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Pre-Grant Publication Number: 20070162625

Method and apparatus for delivering device drivers

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Prior Art Detail

Annotations(1)

#38Method and system for providing device driver configurations on demand

Applies to Claims 1,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,2,20,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

Submitted by: Kent WilliamsCreated: almost 6 years ago

6 thumbs up 1 thumb down

Summary / Description

Summary / Description

A method and system for providing device driver configurations on demand during runtime within a computer system is disclosed. In accordance with a method of the present invention, a Hardware Namespace is constructed by a Hardware Resource Manager and a Logical Device Namespace is constructed by a Logical Device Manager within the computer system. A determination is made as to whether or not the peripheral device is contained within the Hardware Namespace and whether or not a device driver for the peripheral device is also contained within the Logical Device Namespace, ...

Basic Information

Type of Prior Art	Issued Patents - US

Country	United States of America

Patent/Application #	5,815,731

Kind Code	United States (US) - United STATES Patent - A

Patentee Name	Doyle, et al.

Relevant Pages, Columns, or Lines	Summary of The Invention

URL

Filing Date	September 29, 1998

Additional Information	The abstract and, more importantly, the summary both read of all of the claims, especially claim 1.

Notes / To Do

Notes	Please contact me (email) if more prio art is needed. This is the first patent (albeit not the first of the prior art).

Excerpt

Excerpt

A determination is made as to whether or not the peripheral device is contained within the Hardware Namespace and whether or not a device driver for the peripheral device is also contained within the Logical Device Namespace, in response to a first attempt to access a peripheral device after system boot-up by an application software. In response to a determination that the peripheral device is not contained within the Hardware Namespace, a user is prompted to install the peripheral device within the computer system. On the other hand, in response to a determination that the device driver for the peripheral device is not contained within the Logical Device Namespace, the user is prompted to install the device driver for the peripheral device within the computer system.

Relevance

Claims

A method of delivering a device driver to an operating system executing on a computer platform, the method comprising: during booting of the operating system, identifying a first device for which a device driver is needed;

requesting the device driver from a service processor installed on the computer platform, wherein the service processor comprises a storage configured to store one or more device drivers; and

delivering the device driver to the operating system without intervention by a user.

Relevance

Perfect Relevance

Claim Chart

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The method of Claim 1, wherein the computer platform is configured to simultaneously execute multiple operating systems in one or more virtual environments.

Relevance

Duh, see abstract.

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The method of Claim 2, wherein said requesting comprises: requesting the device driver from a hypervisor configured to manage access by the multiple operating systems to devices of the computer platform.

Relevance

There IS case law, which when read in combination with this prior-art, teaches this claim.

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The method of Claim 3, wherein said requesting further comprises: forwarding the request from the hypervisor to the service processor.

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Abstract

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The method of Claim 1, wherein said requesting comprises: identifying to the service processor the first device and a version of the operating system.

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Inherent.

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The method of Claim 1, wherein said storage comprises solid-state memory having a capacity of at least 32 megabytes.

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paragraph 2 of detailed description

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The method of Claim 1, wherein said delivering comprises: loading the device driver.

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Inherent.

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A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of delivering a device driver to an operating system executing on a computer platform, without user intervention, the method comprising: during booting of the operating system, identifying a first device for which a device driver is needed;

requesting the device driver from a service processor installed on the computer platform, wherein the service processor comprises a storage configured to store one or more device drivers; and

delivering the device driver to the operating system without intervention by a user.

Relevance

Same as claim 1.

Claim Chart

All

A service processor for a computer platform, wherein the service processor is configured to monitor operation of one or more components of the computer platform, the service processor comprising: a memory configured to store multiple device drivers for driving operation of one or more devices of the computer platform;

wherein the multiple device drivers include multiple versions of a first device driver, each said version being configured for a different operating system.

Relevance

Same as claim 2.

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The service processor of Claim 9, further comprising: a connection to a hypervisor configured to manage access to the one or more devices by multiple operating systems executing simultaneously on the computer platform.

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Obvious extrension under 35 U.S.C. 103(a).

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The service processor of Claim 9, wherein the service processor is separate from a central processing unit of the computing platform.

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See the bios references mentioned within the detailed description.

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The service processor of Claim 9, wherein the one or more components include a power supply and a fan.

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Please tell me you see this as anticipated in light of the previous claim rejections!

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The service processor of Claim 9, wherein the one or more devices include one or more of: a communication interface;

an input device;

an output device; and

a storage device.

Relevance

Any PC made after 1979.

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A computer platform configured to deliver a device driver to an operating system executing on the platform, the computer platform comprising: a first operating system configured to support one or more application programs; and

a service processor configured to monitor operation of one or more components of the platform, the service processor comprising: a storage configured to store one or more device drivers for driving operation of a first device installed in the computer platform.

Relevance

See previous claims.

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The computer platform of Claim 14, wherein the computer platform is configured to simultaneously run multiple operating systems, including the first operating system, in one or more virtual environments.

Relevance

See previous claims.

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The computer platform of Claim 15, further comprising: a hypervisor configured to manage access to the first device by the multiple operating systems.

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See previous claims.

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The computer platform of Claim 14, wherein the one or more device drivers comprise multiple drivers for the first device, each of the multiple drivers being configured for a different operating system.

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See previous claims.

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The computer platform of Claim 14, further comprising: a central processing unit separate from said service processor.

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See previous claims.

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The computer platform of Claim 14, wherein the one or more components include at least one of: a power supply; or

a fan.

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