IP Library › Granted Patent US 7,100,031
Granted Patent B1
US 7,100,031 · App. 10/107,608 · Granted Aug 29, 2006

Detector and operational method for a firmware interface

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,100,031
App. No.
10/107,608
Granted
Aug 29, 2006
Kind
B1
Abstract

A detector detects information about a firmware system. The detector includes an interface that receives a generic instruction. The generic instruction may be a function call made through an EFI shell. The detector has a controller communicatively connected to the interface. The controller receives the generic instruction and gathers information about the firmware system. Gathering information about the firmware system permits platform-specific firmware system functions to be written to the firmware system. The controller gathers information about the firmware system by accessing a data-gathering function based on the generic instruction. The controller retrieves the information through the data-gathering function and transfers the information to the interface.

Claims (32)

1. A detector for detecting and providing information about a firmware system to a firmware interface of a computer system, comprising:

a detector interface configured to receive a generic instruction from the firmware interface; and

a controller communicatively connected to the detector interface and configured to gather information about and from the firmware system by:

accessing a data-gathering function within the firmware system based upon the generic instruction,

retrieving information about the firmware system through the data-gathering function, and

transferring the information to the firmware interface via the detector interface.

2. A detector of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to gather information about the firmware system in response to an initialization of the firmware system.

3. A detector of claim 1 , wherein the firmware interface comprises an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) configured for transferring the generic instruction to the interface.

4. A detector of claim 1 , wherein the firmware system comprises an Itanium microprocessor.

5. A detector of claim 1 , wherein the firmware system comprises an IA-32 microprocessor.

6. A detector of claim 1 , wherein retrieving information comprises accessing information from the firmware system through a tree function.

7. A detector of claim 1 , wherein retrieving information comprises accessing information from the firmware system through an Extended System Abstraction Layer Interface (ESI).

8. A processor system for processing firmware instructions of a firmware platform selected through a firmware interface by way of a generic instruction, comprising:

a storage device configured for storing the firmware instructions;

an interface device configured to transfer the generic instruction; and

a microprocessor, connected to the storage device and to the interface device, configured to receive and process the generic instruction to access a data-gathering function within the firmware instructions,

retrieve information about the firmware platform through the data-gathering function, and

transfer the information to the firmware interface.

9. A processor system of claim 8 , the data-gathering function being pre-compiled to operate when the firmware platform is initialized.

10. A processor system of claim 8 , wherein the firmware interface is an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI).

11. A processor system of claim 8 , wherein the microprocessor comprises an Itanium microprocessor.

12. A processor system of claim 8 , wherein the microprocessor comprises an IA-32 microprocessor.

13. A processor system of claim 8 , the microprocessor retrieving the information about the firmware platform through a tree function.

14. A processor system of claim 8 , the microprocessor retrieving the information about the firmware platform through an Extended System Abstraction Layer Interface (ESI).

15. A method of collecting data of and from a firmware platform through a firmware interface, comprising steps of:

accessing a platform-specific data-gathering function within the firmware platform with a generic data-gathering function through the firmware interface;

retrieving information of and from the firmware platform through the platform-specific data-gathering function; and

transferring the information from the firmware platform to the firmware interface by way of the generic data-gathering function.

16. A method of claim 15 further comprising a step of pre-compiling the platform-specific data-gathering function to operate in response to an initialization of the firmware system.

17. A method of claim 15 , wherein the firmware interface is an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI).

18. A method of claim 15 , wherein the step of retrieving information comprises accessing information from the firmware platform through a tree function.

19. A method of claim 15 , wherein the step of retrieving information comprises accessing information from the firmware platform through an Extended System Abstraction Layer Interface (ESI).