CN100440181C - Computer peripheral equipment on-line processing method and system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a computer peripheral equipment on-line processing method and a system, which are carried to a computer platform and provide a peripheral equipment machine processing function of manual control for the computer platform; the on-line processing at least comprises: the device comprises a processing sequence specifying module, a configuration data source specifying module and a configuration data processing module. The invention makes user set a processing sequence and a configuration data source for all peripheral devices currently connected with the computer platform in a manual control mode, and the computer platform can process the configuration data of the peripheral devices in sequence through a shadow memory with limited capacity, so that the computer platform can be successfully connected to the peripheral devices for data communication. The invention can make the computer platform support more peripheral devices at the same time, and make the processing process of the configuration data have higher efficiency, and avoid the system stall phenomenon caused by the conflict situation.

Description

On-line processing method and system for computer peripheral equipment

technical field

The present invention relates to a kind of computer information technology, especially relates to a kind of computer peripheral equipment on-line processing method and system, applied to a computer platform, and this computer platform is equipped with a peripheral equipment connection interface connected to a plurality of peripheral equipment, such as PCI ( Peripheral Component Interconnect)-type peripheral connection interface provides a human-controlled peripheral device online processing function for the computer platform. Users can manually set a processing sequence and a configuration data source for these peripheral devices. The computer platform is based on this Handles the wiring of these peripherals.

Background technique

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) is a peripheral device connection interface often used on computer platforms, which can connect the central processing unit of the computer platform with various peripheral devices, such as screen monitors, hard disk devices, optical drives, network switches, etc. , the central processing unit can exchange data with these peripheral devices.

A PCI peripheral device usually has a built-in configuration read-only memory (Option ROM, where ROM=Read-Only Memory), which stores the configuration data required by the PCI peripheral device when it is connected to the computer platform; that is, the PCI peripheral device The overlapping computer platform can directly read the configuration data stored therein from the configuration read-only memory (OPROM), and can directly initialize the PCI peripheral equipment, so that the computer platform can exchange data with the PCI peripheral equipment. Basically, since the access speed of Random-Access Memory (RAM) is greater than that of Read-Only Memory (ROM); therefore, in specific implementation, in order to increase the access speed of configuration data, the computer platform A specific storage space is usually planned in the random access memory in the computer, which is generally called shadow RAM (Shadow RAM), which is used to dump the data stored in the configuration read-only memory of the PCI peripheral device in a mapping manner (that is, in a copying manner). The stored configuration data is used to improve the overall processing performance of peripheral devices.

In actual operation, the current computer platform processes the configuration data in the OPROM of each peripheral device according to a fixed processing sequence. For example, SATA-style peripherals on the motherboard (On Board) are usually prioritized first, followed by SCSI-style peripherals on the motherboard (On Board), followed by NIC peripherals on the motherboard (On Board), and then Then there are PCIX slot (Slot) type peripheral devices, and finally PCIE slot (Slot) type peripheral devices. However, this fixed OPROM configuration data processing sequence has the following two disadvantages in practical application.

First, it may reduce the overall processing performance of peripheral devices of the computer platform. In practical application, the capacity of the shadow memory in the general computer platform is mostly only 128KB (C0000h-DFFFFh), so it can only support a limited number of peripheral devices. For example, if the OPROM configuration data code size of a necessary and top-priority PCI peripheral device (such as a VGA video control card) is 32KB, it will occupy 32KB of storage space in the shadow memory during actual execution, making the 32KB shadow memory The available storage space is only 128-32=96KB. In this case, the processing sequence of other PCI peripheral devices will affect the overall processing performance of the computer platform peripheral devices. For example, assuming that there are 4 PCI peripheral devices PCI(1), PCI(2), PCI(3), PCI(4), the code sizes of the OPROM original configuration data are 64KB, 64KB, 32KB and 24KB respectively, the actual The amount of code after execution is only 6KB, 32KB, 32KB, and 16KB respectively; as shown in the table below, when the shadow memory is only 96KB, if the four PCI peripherals are PCI(1)→PCI(2)→ The processing sequence of PCI(3)→PCI(4), then the four PCI peripheral devices can all be processed.

Peripheral Processing Order Raw configuration data code amount The amount of code actually executed Shadow RAM free space Sequence 1: PCI(1) 64KB 6KB 96-6 = 90KB Sequence 2: PCI(2) 64KB 32KB 90-32 = 58KB Sequence 3: PCI(3) 32KB 32KB 58-32=26KB (>24KB) Sequence 4: PCI(4) 24KB 16KB 26-16=10KB

Conversely, as shown in the table below, if the processing sequence of the above four PCI peripherals is changed to PCI(2)→PCI(3)→PCI(4)→PCI(1), only the first three PCI peripherals can be processed. .

Peripheral Processing Order Raw configuration data code amount The amount of code actually executed Shadow RAM free space Sequence 1: PCI(2) 64KB 32KB 96-32=64KB Sequence 2: PCI(3) 32KB 32KB 64-32=32KB Sequence 3: PCI(4) 24KB 16KB 32-16=16KB (<64KB) Sequence 4: PCI(1) 64KB x x

As shown in the above table, when PCI(4) of sequence 3 is processed, the available storage space of the shadow memory is only 16KB, so there is not enough space to load the original configuration data of PCI(1) of sequence 4 (64KB).

The second is that it may cause abnormal operating status or system shutdown of the computer platform, such as system shutdown when executing BIOS POST, system shutdown when loading the operating system, and some boot devices (such as CD-ROM) Disabling conditions, etc. This is because the following conditions may occur during the processing of OPROM configuration data: Need to connect (Hook) Int 13h (that is, interrupt service routine for accessing the hard disk device), need to connect (Hook) Int 19h (that is, to load Interrupt service program of the operating system), need to use EBDA as the memory area of the execution (Run Time), need to support some functions of the BBS (BIOS Boot Specification), and PCI-style peripherals need to use the PCI interrupt signal of the hardware to start and execute them Interrupt Service Routine; these conditions will order the system to generate conflicts in certain processing sequences and cause the system to shut down. Therefore, these problems can only be solved by changing the processing order of peripheral devices.

In addition, when the OPROM configuration data of some PCX/PCIE peripheral devices is executed, it will search for all the same device controllers (device controllers) existing on the computer platform system to execute the initialization program. For example, the LSI 1020a SCSI controller and the LSI 1030 SCSI controller have the same DID/VID (Device ID, VendorID); therefore, if there is an LSI 1030 SCSI controller on the peripheral device of the motherboard (On Board), the BIOS must It also stores its OPROM configuration data. When the computer platform is inserted into the circuit card of the LSI1020A controller (it is also equipped with OPROM), then when executing BIOSPOST, if the OPROM configuration data of the LSI 1030 controller on the BIOS is used to execute the initialization program, the system of the computer platform will perform the initialization program. The LSI 1030 controller on the motherboard and the LSI 1020A controller on the circuit card execute the initialization program simultaneously. At this time, the LSI1030 and 1020A controllers can work normally (that is, all hard disk devices that can be connected to the LSI 1030 and 1020A controllers). However, when executing the BIOS POST, if the OPROM on the circuit card LSI1020A is used to initialize the program, the LSI 1030 controller on the motherboard and the LSI 1020A controller on the circuit card will be initialized, making the LSI1030 unable to work normally, that is The initialization of the LSI 1030 controller failed and failed to connect to all hard drives attached to it. This is because the version of the OPROM configuration data on the circuit card may be relatively old, so it cannot be used to successfully complete the initialization procedure; but the OPROM configuration data on the motherboard can be used to successfully complete the initialization procedure due to its newer version. In addition, most of the current computer platforms cannot allow the peripheral devices to use the OPROM configuration data stored in the BIOS on the motherboard to perform initialization procedures. In this case, for some PCIX/PCIE peripheral devices that are not equipped with OPROM, the initialization process cannot be performed by using the OPROM configuration data with the same DID/VID in the BIOS.

