JP2000207165A - Display system for personal computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display system for personal computers(PC), with which a primary adapter can be set/switched depending on the performance/function of a peripheral component interconnect(PCI) graphics adapter which are connected additionally to the PC or on application software to be used in a multi- monitor environment. SOLUTION: This display system is provided with a system basic I/O system(BIOS) 3, capable of changing the assignment of priority of boot devices in the case of a plug-and-play configuration and an assignment table 4 for preserving the assignment of priority of the system BIOS 3. Corresponding to the setting of the system BIOS 3, the priority of boot devices in the assignment table 4 is changed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a display system for a personal computer, and more particularly, to a PCI added to a personal computer in a multi-monitor environment.
The present invention relates to a display system of a personal computer in which a primary adapter is set or switched depending on the performance / function of a graphics adapter or an application to be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when there are a plurality of devices having a boot-up program as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-3-4271 or JP-A-4-205627, which one is selected. There has been proposed a boot load control system that determines whether to do so by software. According to these boot load control methods, a personal computer having a large number of boot devices can be used in a plurality of boot orders.

However, according to the boot load control system disclosed in JP-A-3-4271 or JP-A-4-205627, it is effective for a plurality of devices having a boot-up program. ,
When there are a plurality of display devices, such as when a plurality of monitors are displayed on one personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC), the boot load control system does not work effectively. To give a specific example, for example, even if two or more monitor devices are connected to one PC, only one of them can be used effectively.

Therefore, recently, an OS (Operating System) supporting a multi-monitor function for displaying a plurality of monitors on one PC has been proposed.
A display system for a personal computer using an ating system (hereinafter referred to as an OS) has been proposed. This multi-monitor function is usually realized by connecting a monitor to both a graphics adapter that is installed as a standard in the PC body and a graphics adapter that is added to the expansion slot of the PC, and enabling both graphics adapters. You. At this time, the added graphics adapter operates as a boot device. Further, in the multi-monitor environment, the added graphics adapter becomes a primary adapter, and the graphics adapter mounted as a standard in the PC body becomes a secondary adapter.

This setting is performed in the system BIOS (Basic I /
O System). Usually, a graphics adapter that is standardly mounted on a PC body is an AGP (Advanced Graphic Port) graphics adapter, and a PCI (Pe
ripheral Component Interconnect) In many cases, it is faster than graphics adapters.

[0006]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional personal computer display system, when a PCI graphics adapter is added, the PC
I graphics adapter becomes primary adapter,
Since the AGP graphics adapter that is standard on the PC is always a secondary adapter, application software that operates only with the primary adapter cannot be used, or if the application runs on a PCI graphics adapter, the performance will decrease. There was a problem.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a personal computer display system that can set and switch a primary adapter according to the performance and function of a PCI graphics adapter added to a PC and an application to be used in a multi-monitor environment. To provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has an AGP (Advanced Graphic Port) graphics adapter, and a plurality of PCIs are provided in an expansion slot.
(Peripheral Component Interconnect) A graphics adapter can be added and the OS (Operating System
m) in a personal computer display system supporting a multi-monitor function of displaying a plurality of monitors on one personal computer, a system BIOS (Basic I / O Sy) for allocating a boot device of an AGP graphics adapter and a PCI graphics adapter.
and an assignment table for storing the assignment of boot devices by the system BIOS, wherein the priority order of the boot devices is configured to be changeable by setting the system BIOS. Is provided.

In the above configuration, the system BIOS
Is an AGP priority mode in which an AGP graphics adapter is assigned as a boot device in advance, and an added PC
It is desirable to have a compatibility mode in which an I graphics adapter is allocated as a boot device in advance.

It is desirable that the AGP priority mode and the compatible mode can be selected by setting the system BIOS.

Further, it is desirable that the priority can be changed in both the AGP priority mode and the compatible mode.

Further, when the PCI graphics adapter is connected to any one of the expansion slots and in the compatible mode, the priority order of the boot device in the allocation table is changed to change the AGP graphics adapter to the primary adapter. It is desirable to set as.

