JP7758383B2 - Processing device, processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a processing device, a processing method, and a program.

Information processing devices such as solid-state drives (SSDs) are used in a variety of fields. Patent Document 1 discloses a related technology relating to an information processing device that performs retention processing.

Special Publication No. 2010-515953

There is a demand for technology that can improve convenience for information processing devices related to Patent Document 1.

One of the objectives of each aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a processing device, processing method, and program that can solve the above-mentioned problems.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a processing device includes: a measurement unit that measures a time during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is cut off; a capacitor that supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is cut off; a power supply unit that supplies power to the measurement unit, the power supply unit being separate from the capacitor; and a control unit that, when power supply from the processing device to the SSD is cut off, sets a first value for a time measurement counter that is greater than the time it takes for the SSD to be able to respond to commands from the processing device itself; if it determines that the value of the time measurement counter is greater than or equal to the first value, determines and sets a priority for the retention process to be performed based on information read from a NAND included in the SSD and the calculated power cutoff time; and if it determines that the value of the time measurement counter is less than the first value, sets the priority of the retention process of the NAND to highest priority and executes the retention process of the NAND in accordance with the set priority .

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a processing method is a processing method executed by a processing device including a measurement unit, a capacitor, a power supply unit, and a control unit, wherein the measurement unit is a solid state drive (SSD) the control unit measures a time during which power supply to the SSD (a storage device or a drive) is cut off, the capacitor supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is cut off, the power supply unit is a power supply unit separate from the capacitor and supplies power to the measurement unit, when the power supply from the processing device to the SSD is cut off, the control unit sets a first value to a time measurement counter which is greater than the time it takes for the SSD to be able to respond to a command from the processing device, and when it determines that the value of the time measurement counter is greater than or equal to the first value, determines and sets a priority for the retention process to be performed based on information read from a NAND included in the SSD for determining the priority of the retention process and the calculated power cutoff time, and when it determines that the value of the time measurement counter is smaller than the first value, sets the priority of the retention process of the NAND to be the highest priority, and executes the retention process of the NAND in accordance with the set priority .

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a program causes a computer to: measure a time during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is cut off; supply power to the SSD while the power supply is cut off; supply power to a measurement unit that measures the cutoff time; when power supply from a processing device to the SSD is cut off, set a first value to a time measurement counter that is greater than a time required for the SSD to be able to respond to commands from the processing device; if it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is greater than or equal to the first value, determine and set a priority of the retention process to be performed based on information read from a NAND included in the SSD for determining the priority of the retention process and the calculated power cutoff time; if it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is less than the first value, set the priority of the retention process of the NAND to highest priority; and execute the retention process of the NAND in accordance with the set priority .

Each aspect of the present disclosure can improve convenience.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information processing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a first example of a processing flow of an information processing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a second example of a processing flow of an information processing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a configuration of a processing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing flow of a processing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the configuration of a computer according to at least one embodiment.

Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
<Embodiment>
An information processing device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Configuration of information processing device of the present disclosure)
1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing device 1 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing device 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes an information processing device main body 10 and an SSD (Solid State Drive) 20. For example, the information processing device 1 is a personal computer.

As shown in Figure 1, the information processing device main unit 10 includes a control unit 101 and a power supply 102.

The control unit 101 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1011, memory 1012, and various interfaces 1013. For example, if the information processing device 1 is a personal computer, the information processing device main body 10 is a motherboard on which the CPU 1011 and memory 1012 are mounted.

The power supply 102 supplies power to the SSD 20 under the control of the control unit 101.

As shown in FIG. 1, the SSD 20 includes a connector 201, a control unit 202, a NAND 203, a time measurement counter 204, a secondary battery 205, and a capacitor 206.

The connector 201 is an interface that connects to the information processing device main unit 10. The connector 201 receives power from the information processing device main unit 10.

The control unit 202 performs various controls necessary for the processing performed by the SSD 20.

NAND 203 is a non-volatile memory. NAND 203 stores data indicating information i. Information i is information necessary for determining the priority of retention processing. Retention processing is a process of checking and correcting data. Specific examples of information i include information indicating the retention status at the time the power supply was cut off, information indicating the average time from the start of power supply to its cut off, information indicating the average time from the cut off of power supply to its restart, and information indicating the amount of data written to NAND 203.

When the power supply from the information processing device main unit 10 is interrupted, the time measurement counter 204 measures the time during which the power supply is interrupted.

