METHODS AND DEVICES FOR UPDATING FIRMWARE OF A COMPONENT USING A FIRMWARE UPDATE APPLICATION

• US 20120124567A1
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Published: 05/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Landry, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,292,277 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/123 Software or firmware update, e.g. device firmware management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories

Abstract

Example embodiments relate to methods for updating firmware of a hardware component included in a computing device. An example method may store an executable firmware update for the hardware component on a machine-readable storage medium. The method may then initiate a firmware update application by a firmware-to-operating system (OS) interface upon boot-up of the computing device. Finally, the method may trigger update of the firmware of the hardware component by starting execution of the executable firmware update. Related computing devices and machine-readable storage media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for updating firmware of a hardware component included in a computing device, the method comprising:

storing, by the computing device, an executable firmware update for the hardware component on a machine-readable storage medium;

initiating a firmware update application by a firmware-to-operating system (OS) interface upon boot-up of the computing device; and

triggering, by the firmware update application, update of the firmware of the hardware component by starting execution of the executable firmware update.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the firmware-to-OS interface is a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the storing is performed by an application running in an operating system (OS) of the computing device, and

the method further comprises setting, by the OS, an indication that an update should be performed upon reboot.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein initiating the firmware update application is performed upon detection of the indication by the firmware-to-OS interface of the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the firmware update application is provided by a manufacturer of the computing device, and

the executable firmware update is provided by a manufacturer of the hardware component.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the executable firmware update complies with an application protocol specified by the manufacturer of the computing device to return results to the firmware update application.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the executable firmware update is developed by the manufacturer of the hardware component using a software development kit (SDK) designed for the firmware-to-OS interface.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

writing results of the update of the firmware to a location accessible to an operating system (OS) of the computing device; and

reporting, by an application running in the OS, the results to at least one of a manufacturer of the computing device and a manufacturer of the hardware component.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a firmware backup for the hardware component on the machine-readable storage medium; and

triggering, upon detection of a failure of the update, restoration of the firmware of the hardware component using the firmware backup.

10. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by the processor, the instructions comprising;

instructions for detecting, during boot-up of the computing device, that an executable firmware update is available for firmware of a hardware component of the computing device,

instructions for initiating a firmware update application by a firmware-to-operating system (OS) interface upon detecting that the firmware update is available, and

instructions for updating the firmware of the hardware component by starting the executable firmware update in the firmware update application.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the executable firmware update is located in a partition of the machine-readable storage medium hidden from a user of the computing device.

12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the executable firmware update includes instructions that access and modify the firmware of the hardware component.

13. A machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device to run a firmware update application, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving, from a firmware-to-operating system (OS) interface of the computing device, an indication to update firmware of a hardware component of the computing device;

instructions for locating an executable firmware update in response to the indication to update the firmware; and

instructions for starting execution of the executable firmware update in the firmware update application to update the firmware of the hardware component.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

instructions for verifying the executable firmware update using a digital signature stored on the machine-readable storage medium prior to starting execution.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the machine-readable storage medium is an external storage device also comprising the executable firmware update.