METHOD, APPARATUS, LOGIC DEVICE AND STORAGE SYSTEM FOR POWER-FAIL PROTECTION

• US 20090172469A1
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chengdu Huawei Symantec Technologies Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: XIAO, Ji
• Application Number:
  US12/341,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20090172469A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1441 Resetting or repowering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method, apparatus, logic device, and storage system for power-fail protection are disclosed. The method includes: when a system power supply fails, supplying, by a battery, power to a south bridge chip (SBC), a non-volatile flash storage medium, an interface conversion circuit (ICC) between the SBC and the non-volatile flash storage medium and a memory; and transmitting unsaved data in the memory to the corresponding non-volatile flash storage medium via the ICC, by using an unused bus interface of the SBC. The ICC converts a bus interface of the SBC into a corresponding bus interface of the non-volatile flash storage medium. The embodiments of the invention can effectively solve problems of data loss in case of system power failure and short retention time, and realize protection operation in case of system power failure, convenient upgrading memory capacity, and saving system space, without adding cost and total capacity of battery.

Claims

1. A method for power-fail protection, comprising:

supplying, by a battery, power to a south bridge chip (SBC), a non-volatile flash storage medium, an interface conversion circuit (ICC) between the SBC and the non-volatile flash storage medium and a memory when a system power supply fails; and

transmitting unsaved data in the memory to the corresponding non-volatile flash storage medium via the ICC, by use of an unused bus interface of the SBC;

wherein the ICC is configured to convert a bus interface of the SBC into a corresponding bus interface of the non-volatile flash storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

supplying power by the system power supply, reading the data stored in the non-volatile flash storage medium and writing the read data into the memory via the ICC and the SBC, when the system power supply is recovered to work normally.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ICC is configured to convert a bus interface of the SBC into a bus data interface corresponding to a plurality of non-volatile flash storage mediums.

4. The method of any of claims 1, wherein the step of the transmitting comprises:

transmitting the unsaved data in the memory to the corresponding plurality of non-volatile flash storage mediums via the ICC, by use of one unused bus interface of the SBC;

or

transmitting the unsaved data in the memory to the corresponding plurality of non-volatile flash storage mediums via the ICC, by use of a plurality of unused bus interfaces of the SBC.

5. An apparatus for power-fail protection, comprising:

a south bridge chip (SBC), configured to control interfaces of a storage system;

a non-volatile flash storage medium, configured to storing data; and

an Interface conversion circuit (ICC) connected to the SBC and the non-volatile flash storage medium, configured to convert a bus interface of the SBC into a corresponding bus interface of the non-volatile flash storage medium; and

when a system power supply fails transmit data not stored in a memory to the corresponding non-volatile flash storage medium via a bus interface connected to the SBC.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the ICC comprises a plurality of conversion chips configured to convert Peripheral Component Interconnection Bus Interface, Peripheral Component Interconnection Express Bus Interface, Serial Peripheral Component Interconnection Express Bus Interface, Peripheral Component Interconnection Extension Bus, Serial ATA Bus, Serial Attached Small Computer Systems Bus, Integrated Drive Electronics Bus, or Universal Serial Bus into one or more Integrated Drive Electronics Buses, local buses, or Serial Peripheral Buses.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the non-volatile flash storage medium comprises Compact Flash Card, Multimediums Card, Secure Digital Card, Extreme Digital Card, flash chip, or any combinations thereof.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the bus interface of the SBC comprises Peripheral Component Interconnection Bus Interface, Peripheral Component Interconnection Express Bus Interface, Serial Peripheral Component Interconnection Express Bus Interface, Peripheral Component Interconnection Bus Extension Interface, Serial ATA Interface, Serial Attached Small Computer Systems Interface, Integrated Drive Electronics Interface, Universal Serial Bus, or any combination thereof.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the bus interface of the non-volatile flash storage medium is Integrated Drive Electronics Interface, local bus interface, or Serial Peripheral Interface.

10. A logic device, comprising at least one conversion unit, configured to convert a bus interface of a South Bridge Chip (SBC) into a corresponding bus interface of at least one non-volatile storage mediums;

wherein one end of each conversion unit is connected to the bus interface of the SBC, and other end of each conversion unit is connected to the corresponding bus interface of the non-volatile storage mediums.

11. The logic device of claim 10, wherein the bus interface of the non-volatile storage mediums is Integrated Drive Electronics Interface, local bus interface, or Serial Peripheral Interface.

12. The logic device of claim 10, wherein the bus interface connecting the conversion units and the SBC is Peripheral Component Interconnection Bus Interface, Peripheral Component Interconnection Express Bus Interface, Serial Peripheral Component Interconnection Express Bus Interface, Peripheral Component Interconnection Bus Extension Interface, Serial ATA Interface, Serial Attached Small Computer Systems Interface, Integrated Drive Electronics Interface, Universal Serial Bus, or any combination thereof.

13. A storage system, comprising:

a system power supply, configured to supply the storage system with power under normal conditions of the system;

a South Bridge Chip (SBC), configured to control interfaces of the storage system;

a non-volatile flash storage medium, configured to storing data;

an Interface Conversion Circuit connected to the SBC and the non-volatile flash storage medium, configured to convert a bus interface of the SBC into a bus interface of the non-volatile flash storage medium;

a system memory connected to a central processing unit (CPU), configured to directly communicate with the CPU and store data and program which are used currently;

a battery connected to the SBC, the non-volatile flash storage medium, the ICC, the system memory and the CPU, configured to supply power to these connected components in case of system power failure; and

the CPU connected to the SBC and the system memory, configured to transmit data not stored in the system memory to the corresponding non-volatile flash storage medium via the ICC, by use of an unused bus interface of the SBC, in case of system power failure.