SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR INCREASING SPARE SPACE IN MEMORY TO EXTEND A LIFETIME OF THE MEMORY

• US 20090138671A1
• Filed: 11/28/2007
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Danilak, Radoslav
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1036 Life time enhancement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1044 Space efficiency improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/401 Compressed data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7204 Capacity control, e.g. partitioning, end-of-life degradation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7205 Cleaning, compaction, garbage collection, erase control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7206 Reconfiguration of flash memory system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0641 De-duplication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for extending a lifetime of memory. In operation, spare space in memory is increased. Additionally, a lifetime of the memory is extended, as a result of increasing the spare space in the memory.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

increasing spare space in memory; and

extending a lifetime of the memory, as a result of increasing the spare space in the memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the spare space is increased by compressing data stored in the memory.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the compression is loss-less compression.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the compression is lossy compression.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein increasing the spare space includes increasing a number of spare blocks of the memory.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising equalizing an end of life of the blocks of the memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the spare space is increased by removing duplicate data stored in the memory.

8. The method of claim 1, and further comprising guaranteeing a lifetime of the memory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory includes a mechanical storage device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the memory includes a disk drive.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory includes a volatile memory device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory includes a nonvolatile memory device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the nonvolatile memory device includes at least one of a single-bit per cell NOR flash memory, a multi-bit per cell NOR flash memory, a single-bit per cell NAND flash memory, and a multi-bit per cell NAND flash memory.

14. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for increasing spare space in memory; and

computer code for extending a lifetime of the memory, as a result of increasing the spare space in the memory.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the spare space is increased by compressing data stored in the memory.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the compression is loss-less compression.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the compression is lossy compression.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein increasing the spare space includes increasing a number of spare blocks of the memory.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising computer code for equalizing an end of life of the blocks of the memory.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the spare space is increased by removing duplicate data stored in the memory.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, and further comprising computer code for guaranteeing a lifetime of the memory.

22. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the memory includes a mechanical storage device.

23. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the memory device includes at least one of a single-bit per cell NOR flash memory, a multi-bit per cell NOR flash memory, a single-bit per cell NAND flash memory, and a multi-bit per cell NAND flash memory.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

logic for increasing spare space in memory to extend a lifetime of the memory.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the logic is coupled between a system and the memory.