[0013] Further, a PC is provided in any one of the expansion slots.
When the I graphics adapter is connected and in the AGP priority mode, it is desirable to set the PCI graphics adapter as the primary adapter by changing the priority of the boot device in the allocation table.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a display system of a personal computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this display system includes a CPU 1, a bus control circuit 2, a system BIOS 3 in which the priority order of boot devices can be changed during plug-and-play configuration, and a priority order of the system BIOS 3. Assignment table 4 for saving assignments, AG
A P graphics adapter 5, a first PCI slot 6, a second PCI slot 7, and a third PCI slot 8 connected to the bus control circuit 2 via a PCI bus 10;
Monitor device 9 connected to GP graphics adapter 5
And is composed of

In the above configuration, the first PCI slot 6, the second PCI slot 7, and the third PCI slot 8 have PCI graphics adapters 11, 13,
The monitor devices 12, 14, and 16 can be connected to each other via 15.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the setting contents of the allocation table 4 set by the system BIOS 3.
By the setting of the allocation table 4, the system BIOS 3 is set in the compatible mode (default mode) when the PC is started.
AGP or AGP priority mode can be selected, and the priority of boot device selection can be changed according to each mode.

Hereinafter, the operation of the display system of the personal computer will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows a first PCI slot 6, a second PC
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a PCI graphics adapter is not added to any of the I slot 7 and the third PCI slot 8; In such a case, whether the setting contents of the allocation table 4 in FIG. 2 are the compatibility mode or the AGP priority mode,
The AGP graphics adapter 5 is allocated as a boot device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which a PCI graphics adapter 11 is added to the first PCI slot 6. In such a case, when the setting content of the allocation table 4 in FIG. 2 is the compatible mode, the PCI graphics adapter 11 is allocated as a boot device. When the OS supports the multi-monitor function, the PCI graphics adapter 11 becomes a primary adapter, and the AGP graphics adapter 5 becomes a secondary adapter. Therefore, when an application that operates only with the primary adapter is used, the application is executed by the PCI graphics adapter 11.

If it is desired to change the AGP graphics adapter 5 to the first order in this compatibility mode (default mode) setting, the AGP graphics adapter 5 is set in the system BIOS 3 to set
The priority of the P graphics adapter 5 is changed to the first priority, and the PCI graphics adapter 11 connected to the first PCI slot 6 is set to the second priority. Thereby, AG
The P graphics adapter 5 is allocated as a boot device. If the OS supports the multi-monitor function, the AGP graphics adapter 5 becomes the primary adapter, and the PCI graphics adapter 11 becomes the secondary adapter. For this reason, when using an application that operates only with the primary adapter, A
This is executed by the GP graphics adapter 5.

In FIG. 3, the allocation table 4 shown in FIG.
Is set in the AGP priority mode, the AGP graphics adapter 5 is allocated as a boot device. If the OS supports the multi-monitor function, the AGP graphics adapter 5 becomes the primary adapter, and the PCI graphics adapter 11 becomes the secondary adapter. Therefore, when using an application that operates only with the primary adapter, the application is executed by the AGP graphics adapter 5.

In the setting of the AGP priority mode, the first PC
To change the PCI graphics adapter 11 connected to the I slot 6 to the first order, the system BIOS
The priority of the PCI graphics adapter 11 is changed to the first priority by setting 3, and the AGP graphics adapter 5 is set to the second priority. As a result, the PCI graphics adapter 11 is allocated as a boot device. When the OS supports the multi-monitor function, the PCI graphics adapter 11 becomes a primary adapter, and the AGP graphics adapter 5 becomes a secondary adapter. Therefore, when an application that operates only with the primary adapter is used, the application is executed by the PCI graphics adapter 11.

