System and method for facilitating wireless communication during a pre-boot phase of a computing device

Abstract

A system, device, and method for facilitating wireless communications during a pre-boot phase of a computing device includes establishing a communications interface between a unified extensible firmware interface executed on the computing device and a wireless transceiver of the computing device during a pre-boot phase of the computing device. An OOB processor of the computing device processes data communications between the unified extensible firmware interface and the wireless communication circuit during the pre-boot phase by reformatting the data communications between wired and wireless communication standards.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computing device comprising:
 an in-band processor;   a wireless transceiver;   an out-of-band (OOB) processor to (i) establish a communications interface between a unified extensible firmware interface of the computing device and the wireless transceiver during a pre-boot phase of the computing device and (ii) convert, during the pre-boot phase, data communications between the unified extensible firmware interface and the wireless transceiver from one of a wired communication standard or a wireless communication standard to the other one of the wired communication standard or the wireless communication standard.   
     
     
         22 . The computing device of  claim 21 , further comprising a point-to-point interconnect, wherein the unified extensible firmware interface is to communicate with the OOB processor over the point-to-point interconnect. 
     
     
         23 . The computing device of  claim 21 , wherein the wireless transceiver is incorporated in the OOB processor. 
     
     
         24 . The computing device of  claim 21 , wherein to establish the communication interface comprises to load a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) driver to facilitate serial communications between the unified extensible firmware and the OOB processor. 
     
     
         25 . The computing device of  claim 21 , wherein to convert the data communications comprises to:
 receive data communications formatted according to the wired communication standard from the unified extensible firmware interface; and   reformat the data communications according to the wireless communication standard.   
     
     
         26 . The computing device of  claim 21 , wherein to convert the data communications comprises to:
 receive data communications formatted according to the wireless communication standard from the wireless transceiver; and   reformat the data communications according to the wired communication standard.   
     
     
         27 . The computing device of  claim 21 , wherein the OOB processor is further to receive data communications from the unified extensible firmware interface with a serial hardware interface of the OOB processor. 
     
     
         28 . The computing device of  claim 27 , wherein to receive the data communications comprises to receive the data communications over a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus with the OOB processor. 
     
     
         29 . The computing device of  claim 27 , wherein to receive the data communications comprises to receive data communications from the unified extensible firmware interface with a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) device of the OOB processor. 
     
     
         30 . The computing device of  claim 21 , further comprising removing the communication interface prior to the loading of an operating system on the computing device. 
     
     
         31 . One or more machine readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing device to:
 establish a communications interface between a unified extensible firmware interface and a wireless transceiver of the computing device during a pre-boot phase of the computing device; and   convert, by an out-of-band (OOB) processor and during the pre-boot phase, data communications between the unified extensible firmware interface and the wireless transceiver from one of a wired communication standard or a wireless communication standard to the other one of the wired communication standard or the wireless communication standard.   
     
     
         32 . The one or more machine readable storage media of  claim 31 , wherein to convert the data communications comprises to communicate the data communications between the unified extensible firmware interface and the OOB processor over a point-to-point interconnect of the computing device. 
     
     
         33 . The one or more machine readable storage media of  claim 31 , wherein to establish the communication interface comprises to load a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) driver to facilitate serial communications between the unified extensible firmware and the OOB processor. 
     
     
         34 . The one or more machine readable storage media of  claim 31 , wherein to convert the data communications comprises to:
 receive data communications formatted according to the wired communication standard from the unified extensible firmware interface; and   reformat the data communications according to the wireless communication standard.   
     
     
         35 . The one or more machine readable storage media of  claim 31 , wherein to convert the data communications comprises to:
 receive data communications formatted according to the wireless communication standard from the wireless transceiver; and   reformat the data communications according to the wired communication standard.   
     
     
         36 . A method comprising:
 establishing a communications interface between a unified extensible firmware interface and a wireless transceiver of a computing device during a pre-boot phase of the computing device; and   converting, by an out-of-band (OOB) processor of the computing device and during the pre-boot phase, data communications between the unified extensible firmware interface and the wireless transceiver from one of a wired communication standard or a wireless communication standard to the other one of the wired communication standard or the wireless communication standard.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein converting the data communications comprises communicating the data communications between the unified extensible firmware interface and the OOB processor over a point-to-point interconnect of the computing device. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein establishing the communication interface comprises loading a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) driver to facilitate serial communications between the unified extensible firmware and the OOB processor. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein converting the data communications comprises to:
 receiving data communications formatted according to the wired communication standard from the unified extensible firmware interface; and   reformatting the data communications according to the wireless communication standard.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein converting the data communications comprises to:
 receiving data communications formatted according to the wireless communication standard from the wireless transceiver; and   reformatting the data communications according to the wired communication standard.