KR101672282B1 - Method for supporting Multi-OS in a single-OS system and Apparatus for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for supporting a different operating system in a system supporting only one operating system (OS). According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer system comprising: a memory unit having a first operating system; An external storage device having a second operating system different from the first operating system; And a controller for determining whether the external storage device is connected through a predetermined interface and controlling the booting of the first operating system or the second operating system selectively if it is determined that the external storage device is connected. In this case, the first operating system is a web-based operating system that does not permit coexistence of other operating systems in the memory unit, and the second operating system is a general operating system except for the web-based operating system.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING MULTIPLE OPERATING SYSTEMS IN A SINGLE OPERATING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING THE SAME

The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for supporting a different operating system in a system supporting only one operating system (OS).

As a mobile computer system such as a notebook or a netbook becomes popular, a new operating system other than the Windows (XP / ME / Vista / 7) operating system used in the X86 series computer system is emerging. The new operating system aims to provide users with faster and more convenient functions of surfing the Internet and web-related functions, rather than running heavy and complicated applications according to the mobile environment. An example of such an operating system is Google's Chrome operating system (Chrome OS). However, some operating systems, such as Chrome OS, do not allow other operating systems to be installed on their installed system storage. Therefore, a user needs a way to solve the problem because a user can not operate another operating system with a computer system having a chrome OS installed therein.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for supporting an operating system in a system supporting only one operating system (OS).

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, unless further departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be possible.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer system including a memory unit including a first operating system; And a controller for selectively controlling booting of the first operating system or the second operating system when the external storage device including the second operating system is connected through the predetermined interface.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling a computer system having a first operating system, the method comprising: determining whether an external storage device including a second operating system is connected; If the external storage device is connected as a result of the determination, selecting a boot from one of the first operating system and the second operating system from a user; And booting the operating system according to the selection result.

In this case, the first operating system is a web-based operating system that does not permit coexistence of other operating systems in the memory unit, and the second operating system is a general operating system except for the web-based operating system.

The system according to at least one embodiment of the present invention configured as described above can drive two or more operating systems using an external storage device in which a system operating system and a different operating system are installed.

The effects obtained by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description will be.

1 is a system block diagram illustrating an example of a computer system structure in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.
2 shows an example of a procedure for selectively booting different operating systems in a computer system according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a BIOS structure for selectively booting different operating systems in a computer system according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, a computer system related to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The suffix "module" and " part "for the components used in the following description are given or mixed in consideration of ease of specification, and do not have their own meaning or role.

The computer system described herein includes a smart phone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcasting terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), a navigation device, a digital TV, do.

It does not allow coexistence of other OS in the system storage device like Google Chrome OS mentioned above (does not allow to install another OS or does not operate normally if it detects that another OS is installed) An OS (i.e., a web-based) for focusing support of web-related functions is referred to as "web operating system (web OS) "

The operating system of the x86 system series (for example, Windows XP / ME / Vista / 7) is referred to as a "general operating system (OS)" in contrast to the web OS.

The present invention proposes a method and apparatus for supporting a general operating system (that is, booting to a general operating system) in a system in which a Web OS is installed in a system storage device. To this end, in the present invention, a general operating system is not installed in a system storage (a memory unit to be described later) but is installed in a separate external storage device connected through a predetermined standard interface and connected to a system . This makes it possible to boot into a normal operating system without compromising Web OS restrictions.

Here, it is preferable that the external storage device has a sufficient storage space for installing a general OS that can be operated in the computer system according to the present invention. When the computer system is connected to the computer system, (For example, USB 2.0 or higher) that can be directly recognized by the interface is preferably applied. The external storage device includes a USB memory stick, a USB hard disk, a PMP, an MP3, and the like.

First, the structure of a computer system in which embodiments of the present invention can be performed will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that only the Web OS is installed in the computer system according to the present invention, but the general OS can also be operated.

Computer System Architecture

1 is a system block diagram illustrating an example of a computer system structure in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

1, a computer system according to the present invention includes a main chip set 140, a display unit 151, a system memory 160, first to third interface modules 171 to 173, and a central processing unit (CPU) 180), and the like. 1A are not essential, a computer system having more or fewer components may be implemented. For example, an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch sensor, a microphone, and a camera for inputting a command of a user, an output device such as a speaker, a printer, and a power supply may be additionally provided or connected to the computer system.

