Computer implemented method and apparatus for dynamic and

48 Pages·2013·3.34 MB·English

USOO5257387A
United States Patent [19] [11] Patent Number: 5,257,387
Richek et al. [45] Date of Patent: Oct. 26, 1993
[54] COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD section, pp. i to 55, Aug, 1988.
AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC AND EISA Press Release, Sep. 13, 1988.
AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION OF A PC Magazine, The Gread Divide-EISA vs. Micro
COMPUTER SYSTEM AND CIRCUIT Channel, pp. 165-186, Dec. 27, 1988.
BOARDS INCLUDING COMPUTER Vol. 1, IBM Corp., Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Oct.
RESOURCE ALLOCATION CONFLICT 1988.
RESOLUTION
Primary Examiner-Parshotam S. Lall
[75] Inventors: Martin D. Richek; Robert S. Gready, Assistant Examiner-—Krisna Lim
both of Houston; Curtis R. Jones, Jr., Attorney, Agent, or Fir'm-Pravel, Hewitt, Kimball &
Cypress, all of Tex.
Krieger .
[73] Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation, [57] ABSTRACT
Houston, Tex.
A computerized system for dynamically and automati
[21] Appl. No.: 403,297 cally con?guring circuit boards to carry out functions
from various manufacturers and a computer system
[22] Filed: Sep. 5, 1989
without the user intervention. A single computer sys
tem may include, for example, a modem board, a video
Related US. Application Data board, a disk controller board, and a multiple function
[63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 293,315, Jan. 4, 1989, board, each circuit board from a different manufacturer
which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 242,734, and each circuit board requires a computer resources
Sep. 9, 1988, abandoned. for operation. These resources may include interrupt
request (IRQ) lines, direct memory access (DMA)
[51] int. c1.5 ............................................ .. cosr 15/76
channels, I/O port addresses, memory address ranges
[52] US. 01. .................................. .. 395/800; 395/700;
and circuit board slot locations. The computerized sys
354/1310. 1; 364/2294; 364/2453; 364/281.9;
tem determines the type of slot required for each circuit
354/970
board to be inserted in the computer by reading the
[58] Field of Search .............. .. 395/700, 275, 700, 800
circuit board con?guration ?le for each board. The
[56] References Cited system will assign a circuit board to an available slot
locations of the required type. Based on the information
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
contained within the circuit board con?guration ?les,
3,675,083 7/1972 White ................................ .. 361/413 the system attempts to allocate the common computer
3,680,052 7/1972 Arulpragasam et a1. ......... .. 395/325 resources required by each circuit board based on the
3,787,816 l/1974 l-lauck et a1. ...................... .. 395/575 primary or default resource requirements set forth in
(List continued on next page.) each circuit board’s con?guration ?le. And, overlap
ping manufacturer default resource requirement may
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS result in resource allocation con?ict; and then, the sys
tem attempts to resolve con?icts by determining if the
83111761 11/1983 European Pat. Off. .
conflicting request may be assigned an alternate re
88103609 3/1988 European Pat. Off. .
source, as speci?ed in the circuit board con?guration
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
?le. The system stores the resource allocation informa
IBM Corp., Personal System/2 Model 80 Technical tion as part of a system con?guration ?le which may
Reference, 1st Edition, Apr. 1987, pp. 2-51 to 2-63. then be used when the system is rebooted.
IBM Corp., Supplements for the PS/2 Model 70, Hard
ware Interface, and BIOS Interface Technical Refer
64 Claims, 20 Drawing Sheets
ences, PS/2 Model 70 Programmable Option Select
guns-na
nun-non
mun
m
not
‘new: ma
5,257,387
Page2
U.s. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,727,475 2/1988 16116111111116“ ...................... .. 395/325
4,014,005 3/1977 FOX 6161. .......................... ..395/100 4,750,136 6/1988 Arpin etal. 364/514
4,070,704 1/1978 c6116 6161. 395/700 4,760,553 7/1988 Buckley etal 395/575
4,250,563 2/1981 s1111g61 ........ .. 395/800 4,803,623 2/1989 KlaShka Ct 61. 395/275
4,403,303 9/1983 Howeset 61.. 395/500 4,885,482 12/1989 Sharp 6161. 307/465
4,562,535 12/1985 Vincent 6161. 395/325 4,905,182 2/1990 H1611 6161.. 395/275
4,589,063 5/1986 $11611 6161. 395/275 4,931,923 6/1990 Fitch 6161.. 395/500
4,590,556 5/1986 136111616161. 395/700 4,951,248 8/1990 Ly11611 .......... .. 395/425
4,590,557 5/1986 1.11116 ........... .. 395/700 4,992,976 2/1991 YOI‘leklll’a 6161.. 395/100
4,622,63311/1986 c6666116161. 395/700 5,014,193 5/1991 06111616161. .. 395/275
4,635,192 1/1987 0666611 6161. 395/325 _‘ 5,056,06010/1991 1=11611 6161. 395/275
4,701,878 10/1987 (1111111616161. .. 395/325 5,161,102 11/1992 01111111 61111. ..................... .. 395/800
5,257,387
U°S° Patent oct- 26, 1993 Sheet 1 of 20
I00
I
CONFIGURATION
COMMAND ICFI READ CMOS
I
98 I01 4
READ
SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
INFORMATION
ISCII FILE
START WITH
SCI FILE
INFORMATION
I08
I
GET INFORMATION
FROM MACHINE
SLOTS AND
PROGRAMMABLE
FEr-I
BOARDS
READ CFG FILES.
IIO
I
DISPLAY SLOTS
SELECT
FROM MENU
US. Patent Oct. 26, 1993 Sheet 2 of 20 5,257,387
' so
CF/N
Fig-1A
CASE 82
LOAD SCI
FILE OR
CREATE NEW
SCI FILE
LOAD 84 CREATE NEW‘ /88
SCI FILE SCI FILE
CALL ROUTINE DISPLAY
To LOAD ’86 EMPTY "90
SCI FILE SLOTS
US. Patent Oct. 26, 1993 Sheet 3 Of 20 5,257,387
vIEw / 200
SE LECT
202
BOARD
1- n, SYS
Ff'giZ
I
DISPLAY
205 \EMPIY SLOT NO
MESSAGE
DISPLAY
DISPLAY MISSING /212
INFORMATION CFG FILE
MESSAGE
PROMPT FOR AND
AOcEPT CFG FILE 21 4
0R DIRECTORY /
WHERE CFG IS
FOUND
216
NO
/ 222
SHOW 2. DESCRIBE SHOW 2 DESCRIBE
220 \ SYSTEM BOARDS NON - SYSTEM
ONLY 2 BOARDS ONLY
21.
I / i
LOAD FILE
i
DISPLAY INFORMATION
)
226
I A

