Moving sequential sectors within a block of information in a flash memory mass storage architecture
US5930815A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 7, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jul 27, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 7, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2212/7202
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed for increasing the system performance of a digital system having a controller for controlling nonvolatile devices for storing blocks of information, each block having a group of sectors. When sectors within a block are being re-written in sequential order, the controller writes the new sector information into a sector location of another block without the need to move any of the sectors within the original block thereby reducing the number of read and write cycles needed to avoid erase-before-write operations. A `used` flag, stored in the sector location of each block, indicates that the sector has been transferred to another block or, alternatively, a move locator word maintains status information regarding the position of the sectors within the block that have been moved.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.