Mary E Madison

US Patent:

57109303, Jan 20, 1998

Filed:

Aug 4, 1995

Appl. No.:

8/511263

Inventors:

Clifton W. Laney - Beaverton OR
Larry M. Leszczynski - Rocklin CA
Mary J. Madison - Pollock Pines CA

Assignee:

Intel Corporation - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

G06F 132

US Classification:

395750

Abstract:

A method of allowing an operating system of a computer system to persist across a power off and on cycle is described. The method includes the step of detecting if the computer system is to be powered off. If the computer system is detected to be powered off, the state of the computer system is then preserved by storing data representing the state of the computer system in a designated area of a nonvolatile memory of the computer system. A system initialization code of the operating system is then replaced with new system initialization code that branches to restart code that accesses to the designated area of the nonvolatile memory such that when the computer system is again powered on, the restart code accesses the designated area of the nonvolatile memory for the data to restore the computer system to the state before the computer system was powered off.