STORAGE DEVICE AND USER DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME

• US 20100217927A1
• Filed: 05/07/2010
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Sheayun, Song, Donghyun, Kim, Jisoo, Jung, Taesung, Min, Sang Lyul, Oh, Sang-Jin, Park, Chanik, Oh, Moonwook
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,193 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0625 Power saving in storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0656 Data buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A storage device includes a host interface, a buffer memory, a storage medium, and a controller. The host interface is configured to receive storage data and an invalidation command, where the invalidation command is indicative of invalid data among the storage data received by the host interface. The buffer memory is configured to temporarily store the storage data received by the host interface. The controller is configured to execute a transcribe operation in which the storage data temporarily stored in the buffer memory is selectively stored in the storage medium. Further, the controller is responsive to receipt of the invalidation command to execute a logging process when a memory capacity of the invalid data indicated by the invalidation command is equal to or greater than a reference capacity, and to execute an invalidation process when the memory capacity of the invalid data is less than the reference capacity. The logging process includes logging a location of the invalid data, and the invalidation process includes invalidating the invalid data.

Claims

1. A storage device, comprising:

a host interface configured to receive storage data and an invalidation command, wherein the invalidation command is indicative of invalid data among the storage data received by the host interface;

a buffer memory configured to temporarily store the storage data received by the host interface;

a storage medium;

a controller configured to execute a transcribe operation in which the storage data temporarily stored in the buffer memory is selectively stored in the storage medium;

wherein the controller is responsive to receipt of the invalidation command to execute a logging process when a memory capacity of the invalid data indicated by the invalidation command is equal to or greater than a reference capacity, and to execute an invalidation process when the memory capacity of the invalid data is less than the reference capacity,

wherein the logging process comprises logging a location of the invalid data, and wherein the invalidation process comprises invalidating the invalid data.

2. A storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to invalidate the invalid data, after execution of the logging process, with reference to the logged location of the invalid data.

3. The storage device of claim 2, wherein invalidation of the invalid data with reference to the logged location of the invalid data occurs during an idle state of the storage device.

4. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further responsive to the invalidation command to transmit an acknowledgment via the host interface.

5. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller logs the location of the invalid data using a bitmap index indentifying logical units of memory.

6. The storage device of claim 5, wherein the logical units of memory are memory sectors.

7. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the controller logs the location of the invalid data by storing a logical address of the invalid data.

8. The storage device of claim 2, wherein the controller manages a mapping table containing write state information, and

wherein invalidating the invalid data comprises updating the write state information contained in the mapping table according to the invalidation command received by the host interface.

9. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to execute the transcribe operation with reference to the updated write state information contained in the mapping table such that the storage data indicated as valid by the updated write state information is transcribed from the buffer memory to a memory location in the storage medium specified by the mapping table, and storage data indicated as invalid by the updated write state information is not transcribed from the buffer memory to the storage medium.

10. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the host interfaces further receives a secure invalidation command, and

wherein the controller is responsive to the secure invalidation command to execute the invalidation process independently of the memory capacity of the invalid data indicated by the secure invalidation command.

11. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the reference capacity is variably set in firmware or in response to a host command received via the host interface.

12. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the storage medium is non-volatile memory.

13. The storage device of claim 12, wherein the storage device is a Solid State Drive (SSD).

14. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the host interface includes at least one of a Parallel AT Attachment (PATA) interface, a Serial AT Attachment (SATA) interface, and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface.

15. A memory system, comprising:

a host device comprising a processor and a main memory, wherein the host device is configured to transmit storage data and to transmit an Invalidity Command, wherein the invalidation command is indicative of invalid data among transmitted storage data;

a storage device operatively connected to the host device, wherein the storage device comprises a buffer memory configured to temporarily store the storage data transmitted by the host, a storage medium, and a controller configured to execute a transcribe operation in which the storage data temporarily stored in the buffer memory is selectively stored in the storage medium;

wherein the controller is responsive to the invalidation command to execute a logging process when a memory capacity of the invalid data indicated by the invalidation command is equal to or greater than a reference capacity, and to execute an invalidation process when the memory capacity of the invalid data is less than the reference capacity,

wherein the logging process comprises logging a location of the invalid data, and wherein the invalidation process comprises invalidating the invalid data.

16. The memory system of claim 15, wherein the controller is further configured to invalidate the invalid data, after execution of the logging process, with reference to the logged location of the invalid data.

17. The memory system of claim 16, wherein invalidation of the invalid data with reference to the logged location of the invalid data occurs during an idle state of the storage device.

18. The memory system of claim 15, wherein the controller is further responsive to the invalidation command to transmit an acknowledgment via the host interface.

19. The memory system of claim 15, wherein storage device is operatively coupled to the host device via at least one of a Parallel AT Attachment (PATA) interface, a Serial AT Attachment (SATA) interface and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, and wherein the storage device is a Solid State Drive (SSD).

20. A method of controlling a storage device, the storage device including a host interface, a buffer memory, a storage medium, and a controller, said method comprising:

receiving storage data and an invalidation command via the host interface, wherein the invalidation command is indicative of invalid data among storage data received by the host interface;

temporarily storing the storage data in the buffer memory;

executing a transcribe operation in which the storage data temporarily stored in the buffer memory is selectively stored in the storage medium;

executing a logging process in response to the invalidation command when a memory capacity of the invalid data indicated by the invalidation command is equal to or greater than a reference capacity; and

executing an invalidation process in response to the invalidation command when the memory capacity of the invalid data is less than the reference capacity,

wherein the logging process comprises logging a location of the invalid data, and wherein the invalidation process comprises invalidating the invalid data.