United States Patent 7,246,226, filed on August 29, 2006 and published today, July 17, 2007, and assigned to Apple Inc. decribes a “method and apparatus rendering user accounts portable.”
The Patent Application’s Abstract reads:
Improved approaches for enabling user accounts to be portable across different multi-user computer systems are disclosed. A user account created at a multi-user computer can be stored to an external, portable data store, thereby rendering the user account portable. The multi-user computer system, e.g., through its operating system, locates user accounts on not only in local storage of the multi-user computer system, but also in any removable data storage attached to the multi-user computer system. Hence, by coupling the external, portable data store to another multi-user computer, a user is able to login to any supporting multi-user computer and be presented with their user configuration and user directory. Since the data store that stores the user account is not only external but also portable, a user can simply tote the data store to the location of different multi-user computers. In one embodiment, the external, portable data store can not only store the user account but can also provide general data storage. In another embodiment, the external, portable data store can be a portion of a portable computing device (e.g., media player) that provides other functionality besides data storage.
Much more here.
ipod home directory 10.5 here we come
:-0
Let the fun begin!!! We are now having a group event!!!
This is a VERY big deal!!!
Secure transport of my “stuff” wil change how I deal with computers at home, office, play, etc!!!
Nice!
Sweet!! Lots of possibilities.
This could be one of those Leopard secret features. Put your user settings on a USB drive or even on .mac. This could be huge for universities.
Amigo software did something a bit similar ob the PC but it never really took off. I love to see Apple implement a portable account system soon that allow travel of our home directory in an iShuffle
All within the road map… The iPod/iPhone/iHome has been destined to be our key/hub/home. We can transport our identities with us and plug in anywhere… great for work, home and traveling.
IMHO Steve has had this in mind all along.
Jb
MDN Magic Word: public (as in, public folder)
Wow. Its good to see Apple is patenting something no one has ever implemented or thought of before. Not. What a joke.
OMG!?! CAN I USE MY IPHONSORZ!?!?
Yes, this does seem to point at the “Major Overhaul” Steve eluded to a while back with respect to .Mac’s services.
“…This could be one of those Leopard secret features.”
———-
Um, there are no more “secret” Leopard features.. All has been revealed and Leopard has been distributed to developers for a month already.
Great! Now I can justify the purchase of an 80 Gig iPod!
welcome to the social!
YES, format my hardrive, any way, my profile is on my iPhone…
For the ones who were at the WWDC 07, we saw it in action during a demo. Very cool !!!!
Seriously – it’s been done and is not a revolutionary concept – but if they don’t file a preemptive patent and then defend it, someone else will.
This is not the way things should be – but that’s the way they are. Sad.
“Seriously – it’s been done…”
Not like this it hasn’t. Like Siebel says, it was demoed @ WWDC and is very cool indeed.
Please , in plain words, what is this??
No, no, no, not “iPod home directory here I come!” crap.
iTunes mobile kids. Access all your content, anywhere, anytime. The days of duplicating files on your computer, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV are coming to an end, thank goodness!
3G of course needed for true feasibility, but it commeth soon enough.
How does this warrant a patent?
Plus it is a bad idea. If I lose my portable account thumb-drive, iPod or iPhone then I have lost EVERYTHING. This is why the sync function of the iPod is so good. Maybe it could sync with .Mac first.
To hotinplaya:
When a user account is created and is synchronized with a mobile account (on any USB or FireWire devices like USB key, portable drive, iPod or even iPhone I presume), the account is recognized and added at the login by Leopard.
So let say I have a mobile account on a USB drive, when I connect the drive to any macs, at the login, my user account will be added within the list of all the accounts on the screen of the mac and I will be able to login on my device like if it was locally on the hard drive of the mac.
All my preferences, applications, documents are applied and available. When I logout, I can unplug my device and login on another mac using the same steps.
Also, my mobile account is or could (not sure) synchronized with a network account so all changes (preferences, new files, …) are reflected to my network account.
So, no need to store all data on the local hard drive of a mac. Your hard drive is your mobile device.
A big organization can provide macs without local hard drive space and rely on mobile device for every users data (like a university). The mac is not assign to you, you consume CPU cycles on demand and you logout when you’re done.
This is just another of the 200 patent’s associated with the iphone.
For those of you who have kept in touch with why it is proving difficult to hack into the iphone, it is that security system that will act as a gateway for the owner of the portable media to access their account on the fly (so to speak).
Your iphone has already set up your account, your account resides somewhere either on an Xserve or Xserve Raid in Cupertino or at AT&T. Every time you’re online, your account is active and therefor your settings accesible. More will be revealed about this feature later when more people begin to use it more & more.
@tre, the beta of leopard is not complete, iTunes, Safari and iChat are the only applications that are included, leopard Safari and iTunes are the same as the current version for tiger.
so yes, this could be (and probably is) one of the unrevealed features of leopard.
Apple has shown all the API’s to the developers, so that they can adapt their apps, but they did not show all the features at all, no iPhoto or any other iApps (except those named above
even the system preferences are identical to tiger.
Having all your info synced and at your fingertips wherever you go is the real magic of the iPhone in the near future, and why other manufacturers are going to be hard pressed to keep up with Apple. This type of tight, seemless integration is near impossible with the third parties as we have already witnessed from the cell makers and MP3 makers that have to rely on Windows, Palm, or Symbian. The future hold a lot of pain for the “competition” until one of them gets serious about developing a desktop OS to compete woth OS X over multiple devices.
“If I lose my portable account thumb-drive, iPod or iPhone then I have lost EVERYTHING.”
Not if it’s backed up with Time Machine, and encrypted on the portable device.
Working at the USPTO, I get to see all the Apple patents 18 months before you get to see them
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(They are published, under most circumstances, 18 months from filing date). So that patent app was actually filed by Apple a year and a half ago.
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