FIRMWARE-RELATED EVENT NOTIFICATION

• US 20160378576A1
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: JAYAKUMAR, SARATHY, KUMAR, MOHAN J., ZIMMER, VINCENT J., POORNACHANDRAN, RAJESH
• Granted Patent: US 9,612,887 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes

Abstract

This disclosure is directed to firmware-related event notification. A device may comprise an operating system (OS) configured to operate on a platform. During initialization of the device a firmware module in the platform may load at least one globally unique identifier (GUID) into a firmware configuration table. When the platform notifies the OS, the firmware module may load at least one GUID into a platform notification table and may set a platform notification bit in a platform notification table status field. Upon detecting the notification, an OS management module may establish a source of the notification by querying the platform notification table. The platform notification bit may cause the OS management module to compare GUIDs in the platform notification table and the firmware configuration table. Services may be called based on any matching GUIDs. If no GUIDs match, the services may be called based on firmware variables in the device.

Claims

1. A device to generate firmware-related event notifications, comprising:

a memory module including at least a shared memory space;

a firmware module to load at least part of a messaging interface into the shared memory space and to cause the messaging interface to generate a notification to an operating system in the device; and

a processing module to perform operations in the device based at least on instructions received from the operating system, the operating system including an operating system management module to at least react to the notification presented by the messaging interface.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein during initialization of the device the firmware module is to at least one of load at least one globally unique identifier and corresponding service identifier entry into a firmware configuration table, or generate at least one firmware variable.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the firmware configuration table is based on the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) standard.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the firmware module is to load at least one globally unique identifier into a platform notification table in the shared memory space prior to a notification being generated.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the platform notification table is based on the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard.

6. The device of claim 4, wherein the notification is a system control interrupt (SCI).

7. The device of claim 4, wherein the platform notification table is protected by at least one of a physical base control register or a physical mask control register.

8. The device of claim 4, wherein the firmware module is further to set at least one platform notification bit in a status field of the platform notification table.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the operating system management module is to cause the processing module to discover the source of the notification by querying at least the platform notification table.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the notification is generated based on a peripheral topology change detected in the device.

10. The device of claim 10, wherein in response to determining that the platform notification bit is set in the platform notification table, the operating system management module is to cause the processing module to determine if at least one globally unique identifier in the platform notification table is the same as any globally unique identifiers loaded in the firmware configuration table.

11. The device of claim 11, wherein in response to determining that at least one globally unique identifier in the platform notification table is not the same as any globally unique identifiers loaded in the firmware configuration table, the operating system management module is to cause the processing module to request a firmware variable from the firmware configuration table.

12. The device of claim 12, wherein the operating system management module is to cause the processing module to call at least one service in the operating system based on the service identifier corresponding to the globally unique identifier in the platform notification table that was determined to match a globally unique identifier in the firmware configuration table, or if no matching globally unique identifiers were determined, a returned firmware variable.

14. A method for generating firmware-related notifications, comprising:

configuring a firmware configuration table in a device;

determining that a notification from a platform in the device needs to be generated for an operating system in the device;

configuring a platform notification table in the device; and

generating the notification.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein configuring the firmware configuration table comprises at least one of loading at least one globally unique identifier and corresponding service identifier entry into a firmware configuration table, or generating at least one firmware variable.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein configuring the platform notification table in the device comprises:

loading at least one globally unique identifier into the platform notification table; and

setting at least one platform notification bit in a status field.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining that a notification is required based on detecting a peripheral topology change in the device.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

protecting at least the platform notification table with at least one of a physical base control register or a physical mask control register.

19. A method for receiving firmware-related notifications, comprising:

receiving a notification at an operating system in a device;

discovering a source of the notification based at least on querying a platform notification table in the device; and

determining if a platform notification bit has been set in a status field of the platform notification table.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

in response to the platform bit being set, determining if at least one globally unique identifier in the platform notification table is the same as any globally unique identifiers loaded in a firmware configuration table in the device;

in response to determining that at least one globally unique identifier in the platform notification table is not the same as any globally unique identifiers loaded in the firmware configuration table, requesting a firmware variable; and

calling at least one service in the operating system based on a service identifier corresponding to a globally unique identifier in the platform notification table that was determined to match a globally unique identifier in the firmware configuration table or a returned firmware variable.

21. At least one machine-readable storage device having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions for generating firmware-related notifications that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

configure a firmware configuration table in a device;

determine that a notification from a platform in the device needs to be generated for an operating system in the device;

configure a platform notification table in the device; and

generate the notification.

22. The storage device of claim 21, wherein the instructions to configure the firmware configuration table comprise instructions to at least one of load at least one globally unique identifier entry into a firmware configuration table or generate at least one firmware variable.

23. The storage device of claim 21, wherein the instructions to configure the platform notification table in the device comprise instructions to:

load at least one globally unique identifier into the platform notification table; and

set at least one platform notification bit in a status field of the platform notification table.

24. The storage device of claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

determine that a notification is required based on detecting a peripheral topology change in the device.

25. The storage device of claim 21, further comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

protect at least the platform notification table with at least one of a physical base control register or a physical mask control register.