Controller Interleaving Data Across Multiple Memory Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current distributed storage systems face challenges in optimizing storage capacity and data throughput performance while minimizing costs, particularly in efficiently managing storage elements to handle large amounts of data.
Innovation Solution
A data storage system that utilizes a combination of first and second memory devices, where location information and portions of user data sets are stored across these devices, with a controller interleaving the data during input/output operations to enhance performance and redundancy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is stored in a single memory device, then storage cost is minimized, but data throughput performance and reliability are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the storage system into multiple memory devices (first memory device and second memory device) with different characteristics. The first memory device stores location information and a first amount of user data, while the second memory device stores a second amount of user data. This segmentation allows the system to leverage the strengths of different memory devices to improve reliability and throughput without requiring all data to reside in a single complex high-performance device.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple memory devices into a unified storage space that presents a single interface to users. The controller integrates data from both the first memory device and second memory device, combining their storage capacities and performance characteristics to provide enhanced reliability and throughput while maintaining a simple user interface and access mechanism.
2Productivity
If data is stored across multiple memory devices, then data throughput performance is improved, but storage cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent assigns different storage characteristics to different memory devices based on local requirements. The first memory device is optimized for storing location information and critical data portions, while the second memory device handles additional data storage. This local quality differentiation allows the system to achieve high throughput for critical operations without unnecessarily expensive storage across the entire data set.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial replication of data across multiple memory devices. Instead of replicating all data completely (excessive action), the system stores a first amount of data in the first memory device and a second amount in the second memory device, with the controller managing the distribution. This partial action approach provides sufficient throughput improvement without the full cost burden of complete data replication.
3Speed
If the controller interleaves data from multiple memory devices, then data retrieval speed is enhanced, but control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller performs preliminary actions by pre-managing the distribution of data between the first and second memory devices during storage operations. Location information is pre-stored in the first memory device to guide subsequent retrieval operations. This preliminary organization of data and metadata enables faster data retrieval through interleaving without requiring complex real-time control decisions during read operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary that manages the complexity of data distribution and retrieval between the user interface and the multiple memory devices. It handles the interleaving operations by coordinating reads from the first memory device and second memory device, abstracting the complexity from the user and presenting a simplified data access interface while achieving enhanced retrieval speeds.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and associated methodology for a data storage system having a data storage space operably transferring user data via input/output (I/O) commands between the data storage system and another device. The data storage space includes a first memory device operably storing location information for a selected user data set corresponding to one of the I/O commands. The first memory also operably stores a first amount of the selected user data set. The data storage space also includes a second memory device different than the first memory device and operably storing a different second amount of the selected user data set. The data storage system has a controller that interleaves an entirety of the selected user data set from the first and second memory devices during execution of another of the I/O commands.