Method for firmware variable storage with eager compression, fail-safe extraction and restart time compression scan

• US 20070033322A1
• Filed: 05/26/2004
• Published: 02/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, Greg, Rothman, Michael, Doran, Mark, Zimmer, Vincent
• Granted Patent: US 7,934,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction

Abstract

Firmware-based conversion methods for storing converted firmware variables in a firmware storage device, such as flash memory. Under one method, “eager” compression of firmware is performed. In response to a storage request, a determination is made to whether a compressor is available. If it is, the firmware variable is stored in a compressed form in the storage device; if not, the firmware variable is stored in an uncompressed form. In response to a read request for a stored firmware variable, a determination is made to whether the variable is stored in a compressed or uncompressed form. If it is compressed, a decompressor is employed to return the variable to its uncompressed form prior to providing it to the requestor; already uncompressed variables are provided directly to the requester. An application program interface is provided to enable operating system runtime access to the firmware variables. Similar conversions may be employed separately or in parallel, including encryption.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

compressing firmware variable data via firmware to produce compressed firmware variable data; and

storing the compressed firmware variable data in a firmware storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving the compressed firmware variable data from the firmware storage device; and

decompressing the compressed firmware variable data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the compressed firmware variable data comprise original firmware variable data, further comprising updating the original firmware variable data with new firmware variable data by performing operations including:

storing the new firmware variable data in the firmware storage device in one of a compressed or uncompressed form; and

marking the original firmware variable data as deleted.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the original and new firmware variable data are stored in a memory block of the firmware storage device, further comprising coalescing the variable data in the firmware block by performing operating including:

storing an image of the memory block;

erasing the memory block; and

compressing any variables not marked as deleted in the image of the memory block and writing them back to the memory block while skipping any variables marked as deleted.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing indicia with the compressed firmware variable data to indicate that the data are compressed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the compressed firmware variable data are stored in a 2-tuple format of

<

M′

_i, C(B_i)>

,

wherein M′

_i comprises metadata corresponding to an ith tuple, B_i comprises data corresponding to the ith tuple, and C represents a compression function.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an interface to enable an operating system runtime component to access compressed firmware variable data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising encrypting the firmware variable data before or after it is compressed to convert the firmware variable data into a compressed and encrypted form.

9. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to store a first firmware variable;

determining if a compressor is available for compressing the first firmware variable; and

employing the compressor if it is available to compress the first firmware variable and store it in a firmware storage device, otherwise storing the first firmware variable in an uncompressed form in the firmware storage device if the compressor is not available.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a request to store a second firmware variable;

determining the compressor is no longer available; and

storing the second firmware variable in the firmware storage device in an uncompressed form.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein uncompressed firmware variables are stored in a 2-tuple format of

<

M_i, B_i>

,

wherein M_i comprises metadata corresponding to an ith tuple, and B_i comprises data corresponding to the ith tuple, while compressed firmware variables are stored in a 2-tuple format of

<

M′

_i, C(B_i)>

,

wherein M′

_i comprises metadata corresponding to an ith tuple containing indicia indicating the ith tuple is compressed, B_i comprises data corresponding to the ith tuple, and C represents a compression function.

12. A method, comprising:

in response to a computer system power-on or reset event,

scanning a firmware storage device in the computer system for uncompressed firmware variables that are stored in an uncompressed form;

converting the uncompressed firmware variables to a compressed form.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the uncompressed firmware variables are converted to a compressed form by performing operations including:

copying an image of a firmware memory block in which the uncompressed firmware variables are stored;

erasing the firmware memory block;

compressing each uncompressed variable; and

writing the compressed variables back to the firmware memory block.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

scanning the image for any compressed firmware variables; and

writing the compressed variables back to the firmware memory block.

15. A method comprising:

storing a first converter in a non-fault tolerant portion of a firmware storage device;

storing a first deconverter in a fault tolerant portion of the firmware storage device;

determining if the first converter is available; and

storing firmware variables in a first converted form if the first converter is determined to be available, otherwise storing the firmware variables in a unconverted form.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising accessing firmware variables stored in the first converted form with the first decompressor.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

storing a second converter in a non-fault tolerant portion of the firmware storage device;

storing a second deconverter in a fault tolerant portion of the firmware storage device;

determining if the second converter is available; and

storing firmware variables in a combined converted form via first and second conversion operations performed by the first and second converters if it is determined that both of the first and second converters are available, or storing firmware variables in the first converted form via conversion operations performed by the first converter if it is determined that the first converter is available while the second converter is not available, otherwise storing firmware variables in a second converted form via conversion operations performed by the second converter if it is determined that the second converter is available while the first converter is not available.

18. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium on which instructions are stored, which when executed facilitate storage of firmware variable data by performing operations including;

receiving a request to store firmware variable data;

compressing the firmware variable data to produce compressed firmware variable data; and

storing the compressed firmware variable data in a firmware storage device.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operations of:

retrieving the compressed firmware variable data from the firmware storage device; and

decompressing the compressed firmware variable data.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the instructions comprise firmware.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the article comprises flash memory.

22. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium on which instructions are stored, which when executed facilitate storage of firmware variables by performing operations including;

receiving a request to store a first firmware variable;

determining if a compressor is available for compressing the first firmware variable; and

employing the compressor if it is available to compress the first firmware variable and store it in a firmware storage device, otherwise storing the first firmware variable in an uncompressed form in the firmware storage device if the compressor is not available.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22, wherein the article comprises flash memory.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein a portion of the instructions comprise a compressor employed for compressing firmware variables and the flash memory includes a non-fault tolerant block of memory in which the compressor is stored.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein execution of the instructions performs the further operations of:

receiving a request to store a second firmware variable;

determining the compressor is no longer available; and

storing the second firmware variable in the firmware storage device in an uncompressed form.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 23, wherein a portion of the instructions comprise a decompressor employed for decompressing compressed firmware variables and the flash memory includes a fault-tolerant block of memory in which the decompressor is stored.

27. A computer system, comprising:

a motherboard;

a processor, coupled to the motherboard;

volatile memory, coupled to the motherboard; and

a boot firmware device, coupled to the motherboard and comprising flash memory having firmware components stored therein including a compressor, the firmware components comprising instructions that when executed by the processor effectuate storage of firmware variables by performing operations including;

publishing an interface;

receiving a request to store a firmware variable via the interface;

determining if the compressor is available for compressing the firmware variable; and

employing the compressor if it is available to compress the first firmware variable and store it in the boot firmware device, otherwise storing the firmware variable in an uncompressed form in the boot firmware device if the compressor is not available.

28. The computer system of claim 27, wherein a portion of the instructions comprise a decompressor employed for decompressing compressed firmware variables.

29. The computer system of claim 28, wherein the compressor is stored in a non-fault tolerant block of the boot firmware device and the decompressor is stored in a non-updateable block of the boot firmware device.

30. The computer system of claim 27, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operations of:

receiving a request from a requester to read a firmware variable stored in the boot firmware device;

determining if the firmware variable is stored in a compressed or uncompressed form; and

decompressing the firmware variable to produce an uncompressed firmware variable and providing the uncompressed firmware variable to the requester if the firmware variable is stored in a compressed form, otherwise providing the firmware variable to the requester if the firmware variable is stored in an uncompressed form.