US Patent No: 6,134,151

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

Space management for managing high capacity nonvolatile memory

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ATTORNEY / AGENT: (SPONSORED)
 

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Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method and apparatus is disclosed for use in a digital system having a host coupled to at least two nonvolatile memory devices. The host stores digital information in the nonvolatile memory devices and reads the stored digital information from the nonvolatile memory devices. The memory devices are organized into blocks of sectors of information. The method is for erasing digital information stored in the blocks of the nonvolatile memory devices and comprises assigning a predetermined number of blocks, in sequential order, to each of the nonvolatile memory devices, each block having a predetermined number of sectors. The method further comprises forming `super` blocks, each `super` block comprising a plurality of blocks, identifying a particular `super` block having at least two blocks, a first block being located in a first nonvolatile memory device and a second block being located in a second nonvolatile memory device for erasure of the particular `super` block and erasing the first and second selected blocks of the particular `super` block so that erasure of the second block is performed without waiting for completion of the erasure of the first block; and indicating the status of the first and second nonvolatile memory devices to be busy during erasure of the first and second selected blocks, wherein the speed of erase operations in the digital system is substantially increased thereby increasing the overall performance of the digital system.

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First Claim

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddressTotal Patents
MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.BOISE, ID18599

International Classification(s)

  • [Classification Symbol]
  • [Patents Count]

Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Estakhri, Petro Morgan Hill, CA 124 5533
Guo, Min Fremont, CA 23 287
Iman, Berhanu Sunyvale, CA 37 1989

Cited Art

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES INC. (24)
5,200,959 Device and method for defect handling in semi-conductor memory 350 1989
5,268,870 Flash EEPROM system and intelligent programming and erasing methods therefor 242 1990
5,270,979 Method for optimum erasing of EEPROM 279 1991
5,268,318 Highly compact EPROM and flash EEPROM devices 145 1991
5,315,541 Segmented column memory array 528 1992
5,428,621 Latent defect handling in EEPROM devices 167 1992
5,293,560 Multi-state flash EEPROM system using incremental programing and erasing methods 270 1992
5,422,842 Method and circuit for simultaneously programming and verifying the programming of selected EEPROM cells 131 1993
5,434,825 Flash EEPROM system cell array with more than two storage states per memory cell 263 1993
5,369,615 Method for optimum erasing of EEPROM 103 1993
5,396,468 Streamlined write operation for EEPROM system 168 1993
5,504,760 Mixed data encoding EEPROM system 141 1993
5,778,418 Mass computer storage system having both solid state and rotating disk types of memory 111 1994
5,508,971 Programmable power generation circuit for flash EEPROM memory systems 150 1994
5,583,812 Flash EEPROM system cell array with more than two storage states per memory cell 151 1995
5,544,118 Flash EEPROM system cell array with defect management including an error correction scheme 112 1995
5,532,962 Soft errors handling in EEPROM devices 340 1995
5,534,456 Method of making dense flash EEPROM cell array and peripheral supporting circuits formed in deposited field oxide with sidewall spacers 118 1995
5,495,442 Method and circuit for simultaneously programming and verifying the programming of selected EEPROM cells 118 1995
5,532,964 Method and circuit for simultaneously programming and verifying the programming of selected EEPROM cells 88 1995
5,554,553 Highly compact EPROM and flash EEPROM devices 143 1995
5,568,439 Flash EEPROM system which maintains individual memory block cycle counts 143 1995
5,563,825 Programmable power generation circuit for flash eeprom memory systems 112 1995
5,592,420 Programmable power generation circuit for flash EEPROM memory systems 118 1995
 
SANDISK CORPORATION (8)
5,168,465 Highly compact EPROM and flash EEPROM devices 189 1991
5,297,148 Flash eeprom system 504 1992
5,535,328 Non-volatile memory system card with flash erasable sectors of EEprom cells including a mechanism for substituting defective cells 181 1995
5,719,808 Flash EEPROM system 167 1995
5,663,901 Computer memory cards using flash EEPROM integrated circuit chips and memory-controller systems 317 1995
5,642,312 Flash EEPROM system cell array with more than two storage states per memory cell 149 1996
5,712,819 Flash EEPROM system with storage of sector characteristic information within the sector 98 1996
5,693,570 Process for manufacturing a programmable power generation circuit for flash EEPROM memory systems 131 1996
 
INTEL CORPORATION (6)
5,357,475 Method for detaching sectors in a flash EEPROM memory array 147 1992
5,353,256 Block specific status information in a memory device 114 1993
5,337,275 Method for releasing space in flash EEPROM memory array to allow the storage of compressed data 147 1993
5,341,330 Method for writing to a flash memory array during erase suspend intervals 139 1993
5,341,339 Method for wear leveling in a flash EEPROM memory 238 1993
5,544,356 Block-erasable non-volatile semiconductor memory which tracks and stores the total number of write/erase cycles for each block 251 1995
 
