Patents by Inventor A. Randall Heap

A. Randall Heap has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • System and method for automatically relocating and configuring firmware stored in subsystem modules
    Patent number: 5317723
    Abstract: A system (30) can be configured with a plurality of subsystem modules (45a-45n), to tailor the system (30) to different requirements. CPU (32) is connected by a 32-bit, system bus (38) to a random access memory (RAM) (40), a cache (42) and an interface (44a) in graphics subsystem module (45a). Interface (44a) includes a module ROM (47a) containing firmware specific to such graphics subsystem modules. Similarly, each of the other subsystem modules (45b-45n) have interfaces (44b-44n) containing firmware specific to the particular type of module (45b-45n). The elements (32-42) of the system (30) comprise a base module (43), which is the same for all system configurations. A ROM (49) is provided in the base module (43), connected to the bus (38). The base module ROM (49) contains a software routine that locates all the option module ROMs (47a-47n) and, using the information in them creates a relocated version of the code in the option module ROMs (47a-47n) in the computer system's main memory (40).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 31, 1994
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: A. Randall Heap, Eduardo A. Santiago