Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Rudi Jozef Marie Wijnands

Nicolaas Lambert

Johannes Henricus Maria Korst

Jozef Pieter Van Gassel

Ozcan Mesut

Hong Li

Robert Jochemsen

A method () of controlling memory usage in a portable streaming device (), a portable streaming device () and a computer readable medium (). The portable streaming device () comprises at least one memory (), at least one processing unit (), and at least one storage device () being operatively connected with said memory () under control of said processing unit (). The size of a disk scheduler buffer memory within said memory in said portable streaming device is adaptively maximised by said method () at all times. Free memory available within the portable streaming device is continuously allocated () and at least a portion of said allocated free memory is designated as disk scheduler buffer memory (). Thus results improved solid state memory utilisation of the portable streaming device, and due to larger available disk buffer memory size, less start-stop-cycles of the storage device are initiated, which leads to a longer life-cycle of said portable streaming device.

Power saving method for portable streaming devices

A device for scanning a record carrier has a head for scanning a track for reading and/or writing information. A disc scheduler controls receiving requests for accessing the record carrier, the requests including streaming requests regarding real time information and auxiliary requests () regarding auxiliary information. The disc scheduler reduces power consumption of the device by switching the scanning means to a stand-by mode when no requests are pending and switching the scanning means to an operational mode when a request has to be executed. The auxiliary requests are executed in a processing interval () in combination with a selected one of the streaming requests. Hence the number of spin-ups of the record carrier is reduced.

Power efficient scheduling for disc accesses

Real-time audio video applications require guaranteed request service times from a hard disc drive. This requirement is not always fulfilled due to some unexpected delays in service times. Re-allocated sectors are one of the causes of such delays. A scheme for conversion of re-maps into slips in a hard disc drive is suggested. Converting re-allocated sectors into slipped or skipped sectors can prevent such a delay, since slipped sectors cause much less or even negligible performance loss than re-allocated sectors.

Data storage apparatus and method for handling data on a data storage apparatus

The invention relates to a method of writing data to and reading data from a memory () by a host. By limiting processing time, time restrictions regarding the data to be processed can be met. However, this is at the expense of data integrity. By setting time limits for a group () of multiple processing assignments and dynamic allocation of time, reserved for error recovery and retries, data integrity can be improved, while time limits can still be met. Furthermore, by attaching priorities to the assignments, multiple types of data can be handled in one group of assignments. For example, assignments with real-time requirements can be put in a group with assignments with best effort requirements. In this way, more flexible planning of processing assignments is possible. The invention also relates to a system for writing data to and reading data from a memory.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Rudi Jozef Marie Wijnands