Display pre-operating system content with multiplexer-less discrete thunderbolt

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12444012-B2
Application number	US-202217972505-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2022
Priority date	Oct 24, 2022
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

An information handling system sets, in response to a power event, a discrete graphics processing unit to transmit graphics data to an external display monitor and an internal display panel. In response to determining that a hybrid graphics mode is enabled and that a video driver has been loaded, the system switches a source of the graphics data to the internal display panel from the discrete graphics processing unit to an integrated graphics processing unit while keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to provide the graphics data to the external display monitor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
in response to a power event of an information handling system, setting a discrete graphics processing unit, by a processor, to transmit pre-operating system graphics data to an external display monitor and an internal display panel that is coupled to an integrated graphics processing unit during a boot process;
in response to determining that a hybrid graphics mode is enabled and that a video driver has been loaded during the boot process, switching a source of the pre-operating system graphics data to the internal display panel from the discrete graphics processing unit to the integrated graphics processing unit while keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to transmit the pre-operating system graphics data to the external display monitor allowing the pre-operating system graphics data to be displayed at both the internal display panel and the external display monitor; and
in response to determining that the hybrid graphics mode is not enabled and that the video driver has not been loaded during the boot process, keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to transmit the pre-operating system graphics data to the external display monitor and the internal display panel during the boot process.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a signal to a multiplexer for the switching of the source of the pre-operating system graphics data provided to the internal display panel.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sending of the signal is performed by an embedded controller.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-operating system graphics data is transmitted to the external display monitor via a Thunderbolt interface.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discrete graphics processing unit is connected to a Thunderbolt controller.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a lid housing the internal display panel is closed.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching from the discrete graphics processing unit to the integrated graphics processing unit is performed before the information handling system boots to an operating system.

8. An information handling system, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory device storing code that when executed causes the processor to perform operations, the operations including:
in response to a power event of the information handling system, setting a discrete graphics processing unit to transmit pre-operating system graphics data to an external display monitor and an internal display panel that is coupled to an integrated graphics processing unit during a boot process;
in response to determining that a hybrid graphics mode is enabled and that a video driver has been loaded during the boot process, switching a source of the pre-operating system graphics data to the internal display panel from the discrete graphics processing unit to the integrated graphics processing unit while keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to transmit the pre-operating system graphics data to the external display monitor; and
in response to determining that the hybrid graphics mode is not enabled and that the video driver has not been loaded during the boot process keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to transmit the pre-operating system graphics data to the external display monitor and the internal display panel during the boot process.

9. The information handling system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising sending a signal to a multiplexer to switch the source of the pre-operating system graphics data provided to the internal display panel.

10. The information handling system of claim 9 , wherein the sending of the signal is performed by an embedded controller.

11. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein the pre-operating system graphics data is transmitted to the external display monitor via a Thunderbolt interface.

12. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein the discrete graphics processing unit is connected to a Thunderbolt controller.

13. The information handling system of claim 8 , wherein the switching from the discrete graphics processing unit to the integrated graphics processing unit is performed before the information handling system boots to an operating system.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium to store instructions that are executable to perform operations comprising:
in response to a power event of an information handling system, setting a discrete graphics processing unit to transmit pre-operating system graphics data to an external display monitor and an internal display panel that is coupled to an integrated graphics processing unit during a boot process;
in response to determining that a hybrid graphics mode is enabled and that a video driver has been loaded during the boot process, switching a source of the pre-operating system graphics data to the internal display panel from the discrete graphics processing unit to the integrated graphics processing unit while keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to transmit the pre-operating system graphics data to the external display monitor allowing pre-operating system graphics data to be displayed at both the internal display panel and the external display monitor; and
in response to determining that the hybrid graphics mode is not enabled and that the video driver has not been loaded during the boot process, keeping the discrete graphics processing unit to transmit the pre-operating system graphics data to the external display monitor and the internal display panel during the boot process.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , further comprising sending a signal to a multiplexer to switch the source of the pre-operating system graphics data provided to the internal display panel.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the sending of the signal is performed by an embedded controller.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the pre-operating system graphics data is transmitted to the external display monitor via a Thunderbolt interface.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the discrete graphics processing unit is connected to a Thunderbolt controller.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein a lid housing the internal display panel is closed.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the switching from the discrete graphics processing unit to the integrated graphics processing unit is performed before the information handling system boots to an operating system.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Nicholas Ken
• Guerra Ivan
• Leara William D
• Habib Ahsan

Classifications

• G06F3/14

  Digital output to display device {; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units} · CPC title

• G09G2360/08

  Power processing, i.e. workload management for processors involved in display operations, such as CPUs or GPUs · CPC title

• G09G2330/026

  Arrangements or methods related to booting a display · CPC title

• G09G5/006

  Details of the interface to the display terminal (specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04) · CPC title

• G09G2370/20

  Details of the management of multiple sources of image data · CPC title