Automated BIOS enhancements and upgrades
View Patent ↗Approaches for updating a BIOS over a network without human intervention. A BIOS, executing on a machine, is configured to execute a program prior to booting an operating system executing on the machine. The program communicates with a server over a network to determine if an update to the BIOS is available. The update may be a new version of the BIOS and/or multi-media content, such as an advertisement. If an update is available, the update is downloaded to the machine and automatically installed without human intervention.
1. One or more tangible machine-readable mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed, cause:
a BIOS, executing on a machine, being configured to execute a program prior to booting an operating system; and
the program communicating with a server external to the machine to determine if an update to the BIOS is available,
wherein the update includes multi-media content that is displayed or played to the user while the machine is booting.
2. The one or more tangible machine-readable mediums of claim 1 , wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes:
downloading the update to the machine; and
automatically installing the update to the BIOS without human intervention.
3. The one or more tangible machine-readable mediums of claim 2 , wherein the update is installed without requiring a reboot of the machine.
4. The one or more tangible machine-readable mediums of claim 1 , wherein the program communicates over a wireless network to the server.
5. The one or more tangible machine-readable mediums of claim 1 , wherein the program prompts a user for permission to communicate over a network to the server.
6. The one or more tangible machine-readable mediums of claim 1 , wherein the BIOS stores a former version of the BIOS in a secure file in non-volatile memory, and wherein the BIOS may be instructed to revert to the former version.
7. The one or more tangible machine-readable mediums of claim 1 , wherein the multi-media content comprises an advertisement.
8. One or more tangible computer-readable mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed, cause:
upon receiving a communication from a BIOS over a wireless network, determining whether an update exists for the BIOS; and
upon determining that the update exists for the BIOS, sending, to the BIOS over the wireless network, the update,
wherein the update includes one or more of a new version of the BIOS and an advertisement.
9. A machine, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory machine-readable mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed, cause:
a BIOS, executing on a machine, being configured to execute a program prior to booting an operating system; and
the program communicating with a server external to the machine to determine if an update to the BIOS is available,
wherein the update includes multi-media content that is displayed or played to the user while the machine is booting.
10. The machine of claim 9 , wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes:
downloading the update to the machine; and
automatically installing the update to the BIOS without human intervention.
11. The machine of claim 10 , wherein the update is installed without requiring a reboot of the machine.
12. The machine of claim 9 , wherein the program communicates over a wireless network to the server.
13. The machine of claim 9 , wherein the program prompts a user for permission to communicate over a network to the server.
14. The machine of claim 13 , wherein the wireless network is a wireless LAN type (WiFi) network.
15. The machine of claim 14 , wherein the wireless LAN type (WiFi) network is coupled through a gateway to the Internet.
16. The machine of claim 9 , wherein the BIOS stores a former version of the BIOS in a secure file in non-volatile memory, and wherein the BIOS may be instructed to revert to the former version.
17. The machine of claim 9 , wherein the multi-media content comprises an advertisement.
18. A machine, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more tangible computer-readable mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause:
upon receiving a communication from a BIOS over a wireless network, determining whether an update exists for the BIOS; and
upon determining that the update exists for the BIOS, sending, to the BIOS over the wireless network, the update,
wherein the update includes one or more of a new version of the BIOS and an advertisement.
19. A method for updating a BIOS executing on a machine, comprising:
upon receiving a communication from the BIOS over a wireless network, determining whether an update exists for the BIOS,
wherein the communication was not initiated by the machine and not a user; and
upon determining that the update exists for the BIOS, sending, to the BIOS over the wireless network, the update,
wherein the update includes one or more of a new version of the BIOS and an advertisement.