Patent · US Expired

Computer system having mode independent addressing

US5193161A · kind A · utility

25Cited by
20References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 18, 1990
Grant dateMar 9, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 18, 2010

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/145
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A computer system and method for operating a computer system capable of running in mutually incompatible real and protected addressing modes, in which programs written for one mode can be run in the other mode without modification. The BIOS assembles two different common data areas for the two modes, each inclusive of device block pointers, function transfer table pointers, data pointers, and function pointers. The common data area for the real mode is assembled first. To assembly the pointers for the protected mode common data area, the offset values from the real mode area ae copied directly, and then selector values are inserted whose physical addresses correspond to the segments of the corresponding pointers in the real mode area. The selector values are derived from a segment descriptor table.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.