Unified method to send BIOS post codes to BMC

1. A method of operating a computer system comprising a baseboard management controller (BMC) having a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, comprising:

emulating, executed by the processor of the BMC, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device within the BMC, wherein the emulated USB device is a device in the Human Interface Device (HID) Class defined by the USB Specification;

exposing, executed by the processor of the BMC, the emulated USB device to a host of the BMC in the computer system;

receiving, executed by the processor of the BMC, data from Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of the host through a USB HID control pipe of the emulated USB device, the control pipe being different from a data pipe of the emulated USB device, wherein the data are generated by initialization and tests routines of the BIOS during testing hardware components of the host; and

storing the data at the BMC.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initialization and tests routines are a Power On Self Test (POST) procedure of the BIOS, wherein the POST procedure tests at least one of motherboard hardware, a central processing unit (CPU), a math coprocessor, a timer integrated circuit (IC), a direct memory access (DMA) controller, and an interrupt request (IRQ) controller to generate POST codes, wherein the data includes POST codes.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

establishing, by the emulated USB device, a control pipe with the host, wherein the data from the BIOS is received through USB packets transferred on the control pipe.

4. The method of claim 3 , the method further comprising:

receiving a USB packet from the host through the control pipe;

determining whether the USB packet contains the data from the BIOS based on an identifier of the USB packet; and

when the USB packet contains the data from the BIOS:

extracting, from the USB packet, the data from the BIOS; and

processing the data from the BIOS.

5. The method of claim 4 , the method further comprising, when the USB packet does not contain the data from the BIOS, sending the USB packet to a HID device in accordance with an indication of the USB packet.

6. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising,

executing, at the host, the BIOS; and

generating, by the BIOS, the data.

7. The method of claim 6 , the method further comprising:

packing, at the host, the data from the BIOS in one or more USB packets destined for the emulated USB device; and

setting up an identifier of the one or more USB packets to indicate that the one or more USB packets contain the data from the BIOS.

8. A computer system comprising a baseboard management controller (BMC) having:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

emulate a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device within the BMC in the computer system, wherein the emulated USB device is a device in the Human Interface Device (HID) Class defined by the USB Specification;

expose the emulated USB device to a host of the BMC in the computer system;

receive data from Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of the host through a USB HID control pipe of the emulated USB device, the control pipe being different from a data pipe of the emulated USB device, wherein the data are generated by initialization and tests routines of the BIOS during testing hardware components of the host; and

store the data at the BMC.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the initialization and tests routines are a Power On Self Test (POST) procedure of the BIOS, wherein the POST procedure tests at least one of motherboard hardware, a central processing unit (CPU), a math coprocessor, a timer integrated circuit (IC), a direct memory access (DMA) controller, and an interrupt request (IRQ) controller to generate POST codes, wherein the data includes POST codes.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

establish, by the emulated USB device, a control pipe with the host, wherein the data from the BIOS is received through USB packets transferred on the control pipe.

11. The computer system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive a USB packet from the host through the control pipe;

determine whether the USB packet contains the data from the BIOS based on an identifier of the USB packet; and

when the USB packet contains the data from the BIOS:

extract, from the USB packet, the data from the BIOS; and

process the data from the BIOS.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when the USB packet does not contain the data from the BIOS, send the USB packet to a HID device in accordance with an indication of the USB packet.

13. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to,

execute, at the host, the BIOS; and

generate, by the BIOS, the data.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

pack, at the host, the data from the BIOS in one or more USB packets destined for the emulated USB device; and

set up an identifier of the one or more USB packets to indicate that the one or more USB packets contain the data from the BIOS.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code for operating a computer system including a baseboard management controller (BMC), comprising code to:

emulate a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device within the BMC in the computer system, wherein the emulated USB device is a device in the Human Interface Device (HID) Class defined by the USB Specification;

expose the emulated USB device to a host of the BMC in the computer system;

receive data from Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of the host through a USB HID control pipe of the emulated USB device, the control pipe being different from a data pipe of the emulated USB device, wherein the data are generated by initialization and tests routines of the BIOS during testing hardware components of the host; and

store the data at the BMC.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the initialization and tests routines are a Power On Self Test (POST) procedure of the BIOS, wherein the POST procedure tests at least one of motherboard hardware, a central processing unit (CPU), a math coprocessor, a timer integrated circuit (IC), a direct memory access (DMA) controller, and an interrupt request (IRQ) controller to generate POST codes, wherein the data includes POST codes.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

establish, by the emulated USB device, a control pipe with the host, wherein the data from the BIOS is received through USB packets transferred on the control pipe.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive a USB packet from the host through the control pipe;

determine whether the USB packet contains the data from the BIOS based on an identifier of the USB packet; and

when the USB packet contains the data from the BIOS:

extract, from the USB packet, the data from the BIOS; and

process the data from the BIOS.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, when the USB packet does not contain the data from the BIOS, send the USB packet to a HID device in accordance with an indication of the USB packet.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to,

execute, at the host, the BIOS; and

generate, by the BIOS, the data;

pack, at the host, the data from the BIOS in one or more USB packets destined for the emulated USB device; and

set up an identifier of the one or more USB packets to indicate that the one or more USB packets contain the data from the BIOS.