Abstract:
A computerized user interface for assisting a computer user selects a default operating system for a computer. The computerized interface operates during a current computing session and provides a list of operating systems available. A user can make a selection using standard activatible controls such as icons, alphanumeric lists and highlighting. Once selected, an operating becomes the default operating system software on the computer. Therefore, during the next startup of the computer a selected operating system will boot unless there is some other intervention. In addition to selecting an operating system, this invention can also be used to cause the computer to restart. Restart can be set to execute immediately or to execute upon a change in the default operating system. In addition this invention can be caused to uninstall thereby erasing the program files relating to this invention.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to computer software utility programs, and more specifically, to a software program designed to simplify a choice of operating systems to load upon reboot of a computer.  
           [0002]    In a computing environment that takes advantage of more than one operating system, the choice of which operating system will load into a computer upon startup has traditionally been determined by a user during the computer startup sequence. Typically, a user waits for a load utility to present a menu during a startup routine. A load utility menu will present a list of available operating systems. A user can select a desired operating system to load during an imminent computing session. Most load utility menus are designed such that the ability to choose an operating system is only available for some window of time. If no intervening action is taken during that window of time, the computer reverts to a default operating system and proceeds with the boot sequence.  
           [0003]    During a computing session if it is required that a different operating system be utilized, the computer must be rebooted and a selection must be made from the menu during the computer startup sequence. Rebooting of a computer can be a lengthy process, often lasting several minutes. A user needs to be attentive during a typical reboot procedure and make a timely choice from a menu designating operating systems. A window of time allotted a user during which the user has the opportunity to designate a choice of operating systems may only last seconds. A user that is not attentive may let this window of time pass, wherein a computer will continue to boot using a default operating system. If the default operating system is not the system of choice for the user, the user will need to wait until the default operating system finishes loading and then shut it down, starting the sequence over again. It would be useful to have a means of designating from a current computing session an operating system to load upon the next computer start sequence.  
           [0004]    Every general purpose computer must have an operating system to run application programs. An operating system performs basic tasks such as recognizing input from a keyboard, sending output to a display screen, keeping track of files and directories on a disk and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. FIG. 1. In addition, all operating systems make sure that different programs running at the same time do not interfere with each other and provide for security against unauthorized users.  
           [0005]    Application programs run on an operating system, therefore, an application program must be written to run on a particular operating system. A user&#39;s choice of operating system is often determined by the applications that will be run. Popular operating systems for computers include DOS, Windows™, Windows 95™, Windows NT™, OS/2™, and Linux. Advanced users may wish to have Windows NT™, OS/2™ and Linux on the same machine. Technicians and support type personnel who wish to emulate different operating environments of various users can also find multiple operating systems useful. In addition, developers may need several versions of the same operating system available. With enough disk space, it is possible to have multiple operating systems on one machine.  
           [0006]    During typical start up of a computer, the first program to execute is the power on self-test program or POST. Following POST, a basic input output system or BIOS runs. Amongst other things, BIOS is responsible for directing a computer to a boot sector of a disk on which an operating system is installed. Having identified a correct disk and sector, Read Only Memory (ROM) that holds the BIOS initializes code to read the first record from that disk into storage. The first record is referred to as a master boot record or MBR. Computer hard drives can be partitioned such that each partition can potentially hold a different operating system. A MBR will look to the partition table and choose a primary partition that is marked active or startable. The MBR program can read the first 512 byte sector from the active primary partition. This first sector commonly comprises an operating system loader program.  
           [0007]    When utilizing multiple operating systems, it is sometimes preferable to have the MBR boot load a loader utility. A loader utility can specify information about logical partitions and locate operating systems stored on them. One example of a loader utility is Boot Manager. Boot Manager is part of the OS/2™ operating system. Boot Manager is not a full operating system; it is only a utility to direct a computer towards a full operating system. To run an operating system, Boot Manager is directed to the first sector of a designated partition or volume and runs a program contained there.  
           [0008]    A BIOS initialization code locates a first 512 byte record of a first disk drive and reads code on it comprising a MBR. The MBR then reads a first sector of an active partition and executes code contained on the active partition. If the active partition is a load utility, the boot manager directs the computer to a first sector of a partition or logical volume containing code comprising a chosen operating system. An operating system may be chosen by operator selection or as a default of the boot manager.  
