SATA Bus Device Initialization Sequence for Shared Transmission Engine
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Solution Overview
Problem
In computer systems using SATA buses, multiple hard disk drives (HDDs) sharing a common transmission engine often face issues with initialization, where only one HDD is acknowledged, leading to operational failures and potential system crashes due to unlinked HDDs not receiving state updating signals.
Innovation Solution
A method where all links to the common transmission engine are disabled at boot, and state updating signals are issued sequentially to each HDD after establishing their respective links, ensuring successful initialization by checking the SATA bus state before enabling the next HDD, allowing all HDDs to be initialized without conflicts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If multiple HDDs share a common transmission engine and issue state updating signals simultaneously during boot, then data transmission speed is improved, but initialization reliability deteriorates because only one HDD is acknowledged
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by disabling all links to the common transmission engine before boot, then enabling them sequentially in a controlled order. This ensures that only one HDD issues a state updating signal at a time during initialization, guaranteeing reliable acknowledgment while maintaining the ability to share the transmission engine for high-speed data transmission during normal operation.
2Reliability
If the transmission engine links to only one HDD during boot, then initialization of that HDD is reliable, but other unlinked HDDs fail to initialize and may cause system crashes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the initialization process by dividing multiple HDDs into a sequence where each HDD is initialized individually through the common transmission engine. The links are enabled in a specific order, allowing the transmission engine to handle one HDD at a time during boot, ensuring reliable initialization of each device without causing system crashes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic action by enabling links to the common transmission engine in sequential time intervals during boot. Each link is enabled temporarily to allow one HDD to issue its state updating signal and be acknowledged, then the link is disabled before enabling the next link, ensuring systematic initialization of all HDDs.
3Productivity
If all links are enabled simultaneously during boot, then all HDDs can be initialized in parallel improving productivity, but signal conflicts occur on the shared transmission engine
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring a specific enable sequence for all links to the common transmission engine before boot. This controlled sequencing prevents signal conflicts during initialization while maintaining high productivity by systematically initializing all HDDs in order, avoiding the need for retries or system crashes.
Data Source
AI summary
In a method used for initializing a first bus device and a second bus device sharing a common transmission engine of a bus, a first link of the first bus device and a second link of the second bus device to the common transmission engine are disabled when the computer system is booted. Next, the first link and the second link are enabled in order. Then, a first state updating signal from the first bus device is issued after the first link to the common transmission engine is established. Finally, a second state updating signal from the second bus device is issued after the first state updating signal is received and the second link to the common transmission engine is established.