International Business Machines Corporation

Richard Ian Knox

Colin David McCall

Roger Philip Hoggarth

Howard J Locker

David Benson Rhoades

Richard Wayne Cheston

James K MacKenzie

Gavin Munro Cameron

James Keith Mackenzie

Sohail Syyed

Christopher Carlo Pietrzak

Shaun Carl Kerigan

Frederick S Jackson

Andrew Liam Massey

David William Morton

Campbell Cromer

A method for logging of a remote control session, for use in a remote control system comprising a session initiator operable to initiate a remote control session having a session identifier between a first computer and a second computer and a generator for generating a secure data structure comprising a data structure identifier, the method comprising the steps of: in response to generation by the generator of the secure data structure, initiating an associated first remote control session having a first session identifier; capturing data associated with a remote control function executable by a first computer for control of the second computer during the remote control session; obtaining the data structure identifier; and using the data structure identifier and the first session identifier to store the captured data in the secure data structure associated with the remote control session.

Method for logging of a remote control session

Apparatus for communicating with a server application. A first request is received by a first agent application on a first client computer system from the server application to request that a second agent application on a second client computer system communicate with the server application. Responsive to receiving the first request, a second request is sent by the first agent application to the second agent application on the second client computer system to communicate with the server application.

Client server communication system

Apparatus for communicating with agent applications. A first request is sent by a server application on a server computer system to a first agent application to communicate with the server application. The first agent application is located in a first network. If the first agent application fails to respond to the first request, a second request is sent by the server application to a second agent application to instruct the first agent application to communicate with the server application. The first agent application is located on a first client computer system that is in a zone with a second client computer system on which the second agent application is located.

A data file comprising a plurality of blocks of data may have two or more versions. The meaning of the data file is insensitive to the ordering of the blocks of data within the data file. Updates to the data file may be identified by providing each of said plurality of blocks of data with a first checksum and each of said versions of the data file with a second checksum of the said version of the data file as a whole. The second checksum of the first version of the data file is compared with the second checksum of the second version of the data file. If the comparison indicates that the second checksums of the first and second versions of the data file differ, then the first checksums of each of said plurality of blocks of data of the first and second versions of the data file are compared and an indication is provided of which of the plurality of blocks of data differs between the first and second versions of the data file.

Real time XML data update identification

In a computer system, a user action can cause a computer program to perform actions which may destroy data stored on the computer or on an associated computer. User actions are managed to reduce this possibility by testing the consequences of the user action and if the consequences of the user action are benign, the user action is completed. If the consequences are not benign, a delay period prior to completing the user action is initiated. During this delay period, the user is able to cancel the user action.

Cooling-off period for destructive software

Methods of booting a client data processing system attached to a control data processing system in a data processing network. At power-on or re-boot of a client system, an initial program load request is issued from the client system onto the network and responsive to the receipt of the initial program load request at the control system, bootstrap code is transferred to the client to cause the client to boot from operating system code stored on a mass storage device of the client; alternatively, bootstrap code is transferred to the client system to cause the client to boot from operating system stored on a mass storage device of the client, or bootstrap code is transferred to cause the client system to boot from the control system.

Initial program load in data processing network

A method, system and computer program product in which half of the storage space on a non-volatile storage device is used to maintain a copy of the last 'known-good' copy of the operating system and on invocation by a user, restoring from this backup copy when, for example, the operating system has become corrupted due to changes made to settings or device drivers.

Method and system for recovering from operating system failure

An analogue display interface apparatus for providing analog color signals to a digital display unit includes a table look-up mechanism that provides digital representations of color signals to a color palette, wherein some of the values stored in the lookup table are received from the output of a calibration mechanism that displays a plurality of color choices on the digital display unit for selection by a user.

Analog display interface storing color values based upon user controlled

A data processing network comprises a plurality of client systems and a controlling system operable to issue wake-up requests to the client systems to cause the client systems to issue boot requests onto the network for servicing by a connected server system. The controlling system, which may be embodied in the server system or in a separate system issues the wake-up requests in accordance with a wake-up schedule calculated, for each client, to complete the boot process for that client before a target start-up time when a client user wishes to use the client system.

Automatic wake-up of systems in a data processing network

An error recovery technique is provided which is used during the automatic installation of software on a client data processing system from a connected server data processing system. The installation process is made up of a plurality of operations executing on the client, for example format client disk drive, load DOS, load Windows etc. Monitoring the successful completion of each of these operations on the client is watchdog timer code which preferably takes the form of device driver software received from the server system early in the installation process. At the beginning of each operation, a preselected time value is written to a counter in the watchdog timer, this time value representing a time period which is greater than the time normally taken for the operation to complete. If the counter expires before the operation is complete (if for example the server system or network fails), the client invokes an error recovery procedure which may for example involve rebooting the client.

Automatic error recovery in data processing systems

A data processing network has a client connected to first and second servers in which the first and second servers are operable to communicate with the network according to first and second incompatible data communication protocols. The client is operable to issue, onto the network, a first initial boot request (e.g. RPL) according to the first data communication protocol (IEEE 802.2) and the first server is operable, in response to the client request to send BOOTP bootstrap code to the client system. The BOOTP bootstrap code is loaded into client memory and when executed causes the client to issue a BOOTP request for servicing by the second server system.

Data processing network with boot process using multiple servers

Apparatus for setting the color point of a color display device comprises a video signal generator for generating an image on the display device and a color analyzer for measuring the chromaticity of the image to produce digital coordinates corresponding to the color point of the image on a chromaticity reference chart. The apparatus further comprises a computer system connected to the color analyzer. The computer system includes interface means for reading the digital coordinates from the color analyzer, display means for displaying a cursor at a point corresponding to the coordinates within a graphical representation of the reference chart, and processor means for moving the cursor within the graphical representation in response to a change in the coordinates read from the color analyzer. The apparatus advantageously permits rapid adjustment of the color point of a display device to a desired value with a high level of measurement repeatability. Any recalibration of the apparatus can be performed by adjusting a set of digital values stored in the computer system.

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Lochwinnoch, United Kingdom

Richard Ian Knox