Computer system, method, and medium for switching operating system

• US 7,886,136 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2005
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Yoon, Sung-min
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, VINCENT HUY
• Application Number:
  US11/131,316
• Publication Number:
  US 20050273663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,092 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/100, 714/4, 710/316
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/441 Multiboot arrangements, i.e. selecting an operating system to be loaded
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake

Abstract

An operating system switching method in a computer system having at least two operating systems is provided. The operating system switching method may include receiving a command of switching a first operating system that is currently running to a second operating system, causing the computer system to make a transition to a low-power sleeping state in response to the command, and booting the computer system using the second operating system in the transitioned state.

Claims

1. An operating system switching method in a computer system having at least two operating systems, the operating system switching method comprising:

receiving a command of switching a first operating system that is currently running to a second operating system;

causing the computer system to make a transition to a different low-power sleeping state in response to the command and according to whether a storing of information on an environment of the first operating system is performed; and

booting the computer system using the second operating system,

wherein the operating system switching includes storing power management state information and the stored operating system switching information to maintain storage of the stored power management state information and stored operating system switching information in a storage when power to the computer is turned off, and

wherein a switching module, implemented with a device that operates by a power source that does not operate the computer system, sets variables indicating the power management state information and the operating system switching information, the values set to the variables being maintained when power to the computer is turned off.

2. The operating system switching method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the command comprises receiving the command using an inputting unit provided in the computer system.

3. The operating system switching method of claim 2, wherein the inputting unit includes a wireless signal receiving module.

4. The operating system switching method of claim 2, wherein the inputting unit includes a network interface module.

5. The operating system switching method of claim 1, wherein the causing of the computer system to make a transition to a low-power sleeping state comprises storing information on an environment of the first operating system when receiving the command in a predetermined storage area.

6. The operating system switching method of claim 5, wherein the information includes system resource information, program information, or data information.

7. The operating system switching method of claim 5, wherein the information is stored in the predetermined storage area in an S4 power management state according to the ACPI specification.

8. The operating system switching method of claim 1, wherein the booting of the computer system using the second operating system comprises extracting information on the environment of the operating system from the predetermined storage area and providing an environment of the second operating system using the extracted information, the extracted information including information on the environment of the second operating system that operates before switching the second operating system to the first operating system.

9. The operating system switching method of claim 8, wherein the information is stored in the predetermined storage area in an S4 power management state according to the ACPI specification.

10. The operating system switching method of claim 1, wherein the inputting unit includes a user inputting device for switching an operating system.

11. The operating system switching method of claim 1, wherein the low-power sleeping state includes an S3 power management state according to the advance configuration and power interface (ACPI) specification.

12. The operating system switching method of claim 1, wherein:

the causing of the computer system to make a transition to a low-power sleeping state comprises setting power management state information indicating the transitioned low-power sleeping state and operating system switching information indicating booting of the computer system using the second operating system; and

the booting of the computer system using the second operating system comprises booting the computer system using the second operating system according to the operating system switching information in the power state corresponding to the power management state information.

13. A computer system having at least two operating systems, the computer system comprising:

a receiving module receiving a command of switching a first operating system that is currently running to a second operating system;

a state controlling module causing the computer system to make a transition to a different low-power sleeping state in response to the command and according to whether a storing of information on an environment of the first operating system is performed; and

an operating system switching module booting the computer system using the second operating system implemented with a device that operates by a power source that does not operate the computer system, the operating system switching module performs operating system switching by setting variables indicating power management state information and operating system switching information and stores the power management state information and the operating system switching information in a storage, the values set to the variables being maintained when power to the computer is turned off.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the storage stores information on the environment of the second operating system, in which the computer system was being operated before being switched to the first operating system, wherein the operating system switching module extracts the information from the storage and performs operating system switching using the extracted information for providing the environment of the second operating system.

15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the storage module stores the information in an S4 power management state according to the ACPI specification.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the low-power sleeping state includes an S3 power management state according to the advance configuration and power interface (ACPI) specification.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein:

the state controlling module transmits power management state information indicating the transitioned low-power sleeping state and operating system operating system switching information indicating booting of the computer system using the second operating system to the operating system switching module; and

the operating system switching module boots the computer system using the second operating system according to the operating system switching information in the power state corresponding to the power management state information.