摘要:
Techniques for managing data in a non-volatile memory system (e.g., Flash Memory) are disclosed. A controller can use information relating to a host's file system, which is stored by the host on non-volatile memory, to determine if one or more clusters (or sectors with clusters) are currently allocated. The controller can use the information relating to the host's file system to identify when the host is sending data to the next free cluster and to store such data in a sequential format by copying data from other locations in the non-volatile memory.
摘要:
The on-chip copy process is extended so that the data may be copied between two blocks that may be on different chips, different planes on the same chip, or the same plane of the same chip. More specifically, the methods described here provide a single data copying mechanism that allows data to be copied between any two locations in a memory system. An exemplary embodiment uses an EDO-type timing. According to another aspect, selected portions of the relocated data, such as chosen words in a transferred page, can be updated in the controller on the fly. In addition to transferring a data set directly from a read buffer of a source array to a write buffer of a destination array, the data set can concurrently be copied, if desired, into the controller where an error detection and correction operation can be performed on it.
摘要:
A digital system including flash memory, coupled to a system-on-a-chip within which a flash memory subsystem controller is embedded, is disclosed. The system-on-a-chip includes support for a standard external interface, such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or IEEE 1394 interface, to which a host system such as flash memory test equipment can connect. Initialization of the flash memory is effected by opening a communications channel between the host system and the embedded flash memory subsystem controller. The host system can then effect initialization of the flash memory subsystem, including formatting of the flash memory arrays, loading application programs, and the like, over the communications channel.
摘要:
A non-volatile memory system of a type having blocks of memory cells erased together and which are programmable from an erased state in units of a large number of pages per block. If the data of only a few pages of a block are to be updated, the updated pages are written into another block provided for this purpose. The valid original and updated data are then combined at a later time, when doing so does not impact on the performance of the memory. If the data of a large number of pages of a block are to be updated, however, the updated pages are written into an unused erased block and the unchanged pages are also written to the same unused block. By handling the updating of a few pages differently, memory performance is improved when small updates are being made.
摘要:
Data is read from a nonvolatile memory array using one or more read voltages that are adjusted during memory life. Programming target voltages and read voltages may be adjusted together over memory life to map memory states to an increasingly wide threshold window. Individual memory states are mapped to sub-ranges that are made wider, reducing errors.
摘要:
In a nonvolatile memory system, data is read from a memory array and used to obtain likelihood values, which are then provided to a soft-input soft-output decoder. The soft-input soft-output decoder calculates output likelihood values from input likelihood values and from parity data that was previously added according to an encoding scheme.
摘要:
A method of programming a non-volatile memory array using an on-chip write cache is disclosed. Individual data packets received by the memory system are stored in cache memory. More than one data packet may be stored in this way and then programmed to a single page of the non-volatile array. This results in more efficient use of storage space in the non-volatile array.
摘要:
A non-volatile memory device is provided with a controller and includes method that controls memory operations and to emulate the memory and communication characteristics of a legacy memory device. In this way, the memory device is compatible with a host that was originally designed to operate the legacy memory device. In particular, the controller performs the emulation to the host taking into account differences such as multibit memory, error correction requirement, memory support of overwrites, and erasable block sizes.
摘要:
The present invention presents a non-volatile memory and method for its operation that ensures reliable mechanism for write and erase abort detection in the event of lost of power during non-volatile memory programming and erasing with minimized system performance penalty. During a multi-sector write process, an indication of a successful write in one sector is written into the overhead of the following sector at the same time as the following sector's data content is written. The last sector written will additionally have an indication of its own successful write written into its overhead. For erase, an erase abort flag in the first sector of the block can be marked after a successful erase operation.