Method and apparatus for preserving memory contents during a power outage

• Main Authors: KUSTARZ ERIC J, PALECZNY MICHAEL H, MANCZAK OLAF W
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 11.09.2012
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; PHYSICS

A method and apparatus for preserving contents of a volatile memory when a main (e.g., AC) power source is disconnected. The apparatus comprises flash memory, a controller for writing to the flash memory and a temporary power source. The temporary power source may be a relatively low power battery or supercapacitor. The apparatus is removably attached to a computing device (e.g., via a USB port). When main power of the device is disconnected, the temporary power source provides power for the apparatus, the volatile memory containing data to be safeguarded, and sufficient processing resources to transfer the data. For example, an auxiliary processor may be powered (instead of a relatively high-power processor) or just one core of a multi-core processor. Data are written to the apparatus and can be recovered when main power is reconnected. Or, the apparatus may be detached and attached to a different device for data recovery.