DATA STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR FLASH BLOCK MANAGEMENT

• US 20130311701A1
• Filed: 05/30/2012
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Silicon Motion Incorporated California (Silicon Motion)
• Original Assignee: Silicon Motion Incorporated California (Silicon Motion)
• Inventors: CHENG, Chang-Kai, LIN, Yen-Hung
• Application Number:
  US13/484,212
• Publication Number:
  US 20130311701A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7205 Cleaning, compaction, garbage collection, erase control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7211 Wear leveling

Abstract

The invention provides a data storage device. In one embodiment, the data storage device is coupled to a host, and comprises a flash memory and a controller. The flash memory comprises a spare block pool and a data block pool, wherein the spare block pool comprises a plurality of spare blocks, and the data block pool comprises a plurality of data blocks. The controller receives target data from the host, writes the target data to a current data block, and determines whether the current data block is full. When the current data block is full, the controller updates at least one table according to the information of the current data block.

Claims

1. A data storage device, coupled to a host, comprising:

a flash memory, comprising a spare block pool and a data block pool, wherein the spare block pool comprises a plurality of spare blocks, and the data block pool comprises a plurality of data blocks; and

a controller, receiving target data from the host, writing the target data to a current data block, and determining whether the current data block is full;

wherein, when the current data block is full, the controller updates at least one table according to the information of the current data block.

2. The data storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein, when the current data block is full, the controller further gets a spare block as a new current data block from the spare block pool.

3. The data storage device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the current data block comprises a plurality of pages, and the controller respectively uses the pages of the current data block to store data corresponding to different logical addresses appointed by the host.

4. The data storage device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the controller determines whether the current data block is full by determining whether the target data is written to a final page of the current data block.

5. The data storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the table is an address link table or a valid count table.

6. The data storage device as claimed in claim 5, wherein when the address link table is updated, the controller writes a corresponding relationship between logical addresses and physical addresses of data stored in the pages of the current data block to the address link table.

7. The data storage device as claimed in claim 5, wherein when the valid count table is updated, the controller counts a total number of pages storing valid data in the current data block as a valid page number, and records the valid page number of the current data block to the valid count table, wherein the valid data is data corresponding to a valid logical address.

8. The data storage device as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the current data block is full, the controller further searches the data blocks of the data block pool for at least one target block with no valid page, puts the target block to the spare block pool, and increments an erase count of the target block by one.

9. The data storage device as claimed in claim 8, wherein after the erase count of the target block is incremented, if the erase count of the target block is greater than a jail threshold, the controller determines the target block to be a jail block and puts the target block to a jail pool.

10. The data storage device as claimed in claim 8, wherein after the erase count of the target block is incremented, if the erase count of the target block is greater than a hot threshold, the controller determines the target block as a hot spare block and increments the hot spare block number by one.

11. A method for flash block management, wherein a data storage device is coupled to a host and comprises a flash memory and a controller, the flash memory comprises a spare block pool and a data block pool, the spare block pool comprises a plurality of spare blocks, and the data block pool comprises a plurality of data blocks, the method comprising:

receiving target data from the host;

writing the target data to a current data block;

determining whether the current data block is full after the target data is written to the current data block; and

when the current data block is full, updating at least one table according to the information of the current data block.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein when the current data block is full, further comprising obtaining a spare block as a new current data block from the spare block pool.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the current data block comprises a plurality of pages, and the controller respectively uses the pages of the current data block to store data corresponding to different logical addresses appointed by the host.

14. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein determination of whether the current data block is full comprises:

determining whether the current data block is full by determining whether the target data is written to a final page of the current data block.

15. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the table is an address link table or a valid count table.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein updating of the address link table comprises:

writing a corresponding relationship between logical addresses and physical addresses of data stored in the pages of the current data block to the address link table.

17. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein updating of the valid count table comprises:

counting a total number of pages storing valid data in the current data block as a valid page number; and

recording the valid page number of the current data block to the valid count table, wherein the valid data is data corresponding to a valid logical address.

18. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

when the current data block is full, searching the data blocks of the data block pool for at least one target block with no valid page;

putting the target block to the spare block pool; and

incrementing an erase count of the target block by one.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

after the erase count of the target block is incremented, if the erase count of the target block is greater than a jail threshold, determining the target block to be a jail block and putting the target block to a jail pool.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

after the erase count of the target block is incremented, if the erase count of the target block is greater than a hot threshold, determining the target block as a hot spare block and incrementing the hot spare block number by one.