Method and apparatus to provide both storage mode and memory mode access to non-volatile memory within a solid state drive
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorFrank Hady
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus is described. The apparatus can include non-volatile memory, an embedded processor, and a memory controller. The memory controller can access data from the byte addressable non-volatile memory using at least one of: a first addressing scheme or a second addressing scheme. The memory controller can provide the data to a host system over a first interface when the data is accessed using the first addressing scheme. The memory controller can provide the data to the embedded processor over a second interface when the data is accessed using the second addressing scheme.
Claims26
An apparatus, comprising:
- a byte addressable non-volatile memory;
- an embedded processor;
- and
- a memory controller comprising logic to:
- access data from the byte addressable non-volatile memory selectively using at least one of a first addressing scheme or a second addressing scheme;
- provide the data to a host system over a first interface when the data is accessed using the first addressing scheme;
- and
- provide the data to the embedded processor over a second interface when the data is accessed using the second addressing scheme.
A computing system, comprising:
- a host system;
- and
- a memory device comprising:
- a memory controller;
- an embedded processor;
- and
- non-volatile memory comprising:
- data that is accessible to the host system via the memory controller over a first interface that uses a first addressing scheme;
- and
- data that is accessible to the embedded processor via the memory controller over a second interface that uses a second addressing scheme.
A method for accessing data from non-volatile memory, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a memory controller of a memory device, a first command to access data from a non-volatile memory of the memory device, wherein the first command is received from a host system;
- accessing, at the memory controller of the memory device, the data from the non-volatile memory using a first addressing scheme, wherein the data is provided from the memory controller to the host system over a first interface in response to the first command;
- receiving, at the memory controller of the memory device, a second command to access data from the non-volatile memory of the memory device, wherein the second command is received from an embedded processor;
- and
- accessing, at the memory controller of the memory device, the data from the non-volatile memory using a second addressing scheme, wherein the data is provided from the memory controller to the embedded processor over a second interface in response to the second command.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.