METHODS, MEMORY CONTROLLERS AND DEVICES FOR WEAR LEVELING A MEMORY
First Claim
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1. A method for wear leveling a memory, the method comprising:
- selecting, in at least a substantially random manner, a number of memory locations of the memory as at least a portion of a sample subset, the sample subset including fewer than all of the memory locations of the memory;
identifying from among the sample subset of memory locations, a memory location having a particular wear level characteristic; and
writing data to the memory location identified from among the sample subset.
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Abstract
The present disclosure includes methods, memory controllers and devices for wear leveling a memory. One method embodiment includes selecting, in at least a substantially random manner, a number of memory locations as at least a portion of a sample subset, the sample subset including fewer than all memory locations of the memory. A memory location having a particular wear level characteristic is identified from among the sample subset of memory locations, and data is written to the memory location identified from among the sample subset.
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Citations
60 Claims
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1. A method for wear leveling a memory, the method comprising:
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selecting, in at least a substantially random manner, a number of memory locations of the memory as at least a portion of a sample subset, the sample subset including fewer than all of the memory locations of the memory; identifying from among the sample subset of memory locations, a memory location having a particular wear level characteristic; and writing data to the memory location identified from among the sample subset. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for wear leveling a memory, the method comprising:
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selecting, in at least a substantially random manner, a number of memory locations of the memory as a random sample subset, the random sample subset including fewer than all of the memory locations of the memory; selecting, by an ordered selection process, a number of memory locations of the memory as an ordered sample subset; identifying from among the random sample subset and the ordered sample subset, a memory location having a lowestmost cycle count; and writing data to the memory location identified from among the sample subset.
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22. A method for wear leveling a memory, the method comprising:
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determining, at power-up of the memory, cycle counts of all blocks on the memory; including, in a first wear leveling operation after power-up, a block having the lowest cycle count of all blocks in a sample subset of blocks; selecting, in at least a substantially random manner, an additional number of blocks into the sample subset, the additional number of blocks being substantially fewer than all blocks; identifying from among the sample subset, a destination block having a lowestmost cycle count; and writing data to the identified destination block. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method for wear leveling a memory, the method comprising:
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selecting a subset of all logical blocks, the subset including; at least one logical block determined from an ordered selection process, the ordered selection process configured to select each logical block once before the ordered selection process selects any logical block for a second time, and at least one logical block determined from at least a substantially random selection process; determining from the subset of logical blocks, a corresponding subset of physical blocks; identifying a lowest cycle count from among the subset of physical blocks; and writing data to the identified physical block. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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43. A memory device, comprising:
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a memory having a number of memory locations; and control circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to; determine, from among a representative sample of the memory locations, a destination memory location having a lowestmost cycle count; and write data to the destination memory location. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A memory device, comprising:
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a number of FLASH memory arrays; and control circuitry coupled to the FLASH memory arrays and configured to; at least substantially randomly select a sample subset of fewer than all logical blocks associated with the FLASH memory arrays; determine physical blocks corresponding to the logical blocks of the sample subset; identify, from the determined physical blocks, a physical block having a lowestmost cycle count of the determined physical blocks; and write data to the physical block identified as having have the lowestmost cycle count of the determined physical blocks. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A memory controller, comprising:
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a pseudo-random number generator; and control circuitry in communication with the pseudo-random number generator and configured to; select a number of logical blocks of a FLASH memory based on output of the pseudo-random number generator; determine physical blocks corresponding to the selected logical blocks; identify which of the determined physical blocks has a lowestmost cycle count of the determined physical blocks; and write data to the physical block identified as having the lowestmost cycle count of the determined physical blocks in response to a wear leveling operation; wherein for a first selection of logical blocks the lowestmost cycle count is an absolute lowestmost cycle count of all physical blocks of the FLASH memory, and wherein, for a selection of logical blocks subsequent to the first selection of logical blocks, the lowestmost cycle count can be larger than the absolute lowestmost cycle count. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60)
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Specification