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:
Jul. 10, 2007
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2002
Rodney Wendell Palmer, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Gregory Brian Pruett, Raleigh, NC (US);
David Benson Rhoades, Apex, NC (US);
Ileana Vila, Cary, NC (US);
Rodney Wendell Palmer, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Gregory Brian Pruett, Raleigh, NC (US);
David Benson Rhoades, Apex, NC (US);
Ileana Vila, Cary, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A data processing method and system according to the present invention in which a mass storage device (DASD) of a data processing system is partitioned to include a service partition. The service partition includes the current versions of peripheral device firmware, any BIOS extensions, and device drivers. During a system boot, the boot code will compare the firmware versions of all the peripheral devices against the archived firmware versions stored in the service partition. If a mismatch is detected, the system boot will typically force an update of the peripheral device firmware to the level that is known to be good. Any such firmware updates are recorded in a log that is accessible to system management applications. Any revisions to firmware may be imaged into the service partition so that the revised version will be incorporated into the peripheral device itself during the next subsequent system boot.