Method and apparatus for an error tolerance aware data retention scheme in a storage device for multi-scale error tolerant data

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of storage units;
• and
• a controller coupled to the storage units that is configured to:
• provide a mapping of retention priorities to sectors of the storage units, wherein higher retention priorities map to sectors having a higher retention capability;
• receive a data stream and retention metadata for the data stream indicating retention priorities for segments of the data stream, wherein segments of the data stream having less error tolerance are mapped to higher retention priorities than segments of the data stream having greater error tolerance;
• use the mapping of retention priorities to determine a sector having a retention priority matching a retention priority of a segment of the data stream indicated in the retention metadata;
• and
• store the segment of the data stream in the determined sector;
• maintain an association of error correction engines to the sectors;
• and
• use one of the error correction engines indicated in the association of error correction engines for the sector to which the segment is to be written to generate error correction information for the segment to write to the storage units, wherein the error correction engines comprise different error correction techniques.

A computer program product including a computer readable storage media having a storage device driver executed by a processor to transfer data to a storage device and to:

• maintain a mapping of information types to retention priorities;
• process a received video bit stream to determine information types of segments in the received video bit stream based on a loss visibility model to map segments in a video bit stream having information with a greater effect on visibility with a higher retention priority than a segment having information having less of an effect on visibility according to the loss visibility model;
• determine retention priorities for the segments in the received video bit stream based on the information types of the segments and the retention priorities assigned to the information types in the mapping of information types, wherein the information types assigned retention priorities include at least one of motion information, encoding information used to decode and encode the video bit stream, and sections of a pixel domain based on characteristics of regions of pixels, wherein regions of pixels in frames of the video bit stream having a higher effect on visibility are assigned a higher priority than regions of pixels in the frames having less of an effect on visibility;
• generate retention metadata indicating the retention priorities for the segments in the data video bit stream;
• and
• send the retention metadata and the data stream to the storage device to store the segments in sectors of the storage device associated with retention priorities of the segments indicated in the retention metadata.

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device having a controller and a plurality of storage units;
• a computer readable storage media having a storage device driver executed by the processor to transfer data to the storage device and to:
• maintain a mapping of information types to retention priorities;
• process a received data stream to determine information types of segments in the received data stream;
• determine retention priorities for the segments in the received data stream based on the information types of the segments and the retention priorities assigned to the information types in the mapping of information types, wherein the information types having greater error tolerance are mapped to higher retention priorities than information types having greater error tolerance;
• generate retention metadata indicating the retention priorities for the segments in the data stream;
• and
• send the retention metadata and the data stream to the storage device;
• and
• wherein the controller of the storage device is coupled to the storage units and is configured to:
• provide a mapping of retention priorities to sectors of the storage units, wherein higher retention priorities map to sectors having a higher retention capability;
• receive the data stream;
• determine whether retention metadata providing retention priorities for segments in the data stream is provided for the received data stream, wherein, in retention metadata, segments of the data stream having less error tolerance have higher retention priorities than segments of the data stream having greater error tolerance;
• in response to a determination that the retention metadata is provided with the received data stream, perform:
• use the mapping of retention priorities to determine a sector having a retention priority matching a retention priority of a segment of the data stream indicated in the retention metadata;
• and
• store the segment of the data stream in the determined sector;
• and
• write the data stream to the storage units without using the mapping of retention priorities in response to determining that retention metadata is not provided for the received data stream.

A method for storing data in storage units of a storage device, comprising:

• providing a mapping of retention priorities to sectors of the storage units, wherein higher retention priorities map to sectors having a higher retention capability;
• receiving a data stream;
• determine whether retention metadata providing retention priorities for segments in the data stream is provided for the received data stream, wherein, in retention metadata, segments of the data stream having less error tolerance have higher retention priorities than segments of the data stream having greater error tolerance;
• in response to a determination that the retention metadata is provided with the received data stream, perform:
• using the mapping of retention priorities to determine a sector having a retention priority matching a retention priority of a segment of the data stream indicated in the retention metadata;
• and
• storing the segment of the data stream in the determined sector;
• and
• write the data stream to the storage units without using the mapping of retention priorities in response to determining that retention metadata is not provided for the received data stream.

A method for storing data in storage units of a storage device, comprising:

• providing a mapping of retention priorities to sectors of the storage units, wherein higher retention priorities map to sectors having a higher retention capability;
• receiving a data stream and retention metadata for the data stream indicating retention priorities for segments of the data stream, wherein segments of the data stream having less error tolerance are mapped to higher retention priorities than segments of the data stream having greater error tolerance;
• using the mapping of retention priorities to determine a sector having a retention priority matching a retention priority of a segment of the data stream indicated in the retention metadata;
• and
• storing the segment of the data stream in the determined sector;
• maintaining an association of error correction engines to the sectors;
• and
• using one of the error correction engines indicated in the association of error correction engines for the sector to which the segment is to be written to generate error correction information for the segment to write to the storage units, wherein the error correction engines comprise different error correction techniques.