Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

The present application discloses methods to provide defect management, wear leveling and data security to a mass storage system implemented using flash memory. The flash memory is organized into a plurality of blocks. Each block has a special region for storing its attributes. In defect management, defects arising from manufacturing and on-the-fly defects are scanned. Defective blocks are marked by altering its attributes. The present application also discloses a wear leveling method in which the difference between the number of erasures of any two blocks (except the defective blocks) is within a predetermined value. The present application further discloses a new error detection and correction method. The same data is stored in two separate memory locations. The content of these two locations are later 'ored' or 'anded' together (depending on the nature of error giving rise to the error) to recover the correct data.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim