System and method for sharing a non-volatile memory element as a boot device
First Claim
1. A digital entertainment system implemented within a vehicle having at least one peripheral device associated with individual passenger seats within the vehicle, the digital entertainment system comprising:
- a headend control system to transmit information in a first digital format;
a bridge circuit coupled to said headend control system, said bridge circuit to receive the information in the first digital format, to convert the information into a second digital format, and to output the information in the second digital format; and
a plurality of seat electronics units coupled to the bridge circuit, each of said plurality of seat electronics units includinga memory bus,a non-volatile memory element coupled to the memory bus, said non-volatile memory element contains operational code used during a boot sequence,a plurality of computing systems uniquely controlling operations of at least one peripheral device associated with a passenger seat, each computer system including a processor and a local memory element, to perform the boot sequence in response to a boot condition, anda memory access coordination circuit coupled to the memory bus and to each of the plurality of computing systems, said memory access coordination circuit to control arbitration of the memory bus and to control a direct memory access transfer of the operational code from the non-volatile memory element to the local memory element associated with the selected processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for multiple processors operating independently from one another to share memory as a boot device. The system includes a plurality of computing systems each including a processor and a local memory element. In response to a boot condition for a selected computing system, its processor begins a boot sequence in which it uses operational code contained within a non-volatile memory element that is shared by each of the computing systems. Arbitration for ownership of a memory bus interconnecting the non-volatile memory element to the processors and organization of a direct memory access transfer between the non-volatile memory element and local memory associated with the processor of the selected computing system is controlled by a memory access coordination circuit coupled between the computing systems and the memory bus.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A digital entertainment system implemented within a vehicle having at least one peripheral device associated with individual passenger seats within the vehicle, the digital entertainment system comprising:
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a headend control system to transmit information in a first digital format; a bridge circuit coupled to said headend control system, said bridge circuit to receive the information in the first digital format, to convert the information into a second digital format, and to output the information in the second digital format; and a plurality of seat electronics units coupled to the bridge circuit, each of said plurality of seat electronics units including a memory bus, a non-volatile memory element coupled to the memory bus, said non-volatile memory element contains operational code used during a boot sequence, a plurality of computing systems uniquely controlling operations of at least one peripheral device associated with a passenger seat, each computer system including a processor and a local memory element, to perform the boot sequence in response to a boot condition, and a memory access coordination circuit coupled to the memory bus and to each of the plurality of computing systems, said memory access coordination circuit to control arbitration of the memory bus and to control a direct memory access transfer of the operational code from the non-volatile memory element to the local memory element associated with the selected processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A circuit that controls propagation of data to at least one peripheral device placed within a vehicle, the circuit comprising:
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a memory bus; a non-volatile memory element coupled to the memory bus, said non-volatile memory element to contain operational code used during a boot sequence; a plurality of computing systems each including a processor and a local memory element, each of the plurality of computing systems to perform the boot sequence in response to a boot condition; and a memory access coordination circuit coupled to the memory bus and to the plurality of computing systems, said memory access coordination circuit to control a direct memory access transfer of the operational code from the non-volatile memory element to the local memory element associated with a selected processor of one of the computer systems. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for performing a boot sequence by obtaining operational code from a memory element of which its contents are shared by a plurality of processors, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining that a boot condition exists in at least one processor of the plurality of processors; preparing for a direct memory access transfer from the memory element to a memory local to the at least one processor; requesting ownership of the memory bus for transferring operational code into the memory local to the at least one processor; and performing the direct memory access transfer of operational code from the memory element into the memory local to the at least one processor. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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Specification