Method and system for using general and appliance operating systems in a single information handling device

• US 20040226020A1
• Filed: 06/16/2004
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ATI Technologies Incorporated (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Birmingham, Blair B.A.
• Application Number:
  US10/869,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20040226020A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105

Abstract

A method, system and computer readable medium are described for using multiple operating systems in a single information handling device. A general operating system and at least one appliance operating system can be executed by the same information handling device. The general operating system is loaded from a mass storage device, and is used for handling most general tasks required of an information handling device. The appliance operating system is loaded from non-volatile memory and is designed for specially running a single appliance, or set of appliances, independent of the general operating system. A user can selectively switch between available operating systems.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of operating systems on a single information handling device, the plurality of operating systems including an entertainment operating system to control the information handling device to operate a media playing device, and a general operating system to perform general information handling tasks;

executing the entertainment operating system to control the media playing device, wherein the entertainment operating system is independent of the general operating system; and

executing the general operating system to control the information handling device to perform general information handling tasks.

2. The method as in claim 1, further including switching between operating systems.

3. The method as in claim 2, wherein switching includes discontinuing the execution of one operating system prior to executing another operating system.

4. The method as in claim 2, wherein switching includes executing two or more of the plurality of operating systems concurrently.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein:

executing the entertainment operating system includes reading the entertainment operating system from a non-volatile memory circuit; and

executing the general operating system includes reading the general operating system from a mass storage device.

6. The method as in claim 5, wherein the mass storage device includes a hard drive.

7. The method as in claim 5, wherein reading the entertainment operating system from the non-volatile memory circuit occurs substantially quicker than reading the general operating system from the mass storage device.

8. The method as in claim 5, wherein reading the entertainment operating system occurs at a substantially faster rate than reading the general operating system.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein executing includes checking for resource conflicts.

10. An information handling system comprising:

a data processor;

a bios to provide initial processor control;

a memory coupled to said processor;

a communications interface; and

a plurality of operating systems to be executed by said processor, said plurality of operating systems including;

a general operating system capable of performing general information handling tasks; and

an entertainment operating system capable of controlling, through said communications interface, at least one media device, wherein said entertainment operating system is independent of said general operating system.

11. The system as in claim 10, wherein the said non-volatile memory circuit includes a read-only memory circuit.

12. The system as in claim 10, wherein said bios is to control which of said plurality of operating systems is executed.

13. The system as in claim 10, wherein:

said memory includes random access memory and read-only memory; and

said information handling system further includes a mass storage medium.

14. The system as in claim 13, wherein:

said general operating system is stored in said mass storage medium; and

said entertainment operating system is stored in said read-only memory.

15. The system as in claim 10, further including one or more appliances media devices to be coupled to said at least one communications interface.

16. The system as in claim 15, wherein said one or more appliances media devices are to be coupled to said communications interface via a network.

17. The system as in claim 10, wherein said one or more media devices are media handling systems.

18. The system as in claim 17, wherein said one or more media handling systems include at least one of an audio device and a visual device.

19. The system as in claim 10, wherein said communications interface is a wireless interface.

20. The system as in claim 10, wherein said communications interface is an electrical interface.

21. The system as in claim 10, wherein a resource conflict check is performed when said operating systems are executed.

22. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a plurality of instructions, said plurality of instructions including:

instructions to implement an entertainment operating system on a general purpose information handling system;

said information handling system to perform general information handling tasks using a general operating system;

said entertainment operating system to control at least one media device, wherein said entertainment operating system is independent of said general operating system.

23. The computer readable medium as in claim 22, wherein said plurality of instructions further includes instructions to control which of said operating systems is executed.

24. The computer readable medium as in claim 22, wherein execution of said general operating system is terminated before switching to said entertainment operating system.

25. The computer readable medium as in claim 22, wherein execution of said entertainment operating system is terminated before switching to said general operating system.

26. The computer readable medium as in claim 22, wherein said general operating system and said entertainment operating system are executed concurrently.

27. The computer readable medium as in claim 22, wherein said at least one media device is a media handling system.

28. The computer readable medium as in claim 27, wherein said at least one media handling system includes at least one of an audio device and a visual device.

29. The computer readable medium as in claim 22, wherein said plurality of instructions further includes instructions to check for resource conflicts.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the hard drive is stopped by being placed in at least one of a shutdown mode and a standby mode.

