Information processing apparatus and computer program product for changing swap spaces based on a performance threshold

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10353454-B2
Application number	US-201715419044-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2017
Priority date	Feb 4, 2016
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

According to an embodiment, an information processing apparatus includes a processing device, a first memory, a second memory, and a controller. The processing device is configured to process first data. The first memory is configured to store at least part of the first data and has an active region supplied with power necessary for holding data. The second memory is configured to store part of the first data. The controller is configured to change number of active regions such that processing information is not more than a threshold. The processing information indicates an amount of processing for moving at least part of second data stored in the first memory to the second memory and for moving at least part of third data stored in the second memory to the first memory, in a certain period for processing the first data having a size larger than active regions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:
a processing device configured to process first data;
a first memory configured to store at least part of the first data, the first memory having a plurality of power supply unit regions that serve as units of power supply, the power supply unit regions having one or more active regions each supplied with a first power that is necessary for at least holding content of data;
a second memory configured to store part of the first data; and
a region controller configured to change a number of the active regions such that first processing information is equal to or smaller than a first threshold, the first processing information indicating information corresponding to an amount of first processing for moving at least part of second data indicating data stored in the first memory to the second memory and for moving at least part of third data indicating data stored in the second memory to the first memory, in a certain period that is a part of a period for processing the first data having a size larger than at least one of the active regions.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a power for holding data in the second memory is lower than a power for holding data in the first memory.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the power supply unit regions in the first memory have an inactive region supplied with a second power, and
the second power is lower than the first power.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the region controller performs control
to increase the amount of the first processing such that the first processing information is equal to or smaller than the first threshold, thereby reducing number of active regions necessary for processing the first data, and
to change the first power supplied to any one of the active regions to a second power that is lower than the first power.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the first threshold represents an amount of electric power reduced when the number of the active regions is reduced by changing the first power supplied to any one of the active regions to a second power that is lower than the first power in the certain period,
the first processing information indicates an amount of electric power used along with the amount of the first processing increased in the certain period when the number of the active regions is reduced, and
the region controller repeatedly executes control to change the first power supplied to any one of the active regions to the second power such that the first processing information is equal to or smaller than the first threshold.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the first processing information includes second processing information and third processing information,
the first threshold includes a second threshold and a third threshold,
the region controller repeatedly performs control to change the first power supplied to any one of the active regions to a second power that is lower than the first power such that the second processing information is equal to or smaller than the second threshold and the third processing information is equal to or smaller than the third threshold,
the second processing information represents a time required for the first processing in the certain period, and
the third processing information represents an amount of electric power used along with the amount of the first processing increased in the certain period when the number of the active regions is reduced.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the first processing information is equal to or smaller than a fourth threshold that is smaller than the first threshold, the region controller performs control to change the first power supplied to any one of the active regions to a second power that is smaller than the first power, thereby reducing the number of the active regions, and to move data stored in the any one active region to the second memory.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a third memory with an access speed that is lower than that of the second memory, the access speed indicating a data read/write speed;
a calculator configured to calculate fourth processing information indicating an amount of second processing for moving at least part of the second data from the first memory to the third memory and for moving at least part of the third data from the third memory to the first memory, based on the first processing information; and
a switching controller configured to perform control to switch the first processing to the second processing when the fourth processing information is equal to or smaller than the first threshold.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the region controller performs control to reduce the number of the active regions when the first processing information is equal to or smaller than a fourth threshold, and
the fourth threshold is smaller than the first threshold.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein
the power supply unit regions in the first memory have an inactive region supplied with a second power that is lower than the first power,
each of the power supply unit regions has a priority, and
when the first processing information is smaller than the fourth threshold, the region controller performs control to
select an active region from the active regions based on the priority, and
set the first power supplied to the selected active region to the second power, thereby changing the selected active region to an inactive region.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a frequency controller configured to perform control to change a clock frequency for operating the first memory such that the first processing information does not exceed the first threshold.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a moving processing controller configured to
perform control to execute the first processing when an application requests read/write of fourth data indicating data included in the first data, and
cause the application to execute the first processing when the application requests read/write of fifth data that is included in the first data and requires faster processing than with the fourth data.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the first data includes
one or more pieces of sixth data indicating data to be directly read/written on the second memory, and
one or more pieces of seventh data indicating data to be read/written through the first processing, and

the region controller determines the number of the active regions in accordance with number of the pieces of the seventh data.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
perform region control to change number of one or more active regions such that first processing information is equal to or smaller than a first threshold, the first processing information indicating information corresponding to an amount of first processing for moving at least part of second data indicating data stored in a first memory configured to store at least part of first data processed by a processing apparatus to a second memory configured to store part of the first data and for moving at least part of third data indicating data stored in the second memory to the first memory, in a certain period that is a part of a period for processing the first data having a size larger than at least one of the active regions, wherein
the first memory has a plurality of power

Assignees

• Toshiba Memory Corp

Inventors

• Shirota Yusuke
• Kanai Tatsunori
• Yoshimura Shiyo
• Shirai Satoshi

Classifications

• G06F3/0646

  Horizontal data movement in storage systems, i.e. moving data in between storage devices or systems · CPC title

• G06F3/0644

  Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools · CPC title

• G06F1/08

  Clock generators with changeable or programmable clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/329

  by task scheduling · CPC title

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title