Back to results
US 8,555,086 B2Granted
Encrypting data on a non-volatile memory
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsRobert Royer, Sanjeev N. Trika
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A non-volatile memory, such as a NAND memory, may be encrypted by reading source blocks, writing to destination blocks, and then erasing the source blocks. As part of the encryption sequence, a power fail recovery procedure, using sequence numbers, is used to reestablish a logical-to-physical translation table for the destination blocks.
Claims16
A method comprising:
- setting a flag to indicate an improper shutdown;
- storing a mapping table in a volatile memory;
- identifying in a memory controller a first set of blocks of a non-volatile memory that are erased;
- identifying in the memory controller a second set of blocks of the non-volatile memory that are not erased;
- selecting in the memory controller the second set of blocks of the non-volatile memory for encryption;
- encrypting at least one of the second set of blocks by reading unencrypted data from the at least one of the second set of blocks and writing encrypted data to at least one of the first set of blocks;
- erasing the at least one of the second set of blocks;
- in response to completing the encryption, updating the mapping table by applying a power fail recovery procedure, wherein the mapping table comprises logical-to-physical translations for the at least one of the first set of blocks, and
- setting the flag to indicate a proper shutdown.
6 more elements
A memory comprising:
- an array of non-volatile memory cells:
- a volatile memory, said volatile memory including a mapping table;
- and
- a controller coupled to the array and the volatile memory, said controller to:
- set a flag to indicate an improper shutdown;
- identify blocks in said array that are erased,
- select blocks in said array other than said erased blocks for encryption,
- encrypt the selected blocks by reading unencrypted data from the selected blocks and writing encrypted data to the erased blocks,
- erase the selected blocks,
- in response to completing the encryption, update the mapping table by applying a power fail recovery procedure, wherein the mapping table comprises logical-to-physical translations for said destination blocks, and
- set the flag to indicate a proper shutdown.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.