Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to an approach to discover new devices added to a computer system through dynamic reconfiguration. More particularly, the present disclosure provides an approach that discovers and configures such devices. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In some system environments, when new devices are added to a partition via Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR), the operating system (OS) executes code to discover these devices and configure them. Configuration may include, for example, loading a device driver and making the device available for use by applications. In the AIX™ operating system this is accomplished by running a particular command (the “cfgmgr” command). The drawback to executing this command is that it processes all device configuration methods to look for new devices. In partitions with a lot of devices, this can take a very long time (minutes to hours). This can result in a lengthy delay before the newly added device can be utilized by users and system applications. 
     SUMMARY 
     An approach is provided in which a device is detected when it has been added to an operating system partition. The detecting occurs during a dynamic reconfiguration process, and the device is associated with a device type. A parent device is identified that corresponds to the added device. The identifying of the parent device is performed during the dynamic reconfiguration process and the identification of the parent device is based on the device type of the added device with the identified parent device corresponding to a parent device name. A unit address corresponding to the added device is retrieved and this retrieved unit address and the identified parent device name are passed to a configuration manager process. The added device is then configured based on the identified parent device name. 
     The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity, simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other aspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present invention, as defined solely by the claims, will become apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forth below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a data processing system in which the methods described herein can be implemented; 
         FIG. 2  provides an extension of the information handling system environment shown in  FIG. 1  to illustrate that the methods described herein can be performed on a wide variety of information handling systems which operate in a networked environment; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing steps taken to identify a device added to an operating system partition and to retrieve parent device data; 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart showing steps taken by a configuration manager to execute a parent configuration method and identify child device data that matches the device added to the operating system partition; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing steps taken when matching child device data is identified and a child configuration method is obtained and invoked to configure the added device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Certain specific details are set forth in the following description and figures to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the invention. Certain well-known details often associated with computing and software technology are not set forth in the following disclosure, however, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the various embodiments of the invention. Further, those of ordinary skill in the relevant art will understand that they can practice other embodiments of the invention without one or more of the details described below. Finally, while various methods are described with reference to steps and sequences in the following disclosure, the description as such is for providing a clear implementation of embodiments of the invention, and the steps and sequences of steps should not be taken as required to practice this invention. Instead, the following is intended to provide a detailed description of an example of the invention and should not be taken to be limiting of the invention itself. Rather, any number of variations may fall within the scope of the invention, which is defined by the claims that follow the description. 
     The following detailed description will generally follow the summary of the invention, as set forth above, further explaining and expanding the definitions of the various aspects and embodiments of the invention as necessary. To this end, this detailed description first sets forth a computing environment in  FIG. 1  that is suitable to implement the software and/or hardware techniques associated with the invention. A networked environment is illustrated in  FIG. 2  as an extension of the basic computing environment, to emphasize that modern computing techniques can be performed across multiple discrete devices. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates information handling system  100 , which is a simplified example of a computer system capable of performing the computing operations described herein. Information handling system  100  includes one or more processors  110  coupled to processor interface bus  112 . Processor interface bus  112  connects processors  110  to Northbridge  115 , which is also known as the Memory Controller Hub (MCH). Northbridge  115  connects to system memory  120  and provides a means for processor(s)  110  to access the system memory. Graphics controller  125  also connects to Northbridge  115 . In one embodiment, PCI Express bus  118  connects Northbridge  115  to graphics controller  125 . Graphics controller  125  connects to display device  130 , such as a computer monitor. 
     Northbridge  115  and Southbridge  135  connect to each other using bus  119 . In one embodiment, the bus is a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus that transfers data at high speeds in each direction between Northbridge  115  and Southbridge  135 . In another embodiment, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus connects the Northbridge and the Southbridge. Southbridge  135 , also known as the I/O Controller Hub (ICH) is a chip that generally implements capabilities that operate at slower speeds than the capabilities provided by the Northbridge. Southbridge  135  typically provides various busses used to connect various components. These busses include, for example, PCI and PCI Express busses, an ISA bus, a System Management Bus (SMBus or SMB), and/or a Low Pin Count (LPC) bus. The LPC bus often connects low-bandwidth devices, such as boot ROM  196  and “legacy” I/O devices (using a “super I/O” chip). The “legacy” I/O devices ( 198 ) can include, for example, serial and parallel ports, keyboard, mouse, and/or a floppy disk controller. The LPC bus also connects Southbridge  135  to Trusted Platform Module (TPM)  195 . Other components often included in Southbridge  135  include a Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller, a Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC), and a storage device controller, which connects Southbridge  135  to nonvolatile storage device  185 , such as a hard disk drive, using bus  184 . 
