Remote access diagnostic mechanism for communication devices

• US 8,909,978 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2013
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Beverly, Harlan T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Leibovich, Yair
• Application Number:
  US13/973,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20130339782A1
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4.4, 714 25- 27
• US Class Current: 714/4.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

A method for diagnosing and correcting errors at a data processing system is disclosed includes detecting at a first device of the system, such as a network interface device, an error at a second device of the system, such as a data processor. In response to detecting the error, the first device communicates a help request via a network. In response to the help request, the first device receives diagnostic and error correction routines from a remote system. The first device executes the routines and provides information to the remote system to diagnose and correct errors at the second device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, at a data processing device, an error at a first system of a network, wherein the first system includes the data processing device;

transmitting a help request from the data processing device to a second system of the network in response to detecting the error at the first system;

authenticating at the data processing device, the second system based, at least in part, on authentication information received from the second system after transmitting the help request;

receiving an error correction routine from the second system, based at least in part on authenticating the second system;

executing the error correction routine at the data processing device to resolve the error at the first system; and

disabling, at the data processing device, an operation for authenticating the second system in response to detecting that the error at the first system is resolved.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling, at the data processing device, the operation for authenticating the second system in response to detecting the error at the first system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing a diagnostic routine to determine diagnostic information associated with the first system, in response to authenticating the second system and receiving a diagnostic request from the second system; and

transmitting the diagnostic information associated with the first system to the second system.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, at the data processing device, the diagnostic routine in the diagnostic request from the second system via the network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing at the memory portion of the first system, a diagnostic routine in response to receiving a diagnostic request from the second system;

receiving an interrupt at the first system; and

executing the diagnostic routine at the first system, to determine diagnostic information associated with the first system in response to receiving the interrupt.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

configuring the first system to operate in a loop state while storing the diagnostic routine at the memory portion of the first system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a memory diagnostic on a memory portion of the first system to determine whether the memory portion is operational for storage of a diagnostic routine; and

notifying the second system regarding whether the memory portion is operational for storage of the diagnostic routine, in response to said performing the memory diagnostic.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a diagnostic request at the data processing device from the second system, in response to authenticating the second system and determining that the memory portion is operational for storage of the diagnostic routine.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein said executing the diagnostic routine comprises:

transmitting an execution request from the data processing device to a device driver of the first system, wherein the execution request includes a request for the device driver to execute the diagnostic routine.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first system comprises a processor, and wherein the error indicates that the processor is unable to execute a diagnostic routine.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting the error comprises:

transmitting a message from the data processing device to a processor of the first system; and

detecting the error at the first system based at least in part on determining that a response to the message has not been received within a predefined period of time.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said detecting the error at the first system comprises:

detecting that a power level associated with a processor of the first system is below a threshold power level, or

receiving an error notification from the processor indicating the error at the processor.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing device comprises a network interface card of the first system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the data processing device is configured to execute a first virtual device, and a processor of the first system is configured to execute a second virtual device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second system comprises a device driver associated with the first system, and wherein the device driver is configured to control the data processing device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

enabling the operation for authenticating the device driver, in response to detecting the error at the first system.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a diagnostic request from the data processing device to a device driver of the first system, wherein the diagnostic request comprises an indication of a diagnostic routine of the device driver; and

executing the diagnostic routine at the device driver to determine diagnostic information associated with the first system, in response to receiving the diagnostic request.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transmitting an error correction request from the data processing device to the device driver, wherein the error correction request comprises an indication of the error correction routine of the device driver based, at least in part, on the diagnostic information determined by the device driver.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said executing the error correction routine comprises:

executing the error correction routine at the device driver to resolve the error at the first system, in response to receiving the error correction request.

20. A method, comprising:

detecting, at a data processing device, an error at a first system, wherein the first system includes the data processing device;

storing a diagnostic routine at a memory portion of the first system, in response to detecting the error, the memory portion associated with at least an interrupt service routine of the first system;

providing a first interrupt from the data processing device to a processor of the first system to cause the first system to execute the diagnostic routine for determining diagnostic information associated with the first system;

storing an error correction routine at the memory portion of the first system based, at least in part, on the diagnostic information; and

providing a second interrupt from the data processing device to the processor of the first system to cause the first system to execute the error correction routine to resolving the error of the first system.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

executing a memory diagnostic on the memory portion prior to storing the diagnostic routine to determine whether the memory portion is operational for storage of the diagnostic routine.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

configuring the first system to operate in a loop state while storing the diagnostic routine at the memory portion of the first system.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving the diagnostic routine at the data processing device from a remote device, in response to detecting the error.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the data processing device comprises a network interface device of the first system.

