Portable Device for Integrated System Personality Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
In integrated computing systems, maintaining synchronization of traits, characteristics, and software information across computing modules is challenging, especially when modules are swapped, and reliance on a master module poses risks of data loss if it fails.
Innovation Solution
A portable device with memory serves as a data repository, storing the integrated system's personality, including unique identifiers, settings, and partition descriptions, allowing new modules to adopt the system's identity and settings, ensuring continuity even if the master module fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If information about the integrated system is stored on computing modules themselves, then the information is readily accessible to modules, but constant synchronization is required as modules are swapped out, increasing complexity and potential for data loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the system information storage function from the computing modules themselves and places it in a dedicated portable device. The portable device serves as a separate data repository that holds the integrated system personality, unique identifiers, settings, and partition descriptions, eliminating the need for modules to store and synchronize this information among themselves.
Solution Approach 2:
The portable device acts as an intermediary between computing modules and the integrated system information. Instead of modules directly storing and synchronizing information with each other, they all access the centralized repository in the portable device, which mediates information distribution and ensures consistency without requiring inter-module synchronization protocols.
2Reliability
If a master computing module is designated to retain system information, then information storage is centralized, but the information is vulnerable to loss if the master module fails and cannot be used with other integrated systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the system information storage function from any specific computing module (including the master module) and places it in a dedicated portable device. This separation ensures that information availability does not depend on any single module's operational status, and modules can be freely replaced or moved between systems without carrying system-specific data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the integrated system into functional computing modules and a separate data management component (portable device). This segmentation allows modules to be independent, replaceable units while the portable device maintains the centralized repository, improving both reliability through separation of concerns and adaptability through module independence.
3Reliability
If system information is stored on multiple computing modules, then information redundancy is achieved, but it becomes unclear which module has the correct or most up-to-date information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the authoritative source of system information from the distributed modules and consolidates it in the portable device. While modules can access information from the portable device for redundancy, the portable device remains the single source of truth, eliminating conflicts about which module has the correct information.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods and portable devices are provided for interconnecting one or more computing modules within an enclosure together to form an integrated system. A portable device may include a communication interface configured to be removably coupled to each computing module for interconnecting them together to form the integrated system. A portable device may also include memory configured to store an integrated system personality that serves as a point of authority for each computing module of the integrated system. The integrated system personality may include an identifier of the integrated system.