Connected devices information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10585674-B2
Application number	US-201616078473-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2016
Priority date	Aug 22, 2016
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

An example system includes a processor. The system also includes a peripheral interface that includes a controller communicatively coupled to the processor. The controller is to request information from a plurality of devices connected to the peripheral interface prior to the processor requesting the information. The controller is to provide the information to the processor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a processor;
a peripheral interface comprising a controller communicatively coupled to the processor, the controller to:
transmit a request for information to a plurality of devices connected to the peripheral interface prior to the processor requesting the information;
receive the information from the plurality of devices in response to the request transmitted to the plurality of devices, wherein the controller is to store the information in a compressed form; and
provide the information to the processor, wherein the information provided to the processor is the compressed form of the information.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to provide the information, the controller is to store the information in the compressed form in a storage location accessible to the processor.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute boot instructions, and wherein the boot instructions when executed cause the processor to retrieve the information.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the boot instructions are to cause the processor to initialize system components in parallel with the controller sending the request to the plurality of devices, and wherein the boot instructions are to cause the processor to initialize a handler to retrieve the information.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to request the information in response to initially receiving power.

6. A method, comprising:
powering on a peripheral interface comprising a controller;
in response to the powering on, the controller retrieving information about a plurality of devices connected to the peripheral interface prior to communication with a central processing unit, the controller retrieving the information about the plurality of devices by transmitting a request to each of the plurality of devices and receiving the information in response to the request transmitted to each of the plurality of devices;
the controller storing the information in a location accessible to the central processing unit, wherein storing the information comprises storing the information in a compressed format; and
providing the information in the compressed format to the central processing unit.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising setting a status bit to indicate to the central processing unit that the information is ready to be read.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the request is transmitted over a configuration channel to each of the plurality of devices.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein retrieving the information about the plurality of devices comprises detecting a presence of each device of the plurality of devices, and transmitting the request to each of the plurality of devices in response to detecting the presence.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
check a status bit of a controller without previously requesting information from the controller, wherein a peripheral interface comprises the controller, and wherein the controller is to set the status bit prior to the processor requesting information from the controller; and
based on the status bit being set, retrieve, from the controller, information in a compressed form about a plurality of devices connected to the peripheral interface, the information retrieved by the controller from the plurality of devices in response to the controller sending a request to each of the plurality of devices and storing the information in the compressed form.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to retrieve information about each device of the plurality of devices in turn until the processor receives information indicating a device is not present.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to retrieve additional information about a connected device based on the information previously retrieved.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to, based on a device being newly connected after the retrieving of the information, retrieve information from the controller about the newly connected device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to boot while the controller collects the information from the plurality of devices.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to transmit the request comprising a plurality of messages sent to respective devices of the plurality of devices.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to transmit the request over a configuration channel to the plurality of devices.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to transmit the request for the information to the plurality of devices without receiving an indication from the processor to obtain the information from the plurality of devices.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to detect presence of the plurality of devices connected to the peripheral interface, and in response to detecting the presence of the plurality of devices connected to the peripheral interface, transmit the request to the plurality of devices.

Assignees

• Hewlwtt Packard Dev Company L P
• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Piwonka Mark A
• Durham Michael R
• Nguyen Nam H

Classifications

• G06F13/102

  where the program performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver (G06F13/105 takes precedence; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52) · CPC title

• G06F13/12 Primary

  using hardware independent of the central processor, e.g. channel or peripheral processor · CPC title

• G06F7/504

  in bit-serial fashion, i.e. having a single digit-handling circuit treating all denominations after each other · CPC title

• G06F9/4411

  Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers · CPC title

• G06F13/126

  and has means for transferring I/O instructions and statuses between control unit and main processor · CPC title