System for transparently storing inputs to non-volatile storage and automatically re-entering them to reconstruct work if volatile memory is lost

摘要

A system for preventing permanent loss of work product from a volatile memory (30) of an information processing device (12) when such work is temporarily lost, erased, or corrupted owing to power failure, equipment malfunction, operator error, or other misadventure. When the information processing device (12) is turned on, the system is automatically loaded from a non-volatile memory (44) into a volatile memory (14) where it then resides (block 32). The system thereafter causes every substantive input (including data, positional information, and data formatting and manipulating instructions, but not ancillary inputs such as a view directory or print command) to the information processing device (12) to be stored immediately, and essentially quantum by quantum, in the non- volatile memory (44) concurrently with its initial processing in the volatile memory (14). When work is lost from the volatile memory (14), the system reconstructs it either automatically or semi-automatically, as selected by the operator. In the reconstruction process, the system retrieves inputs previously stored in the non- volatile memory (44) and re- enters them, with appropriate timing, into the information processing device (12) for re-processing as if they were being entered all over again manually. By this method, the system reconstructs temporarily lost work substantially as it existed at the instant it was lost, and the system thereby prevents permanent loss of such work automatically, easily, completely, and reliably.