Storage Diagnostic Normalization for Multi-Vendor Drive Compatibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Information Handling Systems (IHSs) lack efficient and standardized methods for handling storage device diagnostics, particularly during boot sequences and post-boot operations, which can vary based on the type and number of storage devices and user contexts.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a normalization engine that transforms generic storage diagnostic requests into vendor-specific commands using a Look-Up Table (LUT) and policy-based rules, enabling efficient and context-aware diagnostics across various storage devices, including UFS, NVMe, and SSDs, through BIOS, EC, and OS-level interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vendor-specific diagnostic commands are used directly, then compatibility with specific storage devices is improved, but system complexity increases due to multiple vendor-specific implementations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a normalization engine as an intermediary layer between the generic diagnostic request and vendor-specific storage devices. This engine translates standardized diagnostic requests into vendor-specific commands using a Look-Up Table (LUT) that maps generic diagnostic parameters to vendor-specific implementations, thereby maintaining vendor compatibility while hiding the complexity from the user and higher-level software.
Solution Approach 2:
The normalization engine provides a universal interface that handles multiple vendor-specific storage devices through a single standardized diagnostic request mechanism. The LUT enables one diagnostic request structure to serve multiple vendor-specific implementations, reducing the need for separate diagnostic pathways for each vendor while maintaining compatibility.
2Ease of operation
If generic diagnostic requests are used, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to lack of vendor-specific optimization
Solution Approach 1:
The normalization engine acts as a mediator that receives simple, generic diagnostic requests and automatically translates them into vendor-specific commands with precise parameter mappings. The LUT ensures that the translation maintains vendor-specific optimization and compliance while the user interacts only with the simplified generic interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms diagnostic parameters from a generic form to vendor-specific forms through the LUT. The same generic diagnostic request can have different parameter interpretations for different vendors, allowing the system to maintain ease of operation while adapting parameters to meet vendor-specific requirements and optimizations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple vendor-specific diagnostic protocols are supported, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases due to multiple protocol implementations
Solution Approach 1:
The normalization engine provides a universal translation mechanism that supports multiple vendor-specific protocols through a single generic interface. The LUT contains mappings for multiple vendors, enabling the system to adapt to different storage device vendors without implementing separate diagnostic pathways for each, thereby reducing protocol implementation complexity while maintaining broad adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for handling storage device diagnostics in an Information Handling System (IHS) are described. In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, an IHS may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the IHS to: transmit a request for a storage diagnostic to an engine configured to transform the request into a vendor library call, where the vendor library call is configured to communicate an indication of the request to a storage device driver of a storage device; and receive a response to the request.