Device power control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016004294-A1
Application number	US-201514854005-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 14, 2015
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Jan 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In various embodiments and/or usage scenarios, device power control, such as relating to one or more power control commands, requests to transition operation to a specific power mode, and/or device power management commands, is advantageous and improves one or more of: performance, reliability, unit cost, and development cost of one or more devices, such as storage devices (e.g. a Solid-State Disk (SSD)) or systems including same.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving a first command and then a second command; and processing the second command in response to the receiving, wherein the receiving and the processing are in a storage device wherein the second command comprises power control information, and wherein the processing commences while the first command is outstanding.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising operating the storage device in accordance with at least a portion of the power control information across a reset and/or a power cycle of the storage device.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the storage device passing along at least a portion of the power control information to at least one other storage device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing comprises modifying mapping information that enables mapping device power management commands to corresponding operating power states of the storage device, the modifying being based at least in part on information provided by the second command, and further comprising:
in the storage device, receiving an instance of a particular one of the device power management commands, and in response accessing the mapping information to determine a particular one of the operating power states, the accessing being based at least in part on the instance; and in the storage device, in response to the accessing, operating the storage device in accordance with the particular operating power state.

5 . A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium having a set of instructions stored therein that when executed by a processing element cause the processing element to perform and/or control operations comprising:
receiving a first command and then a second command; and processing the second command in response to the receiving, wherein the receiving and the processing are in a storage device, wherein the second command comprises power control information, and wherein the processing commences while the first command is outstanding.

6 . The non-transitory tangible computer readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the processing comprises modifying mapping information that enables mapping device power management commands to corresponding operating power states of the storage device, the modifying being based at least in part on information provided by the second command, and wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an instance of a particular one of the device power management commands, and in response accessing the mapping information to determine a particular one of the operating power states, the accessing being based at least in part on the instance; and in response to the accessing, operating the storage device in accordance with the particular operating power state.

7 . A storage device comprising:
logic circuitry enabled to receive a first command and then a second command; and logic circuitry enabled to process the second command in response to the logic circuitry enabled to receive, wherein the second command comprises power control information, wherein the logic circuitry enabled to process commences processing the second command while the first command is outstanding.

8 . The storage device of claim 7 , further comprising logic circuitry enabled to operate the storage device in accordance with at least a portion of the power control information across a reset and/or a power cycle of the storage device.

9 . The storage device of claim 7 , further comprising logic circuitry enabled to pass along at least a portion of the power control information to at least one other storage device.

10 . The storage device of claim 7 , wherein the processing comprises modifying mapping information that enables mapping device power management commands to corresponding operating power states of the storage device, the modifying being based at least in part on information provided by the second command, and further comprising:
logic circuitry enabled to receive an instance of a particular one of the device power management commands, and in response to access the mapping information to determine a particular one of the operating power states, the access being based at least in part on the instance; and logic circuitry enabled, in response to the accessing, to operate the storage device in accordance with the particular operating power state.

11 . A method comprising:
in a storage device, receiving a command in accordance with a storage interface standard, the command comprising power control information; operating the storage device in accordance with at least a persistent portion of the power control information across a reset of the storage device; and operating the storage device in accordance with the persistent portion across a power cycle of the storage device, wherein the reset and the power cycle occur after the receiving.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the operating the storage device in accordance with the at least the persistent portion enables not exceeding a new power dissipation maximum.

13 . A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium having a set of instructions stored therein that when executed by a processing element cause the processing element to perform and/or control operations comprising:
in a storage device, receiving a command in accordance with a storage interface standard, the command comprising power control information; operating the storage device in accordance with at least a persistent portion of the power control information across a reset of the storage device; and operating the storage device in accordance with the at least the persistent portion across a power cycle of the storage device, wherein the reset and the power cycle occur after the receiving.

14 . A storage device comprising:
logic circuitry enabled to receive a command in accordance with a storage interface standard, the command comprising power control information; logic circuitry enabled to operate the storage device in accordance with at least a persistent portion of the power control information across a reset of the storage device; and logic circuitry enabled to operate the storage device in accordance with the at least the persistent portion across a power cycle of the storage device, wherein the reset and the power cycle occur after the receiving.

15 . The storage device of claim 14 , wherein the operating the storage device in accordance with the at least the persistent portion enables not exceeding a new power dissipation maximum.

16 . A method comprising:
while operating an interface in accordance with a current power mode and in a context of a current operating power state, receiving a request to transition the operating of the interface to a specified power mode; in response to the receiving, accessing information concerning the current operating power state; based at least in part on at least some results of the accessing, determining a new power mode; and operating the interface in accordance with the new power mode, wherein the new power mode is different than the specified power mode.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the specified power mode is a higher-power mode than the current power mode, and the new power mode is identical to the current power mode.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the current operating power state prioritizes decreased power over increased performance.

19 . A non-transitory tangible computer readable medium having a set of instructions s

Assignees

• Seagate Technology Llc

Inventors

• Stenfort Ross John

Classifications

• G06F1/3287 Primary

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title

• G06F3/0625

  Power saving in storage systems · CPC title

• G06F1/3268 Primary

  Power saving in hard disk drive · CPC title

• G06F1/266

  Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips · CPC title

• G06F3/0688

  Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays · CPC title