IP Library Granted Patent US 11,599,277
Granted Patent B1
US 11,599,277 · App. 17/465,192 · Granted Mar 7, 2023

Storage system and method for performing a targeted read scrub operation during intensive host reads

Inventors: Niles Yang (Mountain View, CA); Nan Lu (San Jose, CA); Piyush A. Dhotre (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
G06F3/0619G06F3/064G06F3/0659G06F3/0679G06F11/076G06F11/106G11C16/08G11C16/102G11C16/16G11C16/3427
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,599,277
App. No.
17/465,192
Granted
Mar 7, 2023
Kind
B1
Abstract

A storage system determines that it is undergoing intensive reads by a host, which can occur, for example, when the storage system is being used to play a video game for a prolonged period of time. As performing a conventional read scrub operation in that situation can result in a decrease in performance, the storage system can instead use a targeted read scrub operation to reduce the impact on host read performance. The targeted read scrub operation can take the form, for example, of a periodic read scan on areas of the memory that are not part of the intensive host read, random read scans on neighboring wordlines where only a single state is read, and/or a passive read scan where acceptable but risky pages are marked for relocation.

Claims (33)

1. A storage system comprising:

a memory; and

a controller configured to:

determine whether the storage system is operating in an intensive-host-read mode in a portion of the memory; and

in response to determining that the storage system is operating in the intensive- host-read mode in the portion of the memory:

perform a targeted read scrub operation;

place a page identified by the targeted read scrub operation for relocation in a relocation queue; and

relocate the page in a new block of memory.

2. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the intensive-host-read mode is set by a host.

3. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the intensive-host-read mode is determined by the controller analyzing a host workload.

4. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the memory stores data of a video game.

5. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the targeted read scrub operation comprises performing a periodic read scrub operation of a different portion of the memory.

6. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the targeted read scrub operation comprises performing a random read operation of a neighboring wordline to a host-accessed wordline, and wherein the random read operation reads only one state of a plurality of states in memory cells in the neighboring wordline.

7. The storage system of claim 6 , wherein the one state comprises an erased state.

8. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the targeted read scrub operation comprises performing a passive read scrub operation in which a page of memory having a number of errors below a threshold of a decoding operation but greater than a high bit-error-rate threshold is marked for relocation.

9. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the page is relocated after a fullness of the relocation queue reaches a threshold.

10. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the page is from a multi-level cell block of memory, and wherein the page is relocated to a single-level cell block of memory.

11. The storage system of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to fold the single-level cell block of memory into another multi-level cell block of memory.

12. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein the memory comprises a three-dimensional memory.

13. In a storage system comprising a memory, a method comprising:

determining whether the storage system is undergoing host reads above a threshold level;

in response to determining that the storage system is undergoing host reads above the threshold level, performing a targeted read scrub operation, wherein the targeted read scrub operation comprises performing a random read operation of a neighboring wordline to a host- accessed wordline, and wherein the random read operation reads only one state of a plurality of states in memory cells in the neighboring wordline; and

relocating a page identified by the targeted read scrub operation to a new block of the memory.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the host reads are above the threshold level in response to playing a video game.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one state comprises an erased state.

16. A storage system comprising:

a memory;

means for determining when the storage system is operating in an intensive-host-read mode in a portion of the memory; and

means for performing one of the following targeted read scrub operations in response to determining that the storage system is operating in the intensive-host-read mode in the portion of the memory:

(i) a periodic read scrub operation of a different portion of the memory, wherein a page is marked for relocation in a relocation queue as a result of the periodic read scrub operation; and

(ii) a random read operation of a neighboring wordline to a host-accessed wordline, wherein the random read operation reads only one state of a plurality of states in memory cells in the neighboring wordline.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising, prior to relocating the page to the new block of the memory, placing the page in a queue.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the page is relocated after a fullness of the queue reaches a threshold.

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 058426 FRAME 0815 Recorded Feb 8, 2022
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 058965/0679 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2021
From: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 058426/0815 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 2, 2021
From: YANG, NILES; LU, NAN; DHOTRE, PIYUSH A.
To: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 057375/0557 →