diff --git a/tools/dtoc/fdt.py b/tools/dtoc/fdt.py
index 413d45d..329d03c 100644
--- a/tools/dtoc/fdt.py
+++ b/tools/dtoc/fdt.py
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@
 # implementation is in the FdtFallback and FdtNormal subclasses. See
 # fdt_select.py for how to create an Fdt object.
 
+# A list of types we support
+(TYPE_BYTE, TYPE_INT, TYPE_STRING, TYPE_BOOL) = range(4)
+
 def CheckErr(errnum, msg):
     if errnum:
         raise ValueError('Error %d: %s: %s' %
@@ -37,6 +40,69 @@
         self.name = name
         self.value = None
 
+    def BytesToValue(self, bytes):
+        """Converts a string of bytes into a type and value
+
+        Args:
+            A string containing bytes
+
+        Return:
+            A tuple:
+                Type of data
+                Data, either a single element or a list of elements. Each element
+                is one of:
+                    TYPE_STRING: string value from the property
+                    TYPE_INT: a byte-swapped integer stored as a 4-byte string
+                    TYPE_BYTE: a byte stored as a single-byte string
+        """
+        size = len(bytes)
+        strings = bytes.split('\0')
+        is_string = True
+        count = len(strings) - 1
+        if count > 0 and not strings[-1]:
+            for string in strings[:-1]:
+                if not string:
+                    is_string = False
+                    break
+                for ch in string:
+                    if ch < ' ' or ch > '~':
+                        is_string = False
+                        break
+        else:
+            is_string = False
+        if is_string:
+            if count == 1:
+                return TYPE_STRING, strings[0]
+            else:
+                return TYPE_STRING, strings[:-1]
+        if size % 4:
+            if size == 1:
+                return TYPE_BYTE, bytes[0]
+            else:
+                return TYPE_BYTE, list(bytes)
+        val = []
+        for i in range(0, size, 4):
+            val.append(bytes[i:i + 4])
+        if size == 4:
+            return TYPE_INT, val[0]
+        else:
+            return TYPE_INT, val
+
+    def GetEmpty(self, type):
+        """Get an empty / zero value of the given type
+
+        Returns:
+            A single value of the given type
+        """
+        if type == TYPE_BYTE:
+            return chr(0)
+        elif type == TYPE_INT:
+            return struct.pack('<I', 0);
+        elif type == TYPE_STRING:
+            return ''
+        else:
+            return True
+
 class NodeBase:
     """A device tree node