IP Library Granted Patent US 10,776,273
Granted Patent B2
US 10,776,273 · App. 15/595,592 · Granted Sep 15, 2020

Memory system having multiple cache pages and operating method thereof

Inventor: Yungcheng Lo (Cupertino, CA)
Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
G06F12/0835G06F3/0679G06F12/0246G06F12/0813G06F12/0866G06F12/0868G06F12/0897G06F2212/2022G06F2212/7211G11C16/0483G11C16/26
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,776,273
App. No.
15/595,592
Granted
Sep 15, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

A semiconductor memory system and an operating method thereof include a controller; and a memory device including a memory page manager, Nand pages, and multiple cache pages, wherein the Nand pages include current Nand pages and next Nand pages, wherein the current Nand pages is corresponding to a read command received from the controller, the memory page manager is configured to manage correlation of the Nand pages and the multiple cache pages, predict next Nand pages in accordance at least in part with the read command, the current Nand pages, or a combination thereof, and send the Nand pages to the controller, and the multiple cache pages contain pages loaded from the Nand pages.

Claims (37)

1. A semiconductor memory system comprising:

a controller; and

a memory device including a memory page manager, Nand pages, and multiple cache pages, wherein

the Nand pages include current Nand pages that correspond to a read command received from the controller,

the multiple cache pages include one or more first cache pages (set of first cache pages) for the current Nand pages, one or more second cache pages (set of second cache pages) for next Nand pages, and one or more third cache pages (set of third cache pages) for subsequent Nand pages, a size of each of the multiple cache pages being dynamically determined to be larger as Nand idle time increases and determined to be smaller as Nand idle time decreases,

the memory page manager is configured to load the current Nand pages to the set of first cache pages, correlate the current Nand pages with the set of first cache pages, predict the next Nand pages to be requested based at least in part on the read command, the current Nand pages, or a combination thereof, load the next Nand pages to the set of second cache pages, correlate the next Nand pages with the set of second cache pages, and manage correlation of the Nand pages that have been loaded to cache pages and their respective sets of cache pages, and

each of the sets of second and third cache pages is categorized in accordance with criteria used to predict the corresponding Nand pages, the criteria for predicting the next Nand pages being different than the criteria for predicting the subsequent Nand pages, and the criteria for predicting the subsequent Nand pages including information about previously predicted Nand pages, wherein the subsequent Nand pages are predicted to be accessed after the next Nand pages,

wherein the first set of cache pages for the current Nand pages are preserved for at least two operation cycles before being overwritten.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the memory page manager is further configured to update the correlation and save the updated correlation.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the memory page manager is configured to send the current Nand pages loaded to the set of first cache pages to the controller during Nand idle time.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the memory page manager is configured to predict the next Nand pages during the Nand idle time.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the memory page manager is configured to load the next Nand pages to the set of second cache pages during the Nand idle time.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the memory page manager is configured to load the next Nand pages to the set of second cache pages and send the current Nand pages loaded to the set of first cache pages to the controller concurrently.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the memory page manager is further configured to validate the next Nand pages before sending the next Nand pages to the controller in accordance with at least a next read command.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a cache management unit managing the multiple cache pages.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the multiple cache pages are sized in accordance with at least a size of the Nand pages.

10. A method of operating a semiconductor memory system comprising:

sending a read command from a controller to a memory device;

categorizing multiple cache pages in the memory device, the multiple cache pages including one or more first cache pages (set of first cache pages) for the current Nand pages, one or more second cache pages (set of second cache pages) for next Nand pages, and one or more third cache pages (set of third cache pages) for subsequent Nand pages, a size of each of the multiple cache pages being dynamically determined to be larger as Nand idle time increases and determined to be smaller as Nand idle time decreases;

loading current Nand pages corresponding to the read command to the set of first cache pages;

correlating the current Nand pages with the set of first cache pages using a memory page manager;

predicting the next Nand pages to be requested based at least in part on the read command, the current Nand pages, or a combination thereof, using the memory page manager;

loading the next Nand pages to the set of second cache pages;

correlating the next Nand pages with the set of second cache pages; and

managing correlation of the Nand pages that have been loaded to cache pages and their respective sets of cache pages;

wherein each of the sets of second and third cache pages is categorized in accordance with criteria used to predict the corresponding Nand pages, the criteria for predicting the next Nand pages being different than the criteria for predicting the subsequent Nand pages, and the criteria for predicting the subsequent Nand pages including information about previously predicted Nand pages, wherein the subsequent Nand pages are predicted to be accessed after the next Nand pages,

wherein the first set of cache pages for the current Nand pages are preserved for at least two operation cycles before being overwritten.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the managing the correlation of the Nand pages that have been loaded to cache pages includes updating the correlation and saving the updated correlation.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending the current Nand pages loaded to the set of first cache pages to the controller during Nand idle time.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the predicting the next Nand pages is performed during the Nand idle time.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the loading the next Nand pages to the set of second cache pages is performed during the Nand idle time.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the loading the next Nand pages to the set of second cache pages and sending the current Nand pages loaded to the set of first cache pages to the controller is performed concurrently.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising validating the next Nand pages before sending the next Nand pages to the controller in accordance with at least a next read command.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising managing the multiple cache pages by a cache management unit.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the multiple cache pages are sized in accordance with at least a size of the Nand pages.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the criteria to predict the next Nand pages, in addition to the read command, are at least two of location of Nand pages relative to the current Nand pages, most-frequently requested Nand pages, and status of Nand pages.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the criteria to predict the next Nand pages, in addition to the read command, are at least two of location of Nand pages relative to the current Nand pages, most-frequently requested Nand pages, and status of Nand pages.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 15, 2017
From: SK HYNIX MEMORY SOLUTIONS INC.
To: SK HYNIX INC.
Reel/Frame 044899/0443 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 15, 2017
From: LO, YUNGCHENG
To: SK HYNIX MEMORY SOLUTIONS INC.
Reel/Frame 042384/0105 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62337106 · May 16, 2016
Related Publication 20170329709A1 · Nov 16, 2017