CN-114925355-B - Intelligent technology integrated during equipment assembly

CN114925355BCN 114925355 BCN114925355 BCN 114925355BCN-114925355-B

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application disclose devices, methods, systems and program products for technical management of hardware components of devices at assembly time. An apparatus has a processor and a memory storing code executable by the processor. The processor obtains a function of the hardware component to be deleted in the hardware component, operates a virtual fuse to delete a data area associated with the hardware component and permanently delete access rights to the function of the hardware component, and indicates a state of the function on the hardware component after operating the virtual fuse to delete the access rights to the function of the hardware component. The embodiment of the application avoids designing and manufacturing products with different physical structures for supporting the enabling and disabling of various functions, and provides personalized hardware function enabling and disabling services for users.

Inventors

JOHN WELDON NICHOLSON
CROMER DARYL C
LOCKER HOWARD
WANG MENGNAN

Assignees

联想（新加坡）私人有限公司
联想（新加坡）私人有限公司

Dates

Publication Date: 20260421
Application Date: 20220329
Priority Date: 20210331

Claims (20)

1. An apparatus, comprising: Processor, and A storage device to store processor-executable code to perform operations comprising: Identifying a function in a hardware component to be deleted from the hardware component; commanding a virtual fuse to first encode a data region associated with operating the function to prevent computational access to the function and subsequently blowing an electronic fuse to prevent electronic access to the hardware component, wherein encoding the data region and blowing the electronic fuse permanently disables the function on the hardware component, and In response to operating the virtual fuse to permanently disable the function on the hardware component, a state is indicated in which the function is permanently disabled on the hardware component.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the virtual fuse is read by a driver of system software.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the firmware of the hardware component has a plurality of data regions, each data region of the plurality of data regions being associated with a single function of the hardware component, the permanently deleted function of the hardware component being a first function and a second function of the hardware component being reserved.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual fuse, when encoding the data region, is to erase the data region of firmware for the function of the hardware component.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual fuse blows a physical fuse in an electronic circuit that controls the function on the hardware component when the electronic fuse is blown.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual fuse: writing no-operation instructions in said data area of firmware related to said function of said hardware component while encoding said data area, or Erasing the data area for the firmware of the function on the hardware component, and When the electronic fuse is blown, a physical fuse in an electronic circuit associated with the function on the hardware component is blown.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the storage device comprises an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory EEPROM device, wherein the EEPROM device is at least partially erased and reprogrammed to delete the data region associated with the function to be deleted from the hardware component.
8. The device of claim 1, wherein the storage device comprises a flash memory that uses standard personal computer PC voltages to erase and reprogram the data area associated with the function to be deleted from the hardware component.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein the virtual fuse comprises a virtual fuse block external to the hardware component having the processor and the memory device.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the external virtual fuse block is maintained separately on a server and separate from the hardware component.
11. A method, comprising: Identifying a function in a hardware component to be deleted from the hardware component; commanding a virtual fuse to first encode a data region associated with operating the function to prevent computational access to the function and subsequently blowing an electronic fuse to prevent electronic access to the hardware component, wherein encoding the data region and blowing the electronic fuse permanently disables the function on the hardware component, and In response to operating the virtual fuse to permanently disable the function on the hardware component, a state is indicated in which the function is permanently disabled on the hardware component.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtual fuse is commanded to first encode the data region to write no-operation instructions to a data region of firmware of the hardware component such that the function of the hardware component is permanently inoperable.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtual fuse is commanded to first encode and erase the data region of firmware for the function of the hardware component.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein commanding the virtual fuse to subsequently blow the electronic fuse comprises blowing a physical fuse in an electronic circuit that operates a data region of the function.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein commanding the virtual fuse to first encode the data region comprises: writing no-operation instructions on the data area of firmware associated with the function of the hardware component, or Erasing the data area for the firmware of the function on the hardware component, and Commanding the virtual fuse to subsequently blow the electronic fuse includes blowing a physical fuse in an electronic circuit associated with the function of the hardware component.
16. The method of claim 11, wherein commanding the virtual fuse to first encode the data region comprises: Erasing EEPROM device, and The EEPROM device is reprogrammed to delete the data region associated with the function to be deleted from the hardware component.
17. The method of claim 11, wherein commanding the virtual fuse to first encode the data region comprises erasing and reprogramming a data region of a flash memory device associated with the function to be deleted from the hardware component using a standard PC voltage.
18. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtual fuse is disposed on a virtual fuse block external to the hardware component having a processor and a memory device, the method further comprising writing no-operation instructions to the data region of firmware of the function to be deleted from the hardware component.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the external virtual fuse block remains on a server that is external to and separate from a device that includes the hardware component.
20. A computer readable storage medium storing program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to: Identifying a function in a hardware component to be deleted from the hardware component; commanding a virtual fuse to first encode a data region associated with operating the function to prevent computational access to the function and subsequently blowing an electronic fuse to prevent electronic access to the hardware component, wherein encoding the data region and blowing the electronic fuse permanently disables the function on the hardware component, and In response to operating the virtual fuse to permanently disable the function on the hardware component, a state is indicated in which the function is permanently disabled on the hardware component.

