JP7448815B2 - Information processing system, storage device, host device, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system, a storage device, a host device, and a program.

In recent years, some home appliances such as home televisions run application programs on operating systems such as Android (registered trademark) OS. Furthermore, some of these devices operate as USB host devices and can control devices such as hard disks connected via USB.

Note that Patent Document 1 discloses that the S. M. A. R. T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) A method for transmitting and receiving information is disclosed.

JP2020-13621A

However, in devices controlled by an operating system, if multiple applications request bulk transfer between USB-connected devices, the data to be transferred may become congested and cause problems in application execution. I understand.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides information that allows a host device to collect failure-related information etc. from devices connected via USB without causing any hindrance to the execution of its applications. One of its purposes is to provide processing systems, storage devices, host devices, and programs.

One aspect of the present invention that solves the problems of the conventional example is an information processing system including a host device and a storage device connected via USB, wherein the host device requesting means for requesting the storage device to provide failure-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among USB data transfer methods; processing means for accepting the failure-related information and executing a predetermined process using the accepted failure-related information, the storage device including a storage medium, an accepting means for accepting a request for provision of the predetermined type of failure-related information using a data transfer method; an information requesting means for requesting the storage medium for failure-related information related to the accepted request; The apparatus further includes a sending means for sending failure-related information received from the medium to the host device using the predetermined data transfer method.

In this way, in one aspect of the present invention, failure-related information is acquired using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer, so that the host device can be connected via USB without causing any problems in the execution of applications. Fault-related information can be collected from stored storage devices.

Another aspect of the present invention is a storage device connected to a host device via USB, which includes a storage medium, and transmits predetermined types of failure-related information from the host device using a USB data transfer method. Among them, an accepting means that accepts a request for data to be provided by a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer, an information requesting means that requests the storage medium for failure-related information related to the accepted request, and the storage medium and transmitting means for transmitting failure-related information received from the host device to the host device using the predetermined data transfer method.

In this way, in one aspect of the present invention, failure-related information is transferred using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer, so that the host device can connect via USB without causing any problems in the execution of applications. Fault-related information can be collected from stored storage devices, etc.

Further, the predetermined data transfer method may be USB control transfer. Furthermore, the sending means may divide the failure-related information into data sizes that can be sent by USB control transfer and send the divided data.

In these modes, fault-related information is transferred using control transfer, which is different from bulk transfer, so the host device can transfer fault-related information from a storage device connected via USB without causing any problems in application execution. Information can be collected.

Further, in these aspects, the request for failure-related information is instruction information of a data size that can be sent by USB control transfer, and the information requesting means transfers the failure-related information to the storage based on the instruction information. It may also be possible to generate command data for requesting a medium, output the generated command data to the storage medium, and request failure-related information from the storage medium.

In this example as well, the fault-related information is transferred by control transfer, which is different from bulk transfer, so the host device can transfer the fault-related information from the storage device connected via USB without causing a problem in the execution of the application. Information can be collected.

Further, the failure related information is S. M. A. R. T. It may be information.

Furthermore, a host device according to another aspect of the present invention is a host device that is connected to a storage device including a storage medium via a USB, and is connected to a storage device using a USB data transfer method. , requesting means for requesting provision of a predetermined type of failure-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer; and receiving the failure-related information from the storage device using the predetermined data transfer method. and processing means for executing a predetermined process using the accepted failure-related information, the storage device is sent from the host device to the storage device of a predetermined type at a predetermined timing. an accepting means for accepting a request to provide failure-related information according to a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among USB data transfer methods, and sending the failure-related information regarding the accepted request to the storage medium; A program is transferred for functioning as an information requesting means for making a request for failure-related information received from the storage medium, and a sending means for sending out failure-related information received from the storage medium to the host device using the predetermined data transfer method.

As a result, failure-related information is transferred to the storage device using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer, and the host device is able to transfer failure-related information to the storage device using a predetermined data transfer method that is different from bulk transfer. Failure-related information can be collected from storage devices, etc.

Another aspect of the present invention is a program that sends predetermined types of fault-related information from the host device to a storage device that includes a storage medium and is connected to a host device via USB. an accepting means that accepts a request to provide the data using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among USB data transfer methods, and information that requests the storage medium to provide failure-related information related to the accepted request. The apparatus functions as a requesting means and a sending means for sending the failure-related information received from the storage medium to the host device using the predetermined data transfer method.

This allows the storage device to transfer failure-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer, allowing the host device to connect the storage device via USB to the storage device without causing any problems in application execution. Failure-related information can be collected from etc.

