IP Library Granted Patent US 10,372,382
Granted Patent B2
US 10,372,382 · App. 15/394,560 · Granted Aug 6, 2019

Methods and apparatus for read disturb detection based on logical domain

Inventors: Parvaneh Alavi (Lake Forest, CA); Hung-min Chang (Irvine, CA); Haining Liu (Irvine, CA); Jerry Lo (Hacienda Heights, CA); Hung-Cheng Yeh (Irvine, CA)
Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
G06F3/0679G06F3/064G06F3/0616G06F11/004G11C16/0483G11C16/08G11C16/26G11C16/349G11C16/3418G11C16/3427G11C16/3431G06F2201/81G06F2201/88
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,372,382
App. No.
15/394,560
Granted
Aug 6, 2019
Kind
B2
Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure provide methods and apparatus that monitor and mitigate Read Disturb errors in non-volatile memory (NVM) devices such as NAND flash memories. The disclosed methods and apparatus determine which logical block addresses (LBAs) in the NVM device are frequently accessed by a host, rather than looking a physical address accesses. The potential Read Disturb errors may then be mitigated by triggering Read Disturb mitigation when the numbers of access of one or more of the frequently accessed LBAs exceeds a predefined number of accesses.

Claims (46)

1. A method of monitoring a non-volatile memory (NVM) for potential Read Disturb errors, the method comprising:

maintaining a data structure of a plurality of logical block addresses respectively corresponding to physical memory address locations of the NVM, wherein the data structure further includes read access counts corresponding to a number of times the plurality of logical block addresses has been read accessed by a host, and wherein adjacent logical block addresses correspond to at least some non-adjacent physical memory address locations in the NVM; and

comparing the read access counts of the plurality of logical block addresses to a predefined threshold number of access counts to determine whether to trigger a Read Disturb mitigation for the physical memory address locations of the NVM corresponding to the plurality of logical block addresses.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein maintaining the data structure of the plurality of logical block addresses further comprises including only logical block addresses in the data structure that have a read access count greater than a predefined minimum number of accesses.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data structure is configured as a data tree structure wherein each node in the tree represents a logical memory location accessed by the host, and each node includes data including one or more of a logical block address, an access count of the logical block address, an index of a next logical block address location in the data tree structure, and an index of a previous logical block address location in the data tree structure.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data structure is stored in a local memory of a solid state drive (SSD) including the NVM, and the local memory is coupled to a controller configured to control accesses to the NVM.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

updating a Read Disturb table stored in the NVM with access count values of physical memory locations corresponding to the plurality of logical block addresses maintained in the data structure.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

maintaining a low access list of logical block addresses accessed by the host within a range of access counts, wherein a maximum of the range is less than a predefined minimum number of accesses required for inclusion of a logical block address in the data structure.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

updating a Read Disturb table stored in the NVM with access count values of physical memory locations corresponding to the logical block addresses maintained in the low access list of logical block addresses.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing Read Disturb mitigation for the physical memory address locations of the NVM corresponding to the plurality of logical block addresses based on the comparison of the read access counts to the predefined threshold number of access counts.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a trend in a host access pattern based on the data structure;

determining whether to trigger the Read Disturb mitigation based on the detected trend in the host access pattern; and

performing the Read Disturb mitigation based on the detected trend.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing the Read Disturb mitigation by directing logical block addresses having read access counts exceeding the threshold number to a same physical block of the NVM.

11. A solid state drive (SSD) comprising:

a non-volatile memory (NVM); and

a controller communicatively coupled to a host device, a local memory device, and the NVM,

wherein the controller is configured to:

store read access counts in the local memory device, wherein the read access counts correspond to a number of times logical block addresses are read accessed by the host device, wherein the logical block addresses respectively correspond to physical memory address locations of the NVM, and wherein adjacent logical block addresses correspond to at least some non-adjacent physical memory address locations in the NVM;

determine when one or more of the stored read access counts of the logical block addresses exceed a predefined threshold number of access counts; and

trigger a Read Disturb prevention process for physical memory address locations in the NVM corresponding to a logical block address having corresponding read access counts determined to exceed the predefined threshold number of access counts.

12. The solid state drive of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

store the read access counts in a tree data structure having a plurality of nodes each corresponding to a respective logical block address.

13. The solid state drive of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

store only logical block addresses in the data structure having a read access count greater than a predefined minimum number of accesses.

14. The solid state drive of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

update a Read Disturb table stored in the NVM with the stored access count values.

15. The solid state drive of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

update a Read Disturb table stored in the NVM with access count values of the physical memory locations corresponding to the logical block addresses stored in the local memory.

16. The solid state drive of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

store a low access list of logical block addresses in the local memory device, wherein the low access list comprises logical block addresses in the NVM accessed by the host device within a range of access counts, wherein a maximum of the range is less than a predefined minimum number of accesses required for inclusion of a logical block address in the data structure.

17. The SSD of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to sort and group of NVM read access accesses into a matrix that groups the accesses into a higher risk pool of addresses and a lesser risk pool of addresses.

18. The SSD of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to:

detect a trend in a host access pattern based on the data structure;

determine whether to trigger the Read Disturb mitigation based on the detected trend in the host access pattern; and

perform the Read Disturb mitigation based on the detected trend.

19. The SSD of claim 12 , wherein the controller is further configured to perform the Read Disturb mitigation to relocate pages within the NVM based on the tree data structure to reduce write amplification.

20. An apparatus for mitigating Read Disturb errors in a non-volatile memory (NVM), the apparatus comprising:

means for determining which logical block addresses (LBAs) of a host are frequently accessed by the host, wherein the LBAs respectively correspond to physical memory address locations of the NVM, wherein adjacent LBAs correspond to at least some non-adjacent physical memory address locations in the NVM, and wherein the means for determining further comprises means for determining a number of times the LBAs have been read accessed by the host; and

means for triggering a Read Disturb prevention process when a read access count of one or more of the LBAs exceeds a predefined number of accesses.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising:

means for maintaining the LBAs in the NVM that are frequently accessed by the host in a data structure of a plurality of logical block addresses of the NVM where the data structure further includes read access counts for each of the logical block addresses of the plurality of logical block addresses maintained in the data structure.

Assignments (10)
PARTIAL RELEASE OF SECURITY INTERESTS Recorded Apr 25, 2025
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS AGENT
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 071382/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 25, 2025
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 071050/0001 →
PATENT COLLATERAL AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 23, 2024
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS THE AGENT
Reel/Frame 068762/0494 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jun 27, 2024
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 067982/0032 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 29, 2024
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 067567/0682 →
PATENT COLLATERAL AGREEMENT - DDTL LOAN AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 21, 2023
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067045/0156 →
PATENT COLLATERAL AGREEMENT - A&R LOAN AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 21, 2023
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 064715/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST AT REEL 052915 FRAME 0566 Recorded Feb 8, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 059127/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 6, 2020
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 052915/0566 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 15, 2017
From: ALAVI, PARVANEH; CHANG, HUNG-MIN; LIU, HAINING; LO, JERRY; YEH, HUNG-CHENG
To: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 041586/0668 →
Continuity (1)
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