The secondary battery 205 operates the time measurement counter 204 when the power supply from the information processing device main unit 10 is cut off. Note that in another embodiment, a capacitor other than the capacitor 206 may be used instead of the secondary battery 205.

Capacitor 206 supplies power to operate SSD 20 while writing necessary information to NAND 203 if the power supply from the information processing device main unit 10 is interrupted.

Note that the above-described processing performed by the information processing device 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is merely an example, and is not limited to the above-described processing. For example, the information processing device 1 may perform the processing described below.

(First process performed by the information processing device of the present disclosure)
2 is a diagram illustrating a first example of a processing flow of the information processing device 1 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Here, a process performed by the information processing device 1 when the supply of power from the information processing device main body 10 to the SSD 20 is interrupted as shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

When the power supply from the information processing device main unit 10 to the SSD 20 is cut off, the control unit 202 sets the time counter 204 to a value A greater than the time required for the SSD 20 to be able to respond to commands from the information processing device main unit 10 (step S1). The value A greater than the time required for the SSD 20 to be able to respond to commands from the information processing device main unit 10 is a value greater than the maximum time required for the SSD 20 to be powered on and ready (to accept read/write commands from the information processing device main unit 10) plus an additional time α. The control unit 202 reads the time counter when the SSD 20 becomes ready. If the time indicated by the read time counter is less than the set value A, the control unit 202 determines that the time counter 204 has been reset (the capacitor has been discharged and no charge has been generated). Furthermore, if the time indicated by the read time counter is greater than the set value A, the control unit 202 determines that a long-term power interruption has not occurred (even if there was a momentary power interruption). The reason for setting such a large value A in the time counter 204 is to enable the control unit 202 to distinguish between a case in which power is supplied again immediately after the power supply to the SSD 20 is interrupted when the control unit 202 reads the count value of the time counter 204 (i.e., a case in which the control unit 202 reads a count value greater than the set value A even if the power supply time is 0), and a case in which power is not supplied from the information processing device main unit 10 to the SSD 20 for a long time, power supply from the secondary battery 205 to the time counter 204 also ends, and then power is supplied to the SSD 20 and the time counter 204 counts up from 0 (i.e., a case in which the control unit 202 reads a count value smaller than the set value A).

The time measurement counter 204 counts time using the set value A as the initial value (step S2).

The control unit 202 records information i necessary for determining the priority of the retention process in the NAND 203 (step S3). This information i is generated as new information i by updating the information i read by the control unit 202 when the SSD 20 was started with the status of the SSD 20 that was operating while the power supply 102 was on. Examples of this new information i include information necessary for the SSD 20 to perform retention processing, such as information to ensure that the number of NAND rewrites is used evenly when writing to the SSD 20, and information about how much processing was performed for retention of internal processing of the SSD 20.

(Second process performed by the information processing device of the present disclosure)
3 is a diagram illustrating a second example of a processing flow of the information processing device 1 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Here, a process performed by the information processing device 1 when the supply of power from the information processing device main body 10 to the SSD 20 is resumed as shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

When the supply of power from the information processing device main body 10 to the SSD 20 is resumed, the control unit 202 starts up and then begins charging the secondary battery 205 (or, in another embodiment, a capacitor other than capacitor 206 that replaces the secondary battery 205) (step S11).

The control unit 202 reads information i from the NAND 203, which is necessary to determine the priority of the retention process (step S12).

The control unit 202 reads the counter value from the time measurement counter 204 (step S13).

The control unit 202 compares the value read from the time measurement counter 204 with value A, which was set when power from the information processing device main unit 10 to the SSD 20 was cut off. The control unit 202 then determines whether the read value is smaller than value A (step S14).

If the control unit 202 determines that the read value is smaller than the set value A (YES in step S14), it determines that the time measurement counter 204 has been reset. The control unit 202 then assumes that the power supply from the information processing device main unit 10 to the SSD 20 has been cut off for a long enough period of time that the power supply from the secondary battery 205 (or a substitute capacitor) to the time measurement counter 204 has been cut off, and sets the priority of the retention process to the highest priority (step S15). The control unit 202 then executes the retention process of the NAND 203 according to the priority (step S16).

Furthermore, if the control unit 202 determines that the read value is equal to or greater than the set value A (NO in step S14), it considers the value read from the time measurement counter 204 to indicate the time during which power supply from the information processing device main unit 10 to the SSD 20 was cut off. Then, the control unit 202 calculates the power cut-off time, which is the actual time during which power supply was cut off, from the value read from the time measurement counter 204 (step S17). For example, the control unit 202 calculates the actual power cut-off time by subtracting the set value A from the value read from the time measurement counter 204.

The control unit 202 determines the priority of the retention process to be performed based on the information i read from the NAND 203 and the calculated power cutoff time (step S18). For example, if the control unit 202 determines that the user data recorded in the NAND 203 is sufficiently protected based on the user's usage status, it assigns the lowest priority to the retention process. Furthermore, if the control unit 202 determines that the user data is not sufficiently protected based on the user's usage status, or that power will not be supplied for such a long period that the time measurement counter 204 will be reset, it assigns the highest priority to the retention process even if it means reducing the read and write performance of the information processing device main unit 10. The control unit 202 then proceeds to step S16.

(advantage)
The information processing device 1 (an example of a processing device) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure has been described above. In the information processing device 1, a time measurement counter 204 (an example of a measurement unit) measures the time during which power supply to an SSD (Solid State Drive) 20 is interrupted. A capacitor 206 supplies power to the SSD 20 when the power supply is interrupted. A secondary battery 205 (or, in another embodiment, a capacitor other than the capacitor 206, instead of the secondary battery 205) (an example of a power supply unit) is a power supply unit that supplies power to the time measurement counter 204 and is a power supply unit separate from the capacitor 206.

This information processing device 1 can supply power to a time measurement counter 204 (an example of a measurement unit) that measures the time that power supply to the SSD 20 is cut off from a secondary battery 205 (or, in another embodiment, a capacitor that replaces the secondary battery 205 other than the capacitor 206) (an example of a power supply unit) that is separate from the capacitor 206 that supplies power to the SSD 20. In other words, the information processing device 1 can improve convenience.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the SSD 20 has been described as being included in the information processing device 1. However, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, the SSD 20 may be located outside the information processing device 1. In other words, the SSD 20 may be an external SSD attached to the information processing device 1.

Next, a processing device 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a processing device 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the processing device 300 includes a measurement unit 301, a capacitor 302, and a power supply unit 303. The measurement unit 301 measures the time during which power supply to an SSD (Solid State Drive) is interrupted. The capacitor 302 supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted. The power supply unit 303 is a power supply unit that supplies power to the measurement unit 301 and is separate from the capacitor 302.

The measurement unit 301 can be realized, for example, using the functions of the time measurement counter 204 illustrated in FIG. 1. The capacitor 302 can be realized, for example, using the functions of the capacitor 206 illustrated in FIG. 1. The power supply unit 303 can be realized, for example, using the functions of the secondary battery 205 (or a capacitor replacing the secondary battery 205) illustrated in FIG. 1. The processing device 300 can be realized, for example, using the functions of the information processing device 1 illustrated in FIG. 1.

Next, the processing performed by the processing device 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow of the processing device 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Here, the processing of the processing device 300 will be described with reference to Figure 5.

In the processing device 300, the measurement unit 301 measures the time that power supply to an SSD (Solid State Drive) is interrupted (step S101). The capacitor 302 supplies power to the SSD while the power supply is interrupted (step S102). The power supply unit 303 is a separate power supply unit from the capacitor 302 and supplies power to the measurement unit 301 (step S103).

The processing device 300 according to several embodiments of the present disclosure has been described above. This processing device 300 can improve convenience.

Note that the order of the processes in each embodiment of the present disclosure may be changed as long as appropriate processing is performed.

Although each embodiment of the present disclosure has been described, the information processing device 1, information processing device main body 10, SSD 20, and other control devices may have an internal computer system. The above-described processing steps are stored in the form of a program on a computer-readable recording medium, and the above processing is performed by the computer reading and executing this program. Specific examples of computers are shown below.

Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of a computer according to at least one embodiment. As shown in Figure 6, the computer 5 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 6, main memory 7, storage 8, and an interface 9.

For example, the above-mentioned information processing device 1, information processing device main body 10, SSD 20, and other control devices are each implemented in a computer 5. The operation of each of the above-mentioned processing units is stored in the form of a program in storage 8. The CPU 6 reads the program from storage 8, expands it in main memory 7, and executes the above-mentioned processing in accordance with the program. The CPU 6 also allocates storage areas in main memory 7 corresponding to each of the above-mentioned storage units in accordance with the program.

Examples of storage 8 include HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), magnetic disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disc Read Only Memory), semiconductor memory, etc. Storage 8 may be internal media directly connected to the bus of computer 5, or external media connected to computer 5 via interface 9 or a communication line. Furthermore, if this program is distributed to computer 5 via a communication line, the computer 5 that receives the program may expand the program into main memory 7 and execute the above-mentioned processing. In at least one embodiment, storage 8 is a non-transitory, tangible storage medium.

The program may also implement some of the functions described above. Furthermore, the program may be a file that can implement the functions described above in combination with a program already recorded on the computer system, a so-called differential file (differential program).

Several embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, but these embodiments are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure. Various additions, omissions, substitutions, and modifications may be made to these embodiments without departing from the spirit of the disclosure.

Note that some or all of the above embodiments can also be described as, but are not limited to, the following notes.

(Appendix 1)
a measurement unit that measures a time during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is cut off;
a capacitor that supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted;
a power supply unit that supplies power to the measurement unit, the power supply unit being separate from the capacitor;
A processing device comprising:

(Appendix 2)
The power supply unit
a secondary battery or a capacitor;
2. The processing device of claim 1.

(Appendix 3)
a control unit that executes a retention process based on the interruption time measured by the measurement unit and a priority of the retention process;
3. The processing device according to claim 1 or 2, comprising:

(Appendix 4)
The control unit
When it is determined that the power supply to the SSD has been cut off, the retention process is given the highest priority and the retention process is executed.
4. The processing device of claim 3.

(Appendix 5)
A processing method executed by a processing device including a measurement unit, a capacitor, and a power supply unit,
the measurement unit measures a time period during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is interrupted;
the capacitor supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted;
the power supply unit is a power supply unit separate from the capacitor and supplies power to the measurement unit.
Processing method.

(Appendix 6)
On the computer,
Measuring the time during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is cut off;
supplying power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted;
supplying power to a measurement unit that measures the interruption time;
A program that executes the following.

1...information processing device 5...computer 6, 1011...CPU
7... Main memory 8... Storage 9... Interface 10... Information processing device main body 20... SSD
101: Control unit 102: Power supply 201: Connector 202: Control unit 203: NAND
204: Time measurement counter 205: Secondary battery 206: Capacitor 300: Processing device 301: Measurement unit 302: Capacitor 303: Power supply unit 1012: Memory 1013: Various interfaces

Claims (4)

a measurement unit that measures a time during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is cut off;
a capacitor that supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted;
a power supply unit that supplies power to the measurement unit, the power supply unit being separate from the capacitor;
When the supply of power from the processing device to the SSD is cut off, a first value is set to a time measurement counter, the first value being a value greater than the time required for the SSD to be able to respond to a command from the processing device;
When it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is equal to or greater than the first value, determining and setting the priority of the retention process to be performed based on information necessary for determining the priority of the retention process read from the NAND included in the SSD and the calculated power cutoff time;
If it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is smaller than the first value, the priority of the retention process of the NAND is set to the highest priority;
a control unit that executes the retention process of the NAND in accordance with a set priority;
A processing device comprising: The power supply unit
a secondary battery or a capacitor;
The processing device of claim 1 . A processing method executed by a processing device including a measurement unit, a capacitor, a power supply unit, and a control unit,
the measurement unit measures a time period during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is interrupted;
the capacitor supplies power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted;
the power supply unit is a power supply unit separate from the capacitor and supplies power to the measurement unit;
the control unit sets a time counter to a first value that is greater than a time required for the SSD to respond to a command from the processing device itself when power supply from the processing device itself to the SSD is cut off;
When it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is equal to or greater than the first value, determining and setting the priority of the retention process to be performed based on information necessary for determining the priority of the retention process read from the NAND included in the SSD and the calculated power cutoff time;
If it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is smaller than the first value, the priority of the retention process of the NAND is set to the highest priority;
Execute the retention process of the NAND in accordance with the set priority.
Processing method. On the computer,
Measuring the time during which power supply to a solid state drive (SSD) is cut off;
supplying power to the SSD when the power supply is interrupted;
supplying power to a measurement unit that measures the interruption time;
setting a time measurement counter to a first value that is greater than the time required for the SSD to be able to respond to a command from the processing device when power supply from the processing device to the SSD is cut off;
when it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is equal to or greater than the first value, determining and setting a priority of the retention process to be performed based on information necessary for determining the priority of the retention process read from the NAND included in the SSD and the calculated power cutoff time;
when it is determined that the value of the time measurement counter is smaller than the first value, setting the priority of the retention process of the NAND to the highest priority;
Executing the retention process of the NAND in accordance with the set priority;
A program that executes the following.