Patent ID: 7055024

Claim:
A computer system of a type having an at least one processor and at least one non-volatile memory that comprises: a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of the computer system comprising: a BIOS database stored in the non-volatile memory that includes a representation according to a common syntax of one or more BIOS initialization tasks for each hardware component of the computer system, wherein each hardware component has a corresponding BIOS plug-in to execute the associated one or more BIOS initialization tasks, wherein each BIOS initialization task includes: a hardware component identification; a feature identification for a feature of the hardware component; and a setting for the feature identified by the feature identification; and a BIOS program stored in the non-volatile memory that includes instructions to cause the processor: during an initialization phase of the BIOS, to determine an order of the one or more BIOS initialization tasks that accommodates initialization dependency between the one or more BIOS initialization tasks; and during the initialization phase of the BIOS, to provide each BIOS plug-in, in the determined order of the one or more BIOS initialization tasks, the one or more BIOS initialization tasks from the BIOS database associated with each BIOS plug-in's corresponding hardware component.