Loadable hardware support
US5826090A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 17, 1997 |
| Grant date | Oct 20, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 17, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/4411
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An improved operating system for a computer provides support for specific hardware components. The operating system is loaded by first loading a base portion which initializes the operating system and determines the particular type of hardware components present. Then, appropriate software components are loaded that are specifically associated with the hardware components. The hardware components can be detected by leaving a trace in the memory device that is associated with the software component and later retrieving the trace, or by testing the computer for the hardware component. The hardware component may be a bus architecture selected from a group of bus architectures, and bus-independent interfaces are defined which are mapped to addresses in the kernel. Alternatively, the software component can include a which contains specific instructions for communicating with the hardware component. The is constructed from a plurality of files each associated with the hardware component.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.