Systems And Methods For Support Of Non-Volatile Memory On A DDR Memory Channel
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsStuart Allen Berke, Shawn J. Dube
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for supporting use of non-volatile memory (NVM) on a double data rate (DDR) memory channel for an information handling system so that non-volatile memory devices (e.g., such as Phase Change Memory “PCM” devices) may be employed for main memory usage. In one possible implementation, information handling system memory reads may be managed directly in hardware as memory semantics via use code, while memory writes may be separately handled, e.g., via an operating system (OS)/driver. In another possible implementation, both DRAM-based and NVM-based memory systems may be populated for an information handling system.
Claims20
An information handling system, comprising:
- at least one host processing device configured to execute an operating system (OS) and one or more OS write drivers configured to manage writes;
- and
- a double data rate (DDR)-based non-volatile memory (NVM) system comprising one or more NVM devices coupled to the host processing device through a memory buffer, the memory buffer being coupled to the host processing device by a DDR memory channel and the memory buffer being coupled to the DDR-based NVM system by a NVM channel;
- where the host processing device is configured to access the DDR-based NVM system across the DDR memory channel for data read and data write operations through the memory buffer and the NVM channel;
- where the memory buffer is configured to respond to receipt of standard DDR read commands received across the DDR memory channel from the host processing device by performing direct reads of data stored on the NVM memory devices across the NVM channel, and providing the read data to the host processing device across the DDR memory channel;
- and
- where the memory buffer is configured to respond to receipt of write commands received across the DDR memory channel from the OS write drivers of the host processing device by performing indirect writes of data to the NVM memory devices across the NVM channel.
A method for reading and writing data to a double data rate (DDR)-based non-volatile memory (NVM) system, the method comprising:
- providing at least one host processing device configured to execute an operating system (OS) and one or more OS write drivers configured to manage writes;
- providing a double data rate (DDR)-based non-volatile memory (NVM) system comprising one or more NVM devices coupled to the host processing device through a memory buffer, the memory buffer being coupled to the host processing device by a DDR memory channel and the memory buffer being coupled to the DDR-based NVM system by a NVM channel;
- accessing the DDR-based NVM system across the DDR memory channel using the host processing device for data read and data write operations through the memory buffer and the NVM channel;
- responding to receipt of standard DDR read commands received across the DDR memory channel in the memory buffer from the host processing device by performing direct reads of data stored on the NVM memory devices across the NVM channel, and providing the read data to the host processing device across the DDR memory channel;
- and
- responding to receipt of write commands received across the DDR memory channel in the memory buffer from the OS write drivers of the host processing device by performing indirect writes of data to the NVM memory devices across the NVM channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.