Managing Write Operations in a Computerized Memory
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorIlias Iliadis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for managing write operations in memory. The method includes a memory including units, each of the units including subunits. Data updates are written “out-of-place”, in that new data does not overwrite the memory locations (subunits) where the data is currently stored. The at least one subunit containing the outdated data is marked as invalid. As a result, a subunit can contain up to date data in a valid subunit next to invalid subunits. For reclaiming units for erasure, it is searched amongst the units to identify a unit or units that match a predetermined criterion. The data of valid subunits of such identified unit is rewritten to another unit or units.
Claims20
A method for managing a computerized memory for storing data, the memory comprising units, each of the units comprising subunits, wherein the memory performing data updates by writing data updates out-of-place, wherein data updates to outdated data are written to a subunit different from a subunit containing the outdated data and wherein the subunit containing the outdated data is invalid while a subunit containing up-to-date data is a valid subunit;
- said method comprising:
- searching amongst the units to identify a unit that matches a predetermined criterion;
- and
- stopping the search and rewriting data of valid subunits of an identified unit into at least another unit after a unit that matches the predetermined criterion is identified.
A storage device, comprising:
- a memory comprising units, each of the units comprising subunits, a subunit containing either up to date data being a valid subunit or outdated data being an invalid subunit;
- and
- a memory controller configured to write data updates to a subunit different from the subunit the outdated data is contained whereby the subunit containing the outdated data is invalid;
- search amongst the units to identify a unit that matches a predetermined criterion;
- stop the search after a unit that matches the predetermined criterion is identified;
- and rewrite data of valid subunits of an identified unit into subunits of at least another unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.