Use of other processors during BIOS boot sequence to minimize boot time
First Claim
1. A method for use in a personal computer system, including a boot strap processor and at least a first peripheral processor, for booting the personal computer system by executing a plurality of boot sequence tasks, comprising the steps of:
- causing said boot strap processor to execute at least one task from said plurality of boot sequence tasks;
causing said first peripheral processor to execute a task in said plurality of boot sequence tasks that is different from the task being executed by said boot strap processor and is executed at least partially in parallel with the execution of the at least one task by said boot strap processor.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for use in a multi-processor system, including a boot strap processor and at least a first processor, for booting the system by executing a plurality of boot sequence tasks, comprising the steps of causing the boot strap processor to execute at least one task from the plurality of boot sequence tasks, and causing the first processor to execute a task in the plurality of boot sequence tasks that is different from the task being executed by the boot strap processor and is executed at least partially in parallel with the execution by the boot strap processor.
62 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method for use in a personal computer system, including a boot strap processor and at least a first peripheral processor, for booting the personal computer system by executing a plurality of boot sequence tasks, comprising the steps of:
-
causing said boot strap processor to execute at least one task from said plurality of boot sequence tasks;
causing said first peripheral processor to execute a task in said plurality of boot sequence tasks that is different from the task being executed by said boot strap processor and is executed at least partially in parallel with the execution of the at least one task by said boot strap processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for causing a personal computer system with multiple processors including a boot strap processor and at least a first peripheral processor, to boot the system by executing a plurality of boot sequence tasks in an expedited manner, the computer readable program code in said computer program product comprising:
-
first computer readable code for causing a boot strap processor to execute at least one boot sequence task; and
second computer readable code for causing said first peripheral processor to execute a boot sequence task that is different from the task being executed by said boot strap processor and is executed at least partially in parallel with execution of the at least one boot sequence task by said boot strap processor. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
third computer readable code for causing a second peripheral processor to execute another task from said plurality of boot sequence tasks that is different from the tasks being executed by said boot strap processor and said first peripheral processor and is executed at least partially in parallel with the execution by one of said other processors.
-
-
14. A computer program product as defined in claim 12, comprising:
fourth computer readable program code to cause said first peripheral processor to execute a plurality of said boot sequence tasks, wherein at least one of those tasks to be executed by said first peripheral processor is not executed until a predetermined task at another processor has been completed.
-
15. A computer program product as defined in claim 12, wherein said first computer readable code includes fifth computer readable code for turning on said first peripheral processor and providing said first peripheral processor with an address to begin executing.
-
16. A computer program product as defined in claim 13, wherein said computer readable program code comprises a BIOS, and wherein each of said first, second and third computer readable code includes a different POST Table that includes at least one different task from said plurality of boot sequence tasks to be executed.
-
17. A computer program product as defined in claim 12, where said first and second peripheral processors are one of an internal peripheral processor and an external peripheral processor.
-
18. A personal computer system designed to boot by executing a plurality of boot sequence tasks, with some of those tasks being executed at least partially in parallel by different processors, comprising:
-
a boot strap processor programmed to execute at least one task in said plurality of boot sequence tasks; and
a first peripheral processor programmed to execute a task in said plurality of boot sequence tasks that is different from the task being executed by said boot strap processor and is executed at least partially in parallel with the execution of the boot sequence task by said boot strap processor. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification