Reliable non-volatile memory programming interface and method therefor

A non-volatile memory driver, comprising:

• a function library defining a plurality of native function calls and having an input for receiving a selected native function call of said plurality of native function calls, and an output for providing at least one instruction in response to said selected native function call;
• and
• a hardware abstraction layer having an input coupled to said output of said function library for receiving said at least one instruction, and an output for providing a plurality of signals to cause a non-volatile memory to execute said at least one instruction,
• wherein said non-volatile memory comprises a plurality of sectors, in which the non-volatile memory driver uses a first portion of said plurality of sectors as an application visible memory, and a second portion of said plurality of sectors is used for another purpose;
• wherein the non-volatile memory driver maintains said non-volatile memory as a circular buffer within said application visible memory using a bottom sector pointer and a next location pointer;
• and
• wherein when said selected native function call is a resizing command, said function library adjusts said circular buffer selectively according to whether said resizing command increases or decreases said application visible memory.

A non-volatile memory driver, comprising:

• a function library defining a plurality of native function calls and having an input for receiving a selected native function call of said plurality of native function calls, and an output for providing at least one instruction in response to said selected native function call;
• and
• a hardware abstraction layer having an input coupled to said output of said function library for receiving said at least one instruction, and an output for providing a plurality of signals to cause a non-volatile memory to execute said at least one instruction,
• wherein the non-volatile memory driver maintains said non-volatile memory as a circular buffer using a bottom sector pointer and a next location pointer;
• and
• wherein in response to a write counter command, the non-volatile memory driver selectively creates a new counter object in said non-volatile memory using said next location pointer, wherein said new counter object includes a counter base and a plurality of increment locations.

A method comprising:

• receiving a selected native function call of a plurality of native function calls;
• providing at least one instruction in response to said selected native function call;
• providing a plurality of signals to cause a non-volatile memory to execute said at least one instruction;
• maintaining said non-volatile memory as a circular buffer using a bottom sector pointer and a next location pointer;
• and
• when said selected native function call is a housekeeping command generated from a corresponding command from an application layer, selectively repacking valid data of a bottom sector indicated by said bottom sector pointer using said next location pointer, and selectively erasing said bottom sector.