31. A method comprising:

executing an entertainment operating system on a single information handling device, the entertainment operating system to control the information handling device to operate a media device;

executing a general operating system on the single information handling device, the general operating system to perform general information handling tasks; and

wherein executing the entertainment operating system and executing the general operating system occurs concurrently.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein executing the general operating system includes checking for resource conflicts.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising storing system settings associated with the entertainment operating system in memory while the entertainment operating system is running.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the entertainment operating system is loaded from a read only memory and wherein a hard drive storing the general operating system is placed in at least one of a shutdown and a standby mode.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the entertainment operating system is selected in response to a button on the media device being pressed by a user.

36. A method comprising:

executing an entertainment operating system on an information handling device, the entertainment operating system to control the information handling device to operate a compact disk player; and

executing a general operating system on the information handling device, the general operating system to perform general information handling tasks;

wherein the entertainment operating system is stored within non-volatile memory.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising loading the entertainment operating system from the non-volatile memory to a random access memory (RAM) to enable those components of the information handling device needed to control the compact disk player.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the entertainment operating system further controls a digital video disk (DVD) player.

39. The method of claim 36, further comprising placing a hard drive within the information handling device in a shut down or standby mode while the entertainment operating system is executed from the non-volatile memory.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein the entertainment operating system further controls at least one of a video cassette recorder, a television, and a stereo system.

41. The method of claim 36, wherein the information handling system is coupled to a home theater system via a network and wherein the entertainment operating system is used to control the home theater system.

42. The method of claim 36, wherein the compact disk player is integrated as part of the information handling system.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the home theater includes at least one networked audio receiver to adjust audio speakers within a residence.

44. The method of claim 36, further comprising storing data associated with the entertainment operating system in a random access memory of the information handling system.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising shutting down the entertainment operating system and removing the data associated with the entertainment operating system from the random access memory.

46. The method of claim 36, wherein the entertainment operating system further controls consumer appliances selected from refrigerators, home ovens, cloths washers, and home security systems.

47. The method of claim 36, wherein a second non-volatile memory is accessed by a central processor within the information handling system in response to a user request to use the general operating system.

48. The method of claim 36, further comprising performing a resource conflict check between the general operating system and the entertainment operating system prior to executing the entertainment operating system.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising negotiating for use of potentially conflicting resources between the general operating system and the entertainment operating system.

50. The method of claim 36, wherein the entertainment operating system is loadable from the non-volatile memory into local random access memory more quickly than the general operating system can be loaded from a hard drive to the local random access memory.

51. A method comprising:

receiving a user selection of a specific media device to be controlled by an information handling system;

determining whether an entertainment operating system has been loaded into a memory of the information handling system, the entertainment operating system configured to control the specific media device; and

when the currently running operating system of the information handling system is a general operating system rather than the entertainment operating system, loading from a non-volatile memory and transferring operating control from the general operating system to the entertainment operating system within the information handling system to control the specific media device.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the specific media device is a digital video disk (DVD) player.

53. The method of claim 51, wherein the specific media device is a compact disk (CD) player.

54. The method of claim 51, further comprising providing a display to allow a user to monitor and select controls for the specific media device.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the specific media device is powered down in response to a user request made using the information handling system.

57. The computing and information handling system of claim 51, further comprising a display device, the display device responsive to the entertainment operating system and configured to display a media device control screen, the media device control screen including a first set of control icons for control of a digital video disk player and a second set of control icons for control of a compact disk player.

58. The computing and information handling system of claim 57, wherein the media device control screen further includes a third set of control icons to control a television and a fourth set of control icons to control an audio device.

56. A computing and information handling system comprising:

a first non-volatile memory;

a second non-volatile memory including an entertainment operating system;

a remote storage device including a general computer operating system;

a random access memory;

a central processing unit responsive to the first non-volatile memory, the second non-volatile memory, the random access memory, and the remote storage device; and

a media device interface to control at least one media device.

59. The system of claim 56, further comprising a communications interface coupled to a public computing network and coupled via a private network to a home theater system, the communications interface responsive to the central processing unit.

60. The system of claim 56, wherein the media device interface is an input/output interface coupled to a plurality of external media devices including a compact disk player and a digital video disk player.

61. The system of claim 56, wherein the entertainment operating system is loadable from the second non-volatile memory into the random access memory more quickly than the general operating system can be loaded from the hard drive to the random access memory.

62. The system of claim 56, wherein one of the entertainment operating system and the general operating system may be selected for execution by the central processing unit.

63. The system of claim 62, wherein the entertainment operating system is initially running to control the media device and wherein upon a user request, the general computing operating system is subsequently executed by the central processing unit.

64. The system of claim 63, wherein the general computer operating system is used to perform a computing task.