Computer Thermal and Power Policy Customization Without Firmware Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computing systems face challenges in customizing thermal and power policies to meet customer requirements without updating firmware, which is time-consuming, costly, and prone to errors, and requires maintaining separate firmware image builds for each customer.
Innovation Solution
A flexible mechanism that allows customization of thermal and power policies by storing custom data in a firmware storage medium, enabling the microcontroller to validate and update thermal and power control settings without updating the firmware, thus eliminating the need for multiple firmware image builds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If firmware is updated to customize thermal and power policies for each customer, then customization capability is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase due to maintaining separate firmware image builds
Solution Approach 1:
The patent separates thermal and power policy customization data from the firmware binary. Instead of maintaining separate firmware images for each customer, the system segments the customization into independent policy data stored in a firmware storage medium (e.g., EEPROM, flash memory), while the firmware itself remains generic and unchanged.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the customizable thermal and power policy parameters from the firmware image and stores them in a separate firmware storage medium. This extraction eliminates the need to maintain multiple firmware builds, as the core firmware remains identical while customer-specific policies are loaded from storage during system initialization.
2Adaptability or versatility
If firmware is updated to customize thermal and power policies, then customization capability is improved, but time consumption and cost of updates increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-storing thermal and power policy customization data in the firmware storage medium during manufacturing. This allows the generic firmware to quickly load and apply customer-specific policies during system initialization without requiring time-consuming firmware updates for each customization scenario.
3Adaptability or versatility
If firmware is updated to customize thermal and power policies, then customization capability is improved, but error risk during updates increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying by loading thermal and power policy data from a stored template or configuration in the firmware storage medium into runtime memory during system initialization. This copying mechanism allows customization without modifying the firmware binary itself, eliminating the risk of firmware corruption while maintaining full customization capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Example approaches for customization of thermal and power policies in computers, are described. In an example, a microcontroller of a computing system, also referred to as system, validates thermal policy custom data stored in a firmware storage medium of the system, in response to a supply of power to the system. On a successful validation of the thermal policy custom data, thermal control settings is updated with a customized thermal policy included in the thermal policy custom data. In response to initiation of a boot operation of the system, a processor of the system validates power policy custom data stored in the firmware storage medium. In response to a successful validation of the power policy custom data during the boot operation, the processor updates power control settings of the system with a customized power policy included in the power policy custom data.