     ExpressCard  155  is a slot that connects hot-pluggable devices to the information handling system. ExpressCard  155  supports both PCI Express and USB connectivity as it connects to Southbridge  135  using both the Universal Serial Bus (USB) the PCI Express bus. Southbridge  135  includes USB Controller  140  that provides USB connectivity to devices that connect to the USB. These devices include webcam (camera)  150 , infrared (IR) receiver  148 , keyboard and trackpad  144 , and Bluetooth device  146 , which provides for wireless personal area networks (PANs). USB Controller  140  also provides USB connectivity to other miscellaneous USB connected devices  142 , such as a mouse, removable nonvolatile storage device  145 , modems, network cards, ISDN connectors, fax, printers, USB hubs, and many other types of USB connected devices. While removable nonvolatile storage device  145  is shown as a USB-connected device, removable nonvolatile storage device  145  could be connected using a different interface, such as a Firewire interface, etcetera. 
     Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) device  175  connects to Southbridge  135  via the PCI or PCI Express bus  172 . LAN device  175  typically implements one of the IEEE .802.11 standards of over-the-air modulation techniques that all use the same protocol to wireless communicate between information handling system  100  and another computer system or device. Optical storage device  190  connects to Southbridge  135  using Serial ATA (SATA) bus  188 . Serial ATA adapters and devices communicate over a high-speed serial link. The Serial ATA bus also connects Southbridge  135  to other forms of storage devices, such as hard disk drives. Audio circuitry  160 , such as a sound card, connects to Southbridge  135  via bus  158 . Audio circuitry  160  also provides functionality such as audio line-in and optical digital audio in port  162 , optical digital output and headphone jack  164 , internal speakers  166 , and internal microphone  168 . Ethernet controller  170  connects to Southbridge  135  using a bus, such as the PCI or PCI Express bus. Ethernet controller  170  connects information handling system  100  to a computer network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), the Internet, and other public and private computer networks. 
     While  FIG. 1  shows one information handling system, an information handling system may take many forms. For example, an information handling system may take the form of a desktop, server, portable, laptop, notebook, or other form factor computer or data processing system. In addition, an information handling system may take other form factors such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming device, ATM machine, a portable telephone device, a communication device or other devices that include a processor and memory. 
     The Trusted Platform Module (TPM  195 ) shown in  FIG. 1  and described herein to provide security functions is but one example of a hardware security module (HSM). Therefore, the TPM described and claimed herein includes any type of HSM including, but not limited to, hardware security devices that conform to the Trusted Computing Groups (TCG) standard, and entitled “Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Specification Version 1.2.” The TPM is a hardware security subsystem that may be incorporated into any number of information handling systems, such as those outlined in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 2  provides an extension of the information handling system environment shown in  FIG. 1  to illustrate that the methods described herein can be performed on a wide variety of information handling systems that operate in a networked environment. Types of information handling systems range from small handheld devices, such as handheld computer/mobile telephone  210  to large mainframe systems, such as mainframe computer  270 . Examples of handheld computer  210  include personal digital assistants (PDAs), personal entertainment devices, such as MP3 players, portable televisions, and compact disc players. Other examples of information handling systems include pen, or tablet, computer  220 , laptop, or notebook, computer  230 , workstation  240 , personal computer system  250 , and server  260 . Other types of information handling systems that are not individually shown in  FIG. 2  are represented by information handling system  280 . As shown, the various information handling systems can be networked together using computer network  200 . Types of computer network that can be used to interconnect the various information handling systems include Local Area Networks (LANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the Internet, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), other wireless networks, and any other network topology that can be used to interconnect the information handling systems. Many of the information handling systems include nonvolatile data stores, such as hard drives and/or nonvolatile memory. Some of the information handling systems shown in  FIG. 2  depicts separate nonvolatile data stores (server  260  utilizes nonvolatile data store  265 , mainframe computer  270  utilizes nonvolatile data store  275 , and information handling system  280  utilizes nonvolatile data store  285 ). The nonvolatile data store can be a component that is external to the various information handling systems or can be internal to one of the information handling systems. In addition, removable nonvolatile storage device  145  can be shared among two or more information handling systems using various techniques, such as connecting the removable nonvolatile storage device  145  to a USB port or other connector of the information handling systems. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing steps taken to identify a device added to an operating system partition and to retrieve parent device data. Processing commences at  300  whereupon, at step  310 , the process makes the newly added device available to the partition by including data pertaining to the newly added device to the device tree. At step  320 , the resource type of the newly added device is checked. At step  325 , the dynamic reconfiguration process identifies the parent device based on the type of device that was added to the system. The parent device data is then retrieved from Object Data Manager (ODM) data store  330 . 
