Memory system and control method thereof
AssigneeToshiba Memory Corporation
InventorRyo TAKEUCHI
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A memory system includes a non-volatile memory having a plurality of memory chips, a plurality of switches provided for each of the memory chips for switching on and off supply of power to the corresponding memory chip, and a memory controller configured to control the switches and data access to the non-volatile memory. The memory controller is further configured to determine whether there is a first memory chip among the plurality of memory chips that has no data item stored therein with an elapsed time from a most recent access thereof that is less than a threshold value, and if so, turn off the supply of power to the first memory chip while maintaining the supply of power to the plurality of memory chips other than the first memory chip.
Claims20
A memory system comprising:
- a non-volatile memory that includes a plurality of memory chips;
- a plurality of switches provided for each of the memory chips for switching on and off supply of power to the corresponding memory chip;
- and
- a memory controller configured to control the switches and data access to the non-volatile memory, wherein the memory controller is further configured to:
- determine whether there is a first memory chip among the plurality of memory chips that has no data item stored therein with an elapsed time from a most recent access thereof that is less than a threshold value;
- and
- if so, turn off the supply of power to the first memory chip while maintaining the supply of power to the plurality of memory chips other than the first memory chip.
A memory system comprising:
- a non-volatile memory that includes a plurality of memory chips;
- a plurality of switches provided for each of the memory chips for switching on and off supply of power for performing an access operation on the corresponding memory chip;
- and
- a memory controller that controls data access to the non-volatile memory, wherein the memory controller is configured to designate data stored in the memory chips as cold data when an elapsed time from a most recent access of the data is determined to be greater than a threshold value, and move the cold data to a first memory chip of the plurality of memory chips from other memory chips of the plurality of memory chips, wherein
- the switches are controlled to selectively switch on and off the power for performing the access operation on the plurality of memory chips.
A method of controlling a memory system, comprising:
- when power to the memory system is turned ON, turning ON all switches provided for each of a plurality of memory chips to supply the power to each of the memory chips;
- determining that there is a first memory chip among the plurality of memory chips that has no data item stored therein with an elapsed time from a most recent access thereof that is less than a threshold value;
- and
- turning OFF a first switch connected to the first memory chip of the plurality of memory chips while keeping the switches connected to the memory chips other than the first switch, on an ON state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.