Every one of us is surrounded by a pool of information-emitting entities. Perhaps, this is the first time that you have heard that term, but in reality, it has been there ever since the inception of this planet. Consider our bodies or, for example, the body of any living being. As a whole, we don't seem to be emitting any information apart from the regular biochemical excretions and lingual/non-lingual communication. But, surprisingly, that very body emits a hell lot of information every now and then. And the EEG and ECG are classical examples of how to capture that information and use it for some useful purposes.
So, now that you have a brief idea of what this post is all about, lets get to the main point directly. Information, as we see it, is some useful knowledge, but that there is the flaw in the definition that we follow. What is considered to be useless till date, can become a very useful bit of information in tomorrow. The EEG and ECG, for example, would have appeared to be totally nonsense things to the doctors of the medieval era. Hence, our definition of information almost always prevents us from seeing the real picture and it almost always makes us miss out on the potential, yet untouched aspects.Lets get to some real example now.
Every computer is composed of components like RAM,MoBo(Mother Board),chipset, Processors,Buses, cooling units,HDDs etc. All of these components add together to form the computer as a whole. Now, there are two types of signals which these devices emit. One are the digital signals which these devices use to communicate with the the other devices via the bus, and other is the electrical supply which is used to run the individual components. Now, a lot of emphasis has been laid on how the buses should be organised and how the overall architecture has to be designed. This all is done to make the digital signals travel faster than before and also ensure that they become more effective. Therefore, all the innovation went into the improvement of the buses and communication interfaces, because it was these very things that shape the speed and response time of a computer. And in fact, there has been a tremendous improvement in these aspects. The device interfaces progressed from ATA/IDE to SATA and the bus specifications improved from SCSI to USB to the upcoming LightPeak. The magnitude has improved tremendously. But, the SMPS, which is the component that supplies electricity to all the devices, hasn't seen a lot of improvement. And as of now, there is a very little hope that it will.
Why?, one may ask. Well, the SMPS, once it reached a stage where it seemed to be doing what it was intended to do, made the guys think that it does not need any further improvements.The only improvements added later on, were to make it comply to the latest bus and communication interface specifications. But these improvements in voltage and current specifications, don't constitute a breakthrough. But there could indeed have been a breakthrough improvement that we missed out on.
Every time, your computer breaks down, there is either some component or either some particular sub-component(resistance,capacitor etc.) that needs to be replaced.This happens when either an incompatible device is connected, or when a faulty device is connected, or when some jumper setting went wrong,or even when there was an internal upsurge. The reason why these components or sub components blow-up, is that some component got more electricity than it needed. And this extra electricity often flows through the supply wires of the SMPS. Now the SMPS is based on fixed logic, so it simply knows that how much pre-specified voltage or current has to be passed through a certain wire. And the transformers and other cut-out mechanisms used inside the SMPS help it to ensure that whatever be the external voltage, the voltage to be supplied through it would be what was in the specifications.
So, where do they miss the trick.? Well, if all the voltages and currents are already withing place, then why do the components blow.The SMPS is responsible only for the power that is supplied to the MoBo and Peripherals, but after that, the MoBo distributes the power to the bus and the internal circuitry. Now, the reason why current exceed the limits, at times, is that either non-compliant components are connected, or that a particular device was faulty/gets faulty and transfers more than what was needed. Now, the SMPS is unaware of the actually connected device, whereas the MoBo can get a sound knowledge of what the device actually is. Now, if the SMPS as well as the MoBo were configured to transfer a minimal of information among them, the MoBo, could use some low power signal(driven by CMOS power) to find out the internal configuration before the actual boot-up. This low power signal would just be used to ask the individual components for their interface related information. Hence, by the time the system is all ready for a boot-up, the MoBo already has some information and it also has information regarding its own specifications. Now even if a simplistic logic is present within the SMPS, the aforementioned information can be used to find out the amount of voltages and currents that have to be transmitted through every outlet cable of the SMPS.