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION (3)
4,450,559 Memory system with selective assignment of spare locations 130 1981
4,654,847 Apparatus for automatically correcting erroneous data and for storing the corrected data in a common pool alternate memory array 158 1984
5,524,230 External information storage system with a semiconductor memory 162 1995
 
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION (3)
5,430,859 Solid state memory system including plural memory chips and a serialized bus 415 1991
5,438,573 Flash EEPROM array data and header file structure 127 1994
5,471,478 Flash EEPROM array data and header file structure 110 1995
 
HITACHI, LTD. (2)
4,525,839 Method of controlling storage device 147 1982
4,920,518 Semiconductor integrated circuit with nonvolatile memory 103 1989
 
KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA (2)
4,800,520 Portable electronic device with garbage collection function 179 1986
5,418,752 Flash EEPROM system with erase sector select 376 1992
 
MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. (2)
5,479,638 Flash memory mass storage architecture incorporation wear leveling technique 209 1993
5,485,595 Flash memory mass storage architecture incorporating wear leveling technique without using cam cells 246 1993
 
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC (2)
4,746,998 Method for mapping around defective sectors in a disc drive 126 1985
4,924,331 Method for mapping around defective sectors in a disc drive 120 1988
 
APPLE COMPUTER, INC. (1)
4,210,959 Controller for magnetic disc, recorder, or the like 115 1978
 
AT&T IPM CORP. (1)
5,566,314 Flash memory device employing unused cell arrays to update files 111 1993
 
BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES, INCORPORATED (1)
4,498,146 Management of defects in storage media 189 1982
 
CII-HONEYWELL BULL (1)
4,405,952 Apparatus for detecting faulty sectors and for allocating replacement sectors in a magnetic disc memory 122 1979
 
DATABASE EXCELLERATION SYSTEMS, INC. (1)
5,070,474 Disk emulation system 161 1988
 
FUJIFILM CORPORATION (1)
5,303,198 Method of recording data in memory card having EEPROM and memory card system using the same 150 1991
 
FUJITSU LIMITED (1)
4,757,474 Semiconductor memory device having redundancy circuit portion 149 1987
 
KABUSHIKI KAISHA MEIDENSHA (1)
4,896,262 Emulation device for converting magnetic disc memory mode signal from computer into semiconductor memory access mode signal for semiconductor memory 206 1985
 
LASERDRIVE LTD., A CORP. OF CA (1)
4,953,122 Pseudo-erasable and rewritable write-once optical disk memory system 159 1986
 
LEXAR MEDIA, INC. (1)
5,388,083 Flash memory mass storage architecture 224 1993
 
MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. (1)
4,774,700 Information recording and reproducing apparatus with detection and management of defective sectors 194 1986
 
NCR CORPORATION (1)
4,710,871 Data transmitting and receiving apparatus 89 1982
 
SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION (1)
5,226,168 Semiconductor memory configured to emulate floppy and hard disk magnetic storage based upon a determined storage capacity of the semiconductor memory 136 1990
 
SONY CORPORATION (1)
4,456,971 Semiconductor RAM that is accessible in magnetic disc storage format 159 1982
 
SUNDISK CORPORATION (1)
5,198,380 Method of highly compact EPROM and flash EEPROM devices 164 1989
 
TOKYO SHIBAURA DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA (1)
4,616,311 Data processing system 115 1985
 
TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD. (1)
4,748,320 IC card 143 1986
 
UNISYS CORPORATION (1)
4,355,376 Apparatus and method for utilizing partially defective memory devices 153 1980
 
WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (1)
4,914,529 Data disk defect handling using relocation ID fields 117 1988