Contents of the invention

In order to overcome the shortcomings of the above-mentioned prior art, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a method and system for on-line processing of computer peripheral equipment. The user can manually set a processing order for all peripheral equipment, and the computer platform follows this processing order. program to process configuration data for these peripherals.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for on-line processing of computer peripherals. The user can manually set a configuration data source (i.e. BIOS on the motherboard or OPROM on the circuit card) for each peripheral. The computer platform reads the configuration data belonging to each peripheral device from the configuration data source specified by the user.

The computer peripheral device online processing method and system of the present invention are applied to a computer platform, such as a desktop personal computer, a notebook computer or a network server, and the computer platform is configured with a peripheral device connection interface to connect with multiple peripheral devices, such as The PCI-style peripheral device connection interface provides a human-controlled peripheral device online processing function for the computer platform. The user can manually set a processing sequence and a configuration data source for these peripheral devices, and the computer platform processes accordingly. Initialization routines for these peripherals.

The computer peripheral device online processing method of the present invention at least includes: the artificially controlled computer peripheral device online processing method at least includes: artificially designate a processing sequence for these peripheral devices; artificially designate a configuration data source for each peripheral device; Wherein the option of the configuration data source includes the built-in configuration read-only memory of each peripheral device and the configuration data storage area in the power-on main control unit; and according to the artificially designated processing sequence, sequentially process the initialization programs of these peripheral devices; And in the initialization program of each peripheral device, the required configuration data is read from the artificially designated configuration data source, and the central processing unit can be connected to these peripheral devices for data exchange.

In terms of physical structure, the on-line processing system for computer peripheral equipment of the present invention at least includes: a processing sequence designation module, which provides a processing sequence designation function manipulated by the user, and specifies a processing sequence for these peripheral devices artificially; a configuration data source The specifying module provides a user-controlled configuration data source specifying function, and artificially specifies a configuration data source for each peripheral device; wherein the options for the configuration data source include the built-in configuration read-only memory of each peripheral device and the boot a configuration data storage area in the main control unit; and a configuration data processing module, according to the processing sequence specified by the processing sequence setting module, the initialization procedures of these peripheral devices are sequentially processed; and in the initialization procedures of each peripheral device, from The configuration data source setting module reads the required configuration data from the configuration data source specified by the configuration data source, and the central processing unit can be connected to these peripheral devices for data exchange.

The on-line processing method and system for computer peripheral equipment of the present invention allow users to set a processing order and a configuration data source for all peripheral equipment currently connected to the computer platform in an artificially controlled manner, and the computer platform can use a limited-capacity device accordingly. The shadow memory of the computer sequentially processes the configuration data of these peripheral devices, so that the computer platform can successfully connect to these peripheral devices for data communication. The invention enables the computer platform to support more peripheral devices at the same time, and enables the processing process of configuration data to have higher efficiency, so as to avoid system shutdown caused by conflicts.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the application of the computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system of the present invention mounted on a computer platform;

Fig. 2 is the schematic diagram of the basic architecture of the object-oriented component model of the computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of a screen display, showing an example of a user manipulation interface displayed on a computer screen by the processing order specifying module in the computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system of the present invention;

3B is a schematic diagram of a screen display, showing an example of a user control interface displayed on a computer screen by the configuration data source specifying module in the computer peripheral equipment online processing system of the present invention.

