Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Input/output expansion
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-13
2004-03-09
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Input/output expansion
C710S008000, C710S009000, C710S010000, C710S018000, C710S072000, C710S108000, C710S104000, C713S100000, C713S152000, C713S152000, C713S152000, C713S300000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06704808
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, computer, recording medium, and transmission medium for controlling an expansion unit and, in particular, when a computer main unit is to be attached or detached from the expansion unit, to an expansion unit controlling method which performs a predetermined process for the device which is installed in the expansion unit, a computer to which the expansion unit controlling method can be applied, a recording medium on which a program for implementing the expansion unit controlling method by a computer, and a transmission medium for transmitting the program for implementing the expansion unit controlling method by a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are various types of peripheral device that can be installed in (or connected to) a personal computer (PC), including, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive (FDD), a CD-ROM drive, and a DVD (Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) drive. On the other hand, as notebook PCs are becoming increasingly smaller and lighter, the number and types of devices that can be installed in the PCs are becoming limited.
Therefore, an expansion unit (called a “docking station”, or “port replicator”), that can be easily attached and detached to and from the main unit of the notebook PC and to which various devices can be attached selectively, is provided for many notebook PCs. By installing a desired device that is not preinstalled in the main unit of the PC and connecting the PC main unit with the expansion unit, various capabilities can be implemented by using the desired device. When the PC is moved (e.g., made portable), the main unit of the PC can be detached from the expansion unit to avoid the inconvenience during the PC's movement.
Recent operating systems (OS) and Basic Input/Output Systems (BIOS) (i.e., a program for controlling input/output operations of hardware such as a keyboard and floppy disk drive) typically support “Plug and Play” (PnP) capability (i.e., the capability of a computer to automatically recognize a newly connected device and perform auto-configuration such as processes for allocating system resources thereto and loading the driver associated therewith) and also the expansion unit can be easily attached/detached to/from the main unit of the PC whether power to the main unit of the PC is off or the OS is running.
When the PC main unit is attached to the expansion unit during a power-off state of the PC main unit, the PnP capability is accomplished by a BIOS (in particular, Power-On Self Test (POST) routines in the BIOS) and the OS. When the PC main unit is attached to the expansion unit while the OS is running on the PC [(in detail, when the PC main unit is attached to the expansion unit during an energy-saving mode such as a suspend mode or the like. What is called “warm docking,” or while the PC main unit is not in an energy-saving mode or a quasi-energy-saving mode (e.g., stand-by mode), (so-called “hot docking”))], PnP capability is implemented by the OS (i.e., the BIOS detects the connection of the PC main unit with the expansion unit and interconnects both of their buses).
To prevent information resources from being compromised by unauthorized use of a PC, recently, many devices, such as a HDD as well as the main unit of the PC can be password-protected. Therefore, the use of a device installed in an expansion unit may be locked with a password when the expansion unit is attached to the main unit of the PC.
Auto-configuration is performed by an OS when the expansion unit is connected to the PC main unit on which the OS is running. However, none of the existing OSs support the capability of prompting a user to enter a password, and using the entered password to unlock a locked device installed in the expansion unit attached to the PC main unit. Therefore, if a device locked with a password is installed in the expansion unit attached to the PC main unit, then the password cannot be cleared, and the device cannot be used.
Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 9-237229 discloses a technique in which a system BIOS detects the presence or absence of an access-locked storage device in an expansion unit when the expansion unit is connected to the main unit of a PC. If it detects the presence of an access-locked storage device, then the system BIOS issues an APM event to cause an OS to activate a high-level driver and the high-level driver prompts the user to enter a password to release the access lock.
However, the technique described in the above-mentioned application requires a special BIOS and driver having the capability of releasing the password lock so that the system BIOS and the high-level driver cooperate together to unlock a device locked with a password. However, whereas the BIOS is stored in ROM (e.g., a flash ROM), the driver is stored in the HDD. Therefore, the special driver having the capability of clearing the password must be reinstalled when, for example, the HDD is formatted and the OS is re-installed. If the user forgets to re-install the special driver or unintentionally uninstalls it, then the operation of clearing the password cannot work. Therefore, it is desirable that the BIOS itself should implement the capability of clearing the password.
By the same token, for the “hot-docking” or “warm-docking” of the PC main unit with the expansion unit, when a physical connection between the PC main unit and the expansion unit is detected, a BIOS is first activated. The activated BIOS connects the bus of the PC main unit with the bus of the expansion unit and performs other required processes, and then notifies an OS of the connection between the PC main unit and the expansion unit. The notified OS performs a sequence of processes such as the allocation of system resources such as I/O space, the loading of an appropriate device driver and other processes to the device installed in the expansion unit. Once control is passed to the OS, there is no opportunity for the BIOS to be re-activated for hot-docking or warm-docking.
Therefore, for the BIOS itself to perform processes such as unlocking a locked device installed in an expansion unit during hot-docking or warm-docking of the PC main unit with an expansion unit, the BIOS itself should allocate I/O space to the device installed in the expansion unit, clear a password, and perform other processes on behalf of the OS before passing control to the OS.
However, it is difficult for the BIOS to detect proper I/O space allocatable to the device installed in the expansion unit during hot-docking or warm-docking. Because I/O space allocation to devices preinstalled in the PC when the PC is powered on is performed by POST, which is part of the BIOS, the BIOS recognizes the addresses of I/O space that are initially allocated to the devices during the power-on of the PC. However, if the I/O space allocation is changed by the OS because of a connection of a new device (e.g., a PC card), then the BIOS is not notified of the change. Therefore, it is difficult for the BIOS to recognize available I/O space during hot-docking or warm-docking.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, the BIOS may look for currently unused I/O space and allocate I/O space identified as unused space to devices in the expansion unit during the hot-docking or warm-docking of the PC main unit with the expansion unit. However, the process is lengthy because searching for unused I/O space is a highly complicated process. In addition, memory cannot be effectively used because an enormous number of instruction codes must be stored in the memory in preparation for the hot-docking or warm-docking of the PC main unit with the expansion unit, even though when and whether it will occur is unknown.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing and other problems, disadvantages, and drawbacks of the conventional methods and structures, an object of the present invention is to provide a method, computer, recording medium, and transmission medium
Kasamatsu Eitaroh
Kawano Seiichi
Gaffin Jeffrey
Herzberg Louis
McGinn & Gibb PLLC
Peyton Tammara
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