Error indication in a raid memory system
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a host/data controller; and
a memory system comprising a plurality of memory cartridges operably coupled to the host/data controller, each memory cartridge comprising an operation indicator configured to indicate the operational status of the corresponding memory cartridge.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computer system includes a plurality of memory modules that contain semiconductor memory, such as DIMMs. The system includes a host/data controller that utilizes an XOR engine to store data and parity information in a striped fashion on the plurality of memory modules to create a redundant array of industry standard DIMMs (RAID). The host/data controller also interleaves data on a plurality of channels associated with each of the plurality of memory modules. The system implements error interrupt control, ECC error reporting, cartridge error power down procedures in response to command errors, storage of error information in unused segments of each DIMM, hot-pug procedure indicator and remote tagging capabilities of memory cartridges and DIMMs.
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Citations
91 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a host/data controller; and
a memory system comprising a plurality of memory cartridges operably coupled to the host/data controller, each memory cartridge comprising an operation indicator configured to indicate the operational status of the corresponding memory cartridge. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of generating interrupts in a redundant memory, comprising the acts of:
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detecting an error in a memory system;
determining the operational status of the memory system; and
initiating a system interrupt signal, the type of system interrupt signal being dependent on the operational status of the memory system. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A memory cartridge comprising:
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a plurality of memory modules; and
a memory controller operably coupled to each of the plurality of memory modules and comprising a programmable masking register configured to store an error identification corresponding to one of the plurality of memory modules in which an error has been detected. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of masking the error generation in a memory module comprising the acts of:
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detecting a faulty memory module;
storing a unique memory module identification corresponding to the faulty memory module in a masking register;
detecting errors in a plurality of memory modules each memory module comprising a corresponding unique memory module identification;
comparing each of the memory module identifications in which an error is detected with the memory module identification corresponding to the faulty memory module; and
blocking the generation of errors to a host/data controller if the memory module identification corresponding to the memory module in which an error is detected is the same as the memory module identification corresponding to the faulty memory module. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer system comprising:
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a host/data controller;
a plurality of memory cartridges operably coupled to the host/data controller, each of the plurality of memory cartridges comprising a memory controller;
a command bus operably coupled between the host/data controller and the plurality of memory controllers and configured to transmit commands from the host/data controller to the plurality of memory controllers; and
error detection logic located on the command bus and configured to detect errors on the command bus. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of exchanging information in a redundant memory system, comprising the acts of:
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detecting errors on a command bus, the errors comprising one of a single bit error and a multi-bit error;
correcting any single bit errors detected on the command bus; and
generating an error message if a multi-bit error is detected on the command bus. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A memory cartridge comprising:
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a plurality of memory modules, each of the plurality of memory modules comprising a reserved segment of non-volatile memory configured to store information unique to the corresponding memory module; and
a memory controller configured to detect errors in each of the plurality of memory modules and configured to facilitate storage of information correlative to the errors detected in the plurality of memory modules in the respective reserved segment of non-volatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A method of storing information on a memory module, comprising the acts of:
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accessing an IIC interface on the memory module, the IIC interface comprising a non-volatile memory segment; and
storing identification information correlative to the memory module in the IIC interface. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52)
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53. A method of storing error detection information on a memory module comprising the acts of:
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detecting an error on the memory module; and
storing information correlative to the error in a reserved segment of the memory module, the reserved segment comprising non-volatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56)
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57. A computer system comprising:
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a memory cartridge comprising a plurality of memory modules, the memory cartridge configured to be hot-pluggable and wherein each of the memory modules comprises a plurality of addresses corresponding to storage locations in the memory modules;
a host/data controller coupled to the memory cartridge and configured to facilitate a hot plug operation;
an address register configured to incrementally track the hot plug operation through the corresponding plurality of addresses; and
an indication device configured to provide a user with optical indication of progress of the hot plug operation. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. A method of providing a user with progress status during a memory cartridge replacement procedure in a redundant memory system comprising the acts of:
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inserting a memory cartridge into a system;
initiating a hot-plug procedure;
tracking the incremental progress of the hot-plug procedure; and
providing an optical indication correlative to the incremental progress. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
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76. A method of manufacturing a redundant memory system comprising the acts of:
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providing one or more hot-pluggable redundant memory segments; and
providing an indicator device to indicate the incremental progress of a hot-plug procedure. - View Dependent Claims (77, 78)
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79. A system comprising:
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a redundant memory system comprising a plurality of memory cartridges, wherein each memory cartridge comprises a corresponding cartridge indicator; and
a terminal operably coupled to the redundant memory system and located remotely with respect to the redundant memory system, wherein the terminal is configured to initiate a cartridge signal to activate the cartridge indicator. - View Dependent Claims (80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86)
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87. A method of identifying a memory portion in a redundant memory system comprising the acts of:
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initiating a command from a terminal, the terminal being located remotely with respect to the system; and
activating an illumination device on the memory portion in response to the command from the terminal. - View Dependent Claims (88, 89, 90, 91)
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Specification