     A decision is made as to whether the added device type is a “slot” device (decision  340 ). If the newly added device has a device type indicating that the device is a slot device, then decision  340  branches to the “yes” branch whereupon, at step  345 , the parent of the newly added device is deemed to be the system bus (e.g., sysplanar0, etc.). 
     On the other hand, if the added device type does not indicate that the added device is a slot device, then decision  340  branches to the “no” branch whereupon a decision is made as to whether the device&#39;s type indicates that the device is a virtual slot device (decision  350 ). If the newly added device has a device type indicating that the device is a virtual slot device, then decision  350  branches to the “yes” branch whereupon, at step  355 , the parent of the newly added device is deemed to be a virtual bus (e.g., vio0, etc.). 
     On the other hand, if the added device type does not indicate that the added device is a virtual slot device, then decision  350  branches to the “no” branch whereupon a decision is made as to whether the device&#39;s type indicates that the device is a PCI hot plug slot device (decision  360 ). If the newly added device has a device type indicating that the device is a PCI hot plug slot device, then decision  360  branches to the “yes” branch whereupon, at step  365 , the parent of the newly added device is deemed to be the PCI bus that corresponds to the slot where the newly added device was added to the system. 
     After the parent device has been identified as discussed in steps  325  through  365 , the unit address of the newly added device is extracted from the device tree. At predefined process  380 , the identified parent device and the retrieved unit address are used by the configuration manager to configure the newly added device (see  FIG. 4  and corresponding text for processing details). 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart showing steps taken by a configuration manager to execute a parent configuration method and identify child device data that matches the device added to the operating system partition. This configuration manager process is called by predefined process  380  in the flowchart shown on  FIG. 3 . In  FIG. 4 , the configuration manager process is shown commencing at  400  whereupon, at step  405 , the configuration manager is invoked by providing the unit address and parent name of the device that is being added to the system. For example, using a command with parameters such as “cfgmgr-l &lt;parent_name&gt;-c &lt;unit_address&gt;-r”, etc., where &lt;parent_name&gt; is the name (identifier) of the parent device and &lt;unit_address&gt; is the unit address that corresponds to the newly added device. 
     At step  410 , object data manager (ODM) data that corresponds to the parent device (&lt;parent_name&gt;) is retrieved from ODM data store  330 . The ODM data identifies a configuration method that corresponds to the parent device. At step  415 , the identified configure method is invoked, as shown in device configure method  420 . Device configure method  420 , in this case configuring the parent device, commences at  425  with the invocation being to configure the parent (&lt;parent_name&gt;) device. At step  430 , the configure method identifies (finds) child devices that correspond to the parent device. At step  435 , data pertaining to the identified child devices are added to ODM data store  330  if such child device data is not yet stored in the ODM data store. At step  440 , the parent configure method returns a list of one or more child device names to the configuration manager process. 
     At step  450 , the configuration manager process receives the child device names returned from the parent device configure method and, at step  455 , the received child device names are parsed. At step  470 , the first returned child device name is selected. At step  475 , ODM data pertaining to the selected child device name is retrieved from ODM data store  330 . The data pertaining to the child device includes the child device address and the configure method that is used to configure the child device. At step  480 , the child device address from the ODM data is compared with the unit address of the newly added device. In one embodiment, the unit address of the newly added device was provided to the configuration manager as an argument when the configuration manager was invoked. 
