Management engine control system and control method

Abstract

The management engine control system includes a control device and a transistor. The control device is used for outputting a control signal through the first pin position according to a user instruction. A first electrode of the transistor is connected to a first pin of the control device, a second electrode is used for receiving control voltage, and a third electrode is used for being connected to the management engine chip. When the control signal output by the control device is a conduction signal, the current path between the second pole and the third pole of the transistor is conducted, so that the management engine wafer receives the control voltage and is in a first state; when the control signal output by the control device is a turn-off signal, the current path between the second pole and the third pole of the transistor is turned off, so that the management engine wafer is in the second state without receiving the control voltage.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to a management engine control system and a control method. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the past, when updating the basic input / output system (BIOS) of the management engine (ME) of a motherboard, the ME needs to be closed to proceed, and this is usually adjusted manually. In particular, when the entire system is disassembled, it is time-consuming and unpredictable risks such as not restoring the circuit may occur. SUMMARY

[0003] In view of the above, the present application provides a management engine control system and a control method.

[0004] The management engine control system according to an embodiment of the present application comprises a control device and a transistor. The control device is configured to output a control signal through a first pin according to a user instruction. The first pin of the transistor is connected to the first pin of the control device, the second pin of the transistor is configured to receive a control voltage, and the third pin of the transistor is configured to be connected to a management engine chip. When the control signal output by the control device is a conduction signal, the current path between the second pin and the third pin of the transistor is turned on, so that the management engine chip receives the control voltage and is in a first state; when the control signal output by the control device is an off signal, the current path between the second pin and the third pin of the transistor is turned off, so that the management engine chip does not receive the control voltage and is in a second state.

[0005] The management engine control method according to an embodiment of the present application comprises the following steps performed by a control device: obtaining a user instruction; determining whether the user instruction corresponds to a first operation or a second operation; when the user instruction corresponds to the first operation, outputting a conduction signal to the first pin of a transistor; and when the user instruction corresponds to the second operation, outputting an off signal to the first pin of the transistor. When the first pin of the transistor receives the conduction signal, the current path between the second pin and the third pin of the transistor is turned on, so that the management engine chip receives the control voltage and is in a first state, and when the first pin of the transistor receives the off signal, the current path between the second pin and the third pin of the transistor is turned off, so that the management engine chip does not receive the control voltage and is in a second state.

[0006] Through the above structure, the management engine control system and the control method disclosed in the present application control the opening or closing of the ME through the transistor provided on the mainboard to control the voltage, wherein the conduction or shutdown of the current path of the transistor is achieved through the control signal output by the control device. In this way, the control system and the control method of the present application control the management engine chip through the software process combined with the circuit design, without the need for disassembly and manual adjustment of the mainboard shell and other operations, which can improve production efficiency, save labor time, and avoid some unpredictable problems caused by improper operation.

[0007] The above description of the present disclosure and the following description of the embodiments are used to demonstrate and explain the spirit and principles of the present application, and provide further explanation of the claims of the present application. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 A circuit block diagram of a management engine control system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0009] Figure 2 A circuit block diagram of a management engine control system according to another embodiment of the present application.

[0010] Figure 3 A circuit block diagram of a management engine control system according to still another embodiment of the present application.

[0011] Figure 4 A flowchart of a management engine control method according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The detailed features and advantages of the present application are described in detail in the embodiments below, which are sufficient for any person skilled in the art to understand the technical content of the present application and implement it, and any person skilled in the art can easily understand the related purposes and advantages of the present application according to the content disclosed in the present specification, claims and drawings. The following embodiments further illustrate the ideas of the present application, but do not limit the scope of the present application in any way.

[0013] The management engine control system described in the present application can be a combination of specific elements connected on the mainboard of a computer host or server device, and can be included in or combined with the hardware of the computer host or server device. In this document, the prior art that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be appropriately simplified or omitted without affecting the elements that can be implemented according to the present application.

