System and method for dynamically adjusting garbage collection policies in solid-state memory

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are directed to optimizing the selection of memory blocks for garbage collection in solid state devices to efficiently maximize the amount of memory freed by garbage collection operations. The systems and methods disclosed herein provide for the efficient selection of optimal or near-optimal garbage collection candidate blocks, with the most optimal selection defined as block(s) with the most invalid pages. In one embodiment, a controller classifies memory blocks into various invalid block pools by the amount of invalid pages each block contains. In one embodiment, the controller selects for garbage collection a block from a non-empty pool of blocks with the highest minimum amount of invalid pages. One or more of the pools have minimum thresholds that can be dynamically adjusted according to an observed usage condition, such as a change of an over-provisioning amount in the storage state device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.