Patent Application

App. No. 15/626,807

Abstract

Claims (144)

1 . A method for execution by a computing device when paired with a specific computing device token, the method comprises:

detecting a coupling of the computing device to the specific computing device token;

sending an availability query request to the specific computing device token;

receiving a favorable availability query response from the specific computing device token;

receiving user activation information;

transmitting user activation information to the specific computing device token;

receiving, from the specific computing device token, a distributed storage network (DSN) access request to DSN memory, wherein the DSN access request identifies specific computing device operation information that is stored as one or more of sets of encoded data slices in the DSN memory and wherein the specific computing device operation information was encoded using a dispersed storage error encoding function to produce the one or more of sets of encoded data slices;

transmitting the distributed storage network (DSN) access request to DSN memory;

receiving the one or more of sets of encoded data slices from the DSN memory;

transmitting the one or more of sets of encoded data slices from the DSN memory to specific computing device token;

receiving, from the specific computing device token, decoded specific computing device operation information, wherein the specific computing device operation information is sufficient to activate virtual machine operation by the computing device;

executing one or more applications in response to the specific computing device operation information;

detecting an end of virtual machine operation;

capturing a subsequent configuration to produce subsequent configuration information;

transmitting the subsequent configuration information to the specific computing device token;

receiving encoded subsequent configuration information from the specific computing device token, wherein the subsequent configuration information was encoded using a dispersed storage error encoding function to produce the one or more of sets of encoded data slices; and

transmitting the encoded subsequent configuration information to the DSN.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprises:

when the receiving from the specific computing device token of decoded specific computing device operation information receiving an indication of an application has been completed;

retrieving a plurality of sets of encoded data slices from the DSN memory, wherein the plurality of sets of encoded data slices is a dispersed storage error encoded representation of at least a portion of a file;

decoding the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to recapture data of the at least a portion of the file; and

executing the indicated application on the data.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the decoded specific computing device operation information comprises one or more of:

at least a portion of a user application;

at least a portion of a system level application;

at least a portion of a file; and

at least a portion of a file directory.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual machine operation emulates an authorized distributed storage processing unit.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsequent configuration information comprises at least one of:

an active software application identifier (ID);

a current machine state indicator;

a current machine pointer value;

a current machine register value;

a next machine instruction ID;

a current data register data;

a signature;

a key;

virtual memory configuration information; and

computing device hardware configuration information.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the capturing a subsequent configuration to produce subsequent configuration information comprises:

reading current configuration information;

identifying current configuration information; and

adding a timestamp to the subsequent configuration information.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting a coupling of the computing device to the specific computing device token is based on the computing device receiving communication via at least one of:

a universal serial bus (USB) interface module;

a Bluetooth interface module;

a fire-wire interface module;

a 60 GHz wireless transceiver; and

a Wi-Fi interface module.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific computing device operation information comprises one or more of:

operating system information;

software application information;

file information;

a machine state indicator;

a machine pointer value;

a machine register value;

a machine stack value set;

a next machine instruction ID;

a data register data;

a signature;

a key;

virtual memory configuration information; and

computing device hardware configuration information.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user activation information comprises one or more of:

an active indicator;

an identifier (ID) of the computing device;

a password;

a user ID;

a signature;

a public key;

a credential;

a vault identifier;

a user identifier;

an access code;

a timestamp associated with a previous specific computing device operation information; and

an identifier for operation information of the specific computing device.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprises:

receiving a notice that authentication is complete, wherein the authenticating is complete when a user ID and a password compare favorably to authentication information of the of the specific computing device token; and

establishing a pairing state with specific computing device token.

11 . The method of claim 1 further comprises:

a securing the computing device memory, wherein the securing the computing device memory includes at least one of clearing at least a portion of the computing device memory, setting at least a portion of the computing device memory to one or more default values, facilitating reversion of values of at least a portion of the computing device memory to one or more previous values, erasing the computing device memory, and encrypting values of the computing device memory to produce encrypted values and storing encrypted values in the computing device memory to replace the values.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the computing device memory includes a main memory and a secure memory module and further wherein the secure memory module is operable to secure the main memory.

13 . A computing device comprises:

a first module, when operable within a computing device, causes the computing device to:

detect a coupling of the computing device to a specific computing device token;

send an availability query request to the specific computing device token;

receive a favorable availability query response from the specific computing device token;

receive user activation information; and

transmit user activation information to the specific computing device token;

a second module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive, from the specific computing device token, a distributed storage network (DSN) access request to DSN memory, wherein the DSN access request identifies specific computing device operation information that is stored as one or more of sets of encoded data slices in the DSN memory and wherein the specific computing device operation information was encoded using a dispersed storage error encoding function to produce the one or more of sets of encoded data slices;

a third module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:

transmit the distributed storage network (DSN) access request to DSN memory;

receive the one or more of sets of encoded data slices from the DSN memory; and

transmit the one or more of sets of encoded data slices from the DSN memory to specific computing device token;

a fourth module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive, from the specific computing device token, decoded specific computing device operation information, wherein the specific computing device operation information is sufficient to activate virtual machine operation by the computing device; and

execute one or more applications in response to the specific computing device operation information;

a fifth module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:

capture a subsequent configuration to produce subsequent configuration information;

transmit the subsequent configuration information to the specific computing device token;

receive encoded subsequent configuration information from the specific computing device token, wherein the subsequent configuration information was encoded using a dispersed storage error encoding function to produce the one or more of sets of encoded data slices; and

transmit the encoded subsequent configuration information to the DSN.

14 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the decoded specific computing device operation information of the second module comprises one or more of:

at least a portion of a user application;

at least a portion of a system level application;

at least a portion of a file; and

at least a portion of a file directory.

15 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the subsequent configuration information of the fifth module comprises at least one of:

an active software application identifier (ID);

a current machine state indicator;

a current machine pointer value;

a current machine register value;

a next machine instruction ID;

a current data register data;

a signature;

a key;

virtual memory configuration information; and

computing device hardware configuration information.

16 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the capture the subsequent configuration information of the fifth module comprises:

reading current configuration information;

identifying current configuration information; and

adding a timestamp to the subsequent configuration information.

17 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the virtual machine operation of the fourth module emulates an authorized distributed storage processing unit.

18 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the detect a coupling of the computing device to the specific computing device token of the first module is based on the computing device receiving communication via at least one of:

a universal serial bus (USB) interface module;

a Bluetooth interface module;

a fire-wire interface module;

a 60 GHz wireless transceiver; and

a Wi-Fi interface module.

19 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the user activation information of the first module comprises one or more of:

an active indicator;

an identifier (ID) of the computing device;

a password;

a user ID;

a signature;

a public key;

a credential;

a vault identifier;

a user identifier;

an access code;

a timestamp associated with a previous specific computing device operation information; and

an identifier for operation information of the specific computing device.

20 . The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the computing device memory of the fifth module includes a main memory and a secure memory module and further wherein the secure memory module is operable to secure the main memory.

Assignments (8)