Method and apparatus for configuring a computer system

• US 6,397,327 B1
• Filed: 03/19/1999
• Issued: 05/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ATI International SRL (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Klebanov, Ilya
• Primary Examiner(s): Heckler, Thomas M.
• Application Number:
  US09/272,464
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1,2,100 710/8,10
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

A method and apparatus for recognizing and initializing second level peripherals on busses local to add-on cards. During startup, a personal computer receives an identifier from an add-on peripheral. A driver is executed that initializes the add-on peripheral, and determines whether any peripherals are attached to a secondary bus associated with the add-on peripheral. When a peripheral is identified on the secondary bus, information concerning the peripheral is added to a configuration file.

Claims

1. A method of performing a start-up routine, the method comprising:

receiving, by a host, an identifier from a peripheral having a local bus;

executing a driver corresponding to the identifier, wherein the driver communicates with the peripheral for performing the following steps;

determining a set of local devices coupled to the peripheral;

modifying a registry file in the host based on the set of local devices; and

completing the start-up routine using the registry file after the step of modifying.

2. A computer peripheral system comprising:

a first input/output (IO) port connecting to first bus;

a second bus, wherein the second bus provides an interface to a plurality of add-on peripherals;

a peripheral controller coupled to the first input/output port and to the second bus; and

a driver to;

determine a set of add-on peripherals connected to the second bus; and

modify a registry to identify each member of the set of add-on peripherals.

3. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the driver is for communicating with the peripheral controller via the first bus.

4. The peripheral system of claim 3, wherein the driver includes software to be executed on a main processor external the peripheral system, and connected to the first bus.

5. The peripheral system of claim 4, wherein the driver is a software driver for Windows 98 operating system.

6. The peripheral system of claim 5, wherein the driver is executed in response to a PNP_ADD_New_DevNode call by the operating system.

7. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the driver is to be executed automatically during startup without user intervention.

8. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the driver is executed during a start-up routine.

9. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the first bus is a PCI (P_C_I_) bus.

10. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the first bus is a AGP (A_G_P_) bus.

11. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the second bus is an I²C bus.

12. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the second bus is a VIP (V_I_P_) bus.

13. The peripheral system of claim 2, wherein the computer peripheral is a Video Graphics Controller.

14. A computer system comprising:

a main processor coupled to a first bus;

a first peripheral connected to the first bus and having a second bus port;

at least one add-on peripheral connected to the second bus port;

a first set of instructions to be executed on the main processor during a start-up routine to identify the at least one add-on peripheral and to modify a registry to include information about the at least one add-on peripheral.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the at least one add-on peripheral includes a multi-media peripheral.

16. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the first bus is one of a PCI bus and an AGP bus.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the second bus is one of an I²C bus and a VIP bus.

18. The computer system of claim 14 further comprising:

a second peripheral connected to the first bus and having a third bus port;

at least one add-on peripheral connected to the third bus port; and

a second set of instructions to be executed on the main processor during a start-up routine to identify the at least one peripheral connected to the third bus port and to modify a registry to include information about the at least one add-on peripheral connected to the third bus port.

19. A method of configuring a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

coupling a first bus of a peripheral device to the computer system; and

performing a start-up routine on the system including the sub steps of;

providing control signals to the first bus for determining a set of devices that are connected to a second bus of the peripheral device; and

modifying a registry base on the connected set of devices.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of modifying further comprises the substeps of:

comparing the set of devices to a list of devices in the registry; and

adding devices to the registry in the set of device not listed.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of modifying further comprises the substeps of:

comparing the set of connected devices to a list of devices in the registry; and

removing devices from the registry that are not in the set of connected devices.

22. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium having computer readable program code present thereon for implementing a startup routine comprising computer readable program code for;

providing control signals to a first bus of a computer for automatically determining a set of devices that are connected to a second bus of a peripheral device; and

modifying a registry based on the set of devices.

23. A method of initializing a computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

beginning execution of an initialization routine on a first data processor;

receiving an identification signal from a first peripheral, wherein the first peripheral and the first data processor share a first bus;

executing on the first data processor a driver associated with the first peripheral, the driver comprising the steps of

controlling the first peripheral through the first bus to identify a second peripheral connected to a second bus local to the first peripheral;

modifying a data file to include the identity of the second peripheral, wherein the data file is accessible by the first data processor; and

completing execution of the initialization routine.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the data file is not accessible by the first peripheral.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of modifying includes determining if the second peripheral is listed in the data file.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising the following steps prior to the step of completing execution:

receiving an identification signal from a third peripheral, wherein the third peripheral and the first data processor share the first bus;

executing on the first data processor a driver associated with the third peripheral, the driver comprising the steps of

controlling the third peripheral through the first bus to identify a fourth peripheral connected to a third bus local to the third peripheral;

modifying the data file to include the identity of the fourth peripheral, wherein the data file is accessible by the first data processor.