Granted Patent B2

US 11,599,087 · App. 17/076,421 · Granted Mar 7, 2023

Inventors: Wei G. Liu (Austin, TX); Richard L. Holmberg (Austin, TX); Mark W. Shutt (Austin, TX)

Assignee: Dell Products L.P.

G05B19/4097G05B2219/45031

Abstract

Claims (83)

1. A manufacturing system, comprising:

an information handling system manufacturer;

a first division of the information handling system manufacturer;

a second division of the information handling system manufacturer; and

a storage facility of the information handling system manufacturer;

wherein the information handling system manufacturer is configured to:

manufacture a plurality of motherboards configured to be installed in a plurality of information handling system product lines;

respectively install a plurality of non-volatile memory media on the plurality of motherboards;

initially store, at a first time and for each of the plurality of motherboards, first product line firmware, associated with a first product line of the information handling system manufacturer, via the plurality of non-volatile memory media for each of the plurality of motherboards, wherein the first product line firmware is stored at the first time when an identity type of the plurality of motherboards is uncommitted;

provide a first portion of the plurality of motherboards to the first division;

provide a second portion of the plurality of motherboards to the second division; and

provide a third portion of the plurality of motherboards to the storage facility;

wherein the first division is configured to:

permanently store a first information handling system identity type on the first portion of the plurality of motherboards; and

install the first portion of the plurality of motherboards in a first plurality of information handling systems; and

wherein the second division is configured to:

permanently store a second information handling system identity type on the second portion of the plurality of motherboards;

store, at a second time after the first time and for each of the second portion of the plurality of motherboards, second product line firmware to replace the first product line firmware of each of the second portion of the plurality of motherboards, associated with a second product line of the information handling system manufacturer, via non-volatile memory media for each of the second portion of the plurality of motherboards, the second product line firmware differing from the first product line firmware; and

install the second portion of the plurality of motherboards in a second plurality of information handling systems.

2. The manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the storage facility is further configured to:

receive a request for a motherboard associated with the first product line; and

permanently store the first information handling system identity type on a motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards.

3. The manufacturing system of claim 2 , wherein the storage facility is further configured to ship the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a customer associated with the request for the motherboard associated with the first product line.

4. The manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the storage facility is further configured to:

receive a request for a motherboard associated with the second product line;

permanently store the second information handling system identity type on a motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards; and

store the second product line firmware via a non-volatile memory medium of the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the storage facility is further configured to ship the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a customer associated with the request for the motherboard associated with the second product line.

6. The manufacturing system of claim 1 ,

wherein the first division is further configured to ship the first plurality of information handling systems to a first plurality of customers; and

wherein the second division is further configured to ship the second plurality of information handling systems to a second plurality of customers.

7. The manufacturing system of claim 6 , wherein a customer of the first plurality of customers is a customer of the second plurality of customers.

8. The manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the storage facility is further configured to:

ship a motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a customer; and

provide an application configured to permanently store the first information handling system identity type or the second information handling system identity type on the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards.

9. The manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein the information handling system manufacturer is further configured to:

store a first certificate associated with the first product line, wherein the first certificate includes a first public key utilizable to authenticate the first product line firmware; and

store a second certificate associated with the second product line, wherein the second certificate includes a second public key utilizable to authenticate the second product line firmware.

10. A method, comprising:

manufacturing, by an information handling system manufacturer, a plurality of motherboards configured to be installed in a plurality of information handling system product lines;

respectively installing, by the information handling system manufacturer, a plurality of non-volatile memory media on the plurality of motherboards;

initially storing, at a first time for each of the plurality of motherboards and by the information handling system manufacturer, first product line firmware, associated with a first product line of the information handling system manufacturer, via the plurality of non-volatile memory media for each of the plurality of motherboards, wherein the first product line firmware is stored at the first time when an identity type of the plurality of motherboards is uncommitted;

providing, by the information handling system manufacturer, a first portion of the plurality of motherboards to a first division of the information handling system manufacturer;

providing, by the information handling system manufacturer, a second portion of the plurality of motherboards to a second division of the information handling system manufacturer;

providing, by the information handling system manufacturer, a third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a storage facility;

permanently storing, by the first division, a first information handling system identity type on the first portion of the plurality of motherboards;

installing, by the first division, the first portion of the plurality of motherboards in a first plurality of information handling systems;

permanently storing, by the second division, a second information handling system identity type on the second portion of the plurality of motherboards;

storing, at a second time after the first time for each of the second portion of the plurality of motherboards and by the second division, second product line firmware to replace the first product line firmware of each of the second portion of the plurality of motherboards, associated with a second product line of the information handling system manufacturer, via non-volatile memory media for each of the second portion of the plurality of motherboards, the second product line firmware differing from the first product line firmware; and

installing, by the second division, the second portion of the plurality of motherboards in a second plurality of information handling systems.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving, by the storage facility, a request for a motherboard associated with the first product line; and

permanently storing, by the storage facility, the first information handling system identity type on a motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

shipping, by the storage facility, the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a customer associated with the request for the motherboard associated with the first product line.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving, by the storage facility, a request for a motherboard associated with the second product line;

permanently storing, by the storage facility, the second information handling system identity type on a motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards; and

storing, by the storage facility, the second product line firmware via a non-volatile memory medium of the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

shipping, by the storage facility, the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a customer associated with the request for the motherboard associated with the second product line.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

shipping, by the first division, the first plurality of information handling systems to a first plurality of customers; and

shipping, by the second division, the second plurality of information handling systems to a second plurality of customers.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein a customer of the first plurality of customers is a customer of the second plurality of customers.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

shipping, by the storage facility, a motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards to a customer; and

providing, by the storage facility, an application configured to permanently store the first information handling system identity type or the second information handling system identity type on the motherboard of the third portion of the plurality of motherboards.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

storing, by the information handling system manufacturer, a first certificate associated with the first product line, wherein the first certificate includes a first public key utilizable to authenticate the first product line firmware; and

storing, by the information handling system manufacturer, a second certificate associated with the second product line, wherein the second certificate includes a second public key utilizable to authenticate the second product line firmware.

19. The manufacturing system of claim 1 , wherein a particular information handling system of first plurality of information handling systems is configured to:

enter a system management mode;

identify the first information handling system (IHS) identity type from the non-volatile memory medium;

determine, based at least on the first IHS identity type, a public encryption key from a plurality of public encryption keys;

receive a firmware image that includes new firmware and a signature of the new firmware, the new firmware differing from the initial server IHS firmware;

decrypt, utilizing the public encryption key, the signature of the new firmware to obtain decrypted signature data;

determine a hash value of the new firmware;

determine if the hash value matches the decrypted signature data;

if the hash value does not match the decrypted signature data, provide information indicating that the firmware image will not be installed; and

if the hash value matches the decrypted signature data, install the new firmware.

20. The manufacturing system of claim 19 , wherein the particular information handling system is further configured to:

retrieve the plurality of public encryption keys from a respective plurality of certificates stored by the particular information handling system.

Assignments (9)