Abstract:
Methods and apparatus relating to pre-OS (pre Operating System) image rewriting to provide cross-architecture support, security introspection, and/or performance optimization are described. In an embodiment, logic rewrites a non-native firmware interface driver into a native firmware interface driver in response to a determination that sufficient space is available in an integrity cache storage device to store the native firmware interface driver. The logic rewrites the non-native firmware interface driver into the native firmware interface driver by performing one or more of its operations during operating system runtime. Other embodiments are also claimed and described.
Abstract:
A method and system for validating components during a booting process of a computing device are described herein. The method can include the steps of detecting a power up signal and in response to detecting the power up signal, progressively determining whether software components of the computing device are valid. If the software components are determined to be valid, the computing device may be permitted to move to an operational state. If, however, at least some of the software components are determined to be not valid, the computing device may be prevented from moving to the operational state. In one arrangement, if the computing device is prevented from moving to the operational state, corrective action can be taken in an effort to permit the computing device to move to the operational state.
Abstract:
An example processor includes a plurality of processing core components, one or more memory interface components, and a management component, wherein the one or more memory interface components are each shared by the plurality of processing core components, and wherein the management component is configured to assign each of the plurality of processing core components to one of a plurality of system images.
Abstract:
This disclosure is directed to use of shared initialization and configuration vectors, which are delivered to processing cores in a multi-core processor using packets. An initialization core may include reset logic that may read initialization and configuration vectors from a centralized storage location, which may be on a die containing the processing cores (e.g., a fuse, etc.), off the die (e.g., in volatile memory, flash memory, etc.), or a combination of both. The initialization core may then generate packets to transmit the initialization and configuration vectors to processing cores that await initialization (e.g., following a reset). In some instances, the initialization and configuration vector information may be shared by two or more cores of a same type.
Abstract:
In some embodiments, a PPM interface for a computing platform may be provided with functionality to facilitate, to an OS through the PPM interface, firmware performance data.
Abstract:
The present invention relates to a platform power management scheme. In some embodiments, a platform provides a relative performance scale using one or more parameters to be requested by an OSPM system.
Abstract:
Memory channel training parameters are function of electrical characteristics of memory devices, processor(s) and memory channel(s). Training steps can be skipped if the BIOS can determine that the memory devices, motherboard and processor have not changed since the last boot. Memory devices contain a serial number for tracking purposes and most motherboards contain a serial number. Many processors do not provide a mechanism by which the BIOS can track the processor. Described herein are techniques that allow the BIOS to track a processor and detect a swap without violating privacy/security requirements.
Abstract:
Techniques for quickly and reliably accessing a memory device (e.g., a NAND Flash memory) with adaptive interface timing are described. For memory access with adaptive interface timing, the NAND Flash memory is accessed at an initial memory access rate, which may be the rate predicted to achieve reliable memory access. Error correction coding (ECC), which is often employed for NAND Flash memory, is then used to ensure reliable access of the NAND Flash. For a read operation, one page of data is read at a time from the NAND Flash memory, and the ECC determines whether the page read from the NAND Flash memory contains any errors. If errors are encountered, then a slower memory access rate is selected, and the page with error is read again from the NAND Flash memory at the new rate. The techniques may be used to write data to the NAND Flash memory.