Automotive Storage Controller for Mixed Safety Integrity Requests
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automotive storage devices face challenges in processing requests from host devices with varying safety integrity levels without introducing errors, as existing systems struggle to differentiate and manage operations based on the required safety integrity levels of different host devices.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a storage controller that includes a nonvolatile memory device and a storage controller configured to handle requests from host devices with different safety integrity levels by utilizing distinct functions and registers, enabling the device to perform operations based on specific physical and virtual functions, and incorporating error detection and correction mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a storage controller processes requests from multiple host devices with different safety integrity levels using a single function, then device complexity is reduced, but error prevention capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The storage controller is segmented into multiple independent functions (first function with first physical function, second function with second physical function) that can independently process requests from different host devices. This segmentation allows each function to be optimized for specific safety integrity levels, preventing errors from propagating across all operations while maintaining manageable complexity through functional separation.
Solution Approach 2:
Different functions within the storage controller are assigned different qualities or characteristics suitable for specific safety integrity levels. The first function is configured for hosts with lower safety requirements while the second function is configured for hosts with higher safety requirements. This local quality differentiation ensures that each function has the appropriate error prevention capabilities needed for its specific operational context.
2Ease of operation
If a storage controller uses a single physical function for all host devices, then ease of operation is improved, but safety integrity level differentiation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The storage controller dynamically selects which function to use based on the safety integrity level of the requesting host device. The controller can adapt its behavior in real-time, switching between the first function and second function depending on the specific host device being served. This dynamic adaptation maintains ease of operation through automatic selection while ensuring compliance with different safety integrity level requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage controller is designed with multi-functionality, incorporating both the first function and second function within a single device. This universal design allows the controller to serve multiple types of host devices with different safety requirements without requiring separate dedicated controllers for each safety level, thereby maintaining operational simplicity while achieving safety differentiation.
3Reliability
If error detection mechanisms are added to the storage controller, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Error detection mechanisms are built into the function structures from the beginning, with error detection circuits integrated within each function (first function and second function). By incorporating error detection capabilities preliminarily during the design phase rather than adding them as separate external components, the system achieves high reliability while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The error detection functionality is merged with the existing function structures. The first error detection function is combined with the first physical function, and the second error detection function is combined with the second physical function. This merging approach allows error detection to be performed as an integrated part of the normal operation rather than as a separate complex subsystem.
Data Source
AI summary
An automotive storage device includes: a nonvolatile memory device configured to store data; and a storage controller configured to receive a first request from a first host, control the nonvolatile memory device so that the nonvolatile memory device performs an operation corresponding to the first request by using a first function including a first physical function, receive a second request from a second host having a safety integrity level that is different from that of the first host, and control the nonvolatile memory device so that the nonvolatile memory device performs an operation corresponding to the second request by using a second function including a second physical function.