Converting volatile memory module devices to flashless non-volatile memory module devices

• US 9,619,329 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2015
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Elizov, Ofir, Fluman, Mudi M., Frank, Yaacov, Shiran, Yehuda, Vatelmacher, Ronny
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Yolanda L
• Application Number:
  US14/745,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20160371148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0727 in a storage system, e.g. in a DASD or network based storage system drivers for digital recording or reproducing units G06F3/06; circuits for error detection or correction within digital recording or reproducing units G11B20/18; for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/073 in a memory management context, e.g. virtual memory or cache management memory management G06F12/00; testing of static memory units G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1435 using file system or storage system metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1441 Resetting or repowering

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus and methods for converting a volatile memory module device to a non-volatile memory module device. In one embodiment, a male contact edge of a memory module device is inserted to a first memory module device socket of a memory module device adaptor, the memory module device adaptor having a first male contact edge. Power is provided to the memory module device in the event of a system failure. Diodes operatively connected to one or more power pins of the first memory module device socket prevent current from flowing to the battery to one or more power pins of the male contact edge of the memory module device adaptor. Applications needing dedicated memory are registered and, in the event of a system failure memory module device data associated with the registered applications can be recovered without the use of flash memory.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory module device adaptor having a first memory module device socket and a first male contact edge, wherein the first memory module device socket is configured to receive a male contact edge of a memory module device, and the first male contact edge is configured to be inserted into a second memory module device socket;

a battery operatively connected to one or more power pins of the first memory module device socket, wherein the battery is configured to provide power to a memory module device received in the first memory module device socket; and

one or more diodes operatively connected to the one or more power pins of the first memory module device socket and one or more power pins of the first male contact edge, wherein the one or more diodes are configured to prevent current from flowing from the battery to the one or more power pins of the first male contact edge.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory module device is a Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM).

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a computer system operatively connected to the memory module device adaptor, the computer system configured to recover data stored on the memory module device in the event of a system failure.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the second memory module device socket is disposed on a motherboard of the computer system.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

receive a registration request from one or more applications;

responsive to receiving a registration request, register the one or more applications; and

generate an application table, wherein the application table stores information about the registered one or more applications.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the stored information about each of the one or more registered applications comprises an application name and version, and memory start and memory end addresses.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

responsive to determining that the computer system has experienced a power loss, determine whether one or more registered applications had an abnormal exit; and

responsive to determining that one or more registered applications had an abnormal exit, recover data of the one or more registered application that had an abnormal exit from the memory module device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the computer system is configured to recover data by:

accessing the generated application table;

reading the memory start and end addresses for each of the one or more registered applications; and

recovering from the memory module device data associated with the memory start and end addresses for each of the registered applications.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the computer system is further configured to:

responsive to determining that one or more registered applications had an normal exit, update the generated application table.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the computer system is configured to update the generated application table by:

removing respective memory start and end address associated with applications that had a normal exit.

11. A method, comprising:

inserting a male contact edge of a memory module device into a first memory module device socket of a memory module device adaptor, the memory module device adaptor having a first male contact edge;

inserting a male contact edge of the memory module device adaptor into a second memory module device socket; and

providing power from a battery to the memory module device, wherein;

the battery is operatively connected to one or more power pins of the first memory module device socket; and

one or more diodes are operatively connected to the one or more power pins of the first memory module device socket and one or more power pins of the male contact edge of the memory module device adaptor to prevent current from flowing from the battery to the one or more power pins of the male contact edge of the memory module device adaptor.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the memory module device is a Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM).

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

a computer system recovering data stored on the memory module device in the event of a system failure, wherein the computer system is operatively connected to the memory module device adaptor.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second memory module device socket is disposed on a motherboard of the computer system.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the computer system receiving a registration request from one or more applications;

responsive to receiving a registration request, the computer system registering the one or more applications; and

the computer system generating an application table, wherein the application table stores information about the registered one or more applications.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the stored information about each of the one or more registered applications comprises an application name and version, and memory start and memory end addresses.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the computer system has experienced a power loss, the computer system determining whether one or more registered applications had an abnormal exit; and

responsive to determining that one or more registered applications had an abnormal exit, the computer system recovering data of the one or more registered application that had an abnormal exit from the memory module device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein recovering data stored on the memory module device comprises:

the computer system accessing the generated application table;

the computer system reading the memory start and end addresses for each of the one or more registered applications; and

the computer system recovering from the memory module device data associated with the memory start and end addresses for each of the registered applications.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to determining that one or more registered applications had an normal exit, updating the generated application table.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

the computer system updating the generated application table by removing respective memory start and end address associated with applications that had a normal exit.