Abstract:
An example method comprises activating a computer power-on button and releasing the power-on button when the computer begins to energize; reactivating the computer power-on button a second time within a predetermined time period from the first activating step; and sensing the reactivating step with the predetermined time period and initiating a command to enter a BIOS pre-boot routine instead of booting to the computer operating system (OS). The command to enter the BIOS pre-boot routine is initiated before activation of a computer keyboard.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to accessing low-level sources of a computer system during the initial booting process, and more particularly to a user-friendly technique for enabling easy access to the pre-boot functions in a personal computer without requiring hardware modifications. 
     Personal computers (pc&#39;s) are well known in the art and arc virtually ubiquitous in today&#39;s world used as both a business tool and consumer appliance. When a pc is first turned on by depressing the main power button, the device enters into what is referred to as a boot process. That process is defined by initialization control information to load the available programs in the BIOS start-up since there is nothing in memory initially to execute. There are some pre-boot diagnostics that occur, such as the Power On Self Test (or just POST), to check that various things in the computer are functioning properly. During pre-booting of the computer it is possible for the user to enter a pre-boot environment to be able to update one or more low-level system resources. 
     In recent years with a greater number of functions and programs being added to new computers, the boot times have increased substantially causing irritation to impatient users. Programs like TweakUI have become popular to customize and speed up the response time of the Start Menu. Consequently some pc and software vendors responded to the long boot-time complaints by enabling users to skip some of the normal tests and enter what is referred to as a quick boot or “quick-start” process to speed up the basic booting process often to something less than 30 seconds. This was generally seen as a great advance by most impatient users, since they did not want to suffer through a “lengthy” booting process. In doing so however, it became increasingly difficult to access the pre-boot functionality in the boot device selection menu. There are several reasons for the short access window, but the main two reasons he in the keyboard (KB) controller initialization and the graphics sequence. In some cases it is possible to complete the POST testing before either the KB controller or graphics cards are responding. Since it is normally necessary to use the keyboard to enter the pre-boot sequence (by depressing a special hot-key like “F1” or a key sequence like CNTL+ESC), the user of a quick boot pc is often locked out of the normal pre-boot sequence since the system boots up before the user can functionally access the keyboard or see the graphics on a display screen. For quick booting systems, what is clearly needed is a simple and. inexpensive method of entering the pre-boot functionality without requiring the use of the keyboard. 
     While the following discussion focuses primarily on a desktop pc, it certainly could be used in any computer whether or not the quick-boot functionality has been added to the computer. 
     Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one skilled in the art, through comparison of such devices with a representative embodiment of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a better understanding of the invention as well as further features thereof, reference is made to the following description which is to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a flowchart illustrating exemplary operations for implementing an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the apparatus for implementing the process described in connection with  FIG. 1  in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to a representative embodiment of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention can be practiced without many of these specific details. 
     The present invention provides, among other things, a method of entering a computer system&#39;s pre-boot functions without requiring the keyboard drivers to be installed.  FIG. 1  is a flowchart illustrating exemplary operations  100  for controlling the booting functionality of a typical pc in accordance with one of the embodiments of this invention. At initial step  110  the main start button is depressed normally to initiate the power up process of the pc, but if the user wishes to access the BIOS pre-boot routine he may activate a special sequence. At step  111  the system tests to determine if the programmed criteria for entering the BIOS pre-boot menu has been met. That criteria is either determining if the power on switch, i.e., the main start button, has been depressed and held for a time interval less than 4 seconds, or determining if the power on button has been depressed and released twice within the same under 4-second interval. (We chose a time interval under 4 seconds, since the 4-second period is usually the time period associated with an emergency main power-off command in windows-based systems. Alternatively it would be possible to inactivate the 4-second power-off feature or to reset it in the BIOS to something else.) If the under 4-second test is not met, the system boots normally to the Operating System (OS) at step  116 . However, if the user desires to make some change in the pre-boot menu, the user depresses the power-on button for an extended period or if the power on button is depressed, released, and depressed again in the same under 4-second period, the system enters the BIOS pre-boot menu at step  112  and an alarm is passed up to the user at step  113  to notify the user that he has entered the pre-boot menu routine and to release the power-on button. In one of the embodiments we momentarily turn off the power-on button LED to produce a flash/blink, and also provide an audible beep via the mini speaker mounted on the motherboard. Since the pc speaker on the motherboard is the first device activated during the boot process to communicate error codes or other problems, it is available to provide the desired audible beep to the user. (Both notifications, the blink and a beep, are often settable functions via the system control panel.) Once the system has entered the pre-boot environment, the system is available, at step  114 , for the user to make whatever changes are desired via the pre-boot BIOS menu. When these changes have been made and the user selects the Enter key function, the system at step  115  can either go into a reboot, if necessitated by the changes made, or it can enter the normal boot routine at step  116 . If a reboot is necessary due to the changes entered at step  114 , the system automatically restarts to load and implement the pre-boot program changes. 
     From a hardware perspective reference is made to  FIG. 2  which depicts the few physical components  200  needed to implement the process shown in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2  the power button  210  connects to a Super I/O chip  211  which in turn connects to the Computer Chipset  212 . in the embodiment of the present invention as shown, we use a Super I/O chip  211  having a timer function that can be programmed to provide the desired predetermined time interval. 
     The SI/O  211  (Super Input/Output chip) is a fairly standard ASIC today located on the motherboard that controls the slower-speed peripherals used in virtually every pc. (In most pc&#39;s there are several such chips used for a variety of reasons.) Typically it includes a floppy disk controller, a serial port controller, and a circuit to drive a higher-speed parallel port. However, since we are only using a timer circuit function within the SI/O for this particular application, an alternative would be to use a custom ASIC implementing the same timer function. Either the custom timer ASIC or the SI/O  211  latches either when the power button is depressed a second time after the first depression or latches if the power button is depressed continuously for the under 4-second period. (Before the BIOS hands off to the operating system, the BIOS will check a status bit in the SI/O  211  output pins, and if set, will enter the desired pre-boot routine, or display a menu allow selection of all pre-boot functions.) The SI/O  211  chip has the ability to reject the second key depression if too long a period has expired, since these parameters are programmable. The output on  211   a  connects to the LED in the Power Button (not shown) to provide the visual indication noted above and to the motherboard speaker (also not shown) to provide the audible (beep) indication for the user that the system is entering the pre-boot process. 
     While aspects of the present invention have been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the representative embodiments of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teachings of a representative embodiment of the present invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that embodiments of the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed herein, but that representative embodiments of the present invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.