Firmware update system

• US 9,235,404 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Issued: 01/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Cavalaris, James G., Lenart, Adam, Schwartz, James A. Jr., Nelson, Eric F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rivera, Anibal
• Application Number:
  US13/534,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20140007069A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories

Abstract

A firmware update system is described that collectively handles firmware updates for hardware resources of a computing device. The firmware update system may be configured to handle firmware updates in a consistent manner across different computing platforms/architectures. A data structure is defined to associate each updateable resource with a corresponding identifier to enumerate the updateable resources to the firmware update system. The firmware update system may reference the data structure to produce representations of the each individual resource that provide an operating system level abstraction through which detection, analysis, acquisition, deployment, installation, and tracking of firmware updates is managed. Using the representations, the firmware update system operates to discover available firmware updates collectively for the enumerated resources, match the updates to appropriate resources, and initiate installation of the updates.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

registering one or more hardware resources associated with a platform for collective handling of firmware updates through a device management system implemented by an operating system of the platform configured to handle at least the firmware updates and device driver updates for the one or more hardware resources using a common update package format;

detecting firmware update packages that are available for the one or more hardware resources that are registered, the firmware update packages including a field type identifying a type of the firmware update package that is configurable to identify a system firmware type and a device firmware type;

ascertaining available firmware update packages that are applicable to the one or more hardware resources that are registered; and

initiating installation of available firmware update packages that are applicable to the one or more hardware resources.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the ascertaining comprises determining whether detected firmware update packages are applicable to the platform based on identifiers associated with the detected firmware updates.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the ascertaining comprises checking version information for the available firmware update packages against currently installed versions to determine whether detected firmware update packages are applicable.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the firmware update packages comprises checking for update packages when the operating system boots.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein detecting the firmware update packages comprises checking for update packages periodically at run-time.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein registering the one or more hardware resources comprises:

referencing a resource data structure instantiated by system firmware for the platform, the resource data structure identifying hardware resources designated to use the operating system to handle firmware update packages; and

creating operating system abstractions of the hardware resources identified by the resource data structure to register the hardware resources.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein:

the operating system abstractions are representations of the hardware resources as plug and play devices within a device management system of the operating system configured to handle driver updates for the plug and play devices; and

the firmware update packages for the registered hardware devices are detected and distributed through the device management system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

hardware resources associated with the platform are assigned with globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) used to reference and distinguish between the hardware resources; and

the detecting firmware update packages comprises checking for firmware update packages that match GUIDs assigned to the one or more hardware resources that are registered.

9. A method implemented by a computing platform comprising:

enumerating hardware resources of the computing platform for which updates to associated firmware are designated for handling through a firmware update system of the computing platform by accessing a data structure configured to supply identifiers assigned to hardware resources selected to employ the firmware update system for firmware updates;

producing representations of the enumerated hardware resources as plug and play devices managed through device management functionality built-in to an operating system of the computing platform, the device management system configured to enable both firmware updates and device driver updates for the hardware resources, the representations as plug and play devices incorporating the identifiers;

acquiring, through the device management functionality, firmware update packages that are applicable to the enumerated hardware resources of the computing platform, the firmware update packages;

matched to corresponding hardware resources based on the identifiers incorporated with the representations as plug and play devices;

formed in a format that is recognizable as device driver packages handled collectively with one or more other kinds of update packages including device driver updates; and

including a field identifying a type of the firmware update package that is configurable to identify a system firmware type and a device firmware type;

communicating the firmware update packages that are acquired for execution by system firmware of the platform to install the firmware updates, the firmware update packages targeted to corresponding hardware resources using the identifiers; and

selectively managing installation of the firmware update packages based upon feedback regarding the installation that is supplied by the system firmware to facilitate control of the installation, the managing the installation including generating a new identifier assigned to at least one of the enumerated hardware resources so that at least one firmware update package matched to the at least one of the enumerated hardware resources prior to the generating the new identifier is not matched to the at least one of the enumerated hardware resources upon the generating the new identifier.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the identifiers are globally unique identifiers (GUID) assigned by the system firmware.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the firmware update packages are formatted as driver-style packages that the device management functionality is configured to recognize and handle.

12. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the identifiers comprise platform-specific identifiers that each reflect a combination of a particular hardware resource and a particular computing platform.

13. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to the feedback supplied by the system firmware that indicates an error with installation of one of the firmware update package corresponding to a particular hardware resource, automatically rolling back firmware for the particular hardware resource to a last-known good firmware version.

14. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

tracking versions of installed firmware for the hardware resources based on the feedback supplied by the system firmware, wherein the feedback indicates success or failure for the installation of each of the firmware update packages.

15. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to the feedback supplied by the system firmware that indicates an error with installation of one of the firmware update package corresponding to a particular hardware resource, retrying installation of the firmware update package for the particular hardware resource a configurable number of times.

16. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein selectively managing installation of the firmware update packages based upon the feedback comprises determining based on the feedback whether to halt operations, retry installation of one or more firmware updates, rollback one or more firmware updates, or continue normal operations.

17. A computing platform comprising:

multiple hardware resources having updateable firmware;

a resource data structure configured to indicate hardware resources of the multiple hardware resources for which updates to associated firmware are designated for handling through a firmware update system of the computing platform, the resource data structure including a link that may be used to download at least one update; and

the firmware update system configured to collectively handle updates including the at least one update to updateable firmware for hardware resources indicated by the resource data structure, including;

accessing the resource data structure to enumerate the indicated hardware resources for which updates to associated firmware are designated for handling through the firmware update system that represents the hardware resources as devices managed through device management functionality built-in to an operating system of the computing platform;

producing the representations of the enumerated hardware resources as devices managed through the device management functionality, the representations enabling the device management functionality to handle firmware updates in a device driver format along with updates to device drivers;

determining through the device management functionality firmware update packages that are applicable to the hardware resources by comparing identifiers assigned to the hardware resources via the resource data structure to identifiers contained in firmware update packages available from one or more distribution channels to find matches;

acquiring through the device management functionality firmware update packages determined to be applicable to the hardware resources, the firmware update packages including a field identifying a type of the firmware update package that is configurable to identify a system firmware type and a device firmware type;

extracting payloads from the firmware update packages that contain firmware images to implement the firmware updates for the hardware resources; and

staging the payloads for installation by the system firmware by copying the payloads to a designated storage location.

18. The computing platform of claim 17, wherein the system firmware is further configured to:

access the payloads and execute the payloads during a boot sequence to perform installation of the firmware updates; and

supply feedback regarding installation of the firmware updates to the firmware update system to enable selective management of the installation.

19. The computing platform of claim 17, wherein the firmware update system is designed to handle firmware updates for hardware resources across heterogeneous platforms.

20. A computing system comprising:

processing hardware; and

a device management system implemented at least in part via the processing hardware to perform operations for collective handling of firmware updates including;

registering one or more hardware resources associated with the computing system for collective handling of firmware updates through the device management system using a common update package format to handle at least the firmware updates and device driver updates for the one or more hardware resources;

detecting firmware update packages that are available for the one or more hardware resources that are registered, the firmware update packages including a field type identifying a type of the firmware update package that is configurable to identify a system firmware type and a device firmware type;

ascertaining available firmware update packages that are applicable to the one or more hardware resources that are registered; and

initiating installation of available firmware update packages that are applicable to the one or more hardware resources.

21. The computing system of claim 20, wherein the firmware update packages are formatted as driver-style packages that the device management system is configured to recognize and handle.

22. The computing system of claim 20, wherein the firmware update packages for the registered hardware devices are detected and distributed through the device management system.

23. The computing system of claim 20, wherein registering the one or more hardware resources comprises:

referencing a resource data structure instantiated by system firmware for the platform, the resource data structure identifying hardware resources designated to use the operating system to handle firmware update packages; and

creating operating system abstractions of the hardware resources identified by the resource data structure to register the hardware resources.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein:

hardware resources associated with the platform are assigned with globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) used to reference and distinguish between the hardware resources; and

the detecting firmware update packages comprises checking for firmware update packages that match GUIDs assigned to the one or more hardware resources that are registered.