Methods for phased garbage collection using phased garbage collection block or scratch pad block as a buffer

A method for operating a non-volatile memory system having a non-volatile memory, comprising:

• receiving a first write command to write a first plurality of data, the first write command being allocated a first timeout period to complete an execution of the first write command;
• asserting a first busy signal;
• copying a first portion of a plurality of valid data from one or more first blocks of the non-volatile memory to a second block of the non-volatile memory for a garbage collection time period;
• writing the first plurality of data to a phased garbage collection block that spans a single logical group in the non-volatile memory;
• releasing the first busy signal before the first timeout period;
• receiving a second write command to write a second plurality of data, the second write command being received after the receiving the first write command, the second write command being allocated a second timeout period to complete an execution of the second write command;
• asserting a second busy signal;
• copying a second portion of the plurality of valid data from the one or more first blocks to the second block for the garbage collection time period;
• converting the phased garbage collection block to a first update block of the non-volatile memory;
• writing the second plurality of data to the first update block;
• and
• releasing the second busy signal before the second timeout period.

A method for operating a removable flash memory system having a flash memory in communication with a host via a host interface, comprising:

• receiving a write command from the host via the host interface to write a plurality of data, the write command being allocated a timeout period to complete an execution of the write command;
• asserting a busy signal to the host;
• copying a portion of a plurality of valid data from one or more first blocks of the flash memory to a second block of the flash memory for a garbage collection time period;
• writing the plurality of data to a phased garbage collection block that spans a single logical group in the flash memory;
• converting the phased garbage collection block to an update block of the flash memory;
• and
• releasing the busy signal before the timeout period.

A method for operating a removable flash memory system having a flash memory in communication with a host via a host interface, comprising:

• receiving a first write command from the host via the host interface to write a first plurality of data, the first write command being allocated a first timeout period to complete an execution of the first write command;
• asserting a first busy signal to the host;
• copying a first portion of a plurality of valid data from one or more first blocks of the flash memory to a second block of the flash memory for a garbage collection time period;
• writing the first plurality of data to a phased garbage collection block that spans a single logical group in the flash memory;
• releasing the first busy signal before a timeout period;
• receiving a second write command from the host via the host interface to write a second plurality of data, the second write command being received after the receiving the first write command, the second write command being allocated a second timeout period to complete an execution of the second write command;
• asserting a second busy signal to the host;
• copying a second portion of the plurality of valid data from the one or more first blocks to the second block for the garbage collection time period;
• and
• releasing the second busy signal before the second timeout period converting the phased garbage collection block to an update block of the flash memory.