System and method for delivering FPGA programming

• US 20030225942A1
• Filed: 05/30/2002
• Published: 12/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Cheon, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,127,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating delivery of instructions for operating a controller (e.g., an FPGA—Field Programmable Gate Array) of a hardware device (e.g., a network interface circuit) of a computer system. A device driver for the hardware device comprises traditional device driver functionality (e.g., for managing operation of the device at a layer above the physical layer), plus a set of instructions for operating the controller. During attachment of the device driver to the hardware device, or during subsequent hardware initialization of the device, the set of instructions for operating the controller is downloaded to the controller from the device driver.

Claims

1. A method of delivering operating logic for a communication device to a controller component of the communication device, the method comprising:

receiving the operating logic;

embedding the operating logic within a device driver of the communication device; and

facilitating loading of the operating logic from the device driver to the controller component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving comprises:

receiving the operating logic as a set of data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said embedding comprises:

linking the set of data with the device driver.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said embedding comprises:

configuring the operating logic as a collection of data within a source file; and

compiling the source file to produce a first object file.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said embedding further comprises:

linking the first object file with an object file of the device driver to produce a device driver conforming to an operating system loadable format.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said facilitating loading comprises:

providing the device driver for loading by a computer operating system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said facilitating loading comprises:

attaching the device driver to the communication device; and

initiating hardware initialization of the communication device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein during said hardware initialization, the operating logic is loaded to the controller component.

9. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of delivering operating logic for a communication device to a controller component of the communication device, the method comprising:

receiving the operating logic;

embedding the operating logic within a device driver of the communication device; and

facilitating loading of the operating logic from the device driver to the controller component.

10. A method of loading hardware operating instructions to a hardware controller from a device driver, the method comprising:

providing, on a computer system, a device driver for managing a communication device installed in the computer system, wherein the device driver comprises instructions executable by a controller of the communication device;

loading said device driver for attachment to the communication device; and

during initialization of the communication device, downloading said instructions to the controller.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the communication device is a network interface circuit; and

the controller is a Field Programmable Gate Array.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising, prior to said providing:

receiving the hardware operating instructions, wherein the hardware operating instructions are configured to manage physical layer operation of the communication device;

compiling the hardware operating instructions; and

linking the compiled hardware operating instructions with device driver programming, wherein the device driver programming is configured to manage operation of the communication device at a layer higher than the physical layer.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said loading comprises:

executing an operating system of a computer system comprising the communication device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said loading comprises:

attaching the device driver to the communication device.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said loading comprises:

attaching the device driver to multiple logical devices defined on the communication device.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein said downloading comprises:

initiating hardware initialization of the communication device; and

prior to completion of the hardware initialization, copying said instructions to the controller.

17. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of loading hardware operating instructions to a hardware controller from a device driver, the method comprising:

providing, on a computer system, a device driver for managing a communication device installed in the computer system, wherein the device driver comprises instructions executable by a controller of the communication device;

loading said device driver for attachment to the communication device; and

during initialization of the communication device, downloading said instructions to the controller of the communication device.

18. A method of programming a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) of a network interface circuit, the method comprising:

receiving FPGA programming;

configuring said FPGA programming as a compilable source;

compiling the source file to produce an object file;

linking the object file with an object file of a device driver associated with the network interface circuit to produce a loadable device driver; and

providing the loadable device driver for loading by a computer operating system;

wherein during initialization of the network interface circuit by the operating system, the FPGA programming is downloaded to an FPGA of the network interface circuit.

19. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of programming a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) of a network interface circuit, the method comprising:

receiving FPGA programming;

configuring said FPGA programming as a compilable source file;

compiling the source file to produce an object file;

linking the object file with an object file of a device driver associated with the network interface circuit to produce a loadable device driver; and

providing the loadable device driver for loading by a computer operating system;

wherein during initialization of the network interface circuit by the operating system, the FPGA programming is downloaded to an FPGA of the network interface circuit.

20. A computer system configured to load instructions for operating a communication device to a controller component of the communication device, comprising:

a communication device comprising a controller;

an operating system configured to manage operation of the computer system; and

a device driver for the communication device, wherein the device driver comprises;

a first set of instructions for managing operation of the communication device at a physical layer; and

a second set of instructions for managing operation of the communication device at a layer above the physical layer;

wherein said first set of instructions is loaded into the controller in conjunction with initialization of the communication device.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein:

the communication device comprises a network interface circuit; and

the controller comprises a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).

22. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the operating system is configured to:

attach the device driver to the communication device; and

initiate said initialization of the communication device.

23. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the operating system is configured to attach the device driver to multiple logical devices define on the communication device.

24. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the first set of instructions comprises a set of data derived from an FPGA binary file.

25. An apparatus for facilitating loading of instructions from a device driver of a communication device to a controller of the communication device, comprising:

the device driver, comprising;

a first instruction means for directing physical layer operation of the communication device; and

a second instruction means for directing operation of the communication device at a layer higher than the physical layer; and

an operating system configured to;

attach the device driver to the communication device; and

commence initialization of the communication device after the device driver is attached to the communication device;

wherein said first instruction means is loaded into the controller, from the device driver, during said initialization.