Systems and methods for accelerated loading of operating systems and application programs

A system for providing accelerated loading of an operating system of a host system comprising:

• a digital signal processor (DSP) or controller;
• a cache memory device;
• and
• a non-volatile memory device, for storing logic code associated with the DSP or controller, wherein the logic code comprises instructions executable by the DSP or controller for maintaining a list of boot data used for booting the host system, for preloading the compressed boot data into the cache memory device prior to completion of initialization of the central processing unit of the host system, and for decompressing the preloaded compressed boot data, at a rate that increases the effective access rate of the cache, to service requests for boot data from the host system after completion of initialization of the central processing unit of the host system.

A method comprising:

• maintaining a list of boot data used for booting a computer system;
• initializing a central processing unit of the computer system;
• preloading boot data in compressed form, based on the list of boot data, from a boot device into a cache memory prior to completion of initialization of the central processing unit;
• servicing requests for boot data from the computer system using the preloaded compressed boot data after completion of initialization of the central processing unit, wherein servicing requests comprises accessing the compressed boot data from the cache and decompressing the compressed boot data with a data compression engine and the data compression engine being operable to compress additional boot data and store the additional compressed boot data to the boot device.

A system comprising:

• a boot device;
• a processor;
• cache memory;
• and
• non-volatile memory for storing logic code for use by the processor, the logic code being used for:
• maintaining a list associated with boot data, wherein the boot data is used in booting a first system;
• preloading compressed boot data associated to the list into the cache memory prior to completion of initialization of a central processing unit of the first system;
• and
• servicing requests for the compressed boot data from the first system after completion of initialization of the central processing unit;
• and
• a data compression engine for decompressing the compressed boot data accessed from the cache memory for use in responding to the servicing requests and for compressing additional boot data and storing the additional compressed boot data to the boot device.