Selective Fault Recovery in Electronic Subsystems

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Solution Overview

Problem

Electronic devices often undergo full system shutdowns due to faults in individual components, disrupting user activity and lacking effective recovery mechanisms beyond simple reboot or shutdown procedures.

Innovation Solution

A method for selective fault recovery that detects faults in subsystems, performs state resets, power resets, and notifies users, allowing for controlled subsystem isolation or system resets to maintain device functionality and user access.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a full system shutdown is performed when a fault occurs in a subsystem, then the fault is cleared and system stability is restored, but user activity is interrupted and device functionality is lost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesystem stabilityVSAvoiduser activity continuity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system is divided into independent subsystems that can be individually reset without affecting the entire device. When a fault is detected in a specific subsystem, only that subsystem undergoes state reset or power reset operations, while other subsystems continue to function normally, thereby maintaining user activity continuity while restoring system stability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The faulty subsystem is isolated and extracted from the main system operation. The system performs selective reset operations on the problematic subsystem while excluding other subsystems from the reset process, allowing the majority of the device to remain operational and avoid full system shutdown.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Loss of time

If simple reboot procedures are used to recover from faults, then the recovery process is quick and simple, but the fault may persist and device functionality is lost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverecovery timeVSAvoidfault recovery effectiveness
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements dynamic fault recovery strategies that adapt based on the specific fault condition. Instead of using a fixed simple reboot procedure, the system can escalate from state reset (softer reset) to power reset (harder reset) based on whether the fault persists, thereby balancing recovery time with recovery effectiveness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system incorporates feedback mechanisms to monitor whether a fault persists after a reset operation. If the fault detection indicates the problem remains, the system triggers additional reset operations or alternative recovery procedures, ensuring that recovery effectiveness is maintained while minimizing unnecessary lengthy processes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Reliability

If the entire system is reset to clear a subsystem fault, then the fault is cleared, but all device functions are interrupted and user access is lost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefault clearanceVSAvoiduser access
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The reset operation is segmented to affect only the faulty subsystem rather than the entire system. The system performs targeted state resets or power resets on the specific problematic component while maintaining operation of other subsystems, thereby clearing the fault while preserving user access to remaining device functions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The recovery action is applied locally to the faulty subsystem with different reset intensities applied to different parts of the system. The problematic subsystem receives the necessary reset treatment while other subsystems continue operating normally, maintaining local fault clearance while preserving overall user access.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP2642390B1Fault recovery
Publication Date: 2017.05.03 BLACKBERRY LTD
  • EP2642390B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2642390B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2642390B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Various embodiments are described herein with regards to performing a selective fault recovery for an electronic device having a plurality of subsystems in which one of the subsystems has a fault. The selective fault recovery techniques described herein allow a user to use non-faulty subsystem of the electronic device while selective fault recovery is being conducted on the subsystem having the fault.