FIG. 4 shows the first PCI slot 6, the second PC
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a PCI graphics adapter 11, a PCI graphics adapter 13, and a PCI graphics adapter 15 are added to an I slot 7 and a third PCI slot 8, respectively. In such a case, if the setting content of the allocation table 4 in FIG. 2 is the compatible mode, the PCI graphics adapter 15 is allocated as the boot device. If the OS supports the multi-monitor function, the PCI graphics adapter 15 becomes the primary adapter and the PCI graphics adapter 15 becomes the primary adapter.
The graphics adapter 11, the PCI graphics adapter 13, and the AGP graphics adapter 5 are secondary adapters. Therefore, when an application that operates only with the primary adapter is used, the application is executed by the PCI graphics adapter 15.

Here, when the setting contents of the allocation table 4 in FIG. 2 are changed to the AGP priority mode, the AGP graphics adapter 5 is allocated as a boot device.
If the OS supports the multi-monitor function, A
The GP graphics adapter 5 is a primary adapter, and the PCI graphics adapter 11, the PCI graphics adapter 13, and the PCI graphics adapter 15 are secondary adapters.

As described above, by changing the priority of the boot device in the allocation table based on the basic configuration of the system BIOS and the allocation table,
If the AGP graphics adapter is allocated as a boot device and the OS supports the multi-monitor function, the AGP graphics adapter can be set as the primary adapter. In other words, the added P
The setting and switching of the primary adapter can be performed according to the performance / function of the CI graphics adapter and the application to be used.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be appropriately modified within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

[0028]

As described above, according to the personal computer display system of the present invention, the personal computer has an AGP graphics adapter, a plurality of PCI graphics adapters can be added to the expansion slot, and one personal computer has one OS. A display system for a personal computer that supports a multi-monitor function for displaying a plurality of monitors with a system BIOS for allocating boot devices for an AGP graphics adapter and a PCI graphics adapter, and an allocation table for storing allocation of boot devices by the system BIOS; And the priority of the boot device is set to the system B
Since the configuration can be changed by the setting of the IOS, in the multi-monitor environment, the primary adapter can be set and switched according to the performance / function of the added PCI graphics adapter and the application to be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a display system of a personal computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a setting example of an allocation table.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a PCI graphics adapter is added to a first PCI slot.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a PCI graphics adapter is added to each of a first PCI slot, a second PCI slot, and a third PCI slot.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CPU 2 Bus control circuit 3 System BIOS 4 Allocation table 5 AGP graphics adapter 6 First PCI slot 7 Second PCI slot 8 Third PCI slot 9 Monitor device 10 PCI bus 11 PCI graphics adapter 12 Monitor device 13 PCI graphics adapter 14 Monitor device 15 PCI Graphics adapter 16 Monitor device

Claims (6)

[Claims] An AGP (Advanced Graphic Port) graphics adapter is provided, and a plurality of PCIs are provided in an expansion slot.
(Peripheral Component Interconnect) A graphics adapter can be added and the OS (Operating System
m) a personal computer display system supporting a multi-monitor function of displaying a plurality of monitors on one personal computer, wherein a system (BIOS) (Basic I / O System) for allocating a boot device of the AGP graphics adapter and the PCI graphics adapter And an allocation table for storing the allocation of the boot devices by the system BIOS, wherein the priority order of the boot devices is determined by the system BIOS.
A display system for a personal computer, wherein the display system can be changed by setting S. 2. The system BIOS has an AGP priority mode in which the AGP graphics adapter is allocated as a boot device in advance, and a compatible mode in which the added PCI graphics adapter is allocated as a boot device in advance. Claim 1
2. The display system for a personal computer according to claim 1. 3. The display system for a personal computer according to claim 1, wherein the AGP priority mode and the compatible mode are configured to be selectable by setting of the system BIOS. 4. The personal computer display system according to claim 1, wherein the priority order can be changed in any of the AGP priority mode and the compatible mode. 5. The AGP by changing a priority of the boot device in the allocation table when the PCI graphics adapter is connected to any one of the expansion slots and in the compatibility mode. 5. The display system for a personal computer according to claim 1, wherein the graphics adapter is set as a primary adapter. 6. When the PCI graphics adapter is connected to any one of the expansion slots and in the AGP priority mode, the priority order of the boot device in the allocation table is changed. 5. The personal computer display system according to claim 1, wherein a PCI graphics adapter is set as a primary adapter.