Patent ID: 8578332

Claim:
A microcode image managing system comprising: memory configured to store a plurality of microcode images, each microcode image comprising executable code and configuration information for initializing an electronic device before operation of the electronic device; a packing program stored in the memory, the packing program comprising packing software; and a processor configured to execute the packing software to create a universal microcode image from the plurality of microcode images and to create an index table; wherein the packing program separates each of the plurality of microcode images into sections, each section being defined by a length and a type wherein the packing program separates each of the plurality of microcode images into sections by locating section markers contained therein, wherein the section markers identify the boundaries between the sections; wherein the packing program comprises logic configured identify unique sections and identical sections in the sections of the plurality of microcode images, wherein identifying identical sections comprises searching through the sections of the plurality of microcode images to identify sections having same type and length, and performing a binary comparison of the sections of each of the plurality of microcode images having the same length and the same type to identify identical sections; wherein the packing program further comprising logic to create the universal microcode image by saving the unique sections and deleting all but one copy of identical sections; and wherein the index table includes a first list of unique sections contained in the universal microcode image, wherein the index table further includes string names correlating the sections in the first list with device configuration parameters, and wherein the index table further includes a second list of string names correlating the sections in the universal microcode which could be used to recreate a copy of each of the plurality of microcode images.