Distributed addressing in solid-state storage

• US 7,765,339 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: STEC Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Salessi, Nader, Torabi, Hooshmand
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen; Alan
• Application Number:
  US11/978,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20080140945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,005 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 710/33
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0669 with decentralised address assignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0656 Data buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0688 Non-volatile semiconductor memory arrays

Abstract

A data storage system includes a data management system that transfers data between a host system and multiple storage devices through multiple channels. The data addressing is distributed amongst channels to improve system performance and durability. In one embodiment, each channel has an address translation table or address map which is utilized to gain performance improvement during data transfer or erasure, and an increase of the device'"'"'s useful life span.

Claims

1. A method for distributed addressing in a solid-state storage system, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of data segments, each data segment of the plurality of data segments comprising a plurality of data sectors;

storing the plurality of data segments in a buffer; and

distributing the data segments among a plurality of solid-state storage devices, wherein the plurality of data sectors of each data segment of the plurality of data segments is sequentially transferred to a respective one of the plurality of solid-state storage devices, and wherein the data segments of the plurality of data segments are transferred to the plurality of solid-state storage devices in parallel through data channels corresponding to the solid-state storage devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining a plurality of address maps, wherein each address map is associated with a data channel, and wherein each address map reflects the storage locations of the data segments transferred through the data channel.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transferring the data sectors of each data segment of the plurality of data segments from the buffer to a storage interface associated with the data segment, wherein the data sectors of each data segment of the plurality of data segments are sequentially transferred to the storage interface associated with the data segment, and wherein distributing the data segments among the plurality of storage devices comprises transferring the plurality of data segments from the plurality of storage interfaces to the plurality of storage devices through the data channels corresponding to the storage devices substantially in parallel.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data sectors of a first data segment of the plurality of data segments are sequentially transferred to the storage interface associated with the first data segment before the data sectors of a second data segment of the plurality of data sectors are sequentially transferred to the storage interface associated with the second data segment.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of data segments are transferred to the plurality of solid-state storage devices in parallel by sequentially transferring the data sectors of each data segment of the plurality of data segments from the storage interface associated with the data segment to the solid-state storage device associated with the data segment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data sectors of the plurality of data segments are received from a host system at a first data transfer rate and are transferred to the plurality of solid-state storage devices at a second data transfer rate differing from the first data transfer rate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a data sector stored in a storage device of the plurality of solid-state storage devices;

identifying the solid-state storage device containing the selected data sector;

receiving an updated data sector; and

updating the selected data sector with the updated data sector in the identified storage device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein updating the selected data sector with the updated data sector comprises writing the updated data sector to the identified storage device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein updating the selected data sector further comprises erasing the selected data sector from the identified solid-state storage device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data sectors of the plurality of data segments are received from a host system at a first data transfer rate and are transferred to the plurality of solid-state storage devices at a second data transfer rate differing from the first data transfer rate.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data segments of the plurality of data segments are distributed among the plurality of solid-state storage devices by using a fixed priority scheme.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data segments of the plurality of data segments are distributed among the plurality of solid-state storage devices by using a dynamic priority scheme.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the data segments of the plurality of data sectors are distributed among the plurality of solid-state storage devices by using a fixed priority scheme.

14. A data storage system utilizing distributed addressing comprising:

a plurality of solid-state storage devices;

a plurality of communication channels corresponding to the plurality of solid-state storage devices, each communication channel of the plurality of communication channels coupled to the solid-state storage device corresponding to the communication channel; and

a data management system coupled to the plurality of solid-state storage devices through the plurality of communication channels, the data management system configured to receive a plurality of data segments, each data segment of the plurality of data segments comprising a plurality of data sectors, the data management system further configured to distribute the data segments of the plurality of data segments among the plurality of solid-state storage devices, wherein the plurality of data sectors of each data segment of the plurality of data segments is sequentially transferred to a solid-state storage device associated with the data segment, and wherein the data segments of the plurality of data segments are transferred to the plurality of solid-state storage devices in parallel through the plurality of communication channels.

15. The data storage system of claim 14, wherein the data management system comprises a host interface configured to receive the plurality of data segments from a host system.

16. The data storage system of claim 15, wherein the data management system further comprises a buffer coupled to the host interface and configured to store the plurality of data segments.

17. The data storage system of claim 16, wherein the data management system further comprises a plurality of storage interfaces coupled to the buffer and the plurality of solid-state storage devices, each storage interface of the plurality of storage interfaces associated with a data segment of the plurality of data segments and configured to receive the data of the data segment and to transfer the data segment to the solid-state storage device associated with the data segment.

18. The data storage system of claim 17, further comprising a controller coupled to the buffer and the plurality of storage interfaces, the controller configured to transfer the data sectors of each data segment of the plurality of data segments from the buffer to the plurality of storage interfaces, wherein the data sectors of each data segment are sequentially transferred to the storage interface associated with the data segment through the data channel corresponding to the solid-state storage device.

19. The data storage system of claim 18, wherein the buffer is further configured to receive the data sectors of the plurality of data segments from the host interface sequentially and store the data sectors of the plurality of data segments sequentially.

20. The data storage system of claim 19, wherein the buffer sequentially transfers the data sectors of a first data segment of the plurality of data segments to the storage interface associated with the first data segment before transferring the data sectors of a second data segment of the plurality of data segments to the storage interface associated with the second data segment.