Operation method of storage device, operation method of host device, and operation method of user system including storage device and host device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10176029-B2
Application number	US-201615081128-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2016
Priority date	Jun 29, 2015
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

An operation method is for a storage device that includes a storing unit storing a plurality of error logs and a physical layer and exchanges an electrical signal with a host via the physical layer. The operation method includes receiving a debugging command from the host, setting a first value at a first attribute included in the physical layer in response to the debugging command, setting a second value different from the first value at the first attribute in response to a control of the host, setting one among the plurality of error logs at a second attribute based on the first attribute at which the second value is set, and transmitting the error log set at the second attribute to the host in response to a control of the host.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An operation method of a storage device that comprises a physical layer and a storing unit configured to store a plurality of error logs, and that is configured to communicate a signal with a host via the physical layer, the operation method comprising:
receiving, by the storage device, a debugging command from the host;
setting, by the storage device, a first value at a first attribute included in the physical layer in response to the debugging command;
setting, by the storage device, a second value different from the first value at the first attribute in response to control of the host;
setting one error log of the plurality of error logs at a second attribute based on the first attribute at which the second value is set;
transmitting the error log that is set at the second attribute from the storage device to the host in response to control of the host; and
determining whether all the plurality of error logs are transmitted to the host; and
when all the error logs are transmitted to the host, transmitting a response to the debugging command to the host, wherein the response to the debugging command is transmitted to the host even when a layer higher than the physical layer does not operate normally due to an error reported in at least one of the plurality of error logs.

2. The operation method of claim 1 , wherein the setting of the one error log of the plurality of error logs comprises:
selecting a group of the error logs as selected error logs based on the debugging command; and
setting one of the selected error logs in the group at the second attribute.

3. The operation method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining whether all the selected error logs of the group are transmitted to the host; and
when all the selected error logs of the group are transmitted to the host, transmitting a response to the debugging command to the host.

4. The operation method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the first attribute and second attribute among a plurality of attributes included in an interconnection layer in response to the debugging command.

5. The operation method of claim 1 , wherein the storage device generates an interrupt in response to the debugging command; and
wherein the debugging command comprises at least one of a maker command, a reserved command, and a combination thereof.

6. The operation method of claim 1 , wherein the debugging command comprises at least one of a bit combination, an identification code, and a device ID discriminated by the physical layer.

7. The operation method of claim 1 , wherein the first attribute indicates a storage area for storing a flag informing that the error logs are updated at the second attribute; and
wherein the second attribute indicates a storage area for storing an error log, which is to be transmitted to the host, from among the plurality of error logs.

8. The operation method of claim 1 , wherein the host and the storage device communicate with each other based on a universal flash storage (UFS) communication protocol.

9. The operation method of claim 8 , wherein the physical layer is a UFS interconnection layer and the first attribute and second attribute are included in a unified protocol (Unipro).

10. An operation method of a user system that comprises a host device including a first physical layer and a storage device including a second physical layer, the operation method comprising:
getting a first value from a first attribute included in the second physical layer of the storage device, by the host device;
transmitting a debugging command to the storage device, by the host device;
setting, by the storage device, a second value at the first attribute in response to the debugging command;
determining whether the first attribute is the second value and resetting the first attribute with the first value when the first attribute is determined to be the second value, through the host device;
determining whether the first attribute is the first value, setting an error log, which is to be extracted as a to-be-extracted error log, at a second attribute included in the second physical layer when the first attribute is the first value, and setting the second value at the first attribute, through the storage device; and
determining whether the first attribute is the second value and getting the to-be-extracted error log from the second attribute when the first attribute is the second value;
wherein the first physical layer of the host device and the second physical layer of the storage device communicate with each other based on a peer to peer (P2P) communication wherein a response to the debugging command is received by the host device from the storage device even when a layer higher than the second physical layer of the storage device does not operate normally due to an error reported in the error log.

11. The operation method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining whether all error logs are extracted from the storage device, by the host device; and
when at least one of the error logs is not extracted from the storage device, setting the first value at the first attribute, by the host device.

12. The operation method of claim 10 , wherein the determining of whether the first attribute is the first value, the setting of the error log, and the setting of the second value comprises:
determining whether the first attribute is the first value and selecting, when the first attribute is the first value, the to-be-extracted error log as a selected error log among a plurality of error logs based on the debugging command, through the storage device; and
setting the selected error log at the second attribute by the storage device.

13. The operation method of claim 10 , wherein the host device and the storage device communicate with each other based on a universal flash storage (UFS) communication protocol.

14. The operation method of claim 13 , wherein each of the first physical layer and the second physical layer is a universal flash storage (UFS) interconnection layer and the first attribute and second attribute are included in a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) universal protocol (Unipro) and M-PHY.

15. An operation method of a storage device that comprises a storing unit configured to store a plurality of error logs, the operation method comprising:
receiving, by the storage device, a debugging command from a host;
setting, by the storage device, a first value at a first attribute included in a physical layer of the storage device in response to the debugging command;
setting, by the storage device, a second value different from the first value at the first attribute in response to control of the host;
setting, by the storage device, one error log of the plurality of error logs at a second attribute included in the physical layer based on the first attribute at which the second value is set; and
transmitting the error log that is set at the second attribute from the storage device to the host;
wherein the first attribute indicates a storage area for storing a flag indicating that the one error log of the plurality of error logs are updated at the second attribute; and
wherein the second attribute indicates a storage area for storing the one error log that is to be transmitted to the host,
wherein the error log is transmitted from the storage device to the host in response to the debugging command even when a layer higher than the physical layer does not operate normally due to an error reported in at least one of the plurality of error logs.

16. The operation met

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Jinhwan
• Park Younwon
• Park Jeong-Woo
• Kim Youngmoon

Classifications

• G06F13/00

  Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units (interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 {; multiprogram control therefor  G06F9/46}; multiprocessor systems  G06F15/16 ) · CPC title

• G06F11/0784

  Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow · CPC title

• G06F11/0727 Primary

  in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system (drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097) · CPC title

• H04L67/1078

  Resource delivery mechanisms · CPC title