Detailed ways

Example

FIG. 1 shows the application mode of the computer peripheral device online processing system (such as the block indicated by reference numeral 100 ) of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the computer peripheral device online processing system 100 of the present invention is actually mounted on a computer platform 10, such as a desktop personal computer, a notebook computer or a network server, and the computer platform 10 must be equipped with at least one Central Processing Unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU) 20, a boot main control unit 30, a shadow memory (Shadow RAM, wherein RAM=Random-Access Memory) 40, a specific form of peripheral device connection interface 50; wherein the boot main The control unit 30 is, for example, a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) chip module, and the peripheral device connection interface 50 is, for example, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) type peripheral device connection interface, which can be connected with one or more peripheral devices (Fig. 1 In the shown embodiment, for example, four peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54 are connected; ROM, or be simplified as OPROM, wherein ROM=Read-Only Memory) 61, 62, 63, 64, store in advance respectively one group of configuration data (hereinafter referred to as "original configuration data"). In addition, a plurality of configuration data storage areas 31, 32, 33, 34 are also pre-planned in the storage space of the BIOS boot master control unit 30, and are stored in advance by the manufacturer in a writing mode. The OPROM configuration data of group, that is some often can use or the configuration data of the peripheral equipment on main board (On Board).In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, for example comprise 4 configuration data storage areas 31,32,33, 34, which store the configuration data required by these peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54 during initialization respectively (that is, its code is fully compatible with the OPROM configuration read-only memory 61 in these peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54 , 62, 63, 64 in the original configuration data. When carrying out the initialization program, the original configuration data of each peripheral device 51, 52, 53, 54 can come from 2 sources (hereinafter referred to as "configuration data source") Read, that is (1) the OPROM configuration read-only memory 61,62,63,64 of each peripheral device 51,52,53,54; and (2) the configuration data storage area 31 in the main control unit 40 of BIOS boot , 32, 33, 34.

In actual operation, the computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system 100 of the present invention can provide the user with a human-controlled peripheral equipment on-line processing function, and the user can specify a processing sequence and The source of the required original configuration data, the computer platform 10 is used to process the connection between these peripheral devices 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 and the central processing unit 20 accordingly.

As shown in Figure 2, the object-oriented component model (object-oriented component model) of the physical structure of the computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system 100 of the present invention at least includes: (A) a processing order specifying module 110; (B) a configuration data source specification module 120 ; and (C) a configuration data processing module 130 . In a specific implementation, the computer peripheral device online processing system 100 of the present invention can be fully implemented with a computer program, and this computer program is integrated into the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) basic input and output system, and by means of the central processing unit 20 to execute and provide the required peripheral device on-line processing functions.

The individual attributes and functions of each constituent module in the computer peripheral equipment in-line processing system 100 of the present invention will be described below.

The processing sequence designation module 110 provides a user-controlled processing sequence designation function, that is, it can respond to a user-controlled processing sequence designation event 201 to set a processing sequence for the peripheral devices 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 . In specific implementation, the processing order specifying module 110 can display a user control interface 111 as shown in FIG. 52, 53, 54 designate a processing sequence, and its mode is for example to click on the code name of a certain peripheral device, and then utilize [up] key 112 or [downward] key 113 to change the sorting of the selected peripheral device (note: Fig. 3A shows The user control interface 111 shown is only an exemplary example; many other different display and control modes may be included in specific implementations).

The configuration data source designation module 120 provides a user-controlled configuration data source designation function, that is, it can respond to a user-manipulated configuration data source designation event 202, and set its requirements for each peripheral device 51, 52, 53, 54. The source of configuration data is "circuit card OPROM" or "mainboard BIOS OPROM"). In specific implementation, the configuration data source specifying module 120 can display a user control interface 121 as shown in FIG. , 52, 53, 54 specify a configuration data source. If the user clicks "circuit card OPROM", then the source of its designated configuration data is to configure the read-only memory 61, 62, 63, 64 in the OPROM on the peripheral equipment 51, 52, 53, 54; otherwise, if use The user clicks "mainboard BIOS OPROM", then the designated configuration data source is the configuration data storage areas 31, 32, 33, 34 in the BIOS boot master control unit 30 (note: the user control interface 121 shown in Fig. 3B It is only an exemplary example; it may include many other different display and manipulation modes in actual implementation).

