US 7117302

Here is a concise summary of US patent 7117302:

• Title: Boot techniques involving tape media
• Assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Co LP (Original Assignee), currently Google LLC
• Inventors: Bruce A. Lundeby, Lin Zhang, Raymond Henry
• Filing Date: 2005-02-28
• Issue Date: 2006-10-03
• Abstract: In at least some embodiments, a system comprises a computer configured to boot using at least one of a plurality of boot techniques involving tape media. The system further comprises a tape drive coupled to the computer and a tape that is readable by the tape drive, wherein the tape is formatted to support a plurality of different boot techniques and wherein at least one of the supported boot techniques is compatible with the computer.

Plain-language overview of the independent claim:

• Claim 1: This patent describes a tape device that contains tape memory. This tape memory is specially formatted to allow for multiple different ways (boot techniques) to start up a computer. Crucially, the tape memory includes a "header" which acts like a table of contents. This header identifies that the tape is a boot tape, lists all the different boot techniques it supports, and points to the specific locations on the tape where the necessary bootloader files for each technique can be found. Additionally, a part of this header is designed to be expandable, so it can support new boot techniques in the future.

No information was found regarding US patent 7117302 in the CAFC 2026 dockets.