Patent ID: 7308511

Claim:
For a computer having at least one resource, a method for allocating elements of the resource for use by devices of the computer, the devices including boot devices that are activated during the power-up of the computer and basic devices that are activated after the power-up of the computer, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining a list of boot device configurations based on logical configuration data obtained from the boot devices, said logical configuration data defining resource elements for the operation of a corresponding boot device, each boot device configuration defining a requirement for one of the resource elements to support the operation of a corresponding one of the boot devices with the computer; determining whether resource elements are available to satisfy the resource element requirements for each of the boot device configurations; if so, then allocating the available resource elements to the boot device configurations, otherwise declaring configuration failure; obtaining a list of basic device configurations based on resource requirement information or resource dependency information obtained from the basic devices, each basic device configuration defining a requirement for one of the resource elements to support the operation of a corresponding one of the basic devices with the computer; and determining whether resource elements are available to satisfy the resource element requirements for each of the basic device configurations; if so, then allocating the available resource elements to the basic device configurations; otherwise declaring configuration failure.