Advanced boot sequence for an +86 computer system that maintains expansion card device compatibility
US6128731A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 21, 1998 |
| Grant date | Oct 3, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 21, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/4401
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An .times.86 based computer system that implements a firmware based boot process without an .times.86 BIOS that supports expansion devices coupled to the computer system, wherein the expansion devices include their own respective BIOS extensions. The computer system includes an .times.86 processor coupled to a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory via a bus. The non-volatile memory includes firmware which when executed by the processor cause the computer system to implement the boot process. The firmware initializes device drivers for the computer system and initializes an application programming interface for the device drivers. The firmware then initializes a compatibility component for interfacing with the device drivers, wherein the compatibility component is operable for translating accesses by a first software application to an .times.86 BIOS into corresponding accesses to the device drivers. This enables the first software application to execute on the computer system by using the compatibility component while a second software application is able to execute on the computer system by accessing the application programming interface directly. The firmware then runs an expa…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.