METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WRITING BINARY DATA WITH LOW POWER CONSUMPTION

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are provided herein for representing information in a data processing system with low power consumption. As described herein, parity relationships between multiple nodes of to-be-written binary information and original information can be leveraged as described herein to reduce the amount of toggling required to write information in a memory, thereby reducing power consumption. Various algorithms for leveraging parity relationships are described herein, including a Champagne Pyramid Parity Check (CPPC) algorithm and a Tree-Based Parity Check (TBPC) algorithm.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/907,513, filed on Apr. 4, 2007, entitled “MULTIMEDIA WATERMARKING TECHNIQUES WITH LOW DISTORTION.”

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to data processing, and more particularly to techniques for low power consumption memory design for data processing systems.

BACKGROUND

Power consumption is a major concern of modern development of computer and/or other components capable of computing. This is most apparent in battery-powered portable devices. People often carry extra batteries, AC adapters, and battery rechargers to ensure against a loss of functionality. Having to carry these accessories and supplies decreases the convenience of the portable devices. The need to carry extra batteries and power accessories can be obviated in part by using larger (or more) batteries, but this increases device bulk and thus decreases portability.

Reducing power requirements allows the use of smaller batteries and/or decreases the frequency with which batteries must be replaced or recharged. Using smaller batteries decreases device bulk. Reducing frequency of replacement reduces the financial and environmental cost of device ownership. Reducing the frequency of recharging extends battery life and makes it more practical to leave power accessories behind. In some cases, lower power requirements increase the viability of solar power to replace or supplement battery power, further enhancing the portability. Reducing power consumption also reduces heat dissipation, so that less bulk needs to be dedicated to removing heat from a device.

There are many approaches to reducing power requirements. Advances in semiconductor manufacturing have permitted smaller and more power efficient circuits. Advances in circuit design and processor architecture have also reduced power requirements. Such advances have reduced power requirements across all types of devices including processors, memories, and interface devices.

In addition to these hardware-oriented approaches, there are software-oriented approaches to reducing power requirements. Considerable effort has been invested in designing instruction sets and data formats for efficient use of available capacities for computation, storage and communication. As these capacities are used more efficiently, power requirements are reduced. However, as dramatic as power reductions have been to date, further reductions are desired to increase portability and convenience, reduce environmental and financial costs, and achieve other objectives.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the claimed subject matter in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the claimed subject matter. This summary is not an extensive overview of the claimed subject matter. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the claimed subject matter nor delineate the scope of the claimed subject matter. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the claimed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

The present disclosure provides systems, components, and methodologies for writing and/or recording information in memory components. In accordance with various aspects described herein, a hierarchical data structure, such as a binary pyramid structure and/or an N-ary tree structure, is used to record information. Information can be represented as the parity values of a set of nodes in such a data structure, rather than individual nodes themselves.

In one example, a Champagne Pyramid Parity Check (CPPC) algorithm and/or a Tree-Based Parity Check (TBPC) algorithm can be utilized to reduce the number of toggling operations required to write data to a memory component (e.g., to reduce the number of changes necessary in a memory for converting an original, previously stored set of information to a to-be-written set of information in the memory). The CPPC algorithm and/or the TBPC algorithm can reduce the total number of binary nodes changes required during the data writing process, thereby reducing memory power consumption.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the claimed subject matter are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the claimed subject matter can be employed. The claimed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the claimed subject matter can become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a system for recording binary information with low power consumption in accordance with various aspects described herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system that implements an example technique for writing binary information in accordance with various aspects described herein.

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate example data structures that can be utilized in connection with one or more data processing techniques described herein.

FIGS. 6-7 illustrate example update and toggle operations that can be performed in connection with one or more data processing techniques described herein.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a system that implements another example technique for writing binary information in accordance with various aspects described herein.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example data structure that can be utilized for one or more data processing techniques described herein.

FIGS. 10-11 illustrate respective operations that can be performed in connection with one or more data processing techniques described herein.

FIGS. 12-14 are flowcharts of respective methods for low-power recording of binary information in accordance with various aspects described herein.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an example operating environment in which various aspects described herein can function.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an example networked computing environment in which various aspects described herein can function.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The claimed subject matter is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the claimed subject matter.

As used in this application, the terms “component,” “system,” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Also, the methods and apparatus of the claimed subject matter, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the claimed subject matter. The components may communicate via local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems via the signal).

Turning now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a system 100 for recording binary information with low power consumption in accordance with various aspects described herein is illustrated. In one example, system 100 can include a memory component 110 for storing binary data. In one example, the memory component 110 initially stores a set of original data. To facilitate efficient recording of to-be-written data into the memory component 110, the memory component 110 can comprise a parity check component 130 and/or a modification component 140.

In accordance with one aspect, the parity check component 130 can divide storage locations in the memory component 110 that store respective bits of original data into groups. These groups can then be respectively characterized by the parity of the binary data values or bits stored at the locations that constitute the respective groups. By way of specific, non-limiting example, binary data can be represented as a binary digit “0” or “1,” and the parity of a group of such data can be even-odd parity such that, for example, the parity of a group is “1” if the number of bits in the group having a value of “1” is odd and “0” if the number is even. It should be appreciated, however, that this constitutes merely one way in which parity values can be obtained and that any suitable technique could be used.

