Abstract: A programmable electronic device automatically identifies at least a portion of a system configuration for the programmable electronic device and automatically generates an image request based at least in part on the identified system configuration. The programmable electronic device transmits the image request over one or more networks to a server, receives an image of operating system software, and installs the received image.

Abstract: A portable personal configuration device contains non-volatile memory and can be used to quickly and efficiently transport a user's personalized computing environment from one computer to another. The portable personal configuration device preferably is USB-compatible and thus plugs into a USB port in any computing device. In one embodiment, one or more files representing the user's computing environment are downloaded to the portable device and can then be uploaded to a different computer once connected to such new computer. Alternatively, the portable device can cause the computer's web browser to access a particular website containing the user's personalized computing environment which can then be readily downloaded to the computer. In this latter embodiment, the user's computing environment data is maintained on the web and once the portable device is plugged into a computer, the computer is caused to download the user's computing environment from the web.

Abstract: A remote flash ROM and security package is formed and delivered to a system ROM of a target computer system for remote flashing of the ROM and remote configuration of security settings for the computer system. The remote flash ROM and security package includes flash ROM and security control code for calling a remote flash and security driver to execute a remote flash or to remotely configure a security setting, a file containing a “signed” ROM image to be flashed to the ROM, a security settings file which preferably is encrypted, and a remote flash and security control container for containing the flash ROM and security code, the ROM image, and the security settings file. The remote flash and security driver may be included in the remote flash ROM and security package or may be resident to the target computer system. In the preferred embodiment, the computer system includes a secure memory device containing an administrator password for locking and unlocking the ROM.

Abstract: Print/no-print values are assigned to individual picture elements (pixels) representative of a document to be reproduced or displayed for text, continuous tone, and halftone data. The image data comprises gray scale values individually representative of pixels of a document to be printed or displayed on a bilevel device. The image data is partitioned into data blocks of 2.sup.n .times.2.sup.n matrices of contiguous image data. The average tone density of each data block is determined and a corresponding number specifies how many of the total number of pixels of each data block are to be printed. Each data block is subpartitioned into subblocks comprising contiguous quarters of the block subpartitioned. The pixels to be printed for each subpartitioned block are divided among the subblocks based on the ratio of the average densities of the subblocks to the average density of the subpartitioned block.