Devices and methods for a data storage device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10402104-B2
Application number	US-201615277131-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2016
Priority date	Sep 28, 2015
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for a data storage device, an adapter, an array controller, a data storage device, and a relevant method. The apparatus for the data storage device comprises: a power management module configured to detect power-off of a power supply and to switch to a backup battery unit in the data storage device in response to detecting the power supply. The apparatus is configured to cause the backup battery unit to supply power only to the volatile memory in the data storage device. By using a solution according to the present disclosure, for example, preserving time for data may be prolonged in the case of power-off.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A programmable apparatus for a data storage device, comprising:
a power management module comprising a portion of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to:
detect power-off of a power supply, and
switch to a backup battery unit in the data storage device in response to detecting the power-off of the power supply;

the programmable apparatus being configured to cause the backup battery unit to supply power only to a volatile memory in the data storage device;
wherein the programmable apparatus is enabled to facilitate processing of data by the data storage device separate from a CPU when the CPU is powered by the power supply prior to power-off of the power supply;
wherein the CPU becomes unpowered in response to power-off of the power supply; and
wherein, in response to power-off of the power supply and switching to the backup battery unit, the volatile memory in the data storage device consumes power from the backup battery unit to maintain data previously written to the volatile memory.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a computing module configured to perform parity check.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the computing module is further configured to perform data encryption and decryption.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a memory controller configured to:
initiate a read request to a system memory in the data storage device;
receive data and a parameter for computing parity check;
allocate computational resources in the computing module; and
send a result of computing to a processor in the data storage device.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to allocate a part of computational resources in idle computational resources in the computing module for computing parity check.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a mirror module configured to copy data received by the volatile memory from a system memory in the data storage device to a further volatile memory.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the mirror unit is configured to directly copy the data in the volatile memory to the further volatile memory through an interconnection module of the apparatus.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the mirror module includes a memory direct access unit configured to:
in response to an instruction from a processor in the data storage device, directly write data in the system memory into the volatile memory; and
directly copy the data via the interconnection module to the further volatile memory.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a PCI-Express interface module configured to exchange data and instructions via the PCI-Express link.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an updating module configured to update the apparatus based on the received data.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein non-volatile memory of the data storage device, which holds committed data, becomes unpowered in response to power-off of the power supply; and
wherein the programmable apparatus is configured to cause the backup battery unit to continue to supply power only to the volatile memory while the non-volatile memory of the data storage device remains unpowered to preserve dirty data in the volatile memory that was not committed to the non-volatile memory before power-off of the power supply.

12. A programmable apparatus used in a redundant array of independent disks device, comprising:
a computing module comprising a portion of a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to perform parity check; and
a power management module configured to:
detect power-off of a power supply, and
switch to a backup battery unit in a data storage device in response to detecting the power-off of the power supply;

the programmable apparatus being configured to cause the backup battery unit to only supply power to a volatile memory in the data storage device;
wherein the programmable apparatus is enabled to facilitate processing of data by the data storage device separate from a CPU;
when the CPU is powered by the power supply prior to power-off of the power supply;
wherein the CPU becomes unpowered in response to power-off of the power supply; and
wherein, in response to power-off of the power supply and switching to the backup battery unit, the volatile memory in the data storage device consumes power from the backup battery unit to maintain data previously written to the volatile memory.

13. The programmable apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the computing module is further configured to perform data encryption and decryption.

14. The programmable apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a mirror module configured to copy data received by the volatile memory from a system memory in the data storage device to a further volatile memory.

15. The programmable apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the mirror unit is configured to directly copy data in the volatile memory to the further volatile memory through an interconnection module included in the programmable apparatus.

16. The programmable apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the mirror module is a memory direct access unit configured to:
in response to an instruction from a processor in the data storage device, directly write data in the system memory into the volatile memory; and
directly copy the data to the further volatile memory through the interconnection module.

17. The programmable apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising a PCI-Express interface module configured to exchange data and instructions via a PCI-Express link.

18. The programmable apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising an updating module configured to perform software update to the apparatus based on the received data.

19. The programmable apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising a controller that is configured to:
initiate a read request to a system memory in the data storage device;
receive data and a parameter for computing parity check;
allocate computational resources in the computing module; and
send a result of computing to the processor in the data storage device.

20. The programmable apparatus according to claim 19 , wherein the controller is configured to allocate a part of computational resources in idle computational resources in the computing module for computing parity check.

Assignees

• Emc Ip Holding Co Llc

Inventors

• Yang Lifeng
• Xu Xinlei
• Gao Jian
• Jia Ruiyong
• Li Liam Xiongcheng

Classifications

• G06F11/00

  Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring (error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00) · CPC title

• G06F1/30 Primary

  Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations (for resetting only G06F1/24) · CPC title

• G06F2212/402

  Encrypted data · CPC title

• G06F3/0689

  Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD · CPC title

• G06F11/1076

  Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems · CPC title