Driver supporting bridge method and apparatus

摘要

A methodology by which a host computer can dynamically rebalance PCI-to-PCI bridges to overcome Operating System/BIOS and Chipset limitations in order to allow multiple level PCI buses. This methodology also allows hot-swappable PCI buses to be added and removed without failure. Additionally this method allows for proper I/O resource allocation where previously alliasing preventing this. The present invention overcomes the limitations of an Operating System, such as Windows 2000 and Windows XP, to allow a PCI bus segment to be added by rebalancing the PCI bus tree and resource requirements as needed in order to fit the new PCI bus segment.