US 2020/0050385 A1 · Virtualizing Isolation Areas of Solid-State Storage Media

Abstract

The present disclosure describes apparatuses and methods for virtualizing isolation areas of solid-state storage media. In some aspects, a storage media accelerator determines, via a storage media interface, a geometry of solid-state storage media. The accelerator selects, based on the geometry, an area of the solid-state storage media as an isolated unit of storage. A physical address of the isolated unit of storage is then mapped to a virtual address. The accelerator exposes, via the virtual address, the isolated unit of storage through a host interface to enable host access of the isolated unit of storage. The accelerator may also remap the isolated unit of storage to other areas of the solid-state storage media without host interaction. By so doing, the accelerator may provide virtualized isolation and partitioning functionalities to a host, while efficiently handling lower-level storage media functions, such as wear leveling and load balancing, without host involvement.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for virtualizing isolation areas of solid-state storage media, comprising:

determining, via a storage media interface, a geometry of solid-state storage media coupled to the storage media interface;
selecting, based on the geometry of the solid-state storage media, an area of the solid-state storage media as an isolated unit of storage;
mapping a physical address of the isolated unit of storage to a virtual address through which the isolated unit of storage is accessible;
and
exposing, via the virtual address, the isolated unit of storage through a host interface to enable host access of the isolated unit of storage in the solid-state storage media.

2 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a hardware-based processor;
a memory coupled to the processor and configured to maintain processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution, implement an application on the apparatus;
a host interface configured to enable the application to access data in storage media associated with the apparatus;
a storage media accelerator coupled to the host interface and providing a storage media interface, the storage media accelerator configured to:
determine, through the storage media interface, a geometry of solid-state storage media operably coupled with the apparatus;
select, based on the geometry of the solid-state storage media, an area of the solid-state storage media as an isolated unit of storage;
map a physical address of the isolated unit of storage to a virtual address through which the isolated unit of storage is accessible;
and
expose, via the virtual address, the isolated unit of storage through the host interface to enable access of the isolated unit of storage by the application.

6 more elements

A System-on-Chip (SoC) comprising:

a storage media interface;
a host interface through which access to storage media is provided to a host;
a hardware-based processor;
a memory configured to store an address map and processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the hardware-based processor, implement a storage media accelerator to:
determine a geometry of solid-state storage media operably coupled with the storage media interface, the geometry exposed by the solid-state storage media through the storage media interface;
select, based on the geometry of the solid-state storage media, an area of the solid-state storage media as an isolated unit of storage;
associate, in the address map, a physical address of the isolated unit of storage with a virtual address through which the isolated unit of storage is accessible;
and
expose, via the virtual address, the isolated unit of storage through the host interface to enable access of the isolated unit of storage by the host.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Virtualizing Isolation Areas of Solid-State Storage Media

Life of this patent

Virtualizing Isolation Areas of Solid-State Storage Media

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20