PCIe Bridge Power-Cycle Validation for Emulated SSDs
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for validating emulated PCIe based storage devices, such as SSDs, fail to initiate power cycles, leading to incomplete feature validation and delays in the product delivery cycle due to inefficiencies in emulated SSD verification.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that includes a PCIe bridge device to emulate and validate power cycles for emulated SSDs by receiving bridge register values indicating 'Power ON' or 'Power OFF' conditions, performing corresponding actions, and validating these conditions based on pre-stored vendor values, enabling complete specification validation before manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If existing emulators and virtualizers such as QEMU are used to validate SSD features prior to manufacturing, then validation can be performed before actual SSD availability, but power cycle validation cannot be performed due to inability to initiate power cycles for emulated SSDs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a PCIe bridge device as an intermediary component between the virtual machine and the emulated SSD. This bridge device intercepts and processes power cycle commands (specifically the PME# signal) that would otherwise be lost in the emulation layer. By capturing these signals at the PCIe bridge level and translating them into appropriate actions on the emulated SSD, the system enables power cycle validation without requiring changes to the underlying emulator or virtualization infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary configuration of the PCIe bridge device to recognize and handle power cycle commands before they reach the emulated SSD. The bridge device is pre-configured with the logic to detect PME# signals and translate them into appropriate power state transitions for the emulated device. This preliminary setup enables complete validation including power cycles before the actual product is manufactured, eliminating the need for post-manufacturing discovery of power cycle issues.
2Ease of operation
If virtual machines store user data to backend storage when powered off to create non-volatile memory illusion, then the virtual machine appears to have persistent storage, but PCIe transport level layer validation for power cycles cannot be performed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage functionality into two distinct layers: the virtual machine level (which handles user data and presents non-volatile memory illusion through backend storage) and the PCIe transport level (which handles power cycle validation through the bridge device). This segmentation allows both functionalities to coexist without interference - the virtual machine continues to operate with its simplified storage model while the bridge device independently validates PCIe-level power cycle behavior.
Solution Approach 2:
The PCIe bridge device acts as an intermediary that operates independently between the virtual machine's storage operations and the emulated SSD's power cycle behavior. It captures PCIe-level power management signals (PME#) and translates them into appropriate actions, while leaving the virtual machine's data storage operations unchanged. This mediator approach enables both the ease of operation for virtual machine storage and the reliability of PCIe transport validation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for validating a power cycle for an emulated Peripheral Component Interconnect express (PCIe) storage device, the system including: an emulating and virtualizing unit hosting a virtual machine; a PCIe bridge device; and emulated PCIe storage devices, wherein the PCIe bridge device: receives a bridge register value that indicates a “Power ON” or “Power OFF” condition; receives a request from the virtual machine to perform actions corresponding to the bridge register value; detects a condition associated with the bridge register value; performs the actions corresponding to the detected condition on the emulated PCIe storage devices to emulate the “Power ON” or “Power OFF” condition for the emulated PCIe storage devices; and validates a power cycle of the emulated PCIe storage devices based on a pre-stored vendor value and a corresponding pre-stored condition for the emulated “Power ON” or “Power OFF” condition for the emulated PCIe storage devices.