KR100431142B1 - Method and system starting a multiple pda operating system through a menu - Google Patents

Abstract

It describes a method and system for starting up a multiple PDA OS through a menu. The present invention mainly modifies the BIOS boot procedure in notebook PCs with multiple OS. Turn on your Notebook PC and search for multiple operating systems. Multiple OS, including PDA OS and conventional notebook PC base OS (such as Window OS) are displayed on the menu. During the BIOS boot procedure, you can bypass the hardware diagnostic steps and perform hardware diagnostics only on input devices that support menu operations, which can speed up the startup of laptops. Therefore, the user can start any OS by clicking the desired item in the OS menu.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM STARTING A MULTIPLE PDA OPERATING SYSTEM THROUGH A MENU

The present invention relates to a technique for starting a personal digital assistant operating system (PDA) and utility in a portable PC such as a notebook PC or equivalent electronic device. More specifically, in notebook PCs equipped with multiple PDA OAs by providing an OS menu, the user can select one of the PDA OSs to provide PDA OS (hand-held PCs, pocket PCs and equivalent small electronic devices). Propose a method and system for starting the system.

As the computer population grows, people use computers to solve problems at work and at home. In general, two main methods of obtaining information are: (1) from books, newspapers, magazines, CD-ROMs, etc., and (2) from networks. However, both of these methods have disadvantages. The information obtained by the first method will be outdated over time. Fast exchange of information greatly shortens the life cycle of information. However, information stored in a medium such as a book is not easy to update. The information obtained by the second method is constantly changing with the development of the world, but also brings a certain trouble to the user. The problem can be seen from the following.

Existing personal computer operating systems, such as Window 98, Window 2000, Window XP, and Linux, are complex despite (or because of) their powerful features and design. Moreover, the user operation design is not immediate and simple. This situation causes a user with no background to feel afraid because of the difficulties encountered while using such a system.

2. Users who do not understand the network structure do not know where to start searching. In this case, the user sometimes uses a familiar OS or mounts several different OSs on a computer hardware platform. This type of OS is called dual OS or multiple OS. However, this method does not solve the problem as the utility needs to be switched between operating systems.

3. PDAs are becoming more and more popular these days. Complements the desktop Windows OS, such as smaller volumes, faster power on, more compact features, and more ease of use. Thus, supporting multiple PDA systems on a notebook PC is an important task under study to allow the same user to enjoy the functionality of different PDA systems on a notebook PC.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for arbitrarily designating and starting an OS in a notebook PC equipped with a multiple PDA OS and a common OS (such as a Windows OS).

1 is a flow diagram illustrating steps for implementing the present invention.

2 shows a hardware structure of the present invention.

3 shows a system structure of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of a BIOS chip after power is applied.

5 is a flowchart showing the steps of starting the base OS and its utility.

6 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of starting up the PDA OS and its utility.

7 is a flow diagram of another embodiment showing the steps of starting a PDA OS and its utility using a hot key.

8 is a hardware structure of another embodiment showing a structure in which a PDA hot key is added.

The method described mainly applies to notebook PCs equipped with multiple OS. The OS includes at least one PDA OS (including handheld PCs, pocket PCs, and other small electronic devices, all hereafter referred to as PDAs) and a basic OS. By modifying the BIOS (Basic Input Ouput System) boot process, the OS information on the notebook PC is read from the Master Boot Record (MBR) immediately after power is turned on. Acquire multiple OS information on the notebook PC and list it in the menu on the display. The user can start any OS directly through this menu.

The system described is mainly built into notebook PCs equipped with multiple OS. Apart from the basic OS (such as Window OS) preloaded on the notebook PC and the startup procedure of the base OS, and the power on of the button to start the notebook PC,

PDA OS memorized on the memory device of a notebook PC,

PDA startup procedure preloaded in the notebook PC's BIOS to start up the PAD OS and open the PDA utility,

OS detection procedure preloaded in the notebook PC's BIOS to search for multiple on-board OSes and list the OS in the display's menu, and

In order to speed up the startup of the Notebook PC, a quick hardware diagnostic procedure, which is preloaded in the notebook PC's BIOS to bypass the complex hardware diagnostics and to perform hardware diagnostics for input devices that support menu operations, is required in the notebook PC's normal startup procedures. quick hardware diagnostic procedure)

Wherein the user can select one of the OS using input devices to start up.

Referring to FIG. 1, a method mainly applied to a notebook PC equipped with a multiple OS including at least one PDA OS and a basic OS pre-loaded in the notebook PC will be described. The following steps are taken to achieve the goal of starting an OS from a menu with multiple OSs.

