Computer system which accesses operating system information and command handlers from optical storage via an auxiliary processor and cache memory

Claim 1

A computer system comprising: host processing means for processing instructions and data; first memory means for storing instructions and data; a processor bus connecting said host processing means and said first memory means; auxiliary processing means connected to said processor bus, cache memory means, and optical storage means, and controlled by said host processing means for retrieving information stored in said optical storage means and for storing said retrieved information in said cache memory means; said host processing means accessing the information stored in said cache memory means via said processor bus, storing the accessed information in the first memory means, and controlling operation of said computer system based upon the accessed information stored in said first memory means; said optical storage means having scanning means and a write once, read many times optical storage medium for storing operating system information which controls normal operation of said computer system, and for storing command handler information comprising a plurality of command handlers which control said computer system in response to a user entered command; and said host processing means controlling said auxiliary processing means to retrieve said operating system information from said optical storage means to control normal operation of said computer system upon initialization of said computer system, and further controlling said auxiliary processing means to retrieve said command handler information from said optical storage means to control the operation of said computer system in response to the user entered command.