Microsoft si dal patentovať virtualizačné novinky

Dňa 13. januára 2011 patentový úrad v USA patentoval Microsoftu technológiu Fast booting a computing device to a specialized experience, ktorá má byť nejakým špeciálnym zariadením, alebo možnosťou prepínania vzhľadu do prostredia, v ktorom sa bude dať pracovať, prípadne fungovať s iným ovládaním. Môže sa to bude týkať napríklad aj onoho prostredia 3D o ktorom sme už tu písali. Technológia pri stlačení tlačidla alebo funkcie pre spustenie herného režimu by sa mohla prevteliť do rozhrania a prostredia hernej konzoly, alebo pri stlačení DVD režimu by sme boli v rozhraní pre DVD. Skrátka niečo ako aplikácia, ale Microsoft myslí aj na grafickosť a zážitok z niečoho takého. Nikto nevie, čo presne máme pod týmto označením chápať, okrem ľudí v Microsofte. Vieme však, že Windows 8 bude podporovaný aj malými zariadeniami, aj televízormi, pokojne aj inteligentnými mrazničkami a podobne. Do akej miery tieto vyhlásenia budú zakladať na pravde je otázne. Nižšie si pozrite, aký popis uvádza Microsoft vo svojom patente. Pri jeho čítaní a prekladaní sa dá pochopiť naozaj mnohé. Zdá sa že zamerané najviac na multimédiá a zábavu, ako aj efekty otvárania a práce s touto technológiou. Všetko má fungovať rýchlo, užívateľ nemá čakať na načítavanie a čakať na sprievodné činnosti.

BACKGROUND
[0002]As many computer systems are evolving towards providing entertainment, particularly in mobile and home computer systems, there is an increased need to have computing devices take on attributes more like consumer electronics devices. While originally it was generally nice to have a computer system that can also function similarly to a consumer electronics device such as a DVD player, such similar behavior is becoming standard or a requirement in order to sell computing products in the competitive computer and consumer electronics marketplace. One example requirement is a quick power-on experience. Another example requirement is extending some elements of autonomy, reliability or protection, e.g., a user’s game playing should not degrade or crash the appliance-like features of digital video recording.
[0003 In conflict with these specialized requirements, to have practical value, a general purpose operating system cannot be very limited. For example, Microsoft Windows.RTM. is a platform designed for open and flexible implementations, enabling computer manufacturers, software developers and even users to adapt and implement personal computers in various different usage models, without requiring a specialized operating system for each model. Microsoft Windows.RTM. is therefore a very elaborate platform that accommodates a very broad base of capabilities, even though specialized solutions often only use a small fraction of the general-purpose Windows.RTM. platform resources that are available. While this platform extensibility is highly valuable in that it ensures flexibility and reduces development overhead, it does require that the platform initialize hardware and prepare to accommodate this very broad base of capabilities, and that many system resources of the operating system be loaded upon boot or be part of the footprint.
[0004]Booting a robust (or comprehensive) general purpose operating system can be time consuming, generally taking between fifteen and thirty seconds. This boot delay may be considered acceptable in typical computing environments, but for single-purpose device usage, or consumer electronics feature parity, this delay is unacceptable to customers. Moreover, running everything through a general purpose operating system means that one service or component can crash the system, adversely impacting another service, subsystem or user’s usage.

SUMMARY
[0005]Briefly, various aspects of the present invention are directed towards a technology by which independent computing functions, such as corresponding to separate operating systems, may be isolated into coexisting partitions. For example, one partition may correspond to a special purpose limited capability operating system that quickly boots, such as to provide appliance-like behavior in a computer system, while another partition may correspond to a general purpose operating system that may load while the special purpose operating system is already running. Once at least two operating systems are loaded, the computer system that contains the partitions may transition from one operating system to the other, such as automatically when the slower-loading operating system is fully loaded, or when a transition is requested by a user.
[0006]A virtual machine manager, or hypervisor, manages the input and output of each partition to operate computer system hardware. The virtual machine manager controls which computer hardware devices are capable of being utilized by which partition at any given time, and may also facilitate inter-partition communication.
[0007]Other advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008]The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limited in the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:
[0009]FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a general-purpose computing environment into which various aspects of the present invention may be incorporated.
[0010]FIG. 2A is a block diagram representing an example architecture for fast booting to a specialized experience.
[0011]FIG. 2B is a block diagram representing an alternative example architecture for fast booting to a specialized experience and sharing resources to a consuming partition.
[0012]FIG. 3 is a block diagram representing various components with a special purpose operating system that provides a specialized experience.
[0013]FIG. 4 is a block diagram representing devices having direct assignments to different partitions.
[0014]FIG. 5A is a block diagram representing various components with independent device assignments among partitions, with the special purpose operating system transitioning in part to some physical device drivers of a general purpose operating system.
[0015]FIG. 5B is a block diagram representing various components having drivers transitioned from a special purpose operating system to drivers of a general purpose operating system.
[0016]FIGS. 6-8 are a block diagram representing other alternative example architectures for fast booting to a specialized experience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary Operating Environment
[0017]FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a suitable computing system environment 100 on which the invention may be implemented. The computing system environment 100 is only one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the computing environment 100 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment 100.
[0018]The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to: personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, tablet devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
[0019]The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in local and/or remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
[0020]With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a computer 110. Components of the computer 110 may include, but are not limited to, a processing unit 120, a system memory 130, and a system bus 121 that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit 120. The system bus 121 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus also known as Mezzanine bus.

Originál na odkaze: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/n….4