Method and apparatus to permit external access to internal configuration registers
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsJohn P. Lee, Atul Kwatra, Aniruddha P. Joshi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Access to internal configuration registers on a computer system's chipset using an external micro-controller is provided. A SMB configuration read command including a register address may be received from an external micro-controller. Access to an internal bus may be requested from a bus arbiter. If internal bus access is granted, the SMB configuration read command may be forwarded to a device including the identified register address using the internal bus. In response to the SMB configuration read command, configuration register values from the device may be received. The configuration register values may be forwarded to the external micro-controller.
Claims18
An apparatus comprising:
- a SMB controller to access PCI configuration registers responsive to a read request from an external micro-controller.
A system for accessing peripheral configuration registers, comprising:
- an external bus interface coupled to an external micro-controller using an external system management bus;
- an internal bus;
- and
- a system management bus controller coupled to the external bus interface and the internal bus, wherein responsive to a SMB configuration read command including a configuration register address from the external micro-controller, the controller to send the SMB configuration read command to a configuration register of a peripheral device identified by the configuration register address using the internal bus, and wherein the controller to receive configuration register values for the identified configuration register from the peripheral device in response to the SMB configuration read command and to forward the configuration register values to the external micro-controller.
A method comprising;
- receiving a SMB configuration read command including a register address from an external micro-controller;
- requesting access to an internal bus from a bus arbiter;
- if internal bus access is granted, forwarding the SMB configuration read command to a device including register address using the internal bus;
- responsive to the SMB configuration read command, receiving configuration register values from the device;
- and
- forwarding the configuration register values to the external micro-controller.
A system management bus controller coupled to an external micro-controller and an internal bus, wherein the system management bus controller provides the external micro-controller access to configuration registers of a plurality of peripheral devices connected to a chipset using the internal bus.
A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of executable instructions, the plurality of instructions comprising instructions to:
- receive a SMB configuration read command including a configuration register address from an external micro-controller;
- request access to an internal bus from a bus arbiter;
- forward the SMB configuration read command to a configuration register of a peripheral device identified by the configuration register address using the internal bus when bus access is granted;
- responsive to the SMB configuration read command, receive configuration register values for the identified configuration register from the peripheral device;
- and
- forward the configuration register values to the external micro-controller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.