Patent ID: 7313681

Claim:
A concurrent code load apparatus for fastload code image update on a communications adapter, the apparatus comprising: a fastload key module configured to create and store a fastload key in a new code image to indicate a fastload code image update on a communications adapter; a fastload adapter initialization module configured to attempt access to the fastload key and initialize the communications adapter using a fastload initialization sequence in response to successful access to the fastload key; a branch module configured to branch from the old code image to the new code image before the new code image has been completely written; an image load module configured to load a copy of a new code image in a memory on the communications adapter, the memory concurrently storing a copy of an old code image used by the communications adapter; a memory initialization module configured to invoke the new code image to perform a memory initialization operation while the old code image is still executing; and an image overlay module configured to overlay the old code image with the new code image while the old code image is still executing.