25. A system comprising:

a first processor device;

a network interface comprising a second processor device, the network interface coupled with the first processor device, the network interface configured to;

detect an error at the first processor device;

transmit a help request from the network interface to a remote device via a network in response to detecting the error at the first processor device;

authenticate the remote device based, at least in part, on authentication information received from the remote device after transmitting the help request;

receive an error correction routine from the remote device, based at least in part on authenticating the remote device;

execute the error correction routine to resolve the error at the first processor device; and

disable an operation for authenticating the remote device in response to detecting that the error at the first processor device is resolved.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the network interface is further configured to:

store, at a memory portion of the system, a diagnostic routine received from the remote device; and

receive an interrupt, at the first processor device, from the second processor device to cause the first processor device to execute the diagnostic routine to determine diagnostic information associated with the system.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the network interface is further configured to:

store the error correction routine received from the remote device at a memory portion of the system, wherein the memory portion is associated with at least an interrupt service routine of the system; and

receive an interrupt, at the first processor device, from the second processor device to cause the first processor device to execute the error correction routine.

28. A system comprising:

a first processor device; and

a network interface comprising a second processor device, the network interface coupled with the first processor device, the network interface configured to;

detect an error at the first processor device;

store a diagnostic routine at a memory portion of the system in response to detecting the error, the memory portion associated with at least an interrupt service routine of the system;

provide a first interrupt from the second processor device to the first processor device, to cause the first processor device to execute the diagnostic routine for determining diagnostic information associated with the system;

store an error correction routine at the memory portion of the system based, at least in part, on the diagnostic information; and

provide a second interrupt from the second processor device to the first processor device to cause the first processor device to execute the error correction routine for resolving the error of the first processor device.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the first processor device is further configured to:

execute the diagnostic routine to determine the diagnostic information of the system, in response to receiving the first interrupt; and

execute the error correction routine to resolve the error of the first processor device, in response to receiving the second interrupt.

30. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having machine executable instructions stored therein, the machine executable instructions comprising instructions to:

detect, at a data processing device, an error at a first system of a network, wherein the first system includes the data processing device;

transmit a help request from the data processing device to a second system of the network in response to detecting the error at the first system;

authenticate, at the data processing device, the second system based, at least in part, on authentication information received from the second system after transmitting the help request;

receive an error correction routine from the second system based at least in part on authenticating the second system;

execute the error correction routine at the data processing device to resolve the error at the first system; and

disable, at the data processing device, an operation for authenticating the second system in response to detecting that the error at the first system is resolved.

31. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein said instructions further comprise instructions to:

store, at a memory portion of the first system, a diagnostic routine in response to receiving a diagnostic request from the second system;

receive an interrupt at the first system; and

execute the diagnostic routine, at the first system, to determine diagnostic information associated with the first system in response to receiving the interrupt.

32. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein said instructions further comprise instructions to:

store at a memory portion of the first system, the error correction routine received from the second system;

receive an interrupt at the first system; and

execute the error correction routine at the first system, in response to receiving the interrupt.

33. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having machine executable instructions stored therein, the machine executable instructions comprising instructions to:

detect, at a data processing device, an error at a system, wherein the system includes the data processing device;

store a diagnostic routine at a memory portion of the system, in response to detecting the error ,the memory portion associated with at least an interrupt service routine of the system;

provide a first interrupt from the data processing device to a processor of the system to cause the system to execute the diagnostic routine for determining diagnostic information associated with the system;

store an error correction routine at the memory portion of the system based, at least in part, on the diagnostic information; and

provide a second interrupt from the data processing device to the processor of the system to cause the system to execute the error correction routine for resolving the error of the system.

34. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 33, wherein said instructions further comprise instructions to:

perform a memory diagnostic on the memory portion prior to storing the diagnostic routine, to determine whether the memory portion is operational for storage of the diagnostic routine.