Slice-based random access buffer for data interleaving

A method of interleaving data, comprising:

• receiving incoming data sectors of a super-sector;
• dividing the incoming data sectors into slices;
• storing the slices of the incoming data sectors in free memory slots of a plurality of independently accessible memory slots, wherein a free memory slot is identified by a status flag associated with a logical address of the free memory slot;
• storing labels associated with the slices of the incoming data sectors in a sequence based upon an interleaving scheme;
• and
• reading out media sectors corresponding to the super-sector, wherein a media sector includes interleaved data slices read out from the plurality of independently accessible memory slots in order of the sequence of stored labels.

A storage device, comprising:

• a storage medium;
• and
• a storage controller, the storage controller being configured to transfer data to the storage medium via a write channel, the write channel including:
• a slice divider configured to receive incoming data sectors of a super-sector being written to the storage medium, the slice divider being further configured to divide the incoming data sectors into slices;
• a random access buffer including memory slots for storing data sector slices, the random access buffer being configured to store the slices of the incoming data sectors in free memory slots, wherein a free memory slot is identified by a status flag associated with a logical address of the free memory slot;
• and
• a label buffer configured to store labels associated with the slices of the incoming data sectors in a sequence based upon an interleaving scheme, the storage controller being in communication with the random access buffer and the label buffer, the storage controller being configured to transfer media sectors corresponding to the super-sector to the storage medium, wherein a media sector includes interleaved data slices read out from the memory slots of the random access buffer in order of the sequence of labels stored by the label buffer.