Flash file management system
US5832493A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 24, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 3, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 24, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S707/99953
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A flash memory using branded sectors for managing data files. The flash memory is divided into separately erasable blocks where each block may only be erased in its entirety. Each erasable block includes several file sectors, a sector allocation table (SAT) including an SAT record for each file sector, and a block information record (BIR) including status and an erasure count for the block. Each file sector may be designated as a file data sector, a file header sector, or block erasure sector. The data sectors include a data segment of one of the data files and is branded by a file identification and a sequence number. The brand and the size of the file sectors are used for locating the data sector for accessing the data segment. In order to prevent data from being lost during an update or a consolidation, each SAT record includes a pre-discard indicator for indicating when the associated data sector is being modified or consolidated and a discard indicator for indicating that the modification or consolidation has been completed. In order to prevent block information from being lost during an erasure, the block erasure sector includes the status and erasure counts for each of the e…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.