Firmware Update System

A method implemented by a computing platform comprising:

• enumerating hardware resources of the computing platform for which updates to associated firmware are designated for handling through a firmware update system of the computing platform by accessing a data structure configured to supply identifiers assigned to hardware resources selected to employ the firmware update system for firmware updates;
• produce representations of the enumerated hardware resources as plug and play devices managed through device management functionality built-in to an operating system of the computing platform, the device management system configured to enable both firmware updates and device driver updates for the hardware resources, the representations as plug and play devices incorporating the identifiers;
• acquiring through the device management functionality firmware update packages that are applicable to the enumerated hardware resources of the computing platform, the firmware update packages matched to corresponding hardware resources based on the identifiers incorporated with the representations as plug and play devices;
• communicating the firmware update packages that are acquired for execution by system firmware of the platform to install the firmware updates, the firmware update packages targeted to corresponding hardware resources using the identifiers;
• and
• selectively managing installation of the firmware update packages based upon feedback regarding the installation that is supplied by the system firmware to facilitate control of the installation.

A computing platform comprising:

• multiple hardware resources having updateable firmware;
• a resource data structure configured to indicate hardware resources of the multiple hardware resources for which updates to associated firmware are designated for handling through a firmware update system of the computing platform;
• and
• the firmware update system configured to collectively handle updates to updateable firmware for hardware resources indicated by the resource data structure, including:
• accessing the resource data structure to enumerate the indicated hardware resources for which updates to associated firmware are designated for handling through the firmware update system that represents the hardware resources as devices managed through device management functionality built-in to an operating system of the computing platform;
• producing the representations of the enumerated hardware resources as devices managed through the device management functionality, the representations enabling the device management functionality to handle firmware updates in a device driver format along with updates to device drivers;
• determining through the device management functionality firmware update packages that are applicable to the hardware resources by comparing identifiers assigned to the hardware resources via the resource data structure to identifiers contained in firmware update packages available from one or more distribution channels to find matches;
• acquiring through the device management functionality firmware update packages determined to be applicable to the hardware resources;
• extracting payloads from the firmware update packages that contain firmware images to implement the firmware updates for the hardware resources;
• and
• staging the payloads for installation by the system firmware by copying the payloads to a designated storage location.