Hybrid density memory card
AssigneeSanDisk Corporation
InventorsCarlos Gonzalez, Shahzad B. Khalid
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A memory system (e.g., memory card) offering hybrid density storage is disclosed. The memory system yields both high density storage and high performance operation. According to one aspect, certain data to be stored in the memory system can be stored in lower density storage so that it provides robust storage and/or high speed retrieval. Other data, which can be retrieved at moderate speeds or moderate robustness, can be stored to higher density storage in a space (area) efficient manner.
Claims37
A memory system that couples to a host, said memory system comprising:
- a plurality of storage elements, a first portion of said storage elements for providing low density storage, and a second portion of said storage elements for providing high density storage;
- and
- a controller operatively connected to said storage elements, said controller operates to receive commands for data access from the host and to control reading and writing of data into said storage elements in accordance with the commands.
A hybrid memory device having a single substrate, said hybrid memory device comprising:
- a plurality of low density storage elements;
- a plurality of high density storage elements;
- and
- a controller operatively connected to said low density storage elements and said high density storage elements, said controller operates to control read, write and erasure of data into said low density storage elements and said high density storage elements.
A portable memory card, comprising:
- a data storage array, said data storage array including at least a first area of data storage having a first degree of robustness and a second area of data storage having a second degree of robustness;
- and
- a controller operatively connected to said storage elements, said controller operating to control reading and writing to said data storage array.
A portable memory card, comprising:
- a data storage array, said data storage array including at least a first area of data storage having a first density of data storage and a second area of data storage having a second density of data storage, the second density being at least twice that of the first density.
A method for rapidly forming an address translation table for a memory product having data storage elements arranged in logical blocks, each of the logical blocks including a plurality of data units, each of the data units having a header portion and a data portion, said method comprising:
- (a) determining that the address translation table needs to be generated;
- (b) reading the header portion of at least one of the data units within each of the logical blocks;
- (c) determining physical addresses for each of the logical blocks from the corresponding header portion read;
- and
- (d) forming the address translation table by saving the physical addresses in association with logical addresses for the logical blocks corresponding thereto.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.