Method and apparatus for supporting dynamic insertion and removal of PCI devices

A method for adding a PCI device to a computer system while the computer system is active, the computer system including a name registry, device drivers, a bus system and at least one slot for receiving the PCI device being added, said method comprising:

• (a) detecting insertion of a PCI device into a slot of the computer system;
• (b) adding a PCI bus for the inserted PCI device to the bus system, the PCI bus supporting multiple levels of hierarchy;
• (c) determining one or more PCI devices that are on the PCI bus, the one or more PCI devices being one or more PCI devices other than the inserted PCI device;
• (d) reading PCI configuration information for the one or more PCI devices;
• (e) allocating memory space for the one or more PCI devices in accordance with the PCI configuration information associated therewith;
• (f) building a name registry entry in the name registry for the one or more PCI devices;
• and
• (g) loading appropriate device drivers for the one or more PCI devices.

A method for adding a media device to an expansion bay of a computer system while the computer system is active, the computer system including a name registry, device drivers, and a bus system, said method comprising:

• (a) detecting insertion of a media device into the expansion bay of the computer system;
• (b) supplying power to the expansion bay after said detecting (a) detects the insertion of the media device into the expansion bay;
• (c) reading a device identifier for the media device inserted in the expansion bay;
• (d) configuring the expansion bay to use a PCI bus to link to the bus system when the device identifier indicates that the media device is an inserted PCI device, the PCI bus supporting multiple levels of hierarchy;
• (e) determining one or more PCI devices that are on the PCI bus, the one or more PCI devices being one or more PCI devices other than the inserted PCI device;
• (f) reading PCI configuration information for the one or more PCI devices;
• (g) allocating memory space for the one or more PCI devices in accordance with the PCI configuration information associated therewith;
• (h) building a name registry entry in the name registry for the one or more PCI devices;
• and
• (i) loading appropriate device drivers for the one or more PCI devices.

A computer readable medium having program instructions for managing addition of a peripheral device to a peripheral bus of computer system while the computer system is active, said computer readable medium comprising:

• first program instructions for detecting insertion of a first peripheral device into a slot of the computer system;
• second program instructions for identifying or registering a bus link for the first peripheral device, the bus link extending at least between the first peripheral device and the peripheral bus, and the bus link supporting multiple levels of hierarchy;
• third program instructions for examining the bus link, including the multiple levels of hierarchy, to identify at least one peripheral device on the peripheral bus besides the first peripheral device;
• and
• fourth program instructions for thereafter configuring the computer system for utilization of the bus link and the first peripheral device thereon.