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:
Nov. 07, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 03, 2003
Edward P. Flanigan, Burbank, SD (US);
Edward P. Flanigan, Burbank, SD (US);
Gateway Inc., Irvine, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and system divides a media space, such as found in a hard drive or other mass storage device, into a portion directly accessible by all software and a portion inaccessible by all software except host Basic Input Output System (BIOS) code. A special procedure to access media space may include a special instruction or instruction set with or without a password to allow hard drive support for READ ONLY partitions, READ ONLY CD-ROM emulation, and other READ ONLY hard drive access requirements. The special procedure may user an expanded ATA command set, an expanded BIOS command set with System Management Mode, or code to temporarily unprotect at least a portion of the portion normally inaccessible by the software other than host BIOS code.