In accordance with another aspect, the parity of respective bits of original data stored at the memory component 110 as formulated by the parity check component 130 can be utilized as a basis for representing to-be-written data. Further, the parity check component 130 can formulate groups of data bits such that they overlap, thereby allowing the parity of multiple groups to be altered by toggling the value of a single bit in the group. By doing so, the amount of toggling necessary to modify the original data stored by the memory component 110 into the to-be-written data can be reduced, thereby increasing embedding efficiency and reducing the amount of power required for writing data to the memory component 110. In accordance with various aspects described herein, the parity check component 130 can utilize a variety of algorithms for dividing a set of data bits into groups to facilitate efficient watermarking of the image. Examples of algorithms that can be utilized are described in detail infra.

After processing by the parity check component 130, groups of data bits formed by the parity check component 130 and their respective parity values can be provided to a modification component 140 to facilitate recording of to-be-written data to the memory component 110. In one example, the modification component 140 can compare respective information bits of the to-be-written data to the parity of corresponding groups of bits of the original data. If it is determined that an information bit in the to-be-written data and the parity of its corresponding group of original data bits does not match, a data bit in the group can be toggled to alter the parity of the group such that a match is created. In accordance with one aspect, respective groups of data bits can share bits among each other and/or otherwise overlap. As a result, the parity of multiple groups can be changed with a single toggling operation, thereby reducing the amount of toggling operations required for writing data to the memory component 110. In one example, toggling can be based on one or more techniques as generally known in the art, such as simple toggling of a single bit or pair toggling of a master/slave data bit pair.

It should be appreciated that while FIG. 1 and the above description relate to techniques for writing data to a memory component 110, various techniques described herein can be applied to any computing and/or other application where data is desirably modified from a first state to a second state. Thus, for example, various aspects described herein can additionally be applied to applications such as disk storage management or communication management. The techniques described herein can be applied to data communication by, for example, buffering and/or maintaining a previously transmitted set of information. For a subsequent communication(s), instead of requiring communication of an entire set of information, one or more toggling positions can instead be transmitted to enable a device receiving the communication to obtain a set of information by toggling at indicated positions in a previously received communication. By transmitting toggling locations rather than the corresponding data itself, communicated information can effectively be compressed prior to transmission, thereby allowing a communication system to make more effective use of network bandwidth and/or other system resources.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a system 200 that implements an example technique for writing binary information 210 in a memory component 240 is provided. In one example, binary information 210 can be written to the memory component 240 such that it replaces original information 220 pre-recorded in the memory component 240. Further, in accordance with one aspect, the memory component 240 can implement a Champagne Pyramid Parity Check (CPPC) algorithm for writing binary information 210 into the memory component 240 by utilizing subcomponents 244-252.

In accordance with one aspect, the CPPC algorithm can be utilized by the memory component 240 to reduce power consumption associated with writing binary data by reducing the total number of bits of original information 220 that are required to be changed (e.g., toggled) during the data writing process. In one example, the CPPC algorithm can be used in combination with one or more conventional data processing algorithms to write binary information 210 into the memory component 240. By doing so, the CPPC algorithm can be utilized to improve upon such conventional techniques by, for example, reducing power consumption required by such conventional techniques.

In one example, the memory component 240 can extend the functionality of traditional data processing and/or storage techniques by borrowing the functionality of various elements of such techniques and applying additional elements to improve their performance. By way of specific example, the memory component 240 can classify binary values stored at various locations therein into groups. For example, locations having a binary value of “0” can be classified into a first group, while locations having a binary value of “1” can be classified into a second group. A comparison component 248 and/or a toggling component 252 can be utilized to force original information 220 stored by the memory component 240 to match corresponding information bits of the binary information 210 to be written to the memory component 240.

In accordance with one aspect, the memory component 240 can utilize a CPPC algorithm for improved memory writing functionality as follows. First, a champagne pyramid component 244 can be utilized to organize storage locations at the memory component 240 into one or more champagne pyramid structures as described in more detail infra. Following processing by the champagne pyramid component 244, a parity calculation component 246 can be used to identify an array of information bits corresponding to the original information 220 with the same size as that of the binary information 210 to be written. After the parity calculation component 246 identifies such an array, a flavor adding optimization component 250 can then be utilized to find a minimum number of locations that must be toggled to cause the identified array of information bits to match the binary information 210. Data writing can then be processed via the toggling component 252 on the locations marked by the flavor adding optimization component 250. By way of example, the operation of the champagne pyramid component 244, the parity calculation component 246, and/or the flavor adding optimization component 250 can proceed as set forth in the following description.

