Method of storing data in a non-volatile memory and apparatus therefor

• US 6,970,970 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2003
• Issued: 11/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Yeom, Heon-young, Jung, Im-young, Jeon, Yong-sung, Chung, Kyo-il, Jun, Sung-ik
• Primary Examiner(s): Portka, Gary
• Assistant Examiner(s): Song, Jasmine
• Application Number:
  US10/348,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20040064635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,042 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/200, 707/202, 711/103, 711/167, 711/169
• US Class Current: 711/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/357 Cards having a plurality of specified features
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/1008 Active credit-cards provided with means to personalise their use, e.g. with PIN-introduction/comparison system
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Provided is a method of storing data in a non-volatile memory, including generating and storing logs including data to be stored and an address of the non-volatile memory in response to a data-writing request, and comparing addresses of the logs and storing data corresponding to the same page by the unit of page in a corresponding area of the non-volatile memory. The method makes it possible to minimize delay in storing data, reduce the number of accesses to the non-volatile memory and uniformly write data in the whole non-volatile memory, thereby minimizing a response time of the non-volatile memory and increasing the lifetime of the non-volatile memory.

Claims

1. A method of storing data in a non-volatile memory, the method comprising:

(a) in response to a data-writing request, generating and storing logs in a volatile memory, including data to be stored and an address of the non-volatile memory; and

(b) comparing addresses of the logs and storing data corresponding to the same page by the unit of page in a corresponding area of the non-volatile memory, and wherein step (b) further comprises;

(b1) copying the logs of the volatile memory to a transaction buffer of the non-volatile memory;

(b2) comparing the addresses of the data logged in the transaction buffer to addresses for the data-writing request and searching for the logs in the transaction buffer which contains the data logged with the addresses corresponding to the same page as the address for the data writing request;

(b3) copying the page of the non-volatile memory which the address for the data writing request belongs to, to the volatile-memory;

(b4) storing the data for the writing request in a page area of the volatile memory at the location with its same offset in a page of the non-volatile memory;

(b5) storing the data logged in the page area of the volatile memory according to the logs corresponding to the same page;

(b6) copying the page of the volatile memory to the page area of the non-volatile memory in order to update the page area of the non-volatile memory; and

(b7) removing the logs reflected to update the page of the non-volatile memory from the transaction buffer in the non-volatile memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step(b) further comprises storing the logs of the volatile memory in a transaction buffer of the non-volatile memory wherein the transaction buffer has a structure of one of a queue, a circular queue, and a linked list.

3. A method of storing data in a non-volatile memory, the method comprising:

(a) upon receipt of a request for start of transaction processing, generating a log including data to be stored and an address of the non-volatile memory in response to the data-writing request until a request for completion of transaction processing is received;

(b) upon receipt of the request for completion of transaction processing, storing the logs in a transaction buffer of the non-volatile memory;

(c) comparing addresses of the logs in the transaction buffer to addresses of the data-writing request and storing data from the transaction buffer corresponding to the same page of the data-writing request in a corresponding area of the non-volatile memory by the unit of page;

(d) updating the non-volatile memory by unit of page; and

step (c) further comprises;

(c1) comparing addresses of the data logged in the transaction buffer with the addresses of the data-writing request and searching for the logs in the transaction buffer corresponding to the page the data is logged belongs to, wherein the page the data is logged to belongs to the same page as the address for the data-writing request;

(c2) copying the pages of the non-volatile memory which the address for the data-writing request belongs to, to the volatile memory;

(c3) storing the data in a page area of the volatile-memory according to the logs corresponding to the same page as the address for the data-writing request;

(c4) copying the page of the volatile memory to a page area of the non-volatile memory; and

(c5) removing the logs from the transaction buffer corresponding to the same page.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein step (c) comprises comparing addresses of the non-volatile memory required by the data-writing request and the addresses of the logs in the transaction buffer upon receipt of the data-writing request and storing data corresponding to the same page in the corresponding area of the non-volatile memory by the unit of page.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein step (c) further comprises:

(c1) determining whether the logs of which addresses are included in the same page as the page in which the address required by the data-writing request exist;

(c2) if the logs exist, storing the data in a corresponding page of the non-volatile memory according to the logs and the data-writing request; and

(c3) if the logs do not exist, storing data in a corresponding page of the non- memory according to the data-writing request.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method is implemented in a device having a volatile memory, and step (c2) further comprises:

(c21) copying a page of the non-volatile memory required by the data-writing request to the volatile memory;

(c22) storing data in a corresponding are of the volatile memory according to the logs and the data-writing request;

(c23) copying the corresponding area of the volatile memory to a page area of the non-volatile memory; and

(c24) removing the logs.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein if a request for stop of transaction processing is received during step (a), the logs generated in step (a) are removed, and the method is performed again from step (a) for the next transaction.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein if a request for stop of transaction processing is received during step (b) before all the logs are stored in the transaction buffer, the logs stored in the transaction buffer are removed, and the method is performed again from step (a) for the next transaction.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein step (b) comprises storing logs separately according to pages of the non-volatile memory in the logs.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein steps (a) through (c) are performed for consecutive transaction processing, and step (c) of transaction processing and step (a) of next transaction processing are performed in parallel.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the transaction buffer in which the logs are stored has a structure of one of a queue, a circular queue, and a linked list.

12. A data storage device comprising:

a non-volatile memory;

a log generating unit which in response to a data-writing request generates and stores logs having data to be stored and addresses of the non-volatile memory in response to a data-writing request in a volatile memory; and

a data storage unit which compares addresses of the logs stored in the volatile memory with addresses of the data-writing request stores data corresponding to the same page in a transaction buffer of the non-volatile memory having the structure of a linked list and updates the non-volatile memory with data from the volatile memory and the transaction buffer corresponding to the same page by unit of page.

13. A computer readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for performing the steps of:

(a) in response to a data-writing request, generating and storing logs in a volatile memory including data to be stored and addresses of the non-volatile memory;

(b) transferring the logs of the volatile memory to a transaction buffer of a non-volatile memory having the structure of a linked list; and

(c) comparing the addresses of the logs of the data-writing request to the logs of the transaction buffer and storing data corresponding to the same page in a corresponding area of the non-volatile memory by the unit of the page.