Beijing Tenafe Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.

Micron Technology Incorporated

Palmchip Corporation

Other

Beijing Tenate Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.

Lyle E Adams

Priyanka Nilay Thakore

Chen Xiu

Mark Ish

Michael Ou

Karl David Schuh

Meng Kun Lee

Pushpa Seetamraju

Dan Tupy

Wanqiang Zhang

Xiaojun Ding

Hussam I Ramlaoui

Billy D Mills

S Jauher A Zaidi

Horia Cristian Simionescu

John Edward Maroney

David Matthew Springberg

Andrew P Weir

Zhikai Chen

Paul A Suhler

Robin Bhagat

Yongcai Xu

Deqiang Yang

Brian K Gutcher

Weitao Xu

Stephen Chappell

Savitha Gandikota

Jon Udell

Jef Munsil

Edward Yan

S Jauher Zaidi

Haibo Zhu

A hardware-implemented, pre-sequence execution checker is used to receive a set of firmware instructions that includes a suspend command, an intervening command, and a resume command, wherein the suspend command and the resume command are associated with suspending and resuming a same command, respectively; access a configurable conditions table that includes whether the suspend command and the resume command are supported by a storage media device; access state information that includes whether said same command has completed; and determine whether to perform or skip the suspend command based at least in part on the configurable conditions table and the state information. If it is determined to perform the suspend command, the suspend command and the intervening command are output. If it is determined to skip the suspend command, the intervening command is output.

Firmware-controlled and table-based conditioning for flexible storage controller

A storage controller system includes a host command module that manages communication with a host and a backend command module that manages communication with a storage system. A storage interface hardware functional module, in response to an unsuccessful or successful operation, generates a first or second type of a status message with an automated retry flag set to TRUE or FALSE. A virtual queue module receives the status message and selects a virtual queue. If (1) the flag being set to TRUE and (2) independent of the queue ID, an original command virtual queue is selected. If (1) the flag being set to FALSE and (2) the queue ID being set to the value associated with the backend command module, a virtual queue associated with the backend command module is selected. A stored message in the selected virtual queue is provided to the selected message recipient.

Virtual queue for messages

For each data in a plurality of data, data is read from a cache unit. For each data in the plurality of data, a group to which the data read from the cache unit belongs to is determined based at least in part on a predetermined grouping rule. A determination is made of (1) a quantity of groups and (2) a quantity of data corresponding to each group after determining the groups to which the plurality of data belong. Data belonging to a same group is written into a contiguous storage space of the cache unit, including by: sequentially reading the plurality of data from the cache unit and sequentially writing the plurality of data into the cache unit.

Method and apparatus for sorting data, storage apparatus

Configuration information is sent from a configuration controller to a processor module in a System On Chip (SOC) and associated with firmware. In response to receiving the configuration information, context switching associated with an interrupt pin in the processor module is disabled. Hardware state information is sent from a hardware functional module in the SOC to the interrupt pin. In response to receiving the hardware state information, the processor module determines, based at least in part on the hardware state information and after completing any active firmware operations per the disabled context switching, a response. The response is received at a responding module and the responding module performs a process associated with the response.

Hardware state reporting using interrupt pins

If a first group selection setting is set to TRUE, an NVM Express (NVMe) processor sends a first set of NVMe status information that includes a transfer data end event. If a second group selection setting is set to TRUE, the NVMe processor sends a second set of NVMe status information that includes an NVMe error event. A firmware functional module sends firmware status information. The aggregation module aggregates and timestamps the first and second sets of NVMe status information, if any, and the firmware status information to obtain a timestamped and aggregated message stream that is output by an interface. The timestamped and aggregated message stream enables a visualization system to analyze the NVMe processor and the firmware functional module. The NVMe processor, firmware functional module, aggregation module, and interface are in a storage controller, implemented on a system on chip (SOC), that manages a storage medium.

Collection of runtime information for debug and analysis, including by aggregating status information into a standardized message format and timestamping

A storage controller implemented on a System On Chip (SOC) includes an upstream functional module, a host interface, a logical to physical (L2P) interface, and a message inspection engine. The configured message inspection engine is obtained using one or more configuration settings and receives an input message from the upstream functional module. The input message is analyzed to determine a retention plan, a content modification plan, and a destination control plan. An output message is generated based at least in part on the input message, the content modification plan, and the destination control plan. If there is an affirmative content modification decision, the output message is populated with content absent from the input message. If there is an affirmative destination modification decision, the output message is populated with a destination absent from the input message. The output message is output unless there is an affirmative retention decision.

Programmable message inspection engine implemented in hardware that generates an output message using a content modification plan and a destination control plan

A storage controller system includes a hardware functional module, implemented in hardware on a System On Chip (SOC), that: in response to receiving a synchronization trigger, sends, to a message sender, a first message that includes a value for a local credit. The local credit is associated with flow control. In response to receiving the first message from the hardware functional module, the message sender updates the local credit with the value that is included in the first message. If the message sender has a second message to send, the message sender determines whether the local credit has a non-zero value or a zero value; if the local credit has the non-zero value, the second message is sent. If the local credit has a zero value, the second message is retained. A storage interface, implemented on the SOC, communicates with storage media via an associated channel.

