1. A system for improving the performance of a plurality of peripheral devices, comprising:
a first peripheral device comprising a first software component and having a first functionality; and
a second peripheral device coupled to the first peripheral device via a network, the second peripheral device comprising a second software component and having a second functionality, the second peripheral device being coupled to the first peripheral device without being directly connected to an intermediate computing device positioned along the communication path between the peripheral devices, the first and second peripheral devices together performing a third functionality in addition to the first and second functionalities;
wherein the first peripheral device comprises a peripheral device display on which can be presented a graphical user interface that presents the third functionality to a user for selection
wherein the first software component of the first peripheral device and the second software component of the second peripheral device allow the first and second peripheral devices to exchange information over a network pertaining to the identity of the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information exchanged between the first and second peripheral devices further comprises information relating to the capabilities of the first peripheral device and the second peripheral device.
3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first peripheral device modifies its capabilities based on the information received from the second peripheral device.
4. The system of claim 2, wherein the first peripheral device presents to a user with the graphical user interface a menu of available functionality based on the information received from the second peripheral device.
5. A method practiced by a personal computer (PC) for providing additional functionality from peripheral devices, the method comprising:
searching for and identifying peripheral devices that are accessible to the PC;
determining the capabilities of each identified peripheral device using the PC; and
presenting to the user with the PC a functionality that is available through combination of the capabilities of the identified peripheral devices, the functionality being a functionality that is not independently provided by the identified peripheral devices.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the capabilities of the identified peripheral devices comprises automatically querying all peripheral devices on a network to which the PC is connected.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the capabilities of the identified peripheral devices further comprises receiving information from peripheral device software provided on each identified peripheral device.
8. The method of claim 5, further comprising storing information about the peripheral device capabilities in a registry of the PC.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein presenting a functionality to the user comprises presenting the functionality to the user with a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display associated with the PC.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the GUI comprises a pull-down menu.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the GUI displays the complete set of tasks that can be performed through combination of the capabilities of the identified peripheral devices.
12. The method of claim 5, wherein presenting a functionality to the user comprises presenting a copying functionality that is available due to a scanning capability of a scanner and a printing capability of a printer.
13. A personal computer (PC), comprising:
a processor; and
memory comprising peripheral device software that is configured to search for and identify peripheral devices, to determine the capabilities of each identified peripheral device using the PC, and to present to a user a functionality that is available through combination of the capabilities of the identified peripheral devices, the functionality being a functionality that is not independently provided by the identified peripheral devices.
14. The PC of claim 13, wherein the peripheral device software is configured to automatically query all peripheral devices on a network to which the PC is connected.
15. The PC of claim 13 wherein the peripheral device software is configured to store information about the peripheral device capabilities in a registry of the PC.
16. The PC of claim 13, wherein the peripheral device software is configured to present the functionality to the user with a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display associated with the PC.
17. The PC of claim 16, wherein the GUI displays the complete set of tasks that can be performed through combination of the capabilities of the identified peripheral devices.
18. The PC of claim 13, wherein the peripheral device software is configured to present a copying functionality that is available due to a scanning capability of a scanner and a printing capability of a printer.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A cloud-based secure download method, wherein a download terminal carries out an information interaction with a cloud security server via the Internet, the method comprising the following steps of:
acquiring, by the download terminal, a URL address of a file to be downloaded by a user;
comparing the URL address of the file to be downloaded with a malicious URL list in the cloud security server; and
prompting a comparison result to the user by the download terminal.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the method further comprising:
if the comparison result shows that there exists a security risk in the file to be downloaded and a download procedure for the file to be downloaded is initiated, issuing an instruction to terminate the download procedure by the download terminal.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the step of comparing the URL address of the file to be downloaded with a dangerous list in the cloud security server further comprising:
uploading, by the download terminal, the URL address of the file to be downloaded to the cloud security server via the Internet; and
comparing the URL address with the dangerous list by the cloud security server.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the step of comparing the URL address of the file to be downloaded with a dangerous list in the cloud security server further comprising:
acquiring, by the download terminal, the latest malicious URL list from the cloud security server via the Internet; and
comparing, by the download terminal, the URL address with the latest malicious URL list locally.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the malicious URL list in the cloud security server is acquired by the following processes:
downloading a file via the download terminal by the user, and recording the URL address of the file downloaded;
scanning the file downloaded;
writing the URL address of the file downloaded into the malicious URL list in the cloud security server if there exists a security risk in the file downloaded.
6. The method as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that, the step of scanning the file downloaded further comprising:
performing a scanning on the file downloaded by utilizing a local virus library; or uploading, by the download terminal, the suspicious file downloaded to the cloud security server for scanning.
7. The method as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that, the security risk comprising a virus, a Trojan horse, a malicious script, a malicious plug-in, a software being poorly rated, or rogue software.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, the comparison result is prompted to the user through a dialog box or a picture with text.
9. A cloud-based secure download terminal, wherein the download terminal carries out an information interaction with a cloud security server via the Internet, and the download terminal comprising:
a module adapted to acquiring a URL address of a file to be downloaded by a user;
a module adapted to comparing the URL address of the file to be downloaded with a malicious URL list in the cloud security server; and
a module adapted to prompting a comparison result to the user.
10. The download terminal as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that,
the module adapted to comparing uploads the URL address of the file to be downloaded to the cloud security server via the Internet and the URL address is compared with the malicious URL list by the cloud security server.
11. The download terminal as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that,
the module adapted to comparing acquires a latest malicious URL list from the cloud security server via the Internet and compares the URL address with the malicious URL list locally.
12. A computer readable record medium having a program for performing a method as claimed in claim 1 recorded thereon.
13. The method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that in the cloud security server the malicious URL list is jointly maintained by users connected to the cloud security server, and URL addresses of files which have been determined having a risk are stored in the malicious URL list.