Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device
View Patent ↗A nonvolatile memory having a non-power of two memory capacity is disclosed. The nonvolatile memory device includes at least one plane. The plane includes a plurality of blocks with each of the blocks divided into a number of pages and each of the blocks defined along a first dimension by a first number of memory cells for storing data, and along a second dimension of by a second number of memory cells for storing data. The nonvolatile memory has a non-power of two capacity proportionally related to a total number of memory cells in said plane. The nonvolatile memory also includes a plurality of row decoders. An at least substantially one-to-one relationship exists, in the memory device, for number of row decoders to number of pages. Each of the row decoders is configured to facilitate a read operation on an associated page of the memory device.
1. Apparatus comprising a nonvolatile memory chip, the memory chip including:
a non-power of two number of planes greater than two, said number of planes each including a plurality of blocks with each said blocks divided into a number of pages and each said blocks defined along a first dimension by a first number of memory cells for storing data, and along a second dimension by a second number of memory cells for storing data, the memory chip having a non-power of two capacity; and
a plurality of row decoders, each of said row decoders being configured to facilitate a read operation on an associated page of the memory chip.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of row decoders is a non-power of two number of row decoders.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the apparatus is configured for connection to a Universal Serial Bus port, and wherein the memory chip stores pre-installed files that take up less than all of the capacity of the memory chip.
4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a number of high voltage generators, less than the number of the planes, for providing voltages needed during operations of the memory chip including said read operation.
5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a number of high voltage generators, equal to the number of the planes, for providing voltages needed during operations of the memory chip including said read operation.
6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the memory chip is a flash memory chip.
7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the memory chip is a NAND flash memory chip.
8. A memory system comprising:
at least one nonvolatile memory device that has at least one plane, said plane including a plurality of blocks with each said blocks divided into a number of pages and each said blocks defined along a first dimension by a first number of memory cells for storing data, and along a second dimension by a second number of memory cells for storing data, said memory device having a non-power of two capacity proportionally related to a total number of memory cells in a data section of said plane; and
a memory controller in communication with said memory device, said memory controller including storage and a management module, said storage storing a map table, said management module configured to access the map table to carry out translation of logical addresses to physical addresses, and invalid physical addresses attributable to the non-power of two capacity of said memory device being mapped out in the map table.
9. The memory system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said memory device includes a plurality of row decoders, and an at least substantially one-to-one relationship exists, in the memory device, for number of row decoders to number of pages, and each said row decoders being configured to facilitate a read operation on an associated page of the memory device.
10. The memory system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said plurality of row decoders is a non-power of two number of row decoders.
11. The memory system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said at least one plane is more than two planes.
12. The memory system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said memory device includes a number of high voltage generators, less than the number of the planes, for providing voltages needed during read and other operations of the memory device.
13. The memory system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said more than two planes is a non-power of two number of planes.
14. The memory system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said memory device is a NAND flash memory device, said storage is Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) and said management module includes an allocator for handling translation of logical addresses to physical addresses in accordance with NAND Flash Translation Layer (NFTL).
15. The memory system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said memory device is a flash memory device.
16. A method of filling a memory controller table with data, the table stored in a random access memory of a memory controller, the memory controller in communication with a memory chip having at least one memory cell array storing the data for management functions of the memory controller, the method comprising:
retrieving the data from the at least one memory cell array of the memory chip, the at least one memory cell array of the memory chip having a non-power of two capacity;
processing the data in the memory controller to determine invalid physical addresses attributable to the non-power of two capacity of the at least one memory cell array of the memory chip; and
modifying the memory controller table to map out said invalid physical addresses.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the at least one memory cell array of the memory chip is a number of memory cell arrays greater than two, said number greater than two being a non-power power of two number.
18. The method as claimed in claim 16 further comprising modifying the same memory controller table to map out bad memory cells.
19. The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the data is retrieved from spare fields of pages of the at least one memory cell array of the memory chip.