In accordance with another aspect, the Champagne Pyramid Parity Check algorithm usable by the memory component 240 is so named because it leverages various properties that can be observed in a champagne pyramid. For example, a two-dimensional 5-level champagne pyramid 300 built by 15 wine glasses numbered 1 through 15 is illustrated by FIG. 3. It can be appreciated that, if champagne is poured into the highest glass in the pyramid 300, the champagne will fill all glasses below the highest glass as it overflows down the pyramid 300. Similarly, in a more complicated scenario, flavorless champagne can be poured into glass 1 at the top of the pyramid 300 while apple-flavored champagne can be poured into glass 4. It can be appreciated that, as time elapses while pouring continues, all of the glasses in the pyramid 300 will come to be filled with champagne. However, considering the glasses at the bottom row of the pyramid 300, it can be appreciated that glasses 11 through 13 would contain apple-flavored champagne at such a time while glasses 14 and 15 would not.

Based on these observations, the rows of the pyramid 300 can be numbered from the bottom. As illustrated in FIG. 3, glasses 11 through 15 are on the first row and glass 1 is on the fifth row. Thus, for a pyramid 300 with L levels, N successive glasses on the bottom row of the pyramid 300 will contain the same flavor of champagne as a glass on the N-th row of the pyramid 300 if champagne is poured into said glass until it has run off into the bottom row of the pyramid 300. As a result, it can be appreciated that if it is desired to add a common flavor into N successive glasses on the bottom row, the desired flavor can be poured into a single glass on the N-th row of the pyramid 300 instead of adding the flavor on the bottom row for all N glasses.

Similarly, the champagne pyramid component 244 can arrange information of a binary format into a structure that exhibits the above properties. In one example, the champagne pyramid component 244 can represent a set of original information 220 and its corresponding binary values as a binary pyramid structure, such as the example structure illustrated by diagram 400 in FIG. 4. Each of these binary values can then be treated as a wine glass in a pyramid structure having a predefined scanning order. As diagram 400 further illustrates, the number of information bits that can be held by a champagne pyramid structure is equal to the number of elements on the bottom row of the pyramid. Thus, as the number of memory bits (e.g., M) in original information 920 is limited and the size of a binary information 910 to be written (e.g., L) are fixed, the number of memory bits of the original information 920 may not be sufficient to build a single L-level champagne pyramid. In such cases, multiple N-level pyramids can be built instead. In one example, N can be constrained by the following equation:

$\begin{array}{cc}\frac{N\left(N+1\right)}{2}\le MN\le 2\frac{M}{L}-1.& \left(1\right)\end{array}$

In accordance with one aspect, writing binary information 210 such that it replaces original information 220 using CPPC can be dependent on the bottom row of the pyramid structure(s) constructed by the champagne pyramid component 244. As described above with respect to diagram 300, data flow through the structure can be visualized as liquid poured from the top of a champagne pyramid such that eventually all glasses on the bottom row of the pyramid are filled up. Thus, the parity calculation component 246 can begin processing of a pyramid structure(s) by defining the Region of Interest of a wine glass n, ROI(n), as the set of glasses that belong to the possible paths from the top glass of the pyramid to glass n. Thus, for pyramid 300, ROI(11)={1, 2, 4, 7, 11} and ROI(13)={1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13}.

As noted previously, each wine glass in pyramid 300 contains a value of either “0” or “1.” Based on this, the parity calculation component 246 can count the number of glasses containing “1” in the region of interest of each glass on the bottom row of the pyramid. In one example, if the number of such glasses is an even number for a glass, the parity of that glass is set to “0.” Similarly, if the number of such glasses is an odd number for a given glass, the parity of that glass can instead be set to “1.” After this calculations, an information array (IA) with the same size as the binary information 910 to be written can be formed. Diagram 400 in FIG. 3 illustrates example parity calculations.

In one example, for each node on the bottom row of a pyramid structure, the parity calculation component 246 can define the ROI and then count the number of nodes containing a value of “1” in the defined region. By way of specific, non-limiting example, the computational complexity of such operations can be reduced by making use of various properties of the ROI. First, for each node x on the bottom row of a pyramid structure, the parity calculation component can define the “left source” of x, LS(x), the “right source” of x, RS(x), and the “upper source” of x, US(x), as illustrated in diagram 500 in FIG. 5. It should be appreciated that for some cases, LS(x), RS(x), and/or US(x) may not exist.

The ROI of a non-existing node can be represented as an empty set. Otherwise, for a node x, ROI can be calculated as follows:

$\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{US}\left(x\right)\right)=\mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{LS}\left(x\right)\right)\bigcap \mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{RS}\left(x\right)\right),& \left(2\right)\\ \begin{array}{c}\mathrm{ROI}\left(x\right)=\mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{LS}\left(x\right)\right)\bigcup \mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{RS}\left(x\right)\right)+\left\{x\right\}\\ =\mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{LS}\left(x\right)\right)+\mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{RS}\left(x\right)\right)-\mathrm{ROI}\left(\mathrm{US}\left(x\right)\right)+\left\{x\right\}.\end{array}& \left(3\right)\end{array}$

Based on the ROI of a node x as calculated in Equations (2)-(3), the parity of a node x can be calculated as follows:

Parity(x)=Parity(LS(x))⊕Parity(RS(x))⊕Parity(US(x))⊕x.  (4)

Thus, from Equation (4), the parity calculation component 246 can utilize a smart parity calculation method as follows. The parity calculation component 246 can start from the top of the pyramid and process each node in increasing order of glass number, as shown in diagram 300. If US(x) is “0” for a given node, no further operation is needed. Otherwise, the values contained by of LS(x), RS(x), and x can be toggled as illustrated by diagrams 610 and 620 in FIG. 6.

