IP Library Granted Patent US 11,537,510
Granted Patent B2
US 11,537,510 · App. 16/858,339 · Granted Dec 27, 2022

Storage devices having minimum write sizes of data

Inventors: Alan D. Bennett (Edinburgh, GB); Daniel L. Helmick (Broomfield, CO); Liam Parker (Edinburgh, GB); Sergey Anatolievich Gorobets (Edinburgh, GB); Peter Grayson (Grand Rapids, MI)
Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
G06F12/0246G06F11/1068G06F11/3037G06F12/0882G06F13/1668G06F2212/7207
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,537,510
App. No.
16/858,339
Granted
Dec 27, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to methods of operating storage devices. The storage device comprises a controller and a storage unit divided into a plurality of streams. The storage unit comprises a plurality of dies, where each die comprises two planes. One erase block from each plane of a die is selected for stream formation. Each erase block comprises a plurality of wordlines. A stream comprises one or two dies dedicated to storing parity data and a plurality of dies dedicated to storing user data. The stream further comprises space devoted for controller metadata. The storage device restricts a host device to send write commands in a minimum write size to increase programming efficiency. The minimum write size equals one wordline from one erase block from each plane of each die in the stream dedicated to storing user data minus the space dedicated to metadata.

Claims (38)

1. A storage device, comprising:

a non-volatile storage unit, wherein a capacity of the non-volatile storage unit is divided into a plurality of streams, and wherein the non-volatile storage unit comprises a plurality of dies, each of the plurality of dies comprising a plurality of erase blocks, and each of the erase blocks comprising a plurality of wordlines, wherein each stream comprises a plurality of user data dies of the plurality of dies, a first parity die, and a second parity die, wherein the plurality of user data dies are dedicated to storing user data;

a volatile storage unit; and

a controller coupled to the non-volatile storage unit and the volatile storage unit, wherein the controller is configured to:

store p-parity data in the first parity die;

store q-parity data in the second parity die, wherein q-parity data is a same size as p-parity data;

determine a minimum write size for commands to write data received from a host device, wherein the minimum write size is determined based on a number of erase blocks in a stream dedicated to storing user data, a pages per cell of the wordlines of each erase block, a number of wordlines in each erase block, and an amount of space dedicated to storing metadata of the storage device;

receive the commands to write data from the host device in the minimum write size;

aggregate one or more smaller commands to write data received from the host device having a size smaller than the minimum write size until the minimum write size is reached, wherein the aggregating occurs within the volatile storage unit; and

program the write data in the minimum write size to the stream, wherein the programming occurs to a wordline of each erase block of the stream concurrently.

2. The storage device of claim 1 , wherein one or more streams of the plurality of streams comprise the same number of erase blocks and have a same writable capacity, and wherein one or more streams of the plurality of streams comprise a different number of erase blocks and have a different writable capacity.

3. The storage device of claim 1 , wherein the minimum write size is determined to write two full wordlines in each die of the stream minus the amount of space dedicated to storing metadata.

4. The storage device of claim 3 , wherein each die of the stream comprises two planes, and wherein the minimum write size is determined to write to one full wordline in each plane of each die of the stream minus the amount of space dedicated to storing metadata.

5. The storage device of claim 1 , wherein a portion of each wordline comprises the amount of space dedicated to storing metadata.

6. The storage device of claim 1 , wherein a portion of each erase block comprises the amount of space dedicated to storing metadata.

7. A storage device, comprising:

a non-volatile storage unit, wherein a capacity of the non-volatile storage unit is divided into a plurality of streams, and wherein the non-volatile storage unit comprises a plurality of dies, each of the plurality of dies comprising a plurality of planes, each of the planes comprising a plurality of erase blocks, and each of the erase blocks comprising a plurality of wordlines, wherein each stream comprises a plurality of user data dies of the plurality of dies, a first parity die, and a second parity die, wherein the plurality of user data dies are dedicated to storing user data;

a volatile storage unit; and

a controller coupled to the non-volatile storage unit and the volatile storage unit, wherein the controller is configured to:

store p-parity data in the first parity die;

store q-parity data in the second parity die, wherein q-parity data is a same size as p-parity data;

calculate a minimum write size for commands to write data received from a host device, wherein the minimum write size is calculated to write a full wordline size of one erase block of each plane of each die dedicated to storing user data within a stream;

restrict the host device through a verbal agreement or a handshake agreement to send the commands to write data in the minimum write size;

receive one or more write commands from the host device in a size smaller than the minimum write size;

hold the one or more write commands in the volatile storage unit until the one or more write commands aggregate to the minimum write size; and

write the one or more write commands to the non-volatile storage unit once the one or more write commands are aggregated to the minimum write size, wherein the writing the one or more write commands to the non-volatile storage comprises programming the aggregated one or more write commands to a wordline of each erase block of the stream concurrently.

8. The storage device of claim 7 , wherein the minimum write size is calculated based on a pages per cell of the plurality of wordlines.

9. The storage device of claim 7 , wherein a portion of each stream comprises a metadata capacity for the storage device to write to.

10. The storage device of claim 9 , wherein the minimum write size is calculated to account for the metadata capacity.

11. A storage device, comprising:

a non-volatile storage unit, wherein a capacity of the non-volatile storage unit is divided into a plurality of streams, and wherein the non-volatile storage unit comprises a plurality of dies, each of the plurality of dies comprising a plurality of planes, each of the planes comprising a plurality of erase blocks, and each of the erase blocks comprising a plurality of wordlines, wherein each stream comprises a plurality of user data dies of the plurality of dies, wherein the plurality of user data dies are dedicated to storing user data, a first parity die, and a second parity die;

a volatile storage unit;

means for receiving commands to write data received from a host device in a minimum write size, wherein the minimum write size is set by multiplying a number of erase blocks in a stream dedicated to storing user data times a pages per cell of the wordlines times a wordline size, subtracting an amount of space dedicated to storing metadata of the storage device, store p-parity data in the first parity die, and store q-parity data in the second parity die, wherein q-parity data is a same size as p-parity data;

means for aggregating one or more commands to write data received from the host device having a size smaller than the minimum write size, wherein the aggregating occurs within the volatile storage unit; and

means for programming the write data in the minimum write size to the stream, wherein the means for programming occurs to a wordline of each erase block of the stream concurrently.

12. The storage device of claim 11 , wherein the minimum write size is set to align to a size of a wordline.

13. The storage device of claim 11 , wherein the minimum write size is a factory setting of the storage device.

14. The storage device of claim 11 , wherein one or more streams individually comprises 32 dies, and wherein at least 30 dies of the 32 dies of each of the one or more streams are dedicated to storing user data.

Assignments (10)
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 25, 2025
From: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 071050/0001 →
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 →
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 - A&R LOAN AGREEMENT Recorded Aug 21, 2023
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 064715/0001 →
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 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST AT REEL 053482 FRAME 0453 Recorded Feb 8, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 058966/0279 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 14, 2020
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 053482/0453 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 24, 2020
From: BENNETT, ALAN D.; HELMICK, DANIEL L.; PARKER, LIAM; GOROBETS, SERGEY ANATOLIEVICH; GRAYSON, PETER
To: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 052493/0918 →
Continuity (1)
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