Hereinafter, the components will be described in order.

First, the main chipset 140 performs a function similar to a chipset provided in a main board of a general computer system. More specifically, a core controller chip that connects and controls each component. That is, the main chipset generally refers to a south bridge (SB) that controls peripheral devices such as an interface with a north bridge (NB) for controlling memory and graphics, and each bridge may be implemented as an individual device And may be implemented as a single module. At this time, the north bridge can perform a function of controlling a separately provided graphics processing unit (GPU) or a graphics card including the graphics processing unit (GPU), but in the present specification, see.

Next, the display unit 151 displays (outputs) information processed in the computer system. For example, a UI (User Interface) or a GUI (Graphic User Interface) is displayed according to the graphic operation result of the processor 180 or the control of the main chipset for an operating system or an application to be executed.

The display unit includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), a flexible display, Dimensional display (3D display).

(Hereinafter, referred to as 'touch screen') in which a display unit 151 and a sensor for sensing a touch operation (hereinafter, referred to as 'touch sensor') have a mutual layer structure Can be used. The touch sensor may have the form of a touch film, a touch sheet, a touch pad, or the like.

The touch sensor may be configured to convert a change in a pressure applied to a specific portion of the display portion or a capacitance occurring in a specific portion of the display portion into an electrical input signal. The touch sensor can be configured to detect not only the position and area to be touched but also the pressure at the time of touch.

If there is a touch input to the touch sensor, the corresponding signal (s) is sent to the touch controller. The touch controller processes the signal (s) and then transmits the corresponding data to the CPU 180. Thus, the control unit 180 can know which area of the display unit 151 is touched or the like.

The memory 160 may be a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (for example, SD or XD memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), PROM A disk, and / or an optical disk. The computer system according to the present invention may operate in association with a web storage that performs the storage function of the memory 160 on the Internet. As described above, it is assumed that a web OS is installed in the memory unit 160 according to the present invention.

The first to third interface modules 171 to 173 refer to a built-in device or an external device connected to the computer system according to the present invention. The interface module is connected to the main chipset 140 through an interface such as a universal serial bus (USB), and can transmit and receive data. Examples of such interface modules include a wired / wireless headset, an external charger, a USB storage medium, a smart SIM / SIM / USIM, a modem that meets various air interface standards, and the like.

The central processing unit (CPU) 180 typically controls the overall operation of the computer system.

Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience, the central processing unit 180 and the main chipset 140 are collectively referred to as a "control unit ".

According to a hardware implementation, the embodiments described herein may be implemented as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays May be implemented using at least one of a processor, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, and other electronic units for performing other functions. In some cases, The embodiments described may be implemented by the control itself.

According to a software implementation, embodiments such as the procedures and functions described herein may be implemented with separate software modules. Each of the software modules may perform one or more of the functions and operations described herein. Software code can be implemented in a software application written in a suitable programming language. The software code is stored in the memory 160 and can be executed by the control unit.

Operation procedure

2 shows an example of a procedure for selectively booting different operating systems in a computer system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the web OS is a chrome OS for convenience, and the general OS is a window. Also, the ability to selectively boot two different operating systems is referred to as "dual booting mode" for the sake of convenience. In addition, it is assumed that Windows is installed in a USB storage device connected to an interface of USB 2.0 or higher.

Referring to FIG. 2, as the computer system according to the present invention is powered on or a user operates the main switch, the computer system is activated and the BIOS is loaded by the controller (S201).

Here, BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) refers to a program that is in charge of hardware and input / output at the lowest level among programs installed in a computer system in a broad sense. In the narrower sense, it could mean IBM-PC (X86) compatible. A BIOS is a type of firmware that has an intermediate form of hardware and software in a computer. Most of the functions are performed by the software such as controlling the hardware and transmitting the changed or generated information by the software in the software. do. The BIOS may be provided in a computer system as part of the memory unit 160. [ In the BIOS, whether or not the dual boot mode according to the present invention is applied can be selected and stored by the user.

The control unit reads the dual boot mode setting of the BIOS (S202). If the dual boot mode is not set, the control unit directly boot the chrome OS installed in the system memory unit 160 (S206).

