CN1301469C - Control circuit and method of dual hot-swap IDE device - Google Patents

Abstract

A control circuit and method for dual hot-swappable IDE devices, wherein the control circuit includes: an IDE controller, first and second IDE devices, first and second fast switches, an IDE connector, and a thermal A plug-in controller, the hot-swap controller transmits and receives signals with the IDE controller through the IDE connector, and can control the first and second fast switches to be turned on or off. The control method is such that when one of the first and second IDE devices is hot-plugged or hot-inserted, the hot-swap controller sends a signal to the corresponding power switch to turn it off or on, and sends a signal to the The above IDE controller tells it to stop or start sending IDE bus signals.

Description

Control circuit and method of dual hot-swap IDE device

【Technical field】

The present invention relates to a control circuit and method of an IDE device, in particular to a control circuit and method of a dual hot-plug IDE device.

【Background technique】

With the development of computer technology, computer systems have higher and higher requirements for memory capacity. To increase memory capacity, computer systems are often attached with persistent external storage devices with high storage capacity. A hard disk device (HDD) is currently the most commonly used external storage device.

A hard disk device usually includes a storage medium, a read/write head, a motor for rotating the storage medium, and a circuit board. The circuit board is provided with an interface for connecting the hard disk device to the hard disk control board of the computer, and the IDE interface is used to connect the electronic A commonly used standard interface for connecting a device (such as a hard disk device) to a computer, and any hard disk device that conforms to the IDE standard is called an IDE hard disk device (IDE_HDD). The IDE standard allows two IDE hard disk devices to be connected to a hard disk control board through the same IDE channel.

At the same time, since the computer can be designed as a server, the data stored in the hard disk of the network file server can be provided through the network structure. Therefore, when these hard disks have problems and need to be repaired, it must be done without turning off the system power, so as to To avoid data loss during transmission, the hot-swappable IDE hard disk device is designed to meet this requirement.

In known applications, if an IDE hard disk device is hot-swappable, another IDE hard disk device connected to the same channel will hinder it and affect the stability of the entire system, so an IDE channel is usually only connected to one hot-swappable IDE hard drive. At this time, another interface provided by the IDE channel is idle, resulting in waste of resources.

【Content of invention】

One object of the present invention is to provide a control circuit for dual hot-swappable IDE devices, which can enable one IDE channel to connect to two hot-swappable IDE devices at the same time, and the two hot-swappable IDE devices can be hot-swappable operate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling dual hot-swappable IDE devices, which is used to control two hot-swappable IDE devices connected to the same IDE channel so that both of them can perform hot-swappable operations.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control circuit and method for dual hot-swappable IDE devices, wherein the control circuit includes: an IDE controller, first and second IDE devices, first and second fast switches, An IDE connector, and a hot-swap controller, the hot-swap controller transmits and receives signals with the IDE controller through the IDE connector, and can control the first and second fast switches On or off. The control method is such that when one of the first and second IDE devices is hot-plugged or hot-inserted, the hot-swap controller sends a signal to the corresponding power switch to turn it off or on, and sends a signal to the The above IDE controller tells it to stop or start sending IDE bus signals.

Compared with the prior art, the control circuit and method of the dual hot-swappable IDE devices provided by the present invention can make full use of the IDE interfaces provided. When performing hot-swap operations on two IDE devices connected to the same IDE channel, the two IDE Devices do not affect each other.

【Description of drawings】

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control circuit of a dual hot-swap IDE device provided by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of hot unplugging an IDE device provided by the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of hot inserting an IDE device provided by the present invention.

【Detailed ways】

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a block diagram of the control circuit of the dual hot-swappable IDE device provided by the present invention. The circuit includes IDE controller 10, IDE connector 20, hot-swap controller 30, first and second fast switches 41, 42 and first and second IDE devices 51 and 52, wherein the first and second IDE devices 51 and 52 may be IDE storage devices, such as IDE hard disk devices. In this embodiment, IDE hard disk devices are taken as an example for illustration. The first and second IDE hard disk devices 51 and 52 are electrically connected to the first and second fast switches 41 and 42 respectively. The power supply 60 supplies power to the first and second IDE hard disk devices 51 and 52 through the first and second power switches 61 and 62 respectively. In this embodiment, each circuit component adopts a low-state trigger, that is, it operates when a low-level (such as logic "0") signal is applied to it, and does not operate when a high-level (such as logic "1") signal is applied.

The IDE controller 10 transmits an IDE bus signal (IDEBus Signal) to the IDE connector 20 through an IDE cable (not shown). The IDE bus signal includes address signals, data signals, and control signals. The IDE bus signal from the IDE connector will be sent to the first and second fast switches 41 and 42 respectively. The first and second fast switches 41 and 42 allow or prevent the IDE bus signals from being transmitted to the first and second IDE hard disk devices 51 and 52 by turning them on or off. The two quick switches 41, 42 are both closed under non-working conditions, and are not turned on at the same time. When one of them is turned on, the other is turned off.

In the case that the first and second IDE hard disk devices 51 and 52 are both connected to the circuit, the user decides which IDE hard disk device to access will be realized through the control of the IDE controller 10 . For example, if it is determined to access the first IDE hard disk device 51 , the IDE controller 10 sends a control signal MON=0, and the control signal is transmitted to the hot-swap controller 30 through the IDE connector 20 . The hot-swap controller 30 then sends a control signal of PowerON=0 to the first power switch 61, so that the first power switch 61 is turned on, and the power supply can supply power to the first IDE hard disk device 51; The first fast switch 41 sends a control signal of SwitchON=0, so that the first fast switch 41 is turned on, so that the IDE bus signal is transmitted to the first IDE hard disk device 51 . At this time, the IDE controller 10 did not send the control signal of SON=0, so that the hot-swap controller 30 did not send the control signal of SwitchON=0 to the second fast switch 42, and the second fast switch 42 still remained closed, and the IDE bus The signal cannot pass through, so the second IDE hard disk device 52 cannot be accessed.

