Generic transport layer mechanism for firmware communication

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• issuing, by a processing device, a queue request for a communication application protocol;
• communicating said queue request from a single Generic Transport Driver that supports a plurality of different communication protocols to a Generic Transport Facility via a Generic Transport Passthrough;
• identifying and instantiating a matching firmware service;
• and
• communicating completion of said queue request to the communication application protocol;
• placing a command request from the communication application protocol;
• communicating said command request from the single Generic Transport Driver to the Generic Transport Facility via the Generic Transport Passthrough;
• identifying and instantiating a matching firmware service;
• processing the command;
• and
• communicating completion of said command to the communication application protocol;
• wherein said computer system comprises:
• an operating system instance with the single Generic Transport Driver supporting all dedicated communication application protocols for all applications in the operating system instance;
• a firmware service connected to the Generic Transport Facility via a Generic Firmware Service Interface, the Generic Transport Facility representing a generic transport layer endpoint for all firmware services ;
• and
• a virtual machine with a Generic Transport Passthrough wherein the single Generic Transport Driver of the operating system instance exchanges communication protocol data with the Generic Transport Facility of the firmware component via the Generic Transport Passthrough Facility, the Generic Transport Passthrough providing a translation layer for all application protocols, wherein the Generic Transport Passthrough intercepts response to the communication protocol data and determines whether the response is a data completion, releasing all assigned resources, or otherwise if the response is a queue element completion continuing data transfer.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method, the method comprising:

• issuing a queue request for a communication application protocol;
• communicating said queue request from a single Generic Transport Driver that supports a plurality of different communication protocols to a Generic Transport Facility via a Generic Transport Passthrough;
• identifying and instantiating a matching firmware service;
• communicating completion of said queue request to the communication application protocol;
• placing a command request from the communication application protocol;
• communicating said command request from the single Generic Transport Driver to the Generic Transport Facility via the Generic Transport Passthrough;
• identifying and instantiating a matching firmware service;
• processing the command;
• and
• communicating completion of said command to the communication application protocol;
• wherein said computer system comprises:
• an operating system instance with the single Generic Transport Driver supporting all dedicated communication application protocols for all applications in the operating system instance;
• a firmware service connected to the Generic Transport Facility via a Generic Firmware Service Interface, the Generic Transport Facility representing a generic transport layer endpoint for all firmware services;
• and
• a virtual machine with a Generic Transport Passthrough wherein the single Generic Transport Driver of the operating system instance exchanges communication protocol data with the Generic Transport Facility of the firmware component via the Generic Transport Passthrough Facility, the Generic Transport Passthrough providing a translation layer for all application protocols;
• wherein the Generic Transport Passthrough intercepts response to the communication protocol data and determines whether the response is a data completion, releasing all assigned resources, or otherwise if the response is a queue element completion continuing data transfer.