Back to results
US 2010/0169630 A1Published application
Pre-boot Recovery of a Locked Computer System
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsMojtaba Mirashrafi, Mousumi Hazra, Gyan Prakash, Saurabh Dadu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, apparatuses, articles, and removable storage devices for pre-boot recovery of a locked computer system. Other embodiments may also be described and claimed.
Claims30
A method comprising:
- determining, by a basic input/output system (BIOS) of a computer system, on pre-boot, whether a removable storage device is attached to the computer system, wherein the computer system comprises a host operating environment and a manageability engine (ME) that operates independent of the host operating environment;
- and
- on detection of the removable storage device, the BIOS transferring control to a pre-boot authentication (PBA) module stored on the removable storage device to interact with the ME to restore the computer system from a locked state to an unlocked state.
An apparatus comprising:
- a host operating environment;
- a manageability engine (ME) coupled to the host operating environment, but configured to operate independent of the host operating environment, the ME equipped to disable the apparatus on detection of a condition, and to re-enable the apparatus on authentication;
- a peripheral interface configured to enable a removable storage device to be attached to the apparatus;
- and
- a basic input/output system (BIOS) operatively coupled to the host operating environment, the ME, and the peripheral interface, and configured to determine, on pre-boot, whether a removable storage device is attached to the apparatus, and to transfer control, on detection of the removable storage device, to a pre-boot authentication (PBA) module stored on the removable storage device to interact with the ME to restore the apparatus from a disabled state to a re-enabled state.
2 more elements
An article of manufacture comprising:
- a storage medium;
- and
- a plurality of instructions stored in the storage medium configured to implement a basic input/output system (BIOS) for a digital device having a host operating environment and a manageability engine (ME) that operates independent of the host operating environment, the BIOS configured to detect, on pre-boot, whether a removable storage device is attached to the digital device, and to transfer control, on detection, to a pre-boot authentication (PBA) module stored on the removable storage device to interact with the ME to recover and return the digital device to a normal operating state from a stolen state.
A removable storage device comprising:
- a peripheral interface to attach the removable storage device to an electronic device;
- non-volatile storage coupled to the peripheral interface;
- and
- a pre-boot authentication (PBA) module stored in the non-volatile storage, configured to transfer control from pre-boot firmware of the electronic device, when the pre-boot firmware detects, on pre-boot, attachment of the removable storage device to the electronic device, and to interact with a manageability engine (ME) of the electronic device to restore the electronic device to an unprotected state from a protected state.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.