Patent ID: 7290068

Claim:
A method to determine the write capability of the (i)th input/output device disposed in a computer system in combination with the (j)th information storage medium disposed in said computer system, wherein said computer system comprises (N) input/output devices and (M) information storage media, wherein said computer system has (N) device bits stored therein and (M) media bits stored therein, and wherein each of said (N) device bits is assigned to a different one of said (N) input/output devices and each of said (M) media bits is assigned to a different one of said (M) information storage media, and wherein (i) is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to (N), and wherein (j) is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to (M), comprising the steps of: (a) setting (i) equal to 1; (b) selecting the (i)th input/output device; (c) disposing a reference information storage medium in said (i)th input/output device and testing said (i)th input/output device to determine if that (i)th input/output device can write information; (d) operative if said (i)th input/output device can write information, setting the (i)th device bit to 1; (e) operative if said (i)th input/output device cannot write information, setting the (i)th device bit to 0; (f) storing said (i)th device bit; (g) determining if (i)=(N); and (h) if (i) is less than (N), setting (i) equal to (i)+1 and repeating steps (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h); (i) setting (j) equal to 1; (j) selecting the (j)th information storage medium; (k) disposing said (j)th information storage medium in a reference input/output device and testing said (j)th information storage medium to determine if that (j)th information storage medium is writeable; (1) operative if said (j)th information storage medium is writeable, setting the (j)th media bit to 1; (m) operative if said (j)th information storage medium is not writeable, setting the (j)th media bit to 0; and (n) storing said (j)th media bit; (o) determining if (j)=(M); and (p) if (j) is less than (M), setting (j) equal to (j)+1 and repeating steps (j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p).