Description

Intelligent technology integrated during equipment assembly Technical Field The present application relates to computing devices, and more particularly to selective resource management of functionality on hardware components at the time of manufacture. Background Computing devices have various resources on hardware components that are enabled by the firmware and system software of the device. The hardware components are designed to execute programs, run system software, process data, etc. The functionality enabled and disabled on the hardware components creates a base model for the computing device. Disclosure of Invention The embodiments of the present application disclose devices, methods, systems and program products for technical management of hardware components of devices at assembly time. The embodiment of the application avoids designing and manufacturing products with different physical structures for supporting the enabling and disabling of various functions, and provides personalized hardware function enabling and disabling services for users. In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus comprising a processor and a memory device storing code executable by the processor. The processor operates a virtual fuse to obtain a function of the hardware component to be deleted in the hardware component, operates the virtual fuse to delete a data area associated with the hardware component and permanently delete an access right to the function of the hardware component, and indicates a state of the function on the hardware component after operating the virtual fuse to delete the access right to the function of the hardware component. In some embodiments, the virtual fuses are read by a driver of the system software. In some embodiments, the firmware of the hardware component has a plurality of data regions, each data region of the plurality of data regions being associated with a single function of the hardware component, the permanently deleted function of the hardware component being a first function and a second function of the hardware component being reserved. In some embodiments, the virtual fuse will erase the data region for the function-related firmware of the hardware component. In some embodiments, the virtual fuses blow corresponding electronic fuses in electronic circuitry that controls the functions on the hardware component, after which the processor can no longer access the electronic circuitry and firmware of the hardware component. In some embodiments, the virtual fuse writes no operation instructions within the data region of firmware associated with the function of the hardware component, or erases the data region of the firmware associated with the function on the hardware component, and fuses electronic fuses in electronic circuitry associated with the function on the hardware component. In some embodiments, the memory device is an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) device, wherein the EEPROM device is at least partially erased and reprogrammed to delete the data region associated with the function to be deleted. In some embodiments, the storage device includes a flash memory that uses standard personal computer (personal computer, PC) voltages to erase and reprogram the data area associated with the function to be deleted. In some embodiments, the virtual fuse is a virtual fuse block external to the hardware component having the processor and the memory device. In some embodiments, the external virtual fuse block remains on the server alone and separate from the hardware component. In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method comprising the operations of obtaining a function of a hardware component to be deleted in a hardware component, operating a virtual fuse to delete a data area associated with the hardware component and permanently delete access rights to the function of the hardware component, and indicating a state of the function on the hardware component after operating the virtual fuse to delete the access rights to the function of the hardware component. In some embodiments, the method further comprises operating the virtual fuse to write no-operation instructions within a data region of firmware associated with a function of the hardware component such that the function of the hardware component is inoperable. In some embodiments, the method further comprises operating the virtual fuse to erase the data region for firmware associated with the function of the hardware component. In some embodiments, the method further comprises operating the virtual fuse to blow an electronic fuse in an electronic circuit of a data region associated with the function on the hardware component. In some embodiments, the method further comprises operating the virtual fuse by writing no-op instructions in or erasing the data area of firmware associated with the function of the hardware component an