           [0009]    A computer with multiple operating systems can utilize a hard drive with multiple partitions. Each partition may belong to a different file system. Generally, an operating system will ignore those partitions whose ID type represents an unknown file system type. A load utility is typically installed in its own non-DOS, 1 megabyte, primary partition on the first hard drive. In this way, ROM or BIOS initialization code first accesses the master boot record. The master boot record sees that a load utility partition is active and loads that program into memory. The load utility presents a menu on a display giving a user an opportunity to make a selection from available operating systems. A computer boots to a default system if there is no response from a user within a window of time comprising a time out period.  
           [0010]    In a similar fashion, Windows NT™ uses a utility called the NT loader. With Windows NT™, the NT boot sector loads a hidden program. The hidden program displays a boot selection menu based on information in a plain text data set, such as a boot.ini file. Typical to a load utility, NT loader gives a user a specified time out period to select an option from the menu. If nothing is entered, Windows NT™ is loaded by default.  
           [0011]    Typically, a boot sector manager will reference a boot.ini file. Amongst other information the boot.ini file can contain a list of different operating systems available to the computer upon boot up. In addition a boot.ini can store information such as how many seconds a menu for user selection of the operating system is made available to a user before a default operating system loads.  
           [0012]    Operating system product vendors sometimes support rebooting into a different interface of their own proprietary operating systems from a current computing session. For instance, Microsoft Windows 95™ includes the capability of rebooting into a DOS interface. It would be useful for a utility to be available from a standard operating system interface that allows for selection of an operating system to load upon reboot of a computer. Such a utility would provide a customizable, user friendly, operating system selection interface. In order to be most useful such an interface should be simple enough so as not to require explanation on how to implement a change in operating system software.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    Accordingly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for specifying an operating system of choice during a current computing session such that upon reboot, a computer will boot up into a specified operating system. Generally, a computerized user interface  400  is provided to assist a user in the selection of a software operating system to be used on a computer. A selected operating system is set to load by default upon the next start up of the computer. Computer executable program code, i.e. software, running on a computer directs the computer to perform desired functions relating to selection and loading of an operating system on a computer. This invention also comprises a computer readable medium onto which program code for implementing in the computer desired function ability has been stored.  
           [0014]    Computer software running on a computer causes a user interface  400  to present to a user a list of available operating systems for the computer. This computerized user interface  400  allows a user to select a desired operating system via a user activatible control. User activatible controls include, for example, clicking on an icon, cursoring to a selection until it is highlighted, selecting an alphanumeric designation corresponding with a desired operating system, typing out the selection or other known activatible control mechanisms for making a selection from a display. An operating system correlating with the selection made by the user is made to load upon restarting of the computer.  
           [0015]    Providing an interface for other options related to the selection of an operating system also comprise this invention. Other options that can be made a part of the interface include causing an immediate restart or reboot of the computer with a change in default operating system, restarting the computer in response to an activatible control, specifying a time out period during which a user can override a default operating system, installation of the program code, uninstalling the program code, or reinstalling the program code. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 is a computer hardware diagram.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 is a computer network diagram.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 illustrates the interaction of an Operating System with computer components.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 illustrates one example of a user interface of this invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 illustrates a boot icon that can be used as an activatible control to execute the computer program code.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 6 shows the logic flow of an embodiment of this invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0022]    Referring to FIG. 1, physical resources of a computer system  100  are depicted. The computer  100  has a central processor  101  connected to a processor host bus  102  over which it provides data, address and control signals. The processors  101  may be any conventional general purpose single- or multi-chip microprocessor such as a Pentium® processor, a Pentium® Pro processor, a Pentium II® processor, a MIPS® processor, a Power PC® processor or an ALPHA® processor. In addition, the processor  101  may be any conventional special purpose microprocessor such as a digital signal processor or a graphics processor. The microprocessor  101  has conventional address, data, and control lines coupling it to a processor host bus  102 .  
         [0023]    The computer  100  includes a system controller  103  having an integrated RAM memory controller  104 . The system controller  103  is connected to the host bus  102  and provides an interface to random access memory  105 . The system controller  103  also provides host bus to peripheral bus bridging functions. The controller  103  thereby permits signals on the processor host bus  102  to be compatibly exchanged with signals on a primary peripheral bus  110 . The peripheral bus  110  may be, for example, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, or a Micro-Channel bus. Additionally, the controller  103  can provide data buffering and data transfer rate matching between the host bus  102  and peripheral bus  110 . The controller  103  thereby allows, for example, a processor  101  having a 64-bit 66 MHz interface and a 533 Mbytes/second data transfer rate to interface to a PCI bus  110  having a data path differing in data path bit width, clock speed, or data transfer rate.  
