Method for monitoring system boot by searching a temporary buffer for BIOS message

• US 6,629,240 B1
• Filed: 12/21/1999
• Issued: 09/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jun-Hyuk
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Eric
• Application Number:
  US09/468,099
• Time in Patent Office: 1,379 Days
• Field of Search: 713/2, 713/1, 345/530
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4403 Processor initialisation

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for monitoring a system by searching a screen buffer, more particularly, for a system management board to detect screen messages output when a system boots and to inform a remote system manager of the booting status and the abnormality of the system. The method according to the present invention comprises steps of: reproducing the data of a screen buffer of video RAM area into a temporary buffer in a program; searching for specific BIOS messages in the temporary buffer reproduced from the screen buffer; and reporting the search result to a remote system manager.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a system, comprising steps of:

reproducing data of a screen buffer in video memory into a temporary buffer;

searching for a specific BIOS message stored in the temporary buffer during said reproducing step; and

reporting said specific BIOS message to a remote system manager when said searching step finds said specific BIOS message in said temporary buffer.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a step of removing all screen attribute data, included with said data reproduced during said reproducing step, from said temporary buffer prior to performing said searching step.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said searching step comprises a step of obtaining a search string for said specific BIOS message by using functions defined in a standard libraries of a predetermined programming language.

4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said step of reporting said BIOS message comprises a step of storing corresponding codes of the found BIOS message in another storage area and transmitting said codes to said remote system manager.

5. A method of monitoring a system, comprising steps of:

reproducing data from a screen buffer and storing the reproduced data into a temporary buffer;

removing all screen attribute data, included with said reproduced data, from said temporary buffer;

searching for a specific BIOS message stored in the temporary buffer during said reproducing step;

repeatedly performing said searching step until there are no more specific BIOS messages to be searched for; and

reporting each said specific BIOS message found to a remote system manager when there are no more specific messages to be searched for.

6. The method as set forth in claim 5, further comprising a step of getting a search string corresponding to said specific BIOS message and using said search string to search for said specific BIOS message in said searching step.

7. The method as set forth in claim 5, wherein said step of repeatedly performing said searching step comprises steps of:

storing a code corresponding to said specific BIOS message in another buffer when said specific BIOS message is found during said searching step;

checking for a next specific BIOS message to be searched for; and

returning to said searching step when it is determined that a next specific BIOS message is to be searched for and searching for said next specific BIOS message.

8. The method as set forth in claim 6, further comprising a step of:

initially setting a variable N to be equal to one prior to said reproducing step.

9. The method as set forth in claim 8, wherein said step of repeatedly performing said searching step comprises steps of:

storing a code corresponding to said specific BIOS message in another buffer when said specific BIOS message is found during said searching step;

determining whether all specific BIOS messages to be searched for have been searched for;

increasing said variable N by one when it is determined that not all of said specific BIOS messages have been searched for; and

following said step of increasing, getting a search string corresponding to said next specific BIOS message and searching for said next specific BIOS message.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9, further comprising steps of:

determining whether a monitoring time has timed out, when it is determined that all of said specific BIOS messages have been searched for;

returning to said step of setting the variable N to be equal to one, when it is determined that the monitoring time has not timed out; and

performing said reporting step when it is determined that said monitoring time has timed out.

11. A method of monitoring a system, comprising steps of:

setting a page variable P to be equal to 1;

setting a variable N to be equal to 1;

moving one page of text from a screen buffer into a temporary buffer;

removing all screen attribute data, included with said text, from said temporary buffer;

searching for a Nth specific BIOS message stored in the temporary buffer during said moving step;

determining whether all specific BIOS messages to be searched for have been searched for;

increasing said variable N by one and performing said searching step for a next specific BIOS message, when it is determined that not all of the specific BIOS messages to be searched for have been searched for; and

reporting each specific BIOS message found to a remote system manager when it is determined that all of the specific BIOS messages to be searched for have been searched for.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11, further comprising a step of getting a search string corresponding to said Nth specific BIOS message and using said search string to search for said Nth specific BIOS message in said searching step.

13. The method as set forth in claim 11, further comprising a step of storing a code corresponding to each said found specific BIOS message in another buffer prior to performing said step of determining whether all specific BIOS messages to be searched for have been searched for, said code being transmitted to said remote system manager during said reporting step.

14. The method as set forth in claim 11, further comprising steps of:

determining whether all pages of text have been searched, when it is determined that all of the specific BIOS messages to be searched for have been searched for;

returning to said step of setting the variable N to be equal to one, when it is determined that all said pages of text have not been searched; and

performing said reporting step when it is determined that all said pages of text have been searched.