TECHNIQUES OF EMULATING AN ACPI CONTROLLER ON A SERVICE PROCESSOR

• US 20180232183A1
• Filed: 02/13/2017
• Published: 08/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Megatrends International, LLC
• Original Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Inventors: Rajendiran, Balaji Nagalingam, Swaminathan, Viswanathan, Wise, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,782,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/24 using interrupt G06F13/32 takes precedence

Abstract

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and a computer system are provided. The computer system includes a service processor. The service processor monitors events of one or more ACPI compliant devices of a host of the service processor. The service processor maintains device data associated with the one or more ACPI compliant devices based on the events in a data store of the service processor. The service processor emulates an ACPI controller to monitor a communication channel for detecting one or more ACPI commands from the host. The service processor processes the device data in the data store in response to detecting the one or more ACPI commands on the communication channel.

Claims

1. A method of operating a computer system including a service processor, comprising:

monitoring events of one or more Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) compliant devices of a host of the service processor;

maintaining, at the service processor, device data associated with the one or more ACPI compliant devices based on the events in a data store of the service processor;

emulating, at the service processor, an ACPI controller to monitor a communication channel for detecting one or more ACPI commands from the host; and

processing, at the service processor, the device data in the data store in response to detecting the one or more ACPI commands on the communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at the service processor, that a first event occurred at a first ACPI device;

storing, at the service processor, first data associated with the first ACPI device in the data store;

notifying the host;

receiving, at the service processor, a query command from the host; and

sending, at the service processor and to the host, an indication for locating the first data in the data store.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the computer system further comprises a programmable logic device managing the one or more ACPI compliant devices, the method further comprising:

detecting, at the programmable logic device, the first event occurred at the first ACPI device; and

sending, at the programmable logic device and to the service processor, an interrupt, wherein the first event is determined by the service processor based on the interrupt.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the notifying the host comprises:

sending, at the service processor, an interrupt to the host.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the computer system further comprises the host, the method further comprising:

sending, at the host and to the service processor, the query command in response to receiving the interrupt.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the host, a read command for retrieving first data associated with a first ACPI device;

retrieving the first data from a location in the data store reserved for the first ACPI device; and

sending, to the host, the first data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data store includes a first memory space and a second memory space, wherein one of the first and second memory spaces stores a current copy of the device data and the other one of the first and second memory spaces stores a legacy copy of the device data, wherein the first data is retrieved from the one of the first and second memory spaces storing the current copy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second memory space stores the current copy, wherein the first data is retrieved from the second memory space.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first memory space stores the legacy copy, the method further comprising:

determining to update first data;

storing updated first data in the first memory space while the first data is being retrieved from the second memory space; and

copying the device data from the first memory space to the second memory space and indicating that the first memory space stores the current copy and the second memory space stores the legacy copy.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data store includes a first memory space and a second memory space, wherein one of the first and second memory spaces stores a current copy of the device data and the other one of the first and second memory spaces stores a legacy copy of the device data, the method further comprising:

acquiring, after the service processor is booted, the device data from the one or more ACPI compliant devices;

storing the device data in the first memory space and indicating that the first memory space stores the current copy; and

copying the device data from the first memory space to the second memory space and indicating that the first memory space stores the legacy copy and the second memory space stores the current copy.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the host, a write command for storing second data associated with a second ACPI device; and

storing the second data at a location in the data store reserved for the second ACPI device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data store includes a first memory space and a second memory space, wherein one of the first and second memory spaces stores a current copy of the device data and the other one of the first and second memory spaces stores a legacy copy of the device data, wherein the second data is stored in the one of the first and second memory spaces storing the legacy copy.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first memory space stores the legacy copy, wherein the second data are stored in the first memory space, the method further comprising:

copying the device data from the first memory space to the second memory space and indicating that the first memory space stores the current copy and the second memory space stores the legacy copy.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining to update the first data; and

storing updated first data in the first memory space while the second data are being stored in the first memory space.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining to update the second data; and

determining that the second data is being stored in the first memory space;

waiting until the storing second data in the first memory space is complete; and

subsequent to that the device data is copied from the first memory space and the second memory space is indicated as storing the legacy copy, storing updated second data to the second memory space.

16. A computer system, comprising:

a service processor including;

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

monitor events of one or more Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) compliant devices of a host of the service processor;

maintain device data associated with the one or more ACPI compliant devices based on the events in a data store of the service processor;

emulate an ACPI controller to monitor a communication channel for detecting one or more ACPI commands from the host; and

process the device data in the data store in response to detecting the one or more ACPI commands on the communication channel.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine that a first event occurred at a first ACPI device;

store first data associated with the first ACPI device in the data store;

notify the host;

receive a query command from the host; and

send, to the host, an indication for locating the first data in the data store.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the computer system further comprises a programmable logic device managing the one or more ACPI compliant devices, the programmable logic device is configured to:

detect the first event occurred at the first ACPI device; and

send an interrupt to the service processor, wherein the first event is determined by the service processor based on the interrupt.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein to notify the host, the at least one processor is further configured to send an interrupt to the host.

20. A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for operating a service processor, comprising code to:

monitor events of one or more Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) compliant devices of a host of the service processor;

maintain device data associated with the one or more ACPI compliant devices based on the events in a data store of the service processor;

emulate an ACPI controller to monitor a communication channel for detecting one or more ACPI commands from the host; and

process the device data in the data store in response to detecting the one or more ACPI commands on the communication channel.