Patent Citation Ranking

Forward Cites

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. (46)
6,978,342 Moving sectors within a block of information in a flash memory mass storage architecture 66 2000
7,340,581 Method of writing data to non-volatile memory 31 2002
7,277,011 Removable memory media with integral indicator light 7 2003
8,171,203 Faster write operations to nonvolatile memory using FSInfo sector manipulation 0 2003
7,464,306 Status of overall health of nonvolatile memory 11 2004
7,594,063 Storage capacity status 5 2004
7,275,686 Electronic equipment point-of-sale activation to avoid theft 0 2004
7,725,628 Direct secondary device interface by a host 23 2005
7,370,166 Secure portable storage device 14 2005
7,523,249 Direct logical block addressing flash memory mass storage architecture 5 2005
7,441,090 System and method for updating data sectors in a non-volatile memory using logical block addressing 12 2005
7,421,523 Flash memory card with enhanced operating mode detection and user-friendly interfacing system 0 2005
7,263,591 Increasing the memory performance of flash memory devices by writing sectors simultaneously to multiple flash memory devices 7 2006
7,549,013 Increasing the memory performance of flash memory devices by writing sectors simultaneously to multiple flash memory devices 8 2006
7,424,593 Increasing the memory performance of flash memory devices by writing sectors simultaneously to multiple flash memory devices 10 2006
7,734,862 Block management for mass storage 0 2007
8,166,488 Methods of directly accessing a mass storage data device 0 2007
7,944,762 Non-volatile memory control 5 2007
7,681,057 Power management of non-volatile memory systems 5 2007
7,535,370 Removable memory media with integral indicator light 0 2007
8,386,695 Methods and apparatus for writing data to non-volatile memory 0 2008
7,865,659 Removable storage device 1 2008
7,908,426 Moving sectors within a block of information in a flash memory mass storage architecture 1 2008
7,743,290 Status of overall health of nonvolatile memory 0 2008
8,078,848 Memory controller having front end and back end channels for modifying commands 0 2009
8,276,042 Determining sector status in a memory device 1 2009
8,239,614 Memory super block allocation 0 2009
8,095,765 Memory block management 1 2009
8,055,816 Memory controllers, memory systems, solid state drives and methods for processing a number of commands 1 2009
7,774,576 Direct logical block addressing flash memory mass storage architecture 0 2009
8,078,797 Increasing the memory performance of flash memory devices by writing sectors simultaneously to multiple flash memory devices 0 2009
8,161,229 Flash memory architecture with separate storage of overhead and user data 0 2009
7,949,822 Storage capacity status 1 2009
8,090,886 Direct secondary device interface by a host 1 2010
8,019,932 Block management for mass storage 0 2010
8,032,694 Direct logical block addressing flash memory mass storage architecture 0 2010
8,151,041 Removable storage device 0 2010
8,135,925 Methods of operating a memory system 0 2011
8,296,545 Storage capacity status 0 2011
8,208,322 Non-volatile memory control 0 2011
8,250,294 Block management for mass storage 0 2011
8,260,973 Memory controllers, memory systems, solid state drives and methods for processing a number of commands 0 2011
8,316,165 Direct secondary device interface by a host 0 2011
8,397,019 Memory for accessing multiple sectors of information substantially concurrently 0 2011
8,312,245 Memory block management 0 2012
8,396,995 Memory controllers, memory systems, solid state drives and methods for processing a number of commands 0 2012
 
LEXAR MEDIA, INC. (17)
7,102,671 Enhanced compact flash memory card 10 2000
7,155,559 Flash memory architecture with separate storage of overhead and user data 16 2000
6,772,274 Flash memory system and method implementing LBA to PBA correlation within flash memory array 98 2000
6,721,819 Flash memory card with enhanced operating mode detection and user-friendly interfacing system 35 2001
6,957,295 File management of one-time-programmable nonvolatile memory devices 49 2002
7,174,445 Flash memory card with enhanced operating mode detection and user-friendly interfacing system 4 2002
6,950,918 File management of one-time-programmable nonvolatile memory devices 47 2002
7,254,724 Power management system 9 2002
7,185,208 Data processing 6 2002
7,000,064 Data handling system 43 2002
7,231,643 Image rescue system including direct communication between an application program and a device driver 5 2003
6,973,519 Card identification compatibility 48 2003
7,167,944 Block management for mass storage 11 2003
7,111,085 Flash memory card with enhanced operating mode detection and user-friendly interfacing system 13 2003
7,111,140 Increasing the memory performance of flash memory devices by writing sectors simultaneously to multiple flash memory devices 26 2004
7,215,580 Non-volatile memory control 35 2004
7,917,709 Memory system for data storage and retrieval 1 2009
 
SANDISK CORPORATION (8)
6,901,457 Multiple mode communications system 46 1998
6,763,424 Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory 192 2001
6,968,421 Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory 28 2004
7,360,003 Multiple mode communication system 6 2005
7,818,490 Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory 0 2005
7,657,702 Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory 7 2009
7,970,987 Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory 1 2010
8,316,177 Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory 0 2011
 
SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES INC. (5)
6,839,826 Memory device with pointer structure to map logical to physical addresses 20 2002
7,631,138 Adaptive mode switching of flash memory address mapping based on host usage characteristics 7 2003
7,549,012 Memory device with sector pointer structure 1 2004
8,117,380 Management of non-volatile memory systems having large erase blocks 0 2009
8,301,826 Adaptive mode switching of flash memory address mapping based on host usage characteristics 0 2009
 
CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC. (2)
6,606,628 File system for nonvolatile memory 26 2000
7,711,696 File system for nonvolatile memory 0 2003
 
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION (1)
6,564,307 Method, system, and program for logically erasing data 15 1999
 
SANDISK IL LTD. (1)
7,426,623 System and method for configuring flash memory partitions as super-units 7 2005
 
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC (1)
8,122,322 System and method of storing reliability data 1 2007
 
SIMPLETECH, INC. (1)
7,035,993 Flash memory data access method and configuration employing logical-to-virtual and virtual-to-physical sector mapping 10 2002
 
STEC, INC. (1)
7,904,636 System and method for accessing interleaved data in a memory device 0 2006