Automatic switching and deployment of software or firmware based USB4 connection managers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11513808-B2
Application number	US-201916456931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2019
Priority date	Jun 28, 2019
Publication date	Nov 29, 2022
Grant date	Nov 29, 2022

Abstract

Automatic-switching and deployment of software (SW)- or firmware (FW)-based USB4 connection managers (CMs) and associated methods, apparatus, software and firmware. A handshake is defined between BIOS and an operating system (OS) to discover supported CM capability and dynamically switch from a FW CM to a SW CM and visa verse if there is a mismatch. In addition, a mechanism is defined to deploy the correct FW or SW CM driver based on class code, 2-part or 4-part ID. Support for continued USB4 operation during an OS upgrade or downgrade is provided, while ensuring that the best possible CM solution is used based on the advertised platform and OS capability. USB4 controllers support a pass-through mode under which the host controller FW redirects control packets sent between an SW CM and a USB4 fabric, and a FW CM mode under which control packets are communicated between the host controller FW and the USB4 fabric to configure USB4 peripheral devices and/or USB4 hubs in the USB4 fabric.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented by a host platform comprising a Universal Serial Bus 4 (USB4) controller and including a firmware-based (FW) USB4 configuration manager (CM) and a software-based (SW) USB4 CM, the method comprising:
during a first platform boot process,
booting a BIOS of the host platform;
detecting a previous CM setting for the host platform and enabling the FW CM or SW CM based on the previous CM setting, the FW CM or SW CM that is enabled comprising a BIOS-enabled CM;
performing an operating system (OS) handoff from BIOS to an OS boot process;
determining if the OS supports use of the BIOS-enabled CM;
when the OS does not support use of the BIOS-enabled CM,
switching to a CM that is supported by the OS comprising one of the FW CM or SW CM, the CM that is switched to comprising an OS-switched CM; and
updating the previous CM setting;

completing booting of the OS; and

using the OS-switched CM during runtime operation of the host platform.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
during a second platform boot process,
booting the BIOS of the host platform;
detecting a previous CM setting for the host platform and enabling use of the FW CM or SW CM based on the previous CM setting, the FW CM or SW CM that is enabled comprising a BIOS-enabled CM;
performing an operating system (OS) handoff to the OS boot process;
determining if the OS supports use of the BIOS-enabled CM;
when the OS supports use of the BIOS-enabled CM,
completing booting of the OS; and

using the BIOS-enabled CM during runtime operation of the host platform.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the host platform includes an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) component or block and the previous CM setting comprises an operating system capabilities (OSC) bit that is accessed via the BIOS.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the BIOS comprises Universal Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware, and the previous CM setting is stored as an EFI variable.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reconfiguring a host router in the USB4 controller in accordance with the OS-switched CM.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OS-switched CM is the SW CM, the USB4 controller includes host controller firmware, and the USB4 controller is directly or indirectly coupled to a USB4 fabric, further comprising operating the USB4 controller in a pass through operational mode under which configuration layer control packets originating from a SW CM driver associated with the SW CM are redirected by the host controller firmware to the USB4 fabric, and wherein configuration layer control packets originating from the USB4 fabric are redirected by the host controller firmware to the SW CM driver.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OS-switched CM is the FW CM, the USB4 controller includes host controller firmware, and the USB4 controller is directly or indirectly coupled to a USB4 fabric, further comprising operating the USB4 controller in a FW CM operational mode under which configuration layer control packets are forwarded from the host controller firmware to the USB4 fabric, and wherein configuration layer control packets originating from the USB4 fabric are forwarded to the host controller firmware.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
enabling an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to configure the USB4 controller to implement one of a native OS SW CM, a third-party SW CM, or a FM CM; and
in response to launching a CM for the host platform that is different than the CM configured for the USB4 controller,
switching the CM that is launched to the CM configured for the USB4 controller.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OS for the host platform used for a previous boot corresponding to the previous CM configuration is a first version of a Microsoft Windows OS that does not include a SW CM, further comprising:
booting the BIOS of the host platform;
detecting the previous CM setting for the host platform corresponds to the FW CM;
performing an operating system (OS) handoff from BIOS to an OS boot process for a second version of a Microsoft Windows OS comprising an upgrade of the first version of a Microsoft Windows OS that includes a SW CM;
switching the CM to the SW CM;
updating the previous CM setting;
completing booting of the OS; and
using the SW CM during runtime operation of the host platform.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising updating configuration information for the CM configured for the USB4 controller using a 4-part identifier (ID).

11. A host platform comprising:
a System on a Chip (SoC) processor, including,
a plurality of processor cores;
a memory controller;
one or more Input/Output (I/O) interfaces;

memory, communicatively coupled to the memory controller;
a USB4 controller, comprising,
a discrete component communicatively coupled to the SoC processor via at least one I/O interface; or
a USB4 controller block embedded in the SoC processor;

the USB4 controller having a firmware-based (FW) connection manager (CM);
one or more storage devices in which firmware instructions including a BIOS are stored;
one or more storage devices in which software instructions for an operating system (OS) are stored, including software instructions associated with a software-based (SW) CM;
wherein, upon loading of the firmware instructions and software instructions into memory and execution of the firmware instructions and software instructions the host platform is enabled to,
during a first platform boot process,
boot the BIOS;
detect a previous CM setting for the host platform and enable the FW CM or SW CM based on the previous CM setting, the FW CM or SW CM that is enabled comprising a BIOS-enabled CM;
perform an OS handoff from BIOS to an OS boot process;
determining if the OS supports use of the BIOS-enabled CM;
when the OS does not support use of the BIOS-enabled CM,
switch to a CM that is supported by the OS comprising one of the FW CM or SW CM, the CM that is switched to comprising an OS-switched CM; and
update the previous CM setting;

complete booting of the OS; and

use the OS-switched CM during runtime operation of the host platform.

12. The host platform of claim 11 , wherein execution of the firmware instructions and software instructions further enables the host platform to:
during a second platform boot process,
boot the BIOS of the host platform;
detect a previous CM setting for the host platform and enable use of the FW CM or SW CM based on the previous CM setting, the FW CM or SW CM that is enabled comprising a BIOS-enabled CM;
perform an operating system (OS) handoff to the OS boot process;
determine if the OS supports use of the BIOS-enabled CM;
when the OS supports use of the BIOS-enabled CM,
complete booting of the OS; and

use the BIOS-enabled CM during runtime operation of the host platform.

13. The host platform of claim 11 , wherein the host platform includes an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) component or block and the previous CM setting comprises an operating system capabilities (OSC) bit, wherein execution of the firmware instructions further enables the host platform to access the OSC bit.

14. The host platform of claim 11 , wherein the BIOS comprises Universal Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware, and the previous CM setting is stored as an EFI variable, wherein execution of the firmware instructions further enables the host platform to access the previous CM setting via the EFI variable.

15. The host platform of claim 11 , wherein execution of a

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Raghav Vinay
• Sethi Prashant
• Gough Robert
• Rozic Reuven
• Soloveychik Uri

Classifications

• G06F1/3215

  Monitoring of peripheral devices · CPC title

• G06F9/4411

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

• G06F13/382 Primary

  using universal interface adapter · CPC title

• G06F2213/0042

  Universal serial bus [USB] · CPC title

• G06F9/4406

  Loading of operating system · CPC title