Method and apparatus for configuring a device assigned to a fixed address space
US6546483B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 18, 2000 |
| Grant date | Apr 8, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 18, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/4411
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A device configuration method and apparatus initializes a device such as at least one graphics processor, by detecting whether the at least one graphics processor requires a dedicated address space. If the device requires a dedicated address space, boot up code, such as the system bios, maps the dedicated address space to another address space prior to running of an operating system. This is done based on, for example, using at least one subclass code bit in a class code register in configuration space memory as both a device function identifier and as control data to control mapping of the dedicated address space to another address space. The method and apparatus provides a type of universal method and apparatus for relocating or disabling, for example, VGA resources, through PCI registers or other suitable registers while maintaining legacy processing for graphics and video applications.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.