Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090222628 | MEMORY SYSTEM - A controller determines whether data stored in a first storing area should be flushed to a second storing area or a third storing area. When flushing of data in a track unit from at least one of the first storing area and the second storing area unit to the third storing area unit is determined, the controller collects data included in the flushed data in the track unit from at least one of the first storing area and the second storing area including the storing area from which the flushing of the data is determined, merges the flushed data and the collected data, and writes the merged data in the third storing area. | 09-03-2009 |
20100138591 | MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system includes a volatile first storing unit, a nonvolatile second storing unit, and a controller. The controller stores management information of data stored in the second storing unit during a startup operation into the first storing unit and performs data management while updating the management information. The management information in a latest state stored into the first storing unit is also stored in the second storing unit. The management information includes a pre-log before and after change generated before a change occurs in the management information and a post-log, which is generated after the change occurs in the management information, concerning the change in the management information. The pre-log and the post-log are stored in the same areas of different blocks. | 06-03-2010 |
20100161885 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE AND STORAGE CONTROLLING METHOD - A semiconductor storage device includes a first storage unit having a plurality of first blocks as data write regions; an instructing unit that issues a write instruction of writing data into the first blocks; a converting unit that converts an external address of input data to a memory position in the first block with reference to a conversion table in which external addresses of the data are associated with the memory positions of the data in the first blocks; and a judging unit that judges whether any of the first blocks store valid data associated with the external address based on the memory positions of the input data, wherein the instructing unit issues the write instruction of writing the data into the first block in which the valid data is not stored, when any of the first blocks does not store the valid data. | 06-24-2010 |
20100169551 | MEMORY SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING MEMORY SYSTEM - A forward lookup address translation table and a reverse lookup address translation table stored in a nonvolatile second storing unit are transferred as a master table to a volatile first storing unit at a time of start-up. When an event occurs so that the master table needs to be updated, difference information before and after update of any one of the forward lookup address translation table and the reverse lookup address translation table is recorded in the first storing unit as a log, thereby reducing an amount of the log. | 07-01-2010 |
20100313084 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - As a semiconductor storage device that can efficiently perform a refresh operation, provided is a semiconductor storage device comprising a non-volatile semiconductor memory storing data in blocks, the block being a unit of data erasing, and a controlling unit monitoring an error count of data stored in a monitored block selected from the blocks and refreshing data in the monitored block in which the error count is equal to or larger than a threshold value. | 12-09-2010 |
20110022784 | MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a memory amount required for management table creation is reduced by adopting a nonvolatile semiconductor memory including a plurality of parallel operation elements respectively having a plurality of physical blocks as units of data erasing and a controller that can drive the parallel operation elements in parallel and has a number-of-times-of-erasing managing unit that manages the number of times of erasing in logical block units associated with a plurality of physical blocks driven in parallel. | 01-27-2011 |
20110185107 | MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system includes a volatile first storing unit, a nonvolatile second storing unit, and a controller. The controller performs data transfer, stores management information including a storage position of the data stored in the second storing unit into the first storing unit, and performs data management while updating the management information. The second storing unit has a management information storage area for storing management information storage information including management information in a latest state and a storage position of the management information. The storage position information is read by the controller during a startup operation of the memory system and includes a second pointer indicating a storage position of management information in a latest state in the management information storage area and a first pointer indicating a storage position of the second pointer. The first pointer is stored in a fixed area in the second storing unit and the second pointer is stored in an area excluding the fixed area in the second storing unit. | 07-28-2011 |
20110238899 | MEMORY SYSTEM, METHOD OF CONTROLLING MEMORY SYSTEM, AND INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS - A WC resource usage is compared with an auto flush (AU) threshold Caf that is smaller than an upper limit Clmt, and when the WC resource usage exceeds the AF threshold Caf, the organizing state of a NAND memory | 09-29-2011 |