Upon generation of an IA at the parity calculation component 246, the IA can be processed with an array corresponding to the binary information 210 being written using an exclusive-OR (XOR) operator and/or another appropriate operator at the comparison component 248. For each value of “1” that appears in the resulting array, the corresponding location on the bottom row of the pyramid structure can be marked as “To Be Flavored” (TBF), as illustrated in diagram 710 in FIG. 7. Theoretically, it can be appreciated that a node on the bottom row of the pyramid will be marked as TBF with a probability of 0.5. Toggling optimization can then be performed by the flavor adding optimization component 250 by employing the observation that adding flavor into N successive wine glasses on the bottom row of a champagne pyramid is equivalent to adding flavor into one wine glass on the N-th row. Thus, if N successive nodes in a pyramid structure are marked as TBF, the flavor adding optimization can designate only one location in the original information 220 for toggling instead of requiring toggling of all N locations.

An example of the flavor adding optimization used in connection with data processing is illustrated by diagrams 710 and 720 in FIG. 7. As FIG. 7 illustrates, given the pyramid structure 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 and a 5-bit set of binary information {11000} to be written, toggling of the IA can be performed to obtain a resulting array of {01110} As illustrated by diagram 710, the second, third, and fourth nodes on the bottom row can then be marked as TBF. Instead of toggling all three glasses, however, the memory component 240 can fully record the binary information 210 by toggling only one glass on the third row, as indicated by FIG. 7.

Referring next to FIG. 8, an additional system 800 that can be utilized for low-power recording of binary information 820 in accordance with various aspects described herein is illustrated. As illustrated by FIG. 8, binary information 810 can be written into a memory component 840 that stores previously-recorded original information 820. In accordance with one aspect, the memory component 840 can implement a TBPC (Tree Based Parity Check) algorithm for recording binary information 810 by utilizing subcomponents 844-854.

In accordance with one aspect, a TBPC algorithm can be utilized by the memory component 840 in conjunction with one or more existing data processing techniques. In one example, the memory component 840 can utilize a comparison component 848 for comparing binary values of original information 820 with corresponding to-be-written binary information 810, and/or a modification location determination component 852 for deciding which bit(s) need modifications to hold to-be-written binary data 810. Modification can then be performed based on the comparisons via a modification component 854. For every single to-be-written bit, it can be observed that the probability that the original information 820 will require modification is 0.5. Accordingly, the memory component 840 can utilize the TBPC algorithm to attempt to reduce the probability of modifying the original information 820.

In accordance with one aspect, the memory component 840 can utilize the TBPC algorithm to achieve an improvement in power consumption by reducing the number of to-be-written bits (e.g., nodes) that require modification operations. In one example, the memory component 840 can employ a tree component 844, a parity calculation component 846, and/or a fountain investigation component 850 to extend the functionality of a traditional data processing scheme by way of the TBPC algorithm. In general, the TBPC algorithm leverages relationships among ancestors and descendants in an N-ary tree to improve data writing functionality. By way of example, the operation of the tree component 844, parity calculation component 846, and/or fountain investigation component 850 is set forth in further detail in the following description. As used herein, the size of binary information 810 to be written is represented as L.

In conventional data processing algorithms, the values of bit locations (nodes) can be classified as either “0” or “1.” Thus, 16 bits of information traditionally require 16 nodes to be represented. Immediately after classification, these values are then compared with corresponding bits of the binary information 810. If respective values are the same as a to-be-written bit, no further operations are performed. Otherwise, one or more processes are carried out to toggle the value.

In contrast, by way of example, the tree component 844 can operate as follows. First, the tree component 844 can populate an N-ary complete tree, herein referred to as a “master tree.” It can be appreciated that because the master tree is an N-ary complete tree, every node of the master tree, except for leaf nodes, can be configured to have N child nodes. In one example, one leaf node can be utilized to hold one information bit, which can correspond to the parity value of the node. Accordingly, it can be appreciated that to write binary information 810 of L bits, a master tree can be required to have L leaves. FIG. 9 illustrates an example master tree 900 that can be created by the tree component 844 for N=2 and L=16. As illustrated by FIG. 9, 31 nodes are utilized to represent 16 bits of information.

Based on a master tree constructed by the tree component 844, a parity calculation component 846 can be utilized to determine the information bits represented by each leaf node in the master tree. In one example, this can be accomplished for a leaf node by traveling from the leaf node to the root node of the master tree. If the number of occurrences of “1” values is an odd number, the information bit of the leaf node can be regarded as “1.” Otherwise, the information bit can be regarded as “0.” These calculations are further illustrated in FIG. 9 for master tree 900. As shown, the information array (IA) represents the information written in the master tree being listed under the tree.