1. The BIOS contents of the notebook PC, in particular the contents of the booting block, are modified to implement the following functions: (1) omit the hardware device diagnostic step to speed up the notebook PC; And (2) searching for multiple OSs on notebook PCs.

2. List the multiple OSes found in a menu on the output device, such as a display or other equivalent device.

3. The system obtains information about the OS selected by the user from the menu (eg, PDA OS). In the menu, the user can specify the OS to be started by using an input device such as a mouse, keyboard, or touch-control monitor.

4. Start up the OS of your choice.

As shown in Fig. 2, the hardware structure using the described technology is mainly based on the basic hardware device of the current notebook PC. The hardware structure includes at least the CPU 10, the BIOS chip 11, the main memory 12, the storage device 13 (e.g., HD, CD-ROM or other storage medium), the power on button 20, the output device ( 14) (eg, display, touch control monitor, etc.), and input device 15 (eg, mouse, keyboard, touch control monitor, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 3, the system of the present invention includes a basic OS 31 (for example, Window OS), a basic OS booting procedure 32, a utility for a basic OS 33, and a basic OS pre-loaded in a notebook PC. A driver 34. The system also

PDA OS 40 stored in the storage device of the notebook PC 13,

Utility for PDA OS (41),

PDA boot procedure 42 preloaded in the BIOS chip 11 of the notebook PC for starting the PDA OS 40 and utilities 41,

Driver 43 for PDA OS 41, and

A boot procedure module 44 pre-loaded on the notebook PC's BIOS chip 11, wherein the boot procedure module 11 bypasses the diagnostic steps of some hardware devices to speed up the power of the notebook PC. Height includes a quick hardware diagnostic procedure 441, and an OS search procedure for searching for multiple OS preloaded on the notebook PC (e.g., preloaded Window OS and PDA OS) and presenting it on the menu of the output device 14. do.

Basic OS-related software including the utility 33 and the driver 34, and PDA OS-related software including the utility 43 and the driver 44 are stored separately in the storage device 13 of the notebook PC. It is desirable to store them in different HD portions 131, 132 of the HD. The PDA boot procedure 42 and the basic OS boot procedure 32 are stored together in the BIOS chip 11 of the notebook PC.

4 illustrates a notebook PC implementing the described technology. After the power is turned on, the operation performed by the BIOS chip 11

A. Through a quick hardware diagnostic procedure, some input devices (e.g. mouse, keyboard, etc.) that support menu operations can be used to speed up the Notebook PC's power-on by bypassing complex hardware diagnostics in the notebook PC's normal booting procedures. Performing partial hardware diagnostics for hardware diagnostics only),

B. searching for the OS preloaded on the notebook PC through the OS search procedure 42 and listing it in a menu on the output device 14,

C. obtaining selection information about an OS (eg, PDA OS) that the user selects from a menu, and

D. Steps to start up the OS of your choice

It includes.

The OS retrieval procedure 442 reads an OS partition message stored in a master boot record (MBR) to obtain information of all OSs mounted in the storage device 13 of the notebook PC.

According to the selection result in step C, the BIOS chip 11 performs the PDA boot procedure 42 or the basic OS boot procedure 32 depending on whether the user selects the PDA OS or the basic OS 31 from the menu. The PDA OS 40 and its utility 41 or the basic OS 31 and its utility 33 are started up.

The boot procedure 32 of the basic OS is executed differently from the boot procedure of the PDA OS 40. As shown in Figure 5, the booting procedure 31 of the basic OS,

(a) performing a power on self test (POST) procedure,

(b) loading the preloaded main OS 31 into main memory 12, and

(c) starting the base OS 31 and operating the utility 33;

It includes.

As shown in Figure 6, the booting procedure of the PDA OS,

(A) loading the preloaded PDA OS 40 into the main memory 12, and

(B) starting up the PDA OS 40 and operating the utility 41

It includes.

From the above description, it can be seen that a complicated hardware diagnostic step is performed at startup of the base OS 31. This is called POST. This is mainly due to memory size, memory defects, keyboard functionality, display interface card type, type and model of hard drive and floppy disk drive, and the functionality of the interrupt controller and timer. Try it. If there is a conflict between the interface card settings and the host, a warning message is displayed or the system cannot be loaded. For the printer, the test includes whether the print head is movable and if the printer is connected to a computer when some paper is jammed inside. On the other hand, when the PDA OS 40 is started up through the PDA booting procedure 42, a complicated hardware diagnostic step is omitted, and the PDA system 40 preloaded in the storage device 13 (for example, HD) of the notebook PC. Start) immediately. The PDA utility 41 is also quickly incorporated into the PDA operating environment.