So, what's the real deal ? Well, if the SMPS has a detailed knowledge of what has to be transferred, it can either change its capacitance or resistance to provide this much of value, or it can simply cut-off just to prevent damage to some component(s).So, compare this with the previous situation. The former SMPS knew just how to to supply some voltage and current across its wires.Whereas,our new SMPS, is aware of the overall computer configuration and it can change its internal configuration so as to ensure that the voltages that it supplies do not blow away any components.Hence the previous static SMPS that had a very limited knowledge now becomes a smart SMPS that knows a lot about the computer system and can change itself accordingly. Hence, with just a little bit of knowledge about how the system is configured, the SMPS and MoBo will be able to ensure that the computer system never breaks down.This was just the matter of harnessing some information and harnessing it correctly. Although, the computer BIOS always automatically gets updated when the configuration is changed, this update takes place during the boot-up, and hence, if any of the devices is wrongly configured or if any non-complying device is connected, then that will blow away there itself. However, the suggested method will be like a system diagnosis even before it actually starts and hence prevents any faulty configuration from running.Hence, a static computer system will become a dynamic computer system that could adjust itself according to the different h/w connected to it.
Now, there is no doubt that the costs will go up by addition of this extra logic, but won't a user be willing to spend some extra cost for getting a computer system that is as infallible as it can get. Although, even this computer system can fail when there is a problem with the initial logic or the SMPS, but the individual components and more importantly, the data, will stay safe.In fact, a few IBM laptops even have a BIOS presetting feature that solely runs on CMOS battery power. But the idea suggested here, is much more effective.
So we we had an example on how information, which was always there, but was always unattended, can be used to make an "invincible" computer system.In fact, this was just one of the several ideas. Some universities and R&D departments of organizations like IBM have already come up with a whole list of such things that they are working on.Some of these things are :
1. Tracking every piece of medicine as it goes from manufacturing units to inventories to supply chains and finally to the stores.In this way, information about the medicine's lifetime can be used to counter adulteration, and repackaging of old medicines.
2. Collecting information(EEG,ECG patterns, Breathing rate,temperature variations, movements, growth and some miniature signals emitted by the body)for a newborn baby and combine it with information collected from his/her DNA to find out the potential of any future diseases or any abnormalities.
3. Making the Electricity supply of Metropolitan more smart by making every grid and every transformer keeping a local computer informed about its current state. In this case, if any grid or transformer crosses its limits or senses that it is about to cross its limits, it can either shut down to prevent total breakdown or it can ask the computer to update the configuration by balancing the load. All such local computers will connect to a central power distribution network that may be regulated by humans or by some other powerful computer itself. In this way, all the systems will remain up for most of the time and potential breakdowns can be prevented. In fact, these computers don't need to be complete computers. They will be a minimized and specialized version of a full-fledged computer.
This is just one list, but in reality, we can take information out of everything that we come across. Of course, the implication of the use to which that information will be put, is very important, but if we start looking the world from an entirely different perspective, then ,most of our problems can get solved.Its just a matter of "Thinking Differently".
So, now that you have a brief idea of what this post is all about, lets get to the main point directly. Information, as we see it, is some useful knowledge, but that there is the flaw in the definition that we follow. What is considered to be useless till date, can become a very useful bit of information in tomorrow. The EEG and ECG, for example, would have appeared to be totally nonsense things to the doctors of the medieval era. Hence, our definition of information almost always prevents us from seeing the real picture and it almost always makes us miss out on the potential, yet untouched aspects.Lets get to some real example now.
Why?, one may ask. Well, the SMPS, once it reached a stage where it seemed to be doing what it was intended to do, made the guys think that it does not need any further improvements.The only improvements added later on, were to make it comply to the latest bus and communication interface specifications. But these improvements in voltage and current specifications, don't constitute a breakthrough. But there could indeed have been a breakthrough improvement that we missed out on.
