STORAGE CAPACITY STATUS

• US 20090327595A1
• Filed: 09/08/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lexar Media Incorporated (Micron Technology, Inc.)
• Inventors: Furuhjelm, Martin Ragnar, Estakhri, Petro, Beckmann, Jerrold Allen, Solomon, Jarreth Romero, Le, Ngon, Galbo, Neal Anthony, Hellmold, Steffen Markus
• Granted Patent: US 7,949,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/20 Initialising; Data preset; Chip identification
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/88 with partially good memories

Abstract

In one embodiment of the present invention, a memory device is disclosed to include memory organized into blocks, each block having a status associated therewith and all of the blocks of the nonvolatile memory having collectively a capacity status associated therewith and a display for showing the capacity status even when no power is being applied to the display.

Claims

1. A memory device configured to be coupled to a host system, the memory device comprising:

a memory having a capacity status associated therewith; and

a non-volatile display for indicating a quantity of memory available for programming in response to the capacity status, the non-volatile display indicating the quantity after being removed from a host power supply and without an internal power supply coupled to the non-volatile display.

2. The memory device of claim 1 wherein the device is configured to calculate the capacity status.

3. The memory device of claim 1 wherein the capacity status indicates remaining memory capacity of the memory.

4. The memory device of claim 3 wherein the remaining memory capacity of the memory is remaining capacity in percent of one of original capacity or total capacity.

5. The memory device of claim 1 wherein the memory device is configured to display the capacity status upon a request to display.

6. The memory device of claim 1 wherein the host system is configured to store a file structure indicating memory available for storage in the memory device.

7. The memory device of claim 1 wherein the non-volatile display is comprised of at least one of:

electronic ink, liquid crystal displays, or light emitting diodes.

8. The memory device of claim 7 wherein the non-volatile display changes color to reflect the capacity status.

9. A memory system comprising:

a host configured to accept a non-volatile memory device; and

a memory device coupled to the host including,

a memory having an associated capacity status; and

a non-volatile display for indicating a change in the capacity status of the memory by a change in color wherein the non-volatile display is configured to indicate the change in capacity status after being uncoupled from the host and without an internal power supply coupled to the non-volatile display.

10. The memory system of claim 9 wherein calculation of the capacity status is performed by the device after reading a file structure from the host.

11. The memory system of claim 9 wherein the host is configured to calculate the capacity status.

12. The memory system of claim 9 wherein the capacity status is indicative of either the number of blocks remaining to be programmed or the number of blocks that are not programmed.

13. A method for displaying information regarding capacity status of a memory device of a memory system comprising:

determining capacity status information for memory in the memory device;

displaying the capacity status information on a non-volatile display wherein the non-volatile display is configured to display the capacity status information without a power supply after being removed from the memory system.

14. The method of claim 13 and further including the memory device receiving updates from a host regarding the capacity status.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the updates are transmitted by the host after each write operation that modifies the capacity status information.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein calculating the capacity is performed by a host of the memory system.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the capacity status information is determined by a host of the memory system and transmitted to the memory device.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the capacity status information represents a quantity of either an unprogrammed quantity of memory or a programmed quantity of memory.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein determining the capacity status information is performed by the memory device by reading a file structure maintained by a host of the memory system.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the host determines the capacity status information in response to obsolete or deleted data.