HARDWARE AND FILE SYSTEM AGNOSTIC MECHANISM FOR ACHIEVING CAPSULE SUPPORT

• US 20100082932A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zimmer, Vincent J., Rothman, Michael A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,631,186 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/166
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Methods and apparatus relating to a hardware and file system agnostic mechanism for achieving capsule support are described. In one embodiment, content associate with a capsule are stored in a non-volatile memory prior to a cold reset. A capsule descriptor may also be constructed, prior to the reset, which includes information about the physical location of the capsule content on the non-volatile memory. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a non-volatile memory to store content corresponding to a capsule; and

a processor to;

detect a capsule update request;

store the content corresponding to the capsule in the memory;

construct a capsule descriptor comprising a list of one or more physical locations of the content corresponding to the capsule stored on the non-volatile memory; and

generate a signal to cause a volatile memory destructive reset.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a firmware, wherein the firmware is to be updated in accordance with the content corresponding to the capsule.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is to access the one or more physical locations on the non-volatile memory to read the content corresponding to the capsule in response to a platform initialization caused by the volatile memory destructive reset.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the capsule descriptor is file system agnostic.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a capsule update request flag, wherein the processor is to detect the capsule update request based on a value stored in the capsule update request flag.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is to store a value in the capsule update request flag in response to a request by an operating system.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a volatile memory to store the operating system.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a computer system that comprises the processor and the non-volatile memory, wherein the computer system is incapable of supporting a memory non-destructive reset.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processor cores.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a request to generate a capsule;

storing content corresponding to the capsule in a non-volatile memory;

constructing a capsule descriptor comprising a list of one or more physical locations of the content corresponding to the capsule stored on the non-volatile memory; and

performing a volatile memory destructive reset.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising updating a firmware in accordance with the content corresponding to the capsule.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising accessing the one or more physical locations on the non-volatile memory to read the content corresponding to the capsule in response to a platform initialization caused by the volatile memory destructive reset.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving the request comprises determining a value stored in a capsule update request flag.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising updating a value stored in the update request flag based on a request by an operating system.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising loading the content corresponding to the capsule from the non-volatile memory in response to a request to process the capsule.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing one or more operations corresponding to the loaded capsule content.

17. A computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions that when executed on a processor configure the processor to perform one or more operations to:

receive a request to generate a capsule;

store content corresponding to the capsule in a non-volatile memory;

construct a capsule descriptor comprising a list of one or more physical locations of the content corresponding to the capsule stored on the non-volatile memory; and

perform a volatile memory destructive reset.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising one or more instructions that when executed on a processor configure the processor to update a firmware in accordance with the content corresponding to the capsule.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising one or more instructions that when executed on a processor configure the processor to access the one or more physical locations on the non-volatile memory to read the content corresponding to the capsule in response to a platform initialization caused by the volatile memory destructive reset.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising one or more instructions that when executed on a processor configure the processor to determine a value stored in a capsule update request flag.