Dynamic Lane Margining for Memory Controllers Using Link Recovery Rates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Memory system controllers perform lane margining procedures ad hoc in response to failures or degraded performance, leading to increased communication failures and timeouts over I/O ports, without proactive measures to prevent such issues.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a dynamic triggering mechanism for lane margining based on the rate of change in link recovery procedures to maintain accurate reference voltages and sampling times, thereby preventing failures and timeouts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lane margining is performed ad hoc in response to failures, then the system reacts to problems, but communication failures and timeouts increase due to lack of proactive prevention
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs lane margining procedures proactively before failures occur by monitoring link recovery procedure rates. When the rate of link recovery procedures exceeds a threshold, the system initiates lane margining in advance to prevent communication failures, rather than waiting for failures to manifest and then reacting ad hoc.
2Reliability
If lane margining is performed frequently to prevent failures, then link stability improves, but system complexity and overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the rate of link recovery procedures and uses this feedback to dynamically determine when lane margining should be performed. By comparing the current rate against a predefined threshold, the system activates lane margining only when necessary, avoiding unnecessary procedures while maintaining link stability.
3Use of energy by moving object
If ad hoc lane margining is performed only when failures occur, then resource consumption is reduced, but communication failures and timeouts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs lane margining procedures proactively before failures occur by monitoring link recovery procedure rates. When the rate of link recovery procedures exceeds a threshold, the system initiates lane margining in advance to prevent communication failures, rather than waiting for failures to manifest and then reacting ad hoc.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and devices for triggering lane margining are described. A memory system controller may dynamically trigger the lane margining procedure based on a quantity of link recovery procedures performed at one or more input/output (I/O) ports established between a memory system and a host system. For example, the memory system controller may monitor, during a first duration, the performance of link recovery procedures performed at the one or more I/O ports. Based on a quantity of the link recovery procedures satisfying a threshold of link recovery procedures, the memory system controller may determine a rate of change between the quantity of link recovery procedures and a second quantity of link recovery procedures. If the rate of change between the quantity of link recovery procedures and the second quantity of link recovery procedures is increasing, the memory system controller may initiate the lane margining procedure.