Providing a function of a basic input/output system (BIOS) in a privileged domain
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsValiuddin Y. Ali, Jose Paulo Xavier Pires, James M. Mann, Boris Balacheff, Chris I. Dalton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In some examples, a privileged domain includes a function of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). A request to access the function of the BIOS is routed to the privileged domain. The privileged domain determines whether to execute the function based on identifying at least one selected from among a source of the request and a context of the request.
Claims19
A method of an electronic device, comprising:
- receiving a request to invoke a function of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS);
- routing the request to a privileged domain that includes the function of the BIOS, wherein the request is routed to the privileged domain by a virtual BIOS without passing through a virtual machine monitor;
- determining, by the privileged domain, whether to execute the function based on identifying at least one selected from among a source of the request and a context of the request;
- and
- in response to determining that the function is to be executed, accessing the function in the privileged domain to execute the function, wherein executing the function is performed in a trusted runtime environment provided by the privileged domain without entering a system management mode (SMM).
An article comprising at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause an electronic device to:
- generate, by an entity, a request to access a function of the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS);
- and
- route, by a virtual BIOS, the request to a privileged domain that includes the function of the BIOS, wherein the request is routed to the privileged domain by the virtual BIOS without passing through a virtual machine monitor, wherein the virtual machine monitor is without any virtual BIOS functionality, and the privileged domain is started by the virtual machine monitor and is separate from the virtual machine monitor.
An electronic device comprising:
- at least one processor;
- an entity to issue a request to access a function of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS);
- a virtual machine monitor executable on the at least one processor;
- and
- a privileged domain to be invoked by the virtual machine monitor, and the privileged domain separate from the virtual machine monitor, wherein the privileged domain includes the function of the BIOS, and wherein the request from the entity is to be routed by a virtual BIOS to the privileged domain without passing through the virtual machine monitor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.