Memory System Command-Driven Encoding for Performance and Power

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional data compression and encryption processes in data processing systems lead to performance degradation and increased power consumption due to arithmetic operations, necessitating improved approaches that minimize these shortcomings.

Innovation Solution

A method and apparatus where a host system generates specific host commands for encoding processes in a memory system, allowing for efficient data compression and encryption operations within the memory system, with the ability to selectively apply compression or encryption functions based on data characteristics, and utilizing a second host command to manage the storage and retrieval of encoded data, thereby optimizing system performance and reducing power consumption.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If data compression or encryption processes are performed in the host system, then data security and size reduction are achieved, but system performance degrades and power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata securityVSAvoidsystem performance
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the data compression and encryption functions from the host system and relocates them to the memory system. The host system sends commands to the memory system to perform these operations, thereby removing the performance-degrading arithmetic operations from the host while maintaining data security and compression benefits.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The memory system acts as an intermediary between the host system and stored data. Instead of the host directly performing compression/encryption, the memory system mediates these operations by receiving commands from the host and executing the encoding processes internally, thus protecting the host from performance degradation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If data compression or encryption processes are performed in the host system, then data security and size reduction are achieved, but power consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata securityVSAvoidpower consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the power-intensive compression and encryption operations from the host system and relocates them to the memory system. This separation removes the source of high power consumption from the host while maintaining the necessary data security and compression functions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Reliability

If conventional compression and encryption processes are used, then data protection is achieved, but arithmetic operations cause performance degradation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata protectionVSAvoidsystem performance
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the conventional mechanical/computational approach of performing arithmetic operations in the host system with a command-driven approach where the memory system executes encoding operations. This substitution eliminates the performance-degrading arithmetic operations from the host's processing path while maintaining data protection through the memory system's encoding functions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentEP2879041B1Memory system, host system, and method of performing write operation in memory system
Publication Date: 2019.02.27 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD
  • EP2879041B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2879041B1 patent drawingFigure 3A~3B
  • EP2879041B1 patent drawingFigure 3C~4A

AI summary

A write operation is performed in a memory system by encoding, in the memory system, original data transmitted from a host system, according to a first type of host command, to produce an encoding result, transmitting information about the encoding result to the host system after the encoding, and writing the encoding result or the original data into a nonvolatile memory device, according to a second host command, wherein the second host command is transmitted from the host system based on the information about the encoding result.