Reclaiming blocks in a block-alterable memory

• US 20040205289A1
• Filed: 04/11/2003
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Sujaya
• Granted Patent: US 6,865,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory

Abstract

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method includes initiating a reclaim operation on a dirty block of a block-alterable memory if less than a predetermined number of unmapped blocks exist in the block-alterable memory; and writing data into free space of a spare block of the block-alterable memory while the reclaim operation is occurring.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating a reclaim operation on a dirty block of a block-alterable memory if less than a predetermined number of unmapped blocks exist in the block-alterable memory; and

writing data into a first portion of a spare block of the block-alterable memory while the reclaim operation is occurring.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the reclaim operation comprises initiating the reclaim operation on a dirtiest block of the block-alterable memory.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the predetermined number of unmapped blocks exists.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reclaim operation comprises copying valid data from the dirty block to the spare block.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the reclaim operation further comprises erasing the dirty block in a background operation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising erasing the dirty block using a processor located in the block-alterable memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of unmapped blocks is at least three.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the spare block comprises a memory location where dirty information resided in the dirty block.

9. A method comprising:

maintaining a plurality of blocks of a formatted block-alterable memory in an unallocated state, the plurality of blocks in the unallocated state being clear of status information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the formatted block-alterable memory comprises a flash memory.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising selecting one of the plurality of blocks as a spare block.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising writing new data to the spare block during a reclaim operation.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising coalescing the new data with valid data of a reclaim block in a third block.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising erasing the reclaim block and the spare block.

15. An article comprising a machine-readable storage medium containing instructions that if executed enable a system to:

initiate a reclaim operation on a dirty block of a block-alterable memory if less than a predetermined number of unmapped blocks exist in the block-alterable memory.

16. The article of claim 15, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to write data into free space of a spare block of the block-alterable memory while the reclaim operation is occurring.

17. The article of claim 15, further comprising instructions that if executed enable the system to wear level the block-alterable memory.

18. A system comprising:

at least one storage device to store code to maintain a plurality of blocks of a formatted block-alterable memory in an unallocated state, the plurality of blocks in the unallocated state being clear of status information; and

a dipole antenna coupled to the at least one storage device.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a coprocessor coupled to the at least one storage device to perform the code.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the coprocessor comprises a stacked processor of multi-level flash memory.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one storage device comprises a plurality of blocks, at least some of the plurality of blocks being clear of status information.

22. An apparatus comprising:

at least one storage device to store code to initiate a reclaim operation on a dirty block of a block-alterable memory if less than a predetermined number of unmapped blocks exist in the block-alterable memory.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising second code to write data into free space of a spare block of the block-alterable memory while the reclaim operation is occurring.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one storage device comprises a flash memory.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising a coprocessor coupled to the flash memory to perform the code.