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US 8,479,061 B2Granted
Solid state memory cartridge with wear indication
AssigneeAgigA Tech Inc.
InventorRonald H Sartore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A memory cartridge is described that includes a non-volatile memory. The cartridge also includes logic to concentrate memory operations on particular areas of the non-volatile memory to cause the areas of concentration to wear out at an accelerated rate relative to non areas of concentration, and logic to track wear on the non-volatile memory resulting from one or both of erases and writes.
Claims20
A memory system comprising:
- a volatile memory;
- a memory cartridge including a non-volatile memory, the volatile memory configured to act as a read/write buffer memory for the non-volatile memory;
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic designed to identify and target memory locations within the non-volatile memory for accelerated wear over other areas of memory locations within the non-volatile memory;
- and to configure memory direction logic to concentrate memory write-backs from the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory within the targeted area preferentially over the other areas;
- thus causing the non-volatile memory to wear out over time in a uneven manner;
- wherein the memory direction logic is replacement logic for the volatile memory;
- and
- logic to track wear on the non-volatile memory resulting from the memory operations.
5 more elements
A memory system comprising:
- a non-volatile memory;
- a volatile memory configured to act as a read/write buffer memory for the non-volatile memory;
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic designed to identify and target memory locations within the non-volatile memory for accelerated wear over other areas of memory locations within the non-volatile memory;
- and to configure memory direction logic to concentrate memory write-backs from the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory within the targeted area preferentially over the other areas;
- thus causing the non-volatile memory to wear out over time in a uneven manner;
- wherein the memory direction logic is replacement logic for the volatile memory;
- and
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic to provide an indication that the nonvolatile memory requires replacement in response to a signal from wear tracking logic external to the memory cartridge.
5 more elements
A memory system comprising:
- a volatile memory;
- a plurality of removable memory cartridges, each comprising nonvolatile memory, the volatile memory configured to act as a read/write buffer memory for the non-volatile memory of the memory cartridges;
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic designed to identify and target memory locations within the non-volatile memory for accelerated wear over other areas of memory locations within the non-volatile memory over time;
- and to configure memory direction logic to concentrate memory write-backs from the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory within the targeted area preferentially over the other areas;
- thus causing the non-volatile memory to wear out over time in a uneven manner;
- wherein the memory direction logic is replacement logic for the volatile memory;
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic to track wear on each nonvolatile memory and to provide indications of the wear status of the nonvolatile memories to one or more of (a) the memory cartridges, (b) a display, or (c) a host system comprising the memory system.
4 more elements
A memory system comprising:
- volatile memory;
- a plurality of removable memory cartridges, each comprising nonvolatile memory, the volatile memory configured to act as a read/write buffer memory for the non-volatile memory of the memory cartridges;
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic designed to identify and target memory locations within the non-volatile memory for accelerated wear over other areas of memory locations within the non-volatile memory;
- and to configure memory direction logic to concentrate memory write-backs from the volatile memory to the non-volatile memory within the targeted area preferentially over the other areas;
- thus causing the non-volatile memory to wear out over time in a uneven manner;
- wherein the memory direction logic is replacement logic for the volatile memory;
- nontransitory machine memory or circuitry embodying logic external to the memory cartridges to track at least one of a number of erases and writes to each removable memory cartridge;
- and
- logic to provide indications that one or more of the removable cartridges are at or exceeding their useful life.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.