International Business Machines Corporation

Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Masahiko Shinomura

Takashi Oshiyama

Naoki Harada

Michael Terrell Vanover

Joseph Michael Pennisi

Philip Lee Childs

Adam Miles Smith

Tomoki Maruichi

Lisa Louise Carter

Ken Inoue

Terry A Buschbach

The invention broadly contemplates locking methods and arrangements for electronic devices, including laptop personal computing (PC) devices. The invention provides methods and arrangements for authorizing remote devices, such as cellular phones, to control the locking of electronic devices, such as laptop PCs. After receipt of a lock message from an authorized device at a guaranteed buffer, the laptop PC becomes locked such that only an authorized user may enable the functionality of the device.

Remote locking arrangements for electronic devices

A superior data sending apparatus has an alternate forwarding function for the exchange of data by different receiving terminal models. A sender attempts to send a message to one of several receiving terminals carried by a receiver. When communication is not established under a predetermined condition, e.g., within a predetermined period of time, the sender then tries alternate message forwarding to another receiving terminal carried by the same receiver. Since alternate forwarding is automatically performed in accordance with alternate forwarding information registered in advance, no effort is required of a user. Even when the received data processing capability (e.g., the input available character size) differs between the originally designated receiving terminal and the alternate receiving terminal, the system changes the format of the contents of message or the size of the message to one that is adequate, so that an alternate, seamless forwarding can be implemented.

System for sending an e-mail message to a first type of terminal based

According to the present invention, illegal invasion (i.e., access to secret data) from an installed PC card of an information processing apparatus can be appropriately prevented. When an operating mode enters a security mode, a personal computer performs a pseudo operation as though a device were not installed therein, regardless of whether the device is actually installed. During the security mode, therefore, power is not supplied to the installed device so that it does not become active. During this mode, the information processing apparatus can not exchange data with the installed device.

Information processing apparatus and a control method

A superior method for automatically enabling a PC card whereby, when a PC card that can be driven only by a DOS/Windows 3.x device driver is inserted, the PC card is enabled by that device driver, and whereby, when a PC card is inserted that can be driven by a Windows 95 native mode device driver, the PC card is enabled by that device driver. In one form the invention is directed to a method, for automatically enabling a PC card, that can be applied to an information processing system that is controlled by an operating system having either a 32-bit mode or a 16-bit mode, and that have a plurality of device drivers for both a 32-bit mode and a 16-bit mode, comprises the steps of: (a) detecting an insertion event when a PC card is inserted into the information processing system; (b) giving priority, in response to the insertion event, to the device driver of the 16-bit mode in enabling the PC card; and (c) giving chance, in response to the insertion event, to the device driver of the 32-bit mode in enabling the PC card if the PC card is not enabled by the device driver of the 16-bit mode. In another form the invention is directed to a computer implemented program operable to practice the aforementioned method.

Method for automatically enabling peripheral devices and a storage

A computer unit and multiple I/O adapter units are interconnectable in a variety of different plug attachment configurations which may be frequently altered in normal use of the system. An arrangement is provided for automatically initializing adapter units which are currently connected to the computer unit to operating states uniquely suited to the current configuration of connections. In the arrangement, non-volatile storage means retentively stores multiple sets of configuration state information, each set corresponding to a different configuration of connections between the adapter units and the computer unit. Means operating during each initialization of the system detects identities (ID's) of adapter units currently connected to the computer unit, and compares them to ID's associatively stored with the configuration state information. When a corresponding set of ID's is found, the associated configuration state information is retrieved and used for initializing the currently connected adapter units to operating states uniquely suited to the detected configuration of ID's. In the disclosed embodiment, information associated with the adapter unit configuration existing when system power was last turned off is stored in both a non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) and in a reserved area of a hard disk drive (HDD) which holds information associated with both the presently existing adapter configuration and previously existing configurations. Detected ID's of currently connected adapter units are compared first to identity information in NVRAM, and if a match is detected the associated state information in NVRAM is used to initialize the currently connected adapter units. If a mismatch is detected, the detected unit ID's are compared to sets of ID's contained in index functions stored in the HDD. If a match is found in this comparison, configuration state information associated with the respective index function is retrieved, written to NVRAM and applied to the currently connected adapter units. This arrangement is particularly useful for automatically initializing portable computer systems which can operate either standalone or docked/connected to one or more desktop expansion units.

Growing community of inventors

Machida, Japan

Masahiko Shinomura