Basic input/output system (BIOS) device management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11704197-B2
Application number	US-201916660321-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2019
Priority date	Oct 22, 2019
Publication date	Jul 18, 2023
Grant date	Jul 18, 2023

Abstract

A computing device includes a hardware switch that is activated when a primary Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) of a first BIOS chip of the device fails to load an Operating System (OS) image from an OS partition of a hard drive. The switch passes control to a backup BIOS that executes from a backup BIOS chip. The backup BIOS loads a recovery image from BIOS recovery partition of the hard drive, which causes a reflash application to execute from the recovery image. Reflash application obtains a recovery BIOS from the BIOS recovery partition of the hard drive, reflashes/writes the recovery BIOS onto the first BIOS chip and reboots the device. Following reboot of the device, recovery BIOS loads the OS image from the OS partition, and recovery BIOS becomes the primary BIOS on the first BIOS chip of the device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
executing a backup Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) from a backup BIOS chip on a dual BIOS chip motherboard;
loading, by the backup BIOS, a recovery image from a BIOS recovery partition of a hard drive for a device, wherein loading further includes loading a recovery Operating System (OS) from the BIOS recovery partition and executing the recovery OS causing a reflash application to be loaded by the recovery OS, wherein the recovery OS comprises restrictive resource loading functionality;
executing a reflash application from the recovery image within the recovery OS, wherein executing the backup BIOS further includes activating and passing control by a hardware switch on the device from a primary BIOS chip to the backup BIOS chip when an original primary OS image fails to load a primary OS image from a primary OS partition during a first boot of the device, wherein the hardware switch self-manages when to pass control from the primary BIOS chip to the backup BIOS chip;
obtaining, by the reflash application, a recovery BIOS from the BIOS recovery partition of the hard drive;
flashing, by the reflash application, the recovery BIOS onto a primary BIOS chip of the device as a primary BIOS for the device from the dual BIOS chip motherboard;
rebooting the device; and
processing the method while the device lacks any network connection.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
executing the primary BIOS;
loading, by the primary BIOS, a primary OS image from a primary OS partition of the hard drive; and
executing a primary OS and applications from the primary OS image.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, preventing access to the BIOS recovery partition from processes of the primary OS and from the applications of the primary OS image.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising, executing the primary BIOS from the primary BIOS chip on subsequent reboots of the device.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein executing the primary BIOS further includes iterating back to executing the backup BIOS from the backup BIOS chip during any of the subsequent reboots when the primary OS image fails to load from the primary OS partition and resetting the primary BIOS with the recovery BIOS.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading further includes maintaining the BIOS recovery partition as a secure and hidden partition on the hard drive of the device that is inaccessible to a primary OS image loaded from a primary OS partition of the hard drive.

7. A method, comprising:
detecting on a primary BIOS chip of a device a failure of a primary Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) to load a primary Operating System (OS) image from a primary partition of a hard drive of the device, wherein the primary BIOS chip resides on dual BIOS chip motherboard;
switching, by a hardware switch of the dual BIOS chip motherboard, control on the device from the primary BIOS chip to a backup BIOS chip by loading a recovery OS from a secure partition of the hard drive causing the recovery OS to load and process a reflash application from the secure partition, wherein the recovery OS comprises restrictive resource loading functionality, wherein the hardware switch self-manages when to pass control from the primary BIOS chip to the backup BIOS chip;
executing, by the reflash application, a backup BIOS from the backup BIOS chip that restores the primary BIOS from a recovery BIOS on the secure partition of the hard drive and that reboots the device to provide control back to the primary BIOS chip, wherein the backup BIOS chip resides on the dual BIOS chip motherboard; and
processing the method while the device lacks any network connection.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein executing further includes loading, by the backup BIOS, a recovery image from the secure partition of the hard drive.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein loading further includes processing the reflash application within the recovery OS.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein processing further includes obtaining, by the reflash application, the recovery BIOS from the secure partition.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein obtaining further includes flashing, by the reflash application, the recovery BIOS to the primary BIOS chip and replacing the primary BIOS with the recovery BIOS.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein flashing further includes forcing, by the reflash application, a reboot of the device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein forcing further includes executing the primary BIOS from the primary BIOS chip, wherein the primary BIOS represents the recovery BIOS during the reboot.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein executing the primary BIOS further includes loading, by the primary BIOS, the primary OS image from the primary partition.

15. The method of claim 7 further comprising, processing the method each time the primary BIOS becomes corrupted on the device to replace the primary BIOS with the recovery BIOS.

16. A device, comprising:
a dual Binary Input/Output System (BIOS) chip motherboard comprising a first BIOS chip and a second BIOS chip;
the first BIOS chip comprising a primary BIOS;
the second BIOS chip comprising a backup BIOS;
a hard drive comprising:
a primary partition comprising a primary Operating System (OS) image;
a BIOS recovery partition comprising a recovery image, wherein the recovery image comprises a recovery OS, a reflash application, and a recovery BIOS; and
a hardware switch configured to pass control of a processor from the first BIOS chip to the second BIOS chip when the primary BIOS fails to load the primary OS image from the primary partition during a boot of the device, wherein the hardware switch self-manages when control of the processer is passed from the first BIOS chip to the second BIOS chip;
wherein the backup BIOS when executed from the second BIOS chip is configured to load the recovery OS from recovery image from the BIOS recovery partition causing the recovery OS to load and execute the reflash application, wherein the reflash application is configured to: obtain the recovery BIOS from the BIOS recovery partition, write/flash the recovery BIOS onto the first BIOS chip as a new primary BIOS, and force a reboot of the device;
wherein during the reboot, the new primary BIOS is configured to execute from the first BIOS chip and load the primary OS image from the primary partition;
wherein the device is configured to write/flash the recovery BIOS onto the first BIOS chip as the new primary BIOS and force the reboot while the device lacks or is without any network connection.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the device is a Self-Service Terminal (SST), a Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal, a kiosk, or an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

Assignees

• Ncr Corp

Inventors

• Kleppinger Michael Andrew
• Davis Christopher Robert
• Garner Jeffrey R
• Nova Cynthia D

Classifications

• G06F11/1417 Primary

  Boot up procedures · CPC title

• G06F9/4406

  Loading of operating system · CPC title

• G06F11/1438

  Restarting or rejuvenating · CPC title

• G06F11/1456

  Hardware arrangements for backup · CPC title

• G06F11/1461

  Backup scheduling policy · CPC title