EDSFF Media Port Control with Shared Enable and Separate Power Signals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing information handling systems face challenges in flexibly enabling single-port or dual-port operation for EDSFF drives, leading to increased pin counts, trace requirements, and reduced reliability due to conventional control signal routing methods.
Innovation Solution
A programmable logic device (PLD) is used to manage a single dual-port enable signal and separate power disable signals for EDSFF drives, allowing dynamic allocation of single-port or dual-port operation without additional pins or logic on the midplane, thereby reducing complexity and maintaining reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate control signals are routed to each EDSFF drive for single-port or dual-port operation, then each drive can be independently controlled, but the pin count and trace requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate control signals into a single shared control signal that is routed to all EDSFF drives. This single signal is then distributed to individual drives through their respective PCIe link configurations, eliminating the need for separate control signal routing to each drive while maintaining independent operational control.
Solution Approach 2:
The single control signal is designed to serve multiple functions across different drives simultaneously. It can enable or disable single-port or dual-port operation for any combination of EDSFF drives, making the control mechanism universal rather than drive-specific, thereby reducing pin count while maintaining versatility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If additional pins and logic are added to the midplane for flexible port operation, then drive configuration flexibility improves, but reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex control logic from the midplane and relocates it to the EDSFF drives themselves. The midplane only needs to provide the single control signal and power signals, while the drives contain the intelligence to interpret these signals and configure their port operation accordingly. This reduces midplane complexity and potential failure points.
Solution Approach 2:
The EDSFF drives are designed to autonomously configure their port operation based on the received control signals. Each drive independently determines whether to operate in single-port or dual-port mode based on the control signal state and its own capabilities, without requiring external control logic on the midplane. This self-configuration capability reduces system complexity and improves reliability.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional control signal routing is used for EDSFF drives, then implementation is straightforward, but pin counts and signal layers increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control function from the signal routing. Instead of routing separate control signals through the midplane to each drive, the control function is segmented into a single shared signal that is distributed to all drives. The actual port configuration is then determined by how each drive segment utilizes the PCIe lanes based on the control signal, rather than by separate control routing.
Data Source
AI summary
An information handling system includes Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) devices. The system provides a mode enable signal to all of the EDSFF devices, and separate power enable signals to each one of the EDSFF devices.