Operating system management of second operating system
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a method of easily managing two or more OSs. A host OS, a guest OS, and a virtualization module are loaded into a primary physical address area of a main memory. The guest OS is executed in a virtual environment in a primary physical address area. A memory image of the guest OS loaded in the primary physical address area is copied to a secondary physical address area. The right of access to a processor is transferred to the guest OS copied in the secondary physical address area to execute the guest OS in a physical environment.
1. A method comprising:
loading a primary operating system into a primary physical address area of a main memory in a tablet mode;
loading a secondary operating system into the primary physical address area;
concurrently running the loaded secondary operating system in a virtual environment in the primary physical address area and running the loaded primary operating system in a physical environment in the primary physical address area, wherein the primary operating system has a right of access to a processor; and
acquiring the right of access of the secondary operating system to the processor and running the secondary operating system in a physical environment, wherein acquiring the right of access of the secondary operating system comprises copying a memory image of the secondary operating system loaded in the primary physical address area to a secondary physical address area of the main memory via a suspend state, and wherein acquiring the right of access of the secondary operating system occurs in response to a switch from the tablet mode to a clamshell mode, and wherein:
copying the memory image of the secondary operating system includes:
causing the computer to make a transition to the suspend state; and
executing a system firmware in response to the computer resuming from the suspend state, wherein the system firmware reads data from a shared memory area and performs a copying function based on the data read from the shared memory area.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein running the loaded secondary operating system in the virtual environment includes the primary operating system causing the computer to initiate a maintenance function to be performed on the secondary operating system.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading the secondary operating system includes receiving input from a user selecting the secondary operating system from among two or more operating systems.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating, by the primary operating system, the secondary physical address area logically partitioned in physical address space of the primary physical address area.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein running in the virtual environment includes a virtualization module that operates at an upper layer of the primary operating system creating a type 2 virtual environment.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising loading the primary operating system, the secondary operating system, and the virtualization module in a series of boot sequences.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein running the secondary operating system in the physical environment includes the secondary operating system performing a Plug and Play operation to reconfigure hardware.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transferring the right of access to the processor to the primary operating system via the suspend state; and
releasing, by the primary operating system, an address area in which the secondary operating system of the primary physical address area is stored.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising switching the right of access to the processor between the primary operating system and the secondary operating system according to a switching event generated by input from a user.
10. A computer, comprising:
a touch screen;
a disk drive for storing a primary operating system, a secondary operating system, and a virtualization module capable of providing a virtual environment to the secondary operating system; a main memory into which the primary operating system, the secondary operating system, and the virtualization module are loaded in a tablet mode, and in which a primary physical address area that enables the secondary operating system to run in a virtual environment and a secondary physical address area logically partitioned from the primary physical address area are defined; and
a nonvolatile memory for storing system firmware that causes the computer to copy, to the secondary physical address area, a memory image of the secondary operating system loaded in the primary physical address area,
wherein the secondary operating system runs in a physical environment in the secondary physical address area, and wherein the firmware causes the computer to copy the memory image of the secondary operating system loaded in the primary physical address area to the secondary physical address area in response to a switch from the tablet mode to a clamshell mode, and wherein:
the system firmware causing the computer to copy the memory image of the second operating system includes:
causing the computer to make a transition to the suspend state; and
executing the system firmware in response to the computer resuming from the suspend state, wherein the system firmware reads data from a shared memory area and performs a copying function based on the data read from the shared memory area.
11. The computer according to claim 10 , wherein the secondary operating system performs a Plug and Play operation to cause the computer to reconfigure, in the physical environment, hardware configured in the virtual environment.
12. The computer according to claim 10 , wherein the primary operating system causes the computer to allow input from a keyboard, and the secondary operating system causes the computer to function to allow input from the touch screen.
13. The computer according to any one of claim 10 , wherein the computer comprises a portable computer capable of operating in the clamshell mode and the tablet mode.
14. The computer according to any claim 10 , wherein the computer is a hybrid portable computer capable of detaching a tablet unit including the touch screen from a base unit.
15. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor to perform:
running a primary operating system in a physical environment in a primary physical address area of a main memory and running a secondary operating system in a virtual environment in a tablet mode;
copying, to a secondary physical address area, a memory image of the secondary operating system loaded in the primary physical address area in response to a switch from the tablet mode to a clamshell mode; and
running the secondary operating system in the physical environment in the secondary physical address area, and wherein:
copying the memory image of the secondary operating system includes:
causing the computer to make a transition to a suspend state; and
executing a system firmware in response to the computer resuming from the suspend state, wherein the system firmware reads data from a shared memory area and performs a copying function based on the data read from the shared memory area.
16. The program product of claim 15 , further comprising code executable by a processor to cause the primary operating system to perform maintenance of the secondary operating system with the second operating system running in the virtual environment.
17. The program product of claim 15 further comprising code executable by a processor to implement a function for releasing an address area of the secondary operating system loaded in the primary physical address area to the primary operating system; and a function for switching between a state where the primary operating system runs in the physical environment and a state where the secondary operating system runs in the physical environment.
18. The program product of claim 15 further comprising code executable by a processor to cause the secondary operating system to reconfigure, in the physical environment, virtual hardware configured in the virtual environment.