Patents by Inventor Foad Askari

Foad Askari 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).

  • Method of comparing build capability flags of replacement BIOS with boot capability flags of current BIOS to determine compatibility between BIOS revisions and installed hardware during flash update
    Patent number: 7487345
    Abstract: The present invention provides a BIOS having two sets of flags. The first set of flags is the build capability flags. The second set of flags is the boot capability flags. Each of the flags can be stored as a value through the combination of bits that make up the flags and are stored in, for example, a register. The one or more values that make up the build capability flags can be compared to the one or more values that make up the boot capability flags. The current BIOS is updateable with a BIOS version that also has a build capability flag and a current boot capability flag. More specifically, the BIOS is updateable if the replacement build capability flags enable the booting of an information system having current build capability. For example, an update of the BIOS will only occur if the value of the updated build capability flags is greater than or equal to the value of the current boot capability flags.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Mukund Purshottam Khatri, Foad Askari, George Mathew
  • Method of using feature flags to determine compatibility between bios revisions and installed hardware during flash update
    Publication number: 20050081024
    Abstract: The present invention provides a BIOS having two sets of flags. The first set of flags is the build capability flags. The second set of flags is the boot capability flags. Each of the flags can be stored as a value through the combination of bits that make up the flags and are stored in, for example, a register. The one or more values that make up the build capability flags can be compared to the one or more values that make up the boot capability flags. The current BIOS is updateable with a BIOS version that also has a build capability flag and a current boot capability flag. More specifically, the BIOS is updateable if the replacement build capability flags enable the booting of an information system having current build capability. For example, an update of the BIOS will only occur if the value of the updated build capability flags is greater than or equal to the value of the current boot capability flags.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2003
    Publication date: April 14, 2005
    Inventors: Mukund Khatri, Foad Askari, George Mathew