Systems and methods for accessing a bootable partition on a serial peripheral interface device
View Patent ↗Systems, methods, and apparatuses are disclosed that allow for accessing a bootable partition on a serial peripheral interface device. The device may store a file system image containing an operating system kernel, boot loaders, and other utilities. A firmware stored on the device may include drivers, protocols, and utilities used to make the file system image accessible to high-level firmware protocols operating within a computing system. The file system image may be recognized as a bootable partition and the computing system may be booted from the partition.
1. A computer-implemented method to create a bootable partition, the method comprising:
exposing a file system image stored on a memory accessible through a serial peripheral interface;
making the file system image accessible as a block storage device, wherein the block storage device processes requests to read and write files and directories stored within the file system image;
making the block storage device accessible as a partitioned file system image;
providing the partitioned file system image as a bootable partition; and
using the partitioned file system image to boot a computing system.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein exposing the file system image comprises utilizing a flash driver to interface with the file system image.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein making the file system image accessible as a block storage device comprises utilizing a block storage driver to process requests to read or write to the file system image by way of the flash driver.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein making the file system image accessible as a block storage device comprises utilizing a block storage driver stored on a serial peripheral device.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein providing the partitioned file system image as the bootable partition comprises setting a configuration parameter by way of a firmware setup utility.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the partitioned file system image is configured as a read-only file system.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising providing one or more additional partitioned file system images as bootable partitions.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the file system image comprises an operating system kernel.
9. A system comprising:
a central processing unit (CPU);
a non-volatile memory device in communication with the CPU over a serial peripheral interface, the non-volatile memory device comprising
a block storage driver configured to make a file system image accessible as a block storage device, wherein the block storage device processes requests to read and write to files stored within the file system image,
a partitioned file system image in communication with the block storage driver, and
a firmware setup utility configured to provide the partitioned file system image as a bootable partition.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the firmware setup utility sets the partitioned file system image as the bootable partition.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the block storage driver configured to make the file system image accessible as a block storage device processes requests to read or write to the file system image.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the partitioned file system image utilizes a file system protocol to interact with the block storage device as a file system.
13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the partitioned file system image is updated by flash-updating the file system image.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein flash-updating the file system image comprises erasing and reprogramming a non-critical block of the non-volatile memory device.
15. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
expose a file system image stored on a serial peripheral interface device;
making the file system image accessible as a block storage device, wherein the block storage device processes requests to read and write to files stored within the file system image;
make the file system image accessible as a partitioned file system image; and
provide the partitioned file system image as a bootable partition.
16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , comprising further computer-executable instructions to update the file system image by erasing and reprogramming a non-critical block on the serial peripheral interface device.
17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , comprising further computer-executable instructions to make one or more additional partitioned file system images available as bootable partitions.
18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , comprising further computer-executable instructions to boot from an operating system kernel contained in the file system image.
19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein making the file system image accessible as a block storage device comprises utilizing a block storage driver to process requests to read or write to the file system image.
20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the partitioned file system image is configured as a read-write partition.