Changing the personality of a device by intercepting requests for personality information

Abstract

A method and system for a target to adopt the personality of a source without loading the personality information of the source onto the target is provided. The personality system extracts personality information from the source and stores the personality information on a removable storage medium. The storage medium is then connected to the target. The personality system intercepts requests of the target to retrieve personality information, which but for the interception would be serviced based on personality information of the target. When a request is intercepted, the personality system retrieves the personality information from the connected storage medium, rather than from the personality information of the target. The personality system then replies to the request with the retrieved personality information.

1 . A method in a target for adopting a personality of a source, the target having personality information, the method comprising: 
 providing a storage medium containing personality information of the source;    intercepting requests to retrieve personality information of the target; and    when a request is intercepted, 
 retrieving personality information of the provided storage medium; and  
 replying to the request with the retrieved personality information of the storage medium, rather than the personality information of the target.  
   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the personality information includes configuration information.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein when the storage medium is installed on the target, loading a program from the storage medium onto the target for intercepting the requests.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the personality information stored on the storage medium is in a canonical form.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  including before replying to the request, converting the retrieved information from the canonical form to a target-specific form.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  including for each process created at the target, injecting code into the process to intercept requests to retrieve personality information.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the personality information of the storage medium is not copied to a personality information store of the target.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the personality information of the storage medium is not copied to a persistent storage medium of the target.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the storage medium is a USB device.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the intercepting of requests includes installing a startup interceptor DLL that is to be loaded as part of each process and that executes before other code of the process.  
   
   
       11 . A computer-readable storage medium containing: 
 extraction software for extracting personality information from a source and storing the extracted personality information on the storage medium;    personality information extracted from the source; and    adoption software for enabling the target to adopt the personality of the source by using the personality information stored on the storage medium as the personality of the target without storing the personality information on a persistent storage medium of the target.    
   
   
       12 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11  wherein the adoption software causes requests of the target for personality information to be intercepted and replies to be generated based on the personality information of the storage medium.  
   
   
       13 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11  wherein the personality information is stored in a canonical form.  
   
   
       14 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 11  containing software that is automatically executed when the storage medium is connected to the source or the target.  
   
   
       15 . A method in a target for adopting a personality of a source, the target having personality information, the method comprising: 
 intercepting requests to retrieve personality information of the target; and    when a request is intercepted, 
 retrieving personality information of the source; and  
 replying to the request with the retrieved personality information of the source, rather than the personality information of the target,  
 wherein the personality information of the source is not stored on to a personality information store of the target.  
   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the retrieving includes sending a request to the source to retrieve personality information of the source.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the retrieving includes accessing a storage medium that contains personality information extracted from the source.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the personality information includes configuration information.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the retrieved personality information is in a canonical form.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19  including before replying to the request, converting the retrieved information from the canonical form to a target-specific form.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 15  including for each process created at the target, injecting code into the process to intercept requests to retrieve personality information.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the personality information store of the target is stored on a persistent storage medium.  
   
   
       23 . A system for a target to adopt the personality of a source, the target having personality information, comprising: 
 a component that intercepts requests to retrieve personality information of the target; and    a component that, when a request is intercepted, retrieves personality information of a source and replies to the request with the retrieved personality information of the source, rather than the personality information of the target,    wherein the personality information of the source is not stored on to a personality information store of the target.    
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the component that retrieves sends a request to the source to retrieve personality information of the source.  
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the component that retrieves accesses a storage medium that contains personality information extracted from the source.  
   
   
       26 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the retrieved personality information is in a canonical form.  
   
   
       27 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the component that replies to the request converts the retrieved information from the canonical form to a target-specific form.  
   
   
       28 . The system of  claim 23  including a component that injects code into a process to intercept requests to retrieve personality information.  
   
   
       29 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the personality information store of the target is stored on a persistent storage medium.  
   
   
       30 . The system of  claim 23  wherein the component that intercepts requests is a startup interceptor DLL that is loaded as part of each process and that executes before other code of the process.