1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a voice system engaged during computer start-up. More particularly, the present invention relates to a voice system for announcing any failure during computer start-up.
2. Description of Related Art
When a computer is powered up, the central processing unit (CPU) inside the computer will execute a series of commands that can be functionally divided into three major categories.
1. System configuration analysis: analyzing the type of CPU, finding the memory size, obtaining information about the type and number of floppy disks and hard disks and determining if any floating point processor are present. The data thus gathered serve as references for subsequent operations.
2. Power on self test (POST): testing hardware state of various devices including memory, chipset, CMOS, stored data, keyboard and magnetic disk drives. If any errors are found, corresponding warning signals are issued.
3. Loading an operating system: through a small program called a xe2x80x98bootstrap loaderxe2x80x99, relevant operating system on the hard drive is found and a portion of the operating system is loaded into the computer memory. Thereafter, control is returned to the operating system and the computer start-up operation formally ends.
The aforementioned group of commands is commonly referred to as a xe2x80x98basic input and output system programxe2x80x99 or BIOS for short. Hence, BIOS can be regarded as the first set of program commands executed after powering up a personal computer. If, somehow during computer start-up, the BIOS program could not execute to its completion, hardware problems are implied somewhere. These hardware problems must be removed before the computer can run normally and optimally.
However, BIOS designers of different manufacturers will use a program code slightly different from the BIOS in an IBM computer to formulate identical functions so that copyright infringement can be avoided. Thus, using the error signals of the aforementioned power on self test as an example, the following three tables show how the warning signals are defined according to three different computer manufacturers (IBM, AWARD, AMI) as follows:
Note from the above tables that each personal computer (PC) manufacturer has a set of distinct warning sounds composed of a different combination of long, short and continuous beeping sounds. Since each PC manufacturer uses a different format and user may have difficulties in remembering the meaning of the sounds, user is slow to response to the warning messages and deal with the problem quickly.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a voice system for announcing the type of failure when the basic input/output system (BIOS) program in the computer discovers an error during start-up.
The voice system for announcing the type of failure includes a pre-recorded voice integrated circuit and a voice output device. When error occurs during computer start-up, a warning signal is sent to the pre-recorded voice integrated circuit. A corresponding error signal message is looked up in the pre-recorded voice integrated circuit and then the error signal message is transferred to the voice output device. A verbal failure message is announced through the voice output device. The error signal message includes all kinds of failures recorded in voice data format.
Because the pre-recorded voice integrated circuit holds all kinds of failure in a voice format, reason for failure can be immediately broadcast once the BIOS program detects any error in the computer or peripheral devices. Hence, an operator may act on immediately to rectify the problem instead of guessing the meaning of beeps or checking each device in turn.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.