20110239081 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - According to one embodiment, write data is written in a nonvolatile semiconductor memory with a first error correction code and a second error correction code attached to the write data. The first error correction code and the write data are read out from the nonvolatile semiconductor memory to perform first error correction processing. When there is a remaining error, the second error correction code corresponding to the write data is read out to carry out second error correction processing. | 09-29-2011 |
20120030528 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - As a semiconductor storage device that can efficiently perform a refresh operation, provided is a semiconductor storage device comprising a non-volatile semiconductor memory storing data in blocks, the block being a unit of data erasing, and a controlling unit monitoring an error count of data stored in a monitored block selected from the blocks and refreshing data in the monitored block in which the error count is equal to or larger than a threshold value. | 02-02-2012 |
20120072811 | CONTROLLER, STORAGE APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - According to one embodiment, a controller controls writing into and reading from a storage apparatus that includes a first data-storage unit and a second data-storage unit. The second data-storage unit stores user data and parity data of the user data. The first data-storage unit stores the parity data. The controller includes a parity updating unit and a parity writing unit. When parity data is updated, the parity updating unit writes the updated parity data into the first data-storage unit. When a certain requirement is satisfied, the parity writing unit reads the parity data written in the first data-storage unit, and writes the parity data thus read into the second data-storage unit. | 03-22-2012 |
20120159051 | MEMORY SYSTEM - According to one embodiment, a memory system includes a non-volatile memory, a resource managing unit that reclaims resources associated with the non-volatile memory and increases the resources, when the usage of the resources associated with the non-volatile memory reaches the predetermined amount, a transmission rate setting unit that calculates a setting value of the transmission rate to receive the write data from a host device, and a transmission control unit that receives the write data from the host device and transmits the received write data to the non-volatile memory. The transmission rate setting unit calculates a small setting value when the usage of the resources associated with the non-volatile memory increases. The transmission control unit executes the reception of the write data from the host device at the transmission rate of the setting value, while the resource managing unit reclaims the resources. | 06-21-2012 |
20120159058 | MEMORY SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR WRITING DATA INTO MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system of one embodiment includes: a nonvolatile memory including a plurality of word lines each connected to memory cells, each one of the memory cells being capable storing two bits, the memory cells connected to one of the plurality of word lines constituting an upper page and a lower page, each one of the pages being a unit of data programming; a random access memory configured to store an address translation table indicating relationships between logical addresses designated by a host and physical addresses in the nonvolatile memory. The memory system of the embodiment further includes a memory controller which execute data fixing for saving the address translation table from the random access memory to the nonvolatile memory; and write dummy data to at least one page subsequent to the page in which valid data has been written in the nonvolatile memory before executing the data fixing. | 06-21-2012 |
20120159072 | MEMORY SYSTEM - According to one embodiment, a memory system includes a chip including a cell array and first and second caches configured to hold data read out from the cell array; an interface configured to manage a first and a second addresses; a controller configured to issue a readout request to the interface; and a buffer configured to hold the data from the chip. The interface transfers the data in the first cache to the buffer without reading out the data from the cell array if the readout address matches the first address, transfers the data in the second cache to the buffer without reading out the data from the cell array if the readout address matches the second address, and reads out the data from the cell array and transfers the data to the buffer if the readout address does not match either one of the first or second address. | 06-21-2012 |
20120239992 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING A SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - A method of controlling a nonvolatile semiconductor memory including a plurality of blocks, each one of the plurality of blocks being a unit of data erasing, includes determining a monitored block as a candidate for refresh operation from among the plurality of blocks based on a predetermined condition. The method includes monitoring an error count of data stored in the monitored block and not monitoring an error count of data stored in blocks excluding the monitored block among the plurality of blocks. The method also includes performing the refresh operation on data stored in the monitored block in which the error count is larger than a first threshold value. | 09-20-2012 |
