Patents by Inventor Mark W. Shutt

Mark W. Shutt has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10067771
    Abstract: In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include receiving at a management controller of an information handling system a request for remote boot of the information handling system from a remote target communicatively coupled to a network interface of a host system comprising the network interface and a host system processor communicatively coupled to the network interface and the management controller, configuring the network interface for remote boot via the network interface, and issuing an instruction to reboot the host system, wherein receipt of the request for remote boot, configuration of the network interface for remote boot, and issuance of the instruction to reboot the host system are performed without an intervening boot of the host system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Vigneswaran Ponnusamy, Raja Tamilarasan, Yogesh Prabhakar Kulkarni, Mark W. Shutt, Sundar Dasar
  • Publication number: 20170235928
    Abstract: Systems and methods for enabling license management in pre-boot environments are described. In some embodiments, a method may include: loading, by a Basic System Input/Output (BIOS) of an Information Handling System (IHS), prior to the booting of any Operating System (OS) by the IHS, a license manager Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) driver; and executing, by the BIOS, a command received from a component or device coupled to the IHS following a license management protocol provided by the UEFI driver, where the command is to obtain or verify license data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2016
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Applicant: Dell Products, L.P.
    Inventors: Satyajit Dipakbhai Desai, Sanjeev Dambal, Krishna P. Mohan, Sruthi Reddy Mothukupally, Mark W. Shutt, Wayne R. Weilnau
  • Publication number: 20170228237
    Abstract: In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include receiving at a management controller of an information handling system a request for remote boot of the information handling system from a remote target communicatively coupled to a network interface of a host system comprising the network interface and a host system processor communicatively coupled to the network interface and the management controller, configuring the network interface for remote boot via the network interface, and issuing an instruction to reboot the host system, wherein receipt of the request for remote boot, configuration of the network interface for remote boot, and issuance of the instruction to reboot the host system are performed without an intervening boot of the host system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: August 10, 2017
    Applicant: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Vigneswaran Ponnusamy, Raja Tamilarasan, Yogesh Prabhakar Kulkarni, Mark W. Shutt, Sundar Dasar
  • Patent number: 9715423
    Abstract: A method and an information handling system (IHS) perform server boot failure recovery by disabling failed devices and/or failed functions within functional devices. According to one aspect, a processor-executed fault isolation module (FIM) initiates calls to detected devices during a binding phase. The FIM identifies devices corresponding to successfully completed calls as operational devices, and identifies devices corresponding to failed calls as failed devices. Following completion of the binding phase, the FIM initiates calls, via a pre-boot application, to individual protocol functions of each operational device identified during the binding phase. If a first protocol call to a first operational device is successfully completed, the FIM identifies a protocol function(s) corresponding to the first protocol call as an operational function(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2017
    Assignee: Dell Products, L.P.
    Inventors: Sundar Dasar, Yogesh Prabhakar Kulkarni, Mark W. Shutt
  • Publication number: 20170199776
    Abstract: A method and an information handling system (IHS) perform server boot failure recovery by disabling failed devices and/or failed functions within functional devices. According to one aspect, a processor-executed fault isolation module (FIM) initiates calls to detected devices during a binding phase. The FIM identifies devices corresponding to successfully completed calls as operational devices, and identifies devices corresponding to failed calls as failed devices. Following completion of the binding phase, the FIM initiates calls, via a pre-boot application, to individual protocol functions of each operational device identified during the binding phase. If a first protocol call to a first operational device is successfully completed, the FIM identifies a protocol function(s) corresponding to the first protocol call as an operational function(s).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2016
    Publication date: July 13, 2017
    Applicant: DELL PRODUCTS, L.P.