According to the present invention, failure-related information is transferred to a storage device using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer, and a host device can transfer failure-related information to a storage device connected via USB without causing any trouble in executing an application. Fault-related information can be collected from devices.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the information processing system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An information processing system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a host device 10 and a storage device 20, as illustrated in FIG.

The host device 10 is, for example, a television device that operates on an Android OS, and is connected to the storage device 20 via a USB. This host device 10 includes a control section 11 , a storage section 12 , an operation section 13 , a display control section 14 , a storage medium 15 , a communication section 16 , and a USB interface section 17 . This host device 10 is connected to a storage device 20 via a USB interface section 17.

The control unit 11 is a program control device such as a CPU, and operates according to a program stored in the storage medium 15 or the storage unit 12. In one example of this embodiment, this control unit 11 operates as a television device. In this operation, the control unit 11 stores the moving image data in the storage device 20, reads out the stored moving image data from the storage device 20 by USB bulk transfer, and performs processes such as reproducing the moving image data. do.

Further, the control unit 11 requests the storage device 20 to provide failure-related information at a predetermined timing according to a program installed in the storage medium 15 or the like. This operation will be described later. Note that here, the failure-related information is, for example, S. M. A. R. T. It can be information, or S. M. A. R. T. Information obtained based on information, etc. M. A. R. T. The information may be of a different type than the information itself, and may be information related to a failure of the storage device 20.

The storage unit 12 is a memory or the like, and in addition to holding programs executed by the control unit 11, it also operates as a work memory for the control unit 11. The operation unit 13 includes an interface such as a touch panel and buttons, and accepts user operations and outputs them to the control unit 11.

The display control unit 14 includes a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) and the like. The display control unit 14 generates a video signal to be output to a display or the like according to instructions input from the control unit 11. The storage medium 15 is an SSD (Solid State Drive) or the like, and stores programs and the like executed by the control unit 11.

The communication unit 16 is a network interface or the like, and transmits data to a predetermined server or the like via the network according to instructions input from the control unit 11. The communication unit 16 also outputs data received via the network to the control unit 11.

The storage device 20 is, for example, a hard disk or an SSD, and includes a controller section 21 and a storage medium 22 in the example of this embodiment. Further, the controller section 21 includes a control section 31, a storage section 32, a host side interface section 33, and a drive side interface section 34.

The control unit 31 of the storage device 20 is a program control device such as a CPU, and operates according to a program stored in the storage unit 32. In one example of the present embodiment, upon receiving an instruction from the host device 10 to read data in the storage medium 22, the control unit 31 reads the data from the storage medium 22 and sends it to the host device 10. do. This data is sent using the USB bulk transfer method.

Further, the control unit 31 operates according to a failure-related information transfer program stored in the storage unit 32. In the processing of this fault-related information transfer program, the control unit 31 issues a request to provide a predetermined type of fault-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among the USB data transfer methods. accept. Upon receiving this request, the control unit 31 requests the storage medium 22 for failure-related information related to the accepted request. The control unit 31 sends the failure-related information received from the storage medium 22 to the host device 10 using the above-described predetermined data transfer method. A more detailed operation of this control section 31 will be described later.

The storage unit 32 is, for example, a memory device, and holds programs such as firmware (including a failure-related information transfer program) that are executed by the control unit 31. This storage section 32 also operates as a work memory for the control section 31.

Further, the host side interface unit 33 is a USB interface, and the drive side interface unit 34 is a SATA (Serial ATA) interface in an example of this embodiment.

The storage medium 22 is a disk device such as a hard storage medium or an SSD (Solid State Drive) drive, and stores data used by the host device 10. This data is, for example, moving image data played back on a television device, which is the host device 10.

Next, an example of the operation of the control unit 11 of the host device 10 and the control unit 31 of the storage device 20 will be described.

The control unit 11 of the host device 10 repeatedly executes the following process at predetermined timings as a process of a monitoring application (separately installed) of the storage device 20. That is, the control unit 11 detects a device (here, the storage device 20) to which failure-related information is requested from among the devices connected via the USB interface unit 17.

When the storage device 20 is detected, the control unit 11 issues a request to provide a predetermined type of failure-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among the USB data transfer methods. generate.

In the example of this embodiment, the host device 10 also sends a request to the storage device 20 using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer. In this embodiment, the predetermined data transfer method (logical protocol other than bulk transfer) that is different from bulk transfer may be any of the control transfer method, interrupt transfer method, and isochronous transfer method; The control transfer method shall be used.

