Option ROM virtualization

Details Option ROM virtualization Option ROM virtualization

2006-10-10

2006-10-10

Moazzami, Nasser (Department: 2187)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory

Address formation

Address mapping

C711S203000

Reexamination Certificate

active

07120778

ABSTRACT:
A method and system for virtualizing images. Multiple images are shadowed (i.e., copied) into portions of the physical address space of system memory. A mapping mechanism is effected to map all of the images into a common virtual address space, wherein images in the virtual address space are overlapped, thus enabling the images to be logically stored in a portion of virtual memory having a size less than the aggregated size of the images. In some embodiments, the images comprise option ROM images, which are shadowed into system memory during the pre-boot of a computer system. Due to legacy requirements, the option ROM images must be logically located in a limited portion of virtual memory (i.e., the common virtual address space). The embodiments enable a large number of option ROM images to be shadowed at the same time. In one embodiment, system hardware is programmed by firmware to effect a dynamic mapping between virtual pages at which an image is logically located to physical pages where the image is physically located.

REFERENCES:
patent: 6098158 (2000-08-01), Lay et al.
patent: 2005/0144405 (2005-06-01), Doran et al.

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