         [0024]    Accessory devices including, for example, a video display controller  112  and network controller  114  can be coupled to the peripheral bus  110 . The network controller  114  may be a modem, an Ethernet networking card, a cable modem, or other network access device. The system  100  may also include a secondary peripheral bus  120  coupled to the primary peripheral bus  110  through a bridge controller  111 . The secondary peripheral bus  120  can be included in the system  100  to provide additional peripheral device connection points or to connect peripheral devices that are not compatible with the primary peripheral bus  110 . For example, in the system  100 , the secondary bus  120  may be an ISA bus and the primary bus  110  may be a PCI bus. Such a configuration allows ISA devices to be coupled to the ISA bus  120  and PCI devices to be coupled to the PCI bus  110 . The bridge controller  111  can also include a hard disk drive control interface to couple a hard disk  113  to the peripheral bus  110 .  
         [0025]    The computer  100  also includes non-volatile ROM memory  122  to store basic computer software routines. ROM  122  may include alterable memory, such as EEPROM (Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), to store configuration data. For example, EEPROM memory may be used to store hard disk  113  geometry and configuration data. BIOS routines  123  are included in ROM  122  and provide basic computer initialization, systems testing, and input/output (I/O) services. For example, BIOS routines  123  may be executed by the processor  101  to process interrupts that occur when the bridge  111  attempts to transfer data from the ISA bus  120  to the host bus  102  via the bridge  111 , peripheral bus  110 , and system controller  103 . The BIOS  123  also includes routines that allow an operating system to be “booted” from the disk  113  or from a server computer using a local area network connection provided by the network adapter  114 . An operating system  252  boot operation can occur after computer  100  is turned on and power-on self-test (POST) routines stored in the BIOS  123  complete execution, or when a reset switch is depressed, or following a software-initiated system reset or a software fault. During the boot process, the processor  101  executes BIOS  123  software to access the disk controller  111  or network controller  114  and thereby obtain a high-level operating system. Examples of high-level operating systems are, the Microsoft Disk Operating System (DOS)™, Windows 95™, Windows NT™, a UNIX operating system, the Apple MacOS ™ operating system, or other operating system.  
         [0026]    An operating system may be fully loaded in the RAM memory  105  or may include portions in RAM memory  105 , disk drive storage  113 , or storage at a network location. For example, the Microsoft Windows 95™ operating system includes some functionality that remains in memory  105  during the use of Windows 95™ and other functionality that is periodically loaded into RAM memory  105  on an as-needed basis from, for example, the disk  113 . An operating system, such as Windows 95™ or Windows NT™ provides functionality to control computer peripherals such as devices  310 ,  320 ,  330 ,  350 ,  360 ,  370 , and  113 , and to execute user applications. User applications may be commercially available software programs such as a word processor, spreadsheet, database, client software, computer aided drawing and manufacturing software, scientific software, internet access software and many other types of software. User applications may access computer system peripheral controllers  112 - 114 ,  121 , and  124  through an application programming interface provided by the operating system and/or may directly interact with underlying computer system  100  hardware.  
         [0027]    Referring to FIG. 2, a collection of computers  100  can serve as components of a computer network. A network operating system (NOS) can also be utilized as a high level operating system. A computer network  200  can include a host computer system  210  and client computers  231 - 236 . The client computers  231 - 236  can communicate with the host  210  to obtain data stored at the host  210  in databases  214 - 215 . The client computer  231 - 236  may interact with the host computer  210  as if the host was a single entity in the network  200 . However, the host  210  may include multiple processing and database sub-systems that can be geographically dispersed throughout the network  200 .  
         [0028]    Generally, a computer system running a boot selection software program facilitating a user&#39;s choice of high level operating system  252  is disclosed. An executable computer program code running on a computer  110 , or stored on a computer readable medium  113  or  330 , gives a user of the computer the ability to select an operating system from a plurality of available high level operating systems  252 . Selection of an operating system  252  causes that operating system  252  to boot when the computer is restarted.  
         [0029]    Referring now to FIG. 3, a user can activate a user activatible control presented on a display  310 , through use of an input device such as a keyboard  360  or a pointing device  370 , associated with a computer  100 . Activation of a control causes boot selection software to execute.  
