Intel Corporation

Michael K Eschmann

Sanjeev N Trika

Vasudevan Srinivasan

Jeanna N Matthews

Michael N Derr

John I Garney

David G England

Cecil Moore

Wayne Allen

A non-volatile (NV) memory may store hiberfile data before entering a hibernate state, and retrieve the data upon resume from hibernation. The reserve space in the NV memory (i.e., the erased blocks available to be used while in the run-time mode) may be used to store hiberfile data. Further, a write-through cache policy may be used to assure that all of the hiberfile data saved in cache will also be stored on the disk drive during the hibernation, so that if the cache and the disk drive are separated during hibernation, the full correct hiberfile data will still be available for a resume operation.

Accelerated resume from hibernation in a cached disk system

A volatile or nonvolatile cache memory can cache mass storage device read data and write data. The cache memory may become inaccessible, and I/O operations may go directly to the mass storage device, bypassing the cache memory. A log of write operations may be maintained to update the cache memory when it becomes available.

Method and apparatus to maintain data integrity in disk cache memory during and after periods of cache inaccessibility

Method and apparatus to improve cache performance using interarrival times between demand requests are described.

Techniques to improve cache performance

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for writing data to a disk if inserting the data into a cache, such as a disk cache associated with the disk, would cause a threshold of dirty data in the cache to be met or exceeded. Further, in certain embodiments, the cache may store data according to a first cache policy and a second cache policy. A determination of whether to store data according to the first or second policies may be dependent upon an amount of dirty data in the cache, in certain embodiments. In certain embodiments, the cache may include at least one portion reserved for clean data.

Merging write-back and write-through cache policies

The invention includes a platform having a controller coupled to a central processing unit through a system bus. The platform also includes a register device coupled between the central processing unit and the controller. Moreover, the platform also includes a bus coupled to the controller having an end that is adapted to receive a device. The register device includes a depth that is adapted to hold all instruction packets from the central processing unit without presenting delays due to full conditions.

Streamlining ATA device initialization

A method and apparatus for a processor of a computer system to control a communication device through a bus interface having six interconnects. The bus interface's first interconnect is a transmission and reception interconnect that allows the computer system to transmit and receive signals from a communication device (such as a telephone line or a radio transceiver). The second interconnect is a primary processor communication interconnect which serves as the primary communication route between the processor and a radio transceiver's microcontroller, and which enables the processor to control the various components of the radio transceiver. The third interconnect is a secondary processor communication interconnect that relays urgent signals (such as status, interrupt, and reset signals) between the processor and the radio transceiver's microcontroller. A received signal strength indicator interconnect is the fourth interconnect and it relays an analog signal specifying the strength of an incoming signal from the radio to the computer system. The fifth interconnect is a power supply link for supplying power signals to the radio transceiver. Finally, the sixth interconnect is a half-duplex control interconnect which allows the computer system to control the half-duplex nature of some radio transceivers.

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Lee's Summit, MO, United States of America

Michael K Eschmann