[0014] Reference is made to Figure 1 , Figure 1 A circuit block diagram of a management engine control system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the management engine control system includes a mainboard 10, a management engine 20, a control device 30, and a transistor 40.Figure 1 As shown, the management engine control system 1 comprises a control device 11 and a transistor 12. The control device 11 is configured to output a control signal through a first pin 111 according to a user instruction. The first pole (base B) of the transistor 12 is connected to the first pin 111 of the control device 11, the second pole (collector C) of the transistor 12 is configured to receive a control voltage V D , and the third pole (emitter E) of the transistor 12 is configured to be connected to the management engine (ME) chip 2. When the control signal outputted by the control device 11 is a turn-on signal, the current path between the second pole (collector C) and the third pole (emitter E) of the transistor 12 is turned on, so that the management engine chip 2 receives the control voltage V D and is in a first state; when the control signal outputted by the control device 11 is a turn-off signal, the current path between the second pole (collector C) and the third pole (emitter E) of the transistor 12 is turned off, so that the management engine chip 2 does not receive the control voltage V P and is in a second state.

[0015] In this example, the control device 11 can comprise a BIOS chip provided on a motherboard in a computer host or a server device, and the management engine chip 2 can be a control chip provided on the motherboard. In particular, the management engine control system 1 of the present case can be particularly suitable for controlling and managing the Intel management engine (ME). The Intel management engine is an embedded microcontroller (integrated on some Intel chipsets) running a lightweight microkernel operating system, providing various functions and services for computer systems based on Intel processors. That is, the management engine chip 2 described in the present case can actually also refer to a chipset formed by one or more chips, which is not limited herein.

[0016] In this example, the transistor 12 is a bipolar transistor (BJT), the first pole is the base B, the second pole is the collector C, and the third pole is the emitter E. The base B of the transistor 12 is connected to the control device 11. When the base B of the transistor 12 receives a turn-on signal (such as a high-level signal) from the control device 11, the current path between the collector C and the emitter E of the transistor 12 is turned on, so that the current I P flows through the collector C and the emitter E, and the control voltage is applied to the management engine chip 2. When the base B of the transistor 12 receives a turn-off signal (such as a low-level signal) from the control device 11, the current path between the collector C and the emitter E of the transistor 12 is turned off, so that the current I P does not flow through the collector C and the emitter E, and the control voltage is not applied to the management engine chip 2.

[0017] In other embodiments, the transistor 12 can be implemented by different kinds of elements. For example, the transistor 12 can be a field effect transistor, such as a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET), whose gate can correspond to the base B of the transistor 12, whose drain can correspond to the collector C of the transistor 12, and whose source can correspond to the emitter E of the transistor 12. The rest of the operation is substantially the same as described above, and thus repetitive description is omitted.

[0018] In particular, the first pin 111 of the control device 11 for transmitting the control signal is a General-purpose input / output (GPIO) pin. For example, the first pin 111 can be a GPD9 pin. Specifically, the control device 11 can internally include a register in which the level data of the first pin 111 is stored, such as a data "0" representing a high level and a data "1" representing a low level. According to the data stored in the internal register, the control device 11 can output a low level signal or a high level signal through the first pin 111 to be applied to the base B of the transistor 12 to control the conduction or the cutoff of the current path thereof. When the current path between the collector C and the emitter E of the transistor 12 is turned on, the control voltage V D is applied to the second pin 21 of the management engine chip 2 so that the management engine chip 2 is turned off. For example, the control voltage V D may be a voltage of 3 volts (+3V). The second pin 21 can be a HAD_SDO pin, which can be used to control the state switching of the management engine chip 2.

[0019] Please further refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 which is a circuit block diagram of a management engine control system according to another embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, the configuration among the control device 11, the transistor 12, and the management engine chip 2 is the same as Figure 1 described above, and thus repetitive description is omitted. Figure 2 is intended to exemplarily show the source of the control voltage V D . As Figure 2As shown, the management engine control system 1' can further comprise a power supply 13 and a southbridge chip 14, the power supply 13 is connected to the second pole (collector C) of the transistor 12 through a general input / output pin 141 of the southbridge chip 14, and is used to provide the control voltage. In this example, the power supply 13 can be a power supply in a computer host or a server device, and the southbridge chip 14 can be a platform controller hub (PCH) disposed on a motherboard. For example, the general input / output pin 141 can be another GPD9 pin.

