Solid state storage end of life prediction with correction history

• US 7,975,193 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2009
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Trimmings; John P
• Application Number:
  US12/475,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 16/349 Arrangements for evaluating degradation, retention or wearout, e.g. by counting erase cycles

Abstract

Described embodiments provide for end-of-life (EOL) checking for NAND flash devices. An exemplary implementation of a computing environment comprises at least one NAND data storage device operative to store one or more data elements. In the illustrative implementation, the EOL data processing and storage management paradigm allows for the storage of data according using a selected EOL enforcement algorithm that can utilize current and/or historical correction levels. The NAND data storage EOL checking module can be operable to cooperate with one or more NAND data store components to execute one or more selected EOL operations to protect stored data.

Claims

1. An apparatus performing end-of-life (EOL) checking in an NAND storage device comprising:

one or more NAND data storage elements;

a NAND EOL checking module operable to process one or more commands for the management of data on the one or more NAND data storage elements; and

an instruction set comprising one or more instructions to instruct the NAND EOL checking module to perform one or more calculations to determine a selected threshold EOL for the NAND storage device according to a selected NAND EOL checking paradigm,

wherein the NAND EOL checking paradigm comprises at least one instruction to process EOL data representative of current and historical data, and at least one instruction to add parity to raise the selected threshold EOL if the one or more commands result in an EOL event.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the NAND EOL checking module comprises one or more logic components cooperating with a micro-processor based electronic environment to process one or more commands for the management of data.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein the NAND EOL checking module executes a selected EOL checking algorithm executable on the NAND storage device.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the NAND EOL checking module is co-located with the one or more NAND storage elements.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the NAND EOL checking module is co-located with a NAND controller.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the NAND EOL checking module is operatively located between the one or more NAND storage elements and a NAND controller.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein one or more commands are received by a NAND controller from a cooperating micro-processor based electronic environment for the management of data.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the NAND one or more EOL calculations are performed using one or more EOL data operationally stored on the NAND device.

9. A method to perform end-of-life (EOL) checking for a NAND storage device comprising:

receiving one or more commands to manage data on the NAND storage device by a NAND EOL checking module;

identifying one or more EOL data for the NAND storage device;

processing the one or more received commands in context of the identified one or more EOL data;

performing an EOL calculation to determine the EOL threshold for the NAND storage device and to determine if the one or more received commands result in an EOL event;

absent an EOL event, performing a data management operation on the NAND storage device to retrieve data in accordance with the one or more received commands;

if the one or more received commands result in au EOL event, adding parity to raise the correction threshold of the NAND storage device.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising communicating an error to the source of the one or more received commands.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising initiating the NAND EOL checking module to process one or more selected EOL calculations.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising selecting the one or more EOL calculations according to one or more selected current and historical error correction characteristics of the NAND storage device.

13. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising receiving one or more commands for the management of data by a NAND controller from one or more components of a micro-processor based electronic environment.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising processing the one or more received commands by the NAND EOL checking module.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising performing a EOL check on the one or more received commands.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising communicating an error to the source of the one or more received commands upon the occurrence of a EOL event.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising performing a data storage/management operation on one or more NAND data storage elements of the NAND storage device.

18. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising performing a data storage/management operation on one or more NAND data storage elements of the NAND storage device.

19. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising performing one or more NAND data storage/management operations upon a determination that an EOL event has occurred comprising,

providing a notification that data being requested to be stored is not correctable, and reorganizing data to place data in a region having lower risk of data error.

20. A machine-readable storage medium, having encoded thereon program code, wherein, when the program code is executed by a machine, the machine implements a method for performing EOL checks on a NAND storage device, comprising:

receiving one or more commands to manage data on the NAND storage device by a NAND EOL checking module;

identifying one or more EOL data for the NAND storage device;

processing the one or more received commands in context of the identified one or more EOL data;

performing an EOL calculation to determine the EOL threshold for the NAND storage device and to determine if the one or more received commands result in an EOL event; and

absent an EOL event, performing a data management operation on the NAND storage device to retrieve data in accordance with the one or more received commands;

if the one or more received commands result in an EOL event, adding parity to raise the correction threshold of the NAND storage device.