Next, by performing bitwise logical exclusive-OR (XOR) operations between respective bits of the binary information 810 and the information carried by the master tree (the original information), the comparison component 848 can obtain a toggle array. As an example of this comparison, it can be observed that for the example master tree 900, the obtained information array is {1110110101111000}. Assuming a binary information array of {0010001001011110}, a resultant toggle array obtained by the comparison component 848 becomes {1100111100100110}. This comparison is illustrated by diagram 1000 in FIG. 10.

In accordance with one aspect, respective values of “1” in the toggle array can represent the fact that the corresponding nodes of the master tree representing the original information 820 require toggling. However, it can be appreciated that power consumption is introduced by any single modification to the original information 820. Accordingly, to reduce power consumption, TBPC can be utilized to minimize the number of “1” values in the toggle array. Referring back to FIG. 9, when the master tree 900 is carefully examined, it can be observed that a single change in any node, either from “1” to “0” or from “0” to “1,” can result in a change in the parity of all of the descendants of the changed node. Thus, instead of changing the values of N sibling nodes in the master tree 900, a single change in their common parent node can give the same effect.

To leverage the above observation, a fountain investigation component 850 can build a toggle tree with the same size as the master tree. In one example, the leaf nodes of the toggle tree can be populated by the elements of the toggle array in the order that the elements appear in the toggle array. The remaining nodes in the tree can be initially populated using any suitable value. In one example, the fountain investigation component can then begin analysis at the root of the toggle tree as follows. For a given node, if all N of the child nodes of the given node contain the value “1,” the child nodes are updated with the value “0” and the node being examined can be set to “1.” Otherwise, the node being processed can be reset to “0.” An example toggle tree generation and fountain investigation process for the example toggle array given above is illustrated in diagram 1000 in FIG. 10.

In one example, to write binary information 810 into the memory component 840, to-be-toggled sites in the master tree corresponding to locations in the toggle tree that have respective values of “1” can then be toggled. After parity calculation for the master tree, the obtained information array should match the binary information array corresponding to the binary information 810. An example data processing process is illustrated by diagram 1100 in FIG. 11.

In accordance with one aspect, the maximum achievable payload of the memory component 840 can be found as follows. Initially, it can be appreciated that because the number of nodes in original information 820 is limited, the size of a master tree that can be formed in the tree formation process is also limited. Further, as noted above, the master tree is required to have L leaf nodes to represent L binary information bits. Thus, to form an N-ary complete tree with L leaf nodes, the total number of nodes required, nNodes, can be found by the following equation:

$\begin{array}{cc}\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{nNodes}=1+N+N^2+\dots +N^x,\mathrm{where}x={\log }_N\left(L\right)\\ =\sum _{i=0}^xN^i\\ =\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\mathrm{NL}-1}{N-1}& \because N^x=L\end{array}\\ \approx \begin{array}{cc}\left(\frac{N}{N-1}\right)L& \because \mathrm{NL}1.\end{array}\end{array}& \begin{array}{c}\\ \\ \\ \\ \left(5\right)\\ \\ \left(6\right)\end{array}\end{array}$

From Equation (6), it can be observed that as N increases, the number of nodes required in the master tree decreases. Thus, because the number of nodes is limited, the payload that can be written by the memory component 840 increases as N increases. For a fixed binary information size L and available number of nodes M, the minimum N that can be used can be found as follows:

$\begin{array}{cc}M\ge \frac{\mathrm{NL}-1}{N-1}N\ge \lceil \frac{M-1}{M-L}\rceil & \left(7\right)\end{array}$

In accordance with another aspect, the parity calculation component 846 can operate using a low-complexity parity calculation technique as follows. First, parity(x) can be defined as the parity of the number of occurrences of “1” in the path from a node x to the root node of a master tree. It can be observed that parity(x) is equal to the value of parity(parent(x)) plus the value of node x using bitwise addition. Thus, the parity calculation component 846 can traverse the master tree starting from the root of the tree and, for each node x being processed, update the parity of its child node y by adding the parity of node x and the value of node y.

Referring now to FIGS. 12-14, methodologies that can be implemented in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the order of the blocks, as some blocks may, in accordance with the claimed subject matter, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other blocks from that shown and described herein. Moreover, not all illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies in accordance with the claimed subject matter.

Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed by one or more components. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments. Furthermore, as will be appreciated various portions of the disclosed systems above and methods below may include or consist of artificial intelligence or knowledge or rule based components, sub-components, processes, means, methodologies, or mechanisms (e.g., support vector machines, neural networks, expert systems, Bayesian belief networks, fuzzy logic, data fusion engines, classifiers . . . ). Such components, inter alia, can automate certain mechanisms or processes performed thereby to make portions of the systems and methods more adaptive as well as efficient and intelligent.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method of low-power recording of binary information in accordance with various aspects described herein. At 1202, binary information to be stored by a memory (e.g., a memory component 110) is identified. At 1204, a hierarchical data structure is generated (e.g., by a parity check component 130) that comprises a plurality of nodes corresponding to respective information bits currently stored by the memory. At 1206, respective parity values of nodes in a bottom row of the hierarchical data structure generated at 1204 are determined. At 1208, information bits are toggled (e.g., by a modification component 140) corresponding to one or more nodes in the hierarchical data structure generated at 1204 such that the respective parity values of the nodes in the bottom row of the hierarchical data structure as determined at 1206 match respective corresponding bits in the binary information identified at 1202 to be stored by the memory.

