Comprehensive interface between bios and device drivers to signal events
US6505258B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 29, 2000 |
| Grant date | Jan 7, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 29, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/4081
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A system is disclosed for allowing surprise insertion and removal of a peripheral device from the bays of a portable computer system. The peripheral device may be inserted or removed when the portable computer system is powered off, powered on, or in standby or sleep mode. The peripheral device may be any one of a multitude of devices corresponding to the IDE, ATAPI or FLOPPY standard. Insertion or removal of the device is operating system and BIOS independent. A constantly executing detection process determines when a peripheral device has been inserted into or removed from a bay. A multilevel device driver allows layered functionality and simplified interfacing between the operating system and computer system and peripheral hardware. Layering of the multilevel device driver allows simplified BIOS firmware. Identification and configuration of the peripheral device is handled by a IDE/ATAPI bridge device driver that is capable of recognizing any IDE, ATAPI or FLOPPY device inserted into a bay. The bridge device driver also updates CMOS registers, executes a type specific driver and device specific driver for the particular device and informs the operating system and file system.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.