APPARATUS AND METHOD OF OFFLOADING PROCESSING FROM A DATA STORAGE DEVICE TO A HOST DEVICE

• US 20150154111A1
• Filed: 12/04/2013
• Published: 06/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sandisk Technologies Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: D'ABREU, MANUEL ANTONIO, PANTELAKIS, DIMITRIS C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,817,749 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1408 by using cryptography for digital transmission H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1056 Simplification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7211 Wear leveling

Abstract

A storage device includes non-volatile memory and a controller. A method performed in the data storage device includes sending an instruction to a host device to cause the host device to perform one or more specified computations. The method further includes receiving a response from the host device. The response is based on execution of the one or more specified computations.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in a data storage device including a controller and a non-volatile memory, performing;

sending an instruction to a host device to cause the host device to perform one or more specified computations at a processor of the host device; and

receiving a response from the processor, the response based on execution of the one or more specified computations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction includes an instruction identifier that corresponds to the one or more specified computations.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the instruction includes data to be used by the host device during performance of the one or more specified computations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more specified computations are associated with heroics performed subsequent to an error correction code failure determined by the data storage device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the instruction includes error data associated with one or more soft reads performed on the non-volatile memory in response to an error correction code failure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more specified computations are associated with wear leveling of the non-volatile memory, and wherein the instruction includes parameter data associated with the non-volatile memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more specified computations are associated with generating extended parity bits, and wherein the response includes the extended parity bits to be stored at the non-volatile memory.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more specified computations are associated with a scrambling operation, and wherein the response includes scrambled data to be stored at the non-volatile memory.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a copy of a driver stored at the non-volatile memory of the data storage device to the host device, the driver defining the one or more specified computations.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a driver is stored at the non-volatile memory of the data storage device, and further comprising receiving a driver update from the host device for the driver.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising updating the driver stored at the non-volatile memory based on the driver update.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises a resistive random-access memory (ReRAM).

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises a multi-layer flash memory.

14. A data storage device comprising:

a non-volatile memory including a driver, the driver defining one or more computations that are executable by a host device; and

a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory, wherein the controller is configured to send an instruction to the host device to cause the host device to perform at least one specified computation at a processor of the host device, wherein the controller is configured to receive a response from the host device, and wherein the response is based on execution of the at least one specified computation.

15. The data storage device of claim 14, wherein the instruction includes an instruction identifier that corresponds to the at least one specified computation.

16. The data storage device of claim 15, wherein the instruction identifier has a length of one byte.

17. The data storage device of claim 14, wherein the instruction includes data to be used by the host device during execution of the at least one specified computation.

18. The data storage device of claim 14, wherein the response includes output data associated with an instruction identifier, and wherein the controller is configured to process the output data based on the instruction identifier.

19. The data storage device of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to provide the driver to the host device.

20. The data storage device of claim 19, wherein the controller is configured to receive a driver update via the host device and to update the driver at the non-volatile memory based on the driver update.

21. The data storage device of claim 14, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises a flash memory.