US6453334B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus to allow remotely located computer programs and/or data to be accessed on a local computer in a secure, time-limited manner, with persistent caching
Assignee: Numecent Holdings Inc
•
Filing: 1998-06-16
•
Granted: 2002-09-17
•
Expires: 2018-06-16
Abstract
Abstract A file system driver program executes on a local computer. One or more agent procedures is configured to execute on the local computer to access file resources on behalf of a target process. A security process regulates the access of file resources by the agent procedures. The regulation of the agent procedure by the security procedure is based on a property that is unique to the target process.
Inventors
- 👤 Jeffrey Vinson
- 👤 Steig Westerberg
- 👤 Jeffrey DeVries
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 02:57
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/44; G06F9/445; G06F21/00; G06F21/60; G06F21/62; G06F21/6218; H; H04; H04L; H04L65/00; H04L65/60; H04L65/61; H04L67/00; H04L67/01
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
128 words
A file system driver program executing on a local computer, comprising: one or more agent procedures executing on the local computer to access file resources located remote to the local computer, on behalf of a target process executing on the local computer; and a security process executing on the local computer that regulates the access of the file resources by the agent procedures, wherein the security process regulates the access of the file resources by the agent procedures based on a property that is unique to the target process such that the agent procedures can access the file resources on behalf of the target process and the file resources are not visible to processes executing on the local computer other than the agent procedures and the target process.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
128 words
A file system driver program executing on a local computer, comprising: one or more agent procedures executing on the local computer to access file resources located remote to the local computer, on behalf of a target process executing on the local computer; and a security process executing on the local computer that regulates the access of the file resources by the agent procedures, wherein the security process regulates the access of the file resources by the agent procedures based on a property that is unique to the target process such that the agent procedures can access the file resources on behalf of the target process and the file resources are not visible to processes executing on the local computer other than the agent procedures and the target process.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , and further comprising: an identification process by which the agent procedures identify to the security process the property that is unique to the target process.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
46 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , wherein: the file system driver program is being executed by a client computer connected to a computer network, and the at least one agent procedure is accessing at least some of the file resources across the network.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , wherein: the at least one agent procedures is configured to access at least some of the file resources at the local computer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
29 words
The file system driver program of claim 4 , wherein: the file resources of the local computer include portions of the target process held in a local disk cache.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
The file system driver program of claim 5 , wherein the target process portions held in the local disk cache are in encrypted form, and wherein the security process includes a decryption procedure.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , and including regulating access to the agent procedures themselves.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
The file system driver program of claim 7 , wherein the means to regulate access to the agent procedures includes at least one of: password checking procedures; execution counters; and timeout procedures.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
50 words
The file system driver program of claim 7 , and further comprising: communicating across a network with an administrative program executing on a computer other than the local computer, wherein regulating access to the access procedures themselves includes operating at least in part upon data received from the administrative program.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
52 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , wherein: at least a portion of the file resources to which access is regulated by the security process collectively constitute a target process, and at least one client agent procedure reconfigures the environment of the local computer for execution of the target process.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
30 words
The file system driver program of claim 10 , wherein the client agent procedure includes causes the environment of the local computer to be reconfigured based on a reconfiguration database.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
70 words
The file system driver program of claim 11 , wherein the reconfiguration database is generated by steps of: recording an original environment of a testbed computer system; installing the target process on the testbed computer system; determining differences between the original environment of the testbed computer system and the environment of the testbed computer system after installing the target program; and generating the reconfiguration database based on the determined differences.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
32 words
The file system driver program of claim 12 , wherein the steps of generating the reconfiguration database further includes: during the determining step, executing the target process on the test bed computer.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
39 words
The file system driver program of claim 12 , wherein the step of determining differences between the original environment and the environment after installing the target process includes determining a difference in files stored on the testbed computer system.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
43 words
The file system driver program of claim 14 , wherein the step of generating the reconfiguration database based on the determined differences includes recording in the reconfiguration database an indication of the files stored on the testbed computer system determined to be different.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
32 words
The file system driver program of claim 10 , wherein the local computer reconfigures the local computer environment also based on the environment of the local computer before executing the target process.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
34 words
The file system driver program of claim 16 , wherein the client agent procedure further restores the environment of the local computer to the environment of the local computer before executing the target process.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
29 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , and further comprising: communicating across a network with an administrative program executing on a computer other than the local computer.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
32 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , wherein the security process regulates access of the file resources by the agent procedures without regard to properties of the file resources themselves.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
54 words
The file system driver program of claim 1 , wherein: during one access of the file resources by a particular agent procedure, a decision is made whether to grant access to the file resources by that agent procedure; and subsequent accesses of the file resources by that agent procedure are based on the decision.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4562306A
Cited
US5047928A
Cited
US5109413A
Cited
US4949257A
Cited
US4970504A
Cited
US4999806A
Cited
US5166886A
Cited
US5032979A
Cited
US5940591A
Cited
US5311596A
Cited
US5481611A
Cited
US5546526A
Cited
US5548645A
Cited
US5638513A
Cited
US5495411A
Cited
US5553143A
Cited
US5553139A
Cited
US5533123A
Cited
US5630049A
Cited
US5765153A
Cited
US5635906A
Cited
US5838910A
Cited
US6014686A
Cited
US5903732A
Cited
US5950195A
Cited
US5923885A
Cited
US6099408A
Cited
US5926552A
Cited
US6195694B1
Cited
US6167522A
Cited
US6108420A
Cited
US5987608A
Cited
US5968176A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-09-16 | 2006-03-18 | 2006-09-17 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-09-16 | 2010-03-18 | 2010-09-17 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-09-16 | 2014-03-18 | 2014-09-17 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |