Abstract:
A method for reading data stored in an optical disc of a computer system. The method enables the computer system to execute a media-player program while the computer is performing a power-on-self-test (POST) stored in a basic input/output system (BIOS), and play the optical disc with low power consumption. The media-player program is executed upon reception of an interrupt signal during the POST.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to methods of reading data stored on an optical medium of a computer system, and more particularly, the present invention provides a method of entering a media-player program in the computer system while the computer system is performing a power-on-self-test stored in a basic input/output system (BIOS), and playing information stored on the optical medium while the computer system is in a low-power mode.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    In the past twenty years, computer technology has advanced to a point where personal computers provide high-power calculation, and other derivative features. Current computers are almost all equipped with GFLOPS-class (GFLOPS: billion floating point operations per second) processors, a 3D display card capable of processing millions of 3D polygon calculations per second, and a sound card that can support a 3D sound environment. In the past, such features were only available on workstation-class computers, but now these features are yesterday&#39;s news in the PC world.  
           [0005]    However, in contrast with the elaborate features mentioned above, sometimes a user wishes only to perform a simple task, such as playing a music optical disc. Because controller chips of optical disc drives are already capable of reading encoded sound tracks, for all intents and purposes, the CPU need not lift a proverbial finger. This tells us that we only need a simple program for playing optical discs and a minority of components of the PC to be able to play music optical discs.  
           [0006]    However, to play a music optical disc on a PC, the user currently must endure the following steps:  
           [0007]    (a) Turning on the PC;  
           [0008]    (b) Waiting for the BIOS to perform each of a number of self-tests;  
           [0009]    (c) The PC searching for a magnetic storage device, and then loading an operating system from the device;  
           [0010]    (d) Loading a driver program for the optical disc drive in the operating system; and  
           [0011]    (e) Executing a media-player program in the operating system.  
           [0012]    We can see that in the prior art technology, before a user can use the internal optical disc drive of the PC to play the music optical disc, the user must complete the above steps. In addition, the prior art exhibits the following deficiencies:  
           [0013]    (1) Because the CPU of the PC is heavily loaded, a considerable amount of power is consumed by the CPU;  
           [0014]    (2) The power consumption of the CPU produces a lot of wasted heat, and the CPU must dissipate the heat with a fan and a heat sink. The fans produce a lot of high-frequency noise, significantly lowering the quality of the listening experience;  
           [0015]    (3) At least one magnetic storage device is needed to store the media-player program, and the storage device also makes a lot of noise when spinning; and  
           [0016]    (4) Because the operating system is very large, and complicated, it requires a long loading time, which is inconvenient for the user who only wants to use the computer to listen to the music optical disc on the internal PC optical disc drive.  
         SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
         [0017]    Therefore, it is an objective of the claimed invention to provide a method of using a computer system to read information from an optical medium, the computer capable of entering a media-player program during a power-on-self-test (POST) of a basic input/output system (BIOS) of the PC.  
           [0018]    Briefly, a computer system of the claimed invention has a basic input/output system (BIOS), which executes power-on procedures of the computer system, and has a media-player program. While the BIOS is executing the power-on procedures of the computer system, the BIOS is capable of interrupting the power-on procedures. The BIOS then executes the media-player program, allowing the BIOS to read information stored on an optical medium without having finished the power-on procedures of the computer system.  
           [0019]    It is an advantage of the method of the claimed invention that it saves time and power when playing an optical medium on a PC, as well as reducing environmental noise that inhibits a listening experience of a user.  
           [0020]    These and other objectives of the claimed invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system according to the present invention.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a power-on process of the computer system of FIG. 1.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a user interface of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0024]    Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of a computer system  10 , according to the present invention. The computer  10  comprises a power button  12  for turning on the computer  10 , an optical disc drive  14  for playing a optical disc  18  placed on a tray  16  of the optical disc drive  14 , a BIOS  20  for executing a power-on procedure of the computer system  10 , a CPU  22 , a heat-dissipating fan  24  for lowering a temperature of the CPU  22 , a speaker  26  connected to the optical disc drive  14 , and a keyboard  28  and a mouse  30  for entering control signals. The BIOS  20  internally stores a media-player program  32  and an image file  34 . In this embodiment, the optical disc drive  14  uses an Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI), defined by the Small Form Factor (SFF) Committee.  
         [0025]    Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a flow chart of power-on procedures of the computer system  10 . As shown, the computer system  10  powers on according to the following flow of events: Step  2 : A user presses the power button  12  to turn on the computer  10 ; go to step  4 ;  
         [0026]    Step  4 : Execute an internal power-on-self-test (POST) of the BIOS to check sequentially the CPU  22 , a main RAM, a hard disk, and the optical disc drive  14 ; if the optical disc drive  14  is found, go to step  6 , else, go to step  8 ;  
         [0027]    Step  6 : The BIOS  20  decides whether or not to execute the media-player program  32  based on: the user inputting a control signal from the keyboard  28  or the mouse  30 , the playable optical disc  18  being in the optical disc drive  14 , or three default modes of the BIOS  20 ; if, after the user has entered the media-player program  32 , the user decides to quit, go to step  8 ;  
         [0028]    Step  8 : The BIOS  20  finds a suitable magnetic drive to start the computer  10 , and loads an operating system of the computer.  
         [0029]    The three default modes of step  6  for entering the media-player program  32  are:  
         [0030]    (1) Keystroke Decision Mode: After turning on the computer, while the BIOS  20  performs the POST, a reminder is displayed on a monitor, such as “Would you like to enter the media-player?” If the user presses a button representing “yes,” the media-player program  32  is executed immediately; if the user does not press the button representing “yes” within a limited period of time, the BIOS  20  continues on to execute the operating system;  
         [0031]    (2) Self-test Mode: During the power-on test, the BIOS  20  conducts a check to determine whether or not the playable optical disc  18  is in the optical disc player  14 . If so, the BIOS  20  automatically enters the media-player program  32 ; if not, the BIOS  20  continues to load the operating system;  
         [0032]    (3) Automatic Mode: After turning on the computer  10 , the BIOS  20  unconditionally executes the media-player program  32  after performing preliminary self-tests;  
         [0033]    Regardless of under which mode the media-player program  32  is executed, the user can always quit the program  32  and continue loading the operating system.  
         [0034]    After the user decides to execute the media-player program  32  by any of the above-mentioned methods, by order of the BIOS  20 , the computer system  10  loads the media-player program  32  from a specific location in the BIOS  20 , and also loads the image file  34 . The media-player program  32  comprises the following program code:  
         [0035]    (1) Code to control the optical disc drive  14  of the computer system  10 ;  
         [0036]    (2) Code to shut down the computer system  10 , or to continue loading the operating system; and  
         [0037]    (3) Code to handle processing exceptions.  
         [0038]    The image file  34  is a GIF file, covering a user interface, and can be changed to suit the user&#39;s preference.  
         [0039]    Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a perspective view of the user interface  40 . When the user executes the media-player program  32 , the user sees the user interface  40  shown in FIG. 3. The user interface  40  comprises a Power-Off button  42 , a Boot-to-OS button  44 , a Stop button  46 , a Play button  48 , a Pause button  50 , an Eject button  52 , a Next button  54 , a Back button  56 , a Repeat button  58 , a Volume Up button  60 , and a Volume Down button  62 . Each function button corresponds to a different key of the keyboard  28  of the computer system  10 . The following is a description of important and special-function buttons:  
         [0040]    Power-Off button  42 : Allows the user to shutdown the computer system  10  directly while in the media-player program  32 ;  
         [0041]    Boot-to-OS button  44 : Allows the user, from within the media-player program  32 , to cause the computer  10  to finish the previously interrupted power-on procedures and go on to load the operating system; and  
         [0042]    Repeat button  58 : Allows the user to repeat one song, or an entire album.  
         [0043]    Please refer again to the user interface  40 , which further comprises an optical disc information display interface  70  for allowing the user to acquaint himself with essential information about the optical disc  18 . The optical disc information display interface  70  comprises:  
         [0044]    A track order  72 : Tells the user which track is currently being played;  
         [0045]    A seconds count  74 : Tells the user how many seconds have been played, or remain, of the current track (can be decided by the user);  
         [0046]    A playing mode  76 : Tells the user what the current playing mode is (single repeat, album repeat, or no repeat); and  
         [0047]    A volume level  78 : Tells the user the current volume level (seven levels are displayable in FIG. 3).  
         [0048]    The media-player program  32  handles any exceptional cases that may occur when the user is operating the media-player program  32 , preventing the media-player program  32  from inadvertently entering an infinite loop and crashing the computer  10 .  
         [0049]    After entering the media-player program  32 , because the CPU  22  has virtually no processing load, the BIOS  20  can put the CPU  22  in a complete idle state, minimizing the power consumed by the CPU  22 . Also, because the power consumption decreases, the rotation speed of the heat fan  24  covering the CPU  22  can be dropped by more than one half its original, which not only saves power, but also eliminates high frequency noise and improves the listening experience.  
         [0050]    In addition, the user can enter the media-player program  32  internal to the BIOS  20  in less than 10 seconds after turning on the computer  10 . The present invention provides the user with complete information about the optical disc, an attractive interface, and big power savings.  
         [0051]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.