Credit synchronization by sending a value for a local credit in a message sender from a message receiver to the message sender in response to a synchronization trigger

A hardware functional module performs a given task. A first notification that the given task has completed and which includes a scoreboard identifier is sent to a scoreboard module. The scoreboard module selects a scoreboard counter based on the scoreboard identifier. The selected scoreboard counter is incremented. It is determined whether the selected scoreboard counter exceeds a corresponding scoreboard threshold. If the selected scoreboard counter exceeds the corresponding scoreboard threshold, a second notification indicating that the plurality of tasks has completed is sent. If the scoreboard identifier corresponds to the host command module, the second notification is sent to the host command module. If the scoreboard identifier corresponds to the backend command module, the second notification is sent to the backend command module.

Scoreboard for tracking completion of tasks

A hardware functional module sends, to an aggregation module and in a standardized message format, first status information associated with the hardware functional module according to a first set of reporting rules via a first dedicated link. The firmware functional module sends, to the aggregation module and in the standardized message format, second status information associated with the firmware functional module according to a second set of reporting rules via a second dedicated link. The aggregation module aggregates the first status information in the standardized message format and the second status information in the standardized message format and inserts a timestamp to obtain a timestamped and aggregated message stream. The timestamped and aggregated message stream enables a visualization system to analyze the hardware functional module and the firmware functional module.

A message inspection engine, implemented in hardware in a System on Chip (SOC), is configured using configuration information to obtain a configured message inspection engine. An input message is received at the configured message inspection engine from an upstream functional module in the SOC. The configured message inspection engine is used to analyze the input message to determine a content modification plan and a destination control plan and to generate an output message based at least in part on the input message, the content modification plan, and the destination control plan, including by populating the output message with a downstream functional module specified by the destination control plan. The output message is output from the configured message inspection engine.

A synchronization trigger associated with synchronizing credit is obtained at a message receiver in a System On Chip (SOC). In response to receiving the synchronization trigger, a value for a local credit in the message sender is sent from the message receiver to a message sender in the SOC. At the message sender, the local credit is updated with the value for the credit that is received from the message receiver, wherein a requirement to send a message from the message sender to the message receiver is that the local credit has a non-zero value.

A message that includes a queue identifier (ID) is received from a first hardware functional module. A virtual queue is selected from a plurality of virtual queues in a shared queue structure based at least in part on the queue ID and configurable message handling settings(s). The message is stored in the selected virtual queue and a message recipient is selected from a plurality of potential message recipients based at least in part on the configurable message handling setting(s), where the plurality of potential message recipients includes the second hardware functional module and the processor module. The message is provided to the selected message recipient.

A hardware functional module in a System On Chip (SOC) performs a given task, where the given task is one of a plurality of tasks that are associated with a work item and the work item is managed by firmware in the SOC. A first notification that the given task has completed is sent from the hardware functional module to a scoreboard module, where the scoreboard module is implemented in hardware on the SOC. The scoreboard module: in response to receiving the first notification, increments a counter; determines whether the counter exceeds a threshold; and in the event it is determined that the counter exceeds the threshold, sends, from the scoreboard module to the firmware, a second notification indicating that the plurality of tasks have completed.

Central processing units (CPUs) are configured to support host access instruction(s) that are associated with accessing solid state storage. A resource management module, implemented independently of the CPUs, receives a resource allocation request that includes a usage type identifier and requested amount of a resource, where the usage type identifier is associated with a group identifier. Adjustable resource configuration information is accessed to obtain: (1) a maximum associated with the usage type identifier, (2) a minimum associated with the usage type identifier, and (3) a group limit associated with the group identifier. Resource state information is accessed and it is determine whether to grant the request based at least in part on the maximum, minimum, group limit, and resource state information. The resource allocation request is then granted or denied based on the determination.

Adjustable resource management system

In response to receiving an exception indication, an exception-handling state variable in state information is asserted. Firmware instruction(s) are selected from a plurality of firmware instructions based at least in part on: (1) a conditions table that includes condition(s) for handling the plurality of firmware instructions and (2) the state information that includes the exception-handling state variable. It is determined how to handle the selected firmware instruction(s) based at least in part on: (1) the conditions table and (2) the state information that includes the exception-handling state variable where. The plurality of firmware instructions includes: (1) a non-exception-handling set of firmware instruction(s) and (2) an exception-handling set of firmware instruction(s). The conditions table prioritizes execution, by the hardware, of the exception-handling set of firmware instructions over that of the non-exception-handling set of firmware instructions in the event the exception-handling state variable is asserted. A storage media device is communicated with via an interface.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Lyle E Adams