Every time, your computer breaks down, there is either some component or either some particular sub-component(resistance,capacitor etc.) that needs to be replaced.This happens when either an incompatible device is connected, or when a faulty device is connected, or when some jumper setting went wrong,or even when there was an internal upsurge. The reason why these components or sub components blow-up, is that some component got more electricity than it needed. And this extra electricity often flows through the supply wires of the SMPS. Now the SMPS is based on fixed logic, so it simply knows that how much pre-specified voltage or current has to be passed through a certain wire. And the transformers and other cut-out mechanisms used inside the SMPS help it to ensure that whatever be the external voltage, the voltage to be supplied through it would be what was in the specifications.So, where do they miss the trick.? Well, if all the voltages and currents are already withing place, then why do the components blow.The SMPS is responsible only for the power that is supplied to the MoBo and Peripherals, but after that, the MoBo distributes the power to the bus and the internal circuitry. Now, the reason why current exceed the limits, at times, is that either non-compliant components are connected, or that a particular device was faulty/gets faulty and transfers more than what was needed. Now, the SMPS is unaware of the actually connected device, whereas the MoBo can get a sound knowledge of what the device actually is. Now, if the SMPS as well as the MoBo were configured to transfer a minimal of information among them, the MoBo, could use some low power signal(driven by CMOS power) to find out the internal configuration before the actual boot-up. This low power signal would just be used to ask the individual components for their interface related information. Hence, by the time the system is all ready for a boot-up, the MoBo already has some information and it also has information regarding its own specifications. Now even if a simplistic logic is present within the SMPS, the aforementioned information can be used to find out the amount of voltages and currents that have to be transmitted through every outlet cable of the SMPS.
So, what's the real deal ? Well, if the SMPS has a detailed knowledge of what has to be transferred, it can either change its capacitance or resistance to provide this much of value, or it can simply cut-off just to prevent damage to some component(s).So, compare this with the previous situation. The former SMPS knew just how to to supply some voltage and current across its wires.Whereas,our new SMPS, is aware of the overall computer configuration and it can change its internal configuration so as to ensure that the voltages that it supplies do not blow away any components.Hence the previous static SMPS that had a very limited knowledge now becomes a smart SMPS that knows a lot about the computer system and can change itself accordingly. Hence, with just a little bit of knowledge about how the system is configured, the SMPS and MoBo will be able to ensure that the computer system never breaks down.This was just the matter of harnessing some information and harnessing it correctly. Although, the computer BIOS always automatically gets updated when the configuration is changed, this update takes place during the boot-up, and hence, if any of the devices is wrongly configured or if any non-complying device is connected, then that will blow away there itself. However, the suggested method will be like a system diagnosis even before it actually starts and hence prevents any faulty configuration from running.Hence, a static computer system will become a dynamic computer system that could adjust itself according to the different h/w connected to it.
Now, there is no doubt that the costs will go up by addition of this extra logic, but won't a user be willing to spend some extra cost for getting a computer system that is as infallible as it can get. Although, even this computer system can fail when there is a problem with the initial logic or the SMPS, but the individual components and more importantly, the data, will stay safe.In fact, a few IBM laptops even have a BIOS presetting feature that solely runs on CMOS battery power. But the idea suggested here, is much more effective.
So we we had an example on how information, which was always there, but was always unattended, can be used to make an "invincible" computer system.In fact, this was just one of the several ideas. Some universities and R&D departments of organizations like IBM have already come up with a whole list of such things that they are working on.Some of these things are :
1. Tracking every piece of medicine as it goes from manufacturing units to inventories to supply chains and finally to the stores.In this way, information about the medicine's lifetime can be used to counter adulteration, and repackaging of old medicines.
2. Collecting information(EEG,ECG patterns, Breathing rate,temperature variations, movements, growth and some miniature signals emitted by the body)for a newborn baby and combine it with information collected from his/her DNA to find out the potential of any future diseases or any abnormalities.
3. Making the Electricity supply of Metropolitan more smart by making every grid and every transformer keeping a local computer informed about its current state. In this case, if any grid or transformer crosses its limits or senses that it is about to cross its limits, it can either shut down to prevent total breakdown or it can ask the computer to update the configuration by balancing the load. All such local computers will connect to a central power distribution network that may be regulated by humans or by some other powerful computer itself. In this way, all the systems will remain up for most of the time and potential breakdowns can be prevented. In fact, these computers don't need to be complete computers. They will be a minimized and specialized version of a full-fledged computer.
This is just one list, but in reality, we can take information out of everything that we come across. Of course, the implication of the use to which that information will be put, is very important, but if we start looking the world from an entirely different perspective, then ,most of our problems can get solved.Its just a matter of "Thinking Differently".
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