Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Marc D Wilson

Ralph A Lipe

Pierre-Yves Santerre

Richard R Hargrove

Aaron R Reynolds

Phillip R Barrett

A system for allocating resources for use by devices of a computer. Device information for the devices of the computer is collected to uniquely identify the devices and to describe the device characteristics associated with the operation of those devices with the computer. A list of device configurations is constructed in response to the collection of device information. Each device is represented by at least one device configuration, which defines the resource element requirements for the corresponding device. Computer resources, which support the functions of the devices within the computer, are allocated based upon the device configurations and the availability of the desired resources. This allocation process prevents a potential conflicting use of computer resources by the installed devices.

System for allocating resources in a computer system

An improved method and system for transferring control in a multitasking computer system is provided. In preferred embodiments for use with 80386 machines, the virtual machine monitor (VMM) writes a virtual machine break point (VMBP) instruction into the executable code of selected DOS routines to cause the DOS routines to transfer control to the VMM. By selecting systems calls of indefinite duration for the application of this method, system performance can be improved. In this preferred embodiment for 80386 machines, 8086 programs designed to run under DOS can be more efficiently executed in a multitasking environment.

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Marc D Wilson