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I cried a little inside just reading that patent name. I know thats not necessarily how patents work, but patenting a network bootloader in 2009? PXE and TFTP h

• pbhjpbhj 14y ago
  If you look at the claims, that define the invention, you see that it's quite specific - the OS has to be an [binary] image, preferences have to be an image, a loader combines them to make a full image and removes the full image from the device when you logoff/poweroff. The removal of the image is in the method claims 8, 17 too. The details will depend on general interpretation and on the detail in the specification but claim 1 appears to contradict the actual operation of the device as in col.7 li. 20 where it says a cached image can be used when the network is down (if you cache it you haven't removed it). That element appears to rely solely on col.6, li. 50 in the specification. So the patent only applies to a device that gathers 2 images from a network, combines the images to make a full OS and remove the full OS from the device at logoff - that strikes me as a pretty weak patent [except maybe in some security applications], no local caching? You can avoid the patent it seems by simply caching or failing to remove the complete OS image (including preferences) when you logout. Obviously I've only made a cursory analysis based on a very brief view of the US B doc.