Low-Power Pre-Boot Operations Using Hybrid Cores
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current information handling systems face inefficiencies in pre-boot operations due to the need for multiple reboots, which consume power and reduce productivity, especially in battery-powered systems where critical updates are restricted at low battery levels, leading to inconvenience and security risks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a lightweight embedded operating system (EOS) that acts as a single portal for all pre-boot operations, allowing multiple tasks to be executed without rebooting, using a hybrid boot-strap protocol to switch between high-performance and high-efficiency processor cores based on attributes like power and battery level, reducing power consumption and reboot time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple reboots are performed to execute different pre-boot modules, then all pre-boot tasks can be completed, but power consumption increases and battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple pre-boot module executions into a single boot cycle by implementing a pre-boot runtime environment that can load and execute different pre-boot modules sequentially without requiring system reboots. This merging of operations eliminates the need for multiple power-intensive boot cycles while maintaining the ability to perform diverse pre-boot tasks such as diagnostics, recovery, and firmware updates.
Solution Approach 2:
The pre-boot runtime environment enables continuous execution of multiple pre-boot modules within a single boot session, allowing the system to transition between different pre-boot tasks without interruption or reboot. This continuity eliminates the harmful reboot cycles while ensuring all necessary pre-boot operations are completed in an uninterrupted sequence.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple reboots are performed to execute different pre-boot modules, then all pre-boot tasks can be completed, but system availability to users decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple pre-boot module executions into a single boot cycle, allowing users to access and execute multiple pre-boot tasks (diagnostics, recovery, firmware updates) without the system becoming unavailable through repeated reboots. This consolidation maintains full task capability while ensuring continuous system availability for user operations.
Solution Approach 2:
By enabling continuous execution of multiple pre-boot modules within one boot session, the system maintains uninterrupted availability to users. Users can sequentially access different pre-boot functions without experiencing the productivity loss associated with multiple reboot cycles, thereby maintaining both task versatility and system availability.
3Reliability
If firmware updates are restricted at low battery charge levels, then power failure corruption is prevented, but critical updates cannot be applied causing inconvenience and security risks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a pre-boot runtime environment as an intermediary layer between the firmware update process and the power management constraints. This intermediary can monitor battery charge levels, predict sufficient power availability, and conditionally enable firmware updates even at low battery levels by ensuring power requirements are met during the update process, thereby maintaining both reliability and accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary assessment of battery charge levels and power availability before initiating firmware updates. By evaluating power conditions in advance and preparing appropriate power management measures, the system can safely allow critical firmware updates at low battery levels while preventing power failure corruption, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and ease of operation.
4Use of energy by moving object
If a lightweight embedded operating system is used as a single portal, then power consumption is reduced, but system complexity must be managed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into distinct functional layers: a lightweight embedded operating system for pre-boot operations and the full operating system for user operations. This segmentation allows the lightweight EOS to handle power-intensive pre-boot tasks efficiently without requiring the full OS to be loaded, thereby reducing overall power consumption while managing complexity through clear functional separation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically transitions between the lightweight embedded operating system and the full operating system based on operational requirements. The lightweight EOS is activated during pre-boot operations to minimize power consumption, then hands off to the full OS for user operations, creating a dynamic architecture that adapts to different operational states and balances power efficiency with functional capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A basic input/output system (BIOS) may load an embedded operating system (EOS), and the light-weight EOS may operate as a single captive portal for all pre-boot operations. With a single captive portal, the EOS may provide a multi-task environment to facilitate quicker execution of multiple pre-boot tasks within a single environment to reduce a number of reboots. In some embodiments, power consumption by performing the tasks within the EOS may be reduced by executing operations using a low-power core of an information handling system, such as a “little” core of a system on chip (SoC) having multiple “big” and “little” cores or a hybrid core of an information handling system. More generically, the EOS may execute on one or both of a first processor core and second processor core of an information handling system, in which the first and second processor cores are configured differently.