk, or it may have been installed in the client computer 20 in a previous restoration session. Checking the computer type/brand and turning on the drivers may be carried out by running two separate software applications instead of a single agent software application 21. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is intended to be defined solely by the accompanying claims.
