Method and system of embedding a boot loader as system firmware
US7765393B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 11, 2006 |
| Grant date | Jul 27, 2010 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 26, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/4401
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An IBM PC compatible processing system typically has a BIOS installed as system firmware. During a boot process of the processing system, the BIOS loads a boot loader from one of the boot media, i.e., hard drives, floppy disks, CDs, USB flash memories, taps, etc. and passes control of the boot loader, the boot loader then loads an OS from the boot media. The present invention takes advantage of the higher reliability and availability provided by the system flash memory and stores a boot loader as system firmware in the system flash memory. Further, it provides changes in the BIOS boot process to load the boot loader from system memory, the ROM, for example, without relying on boot media. With this new process, the boot loader can be loaded even when the boot media is corrupt, defective or un-initialized.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.