    Inventors: SUNDAR DASAR, YOGESH PRABHAKAR KULKARNI, MARK W. SHUTT
  • Publication number: 20170147329
    Abstract: In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, an information handling system may include a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon a basic input/output system (BIOS) comprising a program of instructions executable by the processor for initializing one or more information handling resources of the information handling system during boot up or power on of the information handling system. The memory may comprise a plurality of firmware volumes comprising at least a first firmware volume having stored therein one or more components of the BIOS having a first expected update frequency and a second firmware volume having stored therein one or more components of the BIOS having a second expected update frequency less than that of the first expected update frequency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2015
    Publication date: May 25, 2017
    Applicant: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Mark W. Shutt, Wei Liu
  • Patent number: 9626181
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented to execute firmware and to inject executable code images into the executing firmware that are extracted from a code injection module (CIM) so as to execute the injected code and/or binary images from the firmware implementation environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Wei G. Liu, James E. Dailey, Mark W. Shutt, Keungsik Kim, Ganesh K. Viswanathan
  • Publication number: 20170010884
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented to execute firmware and to inject executable code images into the executing firmware that are extracted from a code injection module (CIM) so as to execute the injected code and/or binary images from the firmware implementation environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2015
    Publication date: January 12, 2017
    Inventors: Wei G. Liu, James E. Dailey, Mark W. Shutt, Keungsik Kim, Ganesh K. Viswanathan
  • Patent number: 9189631
    Abstract: Firmware authentication in Information Handling Systems (IHSs) are disclosed. In some embodiments, an IHS may include a controller having a memory, the memory configured to store a plurality of firmware volumes, each of the plurality of firmware volumes including a plurality of firmware files. The IHS may also include a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) operably coupled to the controller, the BIOS having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the BIOS to authenticate two or more firmware files within a given one of the plurality of firmware volumes using a single digital signature. In another embodiment, a method may include creating a firmware volume, adding a plurality of firmware files to the firmware volume, and creating a digital signature based upon at least one of the plurality of firmware files, where the digital signature, upon being authenticated, allows a BIOS to load any of the plurality of firmware files.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: Dell Inc.
    Inventors: Wei G. Liu, Mark W. Shutt
  • Patent number: 9164775
    Abstract: A method of performing an out of band (OOB) job at a host is disclosed. A boot option query is transmitted from the host to a service processor. It is then determined if a current boot option is an OOB job. At least one of a job type and a device type associated with the OOB job is identified if the current boot option is an OOB job. An Option ROM and a driver relating to the identified job type and the identified device type is then selectively loaded and the OOB job is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Mark W. Shutt, Raja Tamilarasan, Sumeet Kukreja, Sundar Dasar, Yogesh P. Kulkarni
  • Publication number: 20150143094
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer-readable medium are disclosed for a boot mapping system. More specifically, in certain embodiments, BIOS of an information handling system includes a boot mapping system which allows the information handling system to boot up regardless of a boot order change in a network mode of operation or a BIOS boot order change. Additionally, in certain embodiments, the boot mapping system further includes a service location protocol (SLP) which locates operating system images based on the type of network protocol selected for deployment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2013
    Publication date: May 21, 2015
    Applicant: DELL PRODUCTS L.P.
    Inventors: Charles E. Rose, Mark W. Shutt, Sumanth Vidyadhara, Terry W. Liles
  • Publication number: 20140365755
    Abstract: Firmware authentication in Information Handling Systems (IHSs) are disclosed. In some embodiments, an IHS may include a controller having a memory, the memory configured to store a plurality of firmware volumes, each of the plurality of firmware volumes including a plurality of firmware files. The IHS may also include a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) operably coupled to the controller, the BIOS having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the BIOS to authenticate two or more firmware files within a given one of the plurality of firmware volumes using a single digital signature. In another embodiment, a method may include creating a firmware volume, adding a plurality of firmware files to the firmware volume, and creating a digital signature based upon at least one of the plurality of firmware files, where the digital signature, upon being authenticated, allows a BIOS to load any of the plurality of firmware files.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2013
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventors: Wei G. Liu, Mark W. Shutt
  • Publication number: 20140281474
    Abstract: Systems and method for providing unattended out of band job execution are disclosed. The systems and methods may include scheduling a job for execution by a host system, determining an attribute value, the attribute value associated a component of the host system, and determining a shadow attribute value, wherein the shadow attribute value is configured to identify a user interaction associated with a configuration change to the component.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2013
