System and method for identifying bootable device by generating a signature for each bootable device where the signature is independent of a location of the bootable device
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsSamer El-Haj-mahmoud, Alan Brumley, Wei Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method is disclosed for identifying at least one bootable USB device coupled to a computer system across multiple reboots of the computer system. A four-byte signature for each bootable USB device is generated by performing a hash function on a Device Identification Number, a Vendor Identification Number, and at least a subset of a Serial Number, all of which are associated with that bootable USB device. The four-byte signature for each bootable USB device is saved in a BIOS boot order table located in a non-volatile storage unit in the computer system.
Claims20
A method for identifying at least one bootable device of a computer system, comprising:
- generating a signature for each bootable device by performing a logical function on a device identifier, a vendor identifier, and at least a subset of a serial number, all of which are associated with the bootable device, wherein the signature is independent of a location of the bootable device;
- and
- saving the signature for each bootable device in non-volatile storage in the computer system.
A system for identifying at least one bootable Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) device coupled to a computer system across multiple reboots of the computer system, wherein the at least one bootable USB device is associated with a Device Identification Number, a Vendor Identification Number, and a Serial Number, comprising:
- a processing unit coupled to the computer system, wherein the processing unit is capable of generating a four-byte signature for each bootable USB device by performing a hash function on the Device Identification Number, the Vendor Identification Number, and the Serial Number, and wherein the four-byte signature is independent of a location of the bootable USB device;
- a non-volatile storage unit coupled to computer system, wherein the non-volatile storage unit contains a copy of a Basic Input-Output System (“BIOS”);
- and
- a non-volatile storage unit coupled to the computer system in which the processing unit can store a BIOS boot order table containing the four-byte signature for each bootable USB device coupled to the computer system.
A method for identifying at least one bootable Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) device coupled to a computer system across multiple reboots of the computer system, comprising building a current Basic Input-Output System (“BIOS”) boot order table containing a four-byte signature for each bootable USB device upon first detection of the at least one bootable USB device after a reboot of the computer system, wherein:
- the four-byte signature for each bootable USB device is generated by performing a hash function on a Device Identification Number, a Vendor Identification Number, and at least a subset of a Serial Number, all of which are associated with the bootable USB device;
- and the four-byte signature is independent of a location of the bootable USB device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.