     A decision is made as to whether the child device address from the ODM data for the selected child device matches the unit address of the newly added device (decision  485 ). If the addresses do not match, then decision  485  branches to the “no” branch whereupon a decision is made as to whether there are additional device names to process (decision  490 ). If there are more device names to process, then decision  490  branches to the “yes” branch which loops back to select the next child device name (step  470 ) and process it as outlined above. If there are no more child device names to process, then decision  490  branches to the “no” branch whereupon processing returns at  499 . Returning to decision  485 , if the child device address from the ODM data for the selected child device name matches the unit address of the newly added device, then decision  485  branches to the “yes” branch whereupon, at predefined process  495 , the match is handled (see  FIG. 5  and corresponding text for processing details) after which processing returns at  499 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart showing steps taken when matching child device data is identified and a child configuration method is obtained and invoked to configure the added device. Processing commences at  500  whereupon, at step  515 , the process invokes the configure method pertaining to the newly added device, the process being retrieved from ODM data store  330  as shown and described in  FIG. 4 . 
     Device configure method  520 , in this case configuring the child device, commences at  525  with the invocation being to configure the newly added device (&lt;name&gt;). At step  530 , the configure method identifies (finds) any child devices that correspond to the newly added device. At step  535 , data pertaining to the identified child devices are added to ODM data store  330  if such child device data is not yet stored in the ODM data store. At step  540 , the configure method returns a list of one or more child device names to the configuration manager process with each of the child devices being children of the newly added device. 
     At step  550 , the configuration manager process receives the child device names returned from the configure method corresponding to the newly added device and, at step  555 , the received child device names are parsed. A decision is made as to whether there are any child device names that pertain to the newly added device (decision  560 ). If there are no child devices that pertain to the newly added device, then decision  560  branches to the “no” branch whereupon processing returns to the calling routine at  565 . 
     On the other hand, if there are child devices pertaining to the newly added device, decision  560  branches to the “yes” branch whereupon, at step  570 , the first returned child device name is selected. At step  575 , ODM data pertaining to the selected child device name is retrieved from ODM data store  330 . The data pertaining to the child device includes the child device address and the configure method that is used to configure the child device. At step  580 , the child device address from the ODM data is compared with the unit address of the newly added device. In one embodiment, the unit address of the newly added device was provided to the configuration manager as an argument when the configuration manager was invoked. 
     A decision is made as to whether the child device address from the ODM data for the selected child device matches the unit address of the newly added device (decision  585 ). If the addresses do not match, then decision  585  branches to the “no” branch whereupon a decision is made as to whether there are additional device names to process (decision  590 ). If there are more device names to process, then decision  590  branches to the “yes” branch which loops back to select the next child device name (step  570 ) and process it as outlined above. If there are no more child device names to process, then decision  590  branches to the “no” branch whereupon processing returns at  599 . Returning to decision  585 , if the child device address from the ODM data for the selected child device name matches the unit address of the newly added device, then decision  585  branches to the “yes” branch whereupon, at predefined process  595 , the match is recursively handled using the routine shown in  FIG. 5  (with the routine now identifying child devices of the selected child device). The routine shown in  FIG. 5  can then be recursively called by successive generations of child devices. When processing of the child device is complete, processing returns at  599 . 
     One of the preferred implementations of the invention is a client application, namely, a set of instructions (program code) or other functional descriptive material in a code module that may, for example, be resident in the random access memory of the computer. Until required by the computer, the set of instructions may be stored in another computer memory, for example, in a hard disk drive, or in a removable memory such as an optical disk (for eventual use in a CD ROM) or floppy disk (for eventual use in a floppy disk drive). Thus, the present invention may be implemented as a computer program product for use in a computer. In addition, although the various methods described are conveniently implemented in a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by software, one of ordinary skill in the art would also recognize that such methods may be carried out in hardware, in firmware, or in more specialized apparatus constructed to perform the required method steps. Functional descriptive material is information that imparts functionality to a machine. Functional descriptive material includes, but is not limited to, computer programs, instructions, rules, facts, definitions of computable functions, objects, and data structures. 
     While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that, based upon the teachings herein, that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention and its broader aspects. Therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope all such changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scope of this invention. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is solely defined by the appended claims. It will be understood by those with skill in the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim element is intended, such intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such limitation is present. For non-limiting example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim elements. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim element by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containing only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an”; the same holds true for the use in the claims of definite articles.

Technology Category: 3