7 is a flow chart of another embodiment of the present invention based on the procedure of FIG. A further hot key 16 is provided for immediately starting the given PDA OS 40 after applying power (see FIG. 8). The number of PDA hotkeys is determined by the number of operating systems on the notebook PC. Each PDA hotkey 16 has a unique ID stored in a hot key table 17 in the BIOS chip 11. When the user presses any of the PDA hotkeys 16, the BIOS identifies the PDA OS from the hotkey table 17 according to the PDA hotkey pressed. After that, the designated PDA OS is started up. Detailed procedure,

B1. Reading all the information of the OS mounted in the storage device 13 of the notebook PC in the MBR,

B2. Determining if it is a multi-OS part and continuing with the next step if it is not, starting the base OS by performing a boot procedure of the base OS 31,

B3. Retrieving the PDA OS 40 in the multiple OS portion,

B4. Retrieving the pressed PDA hotkey 16, thus identifying the PDA OS from the hotkey table 17, starting up the designated PDA OS and utility 41, and if not immediately continuing to the next step,

B5. Displaying the detected multiple OS in a menu on the output device 14 for the user to select an OS to start up via the input device, and

B6. Steps to start up the OS of your choice

It includes.

While the invention has been described in terms of illustrations and preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the described embodiments. Rather, it is intended to include arrangements similar to the various variations as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the scope of the claims should be construed as the broadest interpretation so as to encompass such variations and variations.

Accordingly, the present invention can provide a technique capable of arbitrarily designating and starting an OS in a notebook PC equipped with a multiple PDA OS and a conventional OS.

Claims (15)

What is claimed is: 1. A method of starting a multiple PDA OS through an OS startup menu in a portable computer having at least one PDA (Personal Digital Assistant Operating System) and a multiple OS including a basic OS. (1) (a) omit the diagnostic step of some hardware devices to increase power on speed, and (b) to search for multiple OS preloaded on the portable computer, the BIOS of the portable computer Modifying the Basic Input Output System contents, (2) listing the retrieved multiple OS for user selection in a menu on the output device of the portable computer, (3) acquiring selection information about the OS selected by the user in the menu; and (4) starting up the user-selected OS How to include. The method of claim 1, Modifying the BIOS content further comprises establishing a quick hardware diagnosis procedure and an OS detecting procedure. The method of claim 2, The fast hardware diagnostic procedure performs hardware diagnostics only on input devices that support menu operations to increase the power-on speed of the portable computer. The method of claim 3, Wherein each of the input devices is selected from the group consisting of a mouse, a keyboard, and a touch-control monitor. The method of claim 2, Wherein the OS search procedure reads OS partition information stored in a master boot record (MBR) to obtain information of all OSs preloaded in the portable computer. The method of claim 1, And the output device is selected from the group consisting of a monitor and a touch control monitor. A method of starting a multiple PDA OS through an OS startup menu in a portable computer having multiple OS including at least one PDA OS and a basic OS, (1) (a) omit the diagnostic step of some hardware devices to increase power on speed, and (b) to search for multiple OS preloaded on the portable computer, the BIOS of the portable computer Modifying the content, (2) providing PDA hot keys that each directly start their own PDA OS after power is turned on, (3) listing the multiple OS retrieved in a menu on the output device of the portable computer for the user's selection; (4) obtaining selection information regarding the OS selected by the user from the menu, and (5) starting up the user-selected OS How to include. The method of claim 7, wherein The modifying BIOS content further includes establishing a quick hardware diagnostic procedure and an OS discovery procedure. The method of claim 8, The fast hardware diagnostic procedure performs hardware diagnostics only on input devices that support menu operations to speed up the power-on of the portable computer. The method of claim 9, Wherein each input device is selected from the group consisting of a mouse, a keyboard and a touch control monitor. The method of claim 8, Wherein the OS search procedure reads OS partition information stored in a master boot record (MBR) to obtain information of all OSs preloaded in the portable computer. The method of claim 7, wherein The number of PDA hotkeys is determined by the number of OS mounted on the portable computer. The method of claim 7, wherein The correspondence between the PDA hotkey and the OS is determined by a hotkey table in a BIOS chip. The method of claim 7, wherein Before step (3), (3.1) determining if there are multiple OS partitions, and if so, continuing to the next step, otherwise starting up the boot process of the base OS, (3.2) searching for PDA OS in the multiple OS partition, and (3.3) further detecting that any PDA OS hotkey has been pressed and starting up a PDA OS corresponding to the PDA hotkey, otherwise continuing to step (3). Way. The method of claim 14, The booting procedure of the base OS further includes performing a power on self test (POST) procedure after power is turned on.