Granted Patent B2

US 7,480,745 · App. 11/803,589 · Granted Jan 20, 2009

Abstract

Claims (36)

1. A method for maintaining a computing device connected or not to a peripheral, device, comprising:

receiving an indication of an end of persistence for the peripheral device regardless of whether the peripheral device is actually connected to the computing device;

by the computing device, monitoring for an event related to the end of persistence regardless of whether the peripheral device is actually connected to the computing device; and

by the computing device, fully automatically removing a device driver associated with the peripheral device based on detection of the event related to the end of persistence, wherein the monitoring and the fully automatically removing the device driver occurs regardless of whether the computing device is networked or maintains a network connection.

2. The method for maintaining a computing device according to claim 1 , further comprising storing an indicator of the end of persistence.

3. The method for maintaining a computing device according to claim 2 , wherein the storing an indicator comprises storing the indicator in a database of configuration settings associated with the computing device.

4. The method for maintaining a computing device according to claim 3 , wherein the monitoring for the event comprises monitoring the database of configuration settings associated with the computing device.

5. The method for maintaining a computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring for the event comprises running an event monitoring thread.

6. The method for maintaining a computing device according to claim 5 , further comprising booting the computing device and starting the event monitoring thread after booting the computing device.

7. The method for maintaining a computing device according to claim 1 , further comprising installing the peripheral device on the computing device prior to the monitoring for the event.

8. A computing device configured as a client computer, comprising:

a memory; and

a provider set of executable instructions operable to receive an indication of an end of persistence for a peripheral device regardless of whether the peripheral device is connected to the computing device, to monitor for an event related to the end of persistence, and to fully automatically remove a device driver associated with the peripheral device from the memory based on detection of the event related to the end of persistence, wherein the executable instructions are operable for the monitoring and the fully automatically removing the device driver regardless of whether the computing device is networked or maintains a network connection.

9. The computing device according to claim 8 , wherein a database of configuration information is stored in the memory and wherein the provider set of executable instructions is operable to write an indicator of the end of persistence into the database.

10. A computing environment system, comprising:

a peripheral device; and

a computing device having memory and capable of accessing the peripheral device, the computing device being operable to receive an indication of an end of persistence for the peripheral device regardless of whether the peripheral device is connected to the computing device, to monitor for an event related to the end of persistence, and to fully automatically remove a device driver associated with the peripheral device from the memory based on detection of the event related to the end of persistence, wherein the computing device is capable of the monitoring and the fully automatically removing the device driver regardless of whether the computing device is networked or maintains a network connection.

11. A method for maintaining a computing device connected or not to a peripheral device, comprising:

receiving an indication of an end of persistence for the peripheral device regardless of whether the peripheral device is connected to the computing device;

by the computing device, monitoring for an event related to the end of persistence;

by the computing device, detecting the event; and

by the computing device, fully automatically removing a device driver associated with the peripheral device based on the detecting, wherein the monitoring, the detecting and the fully automatically removing the device driver occurs regardless of whether the computing device is networked or maintains a network connection.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the monitoring for the event related to the end of persistence further includes assessing whether a volatile date and time has been reached.

13. The method of claim 11 , further including setting the end of persistence of the peripheral device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the setting further includes invoking a plugin.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the setting occurs during installing the peripheral device on the computing device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the installing further includes selecting of a peripheral device icon.

17. A method for maintaining a computing device connected or not to the computing device, comprising:

receiving an indication of an end of persistence for a peripheral device regardless of whether the peripheral device is connected to the computing device;

monitoring for an event related to the end of persistence; and

by the computing device, fully automatically removing a device driver associated with the peripheral device based on detection of the event related to the end of persistence, wherein the monitoring and the fully automatically removing the device driver occurs regardless of whether the computing device is networked or maintains a network connection.

18. A method for maintaining a computing device connected or not to a peripheral device, comprising:

receiving an indication of an end of persistence for the peripheral device regardless of whether the peripheral device is connected to the computing device;

monitoring for an event related to the end of persistence;

detecting the event; and

by the computing device, fully automatically removing a device driver associated with the peripheral device based on the detecting.

Assignments (6)