Flexible implementation of a system management mode (SMM) in a processor

Claim 2

A network server comprising: a superscalar processor including an instruction decoder; an external memory coupled to the superscalar processor and operable to store a plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions defined by RISC operation sequences; a means coupled to the superscalar processor for activating a system management activation signal; an instruction memory coupled to the superscalar processor and operable to store a software program including: an SMM initialization routine defined by at least a first one of the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; a routine for redirecting SMM operations to the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; and an SMM termination routine defined by at least a second one of the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; a processor bus coupled between the instruction memory and the superscalar processor; a local bus and an I/O bus; first and second bridges, respectively coupling the processor bus to the local bus and the local bus to the I/O bus; and a LAN adapter coupled to one of the local bus and the I/O bus.

Claim 3

A network server, as recited in claim 1, further comprising: a data storage device coupled to one of the local bus and the I/O bus.

Claim 4

A network server, as recited in claim 2, wherein the storage device comprises a hard disk.

Claim 5

A network server, as recited in claim 3, wherein the hard disk is selected from the group consisting of an IDE disk, an enhanced IDE disk, an ATA disk, an ESDI disk, and a SCSI disk.

Claim 6

A network server, as recited in claim 2, wherein the storage device comprises a tape unit.

Claim 7

A network server, as recited in claim 5, wherein the tape unit is selected from the group consisting of an IDE tape unit, an enhanced IDE tape unit, an ATA tape unit, an ESDI tape unit, and a SCSI tape unit.

Claim 8

A network server, as recited in claim 2, wherein the storage device comprises a CD-ROM.

Claim 9

A network server, as recited in claim 7, wherein the CD-ROM is selected from the group consisting of an IDE CD-ROM, an enhanced IDE CD-ROM, an ATA CD-ROM, an ESDI CD-ROM, and a SCSI CD-ROM.

Claim 10

A network server, as recited in claim 2, wherein the storage device comprises a jukebox.

Claim 11

A network server, as recited in claim 2, wherein the storage device comprises a RAID.

Claim 12

A network server, as recited in claim 2, wherein the storage device comprises a flash memory.

Claim 13

A network server, as recited in claim 1, wherein the LAN adapter is selected from the group consisting of a baseband network LAN adapter, a broadband network LAN adapter, a token passing network LAN adapter, a token ring network LAN adapter, a 10base-T network LAN adapter, and an ethernet LAN adapter.

Claim 14

A network server, as recited in claim 1, wherein the local bus comprises a VL bus.

Claim 15

A network server, as recited in claim 1, wherein the local bus comprises a PCI bus.

Claim 16

A network server, as recited in claim 1, wherein the I/O bus is selected from the group consisting of an ISA bus, an EISA bus, a Micro Channel Architecture Bus, and a local bus.

Claim 17

A network server, as recited in claim 1, further comprising: a communications device coupled to one of the local bus and the I/O bus.

Claim 18

A network server, as recited in claim 16, wherein the communications device comprises one of a modem, a faxmodem, and an integrated telephony device.

Claim 19

A network server, as recited in claim 17, wherein the communications device further comprises a printed circuit card coupled to one of the local bus and the I/O bus via a modular connector.

Claim 20

A network server, as recited in claim 17, wherein the communications device is coupled to one of the local bus and the I/O bus via a serial interface.

Claim 21

A network server, as recited in claim 1, further comprising: an I/O device coupled to one of the local bus and the I/O bus.

Claim 22

A network server, as recited in claim 20, wherein the I/O device is selected from the group consisting of a text display adapter, a graphics adapter, a 3-D graphics adapter, a SVGA display adapter, an XGA adapter, a display adapter supporting VESA graphics standards, a CGA adapter, an adapter supporting Hercules graphics standards.

Claim 23

A network server, as recited in claim 20, wherein the I/O device is selected from the group consisting of a pointing device, a mouse, a trackball, and a keyboard.

