Apple patent lets you transfer user account from computer to computer

Posted by Dennis Sellers May 20, 2008 at 4:44am

You may soon be able to transfer your user account from computer to computer, according to an Apple patent (number 737824) filed at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The invention relates generally to multi-user computer systems and, more particularly, user account management for multi-user computer systems.

Improved approaches for enabling user accounts to be portable across different multi-user computer systems are disclosed. A user account created at a multi-user computer can be stored to an external, portable data store, rendering the user account portable. The multi-user computer system, e.g., through its operating system, locates user accounts on not only in local storage of the multi-user computer system, but also in any removable data storage attached to the multi-user computer system.

This means that, by coupling the external, portable data store to another multi-user computer, a user is able to log in to any supporting multi-user computer and be presented with their user configuration and user directory. Since the data store that stores the user account is not only external but also portable, a user can simply tote the data store to the location of different multi-user computers.

In one embodiment, the external, portable data store can not only store the user account but can also provide general data storage. In another embodiment, the external, portable data store can be a portion of a portable computing device (e.g., media player) that provides other functionality besides data storage.

The inventors are Robert T. Bowers and Steve Ko. The graphic below is a simplified block diagram of a multi-user computer system according to one embodiment of the invention.

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