KR20070018266A - Method and apparatus for providing set-up information of computer system - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for providing setting information of a computer system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for providing configuration information of a computer system includes performing self-diagnosis and hardware initialization of a computer system, and after performing the self-diagnosis and hardware initialization, user-dependent configuration information of the computer system. Accessing the stored memory, and displaying the setting information.

Computer system, setup information, bios

Description

Method and apparatus for providing set-up information of computer system

1 is a diagram illustrating a computer system operating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a block diagram illustrating the firmware hub of FIG. 2 in more detail.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing setting information of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating an output screen of computer system setting information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

110: memory controller hub 120: I / O controller hub

130: firmware hub 140: central processing unit

150: AGP 160: main memory

170: PCI slot 180: IDE port

190: USB port

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing configuration information of a computer system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing configuration information of a computer system to display various settings of the current computer system to a user when the computer system is booted. It is about.

Users of computer systems may not be familiar with various system information about their computer systems. In this case, using the function key provided in the keyboard in the booting phase of the computer system, it is possible to enter the BIOS setup mode, the user can check the system information through this. The information available on the BIOS setup screen is hardware dependent system information such as CPU speed and memory capacity.

On the other hand, the setting information of the computer system may be different from the initial information by the user's various environment setting operations or selections while using the computer system. The changed setting information may be user dependent information such as whether the speaker is muted, connected to a wireless network, or a fan control level.

However, when the user is not aware of the changed setting information, the user may be mistaken that an error has occurred in the computer system when the computer system is used later. For example, if the speaker mute function is turned on, a user who does not remember this may recognize that a problem occurs in the audio output function of the computer system when the computer system is used later.

Since such information cannot be checked in the above-described BIOS setup screen, a user who cannot remember the setting information of the computer system has to go through the trouble of checking the control functions of the computer system supported by the operating system after operating the operating system.

Therefore, there was a need for a technology that can easily provide users with additional user-dependent information as well as basic hardware information found in the BIOS setup screen.

An object of the present invention is to provide a user with configuration information of a computer system at boot time of the computer system.

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

In order to achieve the above object, a method for providing setting information of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of performing a self-diagnosis and hardware initialization of the computer system, after performing the self-diagnosis and hardware initialization, the computer Accessing a memory in which user-dependent configuration information of a system is stored, and displaying the configuration information.

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus for providing setting information of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a memory for storing the setting information of the computer system;

And a BIOS for performing self-diagnosis and hardware initialization of the computer system when power is supplied, and accessing a memory in which user-dependent configuration information of the computer system is stored and outputting the configuration information.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a computer system operating structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The illustrated computer system operating structure includes hardware 10, BIOS 20, operating system 30, and application 40.

The hardware 10 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a main memory such as a ROM, and an auxiliary memory such as a hard disk or a floppy disk. In addition, the hardware 10 may further include an input device such as a mouse or a keyboard, and a peripheral device such as a monitor.

The Basic Input Output System (BIOS) 20 handles the "instant response request" of the hardware 10 and loads the operating system 30 upon booting of the computer system.

The operating system 30 controls the hardware 10 to handle the user's requirements input through the input device and serves as an interface between the hardware 10 and the application program 40. However, the operating system 30 basically controls the hardware 10 through the BIOS 20.

The application program 40 performs a specific task based on the operating system 30. A user of the computer system may perform a desired task through various kinds of application programs 40.

At this time, according to an embodiment of the present invention, when the setting information of the computer system changes according to the user's selection, the setting information including the changed setting information is stored in a predetermined memory provided in the hardware 10. Thereafter, when the computer system is booted, the setting information stored in the corresponding memory may be displayed to the user, and the user may check the setting information of the computer system through this.

2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The illustrated computer system includes a memory controller hub (MCH 110), an input / output controller hub (I / O controller hub; ICH 120), and a firmware hub (FWH 130). . However, they may consist of a single chipset.

The memory controller hub 110 controls a device having a high data transfer speed such as a central processing unit (CPU) 140, a main memory 160, an accelerated graphics port (AGP) 150, and the like. The memory controller hub 110 mainly performs a memory access function, and allows the CPU 140 and the AGP 150 to access the main memory 160. In addition, the memory controller hub 110 may perform a bridge or interface function for communication or signal transmission between one or more input / output devices that may be connected to the input / output controller hub 120 and the central processing unit 140.

An AGP graphics card (not shown) is connected to the AGP 150, through which a video signal can be output to a display device such as a monitor. In some embodiments, a Graphic / Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) that includes the functionality of the AGP 150 may be used in place of the memory controller hub 110 and the AGP 130.

The input / output controller hub 120 is connected to a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) slot 170, an integrated drive electronics (IDE) port 180, a universal serial bus (USB) port 190, and the like to manage various input / output devices.

Here, auxiliary storage devices such as hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and CD-ROMs are connected through the IDE port 180 and connected to a LAN card, a modem, a video card, and a small computer system interface (SCSI). Boards requiring high speed data transfer are mainly connected to the PCI slot 170.

The USB port 190 is connected to computer peripheral devices such as a keyboard, mouse, memory device. The USB port 190 is a Plug and Play interface between a computer, a keyboard, a mouse, and other peripheral devices. Even when a new peripheral device is connected while using the computer, the USB port 190 is automatically recognized without rebooting or setting up. It can supply 500mA of power per port, so low-power devices such as mice and keyboards don't require a separate power source, and the same principle as a serial port or faster data transfer than a serial port.

The firmware hub 130 is connected to the input / output controller hub 120 and provides firmware for additional system control. In particular, the firmware hub 130 stores instructions or codes that control and validate the boot sequence.

The firmware hub includes a configuration information storage memory 132 and a BIOS 134 as shown in FIG. 3.

The setting information storage memory 132 stores setting information of the computer system. The setting information is not only hardware dependent information that can be checked through the conventional BIOS setup screen, such as the processing speed of the central processing unit 140, the capacity of the main memory 160 and the auxiliary memory (not shown), such as a hard disk, Fan control level, whether the speaker is muted, whether a wireless network connection device such as WLAN or Bluetooth is connected, or whether the Sony / Philips Digital Interface (S / PDIF) is on or off It may include user dependent information that can be changed as required by the user according to the usage environment or use of the computer system.

At this time, the setting information storage memory 132 distinguishes and stores the current setting information and the initial setting information of the computer system. To this end, the setting information storage memory 132 may include two storage areas that are logically or physically separated, and store the current setting information and the initial setting information in each storage area. The initial setting information includes basic setting values at the time of computer system production, and the current setting information includes setting values of the current computer system changed by the user.

The setting information storage memory 132 is preferably a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory.

The BIOS 134 is a collection of routines for driving various input / output devices or peripheral devices, and includes a start-up routine, a hardware interrupt processing routine, and the like. The BIOS 134 basically performs tasks necessary for running the computer system, such as booting the computer system, loading an operating system, and the like. The BIOS 134 may also access the setting information storage memory 132 before loading the operating system so that the setting information of the computer system is displayed.

Meanwhile, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the computer system setting information may be stored in an auxiliary memory separately connected to the computer system, such as a hard disk. In this case, the BIOS 134 may access the auxiliary memory in which the computer system setting information is stored before loading the operating system, so that the computer system setting information may be displayed.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing setting information of a computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

When power is first applied to the computer system, the BIOS 134 checks the computer system (S110). The computer system check performed by the BIOS 134 is also referred to as a power on self test (POST), which is used to verify that the keyboard, RAM, disk drives, and other hardware that makes up the computer system are functioning properly. A series of self-diagnostic tasks performed by computer systems themselves.

If the hardware required to drive the computer system is detected through the post and it is determined that the detected hardware is operating properly, the BIOS 134 performs a system initialization operation (S120). System initialization is performed on various devices connected to various chipsets constituting the computer system. As part of the system initialization, the BIOS 134 reads the interrupt handler it contains and constructs an interrupt vector table. In addition, the state of the devices mounted in the computer system is detected and recorded in a predetermined memory.

When the system initialization process is completed, the BIOS 134 accesses the memory in which the setting information of the computer system is stored (S130). The setting information of the computer system at this time is preferably user-dependent setting information as described above. This memory may be the configuration information storage memory 132 included in the firmware hub as described with reference to FIG. 3. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the memory in which the setting information of the computer system is stored may be a separate auxiliary memory provided in the computer system such as a hard disk.

After accessing the memory, the BIOS 134 outputs computer system setting information stored in the memory (S140). In this case, the computer system setting information may be output to a display device such as a monitor through the input / output controller hub 120, the memory controller hub 110, and the AGP 150. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the output screen for the setting information of the computer system displayed through the display device is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the setting information of the computer system may include both the current setting information 210 and the initial setting information 220. Through this, the user can check the setting information of the current computer system. By comparing this with the initial setting information, the user can also easily check the changed setting value. Such setting information may be displayed for a preset threshold time.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the BIOS 134 that outputs the setting information of the computer system boots the disk (S150). At this time, the booted disk is preferably a hard disk connected through the IDE port (180).

In preparation for booting the disk, the BIOS 134 reads the bootstrap loader from the disk to be booted. The bootstrap loader is a program needed to boot the system. If it is successful in reading this, the disk boots.

In addition to the start of the disk boot, the operating system installed in the disk is loaded into the main memory 160, and the operating system checks the computer system, performs a series of initialization processes, and waits for a user command. After that, the user can perform tasks such as using an application program or directly controlling a computer system.

When the setting information of the computer system is changed by the user in a situation in which the operating system is normally operated (S160), the BIOS 142 receives such information from the operating system being driven and stores it in the setting information storage memory 132 (S170). ). Therefore, the changed setting information of the computer system may be displayed to the user through the processes of steps S110 to S140 when the computer system is rebooted.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. You will understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

According to the method and apparatus for providing the setting information of the computer system of the present invention as described above, the computer system setting information can be easily checked when the computer system is booted.

Claims (5)

Performing self diagnostics and hardware initialization of the computer system; After performing the self-diagnosis and hardware initialization, accessing a memory in which user-dependent configuration information of the computer system is stored; And Displaying setting information of the computer system. The method of claim 1, Running an operating system of the computer system; And If the setting information of the computer system has changed, storing the changed setting information in the memory. The method of claim 1, The setting information of the computer system provides initial setting information and current setting information. A memory for storing setting information of the computer system; And When the power is supplied, it performs the self-diagnosis and hardware initialization of the computer system, and provides the configuration information of the computer system including a BIOS for accessing the memory storing the user-dependent configuration information of the computer system and outputting the configuration information. Device. The method of claim 4, wherein And setting information of the computer system provides setting information of the computer system including initial setting information and current setting information.

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