Method for managing a non-volatile memory in a smart card

1. Method of managing access to a non-volatile memory, wherein said non-volatile memory results from the association of a non-volatile memory of a first type comprising characteristics of high capacity and coarse granularity, with a non-volatile memory of a second type comprising characteristics of low capacity and fine granularity, such that said non-volatile memory resulting from said association has the characteristics of capacity of said non-volatile memory of the first type and the characteristics of granularity of said non-volatile memory of the second type.

2. Method according to claim 1 , wherein the access to at least one block of the non-volatile memory of the first type comprises the following steps comprising

moving said block at least partially to a portion of the non-volatile memory of the second type, said memory of the second type acting as a permanent buffer for the memory of the first type,

performing all read and/or write operations on said block in said portion of the memory of the second type to which said block was moved.

3. Method according to claim 2 , wherein, when said block is accessed for writing, further comprising a step of updating the data of said block in the location corresponding to said block in said memory of the first type.

4. Method according to claim 3 , wherein the step of updating said block in the non-volatile memory of the first type comprises deleting, in the background, said block in the memory of the first type after it has been moved to the non-volatile memory of the second type and of returning said block, once the write operation has been performed, to the location corresponding to said moved block in the non-volatile memory of the first type.

5. Method according to claim 2 , further including returning one block of data already moved into the non-volatile memory of the second type to its corresponding location in the non-volatile memory of the first type before accessing at least one other block of the non-volatile memory of the first type.

6. Method according to claim 2 , further including storing at least one identifier in a persistent memory, provided to establish a link between each block moved from the non-volatile memory of the first type and the corresponding portion of the non-volatile memory of the second type.

7. Method according to claim 3 , further including returning one block of data already moved into the non-volatile memory of the second type to its corresponding location in the non-volatile memory of the first type before accessing at least one other block of the non-volatile memory of the first type.

8. Method according to claim 4 , further including returning one block of data already moved into the non-volatile memory of the second type to its corresponding location in the non-volatile memory of the first type before accessing at least one other block of the non-volatile memory of the first type.

9. Method according to claim 3 , further including storing at least one identifier in a persistent memory, provided to establish a link between each block moved from the non-volatile memory of the first type and the corresponding portion of the non-volatile memory of the second type.

10. Method according to claim 4 , further including storing at least one identifier in a persistent memory, provided to establish a link between each block moved from the non-volatile memory of the first type and the corresponding portion of the non-volatile memory of the second type.

11. Method according to claim 5 , further including storing at least one identifier in a persistent memory, provided to establish a link between each block moved from the non-volatile memory of the first type and the corresponding portion of the non-volatile memory of the second type.

12. Portable electronic device, equipped with data-processing means comprising a microprocessor and volatile and non-volatile memories, wherein the non-volatile memory results from the association of a non-volatile memory of a first type comprising characteristics of high capacity and coarse granularity with a non-volatile memory of a second type comprising characteristics of low capacity and fine granularity, such that said non-volatile memory resulting from said association has the characteristics of capacity of said non-volatile memory of the first type and the characteristics of granularity of said non-volatile memory of the second type.

13. Portable electronic device according to claim 12 , wherein the non-volatile memory of the first type is a NOR or NAND-type Flash memory.

14. Portable electronic device according to claim 12 , wherein the non-volatile memory of the second type is an EEPROM, FeRAM, MRAM, PCRAM memory or any type of random-access persistent memory.

15. Portable electronic device according to claim 12 , further comprising means for implementing the following operations:

moving a block of the non-volatile memory of the first type at least partially to a portion of the non-volatile memory of the second type, said memory of the second type acting as a permanent buffer for the memory of the first type, and

performing all read and/or write operations on said block in said portion of the memory of the second type to which said block was moved.

16. Portable electronic device according to claim 12 , said device is a smart card.

17. Portable electronic device according to claim 13 , wherein the non-volatile memory of the second type is an EEPROM, FeRAM, MRAM, PCRAM memory or any type of random-access persistent memory.

18. Portable electronic device according to claim 13 , wherein said device is a smart card.

19. The portable electronic device according to claim 12 , wherein each of said first type of memory and said second type of memory comprises a semiconductor memory.

20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of said first type of memory and said second type of memory comprises a semiconductor memory.