Correspondingly, if it is decided to access the second IDE hard disk device 52, then the IDE controller 10 sends a control signal of PowerON=0 to the second power switch 62, so that the second power switch 62 is turned on, and the power supply can control the second power switch 62. The IDE hard disk device 52 supplies power; then a control signal of SON=0 is sent to turn on the second quick switch 42 , and the IDE bus signal is transmitted to the second IDE hard disk device 52 . At this time, the first quick switch 41 is in the closed state because no control signal is triggered, so the first IDE hard disk device 51 cannot be accessed.

When carrying out hot-swapping operation, the first and second IDE hard disk devices 51, 52 can notify the hot-swap controller 30 of their state information, that is, when one of the IDE hard disk devices is hot-plugged, the IDE hard disk device sends MPresent=1 (or Spresent=1) signal to hot-swap controller 30; controller 30 .

Please refer to shown in Fig. 2, it is the flow chart of hot unplugging an IDE device provided by the present invention, for example, if the first IDE hard disk device 51 in work is pulled out from the circuit, then first execute step 71, the first IDE The hard disk device 51 sends a signal MPresent=1 to the hot-swap controller 30 . Then step 72 is executed, the hot-swap controller 30 sends a control signal of SwitchON=1 to the first fast switch 41, and the first fast switch 41 is turned off, so that the IDE bus signal cannot be transmitted to the first IDE hard disk device 51. Step 73 is executed again, the hot swap controller 30 sends a control signal PowerON=1 to the first power switch 61, the first power switch 61 is turned off, and the power supply 60 stops supplying power to the first IDE hard disk device. Then step 74 is executed, the hot-swap controller 30 transmits the MPresnet=1 signal to the IDE controller 10 via the IDE connector 20 , instructing the IDE controller 10 to no longer send the IDE bus signal. The control process of hot-plugging the second IDE hard disk device 52 is similar and will not be repeated here.

Please refer to the third figure, which is a flow chart of hot inserting an IDE device provided by the present invention. For example, if the first IDE hard disk device 51 is hot-inserted into the circuit, step 81 is first performed, and the first IDE hard disk device 51 A MPresent=0 signal will be issued to the hot-swap controller 30 . Then step 82 is executed, the hot-swap controller 30 sends a control signal PowerON=0 to the first power switch 61, the first power switch 61 is turned on, and the power supply 60 starts to supply power to the first IDE hard disk device. Then step 83 is executed, the hot-swap controller 30 sends an MPresnet=0 signal to the IDE controller 10 via the IDE connector 20 to inform the IDE controller 10 to start sending IDE bus signals. The hot-swap controller 30 can accept the MON=0 control signal sent by the IDE controller 10 to send the SwitchON=0 control signal to the first fast switch 41, and the first fast switch 41 is turned on to make the IDE bus signal be transmitted to the first IDE hard disk device 51. The control process of hot-inserting the second IDE hard disk device 52 is similar and will not be repeated here.

Claims (6)

1. A control circuit for a dual hot-swappable IDE device, comprising: An IDE controller for sending IDE bus signals; The first and second IDE devices can receive the IDE bus signal and be controlled by the IDE controller to access data; The first and second fast switches are electrically connected to the first and second IDE devices respectively, and can transmit or interrupt the IDE bus signal to the first and second IDE devices; and an IDE connector for electrically connecting the IDE controller with the first and second fast switches; It is characterized by: The control circuit also includes a hot-swap controller, which transmits and receives signals with the IDE controller through the IDE connector, and can control the first and second fast switches On or off, so that when one of the first and second IDE devices is hot-unplugged, stop transmitting the IDE bus signal to the hot-unplugged IDE device, and resume transmitting the IDE bus signal to the hot-plugged IDE device when it is hot-plugged Hot plugging of IDE devices. 2. The control circuit according to claim 1, wherein the IDE device is an IDE hard disk device. 3. The control circuit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control circuit further comprises a power supply for supplying power to the first and second IDE devices. 4. The control circuit according to claim 3, wherein the control circuit is further provided with first and second power switches, which are electrically connected to the first and second IDE devices and the power supply, respectively. connected, and controlled by the hot-swap controller, stops power supply to the hot-plugged IDE device during hot-plug operation, and resumes power supply to the hot-plugged IDE device during hot-plug operation. 5. A control method for dual hot-swappable IDE devices, capable of controlling the hot-swapping and hot-inserting of two hot-swappable IDE devices, comprising the steps of: When hot-plugging an IDE device, the pulled-out IDE device sends a signal to the hot-swap controller; The hot-swap controller sends a control signal to the corresponding fast switch to close it, so as to interrupt the transmission of the IDE bus signal to the unplugged IDE device; The hot-swap controller sends a control signal to the corresponding power switch to turn it off, so as to interrupt the power supply to the extracted IDE device; The hot-swap controller sends a signal to the IDE controller, telling the IDE controller to stop sending IDE bus signals; When the IDE device is hot-plugged, the inserted IDE device sends a signal to a hot-swap controller; The hot-swap controller sends a control signal to the corresponding power switch to turn it on, so as to restore the power supply to the inserted IDE device; The hot-swap controller sends a signal to the IDE controller to inform the IDE controller to start sending the IDE bus signal, and the hot-swap controller can accept the control signal sent by the IDE controller to send the control signal to the corresponding fast switch to make it Turns on so that IDE bus signals can be routed to the inserted IDE device. 6. The control method according to claim 5, wherein the IDE device performing the hot swap operation is an IDE hard disk device.

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