Software adapted wear leveling
View Patent ↗A subset of software objects stored in a first segment of non-volatile memory are identified as requiring frequent write operations or otherwise associated with a high endurance requirement. The subset of software objects are move to a second segment of non-volatile memory with a high endurance capacity, due to the application of wear leveling techniques to the second segment of non-volatile memory. The first and second segments of memory can be located in the same memory device or different memory devices.
1. A method comprising:
storing a set of software objects in a first segment of a non-volatile memory;
identifying a subset of software objects having an endurance requirement that exceeds an endurance limit of the non-volatile memory;
storing the subset of software objects in a second segment of the non-volatile memory;
determining a first memory block in the second segment of the non-volatile memory is filled, wherein a memory block pointer is pointing to the first memory block, the memory block pointer indicating at which block a next write should occur;
copying valid pages of a third memory block into a second memory block, the second memory block being adjacent to the first memory block, the third memory block being adjacent to the second memory block;
erasing the third memory block; and
incrementing the memory block pointer to point to the second memory block.
2. The method of claim 1 , where the first and second segments are associated with one or more non-volatile memory devices.
3. The method of claim 1 , where the first segment stores code or data and the second segment stores data.
4. The method of claim 1 , where the second segment of non-volatile memory has a higher endurance capacity than an endurance capacity of the first segment of non-volatile memory.
5. The method of claim 1 , where identifying a subset of software objects further comprises:
detecting whether a number of erase operations of a page or block containing a software object approaches an erase operation limit associated with the non-volatile device; and
responsive to the detecting, moving the page or block to the second segment.
6. The method of claim 5 , where detecting comprises:
counting the number of erase operations performed on the page or block; and
storing the number in the page or block.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating a mapping between a logical address of a page or block in the first segment and a new physical address of the page or block in the second segment.
8. The method of claim 7 , comprising:
storing the mapping in the page or block.
9. The method of claim 1 , where an endurance capacity of the second segment is calculated in accordance with a software application endurance requirement.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining if the software object is smaller than a block; and
if so, moving the entire block containing the software object to the second segment.
11. The method of claim 1 , where the subset of software objects is identified upon initialization.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of software objects is stored in the second segment of non-volatile memory upon initialization.
13. A method comprising:
storing a set of software objects in a first segment of a non-volatile memory;
identifying a subset of software objects having an endurance requirement that exceeds an endurance limit of the non-volatile memory;
storing the subset of software objects in a second segment of the non-volatile memory;
determining a first memory block in the second segment of the non-volatile memory is filled, wherein a memory block pointer is pointing to the first memory block, the memory block pointer indicating at which block a next write should occur;
copying valid pages of a subsequent memory block into a second memory block, the second memory block being adjacent to the first memory block, the subsequent memory block having more than a threshold number of valid pages that are copied into the subsequent memory block;
erasing the subsequent block; and
incrementing the memory block pointer to point to the second memory block.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
in response to copying valid pages of a subsequent memory block into a second memory block:
determining the subsequent memory block is located more than two blocks subsequent from the first memory block; and
copying the valid pages of a fourth memory block into the second memory block, wherein the fourth memory block is located two blocks subsequent to the first memory block.
15. The method of claim 13 , where the second segment of non-volatile memory has a higher endurance capacity than an endurance capacity of the first segment of non-volatile memory.
16. The method of claim 13 , where identifying a subset of software objects further comprises:
detecting whether a number of erase operations of a page or block containing a software object approaches an erase operation limit associated with the non-volatile device; and
responsive to the detecting, moving the page or block to the second segment.
17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
updating a mapping between a logical address of a page or block in the first segment and a new physical address of the page or block in the second segment.
18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining if the software object is smaller than a block; and
if so, moving the entire block containing the software object to the second segment.
19. The method of claim 13 , where the subset of software objects is identified upon initialization.