Data processing virus protection circuitry including a permanent memory for storing a redundant partition table

Claim 1

A virus protection system for a data processing system characterized by a central processing unit, a system memory, a permanent data storage including a disk and control means for reading and writing data from and to said disk, respectively, bus system interconnecting said central processing unit, said system memory, and said permanent data storage, said bus system connected to a communication port, wherein instructions are recorded on said disk of said permanent data storage in sector locations thereon determined by a partition table stored on said disk, said data processing system including interrupt logic for controlling a transfer of said instructions to said system memory, the virus protection system comprising: a permanent memory connected to said port and said bus system and having stored thereon a redundant hard disk partition table including means for detecting the transfer of said instructions into a selected portion of said system memory; and a logic circuit, connected to said permanent memory and rendered operational upon detecting said transfer of said instructions into said selected portion of said system memory, for selecting a command to write the redundant hard disk partition table stored on the permanent memory to said disk.