The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 17, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 30, 1995
Richard A Dayan, Boca Raton, FL (US);
Chris Dombrowski, Apex, NC (US);
James F Mascaro, Lexington, SC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the amount of time a personal computer system is powered on. A power on time (POT) routine is performed at a power on of the computer system. This routine sets up a timer to count the number of pre-selected time units (selected by a user) the system is powered on. The power on time count is stored in the PC's non-volatile memory. The routine sets an alarm field of the system's real time clock (RTC) to be activated after the pre-selected time unit has elapsed. A POT interrupt handler routine is installed in a chain for RTC interrupts and is invoked each time the alarm is activated (i.e., at each passage of the pre-selected time unit) while the system is powered on. When invoked, the POT interrupt handler routine increments the POT count and resets the RTC alarm to be activated after another pre-selected time unit has elapsed.