COMMUNICATION APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20120075743A1
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Memory Corporation (Kioxia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Horiguchi, Tomoya
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,444 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 360/75
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3278 Power saving in modem or I/O interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/18 End to end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/266 Stopping or restarting the source, e.g. X-on or X-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9084 Reactions to storage capacity overflow
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a communication apparatus includes a storage unit, a state detecting unit, a communication unit, and a communication control unit. The storage unit configured to store information. The state detecting unit configured to detect, at least one time during an operation of the communication apparatus, whether the storage unit is in a busy state in which no data writing is allowed, or in a ready state in which data writing is allowed. The communication unit configured to perform communication with a destination communication apparatus. The communication control unit configured to control the communication unit to inform the destination communication apparatus that a data receiving operation is stopped for a first time period, if the state detection unit detects that the storage unit has entered the busy state.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus comprising:

a storage unit configured to store information;

a state detecting unit configured to detect, at least one time during an operation of the communication apparatus, whether the storage unit is in a busy state in which no data writing is allowed, or in a ready state in which data writing is allowed;

a communication unit configured to perform communication with a destination communication apparatus; and

a communication control unit configured to control the communication unit to inform the destination communication apparatus that a data receiving operation is stopped for a first time period, if the state detection unit detects that the storage unit has entered the busy state.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a flash memory, and the busy state is a state in which the flash memory performs an erasure operation.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a flash memory, and the first time period is a time period for the flash memory to perform an erasure operation.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a flash memory, and the first time period is a time period for the flash memory to complete an erasure operation and for the state detecting unit to detect the ready state.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a disk drive, and the busy state is a state in which a head of the disk drive performs a seek operation.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a disk drive, and the first time period is an average seek time period.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state detecting unit determines that the storage unit is in the ready state, if a write completion response is acquired from the storage unit within a second time period after a write request is issued to the storage unit, and determines that the storage unit is in the busy state, if no write completion response is acquired from the storage unit within the second time period after the write request is issued to the storage unit.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the storage unit generates a state informing signal indicating whether the storage unit is in the busy state or the ready state;

and

the state detecting unit detects, based on the state informing signal, whether the storage unit is in the busy state or the ready state.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the storage unit is a flash memory;

and

the state detecting unit monitors a power voltage or a current of the flash memory, determines whether the flash memory is in the busy state, based on a variation in the power voltage or the current, and determines that the storage unit is in the ready state, when the first time period elapses after the flash memory is determined to be in the busy state.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit stops a data receiving operation when the state detecting unit detects the busy state, and resumes the data receiving operation when the first time period elapses.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit stops a data receiving operation when the state detecting unit detects the busy state, and resumes the data receiving operation when the state detecting unit detects the ready state.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if the state detecting unit detects the busy state, the communication control unit causes the communication unit to inform the destination communication apparatus that the data receiving operation is resumed.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if the destination communication apparatus informs the communication unit that a data receiving operation is stopped for the first time period, the communication unit stops data transmission for a third time period less than the first time period.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if the destination communication apparatus informs the communication unit that a data receiving operation is stopped, the communication unit stops data transmission, and if the destination communication apparatus informs the communication unit that the data receiving operation is resumed, the communication unit starts the data transmission.

15. A communication method comprising:

detecting, at least one time during communication, whether a storage unit for storing information is in a busy state in which no data writing is allowed, or in a ready state in which data writing is allowed;

performing communication with a destination communication apparatus; and

controlling communication to inform the destination communication apparatus that a data receiving operation is stopped for a first time period, when it is detected that the storage unit has entered the busy state.