Patent · US Expired

Method and system for managing bad areas in flash memory

US6260156A · kind A · utility

259Cited by
36References
57Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 4, 1998
Grant dateJul 10, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 4, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/0246
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method, system and computer-readable medium for managing bad areas in flash memory. The flash memory is initialized by formatting the flash memory into a spare area and a data area with the spare area and the data area including a plurality of spare blocks and data blocks, respectively. In addition, spare blocks are grouped together forming a chunk. A working chunk map is created for storing format information and re-mapping information. The working chunk map includes a BBM header and a plurality of BBM entries that correspond to the spare blocks in each chunk. The working chunk map is written to one of the plurality of spare blocks in a chunk, designated as a copy chunk map. The working chunk map is also written to another one of the plurality of spare blocks in a chunk, designated as an original chunk map.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.