FIG. 13 illustrates a method 1300 of writing binary information (e.g., binary information 210) to a memory (e.g., a memory component 240) to replace original information (e.g., original information 220) previously stored in the memory. In accordance with one aspect, method 1300 can be utilized to implement a Champagne Pyramid Parity Check (CPPC) algorithm. At 1302, binary information to be written in the memory is provided.

At 1304, at least one binary pyramid structure having nodes representing original information is provided (e.g., by a champagne pyramid component 244). In one example, the number of nodes at the bottom row of the at least one pyramid structure provided at 1304 can equal the number of bits in the binary information provided at 1302. At 1306, for each node at the bottom row of the at least one pyramid provided at 1304, parity is calculated (e.g., by a parity calculation component 946) for the combined set of the respective nodes and all other nodes in the at least one pyramid for having the respective node as a direct or indirect successor.

At 1308, the parity of respective nodes at the bottom row of the at least one pyramid provided at 1304, as calculated at 1306, is compared to corresponding bits of the binary information provided at 1302 (e.g., by a comparison component 248). At 1310, groups of successive nodes for which the comparison at 1308 indicates have respective parity values that differ from corresponding bits of the binary information provided at 1302 are identified (e.g., by a flavor adding optimization component 250). At 1312, the binary information provided at 1302 is written in the memory at least in part by toggling nodes (e.g., using a toggling component 252) corresponding to the respective lowest common predecessor nodes for the groups identified at 1312.

Turning to FIG. 14, another method 1400 of writing binary information (e.g., binary information 810) into a memory (e.g., a memory component 840) is illustrated. In accordance with one aspect, method 1400 can be utilized to implement a Tree-Based Parity Check (TBPC) algorithm. At 1402, binary information to be written in memory is provided.

At 1404, one or more N-ary master trees having nodes representing original information are provided (e.g., by a tree component 844). In one example, the number of leaf nodes at the bottom row in the one or more trees can be made equal to the number of bits in the binary information provided at 1402. At 1406, for each leaf node in the master trees provided at 1404, parity is calculated (e.g., by a parity calculation component 846) of nodes in a path from the leaf node to the root node of the master tree to which the leaf node belongs. At 1408, a toggle array is obtained (e.g., by a comparison component 848) by performing exclusive-OR operations between respective parity values calculated at 1406 and corresponding bits of the binary information identified at 1402. At 1410, one or more toggle trees are constructed that correspond to the one or more master trees constructed at 1404 using the toggle array obtained at 1408 as leaf nodes. Finally, at 1412, the binary information provided at 1402 is written into the memory at least in part by toggling nodes in the one or more trees created at 1404 (e.g., via a modification component 854) corresponding to the respective highest nodes in the toggle trees constructed at 1410 for which all leaf nodes provide a toggling indication (e.g., as determined by a fountain investigation component 850 and/or a modification location determination component 852).

In order to provide additional context for various aspects described herein, FIG. 15 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment 1500 in which various aspects of the claimed subject matter can be implemented. Additionally, while the above features have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that may run on one or more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that said features can also be implemented in combination with other program modules and/or as a combination of hardware and software.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the claimed subject matter can be practiced with other computer system configurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personal computers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which can be operatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

The illustrated aspects may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

A computer typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media can comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media can include both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer.

Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

With reference again to FIG. 15, an exemplary environment 1500 for implementing various aspects described herein includes a computer 1502, the computer 1502 including a processing unit 1504, a system memory 1506 and a system bus 1508. The system bus 1508 couples to system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1506 to the processing unit 1504. The processing unit 1504 can be any of various commercially available processors. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures may also be employed as the processing unit 1504.

The system bus 1508 can be any of several types of bus structure that may further interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1506 includes read-only memory (ROM) 1510 and random access memory (RAM) 1512. A basic input/output system (BIOS) is stored in a non-volatile memory 1510 such as ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, which BIOS contains the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 1502, such as during start-up. The RAM 1512 can also include a high-speed RAM such as static RAM for caching data.

The computer 1502 further includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 1514 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), which internal hard disk drive 1514 may also be configured for external use in a suitable chassis (not shown), a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1516, (e.g., to read from or write to a removable diskette 1518) and an optical disk drive 1520, (e.g., reading a CD-ROM disk 1522 or, to read from or write to other high capacity optical media such as the DVD). The hard disk drive 1514, magnetic disk drive 1516 and optical disk drive 1520 can be connected to the system bus 1508 by a hard disk drive interface 1524, a magnetic disk drive interface 1526 and an optical drive interface 1528, respectively. The interface 1524 for external drive implementations includes at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE-1394 interface technologies. Other external drive connection technologies are within contemplation of the subject disclosure.

