Firmware update

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11157265-B2
Application number	US-201715838085-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2017
Priority date	Dec 11, 2017
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

Example techniques for updating a firmware, such as BIOS, are disclosed. Upon receiving an update, it is determined whether a secondary non-volatile memory is defined for the firmware. If the secondary non-volatile memory is defined, the update may be written in the secondary non-volatile memory. Further, to apply the update, a warm reboot of the firmware may be performed. The warm reboot causes an OS of the computing system to restart, while preserving data associated with applications running on the computing system.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for performing a firmware update, the method comprising:
receiving, by a firmware interface of a computing system, a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) update of a BIOS firmware of the computing system, wherein the BIOS firmware is stored in a primary memory of the computing system, wherein the firmware interface temporarily stores the BIOS update;
in response to receiving the BIOS update by the firmware interface, determining, by a processor of the computing system, whether a secondary memory of the computing system is defined for storing the BIOS update for the primary memory of the computing system, the secondary memory being an auxiliary memory physically separate from the firmware interface and the primary memory of the computing system;
in response to a determination that the secondary memory is not defined for storing the BIOS firmware updates for the primary memory, writing, by the processor, the BIOS update directly from the firmware interface into the primary memory;
in response to a determination that the secondary memory is defined for storing the BIOS update for the primary memory, writing, by the processor, the BIOS update from the firmware interface into the secondary memory without interrupting operations of applications that are currently running on the computing system and setting a reboot flag to indicate to the processor to perform a warm reboot of the computing system; and
performing, by the processor, the warm reboot of the computing system, including applying, by the processor, the BIOS update stored in the secondary memory to the BIOS firmware in the primary memory, without shutting down the computing system and without interrupting the operations of the applications that are currently running on the computing system, wherein the warm reboot of the computing system is a process to restart an operating system (OS) of the computing system without shutting down the computing system while preserving data associated with the applications currently running on the computing system.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising creating partitions in the secondary memory to define a portion to store the BIOS update.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein performing the warm reboot of the computing system comprises:
authenticating a BIOS firmware image corresponding to the BIOS update; and
shadowing the BIOS firmware image from the secondary non volatile memory to apply the BIOS update when the BIOS firmware image is authenticated.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises shadowing another BIOS firmware image from the primary memory when the BIOS firmware image in the secondary memory is not authenticated.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising receiving a request for cold reboot of the computing system, wherein the cold reboot comprises:
determining whether any firmware update is pending in the secondary memory;
updating the BIOS firmware in the primary memory in response to a determination that a firmware update is pending in the secondary memory; and
upon updating, powering off the computing system.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein writing the BIOS update from the firmware interface into the secondary memory is performed through an OS driver interface.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein determining whether the secondary memory is defined for storing the BIOS firmware updates for the primary memory comprises:
receiving, by the firmware interface, secondary memory characteristics for the firmware interface to identify a portion of the secondary memory to which the BIOS update is to be written.

8. A computing system comprising:
a processor;
a primary non-volatile memory storing a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) firmware and a secondary non-volatile memory configured to store BIOS updates for the primary non-volatile memory, wherein the secondary non-volatile memory is physically separate from the primary non-volatile memory;
a firmware interface to receive a BIOS update from an external source and temporarily store the BIOS update; and
a storage storing instructions that are executable to cause the processor to:
in response to receipt of the BIOS update by the firmware interface, determine whether the secondary non-volatile memory is defined for storing the BIOS update for the primary non-volatile memory;
in response to a determination that the secondary non-volatile memory is not defined for storing the BIOS update for the primary non-volatile memory, write the BIOS update directly from the firmware interface into the primary non-volatile memory;
in response to a determination that the secondary non-volatile memory is defined for storing the BIOS update for the primary non-volatile memory, write the BIOS update from the firmware interface into the secondary non-volatile memory without interrupting operations of applications that are currently running on the computing system and set a reboot flag to indicate to the processor to perform a warm reboot of the computing system; and
perform the warm reboot of the computing system, including applying the BIOS update stored in the secondary non-volatile memory to the BIOS firmware in the primary non-volatile memory, without shutting down the computing system and without interrupting the operations of the applications that are currently running on the computing system, wherein the warm reboot is a process to restart an operating system (OS) of the computing system without shutting down the computing system while preserving data associated with the applications currently running on the computing system.

9. The computing system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the secondary non-volatile memory includes a partition to define a portion for receiving the BIOS update.

10. The computing system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein, prior to applying the BIOS update, the instructions cause the processor to:
authenticate a BIOS firmware image corresponding to the BIOS update in the secondary non-volatile memory; and
shadow the BIOS firmware image from the secondary non-volatile memory to apply the BIOS update when the BIOS firmware image is authenticated.

11. The computing system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to shadow another BIOS firmware image from the primary non-volatile memory when the BIOS firmware image in the secondary non-volatile memory is not authenticated.

12. The computing system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform a cold reboot of the computing system upon receiving a cold reboot request, and wherein to perform the cold reboot, the processor is to:
determine whether any firmware update is pending in the secondary non-volatile memory;
in response to a determination that a firmware update is pending in the secondary non-volatile memory, update the BIOS firmware in the primary non-volatile memory in accordance with the firmware update; and
upon updating, power off the computing system.

13. The computing system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to write the BIOS update through an OS driver interface.

14. The computing system as claimed in claim 8 , wherein to determine whether the secondary non-volatile memory is defined for storing the BIOS update for the primary non-volatile memory, the processor is to:
receive secondary non-volatile memory characteristics to identify a portion of the secondary non-volatile memory to which the BIOS update is to be written.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium stori

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Bulusu Mallik
• Bhimanadhuni Ramakoti R
• Mysore Shantamurthy Ravi

Classifications

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F2221/033

  Test or assess software · CPC title

• G06F8/656

  while running · CPC title

• G06F21/572

  Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS] · CPC title

• G06F9/442

  Shutdown · CPC title