Foad A Askari

US Patent:

20050081024, Apr 14, 2005

Filed:

Oct 10, 2003

Appl. No.:

10/683340

Inventors:

Mukund Khatri - Austin TX, US
Foad Askari - Round Rock TX, US
George Mathew - Austin TX, US

International Classification:

G06F009/00
G06F001/24

US Classification:

713100000

Abstract:

The present invention provides a BIOS having two sets of flags. The first set of flags is the build capability flags. The second set of flags is the boot capability flags. Each of the flags can be stored as a value through the combination of bits that make up the flags and are stored in, for example, a register. The one or more values that make up the build capability flags can be compared to the one or more values that make up the boot capability flags. The current BIOS is updateable with a BIOS version that also has a build capability flag and a current boot capability flag. More specifically, the BIOS is updateable if the replacement build capability flags enable the booting of an information system having current build capability. For example, an update of the BIOS will only occur if the value of the updated build capability flags is greater than or equal to the value of the current boot capability flags. The comparison ensures that the features needed for current operation of the information handling system are present in the updated BIOS, and thus, that the updated BIOS will not preclude operation of the information handling system as it is currently configured.