System and method for determining whether a mix of system components is compatible
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- identifying a plurality of components on a system;
accessing with system firmware a compatibility structure that includes information indicating whether each of the plurality of components are compatible with each other, wherein said compatibility structure is arranged external to said system firmware; and
determining with said system firmware based at least in part on said information of said compatibility structure whether said identified plurality of components are compatible with each other.
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Abstract
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method comprises identifying a plurality of components on a system. The method further comprises accessing with system firmware a compatibility structure that includes information indicating whether each of the plurality of components are compatible with each other, wherein the compatibility structure is arranged external to the system firmware. The method further comprises determining with the system firmware based at least in part on the information of the compatibility structure whether the identified plurality of components are compatible with each other.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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identifying a plurality of components on a system;
accessing with system firmware a compatibility structure that includes information indicating whether each of the plurality of components are compatible with each other, wherein said compatibility structure is arranged external to said system firmware; and
determining with said system firmware based at least in part on said information of said compatibility structure whether said identified plurality of components are compatible with each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system comprising:
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means for identifying, during a boot-up process of a system, a mix of components implemented on said system;
means for storing compatibility information indicating whether a plurality of different mixes of components are compatible with each other; and
means for determining, based at least in part on said compatibility information, whether said mix of components identified by the identifying means are compatible with each other, wherein said compatibility information of said compatibility structure is modifiable without requiring modification to said means for determining. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system comprising:
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firmware stored to a first portion of non-volatile memory and operable to discover a plurality of different components implemented on a computer system;
a compatibility structure stored to a second portion of non-volatile memory different from said first portion and communicatively accessible by said firmware, wherein said compatibility structure comprises information indicating whether different components are compatible with each other; and
said firmware further operable to determine, based at least in part on said information of said compatibility structure, whether said plurality of different components discovered by said firmware are compatible with each other. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. Computer-executable software code stored to a computer-readable media, said computer-executable software code comprising:
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code for identifying a plurality of components on a system;
code included in system firmware for accessing a compatibility structure that includes information indicating whether each of the plurality of components are compatible with each other, wherein said compatibility structure is arranged external to said system firmware; and
code included in said system firmware for determining based at least in part on said information of said compatibility structure whether said identified plurality of components are compatible with each other. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A method for preventing a new component from causing compatibility errors on at least one existing computer system in which it is used, said method comprising:
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testing the new component for compatibility with mixes of other components;
using results of the testing to generate compatibility information indicative of any incompatible combinations of the new component and the mixes of other components, the compatibility information being useable by firmware of the computer to preclude computer operation in any of said incompatible combinations; and
making the compatibility information accessible to said firmware of the computer system without modification to the firmware. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification