# US 8,543,763 B2 · Redundant array of independent disks raid controller and system

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- Number: US 8,543,763 B2
- Document ID: US8543763B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/715,534
- Filed: 2012-12-14
- Published: 2013-07-25
- Granted: 2013-09-24
- Earliest claimed: 2012-01-20
- Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Yansong Li
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8543763B2

## CPC

- G06F 12/08: in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems
- G06F 1/3268: {Power saving in hard disk drive}
- G06F 3/0625: {Power saving in storage systems}
- G06F 3/0634: {by changing the state or mode of one or more devices}
- G06F 3/0658: {Controller construction arrangements}
- G06F 3/0659: {Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling}
- G06F 3/0689: {Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD}
- Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller includes a host interface, a processing core and a storage interface. The processing core is connected to a host and a hard disk. The RAID controller includes a halt control pin connected to the processing core and a control signal line in the host. The processing core receives a first level sent through the control signal line by the host when the hard disk is in a standby state, and halt an execution of a program in the processing core according to the first level; receives a second level sent through the control signal line by the host when the host receives a service request, and resume the execution of the program according to the second level; and receive the service request sent by the host and send the received service request to the hard disk to awaken the hard disk.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller, comprising: a host interface, a processing core, and a storage interface,
wherein the processing core is connected to a host through the host interface, and is connected to a hard disk through the storage interface,
wherein the RAID controller comprises a halt control pin connected to the processing core and a control signal line in the host,
wherein the processing core is configured to:
receive a command for checking a power mode of the hard disk from the host through the host interface after the host sets the hard disk to a standby state;
send the command to the hard disk through the storage interface;
receive a response value responsive to the command from the hard disk through the storage interface, wherein the response value indicates that the hard disk is in the standby state;
send the response value to the host through the host interface;
receive a first level sent through the control signal line by the host to the halt control pin when the hard disk is in the standby state, and halt an execution of a program in the processing core according to the first level so as to halt an access to the hard disk;
receive a second level sent through the control signal line by the host to the halt control pin when the host receives a service request, and resume the execution of the program according to the second level; and
receive, through the host interface, the service request sent by the host and send the received service request to the hard disk through the storage interface, so as to awaken the hard disk to execute an operation corresponding to the service request.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The RAID controller according to claim 1, wherein:
the host interface is a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIE) interface; and
the storage interface is a serial attached small computer system interface, or a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The RAID controller according to claim 1, wherein the halt control pin is any one of a halt pin or a stop clock pin.

### Claim 4

A control system, comprising a host, a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controller, and a hard disk,
wherein the RAID controller comprises a host interface, a processing core, and a storage interface,
wherein the processing core is connected to the host through the host interface, and is connected to the hard disk through the storage interface,
wherein the RAID controller comprises a halt control pin connected to the processing core and a control signal line in the host,
wherein the processing core is configured to:
receive a command for checking a power mode of the hard disk from the host through the host interface after the host sets the hard disk to a standby state;
send the command to the hard disk through the storage interface;
receive a response value responsive to the command from the hard disk through the storage interface;
send the response value to the host through the host interface, wherein the host is configured to confirm that the hard disk is in the standby state based on the response value;
receive a first level sent through the control signal line by the host to the halt control pin after the host confirms that the hard disk is in the standby state, and halt an execution of a program in the processing core according to the first level to halt an access to the hard disk;
receive a second level sent through the control signal line by the host to the halt control pin when the host receives a service request, and resume the execution of the program according to the second level; and
receive, through the host interface, the service request sent by the host and send the received service request to the hard disk through the storage interface, so as to awaken the hard disk to execute an operation corresponding to the service request.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The system according to claim 4, wherein:
the host interface of the RAID controller is a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIE) interface; and
the storage interface of the RAID controller is a serial attached small computer system interface, or a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) interface.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The system according to claim 4, wherein the halt control pin of the RAID controller is any one of a halt pin or a stop clock pin.