20120260025 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING MEMORY SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A method, to be executed by an application program according to an embodiment, for controlling a memory system provided with a nonvolatile memory includes: acquiring an unused memory area from an operating system installed in an information processing apparatus provided with the memory system; prohibiting the acquired unused memory area from being used by any application program other than the above application program; acquiring the address of the acquired unused memory area; and notifying the address of the acquired unused memory area to the memory system. In the method according to an embodiment for controlling a memory system, prohibition state put by the prohibiting is preserved until receiving a change instruction. | 10-11-2012 |
20130077419 | DATA GENERATION APPARATUS - An apparatus according to an embodiment comprises a first storage, a second storage, an input unit, a shift number determining unit, and an output unit. The first storage stores identification information of sectors and defective information indicating a presence of defect on the data line, while associating the identification information and the defective information. The second storage has storage regions in a number larger than the first number. The input unit inputs data to the second storage by the first number at a time. The shift number determining unit determines a shift number. The output unit outputs the data stored in the storage regions which is after a head storage region by the shift number, as the data is to be supplied to the data line having no defect sector based upon the defective information, and outputs information that differs from the data to the defective data line. | 03-28-2013 |
20130080863 | STORAGE DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a storage device performs error correction processing of a code of which the maximum correction performance is T bits, the decoding device including an error correction processor for performing error correction processing using calculating devices capable of handling errors of J bits (J is an integer equal to or more than one and less than T), wherein an initial value of an error number expectation value is set to I (I is an integer equal to or more than one and less than T), and execution of increment of the error number expectation value and execution of the error correction processing is repeated until no error is detected or the error number expectation value becomes T bits. | 03-28-2013 |
20130179750 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - According to one embodiment, a semiconductor storage device includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, a temporary storage buffer that temporarily stores writing data to be written to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and a coding processing unit that divides coding target data of an error correction code into two or more divided data and writes an error correction code obtained by performing an error correction coding process based on the divided data stored in the temporary storage buffer to the temporary storage buffer as an intermediate code. | 07-11-2013 |
20130191705 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - According to an embodiment, a semiconductor storage device includes an error correction processing unit that executes encoding process related data to be dispersedly written over a plurality of memory areas and decoding process related data dispersedly written over the plurality of memory areas. A transfer management unit determines whether or not data related to the data transfer request is a target of the error correction process and causes the error correction processing unit to execute the error correction process only with respect to the data determined as the target of the error correction process. | 07-25-2013 |
20130212319 | MEMORY SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING MEMORY SYSTEM - According to one embodiment, a controller reads out the non-volatile address management information required to execute one of the read commands into an address information cache and retrieves data from the nonvolatile memory according to the volatile address management information stored in the address information cache. In addition, the controller among the read commands stored in the command queue, preferentially executes the read command whose logical addresses are all found in the volatile address management information. | 08-15-2013 |
20130254637 | ENCODING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD OF ENCODING APPARATUS, AND MEMORY DEVICE - According to an embodiment, an encoding apparatus includes a parameter holding unit configured to hold a parameter; an error-detecting code holding unit configured to hold an error-detecting code that is generated from the parameter; an error detecting unit configured to detect an error in the parameter, which is held in the parameter holding unit, with the use of the error-detecting code held in the error-detecting code holding unit; an error correcting unit configured to correct the error detected by the error detecting unit; a selecting unit configured to select the parameter that has been subjected to error correction by the error correcting unit; and an encoding unit configured to encode data with the use of the parameter selected by the selecting unit. | 09-26-2013 |
20130275650 | SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - According to the embodiments, a first management table, which is included in a nonvolatile second semiconductor memory and manages data included in a second storage area by a first management unit, is stored in the second semiconductor memory and a second management table for managing data in the second storage area by a second management unit larger than the first management unit is stored in a first semiconductor memory capable of random access. | 10-17-2013 |
