Parallel execution of enhanced EFI based BIOS drivers on a multi-processor or hyper-threading enabled platform

• US 20040268108A1
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ma, Xiang, Chen, Lechong, Li, Shaofan
• Granted Patent: US 7,310,724 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4405 Initialisation of multiprocessor systems

Abstract

Parallel execution of peripheral drivers on a multi-processor and/or hyper-threading enabled processor is described. According to one embodiment of the invention, two peripheral drivers are executed concurrently during a boot sequence. These peripheral drivers are executed on a first and a second processor. The processors may be logical or physical processors.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first processor to execute a first peripheral driver; and

a second processor to execute a second peripheral driver, the first peripheral driver and the second peripheral driver to be executed concurrently on the first processor and the second processor during a boot sequence on the system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor is a logical processor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor is a physical processor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor and the second processor are logical processors.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor and the second processor are physical processors.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the peripheral drivers are extensible firmware interface (“

EFI”

) based BIOS drivers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processor and the second processor are capable of terminating at least one of the peripheral drivers.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first peripheral driver is a member of a driver group to be initiated by the first processor.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second peripheral driver is a member of a driver group to be initiated by the second processor.

10. A method of performing a boot sequence comprising:

executing a first peripheral driver and a second peripheral driver concurrently during the boot sequence, wherein the first peripheral driver is executing on a first processor and the second peripheral driver is executing on a second processor.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first processor is a logical processor.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first processor is a physical processor.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first processor and the second processor are logical processors.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first processor and the second processor are physical processors.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the peripheral drivers are extensible firmware interface based BIOS drivers.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

grouping the first peripheral driver in a driver group, wherein the executing includes executing the driver group.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

terminating the execution of the first peripheral driver.

18. A machine-accessible medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a machine, will cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

executing a first peripheral driver and a second peripheral driver concurrently during a boot sequence, wherein the first peripheral driver is executing on a first processor and the second peripheral driver is executing on a second processor.

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, wherein the first processor is a logical processor.

20. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, wherein the first processor is a physical processor.

21. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, wherein the first processor and the second processor are logical processors.

22. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, wherein the first processor and the second processor are physical processors.

23. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, wherein the peripheral drivers are extensible firmware interface based BIOS drivers.

24. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, further comprising:

grouping the first peripheral driver in a driver group, wherein the executing includes executing the driver group.

25. The machine-accessible medium of claim 18, further comprising:

terminating the execution of the first peripheral driver.

26. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor to execute a first thread and a second thread concurrently during a boot sequence on the system, the processor coupled to the memory via a bus.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the first thread and the second thread include peripheral driver instructions.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the peripheral driver instructions are extensible firmware interface based BIOS driver instructions.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the processor is capable of terminating at least one of the threads.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the first thread includes a group of peripheral driver instructions.