21.1.1 Implementing Driver Binding Protocol

An ATA host controller driver follows the UEFI driver model, so the image entry point of a ATA host controller driver installs the Driver Binding Protocol instance on the image handle. All three of the services in the Driver Binding Protocol-Supported(), Start(), and Stop()-must be implemented by a ATA host controller driver.

21.1.1.1 Supported()

The Supported() function tests to see if a given controller handle is an ATA controller the driver knows how to manage. In this function, an ATA host controller driver checks to see if the EFI_DEVICE_PATH_PROTOCOL and EFI_PCI_IO_PROTOCOL are present to ensure the handle that is passed in represents a PCI device. In addition, an ATA host controller driver checks the ClassCode, VendorId, and DeviceId from the device's PCI configuration header to see if it is a conformant ATA controller that can be managed by the ATA host controller driver.

21.1.1.2 Start()

The Start() function tells the ATA host controller driver to start managing the ATA host controller. In this function, an ATA host controller driver uses chip-specific knowledge to perform the following tasks:

  • Initialize the ATA host controller.
  • Enable the PCI device.
  • Allocate resources.
  • Construct data structures for the driver to use.
  • Install the ATA Pass Thru Protocol instance on the same handle that has the PCI I/O Protocol.
  • Install the Extended SCSI Pass Thru Protocol instance on the same handle that has the PCI I/O Protocol.

If the ATA host controller provides RAID capabilities, then the ATA host controller driver can either choose to only expose access to the logical drives following the algorithm above, or the ATA host controller driver can produce two instances of the ATA Pass Thru Protocol. One for accessing the physical drives, and another for accessing the logical drives. In this case, a child handle is created for each ATA Pass Thru Protocol instance.

21.1.1.3 Stop()

The Stop() function performs the opposite operations as Start(). Generally speaking, an ATA host controller driver is required to do the following:

  • Disable the ATA controller.
  • Release all resources that were allocated for this driver.
  • Close the protocol instances that were opened in the Start()function.
  • Uninstall the protocol interfaces that were attached on the host controller handle.