Systems and methods for enhancing a data store for handling semantic information

1. A method for enhancing a data store addressable at a block level, comprising acts of:

receiving at a memory controller an access operation communicated from a host device that is interfaced with the data store via the memory controller:

in response to receiving the access operation, facilitating a monitoring function of the memory controller by invoking a post-processing plug-in;

accessing the data store in accordance with the access operation, said accessing act including reading a block of data from the data store, writing the block of data to the data store, or erasing the block of data from the data store;

obtaining post-processing information about the access operation in response to invoking the post-processing plug-in;

updating a log-file stored in the data store with the post-processing information; and

performing a copy detection operation using the post-processing information when the access operation is a read block operation.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of performing a copy detection operation further includes using the post-processing information to infer if a file to which the information contained in the read block operation belongs is being copied.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the act of performing a copy detection operation further includes taking at least one remedial measure if it is inferred that the file is being copied.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the act of performing a delete operation if the access operation is an erase block operation.

5. A method for enhancing a data store addressable at a block level, comprising acts of:

receiving at a memory controller an access operation communicated from a host device that is interfaced with the data store via the memory controller;

in response to receiving the access operation, facilitating a monitoring function of the memory controller by invoking a post-processing plug-in;

accessing the data store in accordance with the access operation, said accessing act including reading a block of data from the data store, writing the block of data to the data store, or erasing the block of data from the data store;

obtaining post-processing information about the access operation in response to invoking the post-processing plug-in;

updating a log-file stored in the data store with the post-processing information; and

performing a delete operation if the access operation is an erase block operation, wherein the act of performing a delete operation further includes using the post-processing information to determine if the block of data is a specific type of block and erasing a first sector to which the block of data belongs if the block of data is determined to be the specific type of block.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the act of performing a delete operation further includes copying a plurality of remaining blocks of the first sector to a second sector of the data store prior to erasing the first sector.

7. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising the act of facilitating an indexing operation of the memory controller by invoking a pre-processing plug-in when the access operation is a write block operation.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising the act of updating indexing information of the log-file with semantic information about data included in the access operation, in response to an invocation of the pre-processing plug-in.

9. A method for enhancing a flash memory addressable at a block level, comprising acts of:

receiving at a virtual memory card controller an access operation communicated from a host device that is interfaced with the data store via the virtual memory card controller;

in response to receiving the access operation, facilitating at least a monitoring function of the virtual memory card controller by invoking at least one plug-in;

accessing the data store in accordance with the access operation, said accessing act including reading a block of data from the data store, writing the block of data to the data store, or erasing the block of data from the data store;

obtaining post-processing information about the access operation in response to invoking the plug-in;

updating a log-file stored in the data store with the post-processing information; and

performing at the virtual memory card controller a copy detection operation, a secure delete operation, or a data reorganization operation using the post-processing information of the log-file.

10. A system, comprising:

a data store addressable at a block level; and

a memory controller configured to receive an access operation communicated from a host device interfaced with the data store, invoke one or more plug-ins in response to receiving the access operation, access the data store in accordance with the access operation, obtain post-processing information about the access operation in response to an invocation of the one or more plug-ins, and update a log-file stored in the data store with the post-processing information;

wherein the plug-ins include at least one of a pre-processing plug-in to facilitate an indexing function of the memory controller or a post-processing plug-in to facilitate a monitoring function of the memory controller, and wherein the memory controller is further configured to perform a copy detection operation using the post-processing information when the access operation is a read block operation.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the memory controller comprises at least one means for advertising a special object to a file system of the host device, receiving the access operation directed to the special object, and calling at least one application to handle the access operation.

12. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the data store is a flash memory.

13. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to

use the post-processing information to infer if a file to which the information contained in the read block operation belongs is being copied, and

take at least one remedial measure if it is inferred that the file is being copied.

14. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to perform a delete operation if the access operation is an erase block operation.

15. A system, comprising:

a data store addressable at a block level; and

a memory controller configured to receive an access operation communicated from a host device interfaced with the data store, invoke one or more plug-ins in response to receiving the access operation, access the data store in accordance with the access operation, obtain post-processing information about the access operation in response to an invocation of the one or more plug-ins, and update a log-file stored in the data store with the post-processing information;

wherein the plug-ins include at least one of a pre-processing plug-in to facilitate an indexing function of the memory controller or a post-processing plug-in to facilitate a monitoring function of the memory controller, and wherein the memory controller is further configured to erase a first sector to which the block of data belongs if the block of data is a specific type of block.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to copy a plurality of remaining blocks of the first sector to a second sector of the data store prior to erasing the first sector.

17. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the memory controller is further configured to update indexing information of the log-file with semantic information about data included in the access operation, in response to an invocation of the pre-processing plug-in when the access operation is a write operation.