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:
Dec. 24, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 29, 1999
James H. Ewertz, Portland, OR (US);
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A computer system's BIOS (basic input/output system) POST (power-on self test) sets a bit or bits in an ISA (industry standard architecture) I/O (input/output) port, in a memory, or in a scratch pad register accessed via an ISA I/O port (indexed or non-indexed), that an AML (ACPI control method machine language) in the DSDT or other ACPI tables can access. These bit(s) will be set depending upon SETUP program selections or different hardware configurations detected by the BIOS during POST. The AML, which is the compiled result of ASL (ACPI control method Source Language) code, returns back different values for the lowest system sleep state depending upon the bit value(s) read from the ISA I/O port, the memory or the scratch pad register accessed via the ISA I/O port. In addition, an ASL code allows an external agent, e.g., an application program, to modify the ISA I/O port, the memory or the scratch pad register accessed via the ISA I/O port. In this configuration, the ASL code conditionally prevents the external agent from dictating a power system's sleeping state which the hardware could not support.