Updating the system management information of a computer system

1. A method for updating system management data of a computer system, the method comprising:

storing, at a protected region of a non-volatile memory of the computer system, an update to a base set of management information;

during the execution of the computer system, building a system management information table from the base set of management information and the update to the base set of management information, wherein building the system management information table comprises executing an update application configured to use a system management interrupt (SMI) to invoke a system management mode (SMM) at the computer system, wherein the update application is operative to retrieve the update to the base set of management information from the protected region of the non-volatile memory of the computer system, and to provide the update to the base set of management information and the base set of management information to a SMBIOS driver for building of the system management information table.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the update comprises storing the update to the base set of management information at a protected boot block of the non-volatile memory.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the base set of management information is stored in a non-protected region of the non-volatile memory.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein building the system management information table comprises generating the system management information table using the base set of management information and overwriting any entries in the system management information table that are identified in the updates to the base set of management information.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the updates to the base set of management information are read from the non-volatile memory using the SMI.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the update application is further configured to receive the update to the base set of management information; and

storing the update comprises storing, using the update application, the update in the protected region of the non-volatile memory device using the SMI.

7. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 1 .

8. A computer-controlled apparatus capable of performing the method of claim 1 .

9. A method for updating system management data during the runtime of a computer system, the method comprising:

storing a base set of management information in a first area of a non-volatile memory;

storing an update to the base set of management information in a second area of the non-volatile memory; and

during the execution of the computer system, building a system management information table from the base set of management information and the update to the base set of management information, wherein building the system management information table comprises an update application using a system management interrupt (SMI) to invoke a system management mode (SMM) at the computer system, wherein the update application is operative to retrieve the base set of management information from the first area of the non-volatile memory, to retrieve the update to the base set of management information from the second area of the non-volatile memory, and to provide the update to the base set of management information and the base set of management information to a SMBIOS driver for building of the system management information table.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the system management information table comprises a system management basic input/output system (SMBIOS) structure table.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second area of the non-volatile memory comprises a protected boot block of the non-volatile memory.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein retrieving the update to the base set of management information from the first area comprises retrieving the update from the protected boot block of the non-volatile memory using the SMI.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the update application is further operative to modify the update to the base set of management information by:

receiving one or more updates to the base set of management information, and

writing the one or more updates to the protected boot block of the non-volatile memory.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the update application is further operative to write the one or more updates to the protected boot block using the SMI.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim 9 .

16. A computer-controlled apparatus capable of performing the method of claim 9 .

17. A memory for storing data for updating management information of a computer system during the runtime of the computer system, the memory comprising:

a management information update data structure stored in the memory, the data structure including a globally unique identifier (“GUID”) field for storing data that uniquely identifies the management information update data structure, a length field for storing data identifying the length of a data area, and a data area for storing the data for updating the management information of the computer system during the runtime of the computer system, wherein the data area comprises:

a first data field configured to store data identifying a table type within a system management information table;

a second data field configured to store data identifying an offset within the table type identified by the data stored in the first field; and

a third field configured to store data for updating the contents of the system management information table at the location specified by the data stored in the first data field and the second data field.

18. The memory of claim 17 , wherein the system management information table comprises a system management basic input/output system (SMBIOS) structure table.