Method and apparatus for dynamically configuring redundant area of non-volatile memory

• US 7,187,613 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Issued: 03/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Logic Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Genesys Logic Incorporated
• Inventors: Yang, Cheng-Chih
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Van Thu
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, NAM THANH
• Application Number:
  US10/855,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20050002234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• Field of Search: 365/230.03, 365/185.09, 365/185.03, 365/189.01
• US Class Current: 365/230.03
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/82 for EEPROMs

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for dynamically configuring the redundant areas of a non-volatile memory is provided wherein each page of a memory is configured into a plurality of data areas and a plurality of redundant areas. The redundant areas interleave the data areas, or are arranged behind any data area. The system information and the status information is programmed into each data area of the page according to the original status information, so as to allow the flash drive to load a data area and an associated redundant area for each access operation with a smaller buffer.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically configuring a plurality of data and redundant areas of a non-volatile memory for data transfer to a buffer of predetermined size, said non-volatile memory comprising a plurality of blocks, with each block having a plurality of pages and each page being of a greater size than said predetermined size of said buffer, said method comprising:

reading an original status information of each memory block;

configuring each page of each block into a plurality of data areas and a corresponding plurality of redundant areas, said configured data areas each having a size equal to or less than said predetermined size of said buffer and a sum of the size of each of said plurality of redundant areas being equal to or less than said predetermined size of said buffer; and

programming the status information in the redundant areas according to the original status information.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said configuring step further comprises interleaving said redundant areas with said data areas, a sum of bytes of a respective data area and a corresponding redundant area being equal to said predetermined size of said buffer.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a step of accessing each page of each of said blocks with a series of separate accesses for each of said data areas and corresponding redundant areas of said page.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said non-volatile memory is a flash memory.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said configuring step comprises allocating said redundant areas adjacently and allocating said data areas behind said redundant areas.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each page comprises four data areas and four associated redundant areas.

7. A method for dynamically configuring data and redundant areas of a non-volatile memory for data transfer to a buffer of predetermined size, said non-volatile memory comprising a plurality of blocks, with each block having a plurality of pages and each page being of a greater size than said predetermined size of said buffer, said method comprising the steps of:

configuring each page into a plurality of data areas and a plurality of redundant areas, said configured data areas each having a size equal to or less than said predetermined size of said buffer and a sum of the size of each of said plurality of redundant areas being equal to or less than said predetermined size of said buffer;

interleaving said redundant areas with said data areas of each page; and

programming a status information into each redundant area.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said redundant areas interleave with said data areas, a sum of bytes of a respective data area and a corresponding redundant area being equal to said predetermined size of said buffer.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a step of accessing each page of each of said blocks with a series of separate accesses for each said data areas and corresponding redundant areas of said page.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein each page comprises four data areas and four redundant areas.