Dynamic Selective Memory Mirroring for Solid State Devices

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing memory mirroring technologies, such as RAID and Reed-Solomon error correction, incur high overhead, reducing usable memory space and flexibility, and are not effectively adapted to varying memory technologies, making them costly and inefficient for recovering from memory failures.

Innovation Solution

Dynamic selective memory mirroring in solid-state devices, where a memory controller and application dynamically identify and mirror only critical memory areas, reserving memory space for duplicate copies, allowing for fine-grained mirroring and efficient error detection and recovery without significant overhead.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If memory mirroring is implemented to improve system availability, then reliability is improved, but the usable memory space is reduced by more than 50%

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem availabilityVSAvoidusable memory space

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides memory into critical and non-critical sections, applying mirroring only to critical sections. This segmentation allows the system to maintain reliability for important data while preserving usable memory space for non-critical data that does not require redundancy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies different quality levels of protection to different parts of memory. Critical memory sections receive full mirroring protection, while non-critical sections use standard error correction. This local differentiation optimizes the balance between reliability and memory availability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Reliability

If traditional memory mirroring is used to protect against memory failures, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to error detection and pinpointing mechanisms

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvememory failure recoveryVSAvoiderror detection mechanism

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments memory into critical and non-critical sections, applying complex error detection and mirroring mechanisms only where necessary. This reduces overall device complexity by eliminating redundant error detection infrastructure for non-critical memory areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Reliability

If memory mirroring is implemented to ensure data recovery, then reliability is improved, but the cost per megabyte of usable memory increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata recovery capabilityVSAvoidcost per megabyte usable memory

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies mirroring only to critical memory sections rather than all memory, thereby reducing the total memory capacity consumed by redundancy. This segmentation strategy lowers the effective cost per megabyte of usable memory while maintaining data recovery capability for important data.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Reliability

If full memory mirroring is implemented to protect against catastrophic failures, then reliability is improved, but adaptability to varying memory technologies is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecatastrophic failure protectionVSAvoidadaptability to memory technologies

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements dynamic identification of critical memory sections, allowing the system to adapt to different memory technologies and failure patterns. This dynamic approach enables the mirroring strategy to evolve and adjust based on specific memory technology characteristics and observed failure modes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS8099570B2Methods, systems, and computer program products for dynamic selective memory mirroring

Publication Date: 2012.01.17 TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO LTD

AI summary

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for dynamic selective memory mirroring in solid state devices. An amount of memory is reserved. Sections of the memory to select for mirroring in the reserved memory are dynamically determined. The selected sections of the memory contain critical areas. The selected sections of the memory are mirrored in the reserved memory.