Thermal simulation for management controller development projects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11175708-B2
Application number	US-201615208017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 12, 2016
Priority date	Jul 12, 2016
Publication date	Nov 16, 2021
Grant date	Nov 16, 2021

Abstract

Certain aspects direct to systems and methods for platform simulation for development projects of a management controller, such as a baseboard management controller (BMC). The management controller stores a firmware module and a simulator module. The firmware module is supposed to receive thermal output signals from cooling zones of a computing device. The simulator module is a software implemented module used to simulate the cooling zones, by generating the thermal output signals of the cooling zones based on configuration data stored in a data store, and sending the simulated thermal output signals to the firmware module for development and testing purposes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a management controller, comprising a processor and a storage device storing computer executable code, wherein the computer executable code comprises:
a firmware module for the management controller; and
a simulator module configured to simulate a simulated host computing device for the management controller and at least one simulated device connected to the simulated host computing device and encompassed by at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device, wherein the management controller is not communicatively connected to an actual host computing device simulated by the simulator module;
wherein the firmware module and the simulator module are both stored in the storage device of the management controller and executable at the processor of the management controller;
wherein the firmware module, when executed at the processor, is configured to receive at least one thermal output signal from the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device or from the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device, and to perform a test using the at least one thermal output signal;
wherein the simulator module, when executed at the processor, is configured to simulate thermal features of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device and the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device by:
generating the at least one thermal output signal based on configuration data of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device or the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device; and
sending the at least one thermal output signal to the firmware module;

wherein the at least one simulated device connected to the simulated host computing device comprises:
a simulated computer tachometer sensor;
a simulated universal serial bus (USB) interface; and
a simulated Host Embedded Controller Interface (HECI).

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the management controller is a baseboard management controller (BMC).

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the firmware module comprises a library module storing a plurality of library programs for the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the simulator module comprises:
a data store storing the configuration data of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device or the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device; and
at least one thermal simulator sub-module, each configured to simulate the thermal features of one of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device or one of the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device by:
receiving a request from one of the library programs of the library module;
generating the at least one thermal output signal as a response to the request for the thermal features of the at least one cooling zone or the at least one simulated device based on the configuration data stored in the data store; and
sending the response to the library module.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the configuration data comprises:
at least one thermal algorithm for the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device;
at least one master profile of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device; and
at least one parameter profile corresponding to at least one parameter of the at least one simulated device connected to the simulated host computing device, room or air flow path within each of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device, and an environment external to the cooling zone.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the at least one thermal algorithm comprises at least one heat flow out algorithm, at least one heat buildup algorithm, and at least one zone temperature algorithm.

7. The system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein a value of each of the parameters is a static value, a random value within a range, a value obtained from one or more patterns, a value derived from a function of another set of variables, a value set by an administrator, a time-based value, or a value picked from a socket server.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one simulated device connected to the simulated host computing device further comprises:
a simulated voltage sensor;
a simulated Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) device;
a simulated power supply unit (PSU);
a simulated complex programmable logic device (CPLD);
a simulated field-replaceable unit (FRU);
a simulated Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) controller;
a simulated RAID-on-chip (ROC);
a simulated network interface card (NIC);
a simulated satellite management controller;
a simulated interface connected to the simulated satellite management controller; and
a simulated system interface.

9. A method for thermal simulation for development projects of a management controller, the method comprising:
providing a simulator module in the management controller to simulate thermal features of at least one cooling zone of a simulated host computing device for the management controller and at least one simulated device connected to the simulated host computing device and encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device, wherein the management controller is not communicatively connected to an actual host computing device simulated by the simulator module;
generating, by the simulator module, at least one thermal output signal based on configuration data of the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device or the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device;
sending, by the simulator module, the at least one thermal output signal to a firmware module of the management controller, such that the firmware module receives the at least one thermal output signal from the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device or from the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device; and
upon receiving the at least one thermal output signal from the simulated host computing device or from the at least one simulated device encompassed by the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device, performing, by the firmware module, a test using the at least one thermal output signal,
wherein the firmware module and the simulator module are both stored in a storage device of the management controller and executable at a processor of the management controller;
wherein the at least one simulated device connected to the simulated host computing device comprises:
a simulated computer tachometer sensor;
a simulated universal serial bus (USB) interface; and
a simulated Host Embedded Controller Interface (HECI).

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the management controller is a baseboard management controller (BMC).

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the firmware module comprises a library module storing a plurality of library programs for the at least one cooling zone of the simulated host computing device, and the simulator module comprises:
a data store storing the configuration d

Assignees

• American Megatrends Int Llc

Inventors

• Thomas Satheesh
• Parthiban Baskar
• Thangavel Senathipathy
• Govindasamy Neelavathi
• Moorthy Thamarai Selvan

Classifications

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title