20130290659 | MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system includes a volatile first storing unit, a nonvolatile second storing unit, and a controller. The controller performs data transfer, stores management information including a storage position of data stored in the second storing unit into the first storing unit, and performs data management while updating the management information. The second storing unit stores management information in a latest state and a storage position of the management information. The storage position information is read by the controller during a startup operation of the memory system and includes a second pointer indicating a storage position of the management information in a latest state and a first pointer indicating a storage position of the second pointer. The first pointer is stored in a fixed area in the second storing unit and the second pointer is stored in an area excluding the fixed area in the second storing unit. | 10-31-2013 |
20140040664 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING A SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - A method of controlling a nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes patrolling a first pool including a plurality of blocks/units with a first frequency, and when a first block/unit in the first pool satisfies a first condition, assigning the first block/unit to a second pool. The method includes patrolling the second pool with a second frequency, the second frequency being higher than the first frequency, and when a second block/unit in the second pool satisfies a second condition, moving data stored in the second block/unit to a free block/unit. | 02-06-2014 |
20140108887 | STORAGE DEVICE - According to one embodiment, a storage device performs error correction processing of a code of which the maximum correction performance is T bits, the decoding device including an error correction processor for performing error correction processing using calculating devices capable of handling errors of J bits (J is an integer equal to or more than one and less than T), wherein an initial value of an error number expectation value is set to I (I is an integer equal to or more than one and less than T), and execution of increment of the error number expectation value and execution of the error correction processing is repeated until no error is detected or the error number expectation value becomes T bits. | 04-17-2014 |
20140208013 | MEMORY SYSTEM - A memory system includes a volatile first storing unit, a nonvolatile second storing unit, and a controller. The controller performs data transfer, stores management information including a storage position of the data stored in the second storing unit into the first storing unit, and performs data management while updating the management information. The second storing unit has a management information storage area for storing management information storage information including management information in a latest state and a storage position of the management information. The storage position information is read by the controller during a startup operation of the memory system and includes a second pointer indicating a storage position of management information in a latest state in the management information storage area and a first pointer indicating a storage position of the second pointer. The first pointer is stored in a fixed area in the second storing unit and the second pointer is stored in an area excluding the fixed area in the second storing unit. | 07-24-2014 |
20140245099 | MEMORY CONTROLLER, STORAGE DEVICE AND MEMORY CONTROL METHOD - According to one embodiment, a memory controller includes an encoding unit that executes an error correction coding process on input-data and generates a code word, a calculation control unit that controls whether to execute a multiplication calculation of a multiplication circuit, and a memory interface unit that controls writing of the code word to the memory and reading of the code word from the memory, and the encoding unit includes a remainder circuit that performs a remainder calculation on the input-data using a first generator polynomial and generates a first code word having a first error correction capability and a first multiplication circuit that performs a multiplication calculation on the first code word using a second generator polynomial and performs a multiplication calculation of generating a second code word having a second error correction capability. | 08-28-2014 |
20140304567 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING A SEMICONDUCTOR STORAGE DEVICE - A method of controlling a nonvolatile semiconductor memory includes checking a first group at a first interval period, the first group including a plurality of blocks, and when a first block in the first group satisfies a first condition, assigning the first block to a second group. The method includes checking, at a second interval period, an error count of data stored in the second group, and when a second block in the second group satisfies a second condition, moving data stored in the second block to an erased block in which stored data is erased among the plurality of blocks. | 10-09-2014 |
20150026509 | STORAGE DEVICE HAVING A DATA STREAM CONVERTER - According to one embodiment, a storage device has a plurality of memory modules and a memory controller. The memory controller has a first unit configured to receive data to be stored in the memory modules from a host device as a write data stream and transmit data read from the memory modules to the host device as a read data stream, a second unit having a plurality of subunits, each of which is configured to write data in one of the memory modules corresponding to the subunit and read data from one of the memory modules corresponding to the subunit, and a data stream converter configured to parallelize the write data stream into a plurality of data blocks each of which is to be stored in one of the memory modules and to serialize a plurality of data blocks read from the memory modules into the read data stream. | 01-22-2015 |