The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and so forth. For the computer 1502, the drives and media accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Although the description of computer-readable media above refers to a HDD, a removable magnetic diskette, and a removable optical media such as a CD or DVD, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of media which are readable by a computer, such as zip drives, magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, cartridges, and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment, and further, that any such media may contain computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein.

A number of program modules can be stored in the drives and RAM 1512, including an operating system 1530, one or more application programs 1532, other program modules 1534 and program data 1536. All or portions of the operating system, applications, modules, and/or data can also be cached in the RAM 1512. It is appreciated that the claimed subject matter can be implemented with various commercially available operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 1502 through one or more wired/wireless input devices, e.g., a keyboard 1538 and a pointing device, such as a mouse 1540. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, an IR remote control, a joystick, a game pad, a stylus pen, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 1504 through an input device interface 1542 that is coupled to the system bus 1508, but can be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a serial port, an IEEE-1394 port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, etc.

A monitor 1544 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 1508 via an interface, such as a video adapter 1546. In addition to the monitor 1544, a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc.

The computer 1502 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections via wired and/or wireless communications to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer(s) 1548. The remote computer(s) 1548 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer 1502, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device 1550 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted include wired/wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 1552 and/or larger networks, e.g., a wide area network (WAN) 1554. Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to a global communications network, e.g., the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1502 is connected to the local network 1552 through a wired and/or wireless communication network interface or adapter 1556. The adapter 1556 may facilitate wired or wireless communication to the LAN 1552, which may also include a wireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with the wireless adapter 1556.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1502 can include a modem 1558, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN 1554, or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN 1554, such as by way of the Internet. The modem 1558, which can be internal or external and a wired or wireless device, is connected to the system bus 1508 via the serial port interface 1542. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 1502, or portions thereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device 1550. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used.

The computer 1502 is operable to communicate with any wireless devices or entities operatively disposed in wireless communication, e.g., a printer, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, portable data assistant, communications satellite, any piece of equipment or location associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand, restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies. Thus, the communication can be a predefined structure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.

Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, is a wireless technology similar to that used in a cell phone that enables a device to send and receive data anywhere within the range of a base station. Wi-Fi networks use IEEE-802.11 (a, b, g, etc.) radio technologies to provide secure, reliable, and fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Fi network can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks (which use IEEE-802.3 or Ethernet). Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, at an 13 Mbps (802.11a) or 54 Mbps (802.11b) data rate, for example, or with products that contain both bands (dual band). Thus, networks using Wi-Fi wireless technology can provide real-world performance similar to a 10BaseT wired Ethernet network.

Referring now to FIG. 16, there is illustrated a schematic block diagram of an exemplary computer compilation system operable to execute the disclosed architecture. The system 1600 includes one or more client(s) 1602. The client(s) 1602 can be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). In one example, the client(s) 1602 can house cookie(s) and/or associated contextual information by employing one or more features described herein.

The system 1600 also includes one or more server(s) 1604. The server(s) 1604 can also be hardware and/or software (e.g., threads, processes, computing devices). In one example, the servers 1604 can house threads to perform transformations by employing one or more features described herein. One possible communication between a client 1602 and a server 1604 can be in the form of a data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes. The data packet may include a cookie and/or associated contextual information, for example. The system 1600 includes a communication framework 1606 (e.g., a global communication network such as the Internet) that can be employed to facilitate communications between the client(s) 1602 and the server(s) 1604.

Communications can be facilitated via a wired (including optical fiber) and/or wireless technology. The client(s) 1602 are operatively connected to one or more client data store(s) 1608 that can be employed to store information local to the client(s) 1602 (e.g., cookie(s) and/or associated contextual information). Similarly, the server(s) 1604 are operatively connected to one or more server data store(s) 1610 that can be employed to store information local to the servers 1604.

The claimed subject matter has been described herein by way of examples. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, for the avoidance of doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements.

Additionally, the disclosed subject matter can be implemented as a system, method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer or processor based device to implement aspects detailed herein. The terms “article of manufacture,” “computer program product” or similar terms, where used herein, are intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick). Additionally, it is known that a carrier wave can be employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN).

The aforementioned systems have been described with respect to interaction between several components. It can be appreciated that such systems and components can include those components or specified sub-components, some of the specified components or sub-components, and/or additional components, according to various permutations and combinations of the foregoing. Sub-components can also be implemented as components communicatively coupled to other components rather than included within parent components, e.g., according to a hierarchical arrangement. Additionally, it should be noted that one or more components can be combined into a single component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several separate sub-components, and any one or more middle layers, such as a management layer, can be provided to communicatively couple to such sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality. Any components described herein can also interact with one or more other components not specifically described herein but generally known by those of skill in the art.