         [0030]    Normal execution of boot selection software provides a user interface  400 . The user interface  400  can be any interface amenable to understanding by the user. One embodiment of a user interface comprises a list of selections that can be made by a user. Selections include various operating systems  410  that are available on the computer. An interface can include icons  510 , radial buttons  420 , check buttons  421 , push buttons, or other well-known interface mechanisms commonly deployed in graphical user interface programs.  
         [0031]    Referring to FIG. 4, the user interface  400  waits for input from a user. Using a pointing device  370  or keyboard  360  associated with the computer  100  a user can scroll through a menu  410  of available operating systems  380  presented on the interface. A user activatible control allows selection of an operating system  380  from the menu presented on the user interface  400 .  
         [0032]    Selection of an operating system  380  causes a default for a load utility in the computer  100  to be set to the operating system  380  selected from the user interface menu  410 . As a result, the next time the computer is started, the default operating system for the load utility will be the operating system  380  selected from the menu  410 .  
         [0033]    One embodiment of a user activatible control suitable to start a boot selection program uses an icon symbolic of a boot  510  worn by a person. A preferred location for a boot icon would be in the lower right hand corner of a taskbar making the option available to a user at all times, even when an application program is set to be viewed at full screen mode. Additional locations for a boot icon include on a desktop, in a folder or other location accessible to a user. Other embodiments of user Interactive controls suitable to start a boot selection program comprise for example, using a keyboard mouse or other pointing device associated with the computer to click on a directory entry of the application, select an alphanumeric character corresponding to a list comprising available options, icons  510 , radial buttons  420 , check buttons  421 , push buttons, and calling a program from a command line argument.  
         [0034]    One embodiment of a boot selection program interface includes regions for operating systems  430  and regions for controls  431 , and for other procedures  411 - 414  and  421 - 424  related to restarting the computer  100 . Typical procedures can include a Reboot Now  411  procedure for causing the computer  100  to reboot and various shutdown options. An Emergency Shutdown procedure  412  of a computer can cause all open applications to end immediately without any user prompt. Typically, this is accomplished with an end task command being sent to the open application. Emergency powerdown  413  also ends all tasks and sends a power-off command to the computer but seeks confirmation first. A Shutdown Computer option  414  can follow standard procedures for powering down.  
         [0035]    One embodiment of this invention includes the ability to set an automatic reboot if a change in operating system  380  is selected. An automatic reboot option  422  can be set from the user interface  400 . A Radial button  420  or checkbox  421  can be used as typical user activatable controls for setting this option. Other known means of selection may also be used. If an automatic reboot option is selected, computer code can cause the computer to restart itself. During restart, the computer will boot the operating system  380  last selected as default.  
         [0036]    A force reboot button  423  can cause the computer to restart when a change in operating system  380  is made. Force reboot can include the additional step of forcing any open applications to close with an end task command.  
         [0037]    A user interface  400  for a boot selection program can also comprise activatable controls to cause the computer to uninstall  424  or reinstall executable program code relating to this invention. Reinstallation can be helpful in that an installation routine can survey the computer and determine what operating systems are available and on which partition each operating system  380  is stored.  
         [0038]    In other embodiments a user interface  400  can offer options to configure settings associated with the boot process. These settings include, for example, the number of seconds a load utility will pause during the boot process and wait for a user to specify an operating system  380  other than a default operating system  380 .  
         [0039]    Options made via the user interface  400  cause the computer program code to modify appropriate files relating to each option. These files would include by way of example the boot.ini file and the files comprising the computer program code of this invention.  
         [0040]    Referring now to FIG. 6, a logical flow for one embodiment of the invention is presented. As computer program code is started  610 , a user interface can be presented on a computer screen, the user interface can wait for user input  620 . A user can select an operating system to boot during the next computer boot up  621 . The selected operating system can be set as the default operating system in the Boot Manager  622  of the computer. The computer code can then test to see if an option for automatic reboot is set  625 .  
         [0041]    A “yes” response to the test for an automatic reboot option can issue a command to a current operating system to shutdown and restart the computer  624 . After which the application program will terminate  640 .  
         [0042]    A “no” response to the test for an automatic reboot option can proceed directly to termination of the application  640 .  
         [0043]    Many different software languages can be used to implement this invention. A preferred embodiment utilizes a compilable language such as C programming language. Other languages such as for example Delphi or Basic will also function well.  
         [0044]    Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.