Rearranging Data In Memory Systems

• US 20190324855A1
• Filed: 07/10/2018
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd., Megachips Corporation
• Original Assignee: Macronix International Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Yeh, Yuchih, Kuo, Naping, Tamagawa, Yuko
• Granted Patent: US 10,795,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1048 using arrangements adapted for a specific error detection or correction feature
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1068 in sector programmable memories, e.g. flash disk G06F11/1072 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/142 Reconfiguring to eliminate the error group management mechanisms in a peer-to-peer network H04L67/1044
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/10 Address translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/82 Solving problems relating to consistency ensuring consistency in mirrored systems G06F11/2064
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1032 Reliability improvement, data loss prevention, degraded operation etc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7201 Logical to physical mapping or translation of blocks or pages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7211 Wear leveling
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2029/0411 Online error correction
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/52 Protection of memory contents; Detection of errors in memory contents

Abstract

Methods, systems and apparatus including computer-readable mediums for rearranging data for refresh operations in memory systems such as NAND flash memory devices are provided. In one aspect, a method includes: determining that a particular logical page in a logical block fails based on error bits in a particular physical page that is in a first physical block mapped with the logical block and corresponds to the particular logical page, logical pages in the logical block being mapped to physical pages in the first physical block with an initial mapping order, and executing a refresh operation on the first physical block with a rearranged mapping order for the logical block, the rearranged mapping order being different from the initial mapping order. For the refresh operation, the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in a second physical block with the rearranged mapping order.

Claims

1. A method of rearranging data in a memory, the method comprising:

determining that a particular logical page in a logical block fails based on error bits in a particular physical page that is in a first physical block mapped with the logical block and corresponds to the particular logical page, logical pages in the logical block being mapped to physical pages in the first physical block with an initial mapping order; and

executing a refresh operation on the first physical block with a rearranged mapping order for the logical block, the rearranged mapping order being different from the initial mapping order, wherein, for the refresh operation, the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in a second physical block with the rearranged mapping order.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the particular logical page fails comprises:

determining a count of the error bits of the particular physical page is beyond a predetermined threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined threshold is based on a number of error bits that an error correcting code (ECC) for the particular physical page is capable to correct.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rearranged mapping order is offset from the initial mapping order by an offset number, and

wherein physical page addresses (PPAs) in the second physical block that the logical pages are mapped to are offset by the offset number relative to PPAs in the first physical block that the logical pages are mapped to.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a criterion is met, wherein the criterion is associated with one or more refresh operations caused by failed logical pages in the memory; and

in response to determining that the criterion is met, executing the refresh operation on the first physical block with the rearranged mapping order for the logical block.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the criterion is met comprises:

determining that a refresh count of the logical block is no less than a refresh count threshold,

wherein the refresh count is configured to be increased when a refresh operation is performed on a physical block mapped with the logical block.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the criterion is met comprises:

determining that a refresh count of the memory is no less than a refresh count threshold, wherein the refresh count is configured to be increased when a refresh operation is performed on a physical block in the memory.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the physical block is mapped with a second logical block different from the logical block.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the criterion is met comprises:

determining that a logical page address (LPA) of the failed particular logical page is same as a stored LPA of a failed logical page.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein determining that the criterion is met comprises:

determining that a particular logical page address (LPA) of the failed particular logical page is within a stored list of LPAs of failed logical pages.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

updating the stored list of LPAs of failed logical pages by including a plurality of LPAs of most recent failed logical pages.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

migrating data in the physical pages of the first physical block to the physical pages of the second physical block based on the rearranged mapping order.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a logical to physical (L2P) mapping table by storing an L2P mapping from the logical block to the second physical block.

14. A memory system comprising:

a memory comprising physical blocks each having a plurality of physical pages; and

a memory controller coupled to the memory and configured to;

determine that a particular logical page in a logical block fails based on error bits in a particular physical page that is in a first physical block mapped with the logical block and corresponds to the particular logical page, logical pages in the logical block being mapped to physical pages in the first physical block with an initial mapping order; and

execute a refresh operation on the first physical block with a rearranged mapping order for the logical block, the rearranged mapping order being different from the initial mapping order, wherein, for the refresh operation, the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in a second physical block with the rearranged mapping order.

15. The memory system of claim 14, wherein the memory controller is configured to:

determine whether a criterion is met, wherein the criterion is associated with one or more refresh operations caused by failed logical pages in the memory;

in response to determining that the criterion is met, execute the refresh operation on the first physical block with the rearranged mapping order for the logical block; and

in response to determining that the criterion is not met, execute a second refresh operation on the first physical block with a fixed mapping order for the logical block, the fixed mapping order being same as the initial mapping order, wherein, for the second refresh operation, the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in a third physical block with the fixed mapping order.

16. The memory system of claim 15, wherein the criterion comprises one of:

a refresh count of the logical block being no less than a first refresh count threshold,

a refresh count of the memory being no less than a second refresh count threshold,

a logical page address (LPA) of the particular logical page is same as a stored LPA of a failed logical page, and

the PPA of the particular logical page is within a stored list of PPAs of failed logical pages.

17. The memory system of claim 14, wherein the memory controller is configured to determine that the particular logical page fails by determining a count of the error bits of the particular physical page is beyond a predetermined threshold, and

wherein the predetermined threshold is based on a number of error bits that an error correcting code (ECC) for the particular physical page is capable to correct.

18. The memory system of claim 14, wherein the memory controller is configured to:

migrate data in the physical pages of the first physical block to the physical pages of the second physical block based on the rearranged mapping order; and

update a logical to physical (L2P) mapping table by storing an L2P mapping from the logical block to the second physical block.

19. The memory system of claim 14, wherein the rearranged mapping order is offset from the initial mapping order by an offset number, and

wherein physical page addresses (PPAs) in the second physical block that the logical pages are mapped to are offset by the offset number relative to PPAs in the first physical block that the logical pages are mapped to.

20. A memory controller comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium coupled to the at least one processor having machine-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

determining that a particular logical page in a logical block fails based on error bits in a particular physical page that is in a first physical block mapped with the logical block and corresponds to the particular logical page, logical pages in the logical block being mapped to physical pages in the first physical block with an initial mapping order;

determining whether a criterion is met, the criterion being associated with one or more refresh operations caused by failed logical pages in the memory;

in response to determining that the criterion is not met, executing a first refresh operation on the first physical block with a fixed mapping order for the logical block, the fixed mapping order being same as the initial mapping order, wherein, for the first refresh operation, the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in a second physical block with the fixed mapping order; and

in response to determining that the criterion is met, executing a second refresh operation on the first physical block with a rearranged mapping order for the logical block, the rearranged mapping order being different from the initial mapping order, wherein, for the second refresh operation, the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in a third physical block with the rearranged mapping order.

21. A method of rearranging data in a memory, comprising:

determining that a particular logical page in a logical block fails based on error bits in a particular physical page that is in a first physical block mapped with the logical block and corresponds to the particular logical page; and

executing a refresh operation on the first physical block by rearranging data in the first physical block to a second physical block with at least one programming parameter different from that for the data programmed to the first physical block.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one programming parameter comprises programming time, programming voltage, internal time, or a mapping order for the logical block.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in the first physical block with an initial mapping order, and

wherein the logical pages in the logical block are mapped to physical pages in the second physical block with a rearranged mapping order that is different from the initial mapping order.