Configure the data processing module 130 to process the initialization programs of these peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54 sequentially according to the processing order specified by the above-mentioned processing sequence setting module 110; In the initialization procedure, the configuration data is read from the configuration data source specified by the configuration data source setting module 120 , so that the central processing unit 20 can be connected to the peripheral devices 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 for data exchange. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3B, if the user selects the configuration data source of the peripheral device 51, i.e. PCI (1), to be "circuit card OPROM", then the configuration data processing module 130 will obtain the configuration data from the peripheral device. The OPROM on the 51 configures the read-only memory 61 to read the required configuration data; if the user selects the peripheral equipment 52, i.e. PCI (2), the configuration data source is "main board BIOSOPROM ", then the configuration data processing module 130 will be from The configuration data storage area 32 in the BIOS startup main control unit 30 reads the required configuration data.

The present invention also provides a method for on-line processing of computer peripheral devices, which at least includes: first, artificially specifying a processing sequence for these peripheral devices; and then, artificially specifying a configuration data source for each peripheral device; wherein the configuration The options of data sources include the built-in configuration read-only memory of each peripheral device and the configuration data storage area in the boot master control unit; and finally, according to the artificially designated processing sequence, sequentially process the initialization programs of these peripheral devices; and In the initialization program of each peripheral device, the required configuration data is read from the artificially designated configuration data source, and the central processing unit can be connected to these peripheral devices for data exchange.

Hereinafter, an application example is used to illustrate the operation mode of the online processing system 100 for computer peripheral equipment of the present invention in actual application.

In this application example, assuming that the code sizes of the original OPROM configuration data of peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, and 54 are 64KB, 64KB, 32KB, and 24KB respectively, the code sizes after actual execution only need 6KB, 32KB, 32KB, and 16KB; as mentioned above, if the processing sequence of the 4 PCI peripheral devices is PCI(1)→PCI(2)→PCI(3)→PCI(4), then the 4 PCI peripheral devices can be processed to ; But if it is PCI(2)→PCI(3)→PCI(4)→PCI(1), then only the front 3 PCI peripheral devices can be processed.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 at the same time. In actual application, after the user inserts the peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, and 54 into the computer platform 10, the computer platform 10 can actually start the BIOS before the boot program is actually executed. The processing sequence designation module 110 in the computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system 100 of the present invention displays a user control interface 111 on the screen 11, and the user can issue a user-controlled processing sequence designation event through the user control interface 111 201. Specify a processing order for these peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54. As mentioned above, the processing sequence of PCI(1)→PCI(2)→PCI(3)→PCI(4) allows all 4 PCI peripherals to be processed, but if PCI(2)→PCI(3) The processing sequence of →PCI(4)→PCI(1) can only process the first three PCI peripheral devices; therefore, if necessary, the user can change the processing sequence through the user control interface 111 . After completing the assignment of the processing order, the user can then activate the configuration data source assignment module 120, and a user control interface 121 as shown in FIG. 3B is displayed on the screen 11, and the user can issue a The configuration data source specified event 202 manipulated by the user specifies a configuration data source for the processing program of each peripheral device 51, 52, 53, 54, wherein the options of the configuration data source include, for example, "circuit card OPROM" and "mainboard BIOS OPROM" "; Wherein " circuit card OPROM " option promptly represents configuration read-only memory 61,62,63,64 in the OPROM on the peripheral equipment 51,52,53,54; Configuration data storage areas 31, 32, 33, 34 in 30. Thereafter, whenever the computer platform 10 actually executes the BIOS boot program, it will start the configuration data processing module 130 to process the peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54 sequentially according to the processing sequence specified by the processing sequence setting module 110. initialization program; and in the initialization program of each peripheral device 51, 52, 53, 54, read the configuration data from the configuration data source specified by the configuration data source setting module 120, so that the central processing unit 20 can be connected to these Peripheral devices 51, 52, 53, 54 communicate data.

