Checkpoint Progress Tracking for Partial Execution State Recovery

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Solution Overview

Problem

Data processing systems with intermittent power supply face challenges in maintaining execution state during power drops, leading to potential data loss and performance degradation due to the high cost and inefficiency of using non-volatile memory for frequent checkpointing.

Innovation Solution

A method involving partial checkpointing by dividing execution state into sections and maintaining a checkpoint-progress status in non-volatile memory, allowing for efficient storage and recovery of usable snapshots even if the checkpointing process is incomplete.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If execution state is stored to non-volatile memory during checkpointing, then data integrity is improved, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata integrityVSAvoidpower consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The execution state is divided into multiple sections that can be checkpointed independently. The system checkpoints only the necessary sections rather than the entire execution state, reducing the amount of data transferred to non-volatile memory and thus lowering power consumption while maintaining data integrity for the checkpointed portions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs partial checkpointing by storing only selected sections of the execution state to non-volatile memory, rather than completing a full checkpoint of all execution state. This partial action reduces the energy cost of checkpointing while still providing sufficient data integrity protection for the critical sections that have been checkpointed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

2Reliability

If complete checkpointing is performed, then data integrity is improved, but productivity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata integrityVSAvoidprocessing speed

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

By segmenting the execution state into multiple sections, the system can perform selective checkpointing of only the necessary sections rather than freezing the entire processing system for a complete checkpoint. This segmentation allows checkpointing operations to be performed more efficiently with minimal impact on overall processing speed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs partial checkpointing by storing only selected sections of the execution state, which reduces the time required for checkpointing operations. This partial action maintains sufficient data integrity for the checkpointed sections while minimizing the productivity loss associated with checkpointing interruptions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Reliability

If frequent checkpointing is performed, then data integrity is improved, but loss of time increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata integrityVSAvoidtime for redundant operations

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The execution state is divided into sections that can be independently tracked and checkpointed. The system maintains a checkpoint-progress status to identify which sections have already been checkpointed, allowing it to skip redundant checkpointing operations for those sections and only checkpoint new or modified sections, thus reducing time loss.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses a checkpoint-progress status as feedback to determine which sections of the execution state need to be checkpointed. This feedback mechanism prevents redundant checkpointing operations by identifying sections that have already been successfully checkpointed, thereby reducing the time spent on repeated checkpointing of the same data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

4Reliability

If all execution state is stored to non-volatile memory, then data integrity is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata integrityVSAvoidcheckpointing process complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The execution state is segmented into multiple manageable sections, each with its own checkpointing status. This segmentation simplifies the checkpointing process by allowing the system to track and manage individual section checkpointing independently, rather than handling the complexity of checkpointing the entire execution state as a single unit.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs partial checkpointing by storing only selected sections of the execution state to non-volatile memory. This partial action reduces the complexity of the checkpointing process by focusing on specific critical sections rather than managing the complexity of checkpointing all execution state, while still maintaining adequate data integrity protection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS12474995B2Checkpoint-progress status

Publication Date: 2025.11.18 ARM LTD

AI summary

A method comprising, in response to a power-drop warning, beginning a checkpointing process comprising storing, to a non-volatile memory, execution state associated with data processing operations performed by data processing circuitry. The method also comprises maintaining, in the non-volatile memory, a checkpoint-progress indication to indicate which of multiple sections of the execution state have been stored as part of the checkpointing process.