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Inventors: Mark W. Shutt, Sundar Dasar, Yogesh Prabhkar Kulkarni
  • Patent number: 8819708
    Abstract: An information handling system includes a firmware management infrastructure. The firmware management infrastructure includes a database that identifies a correspondence between members of a set of device paths and members of a set of correlatable identifier strings. A device path represents a platform-specific reference to an object at the information handling system and a correlatable identifier string represents a platform independent reference to the object. Programs can access the database using an application programming interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Mark W. Shutt, Anand P. Joshi, Austin Bolen, Patrick O. Boyd, Samer El Haj Mahmoud, William C. Edwards, III
  • Publication number: 20140201511
    Abstract: A method of performing an out of band (OOB) job at a host is disclosed. A boot option query is transmitted from the host to a service processor. It is then determined if a current boot option is an OOB job. At least one of a job type and a device type associated with the OOB job is identified if the current boot option is an OOB job. An Option ROM and a driver relating to the identified job type and the identified device type is then selectively loaded and the OOB job is performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2013
    Publication date: July 17, 2014
    Inventors: Mark W. Shutt, Raja Tamilarasan, Sumeet Kukreja, Sundar Dasar, Yogesh P. Kulkarni
  • Publication number: 20120180076
    Abstract: An information handling system includes a firmware management infrastructure. The firmware management infrastructure includes a database that identifies a correspondence between members of a set of device paths and members of a set of correlatable identifier strings. A device path represents a platform-specific reference to an object at the information handling system and a correlatable identifier string represents a platform independent reference to the object. Programs can access the database using an application programming interface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2011
    Publication date: July 12, 2012
    Applicant: DELL PRODUCTS, LP
    Inventors: Mark W. Shutt, Anand P. Joshi, Austin Bolen, Patrick O. Boyd, Samer El Haj Mahmoud, William C. Edwards, III
  • Patent number: 7895472
    Abstract: A system and method of a basic input output system (BIOS) test system are disclosed. According to an aspect, a basic input output system (BIOS) test system can include a BIOS test manager configured to enable BIOS testing of multiple information handling systems within a test environment. The BIOS test system can also include a local test harness driver operable to be coupled to the remote BIOS test manager to receive test routines, and a test buffer configured to receive a test routine from the BIOS test manager. The test routine can further be executed using a test engine integrated as a part of a BIOS of a particular information handling system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Natalie N. Quach, Mark W. Shutt, Peter Cloney, Robert J. Volentine
  • Publication number: 20090292949
    Abstract: A system and method of a basic input output system (BIOS) test system are disclosed. According to an aspect, a basic input output system (BIOS) test system can include a BIOS test manager configured to enable BIOS testing of multiple information handling systems within a test environment. The BIOS test system can also include a local test harness driver operable to be coupled to the remote BIOS test manager to receive test routines, and a test buffer configured to receive a test routine from the BIOS test manager. The test routine can further be executed using a test engine integrated as a part of a BIOS of a particular information handling system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2008
    Publication date: November 26, 2009
    Applicant: DELL PRODUCTS, LP
    Inventors: Natalie N. Quach, Mark W. Shutt, Peter Cloney, Robert J. Volentine
  • Patent number: 7613861
    Abstract: A system and method of obtaining error data within an information handling system is disclosed. According to one aspect, an interrupt handling system can include a first system management interrupt handler operable to initiate access to a first interrupt event message. The interrupt handling system can also include a first resource operable to generate the first interrupt event message. In one form, the first interrupt event message can identify a first interrupt event occurrence detectable by the first system management interrupt handler. The interrupt handling system can further include a memory including a first allocated memory location configured to store the first interrupt event message using the first system management interrupt handler. In one form, the first system management interrupt handler can be responsive to a second system management interrupt handler request to read the first interrupt event message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2009
    Assignee: Dell Products, LP
    Inventors: Madhusudhan Rangarajan, Mark W. Shutt
  • Publication number: 20090049221
    Abstract: A system and method of obtaining error data within an information handling system is disclosed. According to one aspect, an interrupt handling system can include a first system management interrupt handler operable to initiate access to a first interrupt event message. The interrupt handling system can also include a first resource operable to generate the first interrupt event message. In one form, the first interrupt event message can identify a first interrupt event occurrence detectable by the first system management interrupt handler. The interrupt handling system can further include a memory including a first allocated memory location configured to store the first interrupt event message using the first system management interrupt handler. In one form, the first system management interrupt handler can be responsive to a second system management interrupt handler request to read the first interrupt event message.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2007
    Publication date: February 19, 2009
    Applicant: DELL PRODUCTS, LP
    Inventors: Madhusudhan Rangarajan, Mark W. Shutt