STORAGE OPERATION INTERRUPT

• US 20160210050A1
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sandisk Technologies Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Verma, Kapil, Hyun, Jea, Peterson, James, Pham, Long, Strasser, John, Sun, Hairong
• Granted Patent: US 9,933,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for interrupting storage operations. A frequency module is configured to determine a frequency for pausing a storage operation. An interrupt module is configured to pause execution of a storage operation according to a determined frequency. A resume module is configured to continue a paused storage operation in response to a trigger.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a storage element, an indicator of how often a storage operation is to be interrupted;

interrupting execution of the storage operation on the storage element one or more times based on the indicator; and

executing one or more other storage operations on the storage element while the storage operation is interrupted.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically resuming, by the storage element, the interrupted storage operation in response to completing the one or more other storage operations.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein executing the one or more other storage operations on the storage element comprises executing up to a predetermined number of operations and automatically resuming the interrupted storage operation is in response to completion of the predetermined number of operations.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically resuming the interrupted storage operation comprises:

initiating a timer, in response to interrupting execution of the storage operation; and

resuming the interrupted storage operation in response to expiration of the timer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising resuming the interrupted storage operation in response to receiving a resume command at the storage element.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a status indicator of whether the interrupted storage operation is in an incomplete state; and

accepting a command to resume the interrupted storage operation in response to the status indicator indicating that the interrupted storage operation is in the incomplete state.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a total number of erase pulses for the interrupted storage operation to be more than a total number of erase pulses for an uninterrupted storage operation of a same type as the interrupted storage operation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a voltage step between pulses of the interrupted storage operation to be smaller than a voltage step between pulses of an uninterrupted storage operation of a same type as the interrupted storage operation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a number of segments of the storage operation to execute between interruptions based on the indicator;

counting, a number of completed segments during execution of the storage operation; and

determining to interrupt execution of the storage operation on the storage element in response to the number of completed segments satisfying the determined number of segments.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring a workload for the storage element, the workload comprising a number of read storage operations and a number of program storage operations;

determining a workload ratio of the read storage operations and the program storage operations; and

adjusting the indicator for a subsequent storage operation based on the workload ratio.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining an average program operation time for the storage element, wherein the indicator is based on the workload ratio and the average program operation time.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein adjusting the indicator comprises decreasing how often the subsequent storage operation is to be interrupted as a percentage of the program storage operations in the workload ratio increases.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more other storage operations comprise uninterruptable storage operations.

14. A non-volatile memory element comprising:

a frequency module configured to determine a frequency for pausing a storage operation;

an interrupt module configured to pause execution of the storage operation according to the determined frequency; and

a resume module configured to continue the paused storage operation in response to a trigger.

15. The non-volatile memory element of claim 14, further comprising a workload module configured to monitor a workload of a non-volatile memory device comprising the non-volatile memory element, wherein the frequency module adjusts the frequency for pausing the storage operation based on the workload.

16. The non-volatile memory element of claim 14, wherein the frequency module is configured to determine the frequency for pausing the storage operation based on an indicator received from one or more of a controller for the non-volatile memory element and a storage client.

17. The non-volatile memory element of claim 14, wherein the trigger comprises one or more of receiving a resume request, satisfying a time threshold since pausing execution, and executing a threshold number of other operations on the non-volatile memory element while the storage operation is paused.

18. A system comprising:

a plurality of data recording elements; and

a controller for the plurality of data recording elements, the controller monitoring a workload of storage requests for the data recording elements, determining a number of segments of a storage operation to execute before checking for insertable storage operations based on the monitored workload, and checking for insertable storage operations for one or more of the data recording elements based on the determined number of segments.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller determines an average program operation time and determines the number of segments of the storage operation to execute based on the monitored workload and the average program operation time.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the controller increases the number of segments of the storage operation to execute as a percentage of program storage operations in the workload increases.