RECONFIGURATION OF COMPUTING DEVICE AND/OR NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DEVICES BASED ON THERMAL ANALYSIS

• US 20180088639A1
• Filed: 09/29/2016
• Published: 03/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Global Technologies International Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte., Ltd. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: REMIS, LUKE, ANDRESEN, MARK E., VELEZ, WILSON
• Granted Patent: US 10,146,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An apparatus for reconfiguring a computing device includes an inventory module, a thermal analysis module, and a reconfiguration module. The inventory module detects one or more locations for one or more non-volatile memory express (“NVMe”) devices. The one or more NVMe devices are coupled to a plurality of slots such that at least one of the slots is empty. The one or more NVMe devices thermally affect one or more further components of a computing device. The thermal analysis module determines one or more thermal characteristics for a current configuration and for one or more possible reconfigurations. The current configuration includes locations of the one or more NVMe devices and the one or more further components. The reconfiguration module selects a reconfiguration from the one or more possible reconfigurations based on the one or more determined thermal characteristics.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an inventory module that detects one or more locations for one or more non-volatile memory express (“

NVMe”

) devices coupled to a plurality of slots such that at least one of the slots is empty, wherein the one or more NVMe devices thermally affect one or more further components of a computing device;

a thermal analysis module that determines one or more thermal characteristics for a current configuration comprising locations of the one or more NVMe devices and the one or more further components, and for one or more possible reconfigurations; and

a reconfiguration module that selects a reconfiguration from the one or more possible reconfigurations based on the one or more determined thermal characteristics.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more NVMe devices are upstream, with regard to cooling airflow, from the one or more further components.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inventory module detects one or more locations for the one or more further components of the computing device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inventory module determines whether cables are crossed based on detecting which of one or more ports are coupled to the one or more NVMe devices, the current configuration further comprising a mapping between the one or more ports and the one or more NVMe devices, and the one or more possible reconfigurations comprising one or more possible alternate mappings.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inventory module detects the one or more locations for the one or more NVMe devices using a management interface operating independently from a central processing unit (“

CPU”

) based interface for the one or more NVMe devices.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the inventory module detects the one or more locations for the one or more NVMe devices when an operating system for the computing device is not running.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inventory module detects the one or more locations for the one or more NVMe devices in response to one or more of a power on event for the computing device and a change in configuration for the one or more NVMe devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thermal analysis module determines the one or more thermal characteristics based on one or more of:

current settings for the computing device,

information from one or more sensors for the computing device,

part information for the one or more NVMe devices,

part information for the one or more further components of the computing device, and

application characterization for the computing device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thermal analysis module iteratively generates the one or more possible reconfigurations by iteratively identifying one or more possible changes to the current configuration, based on the one or more determined thermal characteristics.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a trigger module that activates the thermal analysis module to determine the one or more thermal characteristics in response to a trigger, the trigger comprising one or more of central processing unit (“

CPU”

) throttling that exceeds a throttling threshold, a temperature that exceeds a temperature threshold, and a new configuration detected by the inventory module.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected reconfiguration comprises a new location for at least one NVMe device, based on one of:

concentrating heat from the one or more NVMe devices in a particular region and distributing heat from the one or more NVMe devices across a larger region than in the current configuration.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reconfiguration module selects the selected reconfiguration based on a measurement prioritized by a user, the prioritized measurement comprising one of a central processing unit (“

CPU”

) temperature, a memory temperature, an expansion card temperature, a fan speed, and an acoustic measurement.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an alert module that communicates the selected reconfiguration to a user.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein communicating the selected reconfiguration comprises activating a light corresponding to an empty NVMe slot, to indicate a new location for at least one NVMe device, when an operating system for the computing device is not running.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the computing device.

16. A method comprising:

detecting one or more locations for one or more non-volatile memory express (“

NVMe”

) devices coupled to a plurality of slots such that at least one of the slots is empty, wherein the one or more NVMe devices thermally affect one or more further components of a computing device;

determining one or more thermal characteristics for a current configuration comprising locations of the one or more NVMe devices and the one or more further components, and for one or more possible reconfigurations; and

selecting a reconfiguration from the one or more possible reconfigurations based on the one or more determined thermal characteristics.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising detecting one or more locations for the one or more further components of the computing device.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the one or more thermal characteristics is in response to a trigger, the trigger comprising one or more of central processing unit (“

CPU”

) throttling that exceeds a throttling threshold, a temperature that exceeds a temperature threshold, and a new configuration for the computing device.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising communicating the selected reconfiguration to a user.

20. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:

detecting one or more locations for one or more non-volatile memory express (“

NVMe”

) devices coupled to a plurality of slots such that at least one of the slots is empty, wherein the one or more NVMe devices thermally affect one or more further components of a computing device;

determining one or more thermal characteristics for a current configuration comprising locations of the one or more NVMe devices and the one or more further components, and for one or more possible reconfigurations; and

selecting a reconfiguration from the one or more possible reconfigurations based on the one or more determined thermal characteristics.