US 9,710,254 B2 · Replacing an accelerator firmware image without operating system reboot

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to updating a firmware image on a coherent hardware accelerator concurrently with executing operations on the coherent hardware accelerator. According to one embodiment, while executing accelerator-enabled operations on the coherent hardware accelerator, a system stores a firmware update package in a local memory on the coherent hardware accelerator. Once the firmware update package is stored in local memory on the coherent hardware accelerator, the system restarting the coherent hardware accelerator by pausing the execution of at least a first operation initiated on the coherent hardware accelerator and applying the firmware update package to the firmware image on the coherent hardware accelerator. Once the firmware update package is applied to the coherent hardware accelerator, the system resumes the operation on the coherent hardware accelerator.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code configured to perform a function to update a firmware image on a coherent hardware accelerator concurrently with executing operations on the coherent hardware accelerator, the function comprising:
while executing a set of operations on the coherent hardware accelerator, storing a firmware update package in a local memory on the coherent hardware accelerator;
restarting the coherent hardware accelerator by:
pausing the execution of at least a first operation initiated on the coherent hardware accelerator;
and
applying the firmware update package to the firmware image on the coherent hardware accelerator;
and
while resuming the paused operation on the coherent hardware accelerator, querying a configuration of the updated coherent hardware accelerator and making the configuration available to an operating system for discovery and use in one or more subsequent operations.

5 more elements

A system comprising:

a processor;
and
a memory storing one or more instructions which, when executed by the processor, performs a function to update a firmware image on a coherent hardware accelerator concurrently with executing operations on the coherent hardware accelerator, the function comprising:
while executing a set of operations on the coherent hardware accelerator, storing a firmware update package in a local memory on the coherent hardware accelerator;
restarting the coherent hardware accelerator by:
pausing the execution of at least a first operation initiated on the coherent hardware accelerator;
and
applying the firmware update package to the firmware image on the coherent hardware accelerator;
and
while resuming the paused operation on the coherent hardware accelerator, querying a configuration of the updated coherent hardware accelerator and making the configuration available to an operating system for discovery and use in one or more subsequent operations.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Replacing an accelerator firmware image without operating system reboot

Life of this patent

Replacing an accelerator firmware image without operating system reboot

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20