When using the control transfer method, the host device 10 makes a request to the storage device 20 as information indicating the data size that can be sent using the control transfer method. Specifically, the host device 10 sends, as this request, predetermined information (request code) that specifies the content of the request. In the example of this embodiment, a request code representing a request for failure-related information to the storage device 20 is determined in advance.

In other words, the control unit 11 includes this request code as a request to provide a predetermined type of failure-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among USB data transfer methods. Generate a request command.

The control unit 11 then sends the generated request command to the storage device 20 using the control transfer method.

The control unit 11 further receives the predetermined type of failure-related information from the storage device 20 as a response to this request command. Due to the operation of the storage device 20, which will be described later, this response is transferred using a control transfer method. The control unit 11 refers to the accepted failure-related information and determines whether a failure has occurred (or is likely to occur) that should be notified to the user.

When the control unit 11 determines that a failure that should be notified to the user has occurred (or there is a possibility that a failure may occur), the control unit 11 controls, for example, the display control unit 14 to indicate that a failure has occurred in the storage device 20 ( or there is a possibility of such occurrence).

Even while performing the above processing, the control unit 11 of the host device 10 reads the video data stored in the storage medium 22 of the storage device 20 using the bulk transfer method, and plays back the read video data. These processes may be performed in parallel.

According to this example, the moving image data is read using the bulk transfer method, and the request and acceptance of failure-related information are performed using the control transfer method, so that the transfer using the bulk transfer method is not congested.

Next, the operation of the control section 31 of the storage device 20 will be explained. In this embodiment, the control unit 31 accepts a request for moving image data stored in the storage medium 22 from the host device 10. Then, in response to the request, the control unit 31 reads out the moving image data stored in the storage medium 22, and transfers the read out moving image data via the host side interface unit 34 using the USB bulk transfer method. is sent to the host device 10.

Furthermore, by executing the failure-related information transfer program stored in the storage unit 32, the control unit 31 has a configuration including an accepting unit 41, an information requesting unit 42, an information acquiring unit 43, and a sending unit 44. Realize functionally.

The accepting unit 41 accepts a request command including a request code representing a request for failure-related information from the host device 10 using the USB control transfer method. As described above, this request command requests that a predetermined type of failure-related information be provided using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among the USB data transfer methods.

The information requesting unit 42 requests the storage medium 22 for failure-related information related to the request accepted by the accepting unit 41 . In this embodiment, the information requesting unit 42 issues a standard request command (referred to as a standard request command) for requesting failure-related information from the storage medium 22 based on the request command received from the host device 10. generate. The information requesting unit 42 then outputs the generated standard request command to the storage medium 22.

The information acquisition section 43 acquires failure-related information output by the storage medium 22 in response to the standard request command, and outputs it to the transmission section 44 .

The sending unit 44 sends the failure-related information acquired from the storage medium 22 to the host device 10 using a predetermined data transfer method represented by the request command accepted by the receiving unit 41. In this embodiment, the predetermined data transfer method is, for example, the control transfer method, as described above. That is, in this example, the sending unit 44 sends the failure-related information acquired from the storage medium 22 to the host device 10 using the control transfer method.

[motion]
The information processing system 1 of this embodiment is configured as in the above example, and operates as follows. In the following example, a control transfer method is used as a data transfer method different from bulk transfer.

The host device 10 uses the bulk transfer method to read the moving image data stored in the storage medium 22 of the storage device 20, and while performing processing to reproduce the read moving image data, performs the processing illustrated in the following FIG. 3. I do.

The host device 10 detects the storage device 20 from among the devices connected via the USB interface unit 17 to which the failure-related information is requested (S11).

The host device 10 generates a request for the detected storage device 20 (S12). The request here is a request command that includes a request code indicating that a predetermined type of failure-related information should be provided by a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among USB data transfer methods.

The host device 10 sends the generated request command to the storage device 20 using the control transfer method (S13). This request command is sent, for example, in a setup stage data packet defined by the control transfer method standard.

When the control unit 31 of the storage device 20 receives a request command including a request code representing a request for fault-related information from the host device 10 using the USB control transfer method, the control unit 31 transmits the fault-related information based on the accepted request command. A standard request command for requesting the storage medium 22 is generated (S14).

The control unit 31 outputs the generated standard request command to the storage medium 22 (S15). The storage medium 22 generates failure-related information within the storage medium 22 in response to this standard request command (S16). The operation of this storage medium 22 is based on the widely known S. M. A. R. T. Since this is a process for generating information, a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

The storage medium 22 outputs the generated failure-related information to the control unit 31 (S17). The control unit 31 sends the failure-related information acquired from the storage medium 22 to the host device 10 using the control transfer method (S18). This failure-related information is sent while being included in a data packet of the data stage defined by the control transfer method standard. The overall communication flow is that the status stage packets are sent and received after the data stage packets have been sent and received, but the status stage packets are the same as normal communication, so we will explain them here. A detailed explanation will be omitted.

The host device 10 receives fault-related information from the storage device 20, and determines whether a fault has occurred (or is likely to occur) that should be notified to the user, based on the received fault-related information. Judgment is made (S19: information analysis).

Then, the host device 10 displays information indicating whether or not a failure has occurred (or is likely to occur) in the storage device 20, depending on the result of the determination (S20). The process illustrated in FIG. 3 of this embodiment is repeatedly performed at predetermined timings.

According to this example of the present embodiment, the moving image data is read using the bulk transfer method, and the request and acceptance of failure-related information are performed using the control transfer method, so that transfer using the bulk transfer method is not congested. do not have.

[Dividing information]
Note that, for example, in the USB standard, there are differences in packet size depending on the data transfer method. For this reason, the control unit 31 of the storage device 20 performs the following processing in its operation as the sending unit 44.

That is, the sending unit 44 divides the failure-related information into a plurality of packets and sends the divided packets according to the packet size of the selected data transfer method. For example, when the control transfer method is adopted, the sending unit 44 sends the S.O. M. A. R. T. The information is divided into data elements of 64 bytes each, which is the packet size of the control transfer method.

Then, the sending unit 44 generates data packets each including each data element at a data stage defined by the control transfer standard, and sequentially sends out the generated data packets.

The host device 10 that has received the plurality of data elements divided in this way connects the plurality of data elements to obtain the failure-related information before division, and performs the processing after information analysis (step S19 in FIG. 3). Execute. Note that the data element concatenation process may be performed using a standard process provided by the operating system.

[Data filtering, etc.]
Furthermore, although the control unit 31 is configured to send the failure-related information generated by the storage medium 22 to the host device 10 as it is, the present embodiment is not limited to this.

For example, the control unit 31 may add other information to the failure-related information and send it to the host device 10. In another aspect, the control unit 31 may extract part of the obtained failure-related information and send it to the host device 10. Alternatively, the control unit 31 may include information generated based on the obtained failure-related information and send it to the host device 10.

As an example, the control unit 31 may control the failure-related information S. M. A. R. T. Among the information, predetermined attribute information necessary for determining the occurrence of a failure, such as the read error rate and the number of relocated sectors, are selected and sent to the host device 10. In this example, the control unit 31 controls so that unselected attribute information, such as the current temperature, is not sent to the host device 10 (so-called filtering).

The control unit 31 also controls the S. M. A. R. T. Instead of sending the information as is, S. M. A. R. T. Another type of failure-related information may be generated based on the information and sent to the host device 10.

In this example, based on the ratio of the number of unused sectors as relocation destinations among all the sectors determined as relocation destinations, if the ratio is 90% or more, the control unit 31 assigns rank A, 90. % and 60% or more, rank B, etc. Rank information is generated based on multiple thresholds, and this rank information is used as failure-related information (separate from the failure-related information generated by the storage medium 22). It may also be sent to the host device 10 as information.

In this way, the amount of data to be sent to the host device 10 can be reduced compared to the original failure-related information, and the analysis process in the host device 10 can be simplified.

[Firmware installation]
Furthermore, the host device 10 of this embodiment may perform a process of installing a firmware program for performing the processing of this embodiment into the storage device 20.

Specifically, the host device 10 sends a request command to the storage device 20 to request that failure-related information be provided using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer (after step S13 in FIG. 3). , if there is no response from the storage device 20 within a predetermined period of time, or if there is an error response from the storage device 20 indicating that the requested command cannot be interpreted, the firmware program for the storage device 20 is transferred to the storage device 20. It may also be transferred to.

The host device 10 may download this firmware program from a server of the manufacturer of the storage device 20 via the network, and transfer it to the storage device 20.

In this embodiment, this firmware program functions as an accepting unit that accepts a request to provide a predetermined type of failure-related information using a predetermined data transfer method different from bulk transfer among USB data transfer methods. processing, processing to request the storage medium 22 for failure-related information related to the accepted request, and sending the failure-related information accepted from the storage medium 22 to the host device 10 using a predetermined data transfer method related to the request. It includes a program for executing processing as a sending unit.