US. Patent
Oct. 26, 1,993 Sheet 7 of 20 5,257,387
(800
DISPLAY SCREEN
818
WITH A DESCRIPT.
I i
OF CONFIGURE.
IOPORT, SWITCH,
JUMPER OR
SOFTWARE
"BOARD
IDENTIFICATION
IOPORT
BLOCK"
JUMPER @
i.@
FILL IN OR
MODIFY THE -
OPTIONS IN
THE BOARD
IDENTIFICATION SWITCH
SECTION DEFINITION
ID = "7 CHARS" MODIFY OR
CREATE A
NAME = "DESC."
SWITCH
CATEGORY -- "CUT."
SLOT =
LENGTH ‘ [821
SKIRTS SET NUMBER
READID
OR SWITCHES
LANGUAGE SWITCH(I)=N
COMMENTS
HELP = 3-823
SET OPTIONS
‘ F808
NAME=
ADD OR MODIFY
S'IYPE=
A FUNCTION OR
VERTICAL=
IDENTIFICATION
REVERSE=
LABEL=
INITVAL=
FACTORY=
COMMENTS
PICK FUNCTION
HELP=
, OR
IDENTIFICATION
‘ FUNCTION @
I IDENTIFICATION
FIG.
US. Patent 5,257,387
Oct. 26, 1993 Sheet 8 of 20
G)
(9
1-91 1
MODIFY OR
CREATE A
JUMPER I
IOPORT
DEFINITION
(913
MODIFY OR
7s30
CREATE A
JUMPER
MODIFY OR
CREATE A
IOPORT
SET NUMBER
OF JUMPERS
7832
JUMPER(I) = N
MODIFY OR
CREATE AN
7917
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SET OPTIONS
NAME=
J TYPE=
5834
VERT|CAL=
REVERSE= IOPORT(I)=
LABEL= SIZE=
INITVAL= INITVAL=
FACTORY=
COMMENTS
HELP=
836
YES
919
YES
NO
NO
FIG. 55