In a word, the present invention provides a method and system for on-line processing of computer peripheral equipment on a computer platform, which can be mounted on a computer platform and provide a human-controlled peripheral equipment on-line processing function for the computer platform; the present invention allows users to manually control Set a processing sequence and a configuration data source for all peripheral devices currently connected to the computer platform, and the computer platform can process the configuration data of these peripheral devices sequentially through a shadow memory with a limited capacity, and the computer platform can be successfully connected To these peripheral devices for data exchange. The invention enables the computer platform to support more peripheral devices at the same time, and enables the processing process of its configuration data to have higher efficiency, and avoids system shutdown caused by conflicts.

Claims (12)

1. A method for on-line processing of computer peripheral equipment, applied to a computer platform, and the computer platform is at least equipped with a central processing unit, a boot master control unit, a shadow memory and a peripheral equipment connection interface; wherein the peripheral equipment connection interface It is used to connect multiple peripheral devices, and each peripheral device has a built-in configuration read-only memory, which stores the configuration data of the peripheral device; and wherein the power-on main control unit is also pre-built with a set of configuration data The storage area stores the configuration data of the peripheral equipment; it is characterized in that the online processing method of the computer peripheral equipment at least includes: Artificially specify a processing order for these peripherals; Artificially specifying a configuration data source for each peripheral device; wherein the options of the configuration data source include the built-in configuration read-only memory of each peripheral device and the configuration data storage area in the boot main control unit; and According to the artificially designated processing sequence, the initialization procedures of these peripheral devices are sequentially processed; and in the initialization procedure of each peripheral device, the required configuration data is read from the artificially designated configuration data source, and the central processing unit Connect to these peripherals for data exchange. 2. The computer peripheral device online processing method according to claim 1, wherein the computer platform is a network server. 3. The online processing method for computer peripherals according to claim 1, wherein the computer platform is a desktop personal computer. 4. The online processing method for computer peripherals according to claim 1, wherein the computer platform is a notebook computer. 5. The online processing method for computer peripherals as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main control unit for booting is a BIOS chip module. 6. The computer peripheral device online processing method according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral device connection interface is a PCI type peripheral device connection interface. 7. An on-line processing system for computer peripheral equipment, which is mounted on a computer platform, and the computer platform is at least equipped with a central processing unit, a boot master control unit, a shadow memory, and a peripheral equipment connection interface; wherein the peripheral equipment connection interface A plurality of peripheral devices are connected, and each peripheral device has a built-in configuration read-only memory for storing configuration data of the peripheral device; and wherein the power-on main control unit is also pre-built with a set of configuration data storage areas, Store the configuration data of peripheral equipment; it is characterized in that, this computer peripheral equipment on-line processing system at least includes: A processing sequence designation module, providing a processing sequence designation function manipulated by the user to manually designate a processing sequence for these peripheral devices; A configuration data source specifying module, which provides a user-controlled configuration data source specifying function, and manually specifies a configuration data source for each peripheral device; wherein the configuration data source options include the built-in configuration of each peripheral device a read-only memory and a configuration data storage area in the boot master unit; and A configuration data processing module, according to the processing sequence specified by the processing sequence specified module, sequentially process the initialization program of these peripheral devices; and in the initialization program of each peripheral device, from the configuration data source specified by the configuration data source specified module The required configuration data is read in the central processing unit, and the central processing unit is connected to these peripheral devices for data exchange. 8. The online processing system for computer peripherals according to claim 7, wherein the computer platform is a network server. 9. The on-line processing system for computer peripherals as claimed in claim 7, wherein the computer platform is a desktop personal computer. 10. The online processing system for computer peripherals according to claim 7, wherein the computer platform is a notebook computer. 11. The on-line processing system for computer peripherals as claimed in claim 7, wherein the booting main control unit is a BIOS chip module. 12. The on-line processing system for computer peripheral devices as claimed in claim 7, wherein the peripheral device connection interface is a PCI type peripheral device connection interface.

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