Method for firmware variable storage with eager compression, fail-safe extraction and restart time compression scan

• US 7,934,209 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2004
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, Greg, Rothman, Michael, Doran, Mark, Zimmer, Vincent
• Primary Examiner(s): DAS, CHAMELI
• Application Number:
  US10/561,049
• Publication Number:
  US 20070033322A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,526 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-173
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction

Abstract

Firmware-based conversion methods for storing converted firmware variables in a firmware storage device, such as flash memory. Under one method, “eager” compression of firmware is performed. In response to a storage request, a determination is made to whether a compressor is available. If it is, the firmware variable is stored in a compressed form in the storage device; if not, the firmware variable is stored in an uncompressed form. In response to a read request for a stored firmware variable, a determination is made to whether the variable is stored in a compressed or uncompressed form. If it is compressed, a decompressor is employed to return the variable to its uncompressed form prior to providing it to the requestor; already uncompressed variables are provided directly to the requester. An application program interface is provided to enable operating system runtime access to the firmware variables. Similar conversions may be employed separately or in parallel, including encryption.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to store a first firmware variable;

determining if a compressor stored in a non-fault tolerant portion of a firmware storage device is available for compressing the first firmware variable; and

employing the compressor if it is available to compress the first firmware variable and storing the first firmware variable in a compressed form in a firmware storage device, the first firmware variable in the compressed form to be decompressed via a decompressor stored in a fault-tolerant portion of the firmware storage device, otherwise storing the first firmware variable in an uncompressed form in the firmware storage device if the compressor is not available.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to store a second firmware variable;

determining the compressor is no longer available; and

storing the second firmware variable in the firmware storage device in an uncompressed form.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein uncompressed firmware variables are stored in a 2-tuple format of

<

M_i, B_i>

,

wherein M, comprises metadata corresponding to an ith tuple, and B, comprises data corresponding to the ith tuple, while compressed firmware variables are stored in a 2-tuple format of

<

M′

_i, C(B_i)>

,

wherein M′

_i comprises metadata corresponding to an ith tuple containing indicia indicating the ith tuple is compressed, B_i comprises data corresponding to the ith tuple, and C represents a compression function.

4. A method comprising:

storing a first converter and a second converter in a non-fault tolerant portion of a firmware storage device;

storing a first deconverter and a second deconverter in a fault tolerant portion of the firmware storage device;

determining if each of the first converter and the second converter are available;

storing firmware variables in a combined converted form via first and second conversion operations performed by the first and second converters respectively if it is determined that both of the first and second converters are available;

storing firmware variables in a first converted form via conversion operations performed by the first converter if the first converter is determined to be available and the second converter is not available;

storing firmware variables in a second converted form via conversion operations performed by the second converter if it is determined that the second converter is available while the first converter is not available;

otherwise storing the firmware variables in an unconverted form.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first converter comprises a compressor, and the first deconverter comprises a decompressor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second converter comprises an encryptor and the second deconverter comprises a decryptor.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second converter adds error correction code (ECC) data to a variable, and the second deconverter utilizes the ECC data detect and correct bit errors in non-ECC data of the variable.

8. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable non-transitory storage medium on which instructions are stored, which when executed facilitate storage of firmware variables by performing operations including;

receiving a request to store a first firmware variable;

determining if a compressor stored in a non-fault tolerant portion of a firmware storage device is available for compressing the first firmware variable; and

employing the compressor if it is available to compress the first firmware variable and storing the first firmware variable in a compressed form in a firmware storage device, the first firmware variable in the compressed form to be decompressed via a decompressor stored in a fault-tolerant portion of the firmware storage device, otherwise storing the first firmware variable in an uncompressed form in the firmware storage device if the compressor is not available.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8, wherein the article comprises flash memory.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the flash memory includes the non-fault tolerant portion of memory in which the compressor is stored.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein execution of the instructions performs the further operations of:

receiving a request to store a second firmware variable;

determining the compressor is no longer available; and

storing the second firmware variable in the firmware storage device in an uncompressed form.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the flash memory includes the fault-tolerant portion of memory in which the decompressor is stored.

13. A computer system, comprising:

a motherboard;

a processor, coupled to the motherboard;

volatile memory, coupled to the motherboard; and

a boot firmware device, coupled to the motherboard and comprising flash memory having firmware components stored therein including a compressor, the firmware components comprising instructions that when executed by the processor effectuate storage of firmware variables by performing operations including;

publishing an interface;

receiving a request to store a firmware variable via the interface;

determining if a compressor stored in a non-fault tolerant portion of a firmware storage device is available for compressing the firmware variable; and

employing the compressor if it is available to compress the firmware variable and storing the firmware variable in a compressed form in a firmware storage device, the firmware variable in the compressed form to be decompressed via a decompressor stored in a fault-tolerant portion of the firmware storage device, otherwise storing the firmware variable in an uncompressed form in the firmware storage device if the compressor is not available.