Claim 24

A multimedia computer system incorporating a processor including an adaptable system management mode (SMM) implementation, the multimedia computer system comprising: a multimedia performance device; a multimedia adapter coupled to the multimedia performance device and coupled to the multimedia signal acquisition device, the multimedia adapter including a signal conversion interface for synthesizing and sampling multimedia signals; an input/output bus coupled to the multimedia adapter for communicating transfers of multimedia data; a superscalar processor coupled to the input/output bus for processing multimedia data and controlling communication of multimedia data between the superscalar processor and the multimedia adapter, the superscalar processor including an instruction decoder; an external memory coupled to the superscalar processor and operable to store a plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions defined by RISC operation sequences; a means coupled to the superscalar processor for activating a system management activation signal; and an instruction memory coupled to the superscalar processor and operable to store a software program including: an SMM initialization routine defined by at least a first one of the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; a routine for redirecting SMM operations to the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; and an SMM termination routine defined by at least a second one of the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions.

Claim 25

A multimedia computer system incorporating a processor including an adaptable system management mode (SMM) implementation, the multimedia computer system comprising: a multimedia performance device; a multimedia adapter coupled to the multimedia performance device and coupled to the multimedia signal acquisition device, the multimedia adapter including a signal conversion interface for synthesizing and sampling multimedia signals; an input/output bus coupled to the multimedia adapter for communicating transfers of multimedia data; a superscalar processor coupled to the input/output bus for processing multimedia data and controlling communication of multimedia data between the superscalar processor and the multimedia adapter, the superscalar processor including an instruction decoder; an external memory coupled to the superscalar processor and operable to store a plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions defined by RISC operation sequences; a means coupled to the superscalar processor for activating a system management activation signal; and an instruction memory coupled to the superscalar processor and operable to store a software program including: an SMM initialization routine defined by at least a first one of the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; a routine for redirecting SMM operations to the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions; and an SMM termination routine defined by at least a second one of the plurality of modifiable encoded SMM instructions.

Claim 26

A multimedia computer system according to claim 23 further comprising: a multimedia signal acquisition device.

Claim 27

A multimedia computer system according to claim 24 wherein: the multimedia performance device includes a motion video display selected from the group of televisions, high-definition televisions and high resolution computer monitors; the multimedia signal acquisition device includes a video camera; and the multimedia adapter includes a motion video adapter.

Claim 28

A multimedia computer system according to claim 25 wherein: the multimedia performance device includes a video frame buffer.

Claim 29

A multimedia computer system according to claim 25 wherein: the multimedia adapter performance device includes a system for video encoding and decoding in accordance with Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) standards.

Claim 30

A multimedia computer system according to claim 23 wherein: the multimedia performance device includes a video frame buffer and a graphics display selected from the group of televisions, high-definition televisions and high resolution computer monitors; and the multimedia adapter includes a graphics adapter selected from the group of SVGA, XGA, VESA, CGA and Hercules graphic standard adapters.

Claim 31

A multimedia computer system according to claim 23 wherein: the multimedia performance device includes an audio performance device selected from among the group of mixing consoles, signal processing devices, synthesizers, MIDI sequencers, power amplifiers and speakers; and the multimedia adapter includes an audio adapter selected from among the group of D/A interfaces and A/D interfaces.

Claim 32

A multimedia computer system according to claim 29 further comprising: a multimedia signal acquisition device including an audio signal acquisition device selected from among the group including microphones, signal processing devices and digital samplers.

Claim 33

A multimedia computer system according to claim 23 further comprising: an SCSI adapter coupled to the input/output bus; and a read/write storage media coupled to the SCSI adapter for storing and accessing data including multimedia data.

Claim 34

A multimedia computer system according to claim 31 wherein the read/write storage media include media selected from among the group of magnetic disk drives, magnetic tape drives and CD-ROM drives.

Claim 35

A multimedia computer system according to claim 23 further comprising: a local area network (LAN) adapter coupled to the input/output bus.