Hand-held device filtering
View Patent ↗A filtering method and apparatus for a hand-held computing device such as a palmtop computer. The operating system's program registry is copied and then modified to direct all application data to a filter program such as a virus scanning filter program. If the filter program determines that the object is virus free, the copy of the program registry (filter registry) is queried by the filter program to determine the application program associated with the data object. The data object is then forwarded to the appropriate application program.
1. A method of filtering data objects in a portable computing device, comprising:
receiving a data object at the portable computing device,
referencing a modified version of a program registry to determine a filter program associated with the data object, wherein the modified version of the program registry is a copy of an operating system program registry modified in that all data objects are designated as associated with said filter program;
first directing said data object to said filter program;
carrying out a filtering operation on the data object at the filter program;
determining from a filter registry which application program is associated with the data object, wherein said filter registry associates data objects to respective application programs to which they are to be directed; and
second directing a filtered data object to the application program.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering operation comprises a virus scan of the data object.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein in the event a virus is detected in the filtering operation:
omitting the determining and second directing; and
taking a virus infection avoidance action.
4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the virus infection avoidance action comprises deleting the data object and generating a user notification.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining is carried out by associating one of a creator's ID, a MIME type and a file extension with the application program.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filtering operation comprises an operation that tracks usage of the portable computing device.
7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting that an installation of a new application has taken place; and
updating the modified version of the program registry to associate the new application with the filter program; and
updating the filter registry to associate a data object type with the new application.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the referencing is carried out in one of an Exchange Manager, a ShellExectue function and a Web Browser.
9. A method of virus filtering data objects in a portable computing device, comprising:
receiving a data object at the portable computing device;
referencing a modified version of a program registry to determine a filter program associated with the data object, wherein the modified version of the program registry is a program registry modified in that all data objects are designated as associated with said filter program;
first directing said data object to said filter program;
carrying out a filtering operation on the data object at the filter program;
in the event a virus is detected:
taking a virus infection avoidance action; and
in the even a virus is not detected:
determining from a filter registry which application program is associated with the data object, wherein said filter registry associates data objects with respective application programs to which they are to be directed; and
second directing a filtered data object to the application program.
10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the virus infection avoidance action comprises deleting the data object and generating a user notification.
11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the determining is carried out by associating one of a creator's ID, a MIME type and a file extension with the application program.
12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
detecting that an installation of a new application has taken place; and
updating the modified version of the program registry to associate the new application with the filter program; and
updating the filter registry to associate a data object type with the new application.
13. A portable computing device, comprising:
a processor;
an input for receiving a data object destined for the portable computing device;
a modified version of a program registry that is a program registry modified in that it designates that all data objects received are associated with a filter program;
an exchange manager program that determines that said data object is to be directed to said filter program by referencing the modified version of the program registry;
wherein the filtering program is operable on the processor and carries out a filtering operation on the received data object;
a filter registry that associates application programs with data objects; and
wherein the filter program determines from the filter registry which application program is associated with a received data object and directs the data object to the application program after it has been processed by said filter program.
14. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the filtering operation comprises a virus scan of the data object.
15. The device according to claim 14 , wherein in the event a virus is detected in the filtering operation, the filter program further takes a virus infection avoidance action.
16. The device according to claim 15 , wherein the virus infection avoidance action comprises deleting the data object and generating a user notification.
17. The device according to claim 13 , wherein program associations are made in the filter registry by associating one of a creator's ID, a MIME type and a file extension with the application program.
18. The device according to claim 13 , wherein the filtering operation comprises an operation that tracks usage of the hand-held computer device.
19. The device according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a program for detecting that an installation of a new application has taken place, and for updating the modified version of the program registry to associate the new application with the filter program and for updating the filter registry to associate a data object type with the new application.
20. A portable computing device, comprising:
a processor;
an input for receiving a data object destined for the portable computing device;
a modified version of a program registry that is a program registry modified in that it designates that all data objects received are associated with a filter program;
an exchange manager program that determines that said data object is to be directed to said filter program by referencing the modified version of the program registry;
wherein the filtering program is operable on the processor and carries out a filtering operation on the received data object;
a filter registry that associates application programs with data objects; and
wherein the filter program determines from the filter registry which application program is associated with a received data object and directs the data object to the application program after it has been processed by said filter program; and
wherein in the event a virus is detected in the filtering operation, the filter program further takes a virus infection avoidance action.
21. The device according to claim 20 , wherein the virus infection avoidance action comprises deleting the data object and generating a user notification.
22. The device according to claim 20 , wherein program associations are made by associating one of a creator's ID, a MIME type and a file extension with the application program.
23. The device according to claim 20 , further comprising:
a program for detecting that an installation of a new application has taken place, and for updating the modified version of the program registry to associate the new application with the filter program and for updating the filter registry to associate a data object type with the new application.