Dynamic boot image streaming

• US 10,275,377 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2016
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Baratam, Vamsi Krishna, Aytek, Tolga Nihat
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phil K
• Application Number:
  US15/151,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20160253278A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/1694 Configuration of memory controller to different memory types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/28 using burst mode transfer, e.g. direct memory access DMA, cycle steal G06F13/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/2802 DMA using DMA transfer descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/441 Multiboot arrangements, i.e. selecting an operating system to be loaded

Abstract

The present disclosure describes apparatuses and techniques for dynamic boot image streaming. In some aspects a memory controller that is streaming multiple boot images from a first memory to a second memory is stalled, a descriptor for streaming one of the multiple boot images from the first memory to a non-contiguous memory location is generated while the memory controller is stalled, and the memory controller is resumed effective to cause the memory controller to stream, based on the descriptor generated while the memory controller is stalled, the second boot image to the non-contiguous memory location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

executing, from a first memory of a host device, a data transfer command to stream, via a direct memory access (DMA) controller, a header stored in the first memory to a base address of a second memory of the host device;

executing a data link command to stall the DMA controller for at least a portion of time during which a processor of the host device constructs, based on the header streamed to the second memory, additional data transfer commands in the second memory for streaming, via the DMA controller, multiple boot images stored in the first memory to non-contiguous locations of the second memory or to a third memory of the host device; and

in response to the data link command being pointed to a first data transfer command of the additional data transfer commands, causing the DMA controller to resume effective to stream, via the DMA controller and based at least in part on the first data transfer command, the multiple boot images from the first memory to the non-contiguous locations of the second memory or to the third memory of the host device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a boot initialization command from the host device and wherein the first data transfer command is executed in response to receiving the boot initialization command.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring, based on the header streamed to the second memory, the third memory to receive one or more of the multiple boot images streamed from the second memory.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data link command is a link-to-self descriptor that is streamed to the second memory prior to execution.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented at least in part by a memory controller associated with the first memory and execution of the data link command is effective to stall a clock line of the memory controller.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first memory, DMA controller, and memory controller are embodied as part of an embedded multimedia card (eMMC) device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first memory comprises single-level cell (SLC) or multi-level cell (MLC) NAND based managed flash memory;

the second memory comprises static random-access memory (SRAM);

or

the third memory comprises dynamic random-access memory (DRAM).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple boot images are executable by the processor of the host device to initialize other components of the host device during a boot sequence.

9. A memory device comprising:

a memory controller configured to provide an interface to a data bus of a host device;

a direct memory access (DMA) controller configured to stream data of the memory device to other memory devices of the host device via the data bus; and

memory storage media configured to store the data of the memory device, the data of the memory device comprising;

multiple boot images executable by a processor of the host device to initialize components of the host device;

a header executable by the processor of the host device to construct a series of data transfer commands for streaming the multiple boot images, via the DMA controller, to non-contiguous locations of the other memory devices;

another data transfer command associated with the header that, when executed by the memory controller, streams the header, via the DMA controller, to one of the other memory devices of the host device; and

a data link command that;

(i) when executed by the memory controller, stalls the DMA controller effective to permit the header to be executed from the other memory device by the processor to construct the series of data transfer commands for streaming, via the DMA controller, the multiple boot images, and

(ii) when pointed to a first data transfer command of the series of data transfer commands, causes the DMA controller to resume operation effective to stream, via the DMA controller and based at least in part on the first data transfer command, the multiple boot images to the non-contiguous locations of the other memory devices.

10. The memory device of claim 9, wherein the series of data transfer commands and the other data transfer command are advanced direct memory access (ADMA) transfer descriptors and the data link command is an ADMA link descriptor.

11. The memory device of claim 10, wherein the ADMA link descriptor is a link-to-self descriptor that, when executed by the memory controller, stalls the memory controller until the link-to-self descriptor is pointed to an address of one of the ADMA transfer descriptors.

12. The memory device of claim 9, wherein stalling the memory controller stalls a clock line or data lines of the memory controller.

13. The memory device of claim 9, wherein:

the memory storage media comprises single-level cell (SLC) or multi-level cell (MLC) NAND based flash memory; and

the other memory devices comprise static random-access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random-access memory (DRAM).

14. The memory device of claim 13, wherein the other data transfer command is configured to stream the header to the SRAM of the host device and the series of data transfer commands are configured to stream the multiple boot images to non-contiguous locations of the SRAM or DRAM of the host device.

15. The memory device of claim 13, wherein the other data transfer command is configured to stream the header to the DRAM of the host device and the series of data transfer commands are configured to stream the multiple boot images to non-contiguous locations of the DRAM or SRAM of the host device.

16. The memory device of claim 9, wherein the memory device is embodied as an embedded multimedia card (eMMC) device, the memory controller comprises a secure digital (SD) host controller, and the memory storage media comprises flash memory.

17. The memory device of claim 16, wherein the eMMC device is compliant with version 4.3 of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) multimedia card (MMC) standard.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions;

a memory from which processor-executable instructions are executable by the processor; and

an embedded memory device comprising;

a memory controller having an interface to a data bus of the apparatus;

a direct memory access (DMA) controller configured to stream data of the embedded memory device to the memory of the apparatus via the data bus; and

memory storage media storing the data of the embedded memory device, the data of the embedded memory device comprising;

multiple boot images executable by the processor to initialize components of the apparatus;

a header executable by the processor to construct a series of data transfer commands for streaming the multiple boot images, via the DMA controller, to non-contiguous locations of the memory of the apparatus;

another data transfer command associated with the header that, when executed by the memory controller, streams the header, via the DMA controller, to the memory of the apparatus; and

a data link command that;

(i) when executed by the memory controller, stalls the DMA controller effective to permit the header to be executed from the memory of the apparatus by the processor to construct the series of data transfer commands for streaming, via the DMA controller, the multiple boot images; and

(ii) when pointed to a first data transfer command of the series of data transfer commands, causes the DMA controller to resume operation effective to stream, based at least in part on the first data transfer command, the multiple boot images to the non-contiguous locations of the memory of the apparatus.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the embedded memory device is embodied as an embedded multimedia card (eMMC) device.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the memory storage media comprises single-level cell (SLC) or multi-level cell (MLC) NAND based flash memory; and

the memory of the apparatus comprises static random-access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random-access memory (DRAM).