Device and method for reconfiguring a computer system with an incompatible CPU
First Claim
1. A method for booting up a computer system having a plurality of CPUs to a selected CPU, comprising the steps of:
- booting up said computer system to a default CPU1,accessing a boot partition after said boot up to said default CPU1, said boot partition containing a BIOS code for each of said plurality of CPUs,executing a boot manager program resident in the boot partition,choosing a selected CPU for boot up among said plurality of CPUs, andbooting up said computer system to said selected CPU.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A converter interface device transforms an incompatible first central processing unit (CPU2) chip into a chip compatible with a CPU1 chip. The CPU1 compatible chip, containing the CPU2, is interchangeable with the CPU1 chip. The converter interface device allows CPU2 to appear to a computer system as having the same pins and pin configuration as the CPU 1. The converter interface device has an address converter, a data converter and a control bus converter. These converters convert CPU2 signals into signals which are CPU1 compatible. In addition, the converter interface device has a bus decoder which decodes the converted CPU1 compatible signal of CPU2 and outputs a signal to a CPU switch unit. The CPU switch unit receives an external CPU select signal, and outputs a CPU1 and CPU2 enable/disable signals. Therefore, a computer system can be upgraded from CPU1 to CPU2, without having to discard the motherboard and software associated with the older CPU1. In addition, for a motherboard that can accommodate two or more CPUs, the converter interface device of the present invention allows having two different types of CPUs on such a motherboard, e.g., CPU1 and CPU2. The present invention further discloses a method for booting up the computer system to either CPU 1 or CPU2. Furthermore, a method for switching the computer system between CPU1 and CPU2 is disclosed.
29 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for booting up a computer system having a plurality of CPUs to a selected CPU, comprising the steps of:
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booting up said computer system to a default CPU1, accessing a boot partition after said boot up to said default CPU1, said boot partition containing a BIOS code for each of said plurality of CPUs, executing a boot manager program resident in the boot partition, choosing a selected CPU for boot up among said plurality of CPUs, and booting up said computer system to said selected CPU. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16)
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9. A method for switching from a CPU1 environment of a computer system to a CPU2 environment comprising the steps of:
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dedicating a first portion of a memory of said computer system to said CPU1 and a second portion of the memory to CPU2, storing a status of said CPU1 in said first portion of said memory, simultaneously disabling said CPU1 and enabling said CPU2, and switching said computer system to said CPU2 so that said CPU2 environment is entered. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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13. A method for switching from a CPU1 environment of a computer system to a CPU2 environments comprising the steps of:
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storing a status of said CPU1 on a hard disk of said computer system, copying a BIOS and a status of said CPU2 to a memory of said computer system, simultaneously disabling said CPU1 and enabling said CPU2, and switching said computer system to said CPU2 so that said CPU2 environment is entered. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification