Status of overall health of nonvolatile memory
First Claim
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1. A nonvolatile memory system comprising:
- nonvolatile memory organized into blocks, one or more of which are designated as spare blocks and one or more of which may be defective at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory; and
a controller device coupled to the nonvolatile memory for measuring the health status of the nonvolatile memory by determining a number of growing defects on an on-going basis and determining a total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status by subtracting the number of defects at the time of the measurement of the health status from a total number of spare blocks within the nonvolatile memory that are initially reserved as spare blocks, wherein the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status is indicative of the health status of the nonvolatile memory;
wherein the controller is configured to output a signal indicative of the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status.
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Abstract
A nonvolatile memory system includes nonvolatile memory organized into blocks, one or more of which are designated as spare blocks and one or more of which may be defective at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory. A controller device is coupled to the nonvolatile memory for measuring the health status of the nonvolatile memory by determining the number of growing defects on an on-going basis.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A nonvolatile memory system comprising:
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nonvolatile memory organized into blocks, one or more of which are designated as spare blocks and one or more of which may be defective at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory; and a controller device coupled to the nonvolatile memory for measuring the health status of the nonvolatile memory by determining a number of growing defects on an on-going basis and determining a total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status by subtracting the number of defects at the time of the measurement of the health status from a total number of spare blocks within the nonvolatile memory that are initially reserved as spare blocks, wherein the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status is indicative of the health status of the nonvolatile memory; wherein the controller is configured to output a signal indicative of the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A nonvolatile memory system comprising:
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nonvolatile memory organized into blocks, one or more of which are designated as spare blocks and one or more of which may be defective at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory; a controller device coupled to the nonvolatile memory; and a display; wherein the controller device measures the health status of the nonvolatile memory by determining a number of growing defects on an on-going basis and determining a total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status by subtracting the number of defects at the time of the measurement of the health status from a total number of spare blocks within the nonvolatile memory that are initially reserved as spare blocks, the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status indicative of the health status of the nonvolatile memory; and wherein the display is configured to display a value indicative of the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for measuring the health of nonvolatile memory system comprising:
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noting a number of blocks included within nonvolatile memory that were defective at a time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory; reserving a number of spare blocks within the nonvolatile memory at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory; measuring the health status of the nonvolatile memory during operation of the nonvolatile memory by determining a number of growing defects on an on-going basis and determining a total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status by subtracting the number of defects at the time of the measurement of the health status, including the number of blocks that were defective at the time of manufacturing, from the number of spare blocks reserved at the time of manufacturing, the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status indicative of the health status of the nonvolatile memory; outputting a signal indicative of the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A nonvolatile memory system comprising:
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nonvolatile memory organized into blocks, one or more of which are designated as spare blocks and one or more of which may be defective at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory; and controller means coupled to the nonvolatile memory for measuring the health status of the nonvolatile memory by determining a number of growing defects on an on-going basis and determining a total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status by subtracting the number of defects at the time of the measurement of the health status from a total number of spare blocks within the nonvolatile memory that are initially reserved as spare blocks, wherein the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status is indicative of the health status of the nonvolatile memory; wherein the controller means is configured to output a signal indicative of the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A nonvolatile memory system comprising:
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a host; and a nonvolatile memory organized into blocks, one or more of which are designated as spare blocks and one or more of which may be defective at the time of manufacturing of the nonvolatile memory, the nonvolatile memory comprising a control device coupled to the blocks and to the host, the nonvolatile memory comprising a display; wherein the health status of the nonvolatile memory is measured by the host by determining a number of growing defects on an on-going basis and determining a total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status by subtracting the number of defects at the time of the measurement of the health status from a total number of spare blocks within the nonvolatile memory that are initially reserved as spare blocks, wherein the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status is indicative of the health status of the nonvolatile memory; and wherein the display is configured to display a value indicative of the total number of remaining spare blocks at the time of the measurement of the health status.
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Specification