Pre-organization of data

• US 8,738,882 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2011
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Post, Daniel Jeffrey, Neuenschwander, Erik C., Crosby, Daniel E., Herman, Ken, Chan, David Michael, Nham, Benjamin H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahn, Sangwoo
• Application Number:
  US13/153,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20120311000A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 711/E12.001
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/02 Addressing or allocation; Relocation program address sequencing G06F9/00; arrangements for selecting an address in a digital store G11C8/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0246 in block erasable memory, e.g. flash memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1847 specifically adapted to static storage, e.g. adapted to flash memory or SSD
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/7205 Cleaning, compaction, garbage collection, erase control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0616 in relation to life time, e.g. increasing Mean Time Between Failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]

Abstract

In a method of writing data to a file system on a solid state drive, a file stream is opened for writing to a file in the file system. A life expectancy value predicting a length of time the data to be written will be stored in the file system is attached to the file stream. The data is written to the file stream and stored on the solid state storage device according to the life expectancy value attached to the data. In one embodiment, a unique identifier may be used as the life expectancy value for writing a group of related files predicted to be stored in the file system for substantially the same length of time. The life expectancy value may be predicted based on a file type of the file being written. The life expectancy value may be stored as metadata for the file being written.

Claims

1. A method for writing files to a file system in a non-volatile memory, the method comprising:

opening a file stream for writing a first file to the file system;

predicting a life expectancy value of the first file, wherein the life expectancy value is a prediction of a length of time the first file will remain stored in the file system;

attaching the life expectancy value to the file stream;

writing the first file to the file stream to cause the first file to be written to the non-volatile memory according to the life expectancy value attached to the file stream; and

identifying a second file having a similar life expectancy to the first file, wherein writing the first file to the file stream includes writing the first file to a buffer associated with an erasable block that is larger than each of the first file and the second file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the life expectancy value is a binary value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the life expectancy value is predicted based on a file type of the first file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the life expectancy value is stored as metadata for the first file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-volatile memory is a flash memory.

6. A processor-based device, comprising:

a processor;

a non-volatile memory coupled to the processor; and

an operating system that is executed by the processor, the operating system performing operations for writing data to a file system in the non-volatile memory, the operations including;

opening a file stream for writing a file to the file system,

predicting a life expectancy value of the file, wherein the life expectancy value is a prediction of a length of time the file will remain stored in the file system,

attaching the life expectancy value to the file stream, and

writing the file to the file stream to cause the file to be stored in the non-volatile memory according to the life expectancy of the data, wherein the non-volatile memory;

includes an erasable block that is larger than each file in a plurality of files having a similar life expectancy to the file, and

is coupled to a buffer that is associated with the erasable block, wherein writing the file to the file stream comprises writing the file to the buffer.

7. The processor-based device of claim 6, wherein the life expectancy value is a binary value.

8. The processor-based device of claim 6, wherein the operating system predicts the life expectancy value based on a file type of the file.

9. The processor-based device of claim 6, wherein the operating system stores the life expectancy value as metadata for the file.

10. The processor-based device of claim 6, wherein the non-volatile memory is a flash memory.

11. A device controller for accessing a non-volatile memory organized into a plurality of erasable blocks, the device controller comprising:

a data controller for communicating with a source of data;

a bus controller for communicating with the non-volatile memory and the source of data;

control circuitry configured to perform operations that include;

directing the data controller to receive data to be initially written to the non-volatile memory and to receive a life expectancy value that is associated with the data, wherein the associated life expectancy value is predicted by an operating system and represents a predicted length of time the data will remain stored in a file system,

selecting one of the plurality of erasable blocks to receive the data according to the associated life expectancy value, and

directing the bus controller to write the data to the selected erasable block of the non-volatile memory, wherein a buffer is associated with the plurality of erasable blocks, each erasable block in the plurality of erasable blocks is larger than each file in a plurality of files having a similar life expectancy to the data, and writing the data to the selected erasable block comprises writing the data to the buffer.

12. The device controller of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to select the buffer to receive the data according to the associated life expectancy value.

13. The device controller of claim 11, wherein the life expectancy value is a binary value and the device controller selects one of two erasable blocks.

14. The device controller of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to store the life expectancy value as metadata for the data being written.

15. The device controller of claim 11, wherein the non-volatile memory comprises flash memory.

16. An electronic device comprising:

a non-volatile memory organized into a plurality of erasable blocks; and

a device controller coupled to the non-volatile memory and a data bus, the device controller performing operations including;

receiving data to be initially written to the non-volatile memory and a life expectancy value that is associated with the data, wherein the life expectancy value is predicted by an operating system and represents a predicted length of time the data will remain stored in a file system,

selecting one of the plurality of erasable blocks to receive the data according to the associated life expectancy value, and

writing the received data to the selected erasable block, wherein each of the plurality of erasable blocks is larger than a portion of data associated with the life expectancy, and writing the data to the file stream comprises writing the data to a buffer that is associated with the selected erasable block.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the device controller is further configured to select the buffer to receive the data according to the associated life expectancy value.

18. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the life expectancy value is a binary value and the device controller selects one of two buffers.

19. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the device controller is further configured to store the life expectancy value as metadata for the data being written.

20. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the non-volatile memory is a flash memory.