Spurious input detection for firmware
View Patent ↗A system and method for detecting and handling spurious input are disclosed. In one embodiment, upon receipt of an interrupt signal, a device activates command and keystroke timeouts. The keystroke timeout may have a shorter duration than the command timeout and may be reset upon receipt of a keystroke. At the first expiration of either the keystroke or command timeouts, the device generates a user message. At the second expiration of either the keystroke or command timeouts, the device resumes initialization or resets.
1. A method, comprising:
starting an initialization of a data processing device;
receiving an interrupt signal external to the initialization;
in response to the interrupt signal:
suspending the initialization;
activating a keystroke timeout and a command timeout;
prompting for a command;
in response to receiving a valid command prior to the keystroke timeout and the command timeout expiring:
processing the valid command;
deactivating the keystroke and command timeouts; and
resuming the initialization;
in response to receiving a keystroke prior to the keystroke timeout expiring, resetting the keystroke timeout; and
in response to the keystroke timeout or the command timeout expiring:
determining if the keystroke timeout or the command timeout has expired before;
if the keystroke timeout or the command timeout has not expired before:
presenting a user message; and
resetting both the keystroke timeout and the command timeout; and
if the keystroke timeout or the command timeout has expired before, resuming the initialization or restarting the data processing device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interrupt signal comprises a system management interrupt.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interrupt signal comprises a user keystroke.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interrupt signal comprises a spurious input.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the keyboard and command timeouts are of a same duration.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the keyboard and command timeouts are of different durations.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data processing device comprises a server computer.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data processing device comprises a portion of a server cluster in a data storage system.