Conversely, if the dual boot mode is set, the control unit must detect a normal OS such as a window. At this time, since the chrome OS restricts the installation of the OS excluding itself in the system memory unit 160, it is necessary to judge whether or not a storage device other than the system memory unit, for example, a USB storage device with a window, is connected (S203).

As described above, the USB storage device is connected through the USB 2.0 standard or an interface of a higher version. Since the USB 2.0 standard supports recognition at the BIOS stage, the controller determines whether or not the USB storage device is connected in the BIOS load state can do.

If an external storage device such as a USB storage device is not connected or it is determined that a general OS is not installed in the storage device even though the connection is established, the control unit performs booting to the chrome OS (S206).

However, if it is determined that the USB storage device having the general OS is connected, it can be determined whether to boot with the window (S205) or boot with the chrome OS (S206) according to the user's selection (S204). At this time, the selection of the user may be performed by displaying a predetermined selection window or menu on the display unit 151 after bios loading and by a user's input through a user command input device such as a keyboard or a mouse. Alternatively, if a USB storage device with a normal operating system is detected, the BIOS may be automatically set to boot into the normal OS.

Next, a bios structure for performing the above-described procedure will be described.

Bios structure

FIG. 3 shows an example of a BIOS structure for selectively booting different operating systems in a computer system according to the present invention.

It is assumed that the BIOS of FIG. 3 is an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory). The BIOS can be divided into a write-protected region and a writable region, which the user can not arbitrarily record. Whether the dual boot mode is set or not can be changed by a user, so that the setting can be stored in a part of a writable region.

The writable region includes a boot log area for recording boot-related events and two firmware areas (Firmware A and Firmware B). In the firmware A area, information for booting an OS (for example, a chrome OS) installed in the system memory 160 is recorded. In the firmware B area, information for booting an OS installed in an external storage device such as USB is recorded do.

When the first BIOS load is performed, the information of the boot stub is loaded and basic functions of the BIOS are performed. If the dual boot mode is set by the user and the USB storage device in which the window is installed is detected and the user selects to boot the window The boot procedure according to the firmware B is performed, and in other cases, the boot procedure according to the firmware A can be performed.

At this time, when the reboot is performed, the controller may refer to the boot log so that the same firmware as that of the last loaded firmware is always selected, or a firmware other than the last loaded firmware may be selected.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the above-described method can be implemented as a code that can be read by a processor on a medium on which the program is recorded. Examples of the medium that can be read by the processor include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage, etc., and may be implemented in the form of a carrier wave (e.g., transmission over the Internet) .

The computer system and its control method described above are not limited to the configuration and method of the embodiments described above, but the embodiments may be modified such that all or some of the embodiments are selectively And may be configured in combination.

Claims (5)

A memory unit having a first operating system;
An external storage device having a second operating system different from the first operating system;
A controller for determining whether the external storage device is connected through a predetermined interface and selectively controlling booting of the first operating system or the second operating system when it is determined that the external storage device is connected,
Wherein the first operating system is a web-based operating system that does not permit coexistence of other operating systems except the first operating system in the memory unit,
Wherein the second operating system is a general operating system except for the web-based operating system. The method according to claim 1,
The memory unit may further include a BIOS,
The predetermined interface is a universal serial bus (USB)
Wherein,
And recognizes whether the external storage device is connected in a state that the BIOS is loaded. 3. The method of claim 2,
The bios includes:
A first firmware for booting the first operating system and a second firmware for booting the second operating system,
Wherein,
Wherein the booting procedure according to the first firmware is performed when the booting of the first operating system is performed, and the booting procedure according to the second firmware is performed when the booting of the second operating system is performed. The method according to claim 1,
The first operating system is a chrome operating system,
Wherein the second operating system is a window-based operating system. A control method of a computer system including a memory unit having a first operating system,
Determining whether the external storage device including the second operating system is connected by the control unit;
Receiving a selection from the user for booting to one of the first operating system and the second operating system when the external storage device is connected as a result of the determination; And
And booting the operating system according to the selection result by the control unit,
The first operating system is a web-based operating system that does not permit coexistence of another operating system in the memory unit,
Wherein the second operating system is a general operating system except for the web-based operating system.

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