The storage device 20 accepts the firmware program transferred by the host device 10 and executes a process of installing the firmware program. Since a widely known method can be used for such firmware installation processing, a detailed explanation will be omitted here.

After installing the firmware, the control unit 31 of the storage device 20 executes the installed firmware to realize the functional configuration illustrated in FIG. 2 of this embodiment. As a result, the storage device 20 performs the operation illustrated in FIG. 3.

[Use of information analysis server]
Furthermore, when the host device 10 executes analysis processing on the fault-related information received from the storage device 20, the host device 10 does not perform the analysis itself, but sends the fault-related information to an external server device. It is also possible to perform an analysis.

In this example, the manufacturer of the storage device 20, etc. is the fault-related information. M. A. R. T. Upon receiving the information, the S. M. A. R. T. Based on the information (for example, using machine learning results), it is analyzed whether a failure has occurred or is likely to occur in the storage device 20, and the results of the analysis are used to determine whether a failure has occurred or is likely to occur in the storage device 20. M. A. R. T. It is assumed that the information is sent to the host device 10 that is the source of the information.

[Modified example]
Furthermore, in the examples of this embodiment so far, the failure-related information provided by the storage medium 22 and transmitted by the storage device 20 is, for example, the S. M. A. R. T. However, this failure-related information is S. M. A. R. T. It is not limited to information, and may be information set independently by the manufacturer of the storage device 20, or any other type of information that can be used to detect or predict the occurrence of a failure in the storage device 20. It may also be information.

1 information processing system, 10 host device, 11, 31 control unit, 12, 32 storage unit, 13 operation unit, 14 display control unit, 15 storage medium, 16 communication unit, 17 USB interface unit, 20 storage device, 21 controller unit , 22 storage medium, 33 host side interface section, 34 drive side interface section, 41 reception section, 42 information request section, 43 information acquisition section, 44 sending section.

Claims (5)

An information processing system including a host device and a storage device connected via USB,
requesting means for the host device to issue a request to the storage device to provide failure-related information related to a failure of the storage device using a control transfer method among USB data transfer methods;
processing means for accepting the failure-related information provided by the control transfer method from the storage device and executing a predetermined process using the accepted failure-related information;
including;
The storage device includes a storage medium,
acceptance means for accepting a request from the host device to provide a predetermined type of failure-related information using a control transfer method ;
information requesting means for requesting failure-related information related to the accepted request from the storage medium;
Sending means for sending failure-related information received from the storage medium to the host device using a control transfer method ;
including;
The request for failure-related information is instruction information of a data size that can be sent using a USB control transfer method,
The information requesting means of the storage device generates command data for requesting failure-related information from the storage medium based on the instruction information, and outputs the generated command data to the storage medium. , an information processing system that requests failure-related information from the storage medium . A storage device connected to a host device via USB,
Equipped with a storage medium,
acceptance means for accepting a request from the host device to provide a predetermined type of failure-related information using a control transfer method among USB data transfer methods;
information requesting means for requesting failure-related information related to the accepted request from the storage medium;
Sending means for sending failure-related information received from the storage medium to the host device using a control transfer method ;
including;
The request for failure-related information is instruction information of a data size that can be sent using a USB control transfer method,
The information requesting means generates command data for requesting failure-related information from the storage medium based on the instruction information, outputs the generated command data to the storage medium, and outputs the generated command data to the storage medium to provide failure-related information. A storage device that requests information from the storage medium . 3. The storage device according to claim 2 ,
The sending means is a storage device that divides the failure-related information into data sizes that can be sent by USB control transfer and sends the divided information. 4. The storage device according to claim 2 , wherein the failure-related information is stored in S. M. A. R. T. A storage device that is information. A storage device equipped with a storage medium and connected to a host device via USB,
acceptance means for accepting a request from the host device to provide a predetermined type of failure-related information using a control transfer method among USB data transfer methods;
information requesting means for requesting failure-related information related to the accepted request from the storage medium;
Sending means for sending failure-related information received from the storage medium to the host device using a control transfer method ;
function as
The request for failure-related information is instruction information of a data size that can be sent using a USB control transfer method,
When functioning as the information requesting means, it generates command data for requesting failure-related information from the storage medium based on the instruction information, and outputs the generated command data to the storage medium. and requests failure-related information from the storage medium .

Images