Multi-protocol I/O infrastructure for a flexible storage platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10776299-B2
Application number	US-201916433838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2019
Priority date	May 8, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

A flexible storage system. A storage motherboard accommodates, on a suitable connector, a storage adapter circuit that provides protocol translation between a host bus interface and a storage interface, and that provides routing, to accommodate a plurality of mass storage devices that may be connected to the storage adapter circuit through the storage motherboard. The storage adapter circuit may be replaced with a circuit supporting a different host interface or a different storage interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage system, comprising:
a storage motherboard, comprising:
a first storage interface connector for connecting to a storage device;
a first adapter connector; and
a connector for connecting to a host;

a first storage adapter circuit comprising a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector, and being configured to support, at the first motherboard connector:
a first storage interface for communicating with the storage device; and
a host interface for communicating with the host; and

a second storage adapter circuit comprising a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector, and being configured to support, at the first motherboard connector:
a first storage interface for communicating with the storage device; and
a host interface for communicating with the host,

the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit being different from the first storage interface of the second storage adapter circuit.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first storage adapter circuit comprises a routing circuit.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first storage adapter circuit further comprises a protocol translation circuit.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the storage motherboard further comprises:
a second storage interface connector; and
a second adapter connector,
the system further comprising a third storage adapter circuit comprising a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector and with the second adapter connector, and being configured to support, at the first motherboard connector:
a first storage interface; and
a host interface,

the first storage interface of the third storage adapter circuit being different from the first storage interface of the second storage adapter circuit.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first storage adapter circuit is further configured to provide a second storage interface at the first motherboard connector of the first storage adapter circuit, the second storage interface being the same as the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first storage adapter circuit is further configured to provide a second storage interface at the first motherboard connector of the first storage adapter circuit, the second storage interface being different from the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a SATA interface and the second storage interface comprises a SAS interface.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the host interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a PCIe interface, and the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises an interface selected from the group consisting of SATA, SAS, FibreChannel, NVMe, Ethernet, and USB.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the host interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a PCIe interface, and the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a PCIe interface.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the host interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a SAS interface, and the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a SAS interface.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first storage interface connector is compatible with at least two different storage interfaces.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first storage interface connector comprises an SFF8639 connector.

13. A storage system, comprising:
a storage motherboard, comprising:
a first storage interface connector for connecting to a storage device;
a first adapter connector; and
a connector for connecting to a host;

a first storage adapter circuit comprising:
a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector, and
a first storage connector,

the first storage adapter circuit supporting:
a first storage interface, for communicating with the storage device, at the first storage connector of the first storage adapter circuit; and
a host interface, for communicating with the host, at the first motherboard connector of the first storage adapter circuit; and

a second storage adapter circuit comprising:
a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector, and
a first storage connector,

the second storage adapter circuit supporting:
a first storage interface, for communicating with the storage device, at the first storage connector of the second storage adapter circuit; and
a host interface, for communicating with the host, at the first motherboard connector of the second storage adapter circuit,

the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit being different from the first storage interface of the second storage adapter circuit.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a mass storage device connected to the first storage connector of the first storage adapter circuit by a data path comprising a portion selected from the group consisting of a cable, a plurality of printed circuit board traces, and a wireless link.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first motherboard connector of the first storage adapter circuit comprises a PCIe connector, and the host interface of the first storage adapter circuit is PCIe.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the storage motherboard further comprises:
a second storage interface connector; and
a second adapter connector,
the system further comprising a third storage adapter circuit comprising:
a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector and with the second adapter connector, and
a first storage connector,

the third storage adapter circuit supporting:
a first storage interface at the first storage connector of the third storage adapter circuit supporting; and
a host interface at the first motherboard connector of the third storage adapter circuit supporting,

the first storage interface of the third storage adapter circuit being different from the first storage interface of the second storage adapter circuit.

17. A computing system, comprising:
a rack tray for a 19-inch rack, the rack tray comprising:
a host motherboard comprising a CPU and memory;
a storage motherboard, comprising:
a first storage interface connector for connecting to a storage device;
a first adapter connector; and
a connector for connecting to a host;
a first storage adapter circuit comprising a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector, and being configured to support, at the first motherboard connector:
a first storage interface for communicating with the storage device; and
a host interface for communicating with the host; and

a second storage adapter circuit comprising a first motherboard connector compatible with the first adapter connector, and being configured to support, at the first motherboard connector:
a first storage interface for communicating with the storage device; and
a host interface for communicating with the host,

the first storage interface of the first storage adapter circuit being different from the first storage interface of the second storage adapter circuit.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the storage motherboard further comprises:
a second storage interface connector; and
a second adapter connector,
the system further comprising a third storage adapt

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• WORLEY Fred
• Rogers Harry
• Krishnan Sreenivas
• Ping Zhan
• Scriber Michael

Classifications

• G06F2213/0032

  Serial ATA [SATA] · CPC title

• G06F2213/0028

  Serial attached SCSI [SAS] · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• G06F13/4063

  Device-to-bus coupling · CPC title

• G06F13/387 Primary

  for adaptation of different data processing systems to different peripheral devices, e.g. protocol converters for incompatible systems, open system · CPC title