Claims

1. A method of writing binary information in a memory, comprising:

identifying binary information to be stored by a memory;

generating a hierarchical data structure comprising a plurality of nodes, the plurality of nodes comprise respective information bits currently stored by the memory;

determining respective parity values of nodes in a bottom row of the hierarchical data structure; and

toggling binary values of one or more nodes in the hierarchical data structure such that the respective parity values of the nodes in the bottom row of the hierarchical data structure match respective corresponding bits in the binary information to be stored by the memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a hierarchical data structure comprises generating one or more binary pyramid structures, and a number of nodes at the bottom row of the one or more binary pyramid structures equals a number of bits in the identified binary information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the toggling comprises providing toggling indications for respective nodes at the bottom row of the binary pyramid structure for which a determined parity value for the node differs from a corresponding bit of the identified binary information;

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the toggling comprises:

identifying groups of consecutive nodes for which a toggling indication is provided;

replacing toggling indications provided by respective nodes in an identified group of consecutive nodes with a single toggling indication at the lowest common predecessor node to each node in the identified group of consecutive nodes; and

toggling binary values of nodes in the one or more binary pyramid structures for which toggling indications are provided.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining comprises determining a parity value for a node in a binary pyramid structure by performing an exclusive-OR operation on the binary value of a node, a parity value for a left source node to the node for which a parity value is being calculated, a parity value for a right source node to the node for which a parity value is being calculated, and a parity value for an upper source node that is a common source node of the left source node and the right source node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating a hierarchical data structure comprises generating a complete N-ary tree structure, and a bottom row of the tree structure corresponds to leaf nodes of said tree structure.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the generating a hierarchical data structure further comprises providing one or more said tree structures such that a number of leaf nodes of the one or more tree structures equals a number of bits in the identified binary information; and

the determining comprises determining parity values for respective leaf nodes of the one or more tree structures by determining parity of nodes in paths from the respective leaf nodes to a root node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the toggling comprises:

obtaining a toggle array by comparing respective parity values for the leaf nodes of the one or more tree structures and corresponding bits in the identified binary information;

constructing one or more toggle trees corresponding to the one or more tree structures at least in part by using respective elements of the toggle array as leaf nodes; and

toggling binary values of respective nodes of the one or more tree structures corresponding to respective highest nodes in the one or more toggle trees for which all leaf nodes indicate that parity values for the leaf nodes do not match corresponding bits in the identified binary information.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining comprises determining a parity value for a node in a tree structure by performing an exclusive-OR operation between the binary value of a node and a parity value for a parent node of the node for which a parity value is being calculated.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the information bits currently stored by the memory correspond to a previous communication of data, the identified binary information corresponds to a subsequent communication of data, and the method further comprises conducting the subsequent communication of data by transmitting one or more toggling positions that transform data corresponding to the previous communication of data to the identified binary data.

11. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions operable to perform the method of claim 1.

12. A system for recording binary information, comprising:

a champagne pyramid component that groups storage locations for respective information bits in a memory into at least one binary pyramid structure having a plurality of nodes respectively corresponding to the storage locations;

a parity check component that determines parity values of respective nodes in a bottom row of the at least one binary pyramid structure based on original information written in the memory; and

a toggling component that toggles binary values of one or more nodes in the at least one binary pyramid structures such that parity values of nodes in the bottom row of the at least one binary pyramid structure match corresponding bits in binary information to be recorded in the memory.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a comparison component that provides toggling indications for respective nodes at the bottom row of the at least one binary pyramid structure for which determined parity values for the respective nodes differ from corresponding bits of the binary information to be recorded in the memory.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a flavor adding optimization component that identifies groups of consecutive nodes in the bottom row of the at least one binary pyramid structure for which a toggling indication is provided and replaces toggling indications provided by respective nodes identified groups of consecutive nodes with a single toggling indication at the lowest common predecessor node to each node in the identified group of consecutive nodes.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the toggling component toggles binary values of respective nodes in the at least one binary pyramid structure for which toggling indications are provided.

16. A system for recording binary information, comprising:

a tree component that stores information in a memory as at least one complete N-ary tree structure having a plurality of nodes respectively corresponding to storage locations in the memory;

a parity check component that determines respective parity values for leaf nodes of the at least one complete N-ary tree structure based on original information written in the memory; and

a modification component that modifies binary values of one or more nodes in the at least one complete N-ary tree structure such that the parity values of the leaf nodes match corresponding bits in binary information to be recorded in the memory.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a comparison component that establishes one or more toggle arrays by comparing respective parity values for the leaf nodes of the one or more complete N-ary tree structures to corresponding bits in the binary information to be recorded in the memory.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a fountain investigation component that constructs one or more toggle trees corresponding to the one or more complete N-ary tree structures, wherein the one or more toggle trees utilize respective elements of the one or more toggle arrays as leaf nodes.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a modification location determination component that identifies nodes of the at least one complete N-ary tree structure that correspond to respective highest nodes in the one or more toggle trees for which all leaf nodes indicate that parity values for the leaf nodes do not match corresponding bits in the binary information to be recorded in the memory.

20. A system for recording binary information, comprising:

means for providing binary information to be written in a memory;

means for providing a hierarchical data structure comprising a plurality of nodes that represent original information written in the memory;

means for determining respective parity values of nodes at a bottom row of the hierarchical data structure; and

means for toggling binary values of one or more nodes of the hierarchical data structure such that the respective parity values of the nodes at the bottom row of the hierarchical data structure match corresponding bits in the provided binary information.