Patent · US Expired

Flash memory access apparatus and method

US7664906B2 · kind B2 · utility

14Cited by
1References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 17, 2004
Grant dateFeb 16, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 20, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C16/102
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A flash memory access apparatus and method improves the overall performance of a flash memory system by minimizing the deterioration of performance of a flash memory due to repeated write operations through a minimized process of a write operation and the process of a recovery operation in consideration thereof and by allowing a stable recovery even though an error occurs. The flash memory access apparatus comprises a flash memory with regions divided on the basis of a unit that consists of predetermined blocks; and a flash memory controller. When a write operation is requested for a specific logical block number of the flash memory, the flash memory controller writes data and meta-information in a physical block corresponding to a logical block with the logical block number in the absence of a previous write operation for the logical block, but performs a write operation for writing the data and the meta-information allocated to the logical block in a new physical block without changing flash memory state information written in a previous physical block corresponding to the logical block in case of the presence of the previous write operation.

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