Generating media output during BIOS boot-up

• US 6,791,572 B1
• Filed: 12/10/1999
• Issued: 09/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kinglite Holdings Inc.
• Original Assignee: Phoenix Technologies Limited (Pharaoh Acquisition LLC)
• Inventors: Cloney, Peter, Dunsdon, Wolfgang, Jystad, Glenn E., Kim, Myungseok
• Primary Examiner(s): Bella, Matthew C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sajous, Wesner
• Application Number:
  US09/458,613
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 345/418, 345/473, 345/619, 345/621, 345/474, 345/636, 345/581, 345/501, 345/503, 345/522, 345/530, 345/547, 345/551, 345/553, 345/556, 345/537, 345/559, 711/1, 703/24, 713/1, 713/2, 707/103-104, 700/83, 700/5, 700/2, 700/19, 700/87, 700/88, 709/208, 709/221, 709/321, 714/723
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The present invention is a method and apparatus to display information. The method comprises retrieving a first value representative of a first device parameter, and detecting a second value representative of a second device parameter. A template corresponding to a graphic object is retrieved from a storage. A graphic attribute that characterizes the graphic object is generated from the template. The first and second values displayed and an image is generated from the graphic object according to the graphic attribute.

Claims

1. A method to display information comprising:

retrieving, during a boot period, a first value representative of a first device parameter;

detecting, during the boot period, a second value representative of a second device parameter;

retrieving a template corresponding to a graphic object from a storage, said template including a plurality of commands;

generating a graphic attribute based on one or more of said commands from the template, the graphic attribute characterizing the graphic object;

displaying said first and second values; and

generating an image, during a boot period of the computer system, from the graphic object according to the graphic attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device parameter is a parameter determined at the time of manufacture.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second device parameter is a parameter determined on-the-fly.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second device parameters are processor operating speeds.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the graphic attribute includes one of a location of the graphic object, a position of display, a size, a zone, a graphic primitive set, an animation primitive set, and a sound set.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the graphic object is one of a banner, a logo, an advertisement item, and a textual item.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

initializing a graphic controller to set a display environment; and

writing the image to a display buffer associated with the graphic controller.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the graphic attribute comprises:

scanning the template to generate tokens; and

parsing the tokens to generate the graphic attribute.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the image comprises:

retrieving the graphic object from the storage based on the graphic attribute; and

transforming the graphic object to the image based on the graphic attribute.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the zone includes one of a graphic zone, a textual zone, and an animation zone.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the storage is a non-volatile writable memory.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the template corresponding to the graphic object comprises retrieving, during a boot period, the template corresponding to the graphic object from the storage, said template including the plurality of commands.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of commands specify a graphic operation to be performed by a graphics controller.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of commands are comprised of a command code and a command information, said command code to indicate a type of graphic operation to be performed by a graphic controller, said graphic controller to use said command information in performing said command code.

37. The method of claim 8, wherein said scanning the template to generate tokens comprises performing a lexicographic analysis on the template to generate said tokens.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein the boot period is one of a BIOS boot-up period and a power-on reset period.

12. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer program code embodied therein to display information, the computer program product having;

computer readable program code to retrieve, during a boot period, a first value representative of a first device parameter;

computer readable program code to detect, during the boot period, a second value representative of a second device parameter;

computer readable program code to retrieve a template corresponding to a graphic object from a storage, said template including a plurality of commands;

computer readable program code to generate a graphic attribute based on one or more of said commands from the template, the graphic attribute characterizing the graphic object;

computer readable program code to display said first and second values; and

computer readable program code to generate an image, during a boot period, from the graphic object according to the graphic attribute.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the first device parameter is a parameter determined at the time of manufacture.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the second device parameter is a parameter determined on-the-fly.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the first and second device parameters are processor operating speeds.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the graphic attribute includes one of a location of the graphic object, a position of display, a size, a zone, a graphic primitive set, an animation primitive set, and a sound set.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the graphic object is one of a banner, a logo, an advertisement item, and a textual item.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer readable program code for initializing a graphic controller to set a display environment; and

computer readable program code for writing the image to a display buffer associated with a graphic controller.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code for generating the image comprising:

computer readable program code for retrieving the graphic object from the storage based on the graphic attribute; and

computer readable program code for transforming the graphic object to the image based on the graphic attribute.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable program code for generating the image comprises:

computer readable program code for retrieving the graphic object from the storage based on the graphic attribute; and

computer readable program code for transform the graphic object to the image based on the graphic attribute.

21. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the zone includes one of a graphic zone, a textual zone, and an animation zone.

22. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the storage is a non-volatile writable memory.

39. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the boot period is one of a BIOS boot-up period and a power-on reset period.

23. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containing program code to display information, the program code, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to;

retrieve, during a boot period, a first value representative of a first device parameter;

detect, during the boot period, a second value representative of a second device parameter;

retrieve a template corresponding to a graphic object from a storage, said template including a number of commands,

generate a graphic attribute based on one or more of said commands from the template, the graphic attribute characterizing the graphic object,

display said first and second values; and

generate an image, during a boot period, from the graphic object according to the graphic attribute.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the first device parameter is a parameter determined at the time of manufacture.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the second device parameter is a parameter determined on-the-fly.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the first and second device parameters are processor operating speeds.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the graphic attribute includes one of a location of the graphic object, a position of display, a size, a zone, a graphic primitive set, an animation primitive set, and a sound set.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the graphic object is one of a banner, a logo, an advertisement item, and a textual item.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the program code when executed by the processor further causes the processor to:

initialize a graphic controller to set a display environment; and

write the image to a display buffer associated with a graphic controller.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the program code causing the processor to generate the graphic attribute by:

scanning the template to generate tokens; and

parsing the tokens to generate the graphic attribute.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the program code causing the processor to generate the image by:

retrieving the graphic object from the storage based on the graphic attribute; and

transforming the graphic object to the image based on the graphic attribute.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the zone includes one of a graphic zone, a textual zone, and an animation zone.

33. The system of claim 27, wherein the storage is a non-volatile writable memory.

40. The system of claim 23, wherein the boot period is one of a BIOS boot-up period and a power-on reset period.

41. A method to display information comprising:

retrieving, during a pre-boot period, a first value representative of a device parameter of a computer system device, where said first value is provided by a manufacturer of the computer system device;

detecting, during the pre-boot period, a second value representative of the device parameter, said second value being representative of an actual performance level of the computer system device;

retrieving a template corresponding to a graphic object from a storage, said template including a plurality of commands;

generating a graphic attribute based on one or more of said commands from the template, the graphic attribute characterizing the graphic object;

displaying said first and second values; and

generating an image from the graphic object according to the graphic attribute.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the first device parameter is a parameter determined at the time of manufacture.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the second device parameter is a parameter determined on the fly.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the first and second device parameters are processor operator speeds.

45. The method of claim 41 wherein the graphic attribute includes one of a location of the graphic object, a position of display, a size, a zone, a graphic primitive set, an animation primitive set, and a sound set.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the graphic object is one of a banner, a logo, an advertisement item, and a textual item.

47. The method of claim 45 further comprising:

initializing a graphic controller to set a display environment; and

writing the image to a display buffer associated with the graphic controller.

48. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

scanning the template to generate tokens; and

parsing the tokens to generate the graphic attribute.

49. The method of claim 45, wherein generating the image comprises:

retrieving the graphic object from the storage based on the graphic attribute; and

transforming the graphic object to the image based on the graphic attribute.

50. The method of claim 45 wherein the zone includes one of a graphic zone, a textual zone, and an animation zone.

51. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containing program code to display information, the program code, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to;

retrieve, during a pre-boot period, a first value representative of a device parameter of a computer system device, where said first value is provided by a manufacturer of the computer system device;

detect, during the pre-boot period, a second value representative of the device parameter, said second value being representative of an actual performance level of the computer system device;

retrieve a template corresponding to a graphic object from a storage, said template including a number of commands,

generate a graphic attribute based on one or more of said commands from the template, the graphic attribute characterizing the graphic object,

display said first and second values; and

generate an image from the graphic object according to the graphic attribute.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the first device parameter is a parameter determined at the time of manufacture.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the second device parameter is a parameter determined on the fly.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the first and second device parameters are processor operator speeds.

55. The system of claim 51 wherein the graphic attribute includes one of a location of the graphic object, a position of display, a size, a zone, a graphic primitive set, an animation primitive set, and a sound set.

56. The system of claim 55, wherein the graphic object is one of a banner, a logo, an advertisement item, and a textual item.

57. The system of claim 55, wherein the program code further causes the processor to:

initialize a graphic controller to set a display environment; and

write the image to a display buffer associated with the graphic controller.

58. The system of claim 55, wherein the program code further causes the processor to:

scan the template to generate tokens; and

parse the tokens to generate the graphic attribute.

59. The system of claim 55, wherein the program code causes the processor to generate the image by:

retrieving the graphic object from the storage based on the graphic attribute; and

transforming the graphic object to the image based on the graphic attribute.

60. The method of claim 55 wherein the zone includes one of a graphic zone, a textual zone, and an animation zone.