Patent ID: 7512719

Claim:
A method for sharing a dynamically located memory block between a master component and a slave component, the method comprising: allocating the memory block from a volatile memory device, the memory block having a dynamically assigned memory address and location; sharing the memory address of the memory block between a master component executing in an extensible firmware interface environment and a slave component executing within a system management mode, wherein sharing the memory address of the memory block between a master component and a slave component comprises creating by way of the slave component an extensible firmware interface protocol and storing a memory address of one or more system management mode variables in the protocol, retrieving by way of the master component the memory address of the system management mode variable from the extensible firmware interface protocol, using the memory address of the system management mode variable to store the memory address of the memory block within the system management variable by way of the master component, and recognizing the availability of the memory address placed in the system management variable by way of the slave component; using the memory address to access the memory block by way of the master component; using the memory address to access the memory block by way of the slave component; and storing in the memory block the contents of a portion of a non-volatile memory device, wherein using the memory address to access the memory block by way of the master and slave components comprises using the memory address to read from the memory block the stored contents of the non-volatile memory device.