Data storage and replay apparatus

• US 8,402,325 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2005
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: ST-Ericcson SA (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Egner, Sebastian, Lambert, Nicolaas, Tolhuizen, Ludovicus M. G. M., Van Acht, Victor M. G., Blum, Martinus W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhatia, Ajay
• Assistant Examiner(s): GANDHI, DIPAKKUMAR B
• Application Number:
  US11/573,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150748A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,797 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/704
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1012 using codes or arrangements adapted for a specific type of error G06F11/1048 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1068 in sector programmable memories, e.g. flash disk G06F11/1072 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1816 Testing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1833 by adding special lists or symbols to the coded information G11B20/1806, G11B20/1866 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/35 Unequal or adaptive error protection, e.g. by providing a different level of protection according to significance of source information or by adapting the coding according to the change of transmission channel characteristics

Abstract

A data storage and replay device uses measurements of the evolution of performance of the storage medium (typically a flash memory circuit) to predict an error rate of retrieval from a region of the storage medium. The prediction is used as a basis for dynamically selecting an ECC for encoding the data prior to storage of the data. The ECC is selected from a plurality of available ECC'"'"'s so that a fastest encodable ECC is selected that is predicted to produce no more than a predetermined post-decoding error rate given the information. On decoding the data, which is typically audio or video data, is decoded and replayed at a predetermined speed. In another embodiment, the data stored using a plurality of ECC'"'"'s together and an ECC is selected dynamically for decoding, so that an output data rate can be maximized or power consumption on replay can be minimized.

Claims

1. A data storage and replay device comprising:

a storage medium including a plurality of regions;

an error rate assessment unit configured to generate information about a prediction of an error rate of retrieval for respective ones of the plurality of regions based on measurements of performance of the respective ones of the plurality of regions of the storage medium during use, the measurements of performance being made repeatedly during a useful life of the storage medium based on data for real time signal rendering; and

an encoder configured to;

perform encoding of received data into each of a plurality of error correcting codes (ECCs);

divide the encoded data into blocks having a similar predetermined first size; and

store the encoded received data into the plurality of regions, each of the plurality of regions having a similar predetermined second size that is sufficiently larger than the first size to also store additional data associated with the encoded received data.

2. The data storage and replay device according to claim 1, further comprising an input circuit that is configured to adapt a rate of reception of the received data dependent on a selected ECC.

3. The data storage and replay device according to claim 1, further comprising a decoder circuit configured to read the data from the plurality of regions as well as information that is indicative of the plurality of ECCs for each respective region, decode the data from the respective regions according to each ECC, and select the each respective region according to the error rate of the respective region at each ECC.

4. The data storage and replay device according to claim 3, wherein the ECC is selected from a plurality of available ECC'"'"'s so that a fastest encodable ECC is selected that is predicted to produce no more than a predetermined post-decoding error rate associated with the information.

5. The data storage and replay device according to claim 3, further comprising an output configured to output decoded data at least at a predetermined replay rate for use in audio and/or video replay.

6. The data storage and replay device according to claim 1, wherein the storage medium comprises a flash memory circuit.

7. A data storage and transmission device comprising:

a storage medium comprising a plurality of regions;

an error rate assessment unit configured to generate information about a prediction of an error rate of retrieval for respective ones of the regions based on measurements of performance of the respective ones of the plurality of regions of the storage medium during use, the measurements of performance being made repeatedly during a useful life of the storage medium based on data for real time signal rendering; and

a decoder configured to perform decoding of data, which is retrieved from the plurality of regions of the storage medium according to a plurality of error correcting codes (ECCs), the decoder selecting one ECC for each particular region from the plurality of available ECC'"'"'s dependent on the information for the particular region from the error rate assessment unit obtained during the useful life of the storage medium,

wherein the data is divided into blocks having a similar predetermined first size, each of the plurality of regions having a similar predetermined second size that is sufficiently larger than the first size to also store additional data associated with encoded received data.

8. The data storage and transmission device according to claim 7, further comprising an output circuit that is configured to adapt a rate of transmission of the retrieved and decoded data dependent on the selected ECC.

9. The data storage and transmission device according to claim 7, further comprising an encoder circuit configured to store the data initially encoded for the plurality of regions according to each of the plurality of ECCs.

10. The data storage and transmission device according to claim 7, wherein the storage medium comprises a flash memory circuit.

11. A method of writing data into a storage medium, the method comprising:

gathering, repeatedly during a useful life of the storage medium, measurements of performance for a plurality of regions of the storage medium based on data for real time signal rendering;

generating information about a prediction of an error rate of retrieval for respective ones of the regions based on the measurements;

encoding received data according to each of a plurality of error correcting codes (ECCs);

dividing the encoded data into blocks having a similar predetermined first size; and

storing the encoded received data into the respective one of the regions, each of the plurality of regions having a similar predetermined second size that is sufficiently larger than the first size to also store additional data associated with the encoded received data.

12. A method of reading data from a storage medium, the method comprising:

gathering, repeatedly during a useful life of the storage medium, measurements of performance for a plurality of regions of the storage medium based on data for real time signal rendering;

generating information about a prediction of an error rate of retrieval for respective ones of the regions based on the measurements;

selecting for each particular region a plurality of error correcting codes ECCs that are supported by a decoder;

decoding data retrieved from a region of the storage medium with the decoder according to the selected ECC; and

selecting one ECC for the region from the plurality of ECCs dependent on the information for the particular region from an error rate assessment unit obtained during the useful life of the storage medium,

wherein the data is divided into blocks having a similar predetermined first size, each of the plurality of regions having a similar predetermined second size that is sufficiently larger than the first size to also store additional data associated with encoded received data.

13. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine instructions which, when loaded into a programmable computer, cause the computer to:

gather, repeatedly during a useful life of a storage medium, measurements of performance for a plurality of regions of the storage medium based on data for real time signal rendering;

generate information about a prediction of an error rate of retrieval for respective ones of the regions-based on the measurements;

encode received data according to each of a plurality of error correcting codes (ECCs) with an encoder before storage of the encoded received data into the respective one of the regions;

divide the encoded data into blocks having a similar predetermined first size; and

store the encoded received data into the respective one of the regions, each of the plurality of regions having a similar predetermined second size that is sufficiently larger than the first size to also store additional data associated with the encoded received data.