Partial block data programming and reading operations in a non-volatile memory
AssigneeSanDisk Corporation
InventorKevin M. Conley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Data in less than all of the pages of a non-volatile memory block are updated by programming the new data in unused pages of either the same or another block. In order to prevent having to copy unchanged pages of data into the new block, or to program flags into superceded pages of data, the pages of new data are identified by the same logical address as the pages of data which they superceded and a time stamp is added to note when each page was written. When reading the data, the most recent pages of data are used and the older superceded pages of data are ignored. This technique is also applied to metablocks that include one block from each of several different units of a memory array, by directing all page updates to a single unused block in one of the units.
Claims31
In a non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are individually erasable as a unit and which are individually organized into a plurality of pages of memory storage elements that are individually programmable together, a method of substituting new data for superceded data within at least one page of one of the plurality of blocks while data in at least another page of said one block is not replaced, comprising:
- programming the new data into at least one page of said one or another of the plurality of blocks,
- identifying the at least one page of superceded data and the at least one page of new data by a common logical address,
- recording a relative time of programming the at least one page of new data and the at least one page of superceded data;
- and
- wherein the at least one page of superceded data is less than all the data contained in said one block.
In a non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are individually erasable as a unit and which are individually organized into a plurality of pages of memory storage elements that are individually programmable together, a method of substituting new data for superceded data within at least one page of one of the plurality of blocks while data in at least another page of said one block is not replaced, comprising:
- programming the new data into at least one page of said one or another of the plurality of blocks,
- identifying the at least one page of superceded data and the at least one page of new data by a common logical address,
- recording a relative time of programming the at least one page of new data and the at least one page of superceded data;
- and
- wherein the data in at least another page of said one block that is not replaced are not copied into said one or another block as part of substituting the new data for the superceded data.
In a non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are individually erasable as a unit and which are individually organized into a plurality of pages of memory storage elements that are individually programmable together, a method of substituting new data for superceded data within at least one page of one of the plurality of blocks while data in at least another page of said one block is not replaced, comprising:
- programming the new data into at least one page of said one or another of the plurality of blocks, wherein pages within the individual blocks are programmed in a designated order,
- identifying the at least one page of superceded data and the at least one page of new data by a common logical address,
- reading pages of data within said one and, if new data has been programmed thereinto, another block in a reverse order from which they were programmed,
- passing over any pages of data so read which have the same logical page address as a page whose data has already been read;
- and
- wherein the at least one page of superceded data is less than all the data contained in said one block.
A method of operating a non-volatile memory system having an array of memory storage elements organized into at least two sub-arrays, wherein the individual sub-arrays are divided into a plurality of non-overlapping blocks of storage elements wherein a block contains the smallest group of memory storage elements that are erasable together, and the individual blocks are divided into a plurality of pages of storage elements wherein a page is the smallest group of memory storage elements that are programmable together, comprising:
- linking at least one block from individual ones of said at least two sub-arrays to form a metablock wherein its component blocks are erased together as a unit, and
- updating pages of original data within any of the metablock component blocks less than all the pages within the block by programming replacement data into pages within another at least one block in only a designated one of the sub-arrays regardless of which sub-array the data being updated is stored.
In a re-programmable non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are erasable together as a unit, the plurality of blocks individually being divided into a plurality of a given number of pages of memory storage elements that are programmable together, a method of operating the memory system, comprising:
- programming individual ones of a first plurality of pages with original data, a logical page address associated with the original data and an indication of a relative time of programming the original data,
- thereafter programming individual ones of a second plurality of a total number of pages less than said given number with updated data, a logical page address associated with the updated data and an indication of a relative time of programming the updated data, wherein at least some of the logical page addresses associated with the updated data are the same as those associated with the original data programmed into the first plurality of pages, and
- thereafter reading and assembling data from the first and second plurality of pages including, for pages having the same logical addresses, comparing the relative time indications programmed therein and selecting the updated data from the pages having the more recent time indication and omitting use of the original data from the pages having the older time indication.
In a re-programmable non-volatile memory system having a plurality of blocks of memory storage elements that are erasable together as a unit, the plurality of blocks individually being divided into a plurality of a given number of pages of memory storage elements that are programmable together, a method of operating the memory system, comprising:
- programming individual ones of a first plurality of said given number of pages in each of at least a first block with original data and a logical page address associated with the original data,
- thereafter programming individual ones of a second plurality of a total number of pages less than said given number in a second block with updated data and a logical page address associated with the updated data, wherein the logical page addresses associated with the updated data programmed into the second plurality of pages are the same as those associated with the original data programmed into the first plurality of pages, and
- thereafter reading and assembling data from the first and second plurality of pages including, for pages having the same logical addresses, selecting the updated data from the pages most recently programmed and omitting use of the original data from the pages earlier programmed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.