SOLID STATE MEMORY CARTRIDGE WITH WEAR INDICATION

• US 20110072302A1
• Filed: 09/24/2009
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AgigA Tech Incorporated (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Original Assignee: AgigA Tech Incorporated (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Sartore, Ronald H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,479,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/6.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/349 Arrangements for evaluating degradation, retention or wearout, e.g. by counting erase cycles

Abstract

A memory cartridge is described that includes a non-volatile memory. The cartridge also includes logic to concentrate memory operations on particular areas of the non-volatile memory to cause the areas of concentration to wear out at an accelerated rate relative to non areas of concentration, and logic to track wear on the non-volatile memory resulting from one or both of erases and writes.

Claims

1. A memory cartridge comprising:

a non-volatile memory;

logic to concentrate memory operations on particular areas of the non-volatile memory to cause the areas of concentration to wear out at an accelerated rate relative to non areas of concentration;

and

logic to track wear on the non-volatile memory resulting from one or both of erases and writes.

2. The memory cartridge of claim 1, further comprising:

the nonvolatile memory is NAND flash.

3. The memory cartridge of claim 1, further comprising:

logic to determine the nonvolatile memory has reached a wear point at which the nonvolatile memory is nearing or at end of useful life; and

logic to provide an indication that the nonvolatile memory requires replacement.

4. The memory cartridge of claim 1, further comprising:

logic to isolate the cartridge from system power and signals automatically when the nonvolatile memory is reaches a wear point associated with nearing or at end of useful life.

5. The memory cartridge of claim 3, further comprising:

logic to provide a visual indication that the nonvolatile memory requires replacement.

6. The memory cartridge of claim 5, further comprising:

logic to provide a visual indication that (a) the nonvolatile memory requires replacement, (b) the nonvolatile memory is nearing a time when it will require replacement, (c) the nonvolatile memory is operating within its normal life span.

7. The memory cartridge of claim 1, further comprising:

logic to track an erase count of memory locations of the nonvolatile memory.

8. The memory cartridge of claim 5, further comprising:

the visual indication also being an indication of whether power is applied to the memory cartridge or not.

9. A memory cartridge comprising:

a non-volatile memory;

logic to concentrate memory operations on particular areas of the non-volatile memory to cause the areas of concentration to wear out at an accelerated rate relative to non areas of concentration;

and

logic to provide an indication that the nonvolatile memory requires replacement in response to a signal from wear tracking logic external to the memory cartridge.

10. The memory cartridge of claim 9, further comprising:

the nonvolatile memory is NAND flash.

11. The memory cartridge of claim 9, further comprising:

logic to isolate the cartridge from system power and signals automatically as a result of receiving the signal from the wear tracking logic.

12. The memory cartridge of claim 11, further comprising:

logic to provide a visual indication that the nonvolatile memory requires replacement, the visual indication also being an indication of whether the memory cartridge is powered or not.

13. The memory cartridge of claim 12, further comprising:

logic to provide a visual indication that (a) the nonvolatile memory requires replacement, (b) the nonvolatile memory is nearing a time when it will require replacement, (c) the nonvolatile memory is operating within its normal life span;

each indication provided in response to a signal from wear tracking logic external to the memory cartridge.

14. A memory system comprising:

a plurality of removable memory cartridges, each comprising nonvolatile memory;

logic to concentrate memory operations on particular areas of the non-volatile memory to cause the areas of concentration to wear out at an accelerated rate relative to non areas of concentration;

logic to track wear on each nonvolatile memory and to provide indications of the wear status of the nonvolatile memories to one or more of (a) the memory cartridges, (b) a display, or (c) a host system comprising the memory system.

15. The memory system of claim 14, comprising:

logic to disengage power from a memory cartridge that has reached or exceeded its wear limit.

16. The memory system of claim 14, comprising:

logic to monitor a control signal bus for the memory cartridges for one or more of erase and write commands, and to track an accumulation of such commands for the nonvolatile memory of individual cartridges.

17. A memory system comprising:

a plurality of removable memory cartridges, each comprising nonvolatile memory;

logic to concentrate memory operations on particular areas of the non-volatile memory to cause the areas of concentration to wear out at an accelerated rate relative to non areas of concentration;

logic external to the memory cartridges to track at least one of a number of erases and writes to each removable memory cartridge; and

logic to provide indications that one or more of the removable cartridges are at or exceeding their useful life.

18. The memory system of claim 17, comprising:

logic to disengage power from a memory cartridge that has reached or exceeded its useful life.

19. The memory system of claim 17, comprising:

logic to monitor a control signal bus for the memory cartridges for one or more of erase and write commands, and to track an accumulation of such commands for the nonvolatile memory of individual cartridges.