[0020] Please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 A circuit block diagram of a management engine control system according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. In this example, the configuration between the control device 11, the transistor 12 and the management engine chip 2 is as shown in Figure 1 The same, and the repeated description is omitted here. As shown in Figure 3 , the management engine control system 1" can further comprise a jumper cap 15, the jumper cap 15 is connected to the third pole (emitter E) of the transistor 12 at the node N1, and is used to receive another control voltage, so that the management engine chip 2 is controlled to be in the first state. In this example, the means for controlling the management engine chip 2 by the control device 11 and the jumper cap 15 are included at the same time, which facilitates the user to make a selection according to the actual application situation.

[0021] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 2 the Figure 4 , Figure 4 A flowchart of a management engine control method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. As shown in Figure 4 , the management engine control method of this example comprises the following steps: S1: the control device obtains a user instruction; S2: it is judged whether the user instruction corresponds to the operation of turning on or off the ME, if it corresponds to the operation of turning off the ME, step S3 is executed, if it corresponds to the operation of turning on the ME, step S6 is executed; S3: the control device outputs an on signal to the first pole of the transistor through the GPIO pin; S4: the ME is turned off; S5: the ME is updated; S6: the control device outputs an off signal to the first pole of the transistor through the GPIO pin; S7: the ME is turned on. It should be noted that the management engine control method of the present case is mainly for controlling the turning on or off of the ME of the management engine chip, so the step S5 (updating the ME) after the ME is turned off is an optional process.

[0022] In step S1, the user instruction is an instruction that the control device 11 acquires through an extensible firmware interface (EFI shell), such as an OEM instruction or a BIOS control instruction. For example, in an EFI environment, the instruction for turning off the ME can be AfuEfi x64.efi / OEMCMD:0, and the instruction for turning on the ME can be AfuEfi x64.efi / OEMCMD:1. In a Windows environment, the instruction for turning off the ME can be AFUWINx64.EXE / OEMCMD:0, and the instruction for turning on the ME can be AFUWINx64.EXE / OEMCMD:1. In steps S2 to S5, when the BIOS firmware of the control device 11 determines that the user instruction corresponds to the instruction for turning off the ME, the data of the internal register of the control device 11 can be updated with the data "0", and a high-level on signal can be output to the base B of the transistor 12 according to the data of the register. Then, when the base B of the transistor 12 receives the high-level on signal, the current path between the collector C and the emitter E of the transistor 12 can be turned on, so that the control voltage V D is applied to the management engine chip 2 to turn off the ME. When the ME is turned off, the BIOS firmware of the control device 11 can further perform a subsequent update operation on the ME. In addition, when the BIOS firmware of the control device 11 completes the update of the ME, the ME can be re-turned on.

[0023] In steps S6 and S7, when the BIOS firmware of the control device 11 determines that the user instruction corresponds to the instruction for turning on the ME, the data of the internal register of the control device 11 can be updated with the data "1", and a low-level off signal can be output to the base B of the transistor 12 according to the data of the register. Then, when the base B of the transistor 12 receives the low-level off signal, the current path between the collector C and the emitter E of the transistor 12 can be turned off, so that the control voltage V D is not applied to the management engine chip 2 to turn on the ME. Generally, the default value or preset value of the data of the internal register of the control device 11 can be the data "1". That is, the current path of the transistor 12 is in an off state in the default state, so that the ME of the management engine chip 2 is in an on state in the default state. Through the management engine control system and the control method described in the present case, the transistor is turned on in a software manner to turn off the ME to perform a subsequent ME update operation.

[0024] Please refer to Figure 3 Reference Figure 4In the present example, the management engine control method can further comprise receiving another control voltage with the jumper 15 connected to the third pole (emitter E) of the transistor 12 at the node N1 to control the management engine chip 2 to be in the first state, in addition to steps S1 to S7. In the present example, the management engine control method comprises means for controlling the management engine chip 2 with the control device 11 and the jumper 15, so that the user can make a selection according to the actual application situation.

[0025] With the above structure, the management engine control system and the control method disclosed in the present application control the opening or closing of the ME through the transistor provided on the mainboard by voltage, and the conduction or shutdown of the current path of the transistor is achieved through the control signal output by the control device. In this way, the control system and the control method of the present application control the management engine chip through software flow combined with circuit design, without the need for disassembly and manual adjustment of the mainboard shell and other operations, which can improve production efficiency, save labor time, and avoid some unpredictable problems caused by improper operation. In addition, the present application can combine the jumper and the basic input and output chip to provide a technical means for composite control of the management engine chip, so that the user can make a selection according to the actual application situation.

[0026] Although the present application is disclosed with the above-mentioned embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present application. Any changes and modifications made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application shall fall within the scope of the patent protection of the present application. For the scope of protection of the present application, please refer to the appended claims.

[0027]

Symbol Description

[0028] 1, 1', 1": management engine control system

[0029] 11: control device

[0030] 111: first pole

[0031] 12: transistor

[0032] 13: power supply

[0033] 14: south bridge chip

[0034] 141: general input and output pole

[0035] 15: jumper

[0036] 2: management engine chip

[0037] 21: second pole

[0038] B: base

[0039] C: collector

[0040] E: emitter

[0041] V D : control voltage

[0042] I P : current

[0043] N1: node

[0044] S1-S6: steps.

Claims

1. A management engine control system, characterized in that: Include: A control device, configured to output a control signal via a first pin according to a user instruction; and A transistor, wherein a first electrode of the transistor is connected to the first pin of the control device, a second electrode of the transistor is used to receive a control voltage, and a third electrode of the transistor is used to connect to a management engine chip. When the control signal output by the control device is a conduction signal, the current path between the second electrode and the third electrode of the transistor is conducted, so that the management engine chip receives the control voltage and is in the first state; When the control signal output by the control device is a shut-off signal, the current path between the second electrode and the third electrode of the transistor is cut off, so that the management engine chip does not receive the control voltage and is in the second state. 2 . The management engine control system according to claim 1 , wherein the transistor is a bipolar transistor, the first electrode is a base, the second electrode is a collector, and the third electrode is an emitter.

3. The management engine control system according to claim 1, wherein: The invention also comprises a south bridge chip and a power supply. The power supply is connected to the second electrode of the transistor through the general input and output pin of the south bridge chip and is used for providing the control voltage. 4 . The management engine control system according to claim 1 , wherein the first pin of the control device is a general purpose input / output pin.

5. The management engine control system according to claim 1, wherein: The device also includes a jump cap connected to the third electrode of the transistor and used for receiving another control voltage to control the management engine chip to be in the first state. 6 . The management engine control system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device obtains the user command through an eXtensible Firmware Interface (EFI).

7. A management engine control method, characterized in that: Includes control devices to perform: Obtain user instructions; determining whether the user instruction corresponds to a first operation or a second operation; When the user instruction corresponds to the first operation, outputting a conduction signal to the first electrode of the transistor; as well as When the user instruction corresponds to the second operation, a shut-off signal is output to the first electrode of the transistor. When the first electrode of the transistor receives the conduction signal, the current path between the second electrode and the third electrode of the transistor is turned on, so that the management engine chip receives the control voltage and is in the first state, and When the first electrode of the transistor receives the shutdown signal, the current path between the second electrode and the third electrode of the transistor is cut off, so that the management engine chip does not receive the control voltage and is in the second state. 8 . The management engine control method according to claim 7 , wherein the user command is obtained through an eXtensible Firmware Interface (EFI).

9. The management engine control method according to claim 7, wherein: Also includes: A jumper cap receives another control voltage to control the management engine chip to be in the first state, wherein the jumper cap is connected to the third terminal of the transistor.

10. The management engine control method according to claim 7, wherein: Also includes: After the management engine chip receives the control voltage and is in the first state, a refresh operation is performed on the management engine chip.

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