Device power control

Abstract

In various embodiments and/or usage scenarios, device power control, such as relating to one or more power control commands, requests to transition operation to a specific power mode, and/or device power management commands, is advantageous and improves one or more of: performance, reliability, unit cost, and development cost of one or more devices, such as storage devices (e.g. a Solid-State Disk (SSD)) or systems including same.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, at a storage controller operably connected to a storage device, a first command and then a second command, the second command comprising power control information; and   processing, by the storage controller, the second command in response to the receiving while the first command is outstanding.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising operating the storage device in accordance with at least a portion of the power control information across a reset and/or a power cycle of the storage device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising processing the first command in accordance with the power control information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the storage device comprises one or more flash memory devices, and the processing comprises altering how many of the flash memory devices are maximally enabled to be concurrently active. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the storage controller passing along at least a portion of the power control information to at least one other storage device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the first and second commands are received from a host operably connected to the storage controller, the method further comprising:
 receiving, at the storage controller, power usage information from the at least one other storage device; and   passing along, by the storage controller, at least a portion of the power usage information to the host.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processing comprises dynamically modifying mapping information in the storage controller based on the power control information, the mapping information comprising mappings between device power management commands and device operating power states, the method further comprising:
 receiving, at the storage controller, a device power management command to transition the operation of the storage device to a specified operating power state;   based on the specified operating power state in the device power management command and the mapping information, determining a new operating power state for the storage device; and   operating the storage device in accordance with the new operating power state, wherein the new operating power state is different than the specified operating power state.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the device power management commands comprising the mapping information comprise one or more of an IDLE command, a STANDBY command, and a SLEEP command. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium containing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing element of a storage controller operably connected to a storage device, cause the storage controller to:
 receive a first command and then a second command from a host, the second command comprising power control information; and   process the second command in response to the receiving while the first command is outstanding.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 9 , containing further processor-executable instructions that cause the storage controller to operate the storage device in accordance with at least a portion of the power control information across a reset and/or a power cycle of the storage device. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 9 , containing further processor-executable instructions that cause the storage controller to process the first command in accordance with the power control information. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the storage device comprises one or more flash memory devices, and the processing comprises altering how many of the flash memory devices are maximally enabled to be concurrently active. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 9 , containing further processor-executable instructions that cause the storage controller to pass along at least a portion of the power control information to at least one other storage device. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , containing further processor-executable instructions that cause the storage controller to receive power usage information from the at least one other storage device and pass along at least a portion of the power usage information to the host. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the processing comprises dynamically modifying mapping information in the storage controller based on the power control information, the mapping information comprising mappings between device power management commands and device operating power states, and wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium contains further processor-executable instructions that cause the storage controller to:
 receive a device power management command to transition the operation of the storage device to a specified operating power state;   based on the specified operating power state in the device power management command and the mapping information, determine a new operating power state for the storage device; and   operate the storage device in accordance with the new operating power state, wherein the new operating power state is different than the specified operating power state.   
     
     
         16 . A storage device comprising: 
       a non-volatile memory comprising one or more flash memory devices; and 
       a controller operably connected to the non-volatile memory and configured to:
 receive a first command and then a second command, the second command comprising power control information, and 
 process the second command in response to the receiving while the first command is outstanding. 
 
     
     
         17 . The storage device of  claim 16 , wherein the controller is further configured to operate the storage device in accordance with at least a portion of the power control information across a reset and/or a power cycle of the storage device. 
     
     
         18 . The storage device of  claim 16 , wherein the processing comprises altering how many of the one or more flash memory devices are maximally enabled to be concurrently active. 
     
     
         19 . The storage device of  claim 16 , wherein the processing comprises dynamically modifying mapping information in the controller based on the power control information, the mapping information comprising mappings between device power management commands and device operating power states, the controller further configured to:
 receive a device power management command to transition the operation of the storage device to a specified operating power state;   based on the specified operating power state in the device power management command and the mapping information, determine a new operating power state for the storage device; and   operate the storage device in accordance with the new operating power state, wherein the new operating power state is different than the specified operating power state.   
     
     
         20 . The storage device of  claim 19 , wherein the device power management commands comprising the mapping information comprise one or more of an IDLE command, a STANDBY command, and